Harry Terhanian.com

Perhaps the most sought after part of the Six Thousand Years of Wisdom Book of the Armenians is the part that teaches how to attain miraculous mystical powers. These powers seem to defy the laws of nature. It is for this reason that the ancient wise men who compiled this book kept it for a select elite group of enlightened souls who would not use it for evil purposes. Such powers wrongly used could exploit masses of innocent people and eventually enslave them to cruel despots.

I will explain the eight important powers that were delineated in the Vetz Hazaria that were possible to master with the appropriate teacher and a completely submissive student. These eight powers were never meant to be used for evil purposes. However, human nature is such that when one becomes excessively powerful, the tendency is to want to control and dominate nature and people. It should be understood that all powers and capabilities come from God, Who is the supreme controller, owner, giver and retriever of all powers. He can give and just as easily take back any power, wealth, knowledge, or capability that He bestows on a living being. The quality most important to cultivate in order to receive and correctly use such incredible powers is complete submission to the will of God and His pure representative or holy teacher and unflinching willingness to serve only the purpose ordained by God and not any selfish desire for self-indulgence.

In the Bible, we read that Jesus Christ was able to multiply a few loaves of bread and a few fish in such quantity that he fed 4000 people. His mother Mary gave birth to Jesus immaculately without any seminal discharge of her husband Joseph. He also revived Lazarus from the dead. On the Sea of Galilee, He walked on water. Before his arrest by the Roman soldiers, he predicted that Peter would betray Him. He rose from the dead and appeared among his disciples for 40 days and then rose to heaven in the same body that was crucified. After being tortured on the crucifix for an entire day, He forgave the people that crucified Him before he died. These are all manifestations of incredible mystic powers that Jesus exhibited as part of His ministry without trying to exploit them for personal profit. The following discussion will help us understand what these mystical powers are. I will use the original Sanskrit names to describe them. Mystic perfections are called Siddhis. One who possesses them is called a Siddha.

Anima siddhi is the ability to reduce oneself to the size of an atom. A human being who has mastered this perfection can become smaller than the smallest thing and enter even into solid rock and pass through it at will. There is no barrier that the Siddha cannot traverse. This seems impossible to imagine. Yet, modern science has partially achieved this art. Using machinery, it is possible to bore holes that penetrate rocks. With this machinery, man can build tunnels underground and roads that go through mountains. This is a rough approximation of the anima siddhi using modern technology.

Mahima siddhi is the power to expand oneself to an infinitely large size. One can also become heavier than the heaviest object. By such incredible expansion of size one can perform unimaginable feats such as space travel and traversing long distances quickly. One also can lift very heavy objects such as mountains.

Laghima siddhi enables one to become weightless as if lighter than a soft feather. One can float in the air or walk on water. With this power, it is possible to use the rays of the sunshine to travel to the sun. In other words, one can travel anywhere in a few seconds.

Prapti siddhi is described as the power of acquisition. One can extend his hand any length and take whatever he wants. He can even touch an object on the moon or anywhere in the universe. He can take a fruit or anything he desires from thousands of miles distance.

By the potency of Isita siddhi, one can create or destroy and entire planet simply by his will power. This siddhi permits a person to manipulate and control the material energy even to the point of creating a living being. The person who possesses this power is not equal to God by any means, but to ordinary people he seems to be all powerful.

One who possesses Vasita siddhi can bring anyone under his control. This is a type of hypnotism which is almost irresistible. Hitler had a near hypnotic power of speech when he addressed huge crowds of Germans.

The siddhi called Prakamya enables one to achieve anything he desires. A person who possesses Prakamya siddhi is never frustrated in achieving any desire in this world. It acts to create wonderful effects within the scope of nature. This power is within the realm of nature and possibility.

The most powerful of all siddhis is Kamavasayita. This is an advanced mystic power or supreme magic that permits one to contradict nature and do things that are normally impossible. One is capable of achieving the impossible including the creation of an alternate universe. By this siddhi one can assume any shape or form desired and obtain anything from anywhere to satisfy his wildest dreams.

Human beings have the ability to achieve these siddhis, but they are rarely attained because it requires many hundreds and thousands of years of severe austerities to master powers thoroughly. Often, one may partially master one or more of these powers to dazzle uneducated such people and exploit them.

In the life of Jesus, we see that He was able to master many of the siddhis and use them for the betterment of humanity. His goal was to spread the glories of His Father. Ultimately, He accepted to sacrifice Himself for the sins of others.

There are still a rare few teachers who can train a sincere student in these mystical arts. But, one must first be recognized by such a teacher and then pass the test of the teacher. The test has three main criterions: complete submission to the teacher, asking only serious questions aimed at spiritual progress and offering unselfish devotion and love for God. The mind of the student must be completely pure of any desires for sex and gross material desires.

The desire to attain the above material mystic perfections is itself a material desire. Even though these mystic perfections are motivated by material desire, one can still attain them if the attempt is mixed with pure desires to serve God. Without any trace of service and love for God, it is impossible to attain such powers. But the nature of even a small touch of material desire is so contaminating that once one has achieved the mastery of such powers it is very easy to fall prey to misusing them for material profit and prestige.
Every human being has a limited range of exercise of free will. Therefore, after many years of severe austerities to master the siddhis, one may use them uniquely for a spiritual purpose like Jesus Christ, or become intoxicated with the powers and misuse them for personal aggrandizement. God never interferes with our exercise of limited free will.

The siddhis are mastery of material powers. They are not spiritual. One can use them for a spiritual purpose. An airplane is a complex machine that can exhibit some of the perfection of Laghima siddhi or defying the law of gravity and acting as if one is weightless. There are commercial airplanes that transport people and merchandise and there are warplanes that carry bombs meant for destruction of people and property. Both uses are being manifest by the will of the people who are using the airplanes.

Similarly, siddhas have the choice to use their mystic powers for good or evil purposes. Even though they follow a quasi-spiritual process to attain the powers, after mastering them, they can still decide to misuse them for selfish and destructive purposes. Jesus was tempted by the Devil who promised Him even more supernatural powers if He rejected God. But, Jesus stood steadfast and commanded the Devil to leave. Therefore, mastery of the siddhis is not the ultimate goal of spiritual life. They can become an impediment to progress in spiritual life if one misuses them for a material purpose.

There are five major ways to attain power in this world. They all require very strict adherence to discipline under the guidance of a spiritual teacher. They are the following:
1- performing ritual sacrifices for attainment of material opulence and making some spiritual advancement;

2- acquiring tremendous knowledge of what is impermanent and what is eternal so that by discerning of the two one can dedicate himself to advancing toward the goal of liberation from birth and death. Usually this path leads to an impersonal liberation or a neutral state where one attempts to merge into the spiritual light emanating from the Body of God where one attains a sense of homogeneous oneness with God and eternal peace. This goal is however an incomplete understanding of God and eventually one may fall down again to the mortal plane due to a material desire for variety and relationship. The sense of oneness with God precludes any possibility of love and service because one must annihilate individuality to merge into the state of absolute oneness;

3- attainment of the siddhis by which one can work miraculous feats that are material in nature but very dazzling when manifest to common people;

4- the fourth path is pure love and devotion to God without any material motive such as the above three. With a pure heart one serves God without any motive other than to please Him and without any expectation of a return benefit. It is total surrender to the will of God with the only purpose of pleasing Him. One is not interested in liberation from birth and death as long as one may continue to serve God in heaven or hell or in the eternal spiritual world above the material heaven. The sincere lover of God depends entirely on the good will of the Lord in all endeavors. He or she is not influenced by success or failure. In spite of any obstacles due to sickness, old age, poverty, natural calamities, etc., one continues serving without being disturbed. Such purity is rarely achieved because most people expect to gain something by sacrificing their time and energy. When God is pleased by the sincerity of His sincere servant, He gives Himself and all His attention to His servant. An amazing reciprocal relation develops that defies all imagination and material rationality. God possesses all opulence, knowledge and He is the master of all mystic perfection. Therefore, His sincere servant does not have to separately attempt to achieve these material facilities. He simply depends on God’s Grace and obediently serves the will of the Lord without any material expectation. He works under the protection of the Lord and without any trace of material contamination or influence of lust, anger, greed, envy, madness and illusion;

5- the fifth path is one of envy and insubordination to the will of God with the intent of overthrowing the dominion of the Lord by misleading the unwitting masses of living entities. In this path, one commits ever increasing and progressively hideous sinful acts that confer a sort of increasing power to the miscreant. The irony of this path is that the adherent receives facilities and power from God but chooses to misuse them for personal gain and out of envy of the Lord. Ultimately, such evil persons are defeated by the omnipotent Lord who gives them many opportunities to relent and repent for their sinful activities. The powers they attain are given by the Lord and as they become more and more defiant, the Lord gradually and painfully withdraws their powers until they are totally bereft of any facility to do evil.

