[Advaita-l] oldest text considering everyone as oneself

[Abhishek RK]

Namaste,

The position of all the Advaita Vedanta school (as with the other Vedanta
schools) is not based on a historical approach. Instead the Vedas are looked
upon as "apaurusheya", i.e., not composed by any agent, be it human or
divine. What I feel this translates into is, the wisdom in the form of the
Vedic hymns is eternal, valid for all time, thus, the Dharma taught in those
Vedas is valid during all time. Besides, the Vedanta philosophy says that
Prakriti (also known as Maya) is eternal (it was never created and is
ultimately Brahman) and therefore, ultimately there is no "creation" of this
Jagat (universe) in the absolute sense.

But based on a historical approach, some of these texts were not put to pen
and paper even until the 19th or 20th century. Even today, many new Shakhas
(branches) of the Vedas are being found in various parts of India. In many
Veda-pathashalas (Vedic schools), the Vedas are not taught to the students
using written texts, instead the oral mode of teaching is followed. I'm no
expert on this issue but, I don't think any scholar has been able to give a
particular date to any of the different oral traditions of the world.

Regards,
Abhishek


On 8/10/06, Sylvain <elisabeth-sylvain at sympatico.ca> wrote:
>
> When these divine revelations, cited here after by Krunal, were put to pen
> and paper ?
>
> Sylvain
>
>
>
> --
> satyena dhAryate pR^ithvi satyena tapate raviH|
> satyena vAti vAyushca sarvaM satye pratishThitam||
>
> calA lakShmIshcalAH prANAshcalaM jIvita yauvanaM|
> calAcale ca saMsAre dharma eko hi nishcalaH||