[Advaita-l] Yajna and Homa

[Michael Shepherd]

Dear Sunil and Jaldhar and others,

To my (confused) mind, the 'imp in the inkpot' which has clouded much of
'the history of religion' is that damnable 'Evolution' -- with its attendant
imps Progress and General Happiness -- and how it might or might not be
applied to Hinduism and other faiths : the idea, for instance, that the age
of the Veda was to be compared with our own times, and seen as 'primitive'
in some respects; leading to the attractive idea that 'yajna' as sacrifice
was a public, external rite in the Veda, which led to the 'age of the
Upanishads' to 'yajna' as a private, internalised sacrifice to self or
surrender to self; and 'hotra' to 'homa'. And to that sense which some
scholars say is not present in the RgVeda, that rebirth is a factor in
yajna..

How much we in the West have contributed to this confusion, I couldn't say.
I try to resist it myself. Maybe it's because we don't read the Vedic hymns
in the right way.

I wonder if this rings a bell with scholars here ?

Michael



-----Original Message-----
From: advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
[mailto:advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org]On Behalf Of Sunil
Bhattacharjya
Sent: 03 August 2009 10:14
To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Yajna and Homa



Dear Jaldharji,

Kindly permit me to quote my own statement:

Quote

 In the fourth Veda ie. the Atharva Veda where Lord Brahma himself is the
priest.

Unquote

How will you then rewrite the above? Is it done on behalf of Lord Brahmaa,
the Saguna Brahman?

Regards,

Sunil K. Bhattacharjya

--- On Mon, 8/3/09, Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com> wrote:

From: Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Yajna and Homa
To: "A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta"
<advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Date: Monday, August 3, 2009, 12:15 AM

On Sun, 2 Aug 2009 Michael Shepherd wrote:

> Namaste. While yajna is defined as 'worship, sacrifice', extended to the
> five great obligatory sacrifices of the dvija, the prime definition of
homa
> is 'pouring into the fire'. The older, more formal ceremony of offering
> oblations as in the RgVeda was the 'hotra' with its designated classes of
> priest.
>

Actually it is the other way round.  It is the Yajna with Vashatkara which
makes up the shrauta sacrifices which require atleast 4 Brahmanas.

The homas with svahakar are typically less elaborate and are either
auxilliaries of the shrauta rites or make up the grhya or "household" rites
which require either one Brahmana or are done by the sacrificer himself. 
(And to add to the confusion these include the panchamahayajnas you
mentioned.)


On Sun, 2 Aug 2009, Sunil Bhattacharjya wrote:

> Yes in the Vedatrayee there is yajna and the priests are differently
called in each of the three vedas. In the fourth Veda ie. the Atharva Veda
where Lord Brhma himself is the priest.

Brahma or brAhmaNa in this context has nothing to do with brahma prajApati. 
Perhaps it should be translated as "wielder" or "director" of sacred speech.

-- Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
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