The Holy Vedas

by Bibek Debroy, Dipavali Debroy

The Vedas are ancient texts that are sacred in India and reknowned the world over.There are four vedas,known as the Rig Veda,the Yajur Veda,the Sama Veda and the Atharva Veda.Vedas teach the three paths to salvation.These paths are jnana(knowledge),bhakti(devotion) and karma(action).The Rig Veda is identified with the path of knowledge,the Yajur veda with the path of action and the Sama veda with the path of devotion. A honest effort has been made in this Book to explain the contents of the Vedas in easy to follow language.

Genres: Religion, Hinduism, Philosophy, Spirituality, Mythology, Nonfiction, India

450 pages, Hardcover

First published October 21, 1994

About the author

Bibek Debroy was an Indian economist, who served as the chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India. He was also the Chairman of the Finance Ministry's 'Expert Committee for Infrastructure Classification and Financing Framework for Amrit Kaal'. Debroy has made significant contributions to game theory, economic theory, income and social inequalities, poverty, law reforms, railway reforms and Indology among others. From its inception in January 2015 until June 2019, Mr. Debroy was a member of the NITI Aayog, the think tank of the Indian Government. He was awarded the Padma Shri (the fourth-highest civilian honour in India) in 2015.
Bibek Debroy's recent co-authored magnum opus, Inked in India, stands distinguished as the premier comprehensive documentation, capturing the entirety of recognized fountain pen, nib, and ink manufacturers in India.
In 2016, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the US-India Business Summit. In 2022, he was conferred with the Lifetime Achievement Award by The Australia India Chamber of Commerce (AICC). In February 2024, Debroy was conferred Insolvency Law Academy Emeritus Fellowship, in recognition of his distinguished leadership, public service, work and contributions in the field of insolvency.
Bibek Debroy died on 1 November 2024, at the age of 69. He had been admitted to All India Institutes of Medical Sciences in New Delhi one month prior.

Reviews

[Rose Rosetree · Rating 5 out of 5]

The words are evocative, mysterious. For instance, from Anuvaka VII (from the translation of the Rig Veda that I was given on an advanced course for TM initiators, not any edition I see here on Goodreads):

"Earth is upheld by truth; heaven is upheld by the sun; the Adityas are supported by sacrifice, Soma is supreme in heaven."

This is no human-type scripture, not written about humans, but of interest to us: relevant to our personal experience of consciousness.

To be clear, I don't claim to understand this scripture in a traditional sense, any more than a literal sense. However, reading this (or hearing it recorded) enlivens consciousness.

From my perspective these days, the real beauty of the Rig Veda is that, like the Sama Veda, it can help prepare those of us living now: help us to explore today's causational mysteries, discoveries that involve consciousness rather than theology.

To be clear, as an Enlightenment teacher, I don't teach my students to use this esoteric resource for
enlivening consciousness. What I invite them to do is far simpler.

Still, my own (limited but powerful) experiences with the Rig Veda and Sama Veda -- in the background -- have helped me to do that work as a spiritual teacher.

For some of you Goodreaders who might be doing similar forms of service, this book might be useful to you, as well.

[Debdipta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, this is the Holy book for Hindus, but I swear, there is nothing actually interesting. The mantras describe how to worship, whereas I personally seek books that inspire human soul. Mantras, mantras and mantras is all that the holy book contains.

[Fred Dameron · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading the Vedas I can see why Modi, India's Prime Minister, says and does what he does. He has a religious determination that says the cast system is good, that greed is good, that the gods want to work with the super high casts to bring them wealth and power. Two thirds of these four Vedas say, paraphrase here: Oh Agni or Indra, or Soma and Soma Juice, I bring you these sacrifices, now please if these sacrifices of Soma Juice, clarified butter, hymns, songs, and fire please you give me strength, power, jewels, cows, land, wealth etc. I understand why the Gottma left Hinduism and started Buddhism. About a third of the Vedas are about peace, stop hate, take care of your fellows, and even a prayer to chase nightmares away. (I have memorized this last one as another way to keep my PTS at bay.) The Gottma wanted a more self aware spiritual experience for his followers. He took the best , those parts that emphasized giving of yourself to your fellows, taking care of each other, your own self aware journey, and mindfulness. Hinduism so far to me, after the Baghavita and now the Vedas is still very contractual religion. I give you, insert god here, and you give me what I ask for. Most modern Southern Christians who live a theology of prosperity should convert. That way they stop being hypocrites, The paramatman is the supreme godhead, but his various parts are manifested in various different gods: such as Indra the next most important god or Agni the god of fire, three kinds, holly home fire, never allowed to go out, household for cooking, light, and heat and then the fire of war that should never be used lightly. All of these multiple gods of Hinduism are all manifestations of the supreme godhead. Yet all have their own prayers in the Vedas. A most fascinating work if you are a spiritual journey or trying to find peace in your own head. It does require a lot of sifting to find the diamonds amongst all the chaff that is in many Vedas.

