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We shall continue rom previous summary on Vedic
God where we had briey described benefts o
worship o Ishwar as ollows:
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Q: Should we worship
Ishwar or not? Why?
Ater all He never
orgives!
A: Ishwar should be
worshipped and He alone
should be worshipped.
It is true that by worship
o Ishwar, you will notreceive any shortcut pass
certifcate when you have
actually ailed. Only lazy
and cheaters desire such
unscrupulous means to
success.
The benefts o worship o
Ishwar are dierent:
a. By worship o Ishwar
one is able to understand
Ishwar and His creationbetter.
b. By worship, one is able
to better understand His
properties and adopt
those in his own lie. This
enhances ones personality,
annihilates the source o
uture sins, encourages
virtues o truth and
compassion and comes
closer to truth and bliss.
c. By worship, one is able
to hear inner voice better
and get constant clearer
guidance rom Him.
d. By worship, one
eradicates ignorance,
gains strength and is able
to withstand toughest
challenges in lie with
confdence and aplomb.
e. Ultimately, one is able
to remove ignorance
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completely and achieve
Moksha or salvation with
ultimate bliss.
I would like to add one
more reason or worship.
- Ishwar has done so much
or us and continues to do
so endlessly. And hence it
is natural or us to thankHim in same manner as we
thank our mortal parents
or their blessings. Only an
unortunate selfsh person
would not demonstrate
his gratitude and lose
opportunity to puriy his
or her heart.
Please note that worship
does not mean some
mechanical recitations or
blankness o mind. It isa proactive approach to
imbibe wisdom through
actions, knowledge and
contemplation.
Q: How should we worship
Ishwar?
A: Basically worship o
Ishwar lies in each act
that we perorm in our
lie. True worship implies
ollowing the inner voice
on a continuous basis. This
is called living lie o Yajna
seless acts dedicatedonly to noble purposes.
This is called worship
through actions. However
to ensure that one
conducts his lie purely in
a noble manner without
deviations, one has to
practice on two more
aspects:
a. Seeking knowledge
b. Contemplation on the
knowledge to imbibe
the same as part o our
sanskaars.
The trio o Knowledge-
Contemplation-Actions
go hand in hand and are
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Mission Agniveer - Vision Vedas. 3
ruitless in isolation.
For this lesson, we shall
ocus on specifc aspects
o Contemplation. But
please note that this
assumes that the rest o
the two components
Knowledge and Actions
are also being utilized in
sync. Henceorth, whenwe reer to worship in this
lesson, we would imply
only the component o
contemplation or ease o
communication.
Q: What are the key
components o Worship?
A: There are three major
components:
- Stuti or Glorifcation
- Prarthana or Prayer
- Upasana or Yogic
Practice
In this article, we shall
mainly ocus on Stuti and
Prarthna. We shall also
cover Upasana in brie.
However this science
would demand greater
exposition.
Please note that these are
not exclusive o each other
however.
Q: Explain Stuti in moredetail.
A: Stuti or Glorifcation
means stating the correct
attributes/properties o
any entity in most truthul
manner. Hence alse
buttering (makhanbaazi)
o anything as well
as unreasonable
condemnation are both
not Stuti.
The purpose o Stuti o
Ishwar is to understand
the properties o Ishwar
and attempt to model our
own nature and actions
in sync with Him. For
example just as Ishwar is
just and kind, we should
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also be just and kind.
Ishwar never gives up, and
hence we should also not
give up.
One who merely sings the
virtues o Ishwar like a
drama artist but does
not put eort in changing
his or her own character
is simply wasting time.Because Ishwar is not a
narcissist dictator who
enjoys being praised.
Whatever Stuti we do is
solely or our own beneft
by improving our own sel.
There are two types o
Stuti:
Saguna Stuti
Glorifcation byremembering and
understanding those
attributes o Ishwar that
are present in Him. For
example, He is eternal and
pure.
Nirguna Stuti
Glorifcation by
remembering and
understanding those
attributes that are NOT
present in Ishwar. For
example, He has no orm
and He is never born.
The dierence is merely
o semantics and not the
undamentals.