There is much more to be said about these siddhis and their subordinate powers that one can attain. It is a vast subject that requires deep thought to understand them. One should know however that the path of devotion and love for God far surpasses any amount of mystic power one can get by mastering the siddhis. All material perfections are limited in time and space. But pure love of God goes beyond the limits of this material world because one enters into the spiritual world of eternity, bliss and knowledge with full individual identity to reciprocate loving exchanges with God and His associates eternally without the destructive influence of time and the temporary forms of material nature. One enters the spiritual world with a spiritual body that is timeless and without any of the frailties of the material body that covers our soul in this material world.

The following is a post I wrote earlier that I am again posting. I will add to this post and complete it with more information in the near future. There is a natural fascination with the Vetz Hazaria and thirst to learn about it which begs to be satisfied by seekers of the truth. We are forced to piece together information about the Vetz Hazaria from different sources because it has been kept secret for so long. In a future post I will explain my methodology for researching and determining the validity of the information I am sharing. Naturally, some people will claim that I have no real proof of any of the statements I am making and I am simply speculating about the contents of the Vetz Hazaria. Harry Hampartzoum Terhanian

When I was a young boy, I was taken care of by my great auntie. She was my grandmother’s sister from my mother’s side and we called her Morkor (short for morakouyr which means mother’s sister). Morkor was my essential link to the traditions and legends and spirituality of Armenia. She survived the Turkish massacres of the Armenians although she had to walk from Malatia, Turkey to the desert of Syria like my mother. As she was older than my mother, she was kidnapped by Arabs and forced into a harem. After she gave birth to a child, she tried to escape with her baby. The Arab caught her and left her for dead after stabbing her. Fortunately, she survived as did her child. She made her way to Aleppo and finally with the help of my mother, who also survived miraculously, she came to the USA. One day, she told me about the Six thousand secrets of wisdom which is called vetz hazaria in Armenian. All she said was, “If you are fortunate enough, God will let you read the vetz hazaria and you will have all the knowledge possible for a human being.” Her words have always remained in my mind. Recently, I read Song of America by George Mardikian. I was pleasantly surprised to see the following short paragraph about vetz hazaria. “Der Haroutum had read the vetz-hazaria. To understand how important this was, you must know that the title means “six thousand secrets of wisdom.” There are only four or five copies of the vetz-hazaria in existence. They are all ancient and massive volumes, that have been written by hand on parchment. Very few are ever allowed to see and read them. Their whereabouts is a secret. In the history of my country, the readers of the vetz-hazaria have formed, down through the centuries, almost a mystic order, to whose members has been handed down the wisdom of the ages. And Der Haroutun, my father’s uncle, was one of them. This accomplishment - the reading of the “six thousand” - set him apart, as a star is set apart from the earth. It made him almost a god of learning. When the villagers wanted advice on family or spiritual matters, when they wanted important letters written or needed medicine for their children - in short, in the crises of their lives - they came to see my father’s uncle, because he had read the “Six Thousand.” (Song of America - George Mardikian, p. 4) What my Morkor said about the vetz hazaria was true. However, it was mysterious and seemingly out of reach. If a certain book or tomb is such a valuable source of knowledge, then why should it be kept so secret? The Bible, Koran, Buddhist writings and the vast Vedic literature is available for the edification of humanity. Why would the Armenians keep the vetz hazaria secret and accessible for only a very few like Mardikian’s father’s uncle Der Haroutun? To further complicate matters, I found that an Armenian man named Arthur Armin made a film called “Noumenon,” which purports a fable- like esoteric history of the vetz hazaria. Most of Armin’s film portrays events in Armenia, against the backdrop of the Biblical Mount Ararat. Supposedly six thousand years ago, a priestly elite convened a secret universal congress at the main temple seemingly dedicated to the cult of the Sun, nestled in the bosom of Biblical Mount Ararat. The secret council of the high priests of the twelve supreme temples (it is not clear where the other eleven temples are located in the world), which governs the world, resolves to destroy all existing cuneiform tablets that contain esoteric knowledge and guidance with regard to accessing an alternate universe/reality. Moreover, the council decides to limit the oral transmission of such information, considering that the spiritual/ theocratic class has begun to lose its authority, ceding power to the fledgling priestly class. The council finds that the exercise of secret knowledge in the absence of the highest spiritual principles and wisdom might endanger the very existence of humanity, especially in the future. Menua, a young priest at the temple of the sun, is among a few to be entrusted with the secret knowledge and given the right to acquire supreme spiritual enlightenment. As Menua undergoes a spiritual transformation on the path to reaching enlightenment, he sees the future – specifically, our present time – as well as his own reincarnation as a physicist. First, it is interesting to note that the title of the film, Noumenon, is a philosophical word which has a classical meaning from Greek philosophy and a newer meaning from the German philosopher Kant. If we accept the classical Greek meaning of the word used specifically by Plato, then the following describes the word’s meaning. Plato claimed there were two realms. One, the inferior realm, is the material, physical world perceived through the senses (eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin). He called this material realm the phenomenal world where there are temporary, material objects that can be perceived with our limited senses of perception. The other, the superior realm is the world of the immaterial, the spiritual, the world of realities not accessible to the body’s limited senses. Plato called it the noumenal world because it could not be perceived with the gross material senses of the body. It could be understood with a superior intellect that was completely free of mundane illusion. Plato claimed that all the forms we perceive in this material world are merely imperfect and temporary, shadow reflections of perfect, eternal forms in the superior realm. Only a person who is completely liberated from “the cave of illusion,” where there are only shadow reflections of forms, can come out into the light of pure knowledge and see the real, eternal forms. If we accept this Platonic definition of the word noumenon, then Armin’s depiction of what happened six thousand years ago on Mount Ararat becomes plausible. The priestly council of the world’s elite sages sit in council and decide “to destroy the cuneiform tablets that contain esoteric knowledge and guidance with regard to accessing an alternate universe/reality.” Then a young priest, named Menua, and a few others are chosen to receive the supreme knowledge of enlightenment and they constitute a select elite for the secret knowledge. Accessing the alternate universe or reality is very similar to Plato’s superior realm populated with eternal, perfect forms. Thus, the Vetz Hazaria was a book of ancient wisdom that revealed how a sincere person could attain eternal life in a state of perfect harmony with God in the spiritual world where eternity, bliss and ever increasing love are experienced. It also contained practical knowledge of this world by which an enlightened person could avoid most mundane problems and attain the freedom to attain their cherished goal of liberation from temporary mortal life. According to Mardikian, a few copies of the Vetz Hazaria were present when he was still a young boy in Western Aremnia. These were reserved for a select number of chosen men who could benefit the lives of ordinary people with this ancient wisdom. The chosen few could impart knowledge how to live successfully in this world and when appropriate they could recommend that a few could access the higher knowledge of total emancipation.

I will summarize the main sections of Vetz Hazaria for the benefit of all people. This precious knowledge is not subject to normal academic study. Although you will be able to read it in summary form, it still cannot be realized simply by reading. It is revealed by a descending process from teacher to student or guru to disciple. Becoming a sincere disciple of a genuine teacher or guru is required so that one receives the full revelation of the knowledge. It is impossible to simply study this knowledge academically and successfully assimilate it.

The following are the outline chapter titles covered in the Vetz Hazaria: origin of humanity, difference between humans and animals, laws of nature that regulate all living beings, the difference between the body and the soul, how to free the soul from material entanglement of the body, evolution of consciousness by understanding the five basic truths of life: who is God, who we are in relation to God and in relation to the material world, what is time, what is the material nature, what is mankind’s essential duty in life. By understanding these five basic truths of life a person can attain the ultimate goal of existence, which is pure love of God and complete liberation from the illusion of material existence. The above is a very short summary of the Vetz Hazaria. The book contains detailed information about these five basic truths of life and supplemental information about mastering certain powers of nature such as foreseeing the future, correct analysis of past and present, overcoming evil forces that may pose obstacles to the spiritual quest, maintaining physical and mental health, living in harmony with nature so that one may avoid unnecessary troubles caused by ignorance of the laws of nature, avoiding pitfalls of material nature by which one becomes hopelessly entangled in dualities, and other pertinent details to help attain the goal of life.

Ultimately, the knowledge contained in the vetch hazaria was meant to raise mankind from the animal level of satisfying basic needs such as eating, sleeping, mating and defending to reaching the full potential of human life: pure love of God. This loving propensity can be fully satisfied when it is directed to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and that is the sum and substance of spiritual life. Love occurs between persons because there is a reciprocal relationship. Unless one knows God as a person, the full range of love does not develop and one feels unfulfilled.

