A doubt on the Samhita and Brahmana portions of the Vedas.

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

I want an information on the Samhita and the Brahmana portions of the

Vedas. It is purely for academic purpose. I wanted know whether Shri

Shankaracharya has refuted anywhere in his principal works, the animal

sacrifice in the yajnas. There are lot of contradictory views between

orientalists and between indian scholars on this issue, which is very

much confusing. I wanted to know the stand of Adi Shankra, since he is

considered as an authority in the traditional advaita and Hinduism.

 

I am not looking for opinionated debates or quotes from different

orientalists, which is available in plenty. I would be greatful, if

somebody can give me the references in the works of shankara which

will help me to understand his stand on this issue.

 

If moderators feel that this topic is outside the scope of the list,

they can delete it.

 

Yours in Sri Ramakrishna,

 

Br. Vinayaka

[Guest guest]

advaitin , " Vinayaka " <vinayaka_ns wrote:

>

> Dear All,

>

> I want an information on the Samhita and the Brahmana portions of the

> Vedas. It is purely for academic purpose. I wanted know whether Shri

> Shankaracharya has refuted anywhere in his principal works, the animal

> sacrifice in the yajnas. There are lot of contradictory views between

> orientalists and between indian scholars on this issue, which is very

> much confusing. I wanted to know the stand of Adi Shankra,

 

 

 

Brahmasutra-bhashya 3:1:25 is one such reference.

[Guest guest]

advaitin , " advaitins " <advaitins wrote:

 

> Brahmasutra-bhashya 3:1:25 is one such reference.

 

Dear Sir,

 

Thank you very much for providing this important reference. In fact,

it will help me to know the views of other acharyas too.

 

Yours in Sri Ramakrishna,

 

Br. Vinayaka

[Guest guest]

advaitin , " Vinayaka " <vinayaka_ns wrote:

>

> advaitin , " advaitins " <advaitins@> wrote:

>

> > Brahmasutra-bhashya 3:1:25 is one such reference.

>

> Dear Sir,

>

> Thank you very much for providing this important reference. In fact,

> it will help me to know the views of other acharyas too.

>

 

Some more details are available at:

 

http://www.kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part5/chap23.htm

[Guest guest]

Namaste Vinayakaji,

 

SAKSI, an organisation located in Bangalore, is doing good research on the

Samhita & Brahmanas. I had the good fortune of visiting them during a visit

to India. They do have online resources on the Vedas. Check them out here:

www.vedah.com

 

Kathirasan

 

On 5/3/07, advaitins <advaitins wrote:

>

> advaitin <advaitin%40>, " Vinayaka "

> <vinayaka_ns wrote:

> >

> > advaitin <advaitin%40>,

> " advaitins " <advaitins@> wrote:

> >

> > > Brahmasutra-bhashya 3:1:25 is one such reference.

> >

> > Dear Sir,

> >

> > Thank you very much for providing this important reference. In fact,

> > it will help me to know the views of other acharyas too.

> >

>

> Some more details are available at:

>

> http://www.kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part5/chap23.htm

>

>

>

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Dear Kathirasan-ji,

 

Namaste,

 

I have gone through their site, but I think they are following the new

interpretations of Swami Dayananda,in key issues, which is against the

interpretation of shankara and other orthodox sampradayas of Hinduism.

 

Following is an observation made by Swami Vivekananda on Swami

Dayananda's new interpretations:

 

(Quote)

 

The idea that the Samhitas are the only Vedas is very recent and has

been started by the late Swami Dayananda. This opinion has not got any

hold on the orthodox population.

 

The reason of this opinion was that Swami Dayananda thought he could

find a consistent theory of the whole, based on a new interpretation

of the Samhitas, but the difficulties remained the same, only they

fell back on the Brahmanas. And in spite of the theories of

interpretation and interpolation a good deal still remains.:-)

 

Now if it is possible to build a consistent religion on the

Samhitas, it is a thousand times more sure that a very consistent and

harmonious faith can be based upon the Upanishads, and moreover, here

one has not to go against the already received national opinion. Here

all the Acharyas (Teachers) of the past would side with you, and you

have a vast scope for new progress.

