Yajur Veda: (Sanskrit) "Wisdom of sacrificial formulas."

One of the four compendia of revelatory texts called Vedas (Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva).

When used alone, the term Yajur Veda generally refers to this Veda's central and oldest portion - the Samhita, "hymn collection." Of this there are two recensions:

1)    the Krishna ("black") Yajur Veda (so-called because the commentary, Brahmana, material is mixed with the hymns); and

2)    the Shukla ("white or clear") Yajur Veda (with no commentary among the hymns).

The contents of these two recensions are also presented in different order. The Yajur Veda Samhita is divided into 40 chapters and contains 1,975 stanzas. About 30 percent of the stanzas are drawn from the Rig Veda Samhita (particularly from chapters eight and nine). This Veda is a special collection of hymns to be chanted during yajna. The Krishna Yajur Veda Samhita exists today in various recensions, most importantly the Taittiriya Samhita and the Maitrayani Samhita. The Shukla Yajur Veda Samhita is preserved most prominently as the Vajasaneyi Samhita.

See: Vedas.

(See also: Yajur Veda , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

 Sama Veda: The third and most poetic of the Vedas, whose mantras are to be sung during the sacrificial fire ceremonies. It contains the Chandogya and Kena Upanishads.

(See also:  Sama Veda , Hinduism, Yoga, Body Mind and Soul)

Veda: (Sanskrit) "Wisdom."

Sagely revelations which comprise Hinduism's most authoritative scripture. They, along with the Agamas, are shruti, "that which is heard."

The Vedas are a body of dozens of holy texts known collectively as the Veda, or as the four Vedas:

-       Rig,

-       Yajur,

-       Sama and

-       Atharva.

In all they include over 100,000 verses, as well as additional prose. The knowledge imparted by the Vedas is highly mystical or superconscious rather than intellectual.

Each Veda has four sections:

-       Samhitas (hymn collections),

-       Brahmanas (priestly manuals),

-       Upanishads (enlightened discourses).

The Samhitas and Brahmanas (together known as the karmakanda, "ritual section") detail a transcendent-immanent Supreme-Being cosmology and a system of worship through fire ceremony and chanting to establish communication with the Gods.

The Aranyakas and Upanishads (the jnanakanda, "knowledge section") outline the soul's evolutionary journey, providing yogic-philosophic training and propounding a lofty, nondual realization as the destiny of all souls.

The oldest portions of the Vedas are thought to date back as far as 6,000 bce, written down in Sanskrit in the last few millennia, making them the world's most ancient scriptures.

See: Aranyaka, Brahmana, shruti, Upanishad, Vedanga.

(See also: Veda , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Rig Veda: (Sanskrit) "Veda of verse (rik)."

The first and oldest of the four Veda compendia of revealed scriptures (shruti), including a hymn collection (Samhita), priestly explanatory manuals (Brahmanas), forest treatises (Aranyakas) elaborating on the Vedic rites, and philosophical dialogs (Upanishads). Like the other Vedas, the Rig Veda was brought to earth consciousness not all at once, but gradually, over a period of perhaps several thousand years.

The oldest and core portion is the Samhita, believed to date back, in its oral form, as far as 8,000 years, and to have been written down in archaic Sanskrit some 3,000 years ago. It consists of more than 10,000 verses, averaging three or four lines (riks), forming 1,028 hymns (suktas), organized in ten books called mandalas. It embodies prayerful hymns of praise and invocation to the Divinities of nature and to the One Divine. They are the spiritual reflections of a pastoral people with a profound awe for the powers of nature, each of which they revered as sacred and alive. The rishis who unfolded these outpourings of adoration perceived a wellordered cosmos in which dharma is the way of attunement with celestial worlds, from which all righteousness and prosperity descends.

The main concern is man's relationship with God and the world, and the invocation of the subtle worlds into mundane existence. Prayers beseech the Gods for happy family life, wealth, pleasure, cattle, health, protection from enemies, strength in battle, matrimony, progeny, long life and happiness, wisdom and realization and final liberation from rebirth.