The loving propensity is present in all living entities, especially humans. People are taught to love country, family or oneself, but they lack the knowledge where and how to direct their loving propensity so that everyone can become happy. The basic principle of love is that both the lover and the beloved become happy by their mutual exchanges of service. From birth, the child learns to love his parents, then his brothers and sisters. As he grows up, he begins to love his family, society, community, country, nation, and continues to increase his circle of love to include the whole of humanity.

The loving propensity of the individual is so expansive that even by loving the whole of humanity, the potential of love is still not fulfilled because the ultimate object of love has not been reached. The eternal personal God or Lord Krishna, the all-attractive One who possesses all beauty, fame, knowledge, wealth, power and renunciation, is the ultimate person we seek to love. Our consciousness attains the unlimited realm of eternal love when it connects to Krishna who is the origin of all existence.

The original Vetch Hazaria text was a text of superior spiritual knowledge that could guide a person to ultimate liberation from the cycle of birth and death. It guided the way back to the spiritual world of eternal life through love and devotion to God. The Vetch Hazaria was a pre-Christian text that had its origins in Vedic History more than 6000 years ago. The Vedic history in contrast to Christian history goes back hundreds of millions of years as I explained in a previous posting entitled Curse on the Armenian People.

The Caucasian area was inhabited during the Vedic period. In fact, the Caspian sea is named after the great Vedic sage Kasyapa Muni. His ashram or spiritual abode was located in the Caucasian area. Kasyapa Muni fathered many different human races as well as many other species of life with his wives. He married the thirteen daughters of Prajapati Daksha (Aditi, Diti, Kadru, Danu, Arishta, Surasa, Surabhi, Vinata, Tamra, Krodhava??, Ida, Khasa and Muni.) Kasyapa fathered the devas, heavenly demigods; asuras, demonic races; danas, mixed races of devas and demons; and many other species that included birds, reptiles, insects, etc.

One son of Kasyapa with his wife Aditi was the incarnation of God, Vamana deva who appeared as a dwarf brahmana. The history of Vamana deva is very instructive if we want to understand the path to liberation from the cycle of birth and death. It can also reveal why the Vetch Hazaria was kept somewhat secretive by being taught by oral reception rather than widely published written form. The transmission of knowledge from teacher or guru to disciple requires specific qualification of both. The guru must be above any material contamination of lust, anger, greed, envy, madness or illusion. The disciple must be submissive to the guru in order to hear the knowledge properly as well as offer humble service and ask important questions. When the guru and the disciple are both qualified, then the knowledge is passed from one to the other without any adulteration and the goal of achieving love of God is achieved.

In ancient times there was a powerful king of the asuras or demons whose name was Bali Maharaja. His guru was Sukracarya. Bali was an obedient disciple of Sukracarya who taught him to regularly give in charity to brahmanas in order to secure his own well-being and prosperity. Sukracarya also correctly instructed Bali that the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices, penances and charity is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna who is also known as Lord Vishnu.

Bali was an obedient disciple of his guru Sukracarya, who taught him to give in charity to brahmana priests in order to secure his own well-being and prosperity. Although Sukracarya was a spiritual teacher, he was still interested in material profit and personal gain. Nevertheless, Sukracarya instructed Bali that the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices, penances and charity is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna who is also known as Lord Vishnu. He taught the truth, but followed it for personal benefit.

There was a profound difference between the behavior of Bali Maharaja and his spiritual master. Bali developed love for God because he was previously instructed by his grandfather Prahlad Maharaja in the principles of pure love free of any personal material motive. Sukracarya, however, was merely a priest of routine rituals who had not developed his service for God out of love because he was attached to material benefits for his family.

One day, when Krishna appeared before Bali for charity disguised as a dwarf Brahman named Vamana, Bali was ready to give Him anything He wanted. But, Sukracarya instructed Bali not to give anything to the dwarf incarnation who Sukracarya claimed would take away his kingdom and acquired wealth. Bali hesitated because he realized Sukracarya was contradicting the teaching of the scriptures (Vedas) and the principles of pure devotion he learned from his grandfather. Normally a disciple should obey the order of his spiritual master. Bali, however, realized that his teacher deviated from his duty as a spiritual teacher, which is to take the disciple back to Godhead. If the teacher is unable to do so and instead obstructs the disciple, he should be rejected. The goal of life is to surrender completely to the will of God and serve Him with pure love and devotion. Thus, one is freed from the cycle of birth and death and returns to God.

Sukracarya put forward a materialistic argument to dissuade Bali from offering charity to Vamana. He explained that one’s material means of livelihood and one’s reputation, sense gratification, and economic development must continue properly. A married man must consider this to be his first duty in life especially if he wants to be successful in material affairs. Sukracarya emphasized that if a religious principle or duty does not affect one’s material condition, it can be accepted and followed. This is a classic materialistic concept prominent even today. People are reluctant to accept a religious principle or duty if it hampers their material prosperity.

Bali was attracted by the beauty and humility of the dwarf incarnation of God Vamana. When Vamana approached Bali for charity, Bali immediately promised to give Him anything He wanted and gave a list of possible choices. Vamana refused any of the offers Bali made. However, he asked for three steps of Bali’s kingdom. Since Vamana was a dwarf, Bali thought He was asking for too little. How much land could a dwarf cover with his small steps? However, Sukracarya cautioned Bali that the dwarf was actually an incarnation of God who could easily extend his dwarf legs to cover the entire universe with only two steps and thus deprive Bali of everything he possessed. Then Bali would not be able to fulfill his promise of giving three steps to Vamana and thus he would be condemned to suffer.

Sukracarya used his extraordinary talents to convince Bali to renege on his promise to Vamana. Since Sukracarya was an expert in Vedic knowledge, he began to quote selected verses to persuade Bali not to give anything in charity to Vamana. He demonstrated the pernicious technique of cleverly using spiritual knowledge to further one’s personal material motives. It was difficult for an untrained person to recognize that Sukracarya was actually misleading one from following correctly the spiritual path. Fortunately, Bali had received previous instruction from his illustrious grandfather Prahlad. Therefore, he was able to detect the sophistry in Sukracarya’s presentation. After careful reflection, Bali rejected his guru’s order to refuse giving in charity to Vamana.

Sukracaraya became extremely angry at his disciple, Bali. He cursed him to lose everything he had. Actually this curse was a blessing for Bali. He was so successful that he developed the concept that he was the ruler of the entire universe and that it belonged to him. The truth, however, is that everything in creation belongs to God including our individual body, mind, words, senses, the powers of perception, the objects of perception, absolutely everything. Although Bali was a devotee of the Lord, he was attached to material possessions. The Lord appeared as the dwarf Vamana to show his special favor to Bali by taking away all his material possessions including his body, mind and senses. When Bali realized his folly of misconception, he completely surrendered everything to Vamana including his vast kingdom, his own body, mind and intelligence.

I received a sincere inquiry from an Armenian gentleman interested in finding a copy of the Vetz Hazaria. This ancient book of wisdom that has been circulating among an elite circle of Armenian mystics from remote antiquity has been known and talked about by Armenians. But, very few persons have been fortunate enough to lay their hands on an original manuscript. I received the following email.

My name is (Name withheld)

I sought your details from the internet following casual discussions with my family earlier today. The topic of discussion quickly became one of the Vetz Hazaria. As the discussing goes, my father had told me about this book which he had been told by his father, and he had been given a copy of the Vetz Hazaria. Unfortunately, as the story goes, the manuscript had been stolen.

I would like to know if you are aware of the whereabouts of a copy of this book?

Your assistance would be much appreciated .

Kindest Regards
(Name withheld)

My answer follows.

Dear (name withheld)

Thank you for your email. The Vetz Hazaria is a book of ancient wisdom dating back at least 4000 years before the Christian era. I do not have a manuscript of this precious book. But I have knowledge of its contents. To access this ancient wisdom, one must go beyond the Judeo-Christian tradition.

The origins of the Armenian identity were forged in the Vedic tradition. The Vedas are the ancient texts of knowledge of the Vedic civilization. The Vedic literature has been kept intact until today by brahman priests in India and also translated into many Western languages. The original language of the Vedas is Sanskrit.

