Life and Soul \ Brahman (Con't)

[MANTRALAURA at DELPHI.COM]

namaskaaraM Ravi,
  You wrote:

>On Sat, 7 Mar 1998 MANTRALAURA at delphi.com wrote:
>
>> sarvebhyo namaH,
>>
>>  OM shaantiH shaantiH shaantiH
>>
>>   Brahman means OM, OM means Brahman;
>> shaantiH means peace; the three repetitions
>> are for destroying the three kinds of
>> obstacles to the acquisition of knowledge,
>> viz the physical, the natural, and the
>> supernatural. (taittiriiyopaniShad)
>>
>>------
>namaskAram mantraLaura
>
>I used to understand this three repetitions was for
>the three planes of existence stUla, sUkshma and
>kAraNa. Can you elaobarate and give the quoted verse.

  The verse is from taittiriiya-upaniShad I.i.1:

 shaN no mitraH shaN varuNaH |
 shaN no bhavatvaryamaa |
 shaN na indro bR^ihaspatiH |
 shaN no viShNururukramaH |
 namo brahmaNe | namaste vaayo |
 tvameva pratyakShaM brahmaasi |
 tvaameva pratyakShaM brahma vadiShyaami |
 R^itaM vadiShyaami | satyaM vadiShyaami |
 tanmaamavatu | tadvaktaaramavatu |
 avatu maam.h | avatu vaktaaram.h |
 OM shaantiH shaantiH shaantiH || 1 ||
 iti prathamo.anuvaakaH ||

 "May Mitra be blissful to us. May VaruNa be
blissful to us. May Aryaman be blissful to us.
May Indra and bR^ihaspati be blissful to us.
May viShNu, of long strides, be blissful to us.
Salutation to Brahman. Salutation to you, O Vaayu.
You, indeed, are the immediate Brahman. You alone
I shall call the direct Brahman. I shall call you
righteousness. I shall call you truth. May he
protect me. May he protect the teacher. May
he protect me. May he protect the teacher.
OM, peace, peace, peace!"

Also, in taittiriiyopaniShad Part II, Chapter I:

 OM saha naavavatu | saha nau bhunaktu |
 saha viirya karavaavahai |
 tejasvi naavadhiitasastu maa vidviShaavahai ||
 OM shaantiH shaantiH shaantiH ||

 "May he protect us both together. May He nourish
us both (the teacher and the taught) together.
May we both acquire strength together. Let our
study be brilliant. May we not cavil at each other.
OM! Peace! Peace! Peace!"

The commentary states, "The three repititions,
shaantiH, shaantiH, shaantiH -- peace, peace, peace
-- , have been explained already (as meant for
averting bodily, natural, and supernatural
hindrances). Moreover, this invocation is for
warding off the impediments to the knowledge that
is going to be imparted. An unobstructed acquisition
of the knowledge of the Self is being prayed for,
since the supreme goal is dependent on that."

OM shaantiH shaantiH shaantiH

dhanyavaadaH,
  Mantralaura

Note: The above and any other quotes I have made
from "taittiriiya-upaniShad" are from the translation
by swaamii gambhiiraananda with the commentary of
shaNkaraachaarya.