Means of jnAna described in karma kANDa

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This note was prompted by an announcement in Chinmaya Dindimah, the monthly

news-letter of the Chinmaya Mission, Chennai, that rudra abhishekam to

shivalinga (bathing the linga with milk, curd, water, etc., while chanting

two groups of mantras known as rudram and chamakam) will be performed at the

temple of the Chinmaya Mission at Tamaraipakkam near Chennai on the occasion

of Mahaashivaraatri, six times throughout the night of march 6, 2008.

Though I start with karma kANDa, I shall ultimately come to one of the works

of Sri Shankara and so this is within the bounds of advaita vedanta.

 

The rudram and chamakam chanted at temples and during pUjA in homes are

almost invariably those contained in the karma kANDa portion of kRishNa

yajurveda, which are well known. There are also rudram and chamakam in the

karma kANDa of sAmaveda which are totally different from those in kRishNa

yajurveda, but these are known only to very few persons because the number

of people belonging to sAmaveda is comparatively very small and most of them

use only the yajurveda rudram and chamakam for their pUjA.

It is generally believed that the karma kANDa of the vedas contains only

mantras for the performance of various rituals for fulfillment of desire for

wealth, progeny, heaven, etc, i.e., only those that come under the first

three purushArthas, namely, dharma, artha, and kAma. While this is true to a

large extent, there are also portions in the karma kANDa which contain

advice useful for the aspirant for liberation. One instance is the

following.

In the chamakam in sAmaveda, which I have referred to above, there is a

group of mantras popularly known as 'setu sAma' because of the repeated

appearance of the word 'setu' in it. The word 'setu' means 'bridge'. This is

the bridge that takes one across the ocean of samsAra. gItA, 16.21 says that

passion, anger and greed are the three gates to hell and so they should be

given up. The setu sAma conveys the same idea. It says:---

By gifting money and other assets to deserving persons (dAnam), counteract

the tendency to hoard. By not giving way to anger, get rid of anger. By

strengthening your faith, get rid of the tendency towards lack of faith. By

realizing the Reality, reject the unreal. In this way you can go to heaven

or attain to the supreme effulgence, brahman.

Shri Shankara has based one of the shlokas in his work 'Satasloki', on

this sAma setu mantra. The meaning of this shloka, which is shloka No. 19,

is given below:

" What is given away to a deserving recipient, with the attitude that it is

an offering to the Lord, is called a gift (dAnam). Freedom from anger, even

when affronted, is forbearance. The firm conviction that the teachings of

the scriptures and one's guru are true is what is called faith (SraddhA).

The eternal changeless brahman alone is real. The four obstacles in the way

of a spiritual aspirant are the opposites of these, namely, greed, anger,

lack of faith and looking upon the world as real. These four are the cause

of man's bondage. Man can cross over these four obstacles by the practice of

their opposites, namely, giving of gifts, forbearance, faith, and accepting

brahman alone as real in the absolute sense. Such a person can attain heaven

or union with the effulgent gods or even eternal liberation from samsAra in

this very birth itself " .

Shri Shankara held that both the the kANDas have validity in their

respective spheres. The karma kANDa is applicable for all persons who have

not yet attained Self-knowledge. It is only after the attainment of

Self-knowledge that the karma kANDa becomes inapplicable to them . Shri

Shankara says in his bhAshya on br. up. 2.1.20:--

 

*tasmaat na brahmaikatvam---------------------------- pramaaNaani

s'rotraadivat. *Therefore the vedaanta texts that teach the oneness of

brahman are not antagonistic to the ritualistic portion of the scriptures.

Nor are the latter deprived of their scope by the former. Neither do the

ritualistic scriptures, which are based on differences such as the factors

of an action, take away the authority of the upanishads as regards the

oneness of Brahman. For the means of knowledge are exclusively powerful in

their respective spheres, just as the ear alone has the power to hear sounds

and the eye alone to see forms, etc.

Shri Shankara clearly demarcates the spheres of validity of Sruti on

the one hand and the other pramANas on the other. He says in his bhAshya on

br. up. 3.3.1:-

" Nor are the Srutis supposed to have authority in matters that are

contradicted by other means of knowledge, as, for instance, if they said,

'Fire is cold and wets things'. If, however, a passage is ascertained (by

the application of the six tests, namely, beginning and conclusion,

repetition, originality, result, eulogy and demonstration) to have the

meaning given by the Srutis, then the evidence of the other means of

knowledge must be held to be fallacious " .

S.N.Sastri