Translation Series - Gita Bhashya - Introduction 1/3

[Ravisankar Mayavaram]

When you say "to protect the divine nature of vedas" it seems to imply
that somehow the divine nature of "vedas" could be lost and it could
get say demonic or other nature. Divinity is inhererent in veda-s and
it cannot be lost.


That sentence probably could mean "to uphold the observance of vaidika
dharma on earth and stabilize the status of brahmaNa-s.

By mentioning brahmaNatvam, stability and status of other varNa-s are
also implied.  Often when we say "my head was saved by god's grace"
(Tamil: thalai thappiththathu tampiraan puNNiyam) , rest of the body is
also implied.

braahmaNa portion of the veda-s often layout the methodology of vaidiika
karma. By mentioning it, not only veda-s are referred to, but its
observance is also emphasized. bhaumasya indicating "pertaining to earth".

Please correct me if I am wrong and I apologize if I am completely off the
mark.

Ravi




--- Vidyasankar <vsundaresan at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>
> [4] to protect the divine nature of the Vedas = bhaumasya brahmaNaH
> braahmaNatvasya raxaNaarthaM - In my earlier attempt at translation,
> I had
> translated this phrase differently, but that turns out to have been
> wrong
>
(http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9810a&L=advaita-l&P=765).
> Dr. A. G. Krishna Warrier of the Adyar Library, whose translation has
> been
> published by Sri Ramakrishna Math (Madras, 1983), translates as
> follows -
> "in order to safeguard the spiritual power in the world or the state
> of
> Brahmanhood." The reason for my choosing to translate as I have done
> are
> the following.
>
> In the Mahabharata itself, the Shantiparvan has at least two
> occurrences of
> the phrase bhauma brahma, where it refers to the Vedas. One of these
> verses
> is a reference to the birth of Krishna as the son of Devaki and
> Vasudeva -
>
> yaM devaM devakii devii vasudevaad ajiijanat .
> bhaumasya brahmaNo guptyai diiptam agnim ivaaraNiH .. 12.47.18 ..
>
> It seems to me that Shankara has this reference in mind when he uses
> the
> phrase "bhaumasya brahmaNaH". The fact that he immediately refers to
> the
> vaidika dharma in the next sentence reinforces the idea that this
> phrase
> refers to the Vedas in the commentary also.


=====
ambaaL daasan

Ravi

sharaNAgata raxakI nivEyani sadA ninnu nammiti mInAxI

http://www.ambaa.org/  http://www.advaita-vedanta.org