I don't know what it means to be religious or even if I believe in God. But I am awed by religion: the selflessness, the devotion, the wisdom, the knowledge and the culture that come out of being religious and believing in god.

I have been reading this beautiful book called the "The Holy Vedas": a Golden Treasury by Pandit Satyakam Vidyalankar.

In about 350 pages, he attempts to bring together representative hymns from all the four vedas. Picking carefully from 20,416 verses, he tries to encompass all the aspects enshrined in the four Vedic works. A daunting task! The result is this beautiful book of poetry, with simple, lucid verses, organized to give you an overview of all Vedic concepts. The book has original text as well as english translation and manages to retain the spirit of the original hymns and faithfully imparts the ambience of these sacred texts.

When I bought the book, I didn't expect to be drawn to it. This was to be my first introduction to Vedic philosophy, something that would quickly give me a gist of the scriptures that I grew up hearing about. That the Vedas is one of the fountainheads of philosophy and culture and that the depth of knowledge contained in these scriptures is influential is "common knowledge" to most people born in Hindu families. It is something that you learn to be in awe of from the times of your childhood, but never actually get to reading it. But, soon the guilt of pretending to know something that I hadn't the faintest clue about, and the curiosity of learning about the Vedas, caught on.

A few months ago, I went to a bookstore in India and picked up this book, as well as unabridged translations of the Ramayana and Mahabharata that I am yet to read. As I read about the creation of the world, about social consciousness, of kingship, of artisans, astronomy, science and medicine... I was humbled by the knowledge and the profound beliefs, elucidated in the most clear and simple terms. I am not just glad I am reading the book, I feel like my obtuse prejudices of anything religion-related kept me away from these great works .Hopefully, I will get around to reading more.

May we, with honest efforts
And no consciousness of guilt,
Ascend day by day
Higher and higher summits of
Eternal glory and bliss.

(Rig. 10.37.9)