The Armenian language is in the family of Indo-European languages. At least 12% of the root words in the ancient Armenian language called Krapar are borrowed from Sanskrit.The Vetz Hazaria is a compendium of the original Vedas which are comprised of four books called the Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva Vedas. The Atharva Veda contains all kinds of information about Ayurveda or the science of health and longevity, mystical incantations for attaining different kinds of material advantages, victory over enemies, and many more material boons. Parts of the Atharva Veda filtered into the Vetz Hazaria and many rumors abound about mystical spells and powers attained by studying the Armenian text. But, this is a minor part of the real knowledge contained in the Vetz Hazaria. The real bulk of the Armenian wisdom is about attaining liberation from the cycle of birth and death by attaining genuine love of God. There is specific information about the personality of God and how to perfect the arts required
to express the myriad flavors of dynamic love for the Almighty. This is actually secret knowledge reserved for the most advanced spiritual seekers. The mystical incantations for material power were considered insignificant compared with the highly elaborate arts of singing, dancing, poetry, music, cooking, and many more refined artistic expressions required to glorify God. Indeed, the Vetz Hazaria is a text of how to access the eternal spiritual world here and now and please the Lord by purifying one’s consciousness of lust, anger, greed, envy, illusion and madness for selfish sense gratification.

]We have all developed cataracts that obstruct our spiritual vision to see and experience the spiritual world. We only see an imperfect shadow of it due to our being enamored by temporary things and the illicit desire to enjoy them separate from God. Once this corrupted mentality is purified by the right practice of spiritual activities under the guidance of a genuine teacher, our consciousness becomes enlightened and we can see the truth of our eternal existence free of the temporary covering of matter. We can see our eternal individual soul unfettered of oppressive material desires for temporary pleasures and realigned with the desires of God for ever increasing joyful pastimes. This is why the Vetz Hazaria was kept for a select few who were willing to be trained for emancipation from false material identity based on temporary bodily relations. The body is subject to constant change. It is only a temporary envelop covering the eternal soul. The entrapment of the soul in the body, how it happened, and how one can get free of it is elaborately explained in the Vetz Hazaria. One needs a teacher to prepare oneself to assimilate this spiritual knowledge.

This is a short introduction to the Vetz Hazaria of our ancient Armenian ancestors. I am always available to share whatever I know about the Vetz Hazaria with my fellow Armenian brothers. There is so much depth of knowledge that one is awestruck by its profundity and it serves as a small sample of the greatness of the Armenian past before the Judeo-Christian era.

With kind regards,

Harry (Hampartzoum) Terhanian

I received the following reply.

Harry,

Thank you for your response. It is good to hear of your appreciation of the foundations of our great heritage.

My curiosity relates to the manuscript itself. If you do not possess the manuscript or a derivative of sorts how did you come about the knowledge of its contents?

I hope you can appreciate my need for legitimacy of the information of which I seek .

Sincerely
(Name withheld)

I replied with the following email.

Dear (Name withheld),

Thank you for your response and pertinent question. You ask,
“My curiosity relates to the manuscript itself. If you do not possess the manuscript or a derivative of sorts how did you come about the knowledge of its contents? I hope you can appreciate my need for legitimacy of the information of which I seek .”

I first heard about the Vetz Hazaria from my great auntie who we addressed as Morkor (short for Morakouiyr which means she was the sister of my mother’s mother) Both Morkor and my mother walked from Malatia to Del el Zor and witnessed unbelievable atrocities. Morkor was kidnapped by Arabs and forced to live with a man who fathered a child with her. She eventually escaped to Aleppo where her child died. Her abductor caught up with her and stabbed her with a knife and left her for dead, but somehow she survived.
My mother survived after all the women (except Morkor) and children relatives she walked with died during the forced march. She was only 7-8 years old and everyone sacrificed for her to survive. She was picked up off the desert sands by a Turkish family who adopted her and kept her for four years raising her as a Muslim. Fortunately, the Turks lost the war and many of the Armenian children were forcibly taken away from Turkish or Arabic families that adopted them. She was placed into an orphanage. My mother was eventually found by distant relatives who survived the massacres by bribing their way to freedom from their Turk captors. She was reunited with Morkor in 1924.

Morkor taught me some prayers of Krikor Narekatzi to say before sleeping at night. She would also do the ahgh sharel or the ritual of chasing away evil spirits by reciting some prayers of exorcism by Narekatzi and using salt as an anointing substance. I remember one day when she told me about the Vetz Hazaria. She said that if I could ever find this book it would reveal all knowledge for my benefit. She only mentioned the Vetz Hazaria once, but it always stayed in my mind. She did not say how I could find the text or where or who might possess a copy. She was a devout Apostolic Christian, but she knew about the Vetz Hazaria although I do not think she ever read it or was initiated into its secret teachings.

She recited some of the prayers of Krikor Narekatzi everyday as well as the morning sharagans like Ahravod Louiysoh ahrehkaguhn ahrtahr ahrehv louiyss dzahkyah. Although she only mentioned the Vetz Hazaria once to me when I was ten or eleven years old, it never left my mind. I had an intuitive feeling that I would find it one day and attain all knowledge. What she meant by all knowledge was not clear to me. I again intuitively felt that all knowledge meant I would somehow become empowered with amazing capabilities. But all this was abstract musings that faded into my memory without any specific plan of recovery. It was not until I graduated college (University of Pennsylvania) and decided to study Armenian in Beirut that my casual interest in the Vetz Hazaria was evoked again. In Beirut, I heard about a supposed Armenian mystic (fakir) named Tahyrah Bey who possessed mystical powers. I never met him but my imagination was again awakened about some mystical heritage among the Armenians that I wanted to access. After one year in Beirut, I moved to Paris to study French. During my 18 years in Paris I came in contact with many mystic teachings and societies such as the Rosicrucians, Masons, different Indian gurus and eventually the Hare Krishnas.

I met one of the headmasters of the Rosacrucians who tried to initiate me into their secret teachings. Frankly, I was not at all impressed by him. Another self-made guru, a very wealthy French Jew tried to initiate me by force into his secret teachings based on meditation leading to the development of mystical powers. Again, I was not very impressed by him. Another French man, revealed his powers of communicating with the dead. He had a spiritualist shop where he regularly led séances during which he evoked communication with dead people for their relatives. I took some interest in what he was doing but soon realized he did it more for business than for genuine spiritual elevation. I lived for some time with an Armenian Bishop who taught me many things from the Armenian Bible and prayers and I assisted him as a sub-deacon during church services in the beautiful Armenian Church in Paris. This was a rewarding experience for me and I contemplated becoming an Armenian priest.

I met some devotees of the Hare Krishna Movement when they first came to Paris. They taught me the Bhagavad-gita and told me about their guru, Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. While reading the Bhagavad-gita with the devotees, I encountered some novel ideas that impressed me. The devotees explained the following text from the Bhagavad-gita to me that opened my eyes about the process of accessing spiritual knowledge.

Bhagavad-gita? As It Is: chapter 10, verse 10

(Sanskrit transliteration)
tesam satata-yuktanam
bhajatam priti-purvakam
dadami buddhi-yogam tam
yena mam upayanti te
SYNONYMS –
tesam — unto them; satata-yuktanm — always engaged; bhajatam — in rendering devotional service; priti-purvakam — in loving ecstasy; dadami — I give; buddhi-yogam — real intelligence; tam — that; yena — by which; mam — unto Me; upayanti — come; te — they.
TRANSLATION
“To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.
PURPORT
In this verse the word buddhi-yogam is very significant. We may remember that in the Second Chapter the Lord, instructing Arjuna, said that He had spoken to him of many things and that He would instruct him in the way of buddhi-yoga. Now buddhi-yoga is explained. Buddhi-yoga itself is action in K???a consciousness; that is the highest intelligence. Buddhi means intelligence, and yoga means mystic activities or mystic elevation. When one tries to go back home, back to Godhead, and takes fully to Krsna consciousness in devotional service, his action is called buddhi yoga. In other words, buddhi-yoga is the process by which one gets out of the entanglement of this material world. The ultimate goal of progress is Krsna. People do not know this; therefore the association of devotees and a bona fide spiritual master are important. One should know that the goal is Krsna, and when the goal is assigned, then the path is slowly but progressively traversed, and the ultimate goal is achieved.
When a person knows the goal of life but is addicted to the fruits of activities, he is acting in karma-yoga. When he knows that the goal is Krsna but he takes pleasure in mental speculations to understand Krsna, he is acting in jñana-yoga. And when he knows the goal and seeks Krsna completely in Krsna consciousness and devotional service, he is acting in bhakti-yoga, or buddhi-yoga, which is the complete yoga. This complete yoga is the highest perfectional stage of life.
A person may have a bona fide spiritual master and may be attached to a spiritual organization, but still, if he is not intelligent enough to make progress, then Krsna from within gives him instructions so that he may ultimately come to Him without difficulty. The qualification is that a person always engage himself in Krsna consciousness and with love and devotion render all kinds of services. He should perform some sort of work for Krsna, and that work should be with love. If a devotee is not intelligent enough to make progress on the path of self-realization but is sincere and devoted to the activities of devotional service, the Lord gives him a chance to make progress and ultimately attain to Him.”

