About Vedas:  The Vedas are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism. Hindus consider the Vedas to be apaurueya, which means "not of a man, superhuman impersonal, authorless."

 

The Sanskrit word, veda, means "knowledge." The Vedas are also referred to by some as sruti literature, meaning “what is heard,” as opposed to other sacred smrti texts, meaning “what is remembered." In this way, they are considered to be the direct word of the Divine.

 

The four books, or texts, of the Vedas are the "Rig Veda" (which is the oldest), the "Yajur Veda," the "Sama Veda" and the "Atharvana Veda."

 

Rig Veda (Book of Shlokas): The Rig Veda is a collection of inspired songs or hymns and is a main source of information on the Rig Vedic civilization.

 

Yajur Veda (The Book of Ritual): The Yajur Veda is also a liturgical collection and was made to meet the demands of a ceremonial religion. The Yajur Veda practically served as a guidebook for the priests who execute sacrificial acts muttering simultaneously the prose prayers and the sacrificial formulae (yajus).

 

Sama Veda (The Book of Songs): The Sama Veda is purely a liturgical collection of melodies (saman). The hynms in the Sama Veda, used as a musical note, were almost completely drawn from the Rig Veda and have no distinctive lessons of their own.

 

Atharvana Veda (The Book of Mantras): The last of the Vedas, this is completely different from the other three Vedas. It concentrates on the material needs of the society. Its hymns are of a more diverse character than the Rig Veda and are also simpler in language.

 

We are fortunate that our Temple currently house four learned Veda Pandits (Priests) – A Rig Veda Ghanapati, A Shukla Yajur Veda Salakshana Ghanapati, A Krishna Yajur Veda Kramapati, and A Sama Veda Kramapati.

 

Temple provides partial support to Veda Pathasalas in Kakinada and Puttaparthi, A.P.  Free room, board, and tuition is provided to students, who are trained to become Vedic Priests and Pundits.