Q: Can you present some
mantras rom Vedas
having Stuti o ishwar?
A: Ishwar is the main
subject o Vedas. Hence a
large number o mantras
having Stuti o Ishwar
are part o Vedas. For
example:
Yajurveda 40.8:
He is present in everything,
astest and most powerul,
pure, omniscient, knows
everything, master o all,
eternal, sel-sufcient
and guides us all with
knowledge o Vedas. (This
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is Saguna Stuti)
He is without body, never
takes birth, has no nerves
or gaps, does not conduct
sin, is separate rom pain
and miseries. (This is
Nirguna Stuti)
Atharvaveda 10.8.1 and
10.7.32-34
He knows what has
happened in past, what is
happening currently and
what can happen in uture
in most perect manner. He
manages the entire world
through this knowledge
and is master o us all.
He is bliss Himsel and
completely away rom
sorrow! He is the greatest
and we bow to Him!
He created the earth
where we dwell and the
universe as well as all
those bodies which give
us light. He is the greatest
and we bow to Him!
He creates the sun and
the moon in every cycle o
creation. He also creates
the fre or our beneft. He
is the greatest and we bow
to Him!
He creates the air we
breathe in and the air we
breathe out. He creates
the light through whichwe see. He has created
and managed everything
in all the ten directions
in a marvelous integrated
ashion so that we are
benefted utmost. He is the
greatest and we bow to
Him!
Yajurveda 25.13
He provides the power o
knowledge to our souls.He provides us all true
wisdom and bliss. All
scholars worship Him and
Him alone. The intelligent
ones ollow His directions
as provided in Vedas to
obtain continuous bliss
and achieve salvation.
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Surrender to Him alone is
reedom rom miseries and
deviating away rom Him
by indulging in misdeeds
alone is reason or being
trapped in cycles o death
again and again. Hence
we should worship Him
and Him alone who is the
very defnition o Bliss and
Happiness!
Q: What do you mean by
Prarthana or Prayer?
A: To request or support
rom Ishwar ater we have
put our best eorts or
a noble purpose is called
Prayer. Neither is it a
prayer when we request
help or a sinul purpose
nor it is a prayer when
we request so withouthaving put the best we
can. Prayer is neither or
the wicked nor or the lazy
ones.
Thus:
1. Whatever we pray rom
Ishwar, we should adopt
the same in our lives as
well. For example, i we
pray or knowledge, we
should also put the best
eorts to seek knowledge.
Prayers make sense ONLY
AFTER due eort has
been put. Expecting ree
lunch is mark o beggars,
not worshippers o Godwho Himsel never lazes
even or a while. Hence,
make the due payment and
then request your lunch.
2. Wicked prayers bring
opposite results because
they pollute ones mind
and cause him to invite
even more miseries. For
example, Ishwar rejects
prayers like -
O Ishwar, destroy my
enemy and make me
the most powerul and
glorious. Because i both
the enemies would pray or
the same, should Ishwar
destroy them both?
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I someone argues that
one who prays more
sincerely out o two should
be heard by Ishwar, then
by this logic, one who
prays slightly less sincerely
should cause at least some
damage, though lesser, to
his enemy! This is utter
oolishness.
3. Similarly i one prays
like O Ishwar, make
Chapati or us, please
clean my house, wash my
clothes, harvest my crops
etc, he is simply a ool.
In Yajurveda 40.2, Ishwar
orders us: Live or 100
years and even more only
by putting best eorts and
never ever be lazy. Those
who ignore this order oIshwar can never achieve
happiness, how so much
noble they may be in other
qualities.
Hard-work or Purusharth
is the MOST IMPORTANT
characteristic to imbibe in
lie. All the rest o noble
qualities assume that
Purusharth is already in
place.
In other words, ortune
avors the brave.
4. We give job only to
those who work, not to
lazy ones. Only one whohas eyes and wants to see
can be shown something.
Taste o sugar is obtained
only by obtaining sugar
and eating it, not by
merely saying Sugar is
sweet. Similarly, only one
who puts best eorts in
noble activities eventually
achieves the Sugar sooner
or later.
Q: Can you provide somemantras rom Vedas on
prayer o Ishwar?
