A Tribute to the VedAs

[Guest guest]

Sri LakshmI Hayavadana ParabrahmaNE Nama :

 

Dear VedAbhimAnis :

 

I just finished listening to the splendidly

recorded tapes on Rg Vedam ( Volume I ) and

Atharva Vedam ( Volume I ) sent to me by

Sri Krishnan , Trustee of the Delhi Vedic Trust .

I want to share with you my great joy

and anandhAnubhavam of listening to the

sacred recitation .

 

Thanks to the Trustees of the Delhi Vedic Trust

***********************************************

 

It is a great blessing for the Veda dhvani to

pervade the mind and body .These are the set of tapes

that would be most important to every one of the temples

in North America for use in their daily worship of

the Veda Purushan . The tireless effort to produce

these high quality tapes with the particpation

of GanapAtis trained in the traditional manner is

beyond imagination . I thank Sriman KrishNan and

his fellow trustees for undertaking this challenge

of an immense dimension and completing it .

 

Scope of my postings on Vedams

*******************************

I will post a few articles on the VedAs and

the powerful meaning of some of the Rks and

manthrAs as I continue with the journey of

listening to these tapes . Some six years ago ,

I studied all the four samhithAs in the text form

without the benefit of listening to them in

the recited form . These tapes will help to fulfill

my life's ambition of listening to them in their

entirety and be linked to the timeless tract

travelled by our ancient rishis and AchaaryAs .

I will start with Atharva Vedam and then go onto

Rig Veda SamhithA .

 

The Connection Between Purva and Uttara mImAmsam

*************************************************

Purva MeemAsam deals with the karma khAndam

sections/rituals of the VedAs . In an earlier article ,

I referred to PurvamImAmsam 's first sUtram :

athAthO dharma jigy~nAsA ( Now , therefore ,

there must be an inquiry into the nature of duty );

In that context , I quoted the first sUthram of

BadarAyaNA , athAthO Brahma jigy~nAsA ( Now , therefore ,

let us proceed with the inquiry of the infinite and eternal

Brahman ) . I mentioned that the study and performance

of the Vedic sacrifices have ephemeral and limited

fruits , whereas the results of the knowledge of

Brahman is eternal and infinite and therefore

the inquiry into the nature of Brahman should be

undertaken with the appropriate AchAryAs .It is however

not possible to skip the study of VedAs and

jump on to the inquiry about Brahman .

 

The two kinds of Knowledge: Para and apara vidhyAs

****************************************************

 

The great tradition of the transmisison of knowledge

thru AchArya Mukham is recorded in Mundaka Upanishad

as a conversation between BrahmA , the creator and his

eldest son, AtharvA about the knowledge of BRAHMAN ,

the corner stone of ALL knowledge .AtharvA taught

what he had learned from his father to AngirA ,

who in turn taught it to SatyavAhA belonging to

the clan of BharadvAjA ;SatyavAhA passed that

supreme knowledge in succession to Sage Angiras .

 

SaunakA , the celebrated grahasthA approached Sage

Angiras and asked humbly : " O Illustrious sage !

kasminnu BhagavO vig~nyAthE sarvamidham vig~nAtham

bhavathee ? ( What is that by the knowing of which

all this becomes known ? ) .

 

Sage Angiras replied : " two kinds of knoweldge

needs to be known according to the knowers of Brahman .

They are the higher knowledge ( parA ) and the lower

knowledge (aparA )" .

 

Sage Angiras explained further that the lower knowledge

is the Rig Veda, the Yajur VedA , the Saama VedA and

Atharva VedA , SikshA (phonetics ) , kalpA ( rituals ) ,

vyAkarNam ( grammer) , NirukthA (etymology ) ,cchandas

(metre) and JyOthisham ( astronomy ) ; and the higher

knowledge is that by which the imperishable Brahman

is attained .

 

Sage Angiras said :" dhvE vidhyE vEdhithavyE ithi

ha sma yadh BrahmavidhO vadanthi ParA chaivAparA cha "

AparA are the four VedAs and their six angAs to understand

the nature of DharmA and the ParA is the knowledge

about the imperishable ( akshaya ) Brahman , which

is the embodiment of DharmA . That omniscient ,

Omnipotent , all merciful Brahman has been defined

as the source/origin , sustenance and dissolution of this

multifacetted world according to the second Brahma sUthrA

( JanmAdhyasya yatha: ) .That Brahman is cognized only

through the scriptures , the sources of authoritative

knowledge about Brahman ( Saasthra yOnithvAth: Brahma-

sUthram 1.3 ).The next Brahma sUtram goes on to point

out that Brahman is the main purport of all Vedic

and upanishadic texts ( tatthu samanvayAth ) . Thus

one can not dismiss the VedAs quickly as

apara vidhyA and jump on to Para vidhyA .

Rigorous study of the VedAs reveal

to us the appproach to Brahman , the para VidhyA ,

the ultimate goal for us all .

 

The four categories of Knowledge in the VedAs

**********************************************

 

The four VedAs contain four important categories

of knowledge related to DharmA : (1) Injunctions

and Prohibitions (2) Valedictory ( praise ) and

depreceatory passages (3) MantrAs and (4) Names .

All these four are necessary to understand true

DharmA or righteous duty from different angles.

Thus an inquiry in to them through the study

of the VedAs becomes an essential pre-requisite

in one's journey towards the comprehension of

Brahman ( para VidhyA ) . The authority of

the VedAs for us is supreme and final and hence

a proper understanding of them with

the help of a qualified AchAryA sets us on

a safe footing to comprehend Brahman

and achieve the parama purushArtham of

Moksham .Our tradition is therefore

called Vaidhikam or the one based on

the authoritativeness of the VedAs .