The Rig Veda Samhita, which in length equals Homer's Iliad and Odyssey combined, is the most important hymn collection, for it lends a large number of its hymns to the other three Veda Samhitas (the Sama, Yajur and Atharva). Chronologically, after the Samhitas came the Brahmanas, followed by the Aranyakas, and finally the Upanishads, also called the Vedanta, meaning "Veda's end."

See: Rig Veda, shruti, Vedas.

(See also: Rig Veda , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Veda (Sanskrit) [from the verbal root vid to know]

Knowledge; the most ancient and sacred Sanskrit works of the Hindus. Almost every hymn or division of a Veda is ascribed to various authors. It is generally believed that these subdivisions were revealed orally to the rishis or sages whose respective names they bear; hence the body of the Veda is known as sruti (what was heard) or divine revelation. The very names of these Vedic sages, such as Vasishtha, Visvamitra, and Narada, all of which belong to men born in far distant ages, shows that millennia must have elapsed between the different dates of their composition.

Krishna Sastri Godbole proves by astronomical data and mathematics that the Vedas must have been taught at least 25,000 years ago (cf Theosophist 2:238). Hindus claim that the Veda was taught orally for thousands of years, and then finally compiled by Veda-Vyasa 3,200 years ago, on the shores of the sacred lake Manasa-sarovara beyond the Himalayas in what is now Tibet (TG 362). Though compiled at that date their previous antiquity is sufficiently proved by the fact that they are written in an ancient form of Sanskrit, different from the Sanskrit of known later writings.

There are four Vedas: the Rig-Veda, Yajur-Veda, Sama-Veda, and Atharva-Veda, this last commonly supposed to be of later date than the former three. The Laws of Manu always speaks of the three Vedas. The Rig-Veda is the original work, the Yajur-Veda and Sama-Veda in their mantric portions are different arrangements of its hymns for special purposes. The Vedas are divided into two parts, the Mantra and Brahmana.

The Mantra part is composed of suktas (hymns in verse); the Brahmana part consists of liturgical, ritualistic, exegetical, and mystic treatises in prose. The Mantra or verse portion is considered more ancient than the prose works; and the books in which the hymns are collected are called sanhitas (collections). More or less closely connected with the Brahmanans (and in a few exceptional cases with the Mantra part) are two classes of treatises in prose and verse called Aranyaka and Upanishad. The Vedic writings are again divided into two great divisions, exoteric and esoteric, the former called the karma-kanda (the section of works) and the latter the jnana-kanda (section of wisdom).

Subba Row in "Brahmanism on the Sevenfold Principles in Man" (Theosophist 3:93) says: "The Vedas were perhaps compiled mainly for the use of the priests assisting at public ceremonies, but the grandest conclusions of our real secret doctrine are therein mentioned. I am informed by persons competent to judge of the matter, that the Vedas have a distinct dual meaning -- one expressed by the literal sense of the words, the other indicated by the metre and the swara (intonation), which are, as it were, the life of the Vedas . . . the mysterious connection between swara and light is one of its most profound secrets."

(See also: Veda , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Veda

The most ancient of the Hindu scriptures.

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veda:

veda - the sacred scriptures of the Hindus

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Veda:

Veda (Vedha). See Vedas.

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Veda: The Veda, meaning "Knowledge," is a collective term for the sacred scriptures of the Hindus. There are four volumes or collections, written from about 1500 to 1000 BC including the Rig, Yajur and Sama Vedas.

(See also: Veda ,Yoga, Yoga Dictionary)

VEDA: the revealed scripture of the Hindus containing the Upanishads

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Veda

"Knowledge", Hindu scripturesAtharva, Rig, Sama, Yajur; -2500

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veda:

knowledge

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Veda:

Veda. "Knowledge". "Ritual lore". Usually applied to the texts of the orthodox Aryans. These four principle Vedas are the Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva. In the current Kali Yuga there are so many contradictory interpretations of fragmented and corrupted Vedic texts that they have become irrelevant. The true "scriptures" for this age are the Tantras.

(See also: Veda , Tantra, Tantra Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Atharva Veda: fourth Veda

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Atharva Veda: (Sanskrit) From "Atharva," the name of the rishi said to have compiled this fourth Veda. The Atharva consists of 20 books and 720 hymns. Considered the last Veda recorded, it consists of mostly original hymns (rather than replications from the Rig Veda). It is known as the Veda of prayer, in recognition of its abundant magical charms and spells. It also contains many Agama-like cosmological passages that bridge the earlier Vedic hymns and formulas with the metaphysics of the Upanishads. See: Vedas.

