Mantrapushpam

[Subhanu Saxena]

On Tuesday October 27 Anand Hudli wrote:

>  Personally, I feel the R^ig Vedic style adds a pleasing effect to
>  the chanting and makes it more melodious. And the more melodious
>  a chant is the more the probability that you will remember it!
>  But this may be just  because I am used to chanting and hearing
>  more of R^ig Veda than kR^iShNa yajur veda. When I started learning
>  kR^iShNa yajur vedic portions, I had some difficulty in adjusting to
>  the new style. I think the best way to become familiar with
>  kR^iShNa yajur vedic chanting style is start with the taittirIya
>  upaniShad. This introduces the student to the chanting style with
>  (relatively) easy mantras.
>
I have been taught some Rig Veda portions  as part of my Veda training, and
I particularly enjiy reciting "agnimeele purohitam...", the fist hymn of the
Rig Veda, "samsamidyuvase...", the final hymn of the Rig Veda , and devI
sUktam "aham rudrebhihi..". I find the Rig Veda swarita lengthening
described by Anand Hudli  paces the mantras well.  Overall, I enjoy both
styles. Part of the difficulty for Rig Veda SAkhins is the anuswAra sandhi,
or the "gum" sound.  When recited in kR^ShNa yajur veda, this is a prominent
feature of the system, which also gives rise to a "gashh" sound prior to
compound consonants. So, we have:

Rig Veda                purusha evedam sarvam...

Taittiriya Aranyaka     purusha evedagum sarvam

And in Tai chamakam     yajnena kalpatAggashrotram ... for
                        kalpatAm+shrotram
Also, as has been mentioned before the Vedic "l" as in agnimeele becomes "D"
in Taittiriya Sakha, or agnimeeDe.  Panini has noted this in the sutra
"Dalayor na bhedaha"

Regarding Anand Hudli's suggestion on Taittiriya Upanishad, I agree
totally-its fabulous stuff.  This is the one Upanishad that today is learnt
with swara by all veda students regardless of their Sakha.

>  Curiously enough, the shukla yajur veda (at least the kANva shAkhA)
>  follows a chanting style that is similar to R^ig Veda. For example,
>  the  mantra "imA rudrAya tavase kapardine..." of the shrI Rudram is
>  chanted _identically_ in both the R^ig and shukla Yajur Vedas.
>  In that respect, I found chanting the shukla yajur vedic Rudram/
>  chamakam easier to me at least.
>
In my travels, I have also been taught the IshAvAsyopanishat with swara
according to kANva shAkhA.  Anand Hudli is right on the above with regards
the swarita.  Interestingly, the anuswara sandhi is as per the Yajur Veda
tradition (although shukla Yajur Vedins and kR^ShNa yajur vedins pronounce
the "gum" slightly differently).  It is interesting also to note that the
Satapatha Brahmana and the Brihadaranyaka are only chanted in udatta and
anudatta, with no swara, and only markings for anudatta. There is some
discussion in the scholarly community as to whether this is a some ancient
mis-interpretation of some lost written manuscript , where the markings were
in fact meant to show the udatta (If you know where the udatta's are, then
the rules of swara allow you to know where the swarita's are and where the
anudatta's are).  I am not qualified to venture an opinion on this. Suffice
to say, all versions I have heard are only chanted in udatta and anudatta,
with no swarita.  The portions of brihadaranyaka upanishad I have learnt are
also chanted this way.


>  The objections, I have heard, come from the mImAmsakas.
>  But I find the ghanapATha a remarkable experience to listen to.
>  I have not learnt this scheme but have only heard chants from others.
>
My favourite is to recite chamakam in ghanapATha. The publication
"Mantrapushpam" by the Ramakrishna Mumbai Math has some examples of
ghanapATha in it.  I would, however,  only recommend learning ghanpATha from
one's guru, as it is rather difficult.
> In fact, the gAyatrI mantra of the daily sandhyA-
>  vandana is all that one needs to chant perfectly to derive the
>  benefit of learning all the Vedas! The taittirIya brAhmaNa
>  states so. More about this later.
>
>
Just checking you didn't mean the Taittiriya Aranyaka, 2nd prasna (beginning
saha vai devAnAm AsurANAm cha...". The opening sections of this describe the
SandhyopAsana in detail, and has the classic phrase "abhi dhyAyan kurvan
brAhmaNo vidwAn sakalam bhadram ashnute'sAvAdityo brahmeti brahmaiva san
brahmApyeti ya evam veda" explaining that, by reciting during
sandhyAvandanam "asAvAdityo brahma, brahmaivAhamasmi" one is identifying
oneself with brahman, one rests in  brahman and one achieves brahman.

