When it comes to Veda Adhyayanam we can only hear the following comments. The comments can be classified as
1. Myth, 2. Social condition (stigma), 3. Practical difficulties.

Myth:
It is good….Very good … but it is not meant for me…Veda Adhyayanam is not for my son or grandson (Read - applicable only others…!!) ….
Those were olden days ….. In fact my great great grandfather was a ganapati/ somayaji etc, etc!!
Veda Adhyayanam is very, very tough
No use.. Veda Adhyayanam is only learning by heart of verses …. No practical use; Nobody knows the meaning….
Tough living conditions in patashala…. It is rigorous, in-humane
Vedam is lost and hence no scope / Veda Adhyayanam has no set grades or standards.
No body is keen on these issues and we don’t have help.

Social Condition (Stigma):
No, it won’t suit us… (Don’t ask me why!!!…)
Not definitely for our social and cultural background…..
We have no Adhyayis in our family in the recent generations …so why should I attempt this now? We shall be aliens in our family circle.
Why should we learn Vedam at all? We don’t want our boy to be a Shastrigal!!
How can we change the society? ….We ought to live the way it does…We cannot get back to the old-age!!
Resistance to life-style, dressing and eating habits
Why make your life stressful?

Practical difficulties:
Where/What is the scope???….
What shall be the future career? Purohityam is not the career that we are interested
How to make a respectable living?
Is it a proven path? Can you prove it?

Only owing to our Periyava’s efforts and tapas we see even now few Veda Adhyayis among our community. It goes to show that the practicing the ‘Preach’ is difficult.
Most Brahmin families refrain from Veda Adhyayanam only because the only career option after Veda Adhyayanam is Vaideekam (read Purohityam),

It is now required that:

We need the will to think dispassionately and think big!!


Break the Myth on the negative aspects of Veda Adhyayanam and bring people around on the importance and sanctity of Adhyayanam.

We need to indulge, implement and create right social conditions so that the stigma associated with adhyayam is eroded and positive feeling are generated about Vedam and Vaideeka way of living.

There are successful people who have done Veda Adhyayanam as a child and are engaged subsequently as Doctors, Engineers, Chartered Accountants, Lawyers, Clerks, Teachers, Lecturers/Professors, Businessmen, Upannyasakar (Discourse specialists), Management consultants etc etc . (Most such persons have been able to lead a vaideeka lifestyle too!!) Though this unique population is small, it is a sizeable ratio of the people who undertake Veda Adhyayanam. Moreover, this unique population have had no formal facilities/guidance and have done all ground work by themselves under odd circumstances. If formal facilities/guidance were available, most Adhyayis can do wonders and many more new career avenues without compromising Vaideeka lifestyle can be discovered. We need to make it possible that Veda Adhyayanam is taken as choice as sva-dharmam not as hopeless last resort alternative.

We need to take pride in our ancestry, have the will to abide by the Brahmna Dharmam and will to take some efforts towards upholding it.

With all this in mind “Samhita” plans to create the infrastructure and social conditions to make Veda Adhyayanam a natural option in Brahmin families.

3 Fold Approach

The Three fold approach

Concurrent School
There are existing Veda Patashalas and many Vidhyarthis study in these. Few of these Patashalas already have evinced interest in Samhita to be implemented in their premises. Samhita will supply teachers and study material to these Patashalas.

Samhita will ensure that its curriculum becomes a regular and essential part of the Patashala activity. It will also monitor that the subjects are taught efficiently in the limited time allotted to it and ensure continuity in teaching.

Patashalas with a minimum strength of 10 vidhyarthis would be chosen initially. The time allotted shall be 1½ hours per batch every day. The batches as prevalent in the Veda Patashalas shall be maintained so that there is no confusion and loss of time to Veda Paatham (Vedic learning).

Bridge School
The interested passed- out students from the Veda Patashala is the target for the bridge schools. This passed-out student’s suitability will be ascertained by Samhita committee. Those found suitable would be counseled about the agenda of the bridge school and trained exclusively and intensively. Bridge school shall be a residential facility and they would be trained till they pass out 10+2. During their academic studies at the Bridge school, vidhyarthis would also be taught other Vedic/Vedanta subjects common to all shakas 1½ hours every day. The bridge school pass-out would join colleges to their liking for further studies. On passing out from college many of these vidhyarthis would be the possible candidates for being teachers in Samhita. Others can pursue careers of their liking.