A: In act many! Read
them careully and enjoy
the most blissul activity
in lie Prayer to Ishwar.
But make sure, you are
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doing your homework by
putting best continuous
relentless enthused eorts.
Yajurveda 32.14
O Agni (Enlightening
Ishwar), Bless us with
same intellect through
which Yogis and Scholars
worship you. And provideus that intellect right now!
We promise to surrender
our everything to you
without any selfshness.
Ater all you are the
source o everything
that we possess! (Reer
Power o Now or detailed
explanation o this
mantra)
Yajurveda 19.9
You are brilliant, provide
us with brilliance as well.
You are infnitely brave
and courageous, provide
us with same courage and
bravery.
You are all-powerul,
make us also strong and
powerul in mind and body.
You are ully capable,
make us also capable.
You show wrath over
crimes and criminals.
Make us also cultivate
the habit o showing sameanger over crimes and
criminals.
You tolerate all praise or
criticism. Make us also
strong enough to ignore
praise or criticism and
ocus only on our goal.
In other words, help us
steer away rom evil
towards goodness.
Yajurveda 34.1-6 (Shiva
Sankalpa Mantras)
O most lovable Ishwar!
With your blessings, my
mind goes ar away in all
orms o knowledge while
awake. Even during sleep,
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Mission Agniveer - Vision Vedas. 9
it perorms similarly. May
my powerul mind gited
by you stays away rom
all sins and have only pure
thoughts always. May I
always think or welare o
everyone and never ever do
I desire harm or anyone.
O knower o all, this mind
propels patient scholarsand noble people to
continuously do noble
deeds and fght evil. This
mind has tremendous
potential and can stay
immersed in welare o all
living beings. May such a
noble mind always steer
away rom sins and desire
only virtuous thoughts.
This mind provides all
great knowledge. Itilluminates one and all
and helps us make right
decisions. Not even
a single task can be
accomplished without
its support. May such
a great mind always
remain immersed in noble
thoughts and away rom
evil desires.
The yogis know the past,
present and uture through
this mind. This mind helps
us unite with Ishwar and
seek ultimate knowledge.
This mind works together
with 5 senses, soul and
intellect to conductvirtuous deeds. May such a
noble mind always remain
pure and or welare o all.
The knowledge o 4 Vedas
Rigveda, Yajurveda,
Samaveda, Atharvaveda
lay embedded in the mind
in same manner as spokes
are attached to center
o a wheel. This mind is
testimony o existence
o Ishwar who is alwayswithin it and around it.
May such a mind remain
always dedicated to noble
deeds so that I am able
to discover the knowledge
o Vedas that lies within
me, by eradicating all
ignorance.
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The mind controls the
acts o humans like the
charioteer controls the
horses with strings. It
is extremely ast and
stays with me always.
May such a mind always
seek welare and noble
thoughts or all and neverever dwell into sins.
Yajurveda 40.16
O provider o bliss, sel-
illuminating, omniscient
Ishwar, May you provide
us with right intellect. May
you steer us away rom
sinul activities. We pray
again and again to you to
puriy our thoughts, words
and actions.
Yajurveda 16.15
O Rudra (One who causes
evil people to cry and ace
miseries)! Please guide
us all so that none o us
harm our younger ones,
our elders, our parents,
creatures in wombs, our
loved ones and all innocent
harmless living beings.
Guide us away rom the
path that would cause us
to ace your punishments.
Shatpath Brahman
14.3.1.30
May we reject the path
o alsehood and progress
towards truth. May
we reject the path o
darkness and progress
towards enlightenment.
May we reject the path
o death and seek eternal
immortality in orm o
salvation. O Ishwar!
Please be our guide!
Yajurveda 2.10
O auent Ishwar! Kindly
stabilize me into a healthy
body, healthy sense organs
and a very noble mind
with good habits. Please
help us make our country
stronger, powerul and
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prosperous. May our noble
wishes always become true
and we seek only conduct
o noble deeds. May we
establish a powerul
Chakravarti sovereign
nation and establish the
rule o justice. May we be
able to fght away all the
orces o corruption, raud,
treachery that plague mycountry.