(See also: Atharva Veda , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

atharva veda:

'knowledge of Incantations', the fourth veda

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Angiro Veda:

Angiro Veda (Vedha). A name for Atharva-veda. See Angiras.

(See also: Angiro Veda , Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Atharvana-veda:

Atharvana-veda (-vedha). The fourth Veda. After Atharvan, the collator, seer.

(See also: Atharvana-veda , Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Sanskrit dictionary. From Advaita to Yoga.

Please note that all words in grey, like "enlightenment" or "kundalini" are hyperlinked to archives further explaining the term. At the corresponding archive you will also find articles related to the term.

yajna: (Sanskrit) "Worship; sacrifice."

One of the most central Hindu concepts - sacrifice and surrender through acts of worship, inner and outer.

1) A form of ritual worship especially prevalent in Vedic times, in which oblations - ghee, grains, spices and exotic woods - are offered into a fire according to scriptural injunctions while special mantras are chanted.

-       The element fire, Agni, is revered as the divine messenger who carries offerings and prayers to the Gods.

-       The ancient Veda Brahmanas and the Shrauta Shastras describe various types of yajna rites, some so elaborate as to require hundreds of priests, whose powerful chanting resounds for miles. These major yajnas are performed in large, open-air structures called yagashala.

-       Domestic yajnas, prescribed in the Grihya Shastras, are performed in the family compound or courtyard. Yajna requires four components, none of which may be omitted: dravya, sacrificial substances; tyaga, the spirit of sacrificing all to God; devata, the celestial beings who receive the sacrifice; and mantra, the empowering word or chant.

-       While puja (worship in temples with water, lights and flowers) has largely replaced the yajna, this ancient rite still continues, and its specialized priestly training is carried on in schools in India.

-       Yajnas of a grand scale are performed for special occasions, beseeching the Gods for rain during drought, or for peace during bloody civil war. Even in temples, yajna has its Agamic equivalent in the agnikaraka, the homa or havana ceremony, held in a fire pit (homakunda) in an outer mandapa of a temple as part of elaborate puja rites.

-        

2) Personal acts of worship or sacrifice. Life itself is a jivayajna.

-       The Upanishads suggest that one can make "inner yajnas" by offering up bits of the little self into the fires of sadhana and tapas until the greater Self shines forth.

The five daily yajnas, pancha mahayajna, of the householder (outlined in the Dharma Shastras) ensure offerings to rishis, ancestors, Gods, creatures and men. They are as follows.

-       brahma yajna: (also called Veda yajna or rishi yajna) "Homage to the seers." Accomplished through studying and teaching the Vedas.

-       deva yajna: "Homage to Gods and elementals." Recognizing the debt due to those who guide nature, and the feeding of them by offering ghee and uncooked grains into the fire. This is the homa sacrifice.

-       pitri yajna: "Homage to ancestors." Offering of cakes (pinda) and water to the family line and the progenitors of mankind.

-       bhuta yajna: "Homage to beings." Placing food-offerings, bali, on the ground, intended for animals, birds, insects, wandering outcastes and beings of the invisible worlds. ("Let him gently place on the ground [food] for dogs, outcastes, svapachas, those diseased from sins, crows and insects" Manu Dharma Shastras 3.92).

-       manushya yajna: "Homage to men." Feeding guests and the poor, the homeless and the student. Manushya yajna includes all acts of philanthropy, such as tithing and charity. The Vedic study is performed in the morning.

The other four yajnas are performed just before taking one's noon meal. Manu Dharma Shastras (3.80) states, "Let him worship, according to the rule, the rishis with Veda study, the devas with homa, the pitris with shraddha, men with food, and the bhutas with bali."

Mystics warn that all offerings must be tempered in the fires of kundalini through the power of inner yajna to be true and valuable, just as the fire of awareness is needed to indelibly imprint ideas and concepts on one's own akashic window.

See: dharma, havana, homa, puja, sacrifice.

(See also: Yajna , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)