Veda saara shiva naamaani _ PART 01

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Veda saara shiva naamaani _ PART 01

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yo brahmaaNa.n vidadhaati puurva.n

yo vai vedaa.nshcha prahiNoti tasmai .

ta.n ha devaM aatmabuddhiprakaasha

mumuxurvai sharaNamahaM prapadye ..

 

"Seeking liberation, I take refuge in the Lord, the revealer of self-

knowledge who sheltered Brahma and gave him the Vedas."

 

In our tradition Vedas are said to have been revealed by the Lord

himself. Owing to the divine origin 'apauruxeyatvam', Vedic

knowledge has several unique characteristics. It is considered as

the only valid means of knowledge `Pramana' to know the true

nature of one self.

 

The Vedas themselves say,

naavedavinmanute taM bR^ihantaM naabrahmavitparamaM praiti dhaama. -

- With out knowing the shastra he can not realize the self.

 

Realizing the importance of Vedic knowledge, if one plans to take up

a systematic study, he requires a variety of ancillary tools like

vyakaraNam, chandas, kalpam etc to guide him through the journey.

Even with these tools, Vedic knowledge might be a puzzle unless one

adheres to 'sampradaya' or tradition to analyze the shastras. With

out adhering to sampradaya, the study of Vedas would appear as a

collection of discrete and self contradicting ideas. Sampradaya is

an amazing tool that our early preceptors `purva acharyas'

have provided. It makes the seemingly disjoint Vedic instructions

chronological, systematically conveys ideas and reconciles

contradictions.

 

The Lord himself has come down many an instance to reestablish this

Vedic Sampradaya when there were confusions and miss conclusions on

the import of the Vedas. Parameshvara incarnated as Sri Adi Shankara

Bhagavatpada Acharya and blessed us with commentaries `bhashyam' to

the three principal books 'prasthaana trayam' (viz. Brahmasutra,

Upanishad & Gita) and reestablished the essence of Vedic literature.

 

For one to pursue a study of these Bhashyam of Sri Shankaracharya,

his intellect needs to be sharp and untainted. The Vedas themselves

proclaim that only through a pure intellect does one know brahman.

 

brahmameva madhu medhayA | - Verily brahman (which is) bliss (is

attained) by the purified intellect.

 

Pure intellect is like the vehicle that helps one embark on a

spiritual journey towards Vedic wisdom, consequently an extremely

essential prerequisite `yogyatha'.

 

With this primary requirement in mind Sri Shankaracharya has

composed a variety of texts called `prakaraNa granthaani'.

These texts not only discuss the methods to obtain `yogyatha' but

also serve as a primer to the vast Vedic literature. They are

written in a lucid fashion for us to easily comprehend the import of

the Shastras.

 

Neelakantha Diskhitar appreciates the lucidity of prakaraNa texts in

a beautiful shloka,

 

shaastreshhu durgraho.apyartho svarate kavisuuktixu.

dR^ishyam karagatam ratnam daaruNam phaNimuurdhani ..

 

(Even the subject matter that is difficult to learn from the

scriptures is readily understood from the words of a poet. A gem

that is terrible on the head of a serpent is attractive when it lies

on one's palm.)

 

`veda saara shiva stotram', a composition of Shankaracharya

is one such prakaraNa text that discuss the essence of Vedas.

 

Cont...

 

namaH shivaayai cha namaH shivaaya

Aravind