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Written by Sri Swami Chandrashekarendra
Saraswati |
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The sound of the Vedas must be kept alive. For this purpose, it would be
enough if Brahmins memorised the mantras and chanted them every day.
The power of the sound, the power of the mantras vocalised, is
sufficient
to bring good to mankind. I said, you will remember, that chanting the
Vedas with faith, even though without knowing their meaning, is
“viryavattaram". The statement, however, does not fully reflect my view.
A student will have to spend many years to memorise the Vedas and
study their meaning. It is not easy to keep him confined to the Vedic
school for such a long time. I must explain here why I said that " it is
not
necessary to know the meaning of the Vedas and their sound is all we
need". To insist that a student should chant the Vedas only if he knows
the meaning of the mantras is expecting too much of him. It might also
mean that nobody would come forward even to memorise the hymns. In
that case how will their sound be kept alive? That is why I said, half
seriously and half sportingly, that “the meaning is not necessary, the
sound would be sufficient. . . . ".
There must indeed be a large number of people who can chant the Vedas
and keep their sound alive. In addition, there must be a system by which
some of them at least will be taught their meaning. That is how we have
come to be seriously involved in teaching the Veda-bhasya (commentary
on the Vedas). It is because the Vedas are profound in their import that
a
number of great men have commented upon them. Their efforts must
not go in vain.
We perform a number of rites in our home: marriage, sraddha,
upakarma, and so on, and during these functions we chant Vedic mantras
as instructed by the priest. By the grace of Isvara we have not reached
the unfortunate state of totally discarding such rites. However, there
is a
declining trend, a weakening of Vedic practices. One important reason
for
this is that we do not know the meaning of the mantras chanted.
Educated people nowadays have no true involvement in rites in which
they have to repeat the mantras after the priest without knowing the
meaning.
We cannot expect to convince people that the chanting of the mantras
(even without knowing their meaning) is beneficial. The hymns for each
function are different and also different in significance. If we
appreciate
this fact, we will realise that there is a scientific basis for them.
Besides,
they have an emotional appeal which willl be evident only when we know
their meaning. So to know the meaning of the mantras is to have greater
involvement in the functions in which they are chanted. That is the
reason why the mouthing of syllables purposelessly has come to be
[irreverently] likened to the chanting of “sraddha mantras". The meaning
of the mantras (including those chanted at sraddhas) must be understood
by the priest as well as by the performer of the rites; we must evolve a
scheme for theis purpose.
First the priest himself must know the meaning of the mantras and the
significance of the rituals at which he officiates. Today the majority
of
priests are ignorant of the meaning of what they chant. If a karta or a
yajamana (the man on whose behalf a rite is conducted) asks his priest,
“What does this mean? ", the latter is unable to give an answer. How
would you then expect the karta to have faith in the rites?
I believe that many middle-aged people today are keen to know the
meaning of the mantras. I also think that if they tend to lose faith in
rituals it is because they have to repeat parrot-like the hymns chanted
by
the priest. So we are making efforts to ensure that those who officiate
at
rituals (the upadhyayas) accquire proficiency in Veda-bhasya to enable
them to explain the meaning of the mantras.
According to the Nirukta (one of the six Angas of the Vedas) a Brahmin
comes under a curse by chanting the Vedas without knowing their
meaning.
A number of great men have written commentaries on the Vedas so as to
inspire faith in the sacraments. Sri Madhvacarya has written a
commentary for the first 40 suktas of the first kanda of the Rg Veda.
Skandasvamin has also written a bhasya on the Rg Veda. To
BhattaBhaskara we owe a commentary on the Krasna-Yajur Veda, and to
Mahidhara on that of the Sukla-Yajur Veda. In recent times, Dayananda
Saraswati and Aravinda Ghose as well as his disciple Kapali Sastri have
written expository treatises on the Vedas. Though there are so many
commentaries, the one by Sri Sayanacarya is particularly famous: many
scholars, including Western Indologists, treat it as authoritative.
There are five Vedas if you reckon the Yajur Veda to be two with its
Sukla
and Krsna divisions. Sayana has written commentaries on all the five.
Expository treatises on the Vedas had been written before him but he
was the first to write a bhasya for all the Vedas.
Though Sayanacarya's commentary had been studied for centuries, a
stage came recently when we feared that it would cease to hold any
interest for students. Those who learned to chant the Vedas, without
knowing their meaning, became priests while those who studied poetry
and other subjects did not learn even to chant the mantras. So much so
interest in the study of the Vedabhasya
declined. It was at this time that
the Sastyabdapurti Trust was formed with a view to maintain the study of
the Veda-bhasya.
