The accounts of this book reveal the complete history, philosophy, knowledge of our eternal Divine scriptures and the Divinity of Bhartiya religion in a precise manner; thus, it is a concise encyclopedia of authentic Hinduism produced for the first time in 400 years. Bhartiya history, philosophy and the knowledge of God and God realization are the various aspects of one single Divinity, and thus, they are all intertwined together. You cannot claim to know one aspect without knowing the others, and that needs proper training, learning and a careful understanding of all the facts that are related to Hinduism.

As it describes all the aspects of Hinduism in a precise and concentrated manner, this book has to be studied like a text book, not like a regular reading material, because its every word and every sentence has its value. Just like a lawyer, while studying a law book, if he skips even 2% of its sections, his knowledge remains incomplete and he cannot fully understand the law until he studies the entire book. Similarly, to understand Hinduism, you have to study and learn all of its features: social, cultural, historical and the Divine. Only then you can have the correct understanding of Hinduism that was introduced and established by Brahma through the Vedas and the Puranas, and was further augmented by the descensions of supreme God, Bhagwan Ram and Krishn.

I have talked to a number of well known and renowned scholars of India and have seen their writings. Some of them still follow the trend of the western writers, but some of them, who accept the correct historic dates of Mahabharat war, Chandragupt Maurya and Shankaracharya etc., when they write about the actual religion of Bharatvarsh they fail to give the correct Divine view of Bhartiya scriptures, history and Sanatan Dharm, and their writings give an incorrect image of Hinduism. The reason, as told by them, is that all the reading material and the informations which they collect from the libraries or other literary sources about Hinduism, are all, in one way or the other, tinged with the thoughts of the western writers; and thus (especially through the English books) it is not possible to obtain the correct information about the true Divine aspects of Bhartiya religion and scriptures which are the soul of Hinduism. It is a fact that in the world almost all the academic literature in English about Hinduism, even by Hindu writers, bears the western influence, and that, none of these books represent the correct view of total authentic Hinduism.

Considering this lack, this encyclopedic literature has been produced that embraces all the aspects of Hindu religion. Although the Divine knowledge contained in the Bhartiya scriptures and the history as described in the Puranas is very extensive, yet all the issues of all the scriptures and the Puranas (in an easily understandable style) have been precisely described and concisely incorporated in this book with scriptural, logical and scientific evidences. For example: The total theme of the Upnishads is described in five pages (pp. 83-87) with 16 quotations and 27 Upnishadic terms in such a way that anyone could easily understand it. The gist of the total theme of the most talked about scripture, the Brahm Sutra, is comprehensively described in three pages (pp. 563-565) with its most important quotations; and the complete procedure of the creation of the universe, which is the most puzzling factor for modern scientists, is precisely, systematically and scientifically described on pages 445-446, 513 and 514.

Thus it is a very condensed writing, and as such, a reader has to study it (from the beginning to the end) very carefully if he really desires to understand the real truth of Hinduism. The idea of putting everything together into one volume was to keep the total Hinduism at one place so that a scholar or an aspirant of God’s love shouldn’t have to search other books to obtain his desired information, and he could obtain his complete desired knowledge from one single source which would be very convenient for him. It is a common weakness of the human mind that many times, in the overconfidence of its knowingness, it misses the important point. So, the main points in this book have been bolded or italicized for emphasis and remembrance, and the important Hindi and Sanskrit words (and some English words) have been explained in the glossary.

Now we will give you a brief synopsis of the main topics of this book so that you can have an understanding about the importance and the authenticity of Bhartiya* religion, culture and history, and you may have a glimpse of the enormity of the informations that have been systematically incorporated in it.

One thing must be clearly understood that the concept of god/God in the western religions is based either on the imagination of certain spirit gods of nature (like: god of fire, god of thunder etc.), or one single spirit god (God) of the entire nature. Thus, in both ways, it is only on the mythological level and so it is purely mayic. It never relates to the Divinity of the omnipresent supreme God. Thus, in no way could there be any comparison of the western religions (which are based on mythologies) with the Hindu Vedic religion which is eternal, universal and is directly revealed by the supreme God.

