I have seen many questions being asked in Quora about the knowledge in Rigveda. After collecting all the relevant information, I summarized it into a few points for easy understanding.

"Rigveda (ऋग्वेद Ṛgveda) refers to a Samhita (collection of hymns) consisting of 1,028 hymns and 10,600 verses, and is one of the four canonical holy texts of Hinduism known as the Vedas (वेद Ved)."

"Rigveda is considered as one of the oldest sacred texts of humanity."

When we talk about Indian scriptures, we talk about Vedas. The Vedas are a collection of ancient Sanskrit texts and scriptures and the oldest scripture of the world. They were written by ancient sages in the Indo-Aryan language. Written in verse, the Vedas are organized into Mantras, Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads. The four Vedas are: Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda.

Facts

Rigveda is the oldest scripture of the world, containing over 10,000 stanzas. Although Rigveda is one of the oldest scripture, there are only limited number of people who understand it properly. We all want to know about our past, but hardly any text or book exist which encompasses so many facts of Rigveda. We present to you the Rigveda by spiritual dhyana which provides you with an easy summary of Rigveda. The video presents interesting details that are interesting and informative. This service helps you to learn about Rigveda in an interesting way. This will stand as a portal to connect you with the original content of Rigveda.

Rigveda is one of the oldest scriptures containing several mythological stories. The original script of Rigveda is called Gatha and contains couplets or couplets. Later, these couplets were combined into several mythological stories by its followers.

You will be surprised to know that Rigveda is not entirely based on stories. It contains scientific facts related to astronomy, physics, chemistry, mathematics etc.

Here are some facts related to science found in Rigveda:

• It is said that everything in this universe has 7 layers. There are 7 layers in the earth, water, air, fire, sky and even ether (space) also has seven layers.
• The universe has 360 different types of herbs.
• Religious books like Vedas are full of scientific facts which nobody would have known at that time. The book says that Lord Shri Krishna created this universe by dancing on the sky to make music. This shows the depth of Vedas.

Essence and main theme

Rigveda is the earliest and the most revered spiritual book of Hindus. It describes in detail the philosophy and knowledge about the universe, human mind and body and also gives details about the subtle and gross bodies of man, and their functions and relations. It teaches us how to correctly use them and absorb the divine energy through meditation, yagna, mantra etc.

It is purely knowledge based and is written in beautiful poetry. It is considered as one of the oldest spiritual texts in the world.

Its language is Sanskrit, which was also used by many ancient civilizations such as Greece, Egypt and Germany.

In Rigveda, the knowledge of the Vedas was summarized from time to time.

In the 9 th Mandala of Rigveda, there is a samhita known as Purusha Sukta which summarizes the knowledge in the 8 mandalas of Rigveda.

The main points are :

1. First came Satya or Brahman (God)
2. Then came the 'maya' (unreal universe)
3. Then came prana (life)
4. Then came mind, manas (soul) and senses (Indriyas or controls of senses).

The universe is made of five elements : Earth, water, fire, air and ether/space (akash)

Some other Hindu philosophies like Vaishnavism consider that before created universe, there was an eternal bindu called Hiranyagarbha.

And it is this eternal bindu which became all the universe through Cosmic vibration of sound 'OM'.

Rigveda is oldest of all Vedas. It is compilation of 1028 hymns, divided into 10 Mandalas (Books). It was revealed to Sage Srigupta , who was chosen by God himself to be its first narrator or Adi Granth.

The Vedas are the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism, but many readers find them difficult to understand. There is no English translation of the Rigveda (3,000 hymns) which is used by Hindus, Jains and some Buddhists for religious purposes; it is only available in Sanskrit.

Conclusion

As I was searching for the conclusion of the Rigveda as it is called "Atharvangirasa" or "the Knowledge in Atharvaveda" and let me tell you, it's not easy to summarize and extract the basic knowledge from a holy scripture like this, mainly because this knowledge was supposed to be passed on and explained by a Guru (teacher) and only after the student had been able to absorb all of this knowledge, he was permitted to go further.

In my search for concluding knowledge from Rigveda I found some interesting information that I am going to share with you. In my opinion it forms a kind of a bible parallel for this age, where we have so many people going around worshiping others and being confused about what is going on

For me, this gave me a lot of clarity

We have come to the end of our summary of Rigveda. Let us take a brief review of what we have covered in the previous pages.

The Rig Veda is a collection of hymns that pour into a vessel that is known as the "vessel of immortality". The Rigveda, however, is more than just a vessel, it is a continuation of the ancient tradition known as Vedas.

