The Vedas are without a beginning. This might militate against commonsense. Our modem scientific mind always looks for a source, a cause and a date for any historical event. And the compilation of a work like Vedas must definitely have had a beginning. Concepts like eternity, beginning lessness, limitlessness are simply taboo for any scientific study, as these do not permit of the application of mathematics' for their further development and study. However, the fact remains that the Universe, both the Phenomenal and the Noumenal, extends far beyond 'Space' and 'Time', the two basic devices and tools used by us to measure any phenomenon. Only some modes of this Universe fall within space and time and are apprehended as physical universe by our conditioned and limited consciousness. We (like the proverbial fish in water) do not and cannot see the limitless ocean, but can see only the waves, wave-fronts and froth in it. If the Universe is the manifestation of the Reality, the Dharma or the cosmic ord- er is Its Will or design and Jatya and Rita ('Spoken Truth and Truth as it is') are its very nature. When it is said that the Vedas are the emanations of the breath of Brahma (the creator), it is to be understood that the Vedas constitute both essential and sustaining knowledge, as vital as the breath for life. The four Vedas, Rig, Yajur, Sarna and Atharva, which are believed to be vibrations in space and synthesised 5, 000 years ago at the beginning of this Kali Yuga, by Bhagwan Veda Vyasa, consis- ted of 1, 131 sakhas (recensions), 2 t in Rik, 101 in Yajus, 1000 in Sarna and 9 in Atharva. They were preserved in the Param- para (line) of Rishis (seers), viz. , Paila, Vaishampayana, Jaimini and Sumanthu, by oral tradition, from father to son' and guru (teacher) to sishya (disciple). Of late, the notion that education other than Vedic studies alone would ensure a livelihood, has led" to many in the line taking to secular studies.

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