New member introduction: shrI Subhanu Saxena

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Tue, 18 Aug 1998, Anand Hudli wrote:

>  Ramakrishnan wrote:
>
> >>  Now, there are some important sUktas or Vedic hymns which are
> >>  chanted by everyone regardless of the shAkhA. For example, the
> >>  GaNapati -atharva-shIrshha upanishhad, which obviously belongs to
> >>  the atharva veda, is chanted during GaNesha pUjA regardless of the
> >>  shAkhA of the person who is performing it. The Shri Rudram is also
> >>  one such hymn, I would say. There is a saying:
> >>
> >>  svashAkhopanishhad.h gItA viShNornAma sahasrakam.h |
> >>  rudraM cha paurushhaM sUktaM nityamAvartayet.h budhaH ||
> >>
> >>  The wise one should regularly (daily) repeat these: 1) the
> upanishhad
> >>  of one's own shAkhA, 2) the gItA, 3) the thousand names of Vishnu,
> >>  4) the Shri Rudram, and 5) the purushha sUkta.
> >

If this shloka is to be interpreted as injunctive then it has several
problems.  In our shakha there are two upanishads--Isha and Brhadaranyaka.
Which of those should I recite. Or should it be both?  What about
an Atharvavedi who has dozens of Upanishads?

Also if a non-Yajurvedi is to recite the Rudri should it be the Shukla or
Krishna version?

It seems to me this shloka should be taken as praise of these important
texts rather than saying they must be recited daily.

Though it should benoted that the author of the prayoga I use (Shastri
Durgashankar Umashankar Thakkurs' Brahmanityakarmasamucchaya) lists
the Shatrudriya along with the Purush sukta, Shivasankalpa, Hrdayasukta
and asection of the Shatapatha Brahmana called Mandala Brahmana as to be
recited as part of the Madhyanahnika.  This is for Shuklayajurvedis of
course.

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