Musings on garUda/mantrA etc.-8A

[Guest guest]

srimathE lakshmi-nrsumha parabrahmaNE namaha

sri vedanta desika guravE namaha

 

Dear "bhAgavatOttamA-s",

 

The first thing about "mantrA-s" --- at least those truly "vEdicmantrA-s"

of which Swami Desikan and other "pUrvAchAryA-s" have talked about, and even

the one the boy in Mukkur Swamy's story worked on --- the first thing that

should strike one about such "mantrA-s" is that they are NOT INCANTATIONS in

the sense in which incantations are commonly referred to in "voodoo-ism",

"shamanism", tribal or even modern occult practices in many countries and

societies.

 

It's important to understand that while INCANTATIONS are central to the

practice of "voodoo" or shamanism, the same cannot be said of the Vedic

tradition where "mantrA-s" constitute only a sub-set of a much larger body

of "vEdic" experience, "samhitA-s" (texts), "brahMaNA-s" (practices),

speculation, injunction, ritual and belief.

 

Therefore, at the outset, in discussions on "mantrA", we must avoid the

folly of mistaking "mantrA" to be akin to the frenzied abracadabra of some

village witch-doctor moaning his mumbo-jumbo !

 

In the vEdi-c tradition, "mantrA-s" serve a much more sophisticated, much

more evolved purpose than those of voodoo or similar occult practices.

 

"mantrA" is essentially a religious exercise; it is occult, if at all, only

very incidentally.

 

Next post.

 

 

srimathE srivan satagOpa sri narayana yathindra mahadesikaya namaha

sudarshan