[Juhi Tiwari]

The history of Indian literature has been very rich, with so many different languages and scholars in India . Vedas, Upanishads, the epic sagas of Ramayan and Mahabhart are the part of Indian literary heritage .

The Golden Book of Holy Vedas primarily explains Rig veda. There are manily 4 Vedas, Rig Veda being the oldest. Rig veda is basically a collection of Hymns in Sanskrit. Hymns were passed down as orally earlier from generation to generation, it was written much later with the development of the languages.

Rig Veda worships the strong forces of Nature. Sun, Earth, Wind, Fire etc are considered gods in Rig veda. Every source of energy that helped human lives to survive is depicted as god in Rig veda.

The author Macdonells has written a systematically organized book.The book starts with a detailed history of when the Vedas originated, How it developed what it and what significance it holds. Every god is given a brief introduction in the book along with their powers. A picture is also presented of the gods which matches with the given description, I found this the the most interesting thing of the book. The pictures, it made the imagination easy.
There are 33 gods as per Rig Veda, this book explains most of it with clear explanation followed by few sholkas dedicated to it. The book first describes the god then it is followed by verse in Sanskrit language and then the Sanskrit stanza in English for those who can’t read Sanskrit and then its translation.

The book is so well organized and explains in a way that is easy perceive by the readers what the gods stand for.

I have always been interested in Mythology. I have grown up listening to the stories of Ramayan, Mahabharat, stories from the childhood of Lord Krishna and other mythological stories. There were several instances where I was able to relate few things from rig Veda to those stories.

For eg. As per Rig Veda Maruts are Son of Rudra. As per Ramayan Maruti is the other name of Hanuman and hanuman is considered as the avatar of lord Shiva, Rudra being the other name of Shiva. There were few more instances where I tired to link. The fun part for me was trying to connect the gods of Rig Veda to the gods of Ramayan and Mahabharat.

To sum it up this book is a great source of information for starters. A person intending to do a deep study of the Vedas can start with this book because of its easy and incomplicated writing. It will give you an insight of that Vedas actually are. The book is not actually Rig Veda but the Authors understanding of the Veda.

[Moushmi Radhanpara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am absolutely certain that the Holy Vedas cannot be reviewed. But it would be suffice to say that not all that we hear about our religion telling us to do is true. The Vedas are enlightening, profound and give a different perspective to everything that we look at. The translation is easy and although it might feel a little redundant, all four Vedas have something in store for us.

[Thakur Pradeep]

www.pparihar.com and read real books and meanings.

[Toyanath]

I have not read yet this book. I do not know about it.

[Pri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really needed some quick reads and these 4 books were a boon. They gave the best cursory glance they could have the samhitas! I like author notes as well, they kept the reading interesting. Within just 100 pages or a little more each, these books are very beginner friendly or at least give enough information about what the Veda consists of.
Good job, Debroys!

[ann reichal · Rating 5 out of 5]

what can I say beautiful language, life becomes simple. Ancient texts that still make sense now.

[Megan Meisberger · Rating 1 out of 5]

The most painful slog I've ever attempted. A very repetitive bore. I only made it a third of the way through.

[Jugal Kishori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gives a overall glimpse into the Vedas by selecting some hymns from the original Vedas, Atharva Veda is more useful than other 3 Vedas.

[David Pazmino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very difficult to understand. I tried my best. And got little knowledge from it

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll give it five stars because it was fun to read, but it is lacking in many ways. It is absolutely riddled with misspellings, bad grammar and words that appear out of nowhere. It's also very incomplete. I liked it and wish someone would make make a more ideal and complete translation and make it available by Penguin or Oxford classics. Seriously guys, it was good, the cover is beautiful, but you seriously needed to edit this before publishing.