How do the Vedas survive during the dissolution of the Universe?

Question

Lord Shiva destroys the entire Universe when the Mahakalpa ends. Brahma too attains Moksha in that pralaya.

Vedas in their personal form are also present in Brahmaloka along with Brahma. For eg. Hayagriva Asura stole the Vedas from Brahmaloka and took them to Patala and thus Lord Vishnu took Hayagriva incarnation and again restored them.

But as the BrahmaLoka itself gets destroyed during the Mahakalpa, how do the Vedas survive then? As Vedas are eternal how do they manage to survive? (for instance we say new Brahma comes after Mahakalpa but we do not say new Vedas come after Mahakalpa ie. The Vedas are eternal). How do they survive the Mahapralya performed by Lord Shiva at the end of Mahakalpa?

Answer 1

During the time of dissolution Lord Shiva doesn't destroys the Vedas because they enter the Panchakshari Mantra (Nama Shivaya) and thus Lord Shiva graces on them.

In the Linga Purana Chapter 85 "Glory of Panchakshara Mantra" Lord Shiva states to Godesses Parvati:

प्रलये समनुप्राप्ते नष्टे स्थावरजंगमे ।
नष्टे देवासुरे चैव नष्टे चोरगराक्षसे ।।
सर्वं प्रकृतिमापन्नं त्वया प्रलयमेष्यति ।
एकोहं संस्थितो देवी न द्वितियोस्ति कुत्रचित् ।।

During the time of dissolution, when all the mobile and immobile beings, the Gods and Asuras, Nagas and Rakshasas get destroyed and O godesses, all the things including you yourself get absorbed in the Prakriti then only I remain in the Universe. None else remain on earth.

Then, Lord Shiva states:

तस्मिन्वेदाश्च शास्त्राणि मंत्रे पञ्चाक्षरे स्थिताः ।
ते नाशं नैव संप्राप्ता मच्छक्त्या ह्यनुपालिताः ।।

At that point of time, the Vedas enter into the Panchakshari Mantra and they do not get destroyed because of my grace.

Thus Vedas survive themselves by entering in the Panchakshari Mantra and thus Lord Shiva graces on them.

Answer 2

The Vedas are not a bunch of hymns or mantras. They are the subtle disturbances in the infinite void that give rise to the (macro- and micro-) universe of dualities. Really and truly, they are nothing but the law of karma (or the samskaras and impressions accumulated over the course of existence, if you will) realized as such, from a place (actually a non-place) where karma does not apply. You can even think of as it as occupying a body that is free of any of the "marks" left on the "outer" bodies which interact with the phenomenal universe.

At that point of time, the Vedas enter into the Panchakshari Mantra and they do not get destroyed because of my grace.

What is meant here is simply that by meditation on the panchakshari mantra (which exercise culminates in fusion with said mantra) one transcends the world of dualities (mantra and meditator).

In this sense, the meditator can be said to fuse with the infinite void and there is no difference between the two. That is what it means to attain the Vedas, and why the Vedas must be eternal. The very existence of (the concept of) existence presupposes the Vedas, for without any eddies in the infinite void, without any subtle disturbances in Mind, the phenomenal universe would not obtain. This is sometimes expressed in the hierarchical relationship between manas, chitta, buddhi, etc.

Answer 3

Vedas should not be confused as books. They are revelations or knowledge attained by evolved people. Veda is also referred as a synonym to the brahman. The fact that the word brahma refers to the vedas and vice-versa can be inferred from innumerable mantras of the vedas

“yena devA apunata| tena divyena brahmaNA | idaM brahma punImahe|” (Y.V) “mahimAnamagnervihitasya brahmaNA” (A.V. 18-4-8) “gAtrANi te brahmaNA kalpayAmi” (A.V. 18-4-52)

The above verses are but a few examples which reveal that brahma is the name for vedas.

This shows that as brahman is eternal, same way the veda or knowledge is also eternal.

Secondly, the story of some demon stealing the vedas to Paataala should not be taken literally. Vedas is a knowledge which cannot be stolen.

Thirdly, there is no DESTRUCTION of this universe but laya, dissolution. The whole expanded universe is again withdrawn back to its original source. Hemce technically nothing gets destroyed.

Answer 4

By the Vedas are meant the eternal truths. It does not mean that the 'exact' words or text, what it means is the ideas conveyed by them. In any given cycle, the words may be different but the eternal truths revealed by them are the same.

The first mundaka verses 1-6 of the Mundaka Upanishad (I. i. 1-6) tells of the vedas coming from Brahman, their teaching by Brahma, and their division into two kinds of knowledge; the higher knowledge which teaches the Knowledge of Brahman (Upanishads), and the lower knowledge which teaches the rituals, mantras, etc. (Rig, Yajur, Sama, Atharva) and various other sciences.