The perfection of the pronunciation (of the consonants and the vowels) and the uniqueness of the grammar that stays the same in all the ages (from the very beginning of human civilization and up till today) are such features which themselves prove that Sanskrit is not manmade; it is a Divine gift to the people of this world. For example: te pravishanti , which means ‘they enter.’ This phrase is from the Ishopnishad of Yajurved. The same inflection of the verb is being used in all the Sanskrit scriptures from the very beginning (trillions of years ago) and up till today. Isn’t it amazing? Moreover, Sanskrit language has never had any dialect, and in every age and in every corner of this brahmand (and the earth planet) it always remains the same.

Whereas the other writing systems of the world started from the primitive signs (related to certain sounds) like the Phoenician signs, and from there, moving through a rigid course of development and crossing a number of stages, they took the shape of a proper language. Still, even today, not a single language of the world delivers the exact pronunciation of its alphabet, and its dictionary, which has borrowed words from several other languages, is still being modified and new words are being added to it.

To understand the liveliness of a bright daylight you have to observe and compare it with the spookiness of a fully dark night. Only then you can really appreciate the greatness of daylight. To conceive the charming beauty of a meadow with fully blossoming perfumed flowers you have to see and compare it with a piece of land with wild and ugly thorny bushes. Only then you can appreciate and acknowledge the elegance of the blossoming beauty.

Similarly, to understand the Divine greatness of the Sanskrit language, you have to know the origination and the shortcomings of the western languages; and to understand the Divinity of eternal Bhartiya scriptures and religion, you have to know about the class, quality and the nature of the religious literature and the religions of the West.

Thus, chapter two gives the history of the origination and the development of all the major languages and also their writing systems (Egyptian, Acadian, Hebrew, Aramaic, Armenian, Hittite, Greek, Latin, Germanic, Slavic, Romance and Iranian languages). It details the history of Greek, Roman and western civilization and their religions from the very beginning and up to the 20th century AD. It also tells the history of the British Isles and gives a summary of their classical literature. Going through these descriptions one can easily conceive the difference between western language, literature and religion which was the product of the material minds, and Bhartiya language (Sanskrit), literature (the scriptures) and religion (Sanatan Dharm) which is eternally Divine by its very nature.

Many scholars who believe that they are the patriots of Bharatvarsh, still fail to recognize the Divine aspect of Hindu religion that was revealed and established by the eternal Sages and Saints, glorified by the supreme descensions of Bhagwan Ram and Krishn and which is always protected by the Divine descension Ved Vyas. The views of those scholars and writers do bear the tinge of western orientalists who tried to defy and defame the Divineness of Hindu religion. The reason is the enormity of such material in the bookshops and the libraries that repeatedly convey the same derogatory views about Hinduism. People read those books and, subconsciously, such ideas become ingrained in their minds.

The reader’s mind becomes accustomed to reading such statements and, as a reflex reaction (of the psychological law of ‘conditioned reflex’), he may begin to think that these views may be right, especially when he reads similar statements from the prominent Hindu scholars like S. Radhakrishnan, etc. Thus, to comprehend the Divine authenticity of Hindu religion, the reader has to understand the extent and the style of the implementation of the craftiness of those people whose cunning diplomatic schemes have produced such literature and have created such a situation.

So, chapter three discloses such secret evidences (related to the English people) that have never been brought into the light by any of the previous researchers and scholars. For example: the secret suggestion of Sir William Jones to Warren Hastings in 1784 that tells how to confidentially fabricate a false Sanskrit scripture and betray the Hindus (p. 245); the well planned mutilation of the prime Sanskrit dictionary “Vachaspatyam” through Pandit Taranath of Calcutta (this dictionary is still being used in the Sanskrit colleges of India); fabrications in the Bhavishya Puran; the disappearance of Narayana Sastry’s research manuscripts of 20 years’ of hard work; and so on.

It also reveals and details about the organized plannings and workings of the British to destroy Hindu culture and religion, mutilate the history, fabricate the historic dates and to totally demean and misrepresent the theme of Bhartiya scriptures with the help of Max Müller, the people of the ‘Asiatic Researches,’ and many others.

The effect of such adverse propagation against the Hindu religion and scriptures on the minds of the Hindu scholars has gone so deep that even now such derogatory books are being written and published by Hindu scholars. Thus, to make people understand, the diplomatic misdoings of the Britishers of those days have been repeatedly explained, so that a Bhartiya should learn to firmly discard those derogatory views and understand the eternal Divine greatness of Bhartiya religion and the scriptures.

During the period of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu the people of India believed in the Divinity of the Vedas and the Puranas and had greater regard for the Sages and Saints whose Divine acts glorify the accounts of Bhartiya scriptures. Although the theory of creation of the universe and the details of the formation of our brahmand (which includes our sun and the planetary system along with all the celestial abodes) are fully described in the Bhagwatam and in other Puranas, the modern theories related to the creation and the existence of the universe (as introduced by the scientists of the 20th century) have created a big rift between the creation philosophy of our scriptures and the new concepts of the modern science.

This situation has created a big confusion in the literary world; and the people, leaning more towards the theories of the modern sciences, have begun to think dubiously about the correctness of the descriptions of the Puranas.

A Bhartiya must know that our scriptures were produced by God Himself Who is the creator of the entire universe, and they were introduced in the world by Brahma who is the creator of this very brahmand. Thus, they are the absolute truth and there could never be a mistake in their philosophy. Whatever theoretical discrepancies are found between Bhartiya scriptures and the modern science, they are only in the theories of the worldly scientists because they are the products of material minds.

However, these differences were never reconciled by anyone in the past, and so the difference of opinion between the faithful followers of the Hindu religion and the degree-holder intellectuals has remained. Thus, considering the graveness of this situation and the imperative necessity to dispel this confusion, and to restore the authentic greatness of the scriptural statements, all the important theories of the modern science are scientifically reviewed and scrutinized, their faults pointed out, and, according to the established facts of the physical science, all the aspects of the creation theory of the Upnishads and the Puranas are explained in chapter 4.

The creation of the universe and the formation of a planetary system where human civilization exists is not a coincidental evolution of mayic energy (the prime cosmic power), because an ‘energy’ itself has no ‘mind’ of its own to proceed smoothly and to regulate and control all of its functions. Moreover, mayic energy is a lifeless aspect, so, on its own, how could it originally start its own evolution? Thus, it is clear that the Divine power of God is behind the creation of the universe and our existing world.

Edwin Hubble announced in 1940 that the universe was two billion years old. Immediately he realized his mistake, worked hard, and came up with a figure of over 15 billion years, but he forgot to account for the age of the black holes which are also a part of the universe. There is also a theory of evolution of the living beings on the earth planet which hypothesizes that fishes became reptiles, small dinosaurs became birds, shrews became monkeys, and monkeys became human beings.

All of the above mentioned theories have been discussed in this chapter. You should know that these theories are the hypotheses of the material minds of the scientists who were bereft of the philosophy of creation as described in the Hindu scriptures. Thus, even after working hard on their postulated theories, they never arrived at the right conclusions. Thus, the faults and the shortcomings of these theories are revealed in this chapter and the correct philosophy is elucidated.

As regards the history of kaliyug, we have not given details about the English and the Muslim rulers of India and the rule of Rajpoots in this book because there is no dispute in the dates of their history. It is all well known and is already being taught in the schools and colleges. But we have fully elaborated all the issues and the dates with profound evidences where the disputes have been deliberately created by the British and their western and Indian followers. Thus, the detailed accounts confirming the actual dates of the Mahabharat war, beginning of kaliyug, dynasties of Magadh, Gautam Buddh, Chandragupt Maurya, Ashokvardhan, Jagadguru Shankaracharya, Vikramaditya and Shalivahan, and also the detail of the kings of the dynasties of Hastinapur from Yudhishthir to Vikramaditya, are all systematically described with full calculations, and definite evidences; and, in this way, a complete chronology of the authentic history of Bharatvarsh is drawn from its very beginning (155.52 trillion years ago) and up to the 20th century.

The Bhagwatam represents the total knowledge of all the Bhartiya scriptures (including all the Darshan Shastras), reveals the sweetest form of God and shows the path of pure bhakti which is the soul of Sanatan Dharm. Being the supreme scripture, it is honored by all the Saints. It is called the maha puran and paramhans sanhita which means that it is such a great scripture which is not only for the devotees of God but it is a treasure for even God realized Saints. That’s why Vallabhacharya proclaimed it to be the final authority among all other scriptures, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said that it represents the true form of God and His devotion, Jeev Goswami expounded its theme in four of his Sandarbhs (Tattva Sandarbh, Bhagwat Sandarbh, Paramatm Sandarbh and Shree Krishn Sandarbh), and all the descended rasik Saints sang the glory of the glorious Krishn leelas of the Bhagwatam in their writings. As regards the history aspect, the Bhagwatam (between the third and eighth canto) gives a detailed description of the creation of the universe and tells all the major historical events of our brahmand since its origination. The creation theory is also described in the Taittariya Upnishad.