There are many interesting mantras in this prasna, including the description
of the 5 mahayajnas, plus a beautiful symbolic description of how merely
chanting the 4 vedas as swAdhyAya is as if one were actually performing the
yajna (Rig veda equating to the milke oblations etc)

Regards

Subhanu

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"bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam"
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>From ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU Thu Oct 29 09:19:27 1998
Message-Id: <THU.29.OCT.1998.091927.PST.ADVAITAL at TAMU.EDU>
Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 09:19:27 PST
Reply-To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
        <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
        <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
From: Anand Hudli <anandhudli at HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Mantrapushpam
Comments: To: advaita-l at tamu.edu
Content-Type: text/plain

 Subhanu Saxena wrote:

> Interestingly, the anuswara sandhi is as per the Yajur Veda
>tradition (although shukla Yajur Vedins and kR^ShNa yajur vedins
>pronounce
>the "gum" slightly differently).

 The shukla yajurvedins  pronounce "gg.h" (or "ggu") instead of "gum"
 as the krishna yajurvedins do. For example, "higuMsIH" of the krishna
 yajurvedins becomes  "higg.hsIH" (sounds closer to "higgusIH")
 of the shuklayajurvedins.

> It is interesting also to note that the
>Satapatha Brahmana and the Brihadaranyaka are only chanted in udatta
>and
>anudatta, with no swara, and only markings for anudatta. There is >some
>discussion in the scholarly community as to whether this is a some
>ancient
>mis-interpretation of some lost written manuscript , where the
>markings were
>in fact meant to show the udatta (If you know where the udatta's are,
>then
>the rules of swara allow you to know where the swarita's are and >where
the
>anudatta's are).  I am not qualified to venture an opinion on this.
>Suffice
>to say, all versions I have heard are only chanted in udatta and
>anudatta,
>with no swarita.  The portions of brihadaranyaka upanishad I have
>learnt are
>also chanted this way.

 Regarding svara markings in written text, the scheme of R^ig Veda
 is followed also by the atharvaveda, the VAjasaneyi samhitA, and
 the taittirIya samhitA and brAhmaNa. But the marking scheme in
 the maitrAyaNIya and kAThaka saMhitAs, of the maitrAyaNIya and
 kAThaka shAkhas respectively of Krishna Yajurveda, is
 different. The shatapatha brAhmaNa follows a different scheme as
 you have pointed out. The last scheme is the one used in sAma-veda
 texts. Thus, there are at least four different methods of marking
 svara's in vedic texts. As one can see, all this is quite
 confusing. This is probably a good case for arguing against learning
 vedas from written texts rather than from directly listening to them!

>Just checking you didn't mean the Taittiriya Aranyaka, 2nd prasna
>(beginning
>saha vai devAnAm AsurANAm cha...". The opening sections of this
>describe the
>SandhyopAsana in detail, and has the classic phrase "abhi dhyAyan
>kurvan
>brAhmaNo vidwAn sakalam bhadram ashnute'sAvAdityo brahmeti brahmaiva
>san
>brahmApyeti ya evam veda" explaining that, by reciting during
>sandhyAvandanam "asAvAdityo brahma, brahmaivAhamasmi" one is
>identifying
>oneself with brahman, one rests in  brahman and one achieves brahman.

 This may be one reference, but I had in mind a more explicit
 recommendation of the sAvitrI mantra (the gAyatrI) in the third
 aShTaka of the taittirIya brAhmaNa. I will give the gist of the
 story below. I will check and write more later.

 BharadvAja is a very keen student of the vedas. He wants to master
 all the vedas in their entirety. But the vedas are vast and learning
 even one is very hard. Consequently, BharadvAja spends most of his
 life as a student, living with his guru, and trying very hard to
 learn. But he is overcome by old age and weakness. Indra approaches
 him and asks: "If I were to make you young and strong again for
 a quarter of life time, what would you do?" Pat comes BharadvAja's
 reply: "I will continue to learn the vedas. I won't stop until I
 have learnt everything in them." Indra shows BharadvAja three big
 mountains which represent the three vedas. He (Indra) then takes
 a handful from each mountain and says: "BharadvAja! What you know
 is only a handful from each mountain. You cannot possibly know
 all the three vedas. I will instruct you the one mantra by which
 you will achieve heaven." Indra then instructs the sAvitrI mantra
 (the savitA-gAyatrI) to BharadvAja who understands it and reaches
 heaven.

 The question that arises is: How is it possible that BharadvAja
 did not already know the gAyatrI before Indra instructed him?
 The answer is based on the situation that nArada find himself
 in, as told in the chhAndogya upanishhad. nArada claims that
 he knows all the vedas, purANas, etc, and still approaches
 sanatkumAra for instruction. So the conclusion is that nArada
 did not know all the shAstras well enough.

 So one need not feel depressed because he does not know a whole
 lot about the vedas. Even if one knows only the gAyatrI mantra,
 it is great. This story is reassuring to those of us who stay
 far away from India and do not have easy access to vedic scholars.

 On the other hand, if one is fortunate enough to have an opportunity
 to learn the veda properly, this should be done enthusiastically
 and with perseverance. But there is no need to feel bad if a lot of
 material cannot be learnt.

 Anand













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