Model Patashala
Based on our experience as we evolve, we plan to set up a Model Patashala which would combine Veda Adhyayanam and Concurrent studies in a single place funded by the localities. The Model Patashala would be evolved to set a benchmark for the future Patashalas for not only its course content but day to day administration, funding and other matters of management.

FAQs

What is the Grand Goal??
To make Veda Adhyayanam – A natural course of Action!!

Is this a New Idea??
No - This is not a new idea – such idea has been existent even from Maha Periyava’s period

So?? - What is New Now??
•First and the Most important – now there are buyers of this idea!!!
•Take the School to Patashala not vice-versa
•Involve all sections of the community and meet their major requirements
•Learn from Past Mistakes

WHO? HOW? WHEN?
Samhita wishes to do it in a 3 Pronged Approach in the following sequence
•Concurrent School
•Bridge School
•Model & Modern Patashala

Started ??
•Yes - The concurrent school
1.Jagatguru VedaKavya Vidhya Bhavanam (Sama Veda Patashala) – Kallikuppam, Ambattur
2.SDPP Yajur Veda Patashala – Nemilichery, Chrompet
3.Adambakkam Kainkarya Sabha (Sama – Yajur Veda Patashala), Adambakkam
4. Kshetropasana -Yajur Veda Patashala Sriperumbadur

Samhita - The Interface

We are very glad to announce that His Holiness of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam has blessed the name of "Samhita" to this project.

A dedicate website is being prepared shall be put in place shortly. We blocked the domains http://www.samhita.ac.in/ and http://www.samhita.in/

Samhita - The Interface is very keen to start its operations at the earliest and is in the process of recruiting teachers.

We request you all to recommend teachers for this noble cause. The advertisement for recruitment of teachers shall shortly appear on dailies and the local tabloids. Kindly spread this message across to your family and friends so that we might get teachers at the earliest.

Wanted Teachers

Sri Gurubyo Namah

WANTED TEACHERS FOR A NOBLE EFFORT

Wanted full-time teachers (Brahmins) to teach Science, Mathematics, Samskritam, Tamil, English and Social Sciences (up to High School level) to Vedic Students in Veda Patashalas.

Qualification: Subject knowledge, innovative teaching skills, dedication and faith in Vedic Tradition
Remuneration: At par with that in good schools

Please send in your resume and details on your last salary drawn to

Samhita, No.3, 8th Street, Vaishnavi Nagar, Chennai: 600109
Tel: 26383372, 26371252
Email: interface@indiamail.com

Update - 2

2
Summary of meeting on December 27, 2007

Thank you to one and all for making to the meeting at a very short notice. I am humbled by the interest taken by the busy loukikas in the interest of Veda Paripalanam.
I hope it was a brain storming session with strong points being raised for and against the models of schools to be adopted. I hope every participant would have taken comments made by others during the discussion in the right spirit. My apologies, if any member was hurt by expressions by others during the spirited discussion.
I suppose, it would be right to summarise the meeting as under:
Apart from Divine Grace, definite syllabus, faculties, facilities, patience and perseverance of the organizers are going to determine the success of the project.
Two lines of thoughts have emanated from the discussion:-
There is a line of thought that the output generated from bridge and concurrent course of ‘Interface’ shall/may not be role models to the Brahmin society at large to emulate.
This school of thought views that a separate all encompassing Residential Vedic school (Yajur Vedam only to start with) is to be founded. The input (students) to this school would be fresher from existing Patashalas. The output from such a school can be the role models for the society to emulate.
There is another line of thought which suggests that role models need to be generated from the present lot through Bridge course, and concurrent study. There would be various grades of outputs from these courses as in any program viz exemplary, good, fair and maybe very ordinary as well.
The present lot, if well directed now, will pave way for children from affordable families as well to join Vedam if not from the elite.
It was abundantly clear that both the lines of thought were harping on one point. The presently prevailing system has a lot of scope for improvement.
It is therefore imperative that we move ahead and start working on both the thought process and initiate an action plan.
Further course of action should be – formation of a trust, creation of various working committees in the trust such that specifics are implemented.
Lets get started and the Divine help shall take us along…….

Dr.S.Venugopalan,
No.3, 8th Street, Vaishanavi Nagar,
Chennai: 600109
HP No. 9444208277