Guest guest Posted December 25, 2007 Report Share Posted December 25, 2007 Note:Readers having difficulty in reading the text may need to change their encoding to UTF-8. srI: SrI upakAra sangraham – 29 --- adikAram – 1 poorva upakAra paramparai (The Foremost Series of Favours) --- SECTION – 5 (2) (27 Favours of the Lord leading to the means for MOKSHAM) ----- SwAmi Desikan, while listing out the favours conferred by the Lord on the jIvA, whom He made to take a re-birth of sAtvika nature, mentions the second favour He does. " (2) adiyilE vedangaLai pravarttippittatuvum; " The Lord manifested the VedA-s. When did He do it? Not today or recently. But, " adiyilE " -- at the root itself. After the praLaya, when the Lord started the creation, the very first thing He did was to create Brahma, who appeared on the Lord's navel lotus, was made responsible for creating various types of lives. Brahma, however, had no idea of how to go about. To help him, the Lord, SrIman nArAyaNa, brought about the VedA-s to guide him, and the newly created jIvA-s. VedA-s are actually sound waves, called shruti, beginning with " pranavam " or " OnkAram " . The VedA-a were countless and it was left to the Lord Himself, to incarnate as Krishna DvaipAyana VyAsa, in order to arrange them in an order, editing them into four groups:- Rg, yajus, sAma and atharvaNa. He taught them to His four disciple-sages:- Rg-vEdA to Paila; yajur-vEdA to VaishampAyana; sAma-vEdA to Jaimini and the atharva-vEdA to Sumantu. The VedA-s were not composed by any one, not even by the Lord, and that is why they are referred to as a-paurusheya, not of human origin. They were directly revealed by the Supreme Being, Brahman. VedA means knowledge - derived from the root 'vidh' - 'to know'. They are called shruti, i.e., 'heard', as they were taught by the oral method -- mouth to mouth. They are anAdi -- without a beginning; or are of unknown beginning. All the obligatory duties, at birth, marriage, death etc., are performed according to the Vedic ritual. This huge literature is classified as:- SamhitA or collection of Mantra-s, BrAhmaNa, AraNyaka and the Upanishad, the end of the VedA-s. SamhitA-s are part of the four Veda-s. Rg. Samhita was the earliest. The sAma-VedA consists of stanzas taken mostly from rg-VedA and were meant to be sung to certain melodies or chants. The yajur-VedA deals with various religious sacrifices. The Atharva-Veda Samhita, also known as BrahmavEda since it is assigned to brahmA-priest. It has some special features. Major part is concerned with various sciences: Diseases and their cure; rites for prolonging life; rites for fulfilling one's desires; building construction; trade and commerce; statecraft; penances and propitiatory rites; and black magic.. The BrAhmaNa-s are composed in prose, and explain the sacred significance of the different rituals. The AraNyaka-s are forest treatises, revealed to sages when they retired to the forest. These mostly deal with meditations based on symbolical interpretations of the liturgical rites. The Upanishad-s are philosophical treatises dealing with the ultimate goals of life. Traditionally SamhitA is indicated by the word " VedA " . As the manifestation of the VedA-s had the purpose to guide the people who were created by Brahma, SwAmi Desikan gives them the second highest priority among the favours conferred by the Lord. The VedA-s are just like a bright lamp without which the mankind can not proceed further in darkness of samsAra. (To continue) dAsan Anbil S.SrInivAsan ----- ______________________________\ ____ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Search. http://tools.search./newsearch/category.php?category=shopping Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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