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

[Balasubramanian Ramakrishnan]

2017-11-05 21:38 GMT-05:00 V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>:

>
>
> On Mon, Nov 6, 2017 at 1:34 AM, Balasubramanian Ramakrishnan via Advaita-l
> <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
>> 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.
>>
>
> Advaita does not accept apūrva as a substitute for Īśvara. But the concept
> of 'adṛṣtam' is well accepted:
>
>

I never disputed that "'adṛṣtam' is well accepted". As a matter of fact, I
mentioned that adR^iShTa, even in the mImAmsA, is a superset of
apUrva-phala. apUrva is something extremely specific. The context in which
adR^iShTa was mentioned seemed to refer to apUrva. The difference in
opinion was about what the "knowledge" of ritual/mantra-s results in. Is it
in actual tangible things (wealth/health/etc.) as well or ONLY in the so
called mental concentration, which is aided by knowing the meaning (pointed
out by Kartik as well as Praveen). My understanding, as I mentioned in my
previous email, is that it's the former. Knowledge of ritual and mantras is
far more powerful than just aiding mental concentration. In spite of that,
it's a fairly useless activity for *most* people. I hope I am clear now.

Rama