graha mantras

[Guest guest]

... hamsasso.aham ..

 

Dear Jyotishas,

 

I am quoting a portion of a mail by S Jayanarayanan

which was posted to a public mailing list earlier today.

 

ajit

 

Every now and then, I have

been posting some letters that I received from a very knowledgeable Vedic

scholar. I usually ask some questions which are answered by him with great

clarity.

Here are answers to some

more questions, many of which have their source in list discussions.

 

.. . .

 

(3) [This is regarding the

sUrya namaskaara mantra spoken of in a previous letter as not referring to

sUrya -- which deity do the mantras refer to?]

 

The question should be,

" Why did people adopt these mantras for sUrya namaskara? "

 

The aruNaprashna, which

occurs as the first prashna in our taittirIya AraNyaka, refers to a sacrifice

called the aaruNaketuka chayana in which the main deity is ApaH (water).

The whole prashna is devoted

to the extolling of ApaH, but since agni and sUrya are also sources of water

(sun being instrumental in the formation of clouds), you find some mantras

extolling them also as they are indirectly sources of water. There are mantras

and BrAhmaNas in that prashna.

 

Some of our ancestors (I

cannot tell you when exactly in might have happened, but it cannot be earlier

than vidyAraNya's time

~1300AD) have confused the

aruNa shabda in the prashna with the mythological sUrya's charioteer. (The

aruNa in the prashna refers to the Rishis by that name who revealed the aruNaprashnaH).

Then they must have also concluded that the whole prashna belongs to sUrya and

may have started performing sUrya namaskaara (At that time they must have been

completely unaware of the meanings of those mantras as shAyaNa bhAshhya was

known only much later). They have started with the habit of performing one

namaskaara for every hanas (The whole prashna is divided into hanas and

anuvAkas to facilitate the student to learn in by heart). A hanas consists of

ten sentences ... Many a hanas ends abruptly in a mantra...They stop the

recitation there and perform a namaskaara.

 

There is no meaning as to

why the mantras should be used in this manner. Moreover, there are so many

BrAhmaNa sentences which never should be utilized for a kriyaa. The BrAhmaNas

are not mantras or prayers, but only some ritualistic explanations.

Performance of sUrya

namaskaara reciting that prashna is not being true to the spirit of the mantra.

It just shows how our actions never synchronize with what we speak...There are

many mantras for sUrya bhagavAn. There are two or three sUktas for sUrya in the

R^igveda. All of them are prayers to sUrya. One can recite them and perform the

sUryanamaskaara. It will be more meaningful. Just because this practice of

performing sUryanamaskaara with the recitation of aruNaprashna is prevalent

amongst south-Indians for the last 300 years or so (I can't say exactly), it

cannot be taken as a rule...

 

The same thing happened with

the navagraha mantras too. In the Vedas, we never find any mention of the

grahAH (planets), let alone their prayers. Somewhere, when the phala jyotishha

became popular in our country, there was a belief that one's future can be

changed by propitiating the grahAH who were supposed to be responsible for

one's future...Propitiation means pUjA and homa.

With their abundant respect

and devotion to the Vedas they could never get satisfied without the use of

Veda mantras in pUja or homa, and so have chosen the mantras from the Vedas as

prayers to the nava grahAH. As I already mentioned, there are no mantras in the

Vedas for the grahAH. None of the mantras in the nava graha mantras have any

relation to the grahAH, all of them belong to some other devatA. In some, you

find only the letters that we use to designate the grahAH. Only the mantra for

Aditya or ravi seems to be appropriate in the nava graha mantra. Even there

sUrya is referred to as a star and not as a graha in the mantra...

 

[Guest guest]

|| Om Gurave Namah ||

Dear Ajit,

Some comments below,

 

> With their abundant respect and devotion to the Vedas they could

never get

> satisfied without the use of Veda mantras in pUja or homa, and so have

> chosen the mantras from the Vedas as prayers to the nava grahAH. As I

> already mentioned, there are no mantras in the Vedas for the grahAH.

None of

> the mantras in the nava graha mantras have any relation to the

grahAH, all

> of them belong to some other devatA. In some, you find only the

letters that

> we use to designate the grahAH. Only the mantra for Aditya or ravi

seems to

> be appropriate in the nava graha mantra. Even there sUrya is

referred to as

> a star and not as a graha in the mantra...

 

 

Sanjay P : I think one should also refer to the puranas and Itihaasa

when trying to figure out these mantras. The Puranas have abundant

references to Nava grahas. The 4 Vedas I think can be taken as a

higher form and the actual implementation for common people, who do

not read Brahamanas, is given more in Purana and Itihaas. In fact I

think all the adi devata and pratyadi devata's are in Vedas and more

Graha level is in Puranas and Itihaas. Each is a different level one

cannot conclude just using the texts of 4 Vedas', One has to use

Puraanas and Itihass for complete understanding.

 

In fact Puranas(Also Parasara) clearly do say that Prayers to

Navagraha reduce karmic pain.

 

I will try to get some references later. But, There is a book called

Navagraha Kosha written by Prof. Ramachandra Rao. With lots of

references to Navagraha worship from various texts.

 

 

Warm Regards

Sanjay P

 

Hari Om Tat Sat