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INTRODUCTION TO THE VEDAS

 

Sri Parthasarathi thunai,

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

 

Pranams,

 

In our Sri Vaishnava Sampradhayam Acharyas play a very

important role. Our Sampradayam even goes to the

level of giving importance to the acharyas more than

the perumal himself. Madurakavi Alwar was a great

example for his acharya nishtai who says “Devu

mattariyen” I donot know anyone else other my

aacharya sri Nammazhvar. Then when we look at our

acharyas we see Anantazhvan who even dared to take his

wife who was pregnant to the Thirupathi malai(kulir

aruvi venkadam) just for the wish of his acharya and

did pushpa kainkaryam over there. When one day

srinivasa asked him to come early, he refused and said

he will come to see him only after finishing the

garland which was the kainkaryam given to him by his

Aacharya. Such was the acharya bhakthi of our

poorvacharyas who even didn’t care about the lord.

Another Acharya by the name Erumbiyappa (Sri

mamunigals’s sishya) had similar acharya bhakthi. Once

mamunigal asked Erumbiappa to bring his thiruvaradhana

perumal and Erumbiappa got mamunigal’s Thiruvaradhana

perumal in one hand and also mamunigal’s divya padukai

in the other. Mamunigal got angry and asked how he

could bring the padukai and perumal together? For that

Erumbiappa replied in this hand I have your

Thiruvaradana perumal and on the other adiyen’s

Thiruvaradhanam I don’t find any mistake in this. So

these sisyas regarded their acharya as their

emperuman. This bhaavam is usually referred to as

Madurakavi Bhaavam, as madurakavigal was the one who

laid the path to this acharya nishtai.

 

So now let us talk a little about our poorvacharyas.

This is just an introduction and collection of

whatever adiyen has learnt till now and hence not

complete. If any of the learned scholars can

elaborate on the same adiyen will be grateful to them.

 

Vaidika matam is nourished by ubhaya vedantam. We

have the Sanskrit Vedas and the tamil Vedas(Nalayira

Divya Prabhandham). In our Guru paramparai we regard

Sriman Narayanan as the Prathama guru. As Sri

Thirumazhisai Alwar in Nanmugan Thiruvandhadhi says,

“Nanmuganai Narayanan padaithan” . So Narayanan first

created Brahma. As per the Vedas Brahma got birth in

the nabhikamalam of Sriman Narayana. Brahma searched

for his superior when a crocodile appeared and when

Brahma asked who he was the koormam replied I am your

creator. Brahma laughed at this and said he was so

small and how could he create him then the bhagvan

showed Brahma his vishvaroopam and then gave him the

four Vedas and asked him to start creating the world.

There came the Vedas which is the mukya pramanam for

our vaishnava siddhantham. The Vedas are namely, Rig,

Yajur, sama and Atharvana. Vedas are otherwise called

as sruthi(that which are learnt by constant

listening), nigama(that which is gifted to the shisyas

by the acharya), Amnaya(that which is learnt through a

sannadhai). The Vedas were so divided by the great

saint Shri VedaVyasa(who is considered as a avatara of

Vishnu himself).

In any yajna there are four important persons:

1. Hota – he who sings the praise of the Emperuman

2. Athvaryu – he was does the homam or yajna

3. Uthgatha – he who sings the Samam

4. Brahma – he who supervises everything

On these basis Sri VedaVyasa spilt the Vedas into Rig,

Yajur, Sama and Atharvana. Each veda is divided into

four other parts namely, Samhita(collection of

mantras), Brahmana(collection of instructions for the

rituals to be performed and praises of the devathas

preciding the rituals), Aranyaka(those which were

recited in the forests) and the Upanishads(the jnana

pakam of the Vedas).

The poorva kandam of the Vedas is called the Karma

Kaandam and the uthra Kaandam is called the Jnana

kaandam. The major Upanishads which form the Jnana

Kaandam are: Isavasya, Kena, Kato, prasna, Mundaka,

Mandukya, Taittiriya, Aiteraya, Chandokya, and

Brihadaranya. Other accepted Upanishads are

Swetasvatara, kaushitaki, subala and Maha

narayana(part of taittiriya).

 

The Vedas have six angas:

1. Sikshai – helps in proper Pronounciation of the

Vedas

2. Vyakaranam – Gives the grammer

3. Chandhas – Metres of various rikhs

4. Niruththam – Dictionary to vedic words or

terminologies

5. Kalpam - procedure to rituals described in the

Vedas

6. Jhotisham – indicates the suitable time for the

various vedic rituals to be performed

 

Emperuman by his Apaara krupai gave the Vedas for the

benefit of the mankind . Since it was not accessible

to many, he then made the rishis to create the

smritis, Ethihasa Puranas and the agamas for the

benefit of all. As everyone knows the Ethihasas are 2

in number the Ramanyanam and the Mahabharatam. Let us

see a brief about the smritis, puranas and agamas in

the next posting.

 

I beg the learned members to forgive and correct my

mistakes.

 

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasyai

Sumithra Varadarajan

 

 

 

 

 

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