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Written by Sri Swami Chandrashekarendra
Saraswati |
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I have spoken about the importance of maintaining the purity of Vedic
syllables. All over India, from the Himalaya to Ramesvaram and all
through the ages, the Vedas have been taught entirely in the oral
tradition, without the aid of any printed books and without one part of
the country being in touch with another. And yet 99 percent of the texts
followed everywhere is the same to the letter.
So it means that there is a difference of one per cent, is there not?
Yes,
there is, among the recensions in the different regions. Is it proper to
have such slight differences? After claming that the consequences would
be unfortunate even if one syllable of a mantra goes wrong, how are we
to accept that the same mantra in the different recensions or in the
different regions differ by one percent? If the original Vedas in their
true
form are one, will not the departure by even one percent mean
undesirable consequences?
There is an answer to this question. You will come to harm if the
medicine you take is different from what you physician has ordered.
Similarly, if you chant a mantra with its syllables changed, you will
suffer
an adverse consequence. The rule that the medicine prescribed must not
be changed applies to the patient, not to the doctor. The patient
cannot,
on his own, change the medicine that his doctor has prescribed. But the
doctor can, cannot he? There is more than one medicine available to
treat a particular ailment. So there is nothing wrong if the doctor
substitutes one medicine for another. While treating two patients
suffering from the same illness the doctor may, while prescribing
essentially the same medicine for both, make small changes in the
ingredients according to their different natures.
It is in the same manner that the sages have introduced slight changes
in
the different Vedic recensions, but these are not such as to produce any
adverse effort: indeed, even with the changes, the mantra yields the
expected benefits. As a matter of fact, the sages have introduced the
changes for the benefit of people who are entitled to learn the
particular
recensions. The rules with regard to these are clearly stated in the
Pratisakhyas.
The syllables of the mantras in the different recensions do not vary to
any
considerable degree. Nor are they unrelated to one another. On the
whole they sound similar. Even when the letters vary there is a kinship
to
be seen between them. |
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