ABSTRACT
As mentioned in Chapter 1, the word Veda is derived from the Sanskrit root vid, which means “to know” In the present context it refers to knowledge of the highest sort, made available to all through the revelations of ancient seers. Ordinary truth emerges from the practical experience of the community, the stuff of daily life. It is added to by everyone over time. Veda, on the other hand, concerns matters of great moral and religious importance—the meaning of life and death, for example, and the proper relationship between gods and humans. Veda is sacred knowledge. By way of a rough analogy, we could say that in a Jewish or Christian community, knowledge about weather forecasting would be ordinary truth, but the Bible would be Veda.
