Harmony of All Religions

Author(s): Parmahans Maharaj, Veena Rani Howard
Publisher: USA Santmat Society of North America

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the storehouse of all knowledge and sciences; it is the infinite repository of learning. The Vedas are the source of all fundamental principles of Indian dharma, religion, philosophy, music, medicine and science. The knowledge expounded in the Vedas is limitless.
Since ancient times Saints, Mahatmas (greats souls), Rishis (seers), Munis (ascetics), and scholars of India have considered the Vedas to be eternal and of divine origin (apaurusheya, without a human source). It is believed that the origin of the Vedas came about in the form of knowledge revealed by God. Therefore, just as God, the Vedas are also without beginning, infinite and eternal. The Upanishads describe the Vedas as the
out-breath of God.
Western scholars, however, date the Vedas at 5000 to 6000 B.C.E. These scholars argue that the Vedas have a beginning in time, they are, therefore, not of divine origin are not are not "timeless.” The main argument of these scholars is that the origin of the Vedas is best understood in the same way as the origin of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the ancient epics of India. Just as these epics are believed to be composed by sages, such as Valkmiki and Vyasa, so were the different branches of the Vedas composed by Rishis (seers) such as Katha
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