Every day we wake up and get dressed, comb our hair and walk out the door. In all of this get up, we have forgotten one thing, something that was once a part of us, but has been forgotten over time. That thing was the presence of the Divine in every being and in every thing that we encountered. Essentially, it was a time when all beings were conscious of God within themselves and their surroundings. It was a time when all beings had direct experience with God or Brahman (the impersonal absolute).

The conclusions of the knowledge in Rigveda:

• There is one creator and not many.
• There is one material and not many.
• Time and space and all existence and elements are born from this creator by his own will and power.
• All this creation has both form and matter, but the form is hidden within the matter.
• There is no cell except the physical cell or the physical body (this does not mean that there is no non physical entity such as mental, vital, psychic, consciousness).
• The creator of all is the creator of everything, but he is also different from everything, he is everything and he is not everything.
• The creator has a spiritual body and a spiritual mind, a spiritual will and a spiritual intellect. This means that he can feel, know, think and plan in a manner that we cannot feel, know think or plan with our physical body mind will or intellect.

           "विनाशकुण्ठ साधत् प्रभु, ग्रहणात् पार्जनी वा"

Devotion can destroy great sins, even if committed in the past!!

One of the most important questions that most of the people who consider themselves as spiritual seekers ask are that how to get rid of sins and how to attain Moksha. There is no doubt that we all want to attain Moksha and we want to free ourselves from the cycle of birth and death.

In this world, we all have some sins which we have committed intentionally or unintentionally. We commit sins in our day-to-day activities, we commit sins in our thought process, and we commit sins and do not even know it. We feel guilty for our past mistakes and we feel helpless and hopeless wishing there was a way out. We pray for forgiveness for our sins and we promise ourselves that we will never commit them again. However, when we go on with life and forget about the past, we unknowingly commit these sins again and again.

There is something in us which doesn’t like to admit that we are wrong. We keep making the same mistakes again and again. We keep falling, falling, and falling. And stop ourselves at the edge of the abyss, just before we fall into what seems like a permanent downfall. It’s a survival instinct, not just physical but emotional as well. This is why we avoid accepting our mistakes, this is why we hide our sins, this is why we want to change ourselves for the better but never want to look into that mirror of mistakes which stare back at us with mockery.

Jagat Guru Swami Sivananda once said that all spiritual activities are not to get rid of your sins but to get rid of your ego. A person who wants to be free from his sinful activities must first of all surrender to God. He must abandon the feeling of doership in everything that he does. Then only he will be able to get rid of all his past sinful activities accumulated in this life or in the previous lives.

Sins has power to erase your all past good deeds

Have you ever thought how sin works to erase away your good deeds like pen, pencil, blender, calculator etc? Yes, sins has power to erase your all past good deeds form the books of your good deeds. If a man is a sinner and he dies in this state of sinfulness, his soul goes straight to hell where it will remain for eternity. Hell is a place of eternal punishment of sin.

If you do not remember then you should know that you will easily get into sins. Sins has power to erase your all past good deeds.

Sins has power to erase your all past good deeds; take away chance to go heaven; destroy your life; burn your soul; kill your happiness; spoil your respect; take away lifetime opportunity; cause curses & suffering; end life forever; end this world, end next world, end all worlds, end eternity.

Bad habits like drinking, gambling, drugs, smoking; evil acts like killing; jealousy; anger; lust; hate; stealing; cheating; lying; pornography; adultery; backbiting, etc... make sins.

Killing any living being like insects, animals, trees... etc... is evil act and makes sins.

Bhagwat Geeta- Ways to get rid of Past Sins

As per Bhagwat Geeta Krishna explains the ways to get rid of past sins. In my previous post, I have explained about The importance of self-inquiry/Aatma Vichara in Bhagwad Geeta. In this post, I want to discuss the ways to get rid of past sins as per Bhagwat Geeta.

Sri Krishna said: If you are sinful, how can you be saved?

Even if you are considered to be the most sinful of all sinners,

when you are situated in the boat of transcendental knowledge

you will be able to cross over the ocean of miseries. (Bg.8.)

The devotee of Lord Krishna, Tulsidas Ji has said that even a drop of devotion can wash off all sins.

"विनाशकुण्ठ साधत् प्रभु, ग्रहणात् पार्जनी वा"

(Devotion can destroy great sins, even if committed in the past )

Previously there was a time the word "sin" was used to mean any failure to live up to religious or moral law. This concept evolved through the centuries. Earlier, sin was believed to be the result of supernatural causes. However, later on, beliefs changed and it came to be regarded as an act of omission or commission or something done which would make men or Gods angry.