 

The four kinds of Veda SamhithAs : Atharva SamhithA

****************************************************

 

Rig , Yajur , Saama and Atharva samhithAs

constitute the four VedA samhithAs . Each of them

have more than one branch (SaakA ) . The oldest

VedA is recognized as Rig Vedam and the youngest

is the Atharva Vedam . Latter has nine branches

or rescensions ( navadhAatharvaNO veda: ).These

nine branches are : (1) PaippalAda (2) Tauda

(3) MuNda (4) SaunakIya (5) Jaajala (6) Jalada

(7) BrAhmaveda (8) Devadarsa and (9) ChAraNavaidya .

Today , only two of the nine branches of Atharva

Vedam (Saunakha and PaippalAda )are available to us.

The Delhi Vedic trsut has recorded the Saunakha sAkA .

 

The Atharva Veda samhithA has 5977 verses spread

over 20 KhAndams ( books/chapters ) . The khAndams are

further subdivided into hymns and they in turn

house a group of manthrAs .Some prefer to catalog the Atharva

Veda Text (SamhithA )into prapaathakAs ( Lessons or

lectures ). Under this classification , there are 34

prapAthakAs that house the 5977 verses. Among NammAzhwAr's

four Tamil Prabhandhams , Periya ThiruvanthAdhi

is considered as the essence of Atharva Vedam .

 

The Delhi Vedic trust has recorded the 20 KhAndhams of

Atharva Vedam in 14 audio tapes . I have now enjoyed

listening to two of the twenty khAndams .I will write about

some of the striking manthrAs from these two khAndams

later .

 

Rg Veda SamhithA

*****************

 

This ancient Vedam has 1,028 sUkthams (hymns )

and contains in all 10,589 verses.These are grouped

into either 8 KhAndAs or 10 MandalAs with 85 anuvAkAs

( subsections ) . There used to be 21 sakAs ( redactions )

of the Rig VedAs . There is only one available today .

That is Saakala SaakA . IythrEya Upanishad belongs to

Rig Veda SamhithA .NammAzhwAr's Thiruviruttham

is consdieres as the Veda SaarArtham of Rig Vedam .

 

The Delhi Vedic Trust has recorded Saakala sAkA

in 27 ninety minute tapes. During my father's

sahasrAbhshEkam celebration , there was one Rig Vedic

expert from Mayavaram , who recited that samhithA .

He was lost in the ghOsham of Saama and KrishNa yajur Vedams .

My great desire to hear the authentic renditon of

the Rig Vedam is now satisfied .

 

Yajur Veda SamhithA

********************

 

This Vedam has 1975 verses grouped under 40

chapters known as adhyAyAs .The longest chapter has

117 "verses" and the shortest chapter has 13 "verses ".

There are two Yajur samhithAs : Sukla and KrishNa

( White and Black ) samhithAs . The White Yajur Veda

samhithA is also known as VajasanEyi -MadhyAndina Sukla

Yajur vedam to distinguish it from KrishNa Yajur

Veda or Taittiriya SamhithA , which is generally

considered to be more close to a BrahmaNA rather than to

a Sruthi . Most of the people in AndhrA and Tamil Naadu

are KrishNa Yajur Vedins .

 

The two samhithAs have number of recensions inview of

their wide popularity .These variations arose from

a variety of textual differences and their applications

in Vedic rituals . The two popular recensions of

the Sukla Yajur Vedam are : MaadhyAndhina and

KaaNva ; the KrishNa Yajur Vedam has three recensions :

kAtaka , Kapishtala-Kata and MaithrAyaNee .

 

Saama samhithA

***************

 

In its importance in YaagAs and sacredness ,

Saama Veda SamhithAs rank next to Rig VedA .

The Lord of GeethA however has put this

Saama samhithA on the top of all four

SamhithAs with His declaration that He is

Saama VedA among the VedAs .This samhithA

consists of hyms chanted by udhgAtri priests

at the Soma YaagAs . Many of the hymns originate

from Rig Vedam and have been rearranged without

reference to the original order in the Rig Vedam

and set to music .Only 75 verses of the total of

1,875 verses of Saama Vedam are not to be found

in Rig Vedam . The remaining 1,800 verses are

essentially the repetitions of Rig Vedic verses .

The important distinction however is that they are

sung instead of being recited.The Rig Vedam

deals with knowledge and Saama Vedam deals

with UpAsanA , Worship and DhyAnam .

 

According to one classification , the Saama

samhithA is cataloged under two sections :

PurvArchikA and UttarArchikA . Each archikA

is subdivided into prapaathakAs and adhyAyAs .

In another classification , the 1875 verses

are grouped under FOUR categories :

1. PurvArchikA: 585 verses (1-585 )

2. AraNya KhAndam : 55 verses ( 586-640 )

3. MahAnAmnyArchikA : 10 verses( 641-650 )

4. UttarArchikA: 1225 verses ( 651-1875)

 

In singing , the priests of the Yaj~nams

follow specific styles through alteration of

prolongation , repetition , modulation ,

rests et al . These become the various

styles of Saama GhAnams : congregational

( GrAma gEya GhAnam ) , AraNya ghAnam

( Forest song style ) , Uha ghAnam and

Uhya GhAnam .

 

Saama Vedam had originally 1001 branches .

We have very few left now. NammAzhwAr's celebrated

Thiruvaimozhi is recognized as the Saama Veda

SaarArtham .

 

In the next posting in this series , I will

include the meaning and commentary on

selected ManthrAs from the Rig Vedam

that I have listened to so far ( Khnadam I.

Hymns 1-33). I will follow it up with the

selected manthrams from the first two KhAndams of

Atharva Vedam .

 

Veda PurushAya Nama :

Sri LakshmI Hayagreeva ParabrahmaNE Nama:

Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan