Vedic knowledge impressed a German scholar so much that he sold his business consultancy firm in his country about 20 years ago to embark on a mission to spread the understanding of these ancient religious texts in India and the rest of the world.
Ever since, his enthusiasm for the task has not diminished even slightly.
Norbert Weiss, who has studied the Vedas in German, says they have the solution to every problem in the world.
He also says he uses formulas of science to prove the Vedas are a storehouse of perfect science.
“Research has proved that Vedanta is a complete science which promotes peace and welfare of one and all. Knowledge of the Vedas will promote peace and thereby prosperity across the world,” Weiss says in a chat with HT.
“The Vedas are the ultimate hi-technology, the most complex and oldest knowledge which is still alive. Please study, practise and apply that knowledge.”
He was in Varanasi for his 20th visit to speak at the International Eternal Yoga Science Convention at Jagat Shishya Ved Mandir at Tara Nagar. His guru Pandit Shiv Pujan Chaturvedi is based here
Weiss also sponsors symposiums on the Vedas and runs a yoga centre in his native Munich, Germany. This is the second such centre that he set up after the first one closed.
“I started studying philosophy at an early age. But I soon found out that western philosophy doesn’t answer my questions related to the cosmos and life. It only produces new questions,” Weiss says.
He recalls he met some spiritual teachers when they were touring Europe about 40 years ago, but only a few of them impressed him with their knowledge.
Weiss says he learned simple techniques of meditation from one such guru and practised them. Soon, he realised he would have to visit India if he wanted to learn advanced techniques of meditation.
He recalls his first visit to India in the early 1970s to seek answers to questions about the cosmos and life. New Delhi was his first stop followed by Rishikesh.
“While Western philosophy doesn’t answer my queries, the Vedas do address them,” he says.
After his yoga centre closed in the early 1980s, he started working as stock broker.
“I earned well. I never let my hectic schedule come in the way of my study of the Vedas. I meditated and studied the Vedas daily for about an hour. By the 1990s, I was fed up with the hectic schedule and quit the job.”
Weiss and his wife Susanne Weiss flew to India, spent a few months here and went back. Then he set up a business consulting firm which rendered its services to Asian companies interested in doing business in Europe.
The company did well and its clients began to trust it. But he sold his firm in the mid 1990s to begin his mission.
He has addressed thousands of Indians in over 50 symposiums, including one at the Banaras Hindu University, over the last few years.
During his visits to India, he travels between Gomukh and Gangasagar. His wife accompanies him and helps him in recording the pictures and interactions with the locals.
Weiss, who has also studied jyotish (Indian astrology), says: “Rituals associated with religious practices have nothing to with spirituality and enlightenment.”
“I want to spread the extended understanding of Vedas across the world for the welfare of mankind. I also want to establish a permanent group of Vedic pundits in order to create sattva (coherence, synergy and peace) for the world,” he says.
Such is his love for the Vedas that he has named his son Shivanand.
Hindustan Times
