[Guruvayur/Guruvayoor] Vedas and the Rasa Leela

[Guest guest]

Om Namo Narayanaya!

Sunita, thanks for sharing these very readable articles on the Vedas and the Rasa Leela. I think your posting on the Rasa Leela focused very well on the interaction of the jivaatmaa and the Par-atmaa. The following lines from that article bring out the essence of the Raasa-Lila very well:

"Such is the beauty and mystery of the rasa-lila, where Radha risksall-family, society, and even religion, driven by herlove for Krishna. While she appears to act for her ownselfish interest without concern for others, in hertryst with Krishna she teaches us how to give upeverything for God".

 

Also, the articles on the Vedas are enlightening; we are so caught up in our day-to-day lives, our own perceptions and experiences, very few stop to think about our legacies and how the spiritual culture in India evolved. The first article starts at the very beginning -- it is hard to explain that the Vedas were not written by one person/persons; they were always there; the concept of the Vedas being the very breath of the Lord and revealed to the earliest Rishis (or realized by them in their hearts) and then handed down by word of mouth is so beautiful.

Om Namo Narayanaya.

 

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

Sunita ramanthan <rsunitaa wrote:

This is a continuation of the chapter Vedas from"Hindu Dharma", which is a book that contains Englishtranslation of certain invaluable and engrossingspeeches of Sri Sri Sri Chandrasekharendra SaraswathiMahaSwamiji.Sound and CreationWhat is sound? According to modern science, it isvibration. "If you examine the core of an atom youwill realise that all matter is one. " This Advaiticconclusion is arrived at according to nuclear scienceand the concepts of Einstein. All this world is oneflood of energy (sakti); everything is anelectromagnetic flow. But how do we account for themanifestation of different objects? It is to beattributed to different type of vibrations.Where there is vibration there is a sound. Conversely,to produce a sound the vibration corresponding to itmust

also be created. The scientific concept that thedifferent vibrations of the same energy are the causeof creation is the same as the belief that world wascreated with the breath of the Paramatman manifestingitself as the sound of the Vedas.Consider human beings and other creatures. What is itthat determines their health and feelings? The breaththat passes through our nadis, blood vessels, duringrespiration produces vibrations and on them dependsthe state of our health. Those who keep theirbreathing under control through the practice of yogaare healthy to an amazing degree. They do not bleedeven if their veins are cut. They are able to remainburied in the earth in samadhi stopping their pulseand heartbeat. They are not poisoned even if they arebitten by a snake or stung by a scorpion. The reasonis that they keep the vibrations of the nadis undercontrol during breathing.Breath is vital not only to the body

but also to themind. The mind which is the source of thought and thevital(pranik) energy that is the source of breath arethe same. Healthy or unhealthy thoughts are to beattributed to different vibrations of the nadis. Youmay test this for youself. See for yourself how youbreathe when you are at peace before the sanctum of adeity or in the presence of a great and wise personand how you breathe when your mind is quickened bydesire or anger. The happiness you experience when youtake part in something divine, like a bhajan oratemple festival, must be different from the pleasurethat sensual gratification gives you: the vibrationsof the nadis concerned will also be correspondinglydifferent.When you experience joy of an elevated kind thepassage of breath will be through the right nostril,but when you are enjoying sensual pleasure it will bethrough the left. When you meditate, with increasingconcentration, on

the Reality Serene which is thesource of all your urges and feelings, the breath willpass through both nostrils slowly, evenly andrhythmically. When you are absorbed in the object ofyour meditation breathing itself will cease, but therewill still be life. The great awareness called jnanawill then be in bloom as it were.The inert body of a man and the awareness that is thevital essence of his life are both dependent on thecourse of his breathing. They grow or decay accordingto it. The course of a man's breath keeps his innervibrations in order.Is it not from the Paramatman that so many countlessinert objects and so many sentient beings haveoriginated and grown? The movements appropriate tothese should have also occured in the Ultimate Objectthat is the Paramatman.Even according to non-dualism, the Brahman that isutterly still and is unconditioned and has noattributes (nirguna) manifests itself in

