asharIra sAman

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"vEdAnAm sAma vEdOsmi"

- krishNa vAsudEva, Bhagavad-Gita X.22

 

The jaiminIya upanishad brAhmaNa (JUB) of jaiminIya shAkhA of sAma

veda talks about a particular type of sAman called asharIra sAman (or

bodyless sAman). Basically, a sAma-gAnam has a rig mantra as its

base. To this extraneous phrases and syllables (called stobhas) are

added to build the sAma gAnam. These stobhas are as the seven

sAmavEdic svarams. They are apparently meaningless but they are

praises of parabrahman. Only parabrahman can understand the true

meaning.

 

Apart from this class of stobha-reinforced sAmans, there is a

different class, called anrcham-sAmans - one without rik mantras and

composed entirely of stobhas. As the rik mantra can be considered as

the 'body' of the gAna, the second class can also be called as 'body-

less' or asharIra. This sAman is supposed to be of very high

spiritual and supernatural potency and was taught only to a very few

sAdhakas initiated into the secret doctrine and it was heavily

guarded. There is a legend in JUB regarding this.

 

The Kuru King uccaishravas kaupayeya and his nephew and pAnchala king

kEshin dArbhya were close friends (Another member of the dARbhya

clan, rathaprOta dAlbhya/dArbhya performed the agni surabhimati rite,

as I mentioned in an earlier post). Uccaishravas died and kEshin

dArbhya was very dejected. kEshin dArbhya went hunting in woods (to

forget the loss of his friend) and while chasing a deer he saw

uccaishravas between himself and the deer. Overjoyed, he tried to hug

him, but it was like hugging smoke or air.

 

Uccaishravas tells him that he appeared to comfort him as well as to

tell about the asharIra sAman, with which one can reach the world of

gods after shaking off the mortal frame. This is the same sAman by

which patanga prAjApatya (son of prajapati), many rishis and devAs

reached 'amaratvam'.

 

So, kEshin dArbhya starts looking for an udgAta well-versed in this

asharIra sAman and didn't find any in the kuru-pAnchAla dEsha

(apparently this region was a great center for vedic learning). He

stumbles onto an strange and enigmatic person living in an enclosure

in a cremation ground and this person identifies himself as a

sAmavedin by the name of prAtrda bhalla. This sAmavedin is

knowledgeable in the asharIra sAman and agrees to be his udgAta in

kEshin dArbhya's dvAdashA: sacrifice with meters transposed. (There

is also a mention of brahmins of kuru-pAnchAla becoming jealous and

envious of this person, exclaiming that they are from a noble descent

and tradition and how can this new person be an udgAta). (It is

interesting to note that traditionally it is the tAntrics who live in

cremation ground and are versed in occult matter.)

 

Regards,

Kasturi