Faith in Vedic Knowledge and its Authenticity 

 

 

 

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Faith is one of the main qualities required when pursuing any path of yoga with the aim of producing liberation. Faith is also known as sraddha and is any act performed with deep sincerity and conviction. Without faith, spiritual practices will remain dry and there will be no ambition or room for growth. Instead, one will remain stagnant because of being close-minded without any possibility of receiving new knowledge to help promote change within. We all have faith whether we know it or not. As human beings, we all know one day we will die, yet we continue to live life with faith in believing we’ll live for another day. It is this faith that allows us to plunge deep into love with our partner even while knowing there exists a possibility of losing that person forever.  Having faith means trusting an unknown power and believing that everything will turn out fine regardless if things don’t turn out the way we want them t
 

It is this faith or sraddha that is required when learning spiritual knowledge. Spiritual knowledge is used as a stepping stone. This means it is a form of knowledge that is indirect (intellectual knowledge) that must be grasped fully so that it becomes direct (experiential knowledge). It is only when you understand something intellectually, will it then fructify into something experientially when put into practical use. Experiential knowledge can be felt at the core of our being. It is knowing something in its fullness without room for error. For this type of knowledge to become a reality, you must first have faith in the spiritual knowledge provided to us by the Rishis or by those who have realized the truth. Having any bias or doubts will only prevent these hidden truths from being known and will prolong your journey of realizing the true self. 

 

The Vedic scriptures (Upanishads) contain the deepest truths possible. The scriptures were composed by the Rishis thousands of years ago which they uncovered during deep meditation by being absorbed in samadhi. There are four vedas: Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and the Arthava Veda.  The Vedas deal with dharma (righteous/good path), Artha (wealth and security), Kama (pleasure/happiness). Essentially, these three parts drive our motivations in reality and belong to the world of samsara where we identify with the false character. The last part of the Vedas however deals with knowledge of moksha (liberation) which is required to remove you from samsara and become one again with your true self void of any empirical phenomena. This portion of knowledge is at the very end of the Vedas (known as Vedanta) and are summed up in the Upanishads which is a manual of steps to understand the supreme reality of the absolute (Brahman). 
 

It is important to note that the Rishis didn’t come up with this knowledge themselves, but rather, the knowledge was revealed to them directly via meditation. It is known as a sruti (“what is heard”) which is different from other religious texts that are called smrti (“what is remembered”). The minds of the Rishis were so sattvic (spiritually purified), they were able to uncover this knowledge hidden within. When the knowledge was heard, it wasn’t heard in voices like the way we normally hear things in physical reality, but rather it is known via intuition as an independent knowing without any room for doubts or misinterpretation. Intuitive knowledge is self-evident and complete while other forms of knowledge only provide a glimpse. This intuitive divine revelation is derived from a higher power since knowledge of Brahman cannot be known via inference nor sense perception in the world of physicality.

Most people now and in the future do not have purified minds like the Rishis since with time comes a decline in spiritual maturity. Humanity therefore requires this knowledge from the Rishis in order to progress spiritually so that these same truths can eventually become revealed to them directly. The Rishis were able to fine-tune their minds perfectly to extract every bit of information within their meditation. This is because information is embedded in the very fabric of reality, deep in the subtler planes. Every Loka or plane of existence has information embedded in its realm.  The higher the loka, the higher the truths. The fundamental truths can be found in Brahmaloka (i.e. Satyaloka - the abode of truth), where the function of creation resides (Brahma).  This is the subtlest realm closest to Nirguna Brahman (Brahman without attributes).  One can only access this abode if they are qualified to enter according to their spiritual vibration/maturity. Information from this Loka can be extracted if you meditate and shift your awareness there to absorb them. In fact, if you enter Brahmaloka, the truth of Brahman is as clear as day.   In the lower realms however, where more ignorance pervades, this fundamental truth becomes distorted and misinterpreted since the illusion of separation makes it hard for people to believe in higher truths.  Most Jivas in Bhuloka (the realm of planetary systems, e.g. Earth) have lower levels of consciousness and cannot access this information directly because they require more purification to access the higher planes where these truths reside. This is where the knowledge of the Vedas comes in handy.  The Sages and Rishis already have self-knowledge since they reside in the higher planes and have exposed the truth of Brahman.  They only descend to lower planes via physical incarnation to expound these higher truths to the those who are stuck living lives in a lower vibrational frequency.  To do this, they meditate in the lower planes and travel inward to higher states of consciousness where they can absorb the higher truths they are already qualified to access.  Their ultimate purpose is to raise the consciousness levels of mankind so they too can one day become a Rishi to uncover these truths hidden within.
 

We all have the power within us to gain our Rishi-hood and to uncover this information ourselves. This obviously can't happen overnight as it requires a level of mastery which only comes with lifetimes of growth and a resolution of karmic imprints.  The scriptures therefore aims at helping the seeker remove the veil of ignorance so that he/she can eventually experience Brahman directly. The problem however, is that most beings on Earth are not even close to a point in their spiritual growth to experience this truth directly. Even those who think they have had some transcendental experiences, may not actually be authentic, while others who may have had real experiences, may not even make sense of them.

 

The good news however is that spiritual knowledge has already been compiled for us, and all we need to do is study it so that this knowledge can begin to flourish within. There are a few people out there who have had profound meditation experiences and have been able to uncover some of this information directly.  They have been able to validate their experiences in the scriptures themselves. This means the scriptures are like a book of secrets. And we all have them as reference in case we need them. Some study it extensively while others pick and choose pieces along the way. The main point however, is to have faith in the wisdom it offers. The Rishis were mere vehicles that uncovered this knowledge, but the knowledge itself is what is eternal in nature. Thus, you should have faith, not in the Rishis, but in the knowledge that was revealed to them. 

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​Once you have faith in what you are learning, only then will you be able to extract the meaning and grasp the depth behind the words. Some who are already spiritually mature may be able to grasp the depth just by reading or listening to a sentence once. Some however will need to read it over and over again to truly understand the meaning and depth. You may spend an entire week on just one paragraph alone to grasp the truth that is offered. This knowledge is not meant to satisfy your intellect, but is meant to help transcend it. The wisdom is so powerful, it can shift your awareness and dawn a light that forever changes your life. It is meant to have a profound impact on your spiritual being. So if this knowledge is learned and practiced with faith, good intention and conscious effort, truth will be revealed to you directly at some point in your life. Only then will you truly believe and have the conviction in the wisdom that was offered. This means no one is asking you to blindly believe in the spiritual knowledge being given, but rather, be open-minded in understanding it. It is only when you fully understand the message, will there come a greater meaning behind it. The knowledge gained directly will then be much more powerful and profound than it was grasped before.  The more meaning you receive, the higher the awareness or knowledge of that truth. So we must have faith in its authenticity before it becomes a living embodied truth.