on chanting the Veda properly

[Guest guest]

Dear Bhaktas,

 

One member mentioned to me in private email that

he had heard that it was permissible to chant the Vedas

without intonation (svara), as opposed to incorrect

intonation (apa-svara).

 

A person (not a member of this list) who has studied

the Vedas more than most in this country had this to

say on this issue:

 

 

 

As far as this non-swara business of Veda-adhyayana goes:

 

No!! Patanjali's statement is proof of this

 

alpaksharaha swaratho varNatho vaa

mithyaaprayukto nathamarthamaahaha

sa vaak vajro yajamaanam hinasti

yathendra shatru swarathOparaadhaat.

 

The Veda gives the illustration of this - it is also in the PuraaNa

and Patanjali states this.

 

Twaashtha wanted a Son to avenge the death of Trishira - his Son whom

Indra adopted as a preceptor in the time Brihaspathi had left him due

to the disrespect Indra had shown toward his Acharya. Indra found that

Trishira had an Asura Mother and when he offered oblations into the

Sacred Agni for the victory of the Devas, he also uttered the mantras

for the victory of the Asuras with his other mouth ( he had 3 ) -

consequently the wars were stalemated. Indra in his anger killed

Trishira with his Vajram and incurred Twaashtha's wrath.

 

The mantra which Twaashtha chanted had the words "Indra shatru" in it.

In this the Indra was to chanted with anudhaatam and the shatru with

swaritam. Twaashtha made the mistake of chanting the word Indra with

swaritam and the Shatru with anudhaatam - he consequently got a Son -

Vritra - not one who would kill Indra - but one who would be killed by

Indra. The meaning changed due to the incorrect swara and hence the

term "Yajamaanam hinasti".

 

There are many out there who claim that we can have our will with the

Veda. With due respect these are people who have done no adhyayanam in

a paathashaala or those who have had no formal teaching of the Veda

from one who has learned it from someone educated in a

paathashaala. These are in my view the paathakaadhamaas. I will not

give serious credibility to this view. Sri Paramaachaarya is vehement

in his stand on the correct intonation of the Veda as well as

uchchaaraNam.

 

In my life, I have seen several people who said things like this - and

I have argued with them.

 

Without Swara the Veda is not only meaningless - worse it has

vipariita artham (contrary meaning). It is tantamount to chanting

everything in one tone - swara - whatever you call it. Hence,

wrong. Just as you cannot live without working, you cannot speak

without intonation of any kind. Whatever you say - however you say it,

by default has a swara - so there cannot be any non-swara chanting of

anything - leave alone the Veda - there can only be apaswara chanting.

 

Just a hundred years ago, people like us were learning the 18 Vidyas -

 

The 4 Vedas - Rig, Yajus, Saaman, AtharvaNa

The 6 Vedangas - Siiksha, VyaakaraNa, chchandas, nirukta, jyothisha and kalpa

The 4 upangaas - Nyaaya, Miimaamsa, PuraaNa and Dharmashaastra

The 4 Upavedas - Ayurveda, Dhanurveda, Gaandharvaveda and Arthashaastra

 

One student spent 18 years in a Paathashaala learning and assimilating

these 18 Vidyaas. We have lost all of it. We have lost all of

it. What remains is the broken fabric of the Vedic chants - some

correct chanting - mostly incorrect chanting.

 

Sri Raama charaNau sharaNam prapadye.