When the Trust started to conduct examinations, the Veda-bhasya meant
no more than the printed text of the Vedic commentary kept in
bookshops. The publishers were then worried that not many copies
would be sold. After the creation of the Trust we gave students not only
scholarships but also copies of the Veda-bhasya. Our worry now was
whether there would be enough copies in stock for fresh students. It is
with the grace of Parasakti, the Supreme Goddess that we have
succeeded in reviving the study of the Veda-bhasya. And so long as we
have her grace there will be students ready to learn the subject and
there
will also be enough copies of the text.
On the eve of a wedding, upanayana or simanta ceremony, we must
consult a Vedic scholar who knows the Veda-bhasya to explain the
meaning of the mantras employed in these rituals. On the day of the
function itself the time at our disposal would be short. If we grasp the
meaning and significance of the mantras beforehand we will have a more
rewarding involvement in the function.
Nowadays, we do not have a month's time in which to prepare for a
wedding. The problem facing the bride's people is which group is to play
the band, who is to give the dance recital, how the marriage procession
is
to be conducted. . . We attach the least importance to that which is the
very soul of the marriage sacrament, I mean the Vedic mantras chanted
at that time. Those who recite these mantras, the Vedic panditas, are
also
treated as the least important to a marriage celebration. There are
perhaps a few who have faith in the mantras and for their benefit and
enlightenment at least some Brahmins must be instructed in the
Vedabhasya.
We print invitation cards for wedding and upanayana ceremonies and
distribute them among a large number of friends and relatives - in fact
we
invite an entire town or village to the function. And we spend
thousands.
But we do not pay any attention to the ritual itself, to its
significance. This
is not right.
If we know the meaning of the mantras chanted at a function, we stand
to gain more benefits from it. We go through rites because we do not
have the courage to give them up. Similarly, we must come to realise
that
it is wrong to perform a rite without knowing the meaning of the mantras
chanted; we must therefore take the help of a pandita in this matter. As
mentioned before, going through works with a knowledge of the
significance and meaning of the mantras is more beneficial. We must
have faith in the Upanishadic saying" Yadeva vidyaya karoti tadeva
viryavattaram bhavati".
At an upanayana, it is the brahmacarin (as the karta) who chants the
mantras; similarly it is the groom alone who intones them at a marriage.
What do you expect of all invitees to do at such functions? Do they come
only for the luncheon or dinner, or to keep chatting, to see the dance
recital or to listens to the nagasvaram music? Is their part only to
make
themselves happy in this manner? No. The Vedic mantras deserve our
highest respect. When they are being intoned we must honour them by
listening to them intently. The mantras create well- being for all. If
the
invitees and others at a function listen to them and are able to follow
their meaning they will earn merit even though they do not have the role
of the karta in it.
Take the case of the asvamedha (horse sacrifice). Only a king who has
subdued all other rulers, that is a maharaja or a sarvabhauma, is
qualified
to perform it. So only a monarch during a particular period in history,
a
monarch whose sway extends all over the world, is entitled to conduct
this sacrifice. The asvamedha brings more benefits than any other rite.
Now the question arises: In any generation only one individual is
perhaps
capable of earning so much merit (by performing the horse sacrifice).
Why are the Vedas so partial that they have made it impossible for the
vast majority of people (who cannot perform the sacrifice themselves) to
earn such merit? Is it true that only a ruler, who has immense strength
and enormous resources at his command, is capable of benefiting from
such a sacrifice? If people of good conduct and character are denied the
same merit as a powerful emperor can earn, does it not amount to
deceiving them? How can the Vedas be so partial to one man?
In truth no partiality can be ascribed to the Vedas. A Vedic rite is
admittedly beneficial to the man who performs it. But, at the same time,
it does good to all the world. If I light a lamp in the darkness here
does it
not bring light to all the people present and not to me alone?
It may be that the performer of a Vedic work receives more special
benefits than others. But the sastras shows the way by which these
others may also reap the same fruits as the karta- in fact the Vedas
themselves mention it. If ordinary people cannot conduct a horse
sacrifice they may get to know how it is performed. They may pay
attention to the hymns chanted during the sacrifice and also try to
follow
their meaning. In this way they derive the full benefits of the
sacrifice
performed by an imperial ruler. This fact is referred to in the section
dealing with horse sacrifices in the Vedas.
In the same way, whether it is a marriage or a funeral, the merit will
be
earned in full if we closely follow the rite and listen to the mantras
with
due knowledge of their meaning. |
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