 

(Unquote)

 

As a follower of Shankara sampradaya in majority of the issues, I

think they have not done justice, as far as some interpretations are

concerned.

 

I would like to stop here, since I feel that this is a digression from

the theme of this list.

 

Yours in Sri Ramakrishna,

 

Br. Vinayaka.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

advaitin , " K Kathirasan " <brahmasatyam wrote:

>

> Namaste Vinayakaji,

>

> SAKSI, an organisation located in Bangalore, is doing good research

on the

> Samhita & Brahmanas. I had the good fortune of visiting them during

a visit

> to India. They do have online resources on the Vedas. Check them out

here:

> www.vedah.com

>

> Kathirasan

[Guest guest]

advaitin , " Vinayaka " <vinayaka_ns wrote:

>

>

> Dear Kathirasan-ji,

>

> Namaste,

>

> I have gone through their site, but I think they are following the new

> interpretations of Swami Dayananda,

 

=====

 

Here I am referring to Swami Dayananda Saraswati, founder of Arya Samaj.

[Guest guest]

On 03/05/07, Vinayaka <vinayaka_ns wrote:

>

> I have gone through their site, but I think they are following the new

> interpretations of Swami Dayananda,in key issues, which is against the

> interpretation of shankara and other orthodox sampradayas of Hinduism.

>

 

For the benefit of the list-members, it would be worth clarifying that

the Swami Dayananda you are referring to is the late founder of the

Arya Samaj, and not the contemporary Advaitin Swami Dayananda

Saraswati.

 

Anyway, a perusal of the SAKSI website does not indicate that they

follow Swami Dayananda. The website repeatedly mentions only Sri

Aurobindo and Sri Kapali Sastry.

 

I would also like to add a point regarding the samhita-s here. The

traditional Advaitin position divides the Veda into karma-kanda and

jnana-kanda, with the samhita-s largely pertaining to the former and

the Upanishads to the latter. However, this division is only

indicative and not sacrosanct. This is partly because the Upanishads

themselves are found scattered across the samhita, brahmana & aranyaka

portions (the Ishavasya being a part of the Shukla Yajurvedic samhita,

for example).

 

But more importantly, if one looks at the samhita from a historical

perspective, it is clear that many of the sophisticated philosophical

ideas that were developed in the Upanishads & later works had their

beginnings in the samhita. Maya, yoga, material causality and other

such ideas are all present in the samhita.

 

Ramesh

[Guest guest]

Namaste Sri Ramesh,

 

Thanks for explaining. I personally hold the same views. Kapali Sastry was

also inspired by Ramana Maharishi.

 

Kathirasan

 

On 5/3/07, Ramesh Krishnamurthy <rkmurthy wrote:

>

> On 03/05/07, Vinayaka <vinayaka_ns <vinayaka_ns%40>>

> wrote:

> >

> > I have gone through their site, but I think they are following the new

> > interpretations of Swami Dayananda,in key issues, which is against the

> > interpretation of shankara and other orthodox sampradayas of Hinduism.

> >

>

> For the benefit of the list-members, it would be worth clarifying that

> the Swami Dayananda you are referring to is the late founder of the

> Arya Samaj, and not the contemporary Advaitin Swami Dayananda

> Saraswati.

>

> Anyway, a perusal of the SAKSI website does not indicate that they

> follow Swami Dayananda. The website repeatedly mentions only Sri

> Aurobindo and Sri Kapali Sastry.

>

> I would also like to add a point regarding the samhita-s here. The

> traditional Advaitin position divides the Veda into karma-kanda and

> jnana-kanda, with the samhita-s largely pertaining to the former and

> the Upanishads to the latter. However, this division is only

> indicative and not sacrosanct. This is partly because the Upanishads

> themselves are found scattered across the samhita, brahmana & aranyaka

> portions (the Ishavasya being a part of the Shukla Yajurvedic samhita,

> for example).

>

> But more importantly, if one looks at the samhita from a historical

> perspective, it is clear that many of the sophisticated philosophical

> ideas that were developed in the Upanishads & later works had their

> beginnings in the samhita. Maya, yoga, material causality and other

> such ideas are all present in the samhita.

>

> Ramesh

>

>