Rigveda 1.39.2
May we be strong always.
May our weapons guns,
cannons, ammunitions etc
be always ready and top
notch. May our weapons
and strength be able to
deeat all the evil orces
desiring to harm innocent
people and stop the mighto their armies. May
our indisputable power,
valor and courage help
us establish a sovereign,
powerul, prosperous
and just nation so that
all orces o corruption,
treachery, raud and
crimes keep getting
deeated by us. But this
prayer o ours is only or
us when we are on path o
truth, compassion, justice
and nobility. Those who
desire so but are raud,
treacherous, unjust and
criminals would always
suer mightiest deeats
by Ishwars grace. Hencewe should only indulge in
noble deeds.
Yajurveda 38.14
May we only desire doing
noble deeds. May our
body be always strong
and powerul through
good healthy ood. May
we be relentlessly making
eorts. May we be able
to understand Vedas andapply that knowledge
or our beneft. May we
have Brahmins (scholars)
who provide us good
knowledge. May we
have brave Kshatriyas
(warriors) so that we
establish a power nation
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and destroy raud orces
within and outside our
country. May we have
experts who help enhance
Science and Technology
and develop planes,
vehicles, useul gadgets,
machines etc. May we
always remain on path
o justice alone. May we
harbor no enmity withany living being. May we
have powerul nation,
tremendous prosperity and
noble virtues.
Yajurveda 18.29
May we surrender our
everything to the Ishwar
who is our mother, ather,
riend and guru our
entire lie, our lie orce,
our sense organs, oureorts, our happiness, our
soul, our enlightenment
and knowledge, results o
our actions, our sacrifces,
our glorifcations, our
emotions, greatest o our
achievements everything.
Because Ishwar is source
o everything we possess.
In other words, achieving
Ishwar be the sole purpose
o whatever we think or
do in lie. This ultimate
surrender or Samarpan be
the mantra o our lives!
May we consider only Him
as our ruler and reuse to
accept any other dynasty,person or party as our
ruler. May we ollow only
the laws made by Him and
not ollow human-made
norms i they go against
orders o Ishwar. May we
unite together to thwart
those orces that orce
us to accept them as our
rulers instead o Ishwar.
In other words, may we
all unite together, never
fght against each otherand ollow only truth
in thoughts, words and
actions.
Let we be guided by te
Supreme and not whims o
any one individual or set
o incompetents.
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Q: What do you mean by
Upasana?
A: Upasana means to
come closer to Ishwar.
In other words, Upasana
implies the eorts we
make to understand
Ishwar better so that we
may think, act and speak
as per His directions.Thus all those activities
that we need to conduct
to come closer to Ishwar
and realize Him by direct
evidence comes under
Upasana.
The one who has destroyed
all seeds o ignorance
and has come closer to
Ishwar through Upasana
he or she derives a level o
happiness and bliss thatcannot be expressed in
words but can only be elt
within.
Q: How do we do
Upasana?
A: This is a long subject
and orms the basis o
Yoga Darshan. We shall
provide very brie details
here and take this topic in
urther details sometime
later.
But as Step 1 o Upasana:
ollowing needs to be done.
Note that this is a mustand rest o the methods
o Upasana make sense
ONLY when the student is
putting his best eorts on
this frst step. It has two
components:
YAMA
Ahimsa (Non-Violence)
No hatred or enmity
against anyone. Onlyeeling o compassion.
Satya (Truth)
Seeking to accept truth
and reject alsehood to
best o ones knowledge.
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Asteya (Non-Thet)
To reject whatever is not
rightully yours.
Brahmacharya (Morality)
To cultivate sel-control,
not be lecherous, keepsense and work organs
under control.
Aprigraha (Humility)
To be humble and without
any alse ego.
NIYAMA
Shauch (Purity)
Purity o mind and good
hygiene practices.
Santosh (Satisaction)
Putting best eorts
towards conduct onoble deeds regardless o
ailures, successes, glory
or insult without being
lazy with ull happiness
and enthusiasm.
Tapa (Eorts)
To ignore pleasure and
pain in path o Ishwar and
keep putting eorts.