the countlessdisguises of this cosmos with the power of Maya, Mayathat cannot be described. Disguises or no disguises,we have to concede the existence, in a mundane sense,of the inert world and of the sentient beings. But wemust remember that even Maya has its source in Isvarawho is "Mayin". But the power of Maya apart, all thatwe see have arisen from the vibrations in the Objectcalled the Parabrahman. At the same time, with allthese vibrations, this Object remains still andtranquil inwardly. This stillness not withstanding,there are movements that are apparent to ourperception. They are not disorderly movements butconstitute a system embracing vast heavenly bodieslike the sun at one end and the tiniest of insects onthe other or even something as humble as a blade ofglass.It is this orderliness that goes to make worldly lifehappy. The Paramatmam has created this by bringing allpowers of nature within an

orderly system. But if yousometimes see flaws in it and the natural forces goingagainst us, it is because he likes to be playful nowand then.The human mind can go astray to any length. Indeed itkeeps wandering aimlessly like a globin or an imp.Whatever the extent to which cosmic life is orderly,it (the human mind) breaks free from all control andruns about like a mad dog.When the powers of nature are unfavourable to us, isthere a way to change their behaviour and make themfavourable to us? Is there also a means by which ourmind could be brought under control when it goeshaywire? If everything is caused by vibration, bysound, there must be a way of making the forces ofnature favourable to us and of purifying our mind andbringing it under control through this very sound. TheVedas constitute such sound.By controlling our breath through the practice ofyoga, it is possible to gain access to the breath

ofthe Paramatman and by this means perform such actionsas can uplift our own Self as well as mankind. Herethe vibrations of the nadis do not produce the soundthat is audible to us. Science tells us that there aresounds outside the range of human hearing in the sameway as there is light that does not pass through thelens of the human eye.However, it is possible to bring within us (within ourreach) that which is without. When a musician sings onthe radio, the sound of his music is converted intoelectromagnetic waves which travel through space. Buthow do we hear music? The receiving set captures theelectromagnetic waves and reconverts them into soundwaves.(Science is not opposed to religion. It seems to methat it even helps in the growth of religion. Acentury ago, before the radio and the telephone wereinvented, it would not have been easy to counter thearguments of an atheist who dismisses claims made

onbehalf of the sound of the Vedas as absurd. Now thediscoveries of science have come to our rescue. )It is possible for humans to earn the power of energypossessed by such an inert object as the radio set.Indeed we can earn much more, do much more. It istapas, ascetic endeavour, that will give us suchenergy. What is tapas? It is the determination to findthe truth: it is keeping the mind one-pointed in thissearch, forsaking food, sleep, home, everything. Butwhen you are a seeker like this, you must remainhumble and erase the least trace of egoism in you. Youmust realise that the truth you seek will be revealedto you only with the grace of Isvara. The sagesperformed austerities in this manner and attained tothe highest plane of yoga. They could perceive thevibrations in creation, that is the course taken bythe breath of the Supreme Godhead. Besides, they alsoknew them as sound capable of being heard by the

humanear in the same manner as electric waves convertedinto sound waves. It is these sounds that they havepassed on to us the mantras of the Vedas.The Vedas are called "Sruti. " That which is heard isSruti. "Srotra" means the "ear". The Vedas have beenhanded down orally from generation to generation andhave not been taught or learned from any written text.That is how they got the name of "Sruti". Why werethese scriptures not permitted to be written down?Because the sound of the Vedas cannot be properlytranscribed. There are sounds or phonemes that cannotbe accurately represented in any script. For instance,the one between "zha" and "la". Such sounds have to belearned by listening. Besides there are svaras forVedic mantras (tonal variations, properaccentuation):"udatta" (raised syllable),"anudatta"(lowered syllable) and "svarita"(fallingsyllable). Mistakes in enunciation are likely even ifdiacritical or