This verse taught me that spiritual knowledge is not academic. It is revealed to one who humbles himself to become a sincere servant of God under the tutelage of a genuine teacher who is himself a surrendered servant of God and in a lineage of disciples of pure servants of God. Through service and dedication, God reveals the innate knowledge of one’s eternal relationship with the Almighty. Just like a child may not remember being born from the womb of his mother, but he is sure he spent time in the womb and was pushed out at birth. We may not remember being with God originally, but it is sure we were and we can again attain that proximity with our origin by a process of cultivating knowledge of who God is by hearing of His qualities, pastimes and many other facts of spiritual existence.

Up until that point in my life I was involved with acquiring academic knowledge which is an ascending process of attending classes, study, passing tests, and eventually getting a degree with teachers who are versed in academic knowledge but who may or may not have any qualification spiritually. Academic knowledge today is attained by following the atheistic humanistic process of education where any reference to a supernatural being as the cause of creation is strictly denied. There is no reference to a divine being as the origin of creation. The humanistic approach to education is based on the dictum that man is the measure of knowledge and it is only through scientific research and man’s reasoning powers that one can attain knowledge. Such materialistic knowledge is used in the attempt to control nature for making man’s existence more comfortable and the end result is to have as much sense gratification as possible. Bodily comfort and bodily identification are emphasized as opposed to cultivating universal spiritual knowledge of our soul and its eternal relationship with God.

Revealed knowledge requires that one approach a genuine spiritual master with three attitudes that demonstrate one’s sincerity: humility, ask important snd serious questions about how to advance in spiritual life and offering unalloyed service according to the teacher’s instructions. Once the disciple manifests such sincerity of purpose, the teacher begins to answer his questions based on bona fide knowledge that can be verified from ancient texts such as the Vedas. There is no room for speculation or personal opinion.

There is a triangle of verification that one must adhere to in order to verify if something it true or not. The three points of the triangle that must confirm each other are the original Vedic scripture, the previous recognized saints in the lineage of pure disciples and the present teacher or guru. If the three points do not validate each other, one cannot accept whatever is being taught as bona fide knowledge.

The immediate question is what scripture is bona fide, who are the previous saints in the disciplic succession and who is the present teacher and what are the qualifications by which one can recognize and confirm such a teacher? I was in a dilemma with these three questions because many traditional religions have their own scripture, disciplic lineage and present teachers. Which one was the right one and how does this coincide with the Vetz Hazaria? I will answer these crucial questions later if you want to know. Right now, I will proceed to answer your question of how I came to know about the contents of the Vetz Hazaria.

Once I took a serious interest in Vedic Knowledge and the process to receive it, I decided to join a temple ashram and submit myself to selfless devotion with no expectations. It put me back into harmony with God and nature. I changed from being God’s competitor to becoming God’s servant. This transformed my perception of reality and how I relate to the world and others.

After 40 years on this journey of surrender, I began to discover more details about the Vetz Hazaria. I became acquainted with the work of an Armenian scholar named Gevork Nazaryan. Please look at the webpage named Armenian Highlands. Then look at the Encyclopedia and click on it. Then click on Saint Mesrop Mashtots and then click on the Renewal. Somewhere in the middle of the article with many illustrations about the genesis of the Armenian alphabet and the research Saint Mesrop Mashtots did in the ancient pre-Christian Mehrian monasteries still existing in his time near Armenia, you will see references to the Harers or ancient Sanskrit mantras chanted in the Armenian Highlands for attaining spiritual consciousness. Nazaryan correctly points out that these same ancient mantras are preserved today in the Hare Krishna Mahamantra Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. This was the key that opened my eyes to the Vetz Hazaria’s contents.

I have been chanting the Hare Krishna Mantra over forty four years. Man in Sanskrit means the mind and tra means deliverance. By chanting the Hare Krishna mantra and following the process of surrender to the will of God, the wonderful experience of revealed knowledge blossoms in one’s consciousness. As Socrates also explained, real knowledge is not learned but remembered because it is innate as our eternal soul. We were originally with God but due to misuse of our free will we separated ourselves from God. With such a rebellious mentality, we were placed in this material world with a temporary covering of the soul called a material body. The body is a complex instrument that is made to permit us to accomplish our material desires. But in the attempt to gratify our senses independent of God, we become entangled in the laws of karma that binds us to a cycle of repeated birth and death through 8.4 million different species of life. It is only in the human form of life that we have a chance for self- realization. It is possible if we meet a genuine teacher who can guide us properly to free ourselves from the clutches of material illusion and selfish bodily centered activities. These activities continue as long as we are in illusion by false concepts and speculative theories about the purpose of life.

Gevork Nazaryan has researched extensively through ancient manuscripts. I am sure he has permission to enter the Matenadaran Museum in Yerevan where there is an amazing collection of ancient manuscripts. Through his studies he has compiled a significant amount of pre-Christian and early Christian information about Armenia. Unfortunately, when Armenia became Christian, there was a brutal effort by Saint Gregory and the many foreign Christian priests he imported into Armenia to completely eradicate all traces of pre-Christian Armenian culture and spirituality. The Armenian Christians destroyed Vedic temples in the area of Mush and Sasun and many other pre-Christian “pagan” temples and their centers of learning along with manuscripts of precious knowledge that would have clearly established the debt Armenia had to the ancient Vedic literature and civilization. The merciless treatment of the non-Christian temples and monasteries in Armenia was instrumental to depriving us today of precious details of our origins in the Vedic past. Please see the following ancient text “History of Daron by Zenob Klag.”

Zenob was a Syrian priest who became a disciple of Saint Gregory. He wrote the history of how Armenia became a Christian country. He focused on the conquest by King Drtad and Saint Gregory of the “pagan” temples and especially the Hindu temples in the region of Daron (the area where the ancient towns of Mush and Sasun were located west of Lake Van and which is considered the cradle of ancient Armenian civilization. You can find a French translation of Zenob’s book athttp://haybook.wordpress.com/classical-armenian/. Scroll down the home page to the end where you will find a copy of Zenob’s book in a French translation. You will also find “Hindoos in Armenia” written by Dr.Mesrob Jacob Seth edited by the webmaster from Armenians in India, 1982-Published by Armenian Church Committee of Calcutta. Dr. Mesrob’s book is in English and retells the history from Zenob’s book. You can Google Dr. Mesrop’s book.

Gevork Nazaryan establishes through his scholarly study of ancient Armenian manuscripts that chanting the “harers” reveal the origin of creation (ehoutioun or existence), how the soul comes down into the material world of matter and ignorance, and how the soul can be liberated and return to God. The following quotes are from Nazaryan’s article about how Mesrop Mashtots founded the Armenian alphabet. (See the above referenced article under the heading Renewal)
THE LAST — SEVENTH CHANT — INVOKES THE RETURN
OF THE SOUL-SPIRIT TO THE SOURCE/FATHER [EATSUM -- GODHOOD] FINAL STATE.
Nazaryan further says that “THE [H]ARS [KRIST CONSCIOUSNESS] WERE CARRIED TO ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD BY ARMAN WISDOM SEERS FROM THE SACRED ARMAN/ARMIN/ARMEN [IRMIN] HIGHLAND.”
It is very significant that Nazaryan notes the (H)ares are synonymous with Krist consciousness. The name of Christ (Jesus) in English is derived from the Greek word Christos (which is also the Armenian word denoting Jesus Christ). Christos is derived from the ancient Sanskrit word Krista which is the diminutive form of Krishna, the name of God in Sanskrit which means the all attractive Supreme Personality of Godhead who possesses all beauty, power, knowledge, fame, wealth and renunciation. Krishna also means the one who can stop birth and death. In other words Krishna is the name of the personal God from whom everything else emanates in the ancient Vedic tradition. Jesus Christ means that Jesus is the son of His Father Christ-Christos-Krista-Krishna.
Therefore, Nazaryan very correctly states the following:
MANY OF THE HOLY CHANTS WERE PRESERVED IN THE
MUCH RENOWNED AND STILL PRACTICED VEDIC MANTRAS
INCLUDING THE 8-FOLD MAHA-MANTRA OF RAMA KRISHNA [ARAM KRIST].
HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE
The meaning of the Hare Krishna Mantra is precisely explained by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the foremost exponent of Krishna philosophy in modern times. He writes,
“Rama and Krishna are names of God, and Hare is the energy of God. So when we chant the maha-mantra, we address God together with His energy. This energy is of two kinds, the spiritual and the material. At present we are in the clutches of the material energy. Therefore we pray to Krishna that He may kindly deliver us from the service of the material energy and accept us into the service of the spiritual energy. That is our whole philosophy. Hare Krishna means, “O energy of God (Hare), O God [Krishna], please engage me in Your service.” It is our nature to render service. Somehow or other we have come to the service of material things, but when this service is transformed into the service of the spiritual energy, then our life is perfect.” (Science of Self-realization which you can download for free from www.krishnapath.org)
This statement by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada collaborates the similar statement quoted by Nazaryan:
“THE LAST — SEVENTH CHANT — INVOKES THE RETURN
OF THE SOUL-SPIRIT TO THE SOURCE/FATHER [EATSUM -- GODHOOD] FINAL STATE.”
The Mahamantra Hare Krishna is called the great (maha) chant (mantra has two parts which is “man” which means the mind and “tra” means deliverance in Sanskrit). The Mahamantra Hare Krishna is the great chant for the deliverance of man from the cycle of birth and death so that one can return to the eternal kingdom of Krishna where there are unending activities of love and devotion between God and His intimate devotees.
The words Hare, which means the divine energy of devotion of Krishna personified by Krishna’s eternal consort Radha, and Krishna, the all attractive Supreme Personality of Godhead, and Rama, another name of Krishna which signifies He is the reservoir of all pleasure, when put together in the mantra conveys the meaning: “Oh merciful Radha, Oh Krishna, please always engage me in Your loving service.”
The Mahamantra is a sincere prayer asking God to please engage the devotee in His service eternally. There is no hint of any personal material desire in the mantra. Therefore, when one chants it sincerely, God reciprocates by engaging His devotee in the eternal activity of devotion and love. Six things happen when one chants the Mahamantra sincerely.
(1) One is quickly relieved of all miseries
(2) One feels happy
(3) One realizes that he is very fortunate
(4) One loses any desire for liberation
(5) One understands that such grace is very rarely achieved
(6) One becomes aware that such a path of pure devotion is the only way to attract Krishna to oneself
By sustained chanting of the mantra with proper guidance by a qualified spiritual mentor one can gradually attain to pure devotional service. Such pure service is characterized by six things.
(1) It is free of any material desires. The only concentration is to please Krishna.
(2) It is free of mental speculation. One supports all thoughts and opinions on authorized scriptural references like the Vedas and also cites collaborative statements of previous recognized saints. One does not venture to interpret spiritual knowledge with faulty speculative statements based on our imperfect senses and mental imagination.
(3) It is performed only for the pleasure of Krishna. Whatever is offered to Krishna with devotion is offered according to Krishna’s personally stated desire in scripture. If He desires milk, we do not offer
wine. The purpose is to render service favorably to the Lord.
(4) The devotee does not demand anything in return for his service.
(5) There is no interruption or vacation from the service. It is steady and determined regardless of any obstacles or material problems.
(6) There is no desire for liberation. One is satisfied in any condition whether in heaven or hell.
Further information about the state of consciousness attained by a pure devotee is given in the Bhagavad-gita.
BG 5.20: “A person who neither rejoices upon achieving something pleasant nor laments upon obtaining something unpleasant, who is self-intelligent, who is unbewildered, and who knows the science of God, is already situated in transcendence.
BG 5.21: Such a liberated person is not attracted to material sense pleasure but is always in trance, enjoying the pleasure within. In this way the self-realized person enjoys unlimited happiness, for he concentrates on the Supreme.
BG 5.22: An intelligent person does not take part in the sources of misery, which are due to contact with the material senses. O son of Kunti, such pleasures have a beginning and an end, and so the wise man does not delight in them.
BG 5.23: Before giving up this present body, if one is able to tolerate the urges of the material senses and check the force of desire and anger, he is well situated and is happy in this world.
BG 5.24: One whose happiness is within, who is active and rejoices within, and whose aim is inward is actually the perfect mystic. He is liberated in the Supreme, and ultimately he attains the Supreme.
BG 5.25: Those who are beyond the dualities that arise from doubts, whose minds are engaged within, who are always busy working for the welfare of all living beings, and who are free from all sins achieve liberation in the Supreme.
BG 5.26: Those who are free from anger and all material desires, who are self-realized, self-disciplined and constantly endeavoring for perfection, are assured of liberation in the Supreme in the very near future.
BG 5.27-28: Shutting out all external sense objects, keeping the eyes and vision concentrated between the two eyebrows, suspending the inward and outward breaths within the nostrils, and thus controlling the mind, senses and intelligence, the transcendentalist aiming at liberation becomes free from desire, fear and anger. One who is always in this state is certainly liberated.
BG 5.29: A person in full consciousness of Me, knowing Me to be the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attains peace from the pangs of material miseries.”
The verses 5.27-28 are further elaborated upon by Krishna in the sixth chapter. Krishna explains all the different processes of yoga or self-discipline for connecting eternally with God. Arjuna, the receiver of these instruction from Krishna is an active man of this world. He finds it impossible to sit down quietly in a lonely place and meditate. Arjuna politely questions Krishna in the sixth chapter,
BG 6.33: “Arjuna said: O Madhusudana, the system of yoga which You have summarized appears impractical and unendurable to me, for the mind is restless and unsteady.
BG 6.34: For the mind is restless, turbulent, obstinate and very strong, O Krsna, and to subdue it, I think, is more difficult than controlling the wind.”
Krishna answers Arjuna,
BG 6.35: “Lord Sri Krsna said: O mighty-armed son of Kunti, it is undoubtedly very difficult to curb the restless mind, but it is possible by suitable practice and by detachment.
BG 6.36: For one whose mind is unbridled, self-realization is difficult work. But he whose mind is controlled and who strives by appropriate means is assured of success. That is My opinion.”
Finally at the end of the sixth chapter Krishna pronounces His ultimate opinion.
BG 6.47: “And of all yogis, the one with great faith who always abides in Me, thinks of Me within himself, and renders transcendental loving service to Me — he is the most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all. That is My opinion.”
Therefore, the servant of God who has dedicated his or her entire life to serving the Lord favorably according to the instructions of the Lord is the most intimately united and the greatest of all yogis. All the other types of yoga, namely, performing good works (karma), developing knowledge (jnana), striving for mystical powers (astanga) are only stepping stones to the real goal which is pure unadulterated devotion (bhakti). Without bhakti, the other yogas are merely an obstacle to the real goal of pure devotion because one can become proud by the personal achievements of good works, knowledge and mystical powers and think wrongly that they have achieved the pinnacle of spiritual achievement.
One cannot attract God by becoming proud of personal achievements. One can attract God only by unalloyed devotion as was exemplified by Lord Jesus Christ, Hazrat Mohammed, Lord Caitanya, the Alvars and other Vaisnava acaryas like Ramanuja and Madhavacarya and the Armenian saint Narek and other Christian saints who have dedicated their lives to the Supreme God or His Son or His prophets without any personal motives.
Krishna summarizes His teaching to Arjuna by the following:
BG 8.7: “Therefore, Arjuna, you should always think of Me in the form of Krishna and at the same time carry out your prescribed duty of fighting. With your activities dedicated to Me and your mind and intelligence fixed on Me, you will attain Me without doubt.
BG 8.8: He who meditates on Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his mind constantly engaged in remembering Me, undeviated from the path, he, O Partha (Arjuna), is sure to reach Me.”
BG 8.14: “For one who always remembers Me without deviation, I am easy to obtain, O son of Pritha, because of his constant engagement in devotional service.
BG 8.15: After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogis in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection.”
The ancient wisdom of the Harers is preserved in the mantra Hare Krishna. One who chants sincerely and dedicates his life’s activities and thoughts to God’s service is eternally liberated from the cycle of birth and death and attains the spiritual world. The ancient wisdom of Armenia before it was corrupted in modern times was meant to liberate man from the continual suffering of birth and death so that he could attain his original abode of transcendental existence in the company of God and His pure servants. The principle obstacle to this noble goal is lust and greed for domination and enjoyment of God’s material, temporary creation. Our delusional state of mind can only be corrected by unalloyed devotion to God under proper guidance of a pure teacher.
The Bible, Koran, Talmud, Vedas and all scriptures that are meant for the benefit of humanity recommend studying and serving under a genuine teacher who is expert in the science of God realization.
BG 4.34: Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized souls can impart knowledge unto you because they have seen the truth.
BG 4.35: “Having obtained real knowledge from a self-realized soul, you will never fall again into such illusion, for by this knowledge you will see that all living beings are but part of the Supreme, or, in other words, that they are Mine.”
The Hare Krishna Mahamantra – Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare is especially given to humanity in this present age when spiritual life is very difficult because of so much misinformation, false teachers and rampant materialism. Simply by chanting the Holy Names of God Hare Krishna and Hare Rama one can easily be liberated from material ignorance and the cycle of birth and death. Because this age is so difficult, God has made the process of emancipation so simple.
Summary
Besides Gevork Nazaryan references to the ancient Vedic origins, I have also found similar themes in the research papers of James Russel. (James Robert Russell ,born in October, 1953, New York City, is a scholar and professor in Ancient Near Eastern, Iranian and Armenian Studies. He has published extensively in journals, and has written several books. He is the Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University, and sits on the executive committee of Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies. See From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) Russel writes anecdotes that shed some light about the Vetz Hazaria. You can get his published books if you have access to a university library card. One of my kids is a graduate student at the University of Washington. She has been able to get most of Russel’s scholarly books from the university library for me.

