India, the oldest continuous civilisation is the homeland of Vedic people united by a deeply spiritual culture where spirituality is not an option but an outlook that permeates every aspect of all life on this land. Whether at the loftiest heights of self-realization, opulence, and prosperity or at the turbulent times of foreign invasions, Spirituality and India have always been synonyms, an ever evolving system of co-existence.

In the excitement of material progress and temporal achievements in the current times, can we say that invisible but tangible vibrating energy left behind by thousands of Rishis, who reached the ultimate levels of consciousness, has disappeared from the Indian atmosphere?

The spontaneous response that comes to the mind is; the joined hands in Namaste are a reminder of the Vedic Samskriti, a tradition that is in practice even today inspite of the influence of European culture.

The Joined hands in Anjali Mudra reaffirm the Vedic belief that ‘the divine and self is same in you and me’, hence ‘I bow to the divine in you’.

Namas-te appears in the Rigveda Vivaha Sukta, 10.85.22, in 8.75.10, in the Atharvaveda 6.13.2, the Taittiriya Samhita 2.6.11.2, the Aitareya Brahmana and post-Vedic Mahabharata.

Not just India but people of Sri Lanka, Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Tibet and Bhutan too join hands in greetings even today as we shall read later.

Another element of our ancient DNA that has passed down for generations, referring to geography, is the Sankalp Shloka that is recited, as a resolve, before every important or auspicious ritual. It is a continuous reminder of our Rig Vedic origins.

ऊँ ….ब्रह्मणोऽह्नि द्वितीय परार्धे श्री श्वेत वाराह कल्पै वैवस्वत मन्वन्तरे अष्टाविंशतितमे युगे कलियुगे कलि प्रथमचरणे ‘भूर्लोके जम्बूद्वीपे भारत वर्षे भरत खंडे आर्यावर्तान्तर्गतैकदेशे’….

Jambudvipe Bharatvarshe Bharatkhande..

Jambudvipa, the giant landmass in the northern hemisphere, surrounded by ocean in all the directions, consisted of modern Asia, Europe, Africa and North America. (submerged by rising sea levels between 15,000 & 3000 BC or more.)

Ilavrita Varsha was at the present North Pole, the Arctic Region wrote Bal Gangadhar Tilak in the ‘The Arctic Home in the Vedas’.

"At the centre of Ila Vrita lies the golden Mount Meru" - Markandey Purana.  

People of the Indian subcontinent and Indonesian archipelago both believe Sumeru/ mount Meru, the highest mountain in East Java, to be the axis of the earth that has moved from time to time to keep Creation in balance and that the earth quaked and ocean spilled every time it did. 

The first immigrants of Jambudvipa took several different routes in search of safe-lands.

The Philosophers, thinkers and scholars among those first migrants chose the mighty river banks of Sindhu/ Indus, an Oceanic river to settle around 14,000 years (or more) ago.

About 11,500 years ago, the second great flood fragmented Jambudvipa, submerging lowlands under the ocean. This fragmentation began to be known by different names -

Yavadvipa (Valmiki Ramayana, 8000 B.C.), Java/ Jawa (rich in grains, sorghum/barley) and Svarnabhumi/ Svarndvipa, gold yielding land, the present day Sumatra.

Kalidasa mentioned Indonesia and the islands beyond as Dwipantara.

The first settlers of the Sindhu called this limitless, unbroken, swift, moving waters, Sindhu Mata/ Saraswati because it surpassed in majesty and might, all other waters. Saras meaning water, from Sr (Sanskrit), meaning flow/ move.

It was here that the Rishis contemplated on their ancient ancestral wisdom of Vedas, and systematized Science, Philosophy, Art and Music.

Illuminating their thoughts & awakening their consciousness, Saraswati passed gurgling, the ashrams of Vedic Rishis, Vyasa, Vishwamitra and Vashishtha. The inspirer of hymns got to be known Vach/ Vak Devi, the Goddess of Speech, a few centuries later in Yajur Veda. Because of her constant association with Sanskrit - Dhi meaning intellect, Saraswati came to be known as the ‘Riverine Devi of Knowledge’, the mother of Vedas. For material achievement and success, we worship Saraswati, the Devi of knowledge even today.

The Seers, the Vedic Rishis described the beginning of creation as;

ओमित्येतदक्षरमिदम्‌ सर्वं तस्योपव्याख्यानं

भूतं भवद्भविष्यदिपि सर्वमोड्‌◌ंकार एवं

यच्यान्यत्‌ त्रिकालातीतं तदप्योङ्कार एव॥

माण्डूक्योपनिषद्‌-१॥

“Om is this whole world, the past, the present and the future and the time is that transcends time, is Om”.

The all-pervading primordial sound of explosion, the Big Bang resulting in creation Eternal Life Force eternal causal sound, ‘Naad’ through monosyllabic seed sound, ‘Om’ / ‘Pranav’ and phenomenal world with multiple forms evolved.

“Om is His manifesting Sound, the Pranav/ Cosmic Sound”  

“Tasya vachakah pranavaha”

तस्य वाचकः प्रणवः - Yoga Sutra 1.27

Vak is the creative power of speech, the faculty which gives expression to ideas; enables one to hear, see, grasp, and then describe in words, the true nature of things. 

