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Rating: 
Summary: Great Insights into Spiritual Wisdom
Review: The Secret Teachings of the Vedas is a great book to look into the lofty spiritual insights of the Vedic literature. I rarely write any such reviews, but I've been reading Knapp's books for some years now and have always found them easy to read and understand the uplifting nature of the Vedic philosophy. I also wanted to say that I don't understand how Henry Booth wrote in to say he was disappointed. It's as if he took a few points he had problems with and forgot all the other significant things in the book.
Like he says Knapp believes you only go from one physical birth to another. This is absolutely untrue since the book spends many pages dealing with the spiritual realm, along with heaven, hell, subtle realms and subtle beings. If that is not life between physical births then what is? Maybe he just didn't get that. Or did he really read the whole book? He also says that Knapp doesn't buy the Big Bang theory, which he says is a proven premise. But that depends on who you talk to. Some scientists are already saying that the Big Bang theory does not uphold the law of matter and energy, and does not properly explain how various elements could have been created. Others feel that the superclusters in space are not what would be expected from an explosive model like the Big Bang, nor would the smooth nature of the background microwave radiation that is detected. So these and other factors point out that there has to be some other explanation. So maybe there is good reason why the Vedic literature does not support what some think is the Big Bang.
So these theories are changing, as is always the case in science. But the Vedic literature does say that the universe is expanding, which is the premise from whcih the Big Bang theory was developed. So it perturbs me when someone writes a review of something based on their own lack of information. So let me conclude that this book on the Vedic viewpoint remains a great source of spiritual wisdom and insight. There are a lot of other points that this book deals with. No one will go wrong with buying this book.
Rating:
Summary: Unlocking the door to a vast treasure house
Review: For too long, and for too many insidious reasons, the Vedas have been ignored, marginalised or just plain derided by Western scholars. They deserve far better treatment, and Stephen Knapp shows us why. Hidden in the Sanskrit texts of the ancient Vedic writings one can find sublime knowledge on every imaginable subject. The author is doing a great service by making this knowledge easily accessible, and anyone searching for answers to life's problems could much worse than start looking here. Well done Mr Knapp.
Rating:
Summary: Unlocking the door to a vast treasure house
Review: For too long, and for too many insidious reasons, the Vedas have been ignored, marginalised or just plain derided by Western scholars. They deserve far better treatment, and Stephen Knapp shows us why. Hidden in the Sanskrit texts of the ancient Vedic writings one can find sublime knowledge on every imaginable subject. The author is doing a great service by making this knowledge easily accessible, and anyone searching for answers to life's problems could much worse than start looking here. Well done Mr Knapp.
Rating: 
Summary: The spiritual Journey to Mysterious Horizons
Review: Stephen Knapp's book focus on eastern answers to the mysterious horizons explaining the theories about the universe, the souls, life after death and the ideas of the Absolute Lord. It's an indepth introduction to vedic teachings. The easter philosophy is well explained with Chapters one to four giving clear insights into who and what is your real identity and vedas give an understand as to what life really is. Chapters Two and three explain how vedas influence great men of the decade and the vedic background info of its compilation. Fifth chapter focus on Law of Karma and reincarnation. The sixth chapter is on reincarnation of different lives in different bodies. Chapter seven describes a little about universe structure and heaven n hell. Chapter eight reveals the evolution theory and vedic spiritual growth with a cycle of repeated birth and death. Chapter nine gives an insight of human existence. Tenth and eleventh chapter explain how God is Supreme Power whose influence should be recognized in our everyday Life.Chapter Twelve speaks of spiritual world which is found only in vedic literature. I remember reading 'Our Daily Bread' booklets and having read Bible stories & Bhagwad Gita parts, do feel that Vedic Literature stands class apart when it comes to spiritual knowledge and it demands understanding and indepth reading.As most of vedic philosophy scholars know, originally refer original four vedas : The Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva Vedas. The book on Vedas refer to upanishads, Vedanta sutras, Brahmanas and aranyakas - all the texts revealing knowledge whereas the remaining parts of Vedic literature consists of the Mahabharata, Bhagwad gita, Ramayana and Puranas.Stephen's Book is must read for people who are trying to understand human evolution and existence and how to attain happiness, cause of suffering, real unity between us, how to achieve freedom, how to achieve individual and global peace, law of karma and incarnation, the Absolute - Supreme God realization and much more.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing walk through spirituality and the meaning of it all
Review: This book oozes truth. Knapp is absolutely fantastic, if somewhat detailed. It's one of those books that takes a long time to read - you just have to chew on it bit by bit. If you are searching for meaning and the answers to the deepest questions, begin here. If you've "decided" on your spiritual views, you should still read this amazing book. It will change you for the better, no matter what your beliefs.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Virtually all the reviews on the Amazon.com site gave this book 5 stars so I had high expectations of this book. The book can't be faulted in its style of writing which is easy to follow - the issues I had were with the theology and "science". For example, Knapp rejects the idea that the universe started with the "big bang" which has pretty much been proven by scientists & nobody except a few fundamentalists rejects this any longer. The idea that the universe is bounded by a layer of earth & water is also pretty ridiculous. Knapp's argument against evolution of the eye is also pretty old and has been refuted by biologists such as Dawkins.
Regarding the theology, I can't accept the idea that after death you are immediately plunged into a new physical body (animal or human) without having the chance to review your life & have some kind of input about what happens next, as has been explained by Michael Newton, Robert Monroe & various others. The idea that having sex outside of marriage will mean that you have to embrace a boiling hot body as punishment after death is barbaric and belongs back in the dark ages. But if this is what the Vedas teach then I can't fault Knapp's explanation of it in the book.
On a positive note, Knapp's writings about detatching yourself from the material world are quite good & worth reading. The section on seeing spiritual India is good and there are lots of photos of temples which really makes one want to visit India at some point.
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