The knowledge of the Vetz Hazaria will confound an uninitiated reader. It can only be understood by a person who submits to the initiatory process as I and many previously have done. The real teaching of the Vetz Hazaria is how to get free of the oppressive influence of the material nature and its illusory pursuits based on the two components of the false ego: the desire to dominate material nature by owning and controlling some part of it, and the desire to enjoy material pleasures through our temporary body, senses and mind. Along with the control and enjoyment experience, one develops a strong attachment to the objects of enjoyment and this puts one in a state of illusion in which one becomes continually anxious to protect and preserve one’s attachments which are all destined to disappear with time. The fundamental mistake one makes is to identify with the temporary material body as the self and not with the eternal soul that is entrapped in the body. The essential knowledge of the Vetz Hazaria is how to transfer our attention and preoccupation in life from temporary material objects and goals to our eternal relationship with God (Krishna the all attractive Supreme Personality of Godhead). The unadulterated service and devotion to God is the activity of liberation from the illusory preoccupations of material life. This is the essential truth preserved in the Vetz Hazaria. It is only revealed to the most serious persons who are prepared to dedicate themselves to propagate this knowledge for the benefit of humanity. It is not sectarian, ethnic or racially oriented. It surpasses all mundane knowledge and partisanship.

When I encountered the Hare Krishna devotees and later when I actually met Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and accepted initiation from him, I practiced the life of a devotee of Krishna. I became convinced that the Bhagavad-gita and the supplemental Vedic texts such as the Srimad Bhagavatam were the original texts on which the Vetz Hazaria was based. You can only understand this by being trained as I was and gradually the revealed knowledge that comes from the daily practices and philosophical training leads to the path of liberation from material entanglement and open the door to perception of glorious spiritual world of love and devotion. Our present perception of reality is very limited because of the cataract of lust, anger, greed, envy, illusion and madness for sense gratification. Once we melt the cataract hindering our perception, we can actually see the spiritual reality that has been artificially covered. Everything is spiritual because everything comes from God and is made from God’s energies. Material vision happens when we fail to recognize the connection of everything to God. It is just like a computer with a small label that says Intel Inside. The label reveals that the microchips that make the computer work are the intellectual property of the Intel Corporation. When we develop spiritual vision we begin to understand that God or Krishna is inside. Everything works only because of the omnipresence of God as the Supersoul present in every atom and in the heart of every living entity. This transforms mundane perception into spiritual vision. Much more can be said about this, but I will stop now and let you think about it.

I am always ready to answer any questions and listen to any comments that you might want to make.

I remain respectfully yours,
Harry Hampartzoum Terhanian
425 246 8436

When I was a young boy, I was taken care of by my great auntie. She was my grandmother’s sister from my mother’s side and we called her Morkor (short for morakouyr which means mother’s sister). Morkor was my essential link to the traditions and legends and spirituality of Armenia. She survived the Turkish massacres of the Armenians although she had to walk from Malatia, Turkey to the desert of Syria like my mother. As she was older than my mother, she was kidnapped by Arabs and forced into a harem. After she gave birth to a child, she tried to escape with her baby. The Arab caught her and left her for dead after stabbing her. Fortunately, she survived as did her child. She made her way to Aleppo and finally with the help of my mother, who also survived miraculously, she came to the USA. One day, she told me about the Six thousand secrets of wisdom which is called vetz hazaria in Armenian. All she said was, “If you are fortunate enough, God will let you read the vetz hazaria and you will have all the knowledge possible for a human being.” Her words have always remained in my mind. Recently, I read Song of America by George Mardikian. I was pleasantly surprised to see the following short paragraph about vetz hazaria. “Der Haroutum had read the vetz-hazaria. To understand how important this was, you must know that the title means “six thousand secrets of wisdom.” There are only four or five copies of the vetz-hazaria in existence. They are all ancient and massive volumes, that have been written by hand on parchment. Very few are ever allowed to see and read them. Their whereabouts is a secret. In the history of my country, the readers of the vetz-hazaria have formed, down through the centuries, almost a mystic order, to whose members has been handed down the wisdom of the ages. And Der Haroutun, my father’s uncle, was one of them. This accomplishment - the reading of the “six thousand” - set him apart, as a star is set apart from the earth. It made him almost a god of learning. When the villagers wanted advice on family or spiritual matters, when they wanted important letters written or needed medicine for their children - in short, in the crises of their lives - they came to see my father’s uncle, because he had read the “Six Thousand.” (Song of America - George Mardikian, p. 4) What my Morkor said about the vetz hazaria was true. However, it was mysterious and seemingly out of reach. If a certain book or tomb is such a valuable source of knowledge, then why should it be kept so secret? The Bible, Koran, Buddhist writings and the vast Vedic literature is available for the edification of humanity. Why would the Armenians keep the vetz hazaria secret and accessible for only a very few like Mardikian’s father’s uncle Der Haroutun? To further complicate matters, I found that an Armenian man named Arthur Armin made a film called “Noumenon,” which purports a fable- like esoteric history of the vetz hazaria. Most of Armin’s film portrays events in Armenia, against the backdrop of the Biblical Mount Ararat. Supposedly six thousand years ago, a priestly elite convened a secret universal congress at the main temple seemingly dedicated to the cult of the Sun, nestled in the bosom of Biblical Mount Ararat. The secret council of the high priests of the twelve supreme temples (it is not clear where the other eleven temples are located in the world), which governs the world, resolves to destroy all existing cuneiform tablets that contain esoteric knowledge and guidance with regard to accessing an alternate universe/reality. Moreover, the council decides to limit the oral transmission of such information, considering that the spiritual/ theocratic class has begun to lose its authority, ceding power to the fledgling priestly class. The council finds that the exercise of secret knowledge in the absence of the highest spiritual principles and wisdom might endanger the very existence of humanity, especially in the future. Menua, a young priest at the temple of the sun, is among a few to be entrusted with the secret knowledge and given the right to acquire supreme spiritual enlightenment. As Menua undergoes a spiritual transformation on the path to reaching enlightenment, he sees the future – specifically, our present time – as well as his own reincarnation as a physicist. First, it is interesting to note that the title of the film, Noumenon, is a philosophical word which has a classical meaning from Greek philosophy and a newer meaning from the German philosopher Kant. If we accept the classical Greek meaning of the word used specifically by Plato, then the following describes the word’s meaning. Plato claimed there were two realms. One, the inferior realm, is the material, physical world perceived through the senses (eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin). He called this material realm the phenomenal world where there are temporary, material objects that can be perceived with our limited senses of perception. The other, the superior realm is the world of the immaterial, the spiritual, the world of realities not accessible to the body’s limited senses. Plato called it the noumenal world because it could not be perceived with the gross material senses of the body. It could be understood with a superior intellect that was completely free of mundane illusion. Plato claimed that all the forms we perceive in this material world are merely imperfect and temporary, shadow reflections of perfect, eternal forms in the superior realm. Only a person who is completely liberated from “the cave of illusion,” where there are only shadow reflections of forms, can come out into the light of pure knowledge and see the real, eternal forms. If we accept this Platonic definition of the word noumenon, then Armin’s depiction of what happened six thousand years ago on Mount Ararat becomes plausible. The priestly council of the world’s elite sages sit in council and decide “to destroy the cuneiform tablets that contain esoteric knowledge and guidance with regard to accessing an alternate universe/reality.” Then a young priest, named Menua, and a few others are chosen to receive the supreme knowledge of enlightenment and they constitute a select elite for the secret knowledge. Accessing the alternate universe or reality is very similar to Plato’s superior realm populated with eternal, perfect forms. Thus, the Vetz Hazaria was a book of ancient wisdom that revealed how a sincere person could attain eternal life in a state of perfect harmony with God in the spiritual world where eternity, bliss and ever increasing love are experienced. It also contained practical knowledge of this world by which an enlightened person could avoid most mundane problems and attain the freedom to attain their cherished goal of liberation from temporary mortal life. According to Mardikian, a few copies of the Vetz Hazaria were present when he was still a young boy in Western Aremnia. These were reserved for a select number of chosen men who could benefit the lives of ordinary people with this ancient wisdom. The chosen few could impart knowledge how to live successfully in this world and when appropriate they could recommend that a few could access the higher knowledge of total emancipation.

