question: What is Vedic knowledge? And why it is said that the Vedas offer superior knowledge?
answer: The word 'veda' is Sanskrit and its meaning is knowledge, original knowledge. The Vedas are an ancient body of scientific knowledge reached down by a chain of disciplic succession from the time of creation. And unlike modern science they do not change with time. The Vedas hold Absolute Knowledge.
Many statements of the Vedas have been verified by modern science. The Vedas also include predictions, even of persons, that have proven to be true. Thus it is understood that the Vedas are the word of God. They are like a manual how to successfully live our lives and be happy. The instructions and advice of the Vedas offer help and solutions for all the problems of our lives and the society, as the examples of great sages prove.
The Vedas are not compilations of human knowledge. The knowledge they contain has been revealed by the Lord at the time of creation. This knowledge comes from the spiritual world. Therefore the Vedas are called apauruseya, not made by man. The vedas are often regarded as a boat to the spiritual world. Because to attain our spiritual existence we have to cross the ocean of material existence. And to not get lost in this vast ocean we need an experienced captain who can guide us savely through all the difficulties: a spiritual master.
In our present conditioned state we are suffering four main deficiencies. Even the most learned persons and scientists are subject to these four kind of principal defects: to commit mistakes, to be in illusion (to accept things as something they are not), to cheat and to have imperfect senses. So, with all these deficiencies we cannot expect to attain perfect knowledge (veda) for all our efforts will be influenced by our inevitable defects.
Although scientists are making enormous efforts to invent things that reduce the sufferings and increase the comforts of humanity, they could not find a solution for the real problems of life yet: birth, old age, disease and death.
All the technologic advances and modern gadgets are focusing on providing more comfort to man. But unfortunately these advancements cannot solve our real problems. They are just aiming to ease our sufferings, but the sufferings are still there. They do not deal with the root of our problems. This is called illusion: taking something as a solution that cannot really help us.
For instance: many people are afraid because they do not know how to get more money. And when they get a lot of money, they are afraid of loosing the money or being robbed. So the money is not the problem. The real problem is the fear because of the bodily concept of life.
So the problems are still there. This situation occurrs because we do not care about the root of all problems. We are just superficially trying to comfort our lives. So first we have to understand what is the actual problem of our lives.