अपि चेदसि पापेभ्य: सर्वेभ्य: पापकृत्तम: |

सर्वं ज्ञानप्लवेनैव वृजिनं सन्तरिष्यसि || 36||

"Sri Krishna said: Even if you are the most immoral of all sinners, you will be able to cross the ocean of misery if you are seated in the boat of transcendental knowledge."

अपि चेत्सुदुराचारो भजते मामनन्यभाक् |

साधुरेव स मन्तव्य: सम्यग्व्यवसितो हि स: || 30||

''Even the most heinous sinner who worships Me with complete devotion should be regarded as a great soul or saint because he has taken the proper step by worshipping Me.''

क्षिप्रं भवति धर्मात्मा शश्वच्छान्तिं निगच्छति |

कौन्तेय प्रतिजानीहि न मे भक्त: प्रणश्यति || 31||

''He quickly becomes virtuous and establishes long-term peace.' Know for the certain, O son of Kunti, that My devotee never falls.''

Unforgivable sins 

As per Bhagwat Gita, there are many sins that can not be forgiven, one who kills his parents, one who kills great saints like vashishta, one who breaks his vows like brahmachari...etc... all these kinds of sins can never be forgiven. But there are some sins which can be forgiven, like an accident or unintentional murder or wrong means if used to right ends. All sins can be forgiven if atleast you sincerely repent for those sins and do pooja or some penance for those sins from previous births. Whenever we suffer from bad times, there must have been some bad karma from past births, so whenever you suffer from a bad time, do penance for those past sins as well as current ones.

Also as per Bhagwat Gita, if a person does a sinful action unknowingly and he has a pure heart then God will not punish him for that sin.

The first step is to understand that Sins have to be forgiven, not at the time of death, but in the present life if one wants to be free. The basic tenet of Bhagwat Geeta is DO NOT DO SINS. If you sin, ask for forgiveness from God. SO, FORGIVENESS IS THE KEY IN THIS CASE.

Here are the steps as per Bhagwat Geeta for Forgiveness of sins :

1. Understand your past sins and ask yourself forgiveness from God.

2. Fully accept the greatness of Lord Rama, his divine qualities, and his ability to forgive and forget. Believe in Ram.

3. Do not make excuses for your sins; accept them wholeheartedly and repent sincerely (Amen Ram).

4. Repent for your sins with a promise to never repeat such sins (Amen Ram).

Self-inquiry is not a new word for you. But, do you know what it means? I'll be very straight with you. Most of us are aware of the importance of self-inquiry but, but are unable to practice it. We've read that 'God' is the only truth. That He/She is present in all beings. That our true nature is of pure consciousness. And that's it's possible to experience oneself as the ever-free 'I'.

Self-inquiry is a method for practicing Jnana Yoga that was made popular by Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta Maharaj. Although you can read hundreds of articles about their teachings and insights about the process, it is very difficult to learn about it from books or articles on the internet. You have to be with a mentor to learn about Self-inquiry. Here are some pointers on how to do self-inquiry, based on my own experience, knowledge of other teachers, and what I have learned about it over the years.

Self-inquiry teaches us to turn inward and observe our own minds. It focuses on systematic self-examination, a process of reflection and contemplation, an attitude of care, and alertness.

Self-inquiry involves one’s own reasoning ability. It can be used to arrive at greater self-awareness, to analyze one's own thought processes, or to examine one's motives for taking certain actions, as well as to study the nature of the mind. It is more commonly referred to as Atma-vichara, meaning introspection or examination of the Self, or Atma-nivedana, meaning self-revealing or self-disclosure.

Atma-vichara is one of the most important disciplines in Jnana Yoga, but it is by no means esoteric or difficult to understand. The beginner can start with simple questions that are more relevant to day-to-day life. For example, he can ask himself what his motives are for being unfriendly towards someone who has been rude to him.

Process of Self-inquiry/Atma Vichara

The process is simple. The first step is to still the mind. You can do this by repeating a mantra or by some other means. The second step is to look within. To do this, you ask yourself a question. This phrase, ‘look within’, is often misunderstood. It does not mean look inside your body or mind, but rather ‘look into your consciousness’.

The result of this practice is unbelievable. Mind reaches to its source without any meditation.

