I shall let the Vedas speak for themselves as much as possible, making use of existing translations, always acknowledged, but sometimes changed whenever I find what I think is a better translation or a happier phrase. I am not a Vedic specialist and have especially avoided translating Rigvedic poetry. I believe this should be done by a native speaker of English or Sanskrit, which I am not.
The reader is literate by definition, but I must continue to state that the Vedas are oral compositions that have been transmitted orally. They do not consist of texts. The Sāmaveda, moreover, consists of melodies. It should be heard and if studied it must be, it should be done by someone who is at least in part a composer or musicologist. Other Vedic compositions are concerned with rituals about which Renou wrote: ‘One cannot grasp even the outward meaning from reading the text unless one is gifted with the rare virtuosity of a Caland.’ Fortunately, one can still hear recitations and study living Vedic rituals in India. One should be aware that not everything one sees is Vedic. In Kerala, for example, large brass lamps with wicks are better than electric bulbs but neither are Vedic. Nor are priests who study published texts of Vedic works instead of following the oral tradition (which may be extinct where he lives). Caland was aware that abbreviated forms of domestic rituals (e.g., birth or marriage rites) continue to be performed in India, but did not know that large Soma or Śrauta rituals had survived as well. I hope my book will help to determine questions of the authenticity of such performances whenever and wherever they arise.