Nature of Consciousness

[Anand V. Hudli]

On Sat, 24 Jul 1999 10:43:48 -0500, Parisi & Watson <niche at AMERITECH.NET>
wrote:

>> Whatever ideas that are noble and lofty, are in the Vedas. It *cannot*
>> be the case that there are some profound ideas but they are not found
>> in the Vedas. Any religion that bases its teachings on such profound
>> ideas must be either knowingly or unknowingly following the Vedas.
>> However, that religion, unless it is Vedic itself, cannot be following
>> Vedas *completely*, but only partially. So we have that all religions
>> of the world that are non-vedic must be following the Vedas partially,
>> whether such religions acknowledge the Vedas or not.
>
>
>I can understand saying that everything in the Vedas is true to the best of
>your knowledge. But how in the world could you or anyone else claim that
any
>scripture exhausts all wisdom?? What gives you this assurance that there
can
>be no more wisdom to be learned? It seems to me that you simply refuse to
>acknowledge any profound idea that is not found in the Vedas, since the
>advance knowledge that you claim is not possible. We can say the Vedas are
>profound, the Vedas are true, but I don't think we can say that they
>constitute _all_ wisdom or knowledge. And by the way, the distinction
>between those two (wisdom and knowledge) is not always clear cut either.


  I did mean that the Vedas exhaust all wisdom but only wisdom of
  things beyond the sense perception and inference. You can never deny
  that modern science and technology, inspite of its great progress,
  quantum leaps and so on, derives its "validity" because it is
  verified by the senses. In the same way, the Vedas have an absolute
  authority over things that are beyond the range of senses. I am not
  claiming that the Vedas have explanations on every conceivable
  thing in the universe, including neurological explanations and such,
  but only that in supra-sensory matters, other means to knowledge
  such as perception and inference, are subordinate to the Vedas.

  Regarding exhausting the wisdom in a particular area, there is nothing
  to be surprised about it. The wheel was invented in the ancient days,
  still people find all kinds of uses for wheels. In other words, they
  have re-invented the wheel, perhaps making some changes, but the fact
  remains that no new fundamental concept has been invented about the
  wheel. And it is not possible for any one to do research and change
  the concept of a wheel in a fundamental way. Any scientist of today
  or tomorrow can give up all hope of changing the concept by doing
  more research. That is why we hear the cliche "don't re-invent the
  wheel." In a similar way, the Vedas have laid out from
  beginningless  time the fundamental truths regarding all things that are
  beyond  the range of the senses. Whatever religion existed before,
  exists now, and will come, will only be "re-inventing the wheel" in
  some sense. The "wheel" is already there in the Vedas! This does not
  mean that making  "wheels" is of no  use. The other nonVedic religions
  can also the useful purpose of  guiding materialists, atheists,  and the
  like, because not everyone in every place in the world may have access to
  the Vedic religion. There is yet another big difference between the
  "fundamentalist right-wing christian" or "Islamic fundamentalist" types
  and the Vedic religion.
   The Vedic religion clearly recognizes that not everyone is suitable
  for studying the Vedas and *strictly**prohibits* teaching it to
  unsuitable people. Contrast this with the forcible conversion, rape,
  murder, and  other heinous crimes that the "fundamentalists" indulge in
  to justify  the spread of their religion by force or fraudulent means.

  Anand