I had posted my answer 7 months ago and today only I discovered by chance that Quora had removed it.
The question was:
How do Indian Rishis get knowledge by just meditation?
Here is my reply – and I wonder why Quora didn’t like it.
I keep wondering about this question since long.
My feeling is, in Vedic tradition, human beings are not the ‘crown of the creation’ as in the Abrahamic religions. There are other conscious, intelligent beings apart from humans. The Saptarishis (seven sages) for example are in my view not humans as we are.
My feeling is, a lot of the Vedic knowledge was GIVEN. It is not possible for humans to come to the conclusions of Surya Siddhanta for example. Mapping of the sky is not possible merely by observation.
Even the Upanishadic realisation that this ‘reality’ is Maya, a temporary appearance on the eternal truth (Brahman), and doing a clear analysis of Maya, including the 5 elements, is not easy to discover for humans who were supposed to be primitive thousands of years ago.
The usual explanation: they saw it in deep meditation, is unlikely. In deep meditation one may experience an oceanic oneness with all, but it’s unlikely to get inputs about certain constellations in the sky.
Let’s take Ramanujan Srinivasan. He says, his Kul Devi Namagiri gave him the mathematical formulas in dream. Should we not consider the Devi as real as we humans are?
Patanjali, who gave us the Ashtanga Yoga, was supposedly a Naga.
Or who built the Kailash Mandir? It is doubtful that it were humans.
I find it strange: Hindus have so much information about different beings especially in the Puranas, yet it almost seems, as if westerners nowadays take invisible spiritual forces – positive and negative ones – more seriously and for more real than Hindus do.
The reason may be that especially Hindus are very focused on education. And education considers these invisible powers just as figments of imagination and to believe in them as ridiculous. Yet by now we should know that education has an agenda. And it is NOT to make us free and happy and realise who we really are.
While Devas and Asuras are more powerful and long lived than humans, they play their part in Maya depending on their gunas (Devas sattvic, Asuras rajasic (egoistic) and Rakshasas tamasic).
Humans have the advantage that they can discover their oneness with Brahman by first choosing satva and then transcending the gunas.
By Maria Wirth
if you like my writing, consider checking out my books:
“Why Hindu Dharma is under attack by Muslims, Christians and the Left” available in English and Hindi.
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https://www.amazon.in/Hindu-Muslimon-Isaiyon-Vampanthion-Aakrman/dp/9391154832
“Thank you India”, Rs 440, also on Kindle
