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Itihasas and Puranas
Ithihasas and Puranas are one
among the other words in Sanskrit that are widely mis-understood in the
modern world.
Puranas in Sanskrit means
"belonging to ancient or olden times".
Itihasa- In Sanskrit, Itihasa
means history
The above definitions are exactly correct, but the understanding of the
general public in modern India and the rest of the globe is wrong. Both Purana and Ithihasa are information about past events,
but there are differences between the two.
Puranic (Mythical) Itihasic (Historical) Characters:
There are human character's in both Puaranas (Mythical) and itihasas
(historical) characters. There are human life incidents in both.
For example, we have mythical characters like, Surya Bhagavan or
Sun-God, who rides on Seven horses with the central chariot in green
color.
There are Ithihasic or
Historical characters like Rama and Krishna.
Both Mythical and Historical characters
are real, BUT.
The Historical characters Rama and Krishna lived in human blood and
flesh form and also their incidents happened in the land of India.
The mythical characters are also real
but did not live in blood
and flesh form. Puranic characters or Mythical characters are
representation of Universal phenomenon and their life incidents are real
because they represent the Cosmic events.
This mis-understanding has lead great confusion, especially in
this time of
Rama's Sethu bridge
controversy
events occurring in
2007.
On what ground is the above fact based?
In the earlier pages we have discussed how Rishi's studied the body
and mind of the human and discovered the mysteries of the
Cosmic body
or Universe. What they found is that
the physical nature of human body is similar to the physical characteristics of the universe
and the Human mind and the events occurring in the Universe are also
similar. Among these two facts, the fact the physical body is similar to
the Cosmic physical nature is proved by modern scientists also (See work of
Florida University).
It may take some more years for Modern science to prove the other fact
that the mind of human is the same as cosmic events.
Look how our ancient
rishi's told us the Cosmic events through Puranic or Mythical
characters. Let us take the same Sun's example.
O ver
In the puranas, a character called Surya Bhagavan (Sun-God) rides on a
green chariot with seven horses at a speed of 22,02 Yoganas in half a
Nimisha. Is this Sun-God a mythical character and does not exist?
Sun do exist, but not as a human and not riding on
a chariot driven by seven horses. These symbolic images convey
scientific information on color spectrum of light and on the speed of
the light. Speed of light was known to modern scientists only in the
late 18th century. But Ancient Indian Rishi's has given that information
in Vedic and Puranic texts. The seven horses represents seven colors of
light spectrum - VIBGYOR (Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange
and Red). The chariot is green because it comes in the center color.
Speed of light: Next interesting
fact is about the speed of the Sun's chariot, which is nothing but the
symbolic of speed of light. The chariot moves at a speed of about
22,02 Yoganas in half a Nimisha,
which when converted into western measurements units will read as 189547
miles per second !! As per the modern science speed of light is 186000
miles per second.
Another criticism is that these facts are interpreted as sicentific
after modern scientific discoveries were made in the past centuries.
This is not correct. Sayana who was a minister in the court of Bukka of
the great Vijayanagar Empire of Karnataka in South India (in early 14th
century) interpreted this information well before modern scientist in
west could comprehend.
The above example should help to clearly
distinct Purana characters from Historical characters like Rama and
Krishna, who lived in blood and flesh in human form. Mythical characters
like Sun-god are real but do not exist in human form. They are given in
human form because the Rishi's understood that the Human body and mind
are not different from the Universe.
The beauty of Rishi's finding is that the events occurring in the human
is the same in the universe.
Yatha Pindae (Human Body) , Thatha
Brahmandae (Universe).
As is the human body so is the cosmic body. -
As is the Microcosm (Human) so is the macrocosm (Universe).
This is our strongest connection to the
Universe. This became the foundation for
Puranas,
Ithihasas and
Astrology.
Knowing this fundamental basic we will understand whether puranic
characters and ithishasic characters are fictional or not. Two legendary
heroes Rama and Krishna are ithihasic characters and not mythical.
Why is there then Puranic elements in Ithihasas too?
Click here to continue reading
Itihasa to
know Why there are Puranic elements in Ithihasas too?
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