Should Vedas be rejected?

Poorvapaksha:
Upanishads came after Buddha and so they have borrowed all
good ideas like liberty, equality and fraternity from Buddhism.
So they can be accepted as valid for today. But Vedas have to be rejected
as they talk about many gods, divide humanity based on chaturvarna and preach
inequality and suppression of women and shudras who are said to belong to the
fourth or the lowermost varna or caste.

Explanation:

It is good that someone sees some value in Buddhism and Buddha is recognized
as an incarnation Vishnu in the Bhagavatam which is a scripture based on Veda.
Buddha neither supported nor rejected varnasharma. Infact he accepted the
ideal of dharma which has its roots in the Vedas. The ideal of dharma as
"parartha karma" or "selfless service to others according to one's capability"
is a natural truth which no thinking man can ignore.

Truth and Dharma always go together and they are eternal. Vedas and Upanishads
are well known as author-less and so eternal and faultfree. Vedas and Upanishads
form one single body of knowledge. They are like head and torso which cannot be
separated. Vedas predominantly deal with karma/dharma and Upanishads deal with
the supreme Brahman, the absolute truth.  So the claim that upanishads came later
does not hold water.

The idea of liberty, equality and fraternity has its roots in the Vedic view
that the absolute God Brahman, is the inner Self of all names/forms both sentient
and insentient. This absolute Self that shines in all is immutable, indubitable
and timeless. It is the source, abode and destination of the entire universe
of diverse name/forms.

So Vedic God as the indwelling Self of all obviously unites the entire world of
diversity made of guna, karma and varna. All noble ideas simply cannot fall from
the sky. Every noble thought must arise in the mind of a selfless person who has
realized the Vedic God / Brahman or the universal absolute Self that knows no
bounds and abides in all.

Then what about bad and destructive thoughts? Should that also be attributed to
Vedic God Brahman? No way! Bad or selfish thoughts has its roots in the selfish
mind or constricted view of man that is limited to one's own limited personality.
It does not recognize the Vedic truth that the entire universe is the body or
personality of God and instead looks upon the universe as an object of enjoyment!
Thus selfish and bad thoughts has its origin in the ego.

As Vedic Brahman is the source of all noble thoughts, no human can take credit
for the ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity. The recognition of Brahman
as the universal Self that abides in all provides the philosophical basis for
all such ideals.

Though there is equality based on the existence of Brahman in all, there is also
difference based on the body/mind/intellect. Nobody is created equal and so the
duty or dharma differs according to one's BMI capability.

Vedas stand for Dharma which is nothing but "parartha karma" or "service to others"
based on one's capability. Vedas stand for dharma karma or the "right action" and
upanishads for Brahman / Truth / jnana or Consciousness. Vedas stand for the limbs
and Upanishads for the head. Taking only the upanishads and rejecting vedas amounts
to cutting off the head from the torso resulting in death. This is not desirable.

So there is jnyAna in karma and vice-versa. Every human action is actually a yagya
or sacrifice or worship of God who is within and without.

If the society is taken to be an organic entity like a human body then the four
varnas correspond to the four important parts of the body - head, arms, thighs and
feet. No part is high or low. Each part is different and equally important and has
its own role to perform for the overall benefit of the being. So Varnashrama which
is the essence of Veda is the law of co-operation, leading to professional harmony,
natural division of labor, which is very vital for any society. Absence of
Varnashrama leads to mere competition or survival of the fittest mentality which is
a jungle law and not human.

Every civilized society has these four varnas or classes and there is a need
therefore to keep it going for the healthy growth and existence of the society.
Whether these varnas are maintained based on birth or by nature is debatable but their
existence and sustenance cannot be denied. When Family is seen as an institution that
naturally sustains the four varnas it results in birth based varna. But it is always
possible for anyone to have a guna that is different from the rest of the family.
In such a situation it is always possible for him or her to change varna/profession
by working with an expert belonging to the other varna/profession. But still family
based profession always has advantages and can naturally sustain diversity.

What is needed is an impartial understanding of Vedic Varnashrama where unity in
diversity is perfectly achieved by recognizing the non-dual God/Brahman as the
indwelling Self of all, sustaining the entire universe as His body.

The validty of Vedas and the Vedic God in the form the universe is self-valid
as one's absolute dependence on the universe for existence cannot be denied
bu any sane human. Truth seekers who are true to themselves have no choice but
to accept Vedas.

Namaste

Suresh