The Importance of Self-Inquiry/Atma Vichara in Bhagwad Geeta

Our scriptures have always given importance to the art of self-inquiry. This art not only gives us a proper judgment of ourselves but also helps in removing our ignorance in the quest for knowledge. It is in this quest that Lord Krishna in the Bhagwat Geeta always keeps advising Arjun to enquire about the inner self.

The Gita [Srimad Bhagwad Gita] has been called [by Maharshi Vyasa] the Anubhavamrita [drink for the thirsty]. The word anubhavamrita means that which relieves or removes (mrita) all sorrows and afflictions, and which is itself a source of great joy and happiness. The Gita has been given the title Anubhavamrita because it gives a direct experience of truth and removes all doubts and confusion born out of ignorance and false knowledge.

The Gita is a masterpiece. It gives an insight into Krishna's own Yoga, His own spiritual practice. Krishna says, "But this Yoga has been taught by Me to My dear Arjuna, for your benefit.
The importance of self-inquiry or aatma vichaar in Bhagwat Geeta. It is absolutely essential to practice jnana vichara during bhakti [devotion]. [This is because] when we want to know our true nature [swaroop], we will naturally and spontaneously engage in jnana vichara (the knowledge and inquiry of the true nature of the self).

The importance of "Aatma vichaar" in the Bhagwat Geeta was given by Guru Ji in Bhagwat Geeta, and actually, guru Ji actually told us the importance of doing aatma vichaar to self and enlightened us all about the importance and what is aatma vichaar in the Bhagwat Geeta.
Right now we see so many people suffering from depression and anxiety due to so many issues they are suffering from.
And the actual reason behind the suffering of these people is they don't even know how to find out what is bothering them by finding out their problems by finding out what is their actual worries about life. And suffering occurs when people suffering from suffering don't even know what is suffering all about.
Also, suffering occurs because people suffering from suffering do not have the right guidance about suffering, they don't have the right guidance about suffering due to suffering is caused by ignorance.

How many of us who know the great epic Mahabharata, know that one of the most important chapters of it is named as Aatma Vidya Parva?
Now Bheeshma Parva talks about the actual practical approach to spirituality in detail in this chapter. Most people think that spirituality means meditation, renunciation, leaving family, ahimsa, etc.
But, if we talk about what is a practical approach in Bhagwat Geeta, Lord Krishna explains to us how to be practical in spirituality by telling Arjun the three basic principles of Raj Yoga. These are Yama, Niyama, and Aatma Vidya Parva. He takes Arjun deep into exploring his own Self.

In this verse from the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna offers a direct challenge to Arjuna, who was troubled by the prospect of killing his relatives in battle. He responded with a flood of questions that shows us how overwhelmed he was by fear and self-doubt.
In his first question, Arjuna questions God's power or authority to create and destroy beings, although he does not use the word, god or gods. He uses the Sanskrit term Brahman instead. Brahman, which can be translated as supreme spirit, godhead, divine monads, or universal soul, is the creative energy of existence itself. We can think of Brahman as the Source or Power behind the Source of all existence.

"Not any of religion teaches you to take revenge with anyone"

"When someone does something wrong to you, you should not take revenge to them because everyone gets the fruit of karma, And you think you take revenge and nothing gonna happened to you no you are wrong you have to face the law of Karma."

According to Shastra Purana:

When a wrong is done to us by others we should not kill them or harm them physically. We should keep quiet and just keep saying that we do not accept the wrong. Others may try to harm us further. We should reply by saying, "I do not need anything from you, leave me alone." Guru Granth Sahib Ji further says:

When you are insulted or abused, you become angry; you feel you should punish those who abuse you, but those who harbor such feelings will never attain tranquility.

"When someone does harm, and you want to harm in return, the highest dharma is not to take revenge on that person. The highest dharma is to forgive." This is an interesting statement. So let’s take the example of someone who has done wrong to you. Such a person would have come into your life for a reason. You may have learned something good from him. He may have done something which you did not know was bad. Or maybe chances are that he did not know that he was doing something bad now.

Still, what should be your approach? How should you behave? It depends on your own level of understanding of dharma.

The definition of "Dharam" according to the SGGS Ji is "voluntary restraint from crookedness".

When someone does something wrong to us, by our Shastra it is not recommended to take any action against them physically.

It is said that even if someone kills us, instead of taking revenge by killing him/herself, we must forgive them.

Guru Sahib says in the SGGS Ji "जो जोत पाईया चलन कूरह पाराधार", This means that he will take actions out of fear of being punished by Waheguru Ji. This fear of being punished by Waheguru Ji is called Dharam.