I will summarize the main sections of Vetz Hazaria for the benefit of all people. This precious knowledge is not subject to normal academic study. Although you will be able to read it in summary form, it still cannot be realized simply by reading. It is revealed by a descending process from teacher to student or guru to disciple. Becoming a sincere disciple of a genuine teacher or guru is required so that one receives the full revelation of the knowledge. It is impossible to simply study this knowledge academically and successfully assimilate it.

The following are the outline chapter titles covered in the Vetz Hazaria: origin of humanity, difference between humans and animals, laws of nature that regulate all living beings, the difference between the body and the soul, how to free the soul from material entanglement of the body, evolution of consciousness by understanding the five basic truths of life: who is God, who we are in relation to God and in relation to the material world, what is time, what is the material nature, what is mankind’s essential duty in life. By understanding these five basic truths of life a person can attain the ultimate goal of existence, which is pure love of God and complete liberation from the illusion of material existence. The above is a very short summary of the Vetz Hazaria. The book contains detailed information about these five basic truths of life and supplemental information about mastering certain powers of nature such as foreseeing the future, correct analysis of past and present, overcoming evil forces that may pose obstacles to the spiritual quest, maintaining physical and mental health, living in harmony with nature so that one may avoid unnecessary troubles caused by ignorance of the laws of nature, avoiding pitfalls of material nature by which one becomes hopelessly entangled in dualities, and other pertinent details to help attain the goal of life.

Ultimately, the knowledge contained in the vetch hazaria was meant to raise mankind from the animal level of satisfying basic needs such as eating, sleeping, mating and defending to reaching the full potential of human life: pure love of God. This loving propensity can be fully satisfied when it is directed to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and that is the sum and substance of spiritual life. Love occurs between persons because there is a reciprocal relationship. Unless one knows God as a person, the full range of love does not develop and one feels unfulfilled.

The loving propensity is present in all living entities, especially humans. People are taught to love country, family or oneself, but they lack the knowledge where and how to direct their loving propensity so that everyone can become happy. The basic principle of love is that both the lover and the beloved become happy by their mutual exchanges of service. From birth, the child learns to love his parents, then his brothers and sisters. As he grows up, he begins to love his family, society, community, country, nation, and continues to increase his circle of love to include the whole of humanity.

The loving propensity of the individual is so expansive that even by loving the whole of humanity, the potential of love is still not fulfilled because the ultimate object of love has not been reached. The eternal personal God or Lord Krishna, the all-attractive One who possesses all beauty, fame, knowledge, wealth, power and renunciation, is the ultimate person we seek to love. Our consciousness attains the unlimited realm of eternal love when it connects to Krishna who is the origin of all existence.

The original Vetch Hazaria text was a text of superior spiritual knowledge that could guide a person to ultimate liberation from the cycle of birth and death. It guided the way back to the spiritual world of eternal life through love and devotion to God. The Vetch Hazaria was a pre-Christian text that had its origins in Vedic History more than 6000 years ago. The Vedic history in contrast to Christian history goes back hundreds of millions of years as I explained in a previous posting entitled Curse on the Armenian People.

The Caucasian area was inhabited during the Vedic period. In fact, the Caspian sea is named after the great Vedic sage Kasyapa Muni. His ashram or spiritual abode was located in the Caucasian area. Kasyapa Muni fathered many different human races as well as many other species of life with his wives. He married the thirteen daughters of Prajapati Daksha (Aditi, Diti, Kadru, Danu, Arishta, Surasa, Surabhi, Vinata, Tamra, Krodhava??, Ida, Khasa and Muni.) Kasyapa fathered the devas, heavenly demigods; asuras, demonic races; danas, mixed races of devas and demons; and many other species that included birds, reptiles, insects, etc.

One son of Kasyapa with his wife Aditi was the incarnation of God, Vamana deva who appeared as a dwarf brahmana. The history of Vamana deva is very instructive if we want to understand the path to liberation from the cycle of birth and death. It can also reveal why the Vetch Hazaria was kept somewhat secretive by being taught by oral reception rather than widely published written form. The transmission of knowledge from teacher or guru to disciple requires specific qualification of both. The guru must be above any material contamination of lust, anger, greed, envy, madness or illusion. The disciple must be submissive to the guru in order to hear the knowledge properly as well as offer humble service and ask important questions. When the guru and the disciple are both qualified, then the knowledge is passed from one to the other without any adulteration and the goal of achieving love of God is achieved.

In ancient times there was a powerful king of the asuras or demons whose name was Bali Maharaja. His guru was Sukracarya. Bali was an obedient disciple of Sukracarya who taught him to regularly give in charity to brahmanas in order to secure his own well-being and prosperity. Sukracarya also correctly instructed Bali that the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices, penances and charity is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna who is also known as Lord Vishnu.

Bali was an obedient disciple of his guru Sukracarya, who taught him to give in charity to brahmana priests in order to secure his own well-being and prosperity. Although Sukracarya was a spiritual teacher, he was still interested in material profit and personal gain. Nevertheless, Sukracarya instructed Bali that the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices, penances and charity is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna who is also known as Lord Vishnu. He taught the truth, but followed it for personal benefit.

There was a profound difference between the behavior of Bali Maharaja and his spiritual master. Bali developed love for God because he was previously instructed by his grandfather Prahlad Maharaja in the principles of pure love free of any personal material motive. Sukracarya, however, was merely a priest of routine rituals who had not developed his service for God out of love because he was attached to material benefits for his family.

One day, when Krishna appeared before Bali for charity disguised as a dwarf Brahman named Vamana, Bali was ready to give Him anything He wanted. But, Sukracarya instructed Bali not to give anything to the dwarf incarnation who Sukracarya claimed would take away his kingdom and acquired wealth. Bali hesitated because he realized Sukracarya was contradicting the teaching of the scriptures (Vedas) and the principles of pure devotion he learned from his grandfather. Normally a disciple should obey the order of his spiritual master. Bali, however, realized that his teacher deviated from his duty as a spiritual teacher, which is to take the disciple back to Godhead. If the teacher is unable to do so and instead obstructs the disciple, he should be rejected. The goal of life is to surrender completely to the will of God and serve Him with pure love and devotion. Thus, one is freed from the cycle of birth and death and returns to God.

Sukracarya put forward a materialistic argument to dissuade Bali from offering charity to Vamana. He explained that one’s material means of livelihood and one’s reputation, sense gratification, and economic development must continue properly. A married man must consider this to be his first duty in life especially if he wants to be successful in material affairs. Sukracarya emphasized that if a religious principle or duty does not affect one’s material condition, it can be accepted and followed. This is a classic materialistic concept prominent even today. People are reluctant to accept a religious principle or duty if it hampers their material prosperity.

Bali was attracted by the beauty and humility of the dwarf incarnation of God Vamana. When Vamana approached Bali for charity, Bali immediately promised to give Him anything He wanted and gave a list of possible choices. Vamana refused any of the offers Bali made. However, he asked for three steps of Bali’s kingdom. Since Vamana was a dwarf, Bali thought He was asking for too little. How much land could a dwarf cover with his small steps? However, Sukracarya cautioned Bali that the dwarf was actually an incarnation of God who could easily extend his dwarf legs to cover the entire universe with only two steps and thus deprive Bali of everything he possessed. Then Bali would not be able to fulfill his promise of giving three steps to Vamana and thus he would be condemned to suffer.

Sukracarya used his extraordinary talents to convince Bali to renege on his promise to Vamana. Since Sukracarya was an expert in Vedic knowledge, he began to quote selected verses to persuade Bali not to give anything in charity to Vamana. He demonstrated the pernicious technique of cleverly using spiritual knowledge to further one’s personal material motives. It was difficult for an untrained person to recognize that Sukracarya was actually misleading one from following correctly the spiritual path. Fortunately, Bali had received previous instruction from his illustrious grandfather Prahlad. Therefore, he was able to detect the sophistry in Sukracarya’s presentation. After careful reflection, Bali rejected his guru’s order to refuse giving in charity to Vamana.

Sukracaraya became extremely angry at his disciple, Bali. He cursed him to lose everything he had. Actually this curse was a blessing for Bali. He was so successful that he developed the concept that he was the ruler of the entire universe and that it belonged to him. The truth, however, is that everything in creation belongs to God including our individual body, mind, words, senses, the powers of perception, the objects of perception, absolutely everything. Although Bali was a devotee of the Lord, he was attached to material possessions. The Lord appeared as the dwarf Vamana to show his special favor to Bali by taking away all his material possessions including his body, mind and senses. When Bali realized his folly of misconception, he completely surrendered everything to Vamana including his vast kingdom, his own body, mind and intelligence.