[Advaita-l] Question on why "vedadhyayana"?

[Sri Kumar]

Hari Om.
Very impressive! Not sure if your intent is to discuss oral tradition or
purpose of “vedādhyayana.”

Maybe (😊) consider what Nārada says and the response he gets - Chāndogya U
7.1.2-3

ṛgvedaṃ bhagavo'dhyemi yajurvedaṃ sāmavedamātharvaṇaṃ
caturthamitihāsapurāṇaṃ pañcamaṃ vedānāṃ vedaṃ pitryaṃ rāśiṃ daivaṃ nidhiṃ
vākovākyamekāyanaṃ devavidyāṃ brahmavidyāṃ bhūtavidyāṃ kṣattravidyāṃ
nakṣatravidyāṃ sarpadevajanavidyāmetadbhagavo'dhyemi ॥ 2 ॥

so'haṃ bhagavo man‍travidevāsmi nātmavicchrutaṃ hyeva me
bhagavaddṛśebhyastarati śokamātmaviditi so'haṃ bhagavaḥ śocāmi taṃ mā
bhagavāñchokasya pāraṃ tārayatviti taṃ hovāca yadvai kiñcaitadadhyagīṣṭhā
nāmaivaitat ॥ 3 ॥

'Revered sir, I know the ṛg veda, the yajur veda, the sāma veda, and the
atharva the fourth, the itihasa-purana the fifth, the veda of the vedas,
the code of the worship of the manes, mathematics, the science of destiny,
the science of treasures, logic (vākovākyam) code of ethics (ekāyanaṃ),
etymology (devavidyāṃ - nirukta), the ancillary knowledge of the vedas
(brahmavidyā), the physical science (bhūtavidyā), the science of archery
(kṣattravidyā), the science of the stars (nakṣatravidyā), the science of
serpents, and I know them all. Revered sir, I know all the verses
(mantras), but I know not the ātma-vidya. From revered sirs such as
yourself, I have heard that one who knows the Self transcends all anguish.
I am anguished sir! May you be pleased, revered sir, to lead me beyond
anguish.’ In reply, he (sanatkumara) said, ‘whatever you know is only a
name.’  (2-3)

🕉


On Thu, Jun 20, 2024 at 9:59 PM Krishna Kashyap via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Namaste,
>
> I found some answers to this question on the internet:
>
> Why do vedadhyayana?
>
> the answers I found were:
>
> 1) Oral tradition was the only way these Vedas could be preserved. The lack
> of printing technology made it inevitable for the older Vedic pundits to
> establish oral tradition.
>
> 2) One had to be ready with all the mantra portions for Vedic karmas. Hence
> they only practiced the portions used for yajnas and yagas. Now, other than
> for 16 karmas like jata karma, upanayana, and so on, there is no need to
> learn Vedas. most people do not do any yagas anyway.
>
> In general, I get the idea that because of a lack of technology, the
> ancient lineage of Rshis developed the oral tradition to protect the Vedas.
> Now, we have good technology and AