This book reviews the astronomical references in the Vedas and describes the geography of Sapta Saindhava, the original home of the Indo-
Aryans. This region lay roughly between the Indus and the Ganga rivers, although the periphery of the Aryan world stretched all the way to the steppes of Central Asia, to the Caspian sea and the Oxus river. The Rigvedic hymns were composed mostly on the banks of Sarasvati
and its tributary Drishadvati in the Aryan heartland called Brahmavarta.
Frawley has now written a series of books on different aspects of Vedic civilization. He is always equipoised and rational; his books are
very useful guides to understand the variegated complexity and yet the fundamental unity of Indian civilization. In view of the fact that the Vedic or Indo-European heritage lies at the basis of contemporary European and American as well as Far Eastern civilizations, these books are of universal relevance. FrawleyÍs deep knowledge of the various aspects of Vedic society gives him the ability to walk that narrow path of fidelity to the original where one is not using later categories to interpose imagined meanings. Frawley has made the Rig Veda accessible to the informed layman. Undoubtedly, these books will serve as torchlights to those who wish to chart their own ways in the dawning new age.
The Rig Veda is perhaps the oldest book in the world, dating back the dawn of history. It is the fountainhead of the spiritual traditions of India and the oldest text in any Indo-European language. It is a compendium of wisdom, poetry, mythology, riddles, and above all yogic and meditational insights which are relevant for all who wish to understand the deeper spiritual impulses behind human civilization.
This is the first translation of the Rig Veda available in the West by an author trained in the Vedic spiritual and yogic traditions. As such the book unlocks many of the mystical and esoteric keys to the Vedas not previously noted.
Review(s)
This is the first translation of the Rig Veda available in the West by an author trained in the Vedic spiritual and yogic traditions. As such the book unlocks many of the mystical and esoteric keys to the Vedas not previously noted.
With such spiritual translation and interpretation of the Vedic Mantras, Frawley deserves a place among the great spiritual commentators of the Veda like Swami Atmananda, Swami Dayananda, Sri Aurobindo and V.S. Agarwal. - Prof. K.D. Shastri, Haryana Sahitya Academy Journal of Indological Studies.
Past scholarship has dismissed the hymns of the Rig Veda as being expressions of a primitive animistic mentality that only rarely rose to true spiritual and philosophical heights. David Frawley's book demonstrates that his judgmental view is ill-founded. His fine renderings of select Vedic hymns bear witness to the fact that their composers were sages witness to the fact that their composers were sages and seers-powerful poets who knew the art of symbolic and metaphoric communication. ...This is an important and riveting book, ushering in a new and sounder tradition of Vedic interpretation and scholarship. - Georg Feuerstein, Author of Encyclopedic Dictionary of Yoga
About the Author:
David Frawley (Vamadeva Shastri) is one of the few Westerners recognized in India as a Vedacharya or teacher of the ancient Vedic wisdom. He is the author of numerous books and articles on Vedic Topics including Ayurveda, Vedic Astrology,Vedanta, Hinduism, Yoga and Tantra, as well as translations and interpretations from the Vedas. Dr. Frawley has been given many awards for his work in India including the Veda Vyasa award by the International Institute of India Studies. He is a Jyotish Kovid through the Indian Council of Astrological Sciences, and is also the President of the American Council of Vedic Astrology, the American offshoot of the Indian council; He has a Doctorês degree in Chinese Medicine and has also been certified as an expert through the University of Poona for his knowledge of Yoga and Ayurveda. He is presently Director of the American Institute of Vedic Studies.
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