Accordingly, in chapter one, we have scientifically revealed the actual procedure of all the twelve phases of the creation of the universe along with the formation of our brahmand and have described the general history of Bharatvarsh of the existing kalp which confirms the continuity of Bhartiya civilization for at least 1,900 million years (leaving out some time for the formation of the ozone layer and the development of a suitable atmosphere for living).

The brahmand, in which our earth planet exists, consists of seven main celestial abodes. It also has tamsi abodes of the demons, generally called the patal lok. The celestial abode, bhu lok, which contains the earth planet, has a very specific configuration. It has seven divisions called the dweeps in which the first and smallest one, called Jamboo Dweep, has nine sections and they are called the varshas. Out of them the earth planet is one of the varshas called ‘Bharat-varsh’ which is in the material space. The rest of the bhu lok is all celestial.

The scriptural records of Bharatvarsh are so profound that even a common oblatory verse that is used in everyday rituals tells the exact location of India (Aryavart) in this brahmand and the correct period of time which has elapsed since the birth of this brahmand (i.e. 155.5219719616 trillion years). Giving the details of the calculations of the manvantars and the yugas and explaining the science of the classification of the four yugas and the differences in the sattvic consciousness of the people of the four yugas, this chapter tells the history of this kalp and gives the names of the important personalities of Surya Vansh and Chandra Vansh up to the Mahabharat war.

When people read the extraordinary stories of the Puranas, such as: Shukdeo was twelve years old when born, or some Sage had hundreds of sons, or Sage Durvasa cursed someone in anger, or Brahma produced the Sages simply by his will; an intellectual curiosity crawls into the mind of the reader as to what does it all mean. If he is fully religious minded he takes it as the Divine act, and if he is not he doesn’t know what to think about it and feels a bit skeptical.

Thus, chapter two explains the theology of all such unusual accounts that have bothered the intellectuals for a long time.

Two things are most important to understand: (1) The happenings described in the Puranas relate to the whole brahmand and not only to the earth planet, and (2) they are the Divine acts of the Divine personalities who are above mayic defilements, and thus their actions are beyond the material reasonings. You should know that all the scriptures are eternally Divine and they are protected by the Divine personality Ved Vyas, so their authenticity is always intact. (Ved Vyas is still on this earth planet, absorbed in samadhi.) Thus, instead of trying to analyze the significance of those events intellectually, one should try to understand the Divineness of those events, and should try to grasp the underlying message of bhakti to God which is imbued in them everywhere.

A material mind is accustomed to comprehending the happenings of the material plane only, but the events, accounts and the happenings described in the Puranas and the Upnishads relate to two kinds of space (material and celestial) and three kinds of dimensions (material, celestial and the Divine) and, on the top of that, all those events are categorized into seven kinds. Thus, they could only be fully conceived by the Divine mind of a Divine personality, or they could be faithfully understood as being the Divine acts by the devotional mind of a devotee. However, chapter two explains and details the Divine theology of those events and the happenings for general understanding.

*The essence of all the scriptures and the true theme of God realization, as revealed in the writings of Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj, is briefly described in the Appendix I.

(1) The four Vedas: Rigved, Yajurved, Samved and Atharvaved; Brahman, Aranyak and the Upnishads; the four Upvedas; the Vedangas: Vyakaran (Sanskrit grammar), Jyotish, Nirukt, Shikc◊ha, Cfihand and the four kalp sutras (Shraut Sutra, Grihya Sutra, Dharm Sutra and Shulb Sutra); Anukramanika; and the eighteen Puranas: Brahm Puran, Padm Puran, Vishnu Puran, Vayu Puran (or Shiv Puran), Bhagwat Maha Puran, Narad Puran, Markandeya Puran, Agni Puran, Bhavishya Puran, Brahm Vaivart Puran, Ling Puran, Varah Puran, Skand Puran, Vaman Puran, Kurm Puran, Matsya Puran, Garud Puran and Brahmand Puran.