The Aryans of the Sapt Sindhu

Spreading out to the farthest of the seven rivers, Sapta Sindhu, the Aryas, meaning Nobel one in Sanskrit, out of their gratitude to the network of waterways that ran through the land, naturally took to themselves the name of Sapta Sindhu as a symbol of common Nationality and Culture. Down to this day a Hindu, remaining attached to its umbilical DNA, invokes the presence of these rivers to purify his Soul:

ऋग्वेद 10.75-5                  ॐइमंमेगंगेयमुनेसारस्वतिशुतुद्रिस्तोमंसचतापरूष्ण्या

                                       असिक्नयामरूद्ववृधेवितस्तयाआर्जीकीयेश्रृणुह्यासुषोमया||          

                                          गंगेचयमुनेचैवगोदावरीसरस्वती|

                                          नर्मदेसिंधुकावेरीजलेस्मिनसंनिधिमकुरु||

The System that the Vedic people called Dharma was received through revelation, अपौरुषेय (not the handiwork of men), the Timeless Vedas, the treasury of Spiritual Laws discovered at different times by different Rishis. The seers concluded that, "Unity in variety is the plan of nature”. Every soul is a circle with no circumference, whose centre is located in the body, death is only a change of this centre from body to body. By law of association, one is to realize his own Divine Nature.

An ever progressive Hindu is free to choose any of the following paths to achieve any goal that ultimately leads to nothing but Self Realization, an insight to your true self.

Path of Gyana/ Knowledge, the Rig Veda  

Path of Path of Karma/ Action, Yajur Veda

Path of Bhakti/ Devotion, the Sam Veda

Atharva Ved, recited to counteract evil influences (during a course of Yagna )

To make dissemination & assimilation easier, the Vedas were divided into groups. Ved Vyasa is only a title conferred on one who divided the Sacred Vedas. Vid means, to know and Vedas means knowledge.

With the central idea of Brahman & Atman, written over 200 Upanishads are referred to as Vedanta. Puranas, Mahabharata, Ramayan are referred to as Itihas/ history.

The Dharmashatras have enjoined upon every Hindu to repay the ‘Rishi-Rina’ of passing Itihas-Purana, the Spiritual & cultural vision Dharma to the next generation.

Note, that Vedic way of life is a progressive reminder of most discoveries of the modern science being nothing but re-discoveries that can be traced to the Ancient Indian Times. Here are some examples.

The theory of Evolution, the existence of Atomic and Sub atomic particles.

Yajur Vedic verse: "Brahmaanda vyapta deha bhasitha himaruja..." 

The Sun and the whole universe is round – Yajur Veda 20. 23

Earth goes around the sun – Rig Veda, 10.22.14., Yajur Veda 3.6.

Sun doesn’t rise nor sets – Atraya Brahman, 3.44, Gopatha Brahman 2.4.10.

There are many suns – Rig Veda, 9.114.3.

Moon gets it’s light from the sun – Yajur Veda 18, 20.

There are 7 colours in the sun – Atharva Veda 7.107.1.

Electromagnetic field, conversion of mass and energy – Rig Veda,10.72.

Influence of Sindhu Sanskriti on other civilizations explained

Author Anand Krishna wrote in ‘The Wisdom of the Sundaland’, “Having travelled for generations, one group of the first migrants arrived at lands of blacks, Africa, on the way have married & settled with their distant cousins, the first settled in India & got to be known as Mishra, mixture, this was the ancient Egypt called Kemet, meaning black.” 

The Greeks, including Alexander called themselves Yavanas, our ancestors too called Greeks ‘Yavanas’. The Greeks believed that their ancestors migrated as a branch of Aryans from Gandhar, that India was their original abode. Yavanas meaning, from isles of Yavadvipa, a fraction of Yavadvipa/ Java that disintegrated with the third great flood about 8500 years ago.

“Land that lies north of the ocean and south of the snowy mountains called Bharatam, there dwell the descendants of Bharata” - Vishnu Puran

The land of mystics, celestial musicians, impeccable artisans, scholars and scientists, of warriors and kings, the largest democracy, mysterious like the majestic banyan tree, vast as the sea, high as the Himalayas, ethereal like a rainbow, India is an eternal journey from eternity to eternity and Her destiny is the destiny of the world.

A society whose God is not beyond the starts but within, ’Aham Bhrahmasmi’, whose Scriptures glorify human beings as 'अमृतस्य पुत्रा’, ‘Sons of immortality’, the only society that has ceaselessly worked on the evolution of human consciousness, has revered its Rishs/ Saints and not stoned or hung them on the cross. Nourished by noble Vedic values, the progressive Hindu psyche till date believes in the theory of KARMA, taking in his stride all that comes his way.

Author is a hospitality entrepreneur. She is an avid history buff and perpetually researches episodes where history was faulted to manufacture faux narratives. She says “History is the mother of future and correct history is a debt we owe our future generations”.

To read all articles by Author

Also read

1 Indian Foundations of Modern Science

2 What is Dharma

3 What is Dharma in Hindi

4 Characteristics of Indian Philosophy