some other marks are used in theprinted text. Wrong chanting will not bring thedesired results. There is much difference in thevibrations caused by pronouncing a syllable layingstress on it and pronouncing it without any stress.Correspondingly, there will be changes in our feelingsand urges and the divine forces that rule nature.There is a story in the Taittiriya Samhita of theVedas which illustrates how wrong chanting can produceresults contrary to what is intended. Tvasta, thedivine carpenter, chanted a mantra with the object ofbegetting a son who would be the slayer of Indra. Buthe went wrong in the intonation of some syllables. So,unwittingly, he prayed for a son who would be slain byIndra instead of one who would slay that celestial.And his prayer (that had gone wrong in the intonation)was answered. When the wavelength shifts even minutelyon our radio we receive the broadcast of a differenttransmitting

station. Fine-tuning has to be done toget the required station. So is the case with theintonation of Vedic mantras. There should not be theslightest mistake in the svaras. Just as we receive adifferent station on our radio when the wavelength ischanged, so the result is different when we go wrongin the intonation.This is the reason why it is of the utmost importanceto learn the Vedas by listening - hence the name"Sruti", in Tamil "Ezhutakkilavi" (unwritten oldtext). Another explanation occurs to me for the name"Sruti". The sages heard, did they not, the sound ofthe divine vibrations that cannot be perceived by thecommon people? Did they read the Vedas in any book ordid they compose them themselves? Sruti is an apt namefor the Vedas since they were made known to the worldafter they had been first heard by the sages.The Vedic seers have the name of "mantra-drastas" --a"drasta" is one who sees. In Tamil it

is "parppavan"."Parppan" also means the same thing. If the sages"saw" the mantras it would mean that they did not"hear" them. Which of the two versions is correct? Didthe sages see the mantras or did they hear them? Ifthey saw them, in what script did they appear? Therewas no script at the time, neither Devanagari norGrantha nor Brahmi, the basis of all. But, then, thesound of Vedas, their svaras, cannot be truly writtendown in any script.The answer to this problem is that when the sages weremeditating the mantras of the Vedas appeared to themin a flash in their hearts. It may be that in thisstate of theirs they could neither see nor hearanything. The mantras must have appeared in a flash inthe inner recesses of their minds."Seeing" or "looking" does not denote merely what isperceived by the eye. It is a term that covers avariety of perceptions and experiences. When we saythat a man has "seen" all

sorrows in his life, doesthe term "seen" imply only what he "saw" with hiseyes? Does it not mean what he has "experienced"? Theterm "mantra-drasta" also could be taken in a similarmanner as referring to what is perceived throughexperience. It is further believed that the sages wereable to hear the Vedas with their divine ears.Arjuna wished to see the Lord's cosmic form(visvarupa). The Gita has it that Krsna Paramatmansaid to him: " You will not be able to see my cosmicform with this eyes of yours. I will give you acelestial eye. . . . . "Just as Arjuna was endowed by the Lord with a divineeye, the sages must have been invested with celestialears to grasp the sound emanating from the Paramatmanand pervading the vast space.The vibrations of the Vedas serve the purpose not onlyof creation and the conduct of life. There are indeedVedic mantras that help us to transcend this life andbecome one with

the Ultimate Truth. When a man returnsby the same way as he comes, does he not arrive at thestarting point? In the same way when we go seeking howcreation came about, we are led to the point wherethere are no vibrations, no movements, where there isutter stillness. Some mantras that create vibrationsin our nadis accomplish the same noble task of takingus to such a goal. Such are the Upanisadic mahavakyasand Pranava.In sum, the Vedas are not anyone's compositions. Thesages did not create them, nor were inscribed by theParamatman on palm-leaves. Om Namo Narayanaya:

Mail Stay connected, organized, and protected. Take the tour