(2) The Gita; Mahabharat; Ramayan; 18 Smritis (of which Manu Smriti, Yagyavalkya Smriti and Parashar Smriti are important); and the six Darshan Shastras: Poorv Mimansa by Sage Jaimini, Nyay by Sage Gautam, Vaisheshik by Sage Kanad, Sankhya by Bhagwan Kapil, Yog Darshan by Sage Patanjali and Uttar Mimansa (Brahm Sutra) by Bhagwan Ved Vyas.

(3) The Divine works containing the philosophy and the teachings of: Jagadguru Nimbarkacharya, Jagadguru Shankaracharya, Jagadguru Ramanujacharya, Jagadguru Madhvacharya, Shree Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Vallabhacharya, Jagadguru Kripalu Mahaprabhu, Roop Goswami, Sanatan Goswami, Jeev Goswami, Swami Haridas, Hit Harivansh, Goswami Tulsidas and Madhusudan Saraswati etc.

A summarized version of complete teachings, philosophies and descriptions of all of the above mentioned scriptures (of all the three categories) with significant quotations, along with the general philosophy of the 11 important Upnishads, is given in chapter 3. It also describes the period of the Sages and Saints who produced these scriptures and reveals their Divine significance. The Jain and Buddh religions and their philosophies are discussed. A brief life history of the important Divine personalities of the past 5,000 years is also given in this chapter. Thus, it amazingly holds the most valuable total information of all the Hindu scriptures at one place along with the brief accounts of the notable Divine personalities since the beginning of kaliyug.

It is only the ‘Grace’ of God that reveals His Divine vision and love, and His ‘Grace’ is received through humble and loving total submission to Him with a desire to receive His Grace, vision or selfless Divine love. This kind of loving submission is called bhakti in Sanskrit. Thus, only bhakti is the means of God realization. Other forms of practices like, rituals, good deeds, study of Vedant, yog and austerity, if done precisely as prescribed, increase the sattvic qualities in the mind of the doer (which is called heart purification); but they do not lead to God realization unless bhakti is added to them.

The aim of human life is to attain God realization while doing good in the world; the means of God realization is bhakti and God’s Grace; and God, Who is omnipresent in His eternal Divine personal form, is all-kind, all-loving, all-Gracious and all-beautiful. Out of His extreme loving kindness to all the souls, He instantly reveals Himself to anyone whenever a person wholeheartedly surrenders to Him in total love and dedication. This is Sanatan Dharm which is imbued with the charming sweetness of the loving magnificence of bhakti. Thus, this theme of ‘God realization through bhakti’ has been the focusing point of all the scriptures.

The Vedic sanhita and Poorv Mimansa teach about the futility of the celestial luxuries, Nyay and Vaisheshik explain the mundaneness of worldly happiness, Sankhya and Yog teach to totally renounce the world and purify your heart through the practice of samadhi, Uttar Mimansa (Brahm Sutra) and the Upnishads tell the souls to renounce the world and surrender to God to receive His Divine Bliss, Puranas emphatically advocate bhakti to a personal form of God, Gita reveals the greatness of the supreme form of God, Krishn, and the Bhagwatam combines and consolidates the themes of all the scriptures , discloses the purest form of bhakti and explains about the most loving form of God. All of these scriptures form the body of Sanatan Dharm and they are aimed to lead to God realization through bhakti.

The description of all the topics referred to above is detailed in chapter 4. It also establishes the fact that all the religions of India (which relate to the historical Divine personalities) are based on the common ground of the devotion (bhakti) to God, and thus, they are all one.

Divinity is the soul of Sanatan (Hindu) Dharm and bhakti is the essence of Sanatan (Hindu) Dharm which represents God with all of His Divine virtues. This chapter also gives the gist of the teachings of the important historical Saints, tells about the consequences of various paths and practices, gives the clues to the recognition of a true devotee of God, and explains the effects of the spiritual transgressions. Furthermore, it tells about the 24 descensions of God, out of which the descensions of Bhagwan Ram and Krishn are most important Whose Divine appearance glorified the entire brahmand. They descended in Their eternal Divine form with thousands and thousands of eternal Saints of Their Divine abode and established the supremacy of selfless bhakti. Their Divine acts (the leelas) have become the invaluable means of remembrance for the devotees of the world. This is Sanatan Dharm, the eternal and Divine Hindu religion, which also includes the Divine history of Bharatvarsh.