[Advaita-l] Reciting veda ghana pATaM

[Ravi Parimi]

Sri Bhaskar,

> (a) I heard from someone that reciting veda ghanapATam is of no use...ghana
> is meant only to show our mastery over recitation of vEda maNtra-s in a
> prescribed order by following the proper saNdhi between the words but this
> ghana recitation does not give any meaningful meaning....I also do feel
> like that...especially when I am doing  Ashirvachana in ghana :-))  (like
> navO navO bhavati, punastvAdityA, shatamAnaM bhavati, paryAptya
> anantarAyAya etc.)...

I share the same thoughts as you regarding ghana chanting. While it is
mellifluous and dandy, the chant in itself has no meaning/purpose.
Some pundits claim that they do it for veda samrakshana or
"rakshartham vedanaam". Some class of pundits consider ghana bad
because it reverses the order of words in mantras - they embrace krama
patha more whole-heartedly.

Regards,
--ravi