Soma in Vedas
S Jayanarayanan
sjayana at YAHOO.COM
Sat Sep 7 19:43:59 CDT 2002
--- Vidyasankar <vsundaresan at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:
[..]
> May I make a suggestion here?
>
> It would perhaps be useful to resist the temptation
> to make our own
> "mantra-s" with each and every possible word. If one
> is interested
> in mantras for whatever reason, it would perhaps be
> more useful to
> first listen to what the traditional teachers of
> mantra-s have to
> say. Some basic study of Sanskrit grammar would help
> too.
>
Without proper initiation into the mantra by a
competent Guru, chanting or repetition of a mantra is
totally useless. A story from the book "Spiritual
stories as told by Ramana Maharshi" illustrates this
beautifully. The relevant story follows (taken from
http://www.ramana-maharshi.org/stories.htm ):
Initiation
----------
A devotee asked, "Can anyone get any benefit by
repeating sacred syllables (mantras) picked up
casually?"
Sri Bhagavan replied, "No, He must be competent and
initiated in such mantras". To illustrate this he told
the following story.
A King visited his Premier in his residence. There he
was told that the Premier was engaged in repetition of
sacred syllables (japa). The King waited for him and,
on meeting him, asked what the japa was. The Premier
said that it was the holiest of all, Gayatri. The King
desired to be initiated by the Premier but the Premier
confessed his inability to initiate him. Therefore the
King learned it from someone else, and meeting the
Minister later he repeated the Gayatri and wanted to
know if it was right. The Minister said that the
mantra was correct, but it was not proper for him to
say it. When pressed for an explanation the Minister
called to a page close by and ordered him to take hold
of the King. The order was not obeyed. The order was
often repeated, and still not obeyed. The King flew
into a rage and ordered the same man to hold the
Minister, and it was immediately done.
The Minister laughed and said that the incident was
the explanation required by the King. "How?" asked the
King. The Minister replied, 'The order was the same
and the executor also, but the authority was
different. When I ordered, the effect was nil whereas,
when you ordered, there was immediate effect.
Similarly with mantras".
> Best wishes,
> Vidyasankar
Regards,
Kartik
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>From ADVAITA-L at LISTS.ADVAITA-VEDANTA.ORG Sun Sep 8 11:42:27 2002
Message-Id: <SUN.8.SEP.2002.114227.0400.ADVAITAL at LISTS.ADVAITAVEDANTA.ORG>
Date: Sun, 8 Sep 2002 11:42:27 -0400
Reply-To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
<ADVAITA-L at LISTS.ADVAITA-VEDANTA.ORG>
To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
<ADVAITA-L at LISTS.ADVAITA-VEDANTA.ORG>
From: Ravishankar Venkatraman <sunlike at HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: jIvanmukta's grace
Mime-Version: 1.0
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<html><div style='background-color:'><DIV>>I am not sure what people have to say about the nightly <BR>>sancharam of realised souls near their own adhishTaana. <BR>> <BR>>One instance is: <BR>> The samaadhi of the Guru of Bodhendra <BR>> Swamigal of Kanchi (16th cent) was not known to anyone. </DIV>
<DIV>I believe that this story needs a small correction.</DIV>
<DIV>The Acharya, whom you mentioned was not Sri Bodhendra Saraswathi in Govindapuram, but His Guru Viswadhikendra (Atma Bodha). His samadhi is in vadavambalam near villupuram in TamilNadu. Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati swamigal, while travelling through the village, wandered in the fields with a group of devotees. His Holiness asked them to dig a particular place, and doing so, they found a skull. The person, who came into contact with the skull, fell into a state of trance or temporary samadhi immeadietely, asking everyone to stop digging. On recovering, he mentioned that he saw a sanyasi in His Virat Swarupa, with hundreds of brahmins chanting Upanishads, before Him. Eventually, the land was given to Kanchi mutt,and an adhistAnam was built.</DIV>
<DIV>The story of Sri Bodhendra Saraswathi Swami is different. He started the Bhajana Sampradaya in South India, with two ardent and equally great followers - Sri Venkatesa Ayyaval of Tiruvisanallur, and Sri Sadguru Swamigal of Marudanallur. They were all great devotees of Sri Rama, and chanted Rama Nama continuously. Sri Bodhendra Saraswathi Swami sat on the banks of Cauvery, one quiet evening, and asked some kids to cover Him with the river sand. He attained videha mukti, and the river water started rising. People did not know ahat happened and where He was. Sri sadguru Swamigal started to look for the vibration of Rama Nama along the river, and found the body in one place. His adhishtanam is in Govindapuram. It is said that even today people feel the presence of Sri Bodhendra sarawati Swami, chanting Rama nama in the nights.</DIV>
<DIV>My 2c worth.</DIV>
<DIV>Ravi<BR></DIV></div><br clear=all><hr>Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: <a href='http://g.msn.com/1HM1ENUS/c152??PI=44364'>Click Here</a><br></html>
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