Nevertheless, Guru Granth Sahib Ji gives us an answer on how we should deal with such abuse from anyone. Guru Granth Sahib Ji further says:

When you are insulted or abused, you become angry; you feel you should punish those who abuse you, but those who harbor such feelings will never attain tranquility. If you insult or abuse a person in return, the insult returns to you. If you keep quiet, God knows what is in your mind, and He will reward you for your restraint. Have patience and endure insult; remember that Time heals all wounds.

When a person does wrong to us, we should not kill him. We should not harm him physically. Nor should we insult or abuse him. It is neither wise nor prudent to do so because such vengeance will not bring us any spiritual satisfaction. On the contrary, it will only multiply our mental anguish.

Guru Granth Sahib Ji further says, anger and rage are like poison; they destroy the honor of mankind; they subdue intelligence; they darken one’s wisdom; they burn up all discrimination. Through anger, one loses his self-control. He can no longer discriminate between right and wrong.

We are not supposed to harm any living being, not bully anyone, not exploit any people, in short, we are not supposed to harm anyone at all. But what should we do when someone hurts us?

When it comes to Shastra Puran (scriptures) in Hinduism, there is no command like hurting or killing anyone. Not even in the case of Dharma (laws of human ethics) war. Well, not in any religion at all.

As this world is full of ignorance, people are following the wrong ways to solve their problems. Many of them are doing wrong to others in the name of revenge, hatred, violence, and many more. Every religion has taught us that one should remain calm when he/she is in problems, but due to lack of knowledge, people are damaging themselves physically or mentally.

What should we do to a person when he does wrong to us, according to our Shastra Purana - Not even any religion allowed us to harm anyone, in order to get revenge or in order to teach him a lesson. 

As per Rigveda

Our first scripture named Rig Veda described "A person who commits wrong or violence on anyone, does not get any reward by his own deeds."

This has been the basic principle of any religion, including Hinduism.

The word used in this scripture is "Kshanti" - The word "Kshanti" means "tolerance". So, if we are tolerant of anyone who does wrong to us, this is the best solution. The negative impact of harming a person does not stop here, but it converts us to be the same as the person whom we want to punish. That's why it becomes very difficult for us to punish a person who has committed a crime or an offense or killing or harm to anybody. So, Karma is the best punishment for anybody. Our religions support us in doing Karma Yoga. It means accepting all events in our life as they are happening according to Karmas, without creating any resistance against them.

Aim of every Religion

One of the main aims of all religions is to make people happy and keep them far away from any kind of negativity and violence.

One of the main aims of our Purana Shastra is to make people happy. We are told that everything in this world is for our happiness, so why should we wish bad luck to anyone. If someone does any wrong to us, according to our Shastra Purana, we should not take revenge on them by doing any wrong to them. If someone does any wrong to us, then the only thing that we should think our minds is that all these are being done by destiny, Gurudev has given us the present life just for improving our fate, so if someone gives us any distress, then Gurudev has chosen them to give us any distress. Therefore, when someone does any wrong to us, we should take it as a blessing in disguise because Gurudev wants to make us strong.

Revenge is not right, Karma will take care of it. No religion told us to do that.

Should we beat the thief, should we behead the killer who has killed innocent people?

Should we be so strict with someone who did wrong to us? Should we beat him till he can't move his bones?

That is called murder, no religion tells us to take revenge.

We can try to forgive him. We should guide him back. We should go behind him and tell him not to do that again. We should drop all our ego and be humble. And then talk to that person. Our love will give him a lesson.

We can't see one side of the coin, if you are happy with the end result why are you worried about what others are doing? Why are you worried about what others are doing? What is wrong in taking good out of bad?

Jesus told us - Do unto others what you want them to do unto you.

As we know from the Shastra Purana, a scripture of Hinduism, that a person who does wrong to you you do the same wrong to the person back. Sages have written a lot of things on this subject in Purana. In Gita, Lord Krishna tries to explain to us that revenge or hurt someone when they hurt you is not the solution to your problem.

In Dhyana spirituality, we try to explain every type of person from the point of view of Shastra Purana, Vedas, and Bhagwat Geeta in order to make a proper human being in this world.

Indians have a lot of knowledge in spirituality they can help all people around in a proper way.

I always felt that there is a solution coming from a person who does wrong to us which is not a solution of your problem, i.e., revenge or hurt him when he hurt you. Reading Bhagwat Geeta of lord Krishna, Where he explained to us the solution of every problem which we faced in our daily life or once in a life.