[Advaita-l] Question/Clarification on Chanting Vaidika mantras

[Balasubramanian Ramakrishnan]

The meanings can be changed even by non-svara mistakes such as dadAti vs.
dadhAti etc. Yes, there could be many examples, but the question is whether
there is a problem if the meaning does not change. This is in the case when
the svara is not said, but could match up to classical Sanskrit and make
the same sense. However, since the veda-s are aparuSheya, it's not a
sensible question to ask whether the vedic passage would make the same
sense when the svara was not recited, given that classical Sanskrit does
not have svara-s. The lack of svara-s/wrong svara-s makes it NOT the veda
and cannot give the requisite result, since the svaras are aparuSheya as
well. In some cases, it could convey the opposite meaning, but even if does
not, it cannot bear the same fruit.

Any chanting not associated with particular results would come under the
directive svAdhyAyo adhyetavyaH, which is a nitya karma. As I explained
previously, as per advaita there is no apUrva.

In rituals/karma-s there are a number of prAyashcitta karma-s meant for
expiation. As far as svAdhyAya goes, there isn't any, but the right effort
has to be made. Most people barely make any effort to learn the right
svara-s. If the right effort is made and it's not for a specific purpose,
samarpaNam to nArAyaNa should be good enough. But the key is to actually
make the proper effort. That's my understanding.

I am not aware of yati-dharma-s. It's not prohibited for them from chanting
veda-s, though it's not an obligatory ritual for them.

Rama

On Fri, Nov 3, 2017 at 9:14 AM, Raghav Kumar Dwivedula via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Namaste Rama ji
>  Thank you for your inputs. You have researched this topic deeply and I am
> taking the liberty of asking a few doubts on chanting.
>
> Regarding meaning being changed by change in svara - I have a doubt. Are
> there other examples other than the stock example of indrashatrurvardhate?
>
> I remember being told that the above indrashatru logic is extendable to
> other cases of a word being interpreted either as a bahuvrIhi or tatpuruSha
> based on accents. Based on pANinIya shikShA? But don't recollect the
> details.
>
> Also are there any details in shikShA about what other places a svara
> change effects a meaning change?
>
> And the other side of the question - and I can see that this is slippery
> slope so will not press the point- where the svara change does not effect a
> meaning change (are there any rules to assert this ?)- what are we to make
> of such (unchaste) chanting. Will it still be efficacious ?
>
> One last question - its a common practice (I do so quite often) to chant a
> few assorted suktas after the morning sandhya . Such chanting has
> discernible dRShTa phala in the form of cittanaiscalyam. My question is  -
> since there is no particular vidhi from a brAhmaNa being followed in such
> chanting (afaik), is there any adRShTa at all which accrues from such
> chanting after sandhya or on some other occasions like say on a visit to a
> temple?
>
> One last question - if a mistake occurs while chanting a line from a sUkta,
> can it be corrected by 're-chanting' that particular line or phrase or is
> the chanting thereby irretrievably blemished.
>
>
> Om
> Raghav
>
>
>
>