Ancient wisdom is thought of having begun somewhere between 5,000 BC to 15,000 BC.
In the early times of social evolution people were intimately connected to the all encompassing Universal Energy and its inherent wisdom. There was no mention of the God or any of the religions, as we know today. It seems the universal wisdom permeated through the early beings and expressed itself instinctively in everyday behavior. It was passed on from generations to generations in form of unwritten Hymns, with several Mantras, that came to be known as Veda.
Over time the Veda evolved into four volumes: Rigveda, Yjurveda, Samveda, and Athervaveda. The Rigveda is about knowledge (Gyan or Cognition), Yjurveda is about action (Kriya or Conation), Samaveda is about feelings (Bhavana or Affection), and Athervaveda is an integrated representation of the all three.
As the number of inhabitants on this planet increased it became difficult to transfer accurate knowledge behind the Mantras. People felt a need to provide detailed explanations that came to known as the Veda Samhitas, Brahmans, Aranyaks, and Upnishads. Then came the six Vedangs for even better understanding of the knowledge that originally transcended through the sages in beginning of the civilization.
It is not known when exactly the above developments took place, quite possibly in parallel with one another. First date for a major written effort about an etymology of the Vedic terminology by Yask is known to be around 700 BC. Several small scale efforts followed thereafter, until a major commentary on Rigveda and Athervaveda by Sayana, around 1300 AD.
Not much happened thereafter until the 19th century, when a number of western scholars like MaxMuller, Winternitz, Keith, Macdonal, and Grassman curiously went after uncovering the mysteries of Veda. Since they were not trained in the yogic traditions of India, they erroneously handed the conclusion that the Vedas were just songs and prayers of primitive people in India. Perhaps their findings were driven by their latent desire to prescribe Christianity to the seemingly backward masses in India.
The 20th century marked major private initiatives to reinvigorate interest in the Vedas, lead by Dayanand Saraswati, Madhusudan Ojha, Shripad Damodar Satvalekar, Yogiraj Arvind, and Fatah Singh. Dayanand focused his attempts to nullify misleading ritualistic tendencies of the organized religious practices, to bring out spiritual values hidden in the Vedas. Madhusudan Ojha illuminated upon the existence of physical sciences in Vedas. Shripad Damodar Satvalekar attempted to bring out the socio-spiritual teachings of Vedas. Yogiraj Arvind is said to have meditated to directly to re-experience spiritualism of Veda's, closer to the ways of original sages, before his writings. Fatah Singh, with his spiritual and philological insights, took a scientifically logical approach to validate that extensive of Vedic symbolisms indeed had identical meanings throughout Vedas, with practical implications in real everyday life.
In the 'Ancient Wisdom' section we are beginning with the Dr. Fatah Singh lineage, by his students. Other scholars are encouraged to bring in different points of views as well, for publication here.
