But if a student of Indian spiritual heritage wants to investigate it further and wishes to read the Vedas in the original Sanskrit (with either Hindi or English translation), is that study worth it for followers of integral yoga? If yes, it would be wonderful if you could suggest some good books to start with.
The Secret of the Vedas was my first book too, along with The Synthesis of Yoga. While it is no doubt a precious treasure (I had felt floating on cloud nine while reading it), it is certainly not enough for the Integral Yoga. Besides, apart from the conceptual understanding, the actual details of the practice for today’s practitioners is certainly not there, – in principle perhaps, but not in practice. To my understanding, the true understanding comes only with practice. Pedagogy is clearly not enough and can even be limiting in certain ways. So personally I would not recommend a study of the Vedas to the practitioners of the Integral except for the joy of understanding certain intricacies of the inner life, especially the symbols, the struggle and the journey in general. But as you are well aware, the key to this yoga lies in opening to the Divine Mother with love and surrender to Her as the main support of the sadhana. These elements came later in the Yogic system, mainly with the Gita. And the Integral Yoga goes even further. The best book for the foundation for the Integral Yoga, theory and practice, is The Synthesis of Yoga. It is the other book I received on the same day as the Secret of the Vedas.
But if one is interested only in a study of the Vedas simply for the joy of understanding the earliest writings of such profound spiritual value, then one should study Sri Aurobindo’s other volume on Vedic and philological studies, his various commentaries on the Upanishads, The Foundation of Indian Culture or The Renaissance of India. There are other writings that touch upon the Vedas in the early Essays, especially the Karmayogin, the Bengali writings and, of course, another book that I relished, Hymns to the Mystic Fire. The Upanishads, especially the Isha and the Kena, are a must for a serious student of the Vedas. There are plenty of Letters on Yoga that touch upon some aspects of the Veda just to complete the study.
If it is only the study of the Vedas that one is interested in (and not the practice of Integral Yoga), then of course one can dive into Satyartha Prakash by Swami Dayanand. I had read it during adolescence and found it quite interesting. Sri Aurobindo has also appreciated him.
This is as far as I can suggest. Personally, I had done with all this by my thirties, by which time the Integral Yoga began absorbing me more and more and of course The Mother. So as of now, I would personally hardly recommend these writings to someone who actually wants to dive into the Integral Yoga. For a sincere practitioner of the Integral Yoga, The Mother (with answers), The Synthesis of Yoga, Prayers and Meditations, Letters on Yoga and of course Savitri are enough, more than enough.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