Swadhyaya
(Contemplation)
Constant eorts to
increase knowledge,
seek good company and
understanding Ishwar and
meaning o Om etc.
Ishwar Pranidhan
(Complete surrender to
Ishwar)
Simply submitting the will
to path o Ishwar.
Ater these basics have
been understood, we
actually become eligible to
enter into the academy o
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Mission Agniveer - Vision Vedas. 15
Yoga.
Note that it does not mean
that only ater you have
mastered these is that next
step can begin. Because
these steps themselves
contain essence o entire
Upasana process. But to
take next steps, you should
at least understand theseand keep working on these
genuinely. You may ail
but should always rise up
again even more resolved
to master these Yama and
Niyama.
We shall discuss the next
steps in detail later.
Q: How do we conduct an
Upasana session?
A: Whenever one desires
to do Upasana, he or she
should
- Seek a relatively isolated
place
- Sit in a stable position
- Practice some
pranayams (breathing
methods to control the
mind)
(Not the Ramdev Baba
versions popular these
days. They are merely
physical exercises havingnothing to do with Yoga
as wrongly asserted. For
correct Pranayams reer
Chapter 2 o Satyarth
Prakash.)
- Focus on any body part
o body center line like
solar plexus, throat, center
o eyes, back, head, center
o rib cage etc to bring
the mind away rom world
around into singular ocus.
- Start contemplating on
Ishwar and our relation
with Him. Gradually move
towards an emotional
connect with Ishwar and
immerse into His bliss.
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Let go o rest o the
world. Even i wandering
thoughts come, simply
ignore in same manner
as you ignore mosquitoes
when enjoying beautiul
music.
- Resolve to remove
weaknesses and sinul
thoughts and resolveto make yoursel pure
RIGHT NOW!
Q: What are the benefts
o Upasana?
A: We have listed out
some benefts in beginning
o the lesson. Here are
some more:
- One who practices
Upasana very rapidlyincreases the purity o his
or her mind and makes
it truth-oriented. Since
truth=bliss, this makes him
enjoy the lie signifcantly
more than rest o his
peers.
- Gradually this truth=bliss
leads him to ultimate bliss
o salvation where no
misery remains urther.
There is no state better
than this to be achieved.
- One who remains
committed to Ishwar
24x7x365 always,
continues progressingtowards more and more
happiness and pleasures
in lie. He becomes much
much more capable, alert,
enthused and successul
person among his peers
who do not do Upasana.
- In summary Upasana
makes one most successul
both materially and
spiritually. Ater all
Ishwar alone is source o
all material and spiritual
happiness!
- Just as a shivering
person in chilling winter
eels comort only when
he gets closer to fre,similarly, by getting closer
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to Ishwar, all the sins
o soul get destroyed,
his nature, actions and
tendencies become in sync
with Ishwar and hence he
achieves ultimate purity
and happiness.
- Upasana o Ishwar will
make ones will-power
so strong that he or shewould be able to withstand
such great challenges
in lie that may seem
impossible or others.
When aced with toughest
situations in lie, such a
person would still be able
to keep his calm and come
out o it successully. What
can be greater wonder to
be achieved in human lie!
- Further one who doesnot worship Ishwar
is oolish as well as
shamelessly thankless.
Because none else could
ignores the One who
gave us such tremendous
happiness by creating
entire world and is
continuously supporting
us.
Just think o what
treatment we rightully
accord to such ungrateul.
selfsh and oolish people
wo disown their own
parents!
This in summary is theessence o Vedic concept
o Ishwar!
May we all earth-dwellers
worship the blessing
Ishwar constantly with
unanimity in our hearts
and togetherness among
us all.
Yajurveda 30.3: O
Ishwar! You provide us
with enlightenment andbliss. You create and
manage the entire world!
We request you to keep
us away rom sorrow as
well as the evil desires
that is the cause o all
sorrows. And please
lead us to whatever is
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virtuous, noble, truthul
and benefcial or all.
May we have only purity
within us and ward o all
evil thoughts and obtain
material bliss like powerul
just nation, healthy body
as well as spiritual bliss
o salvation through our
eorts guided by you!
Om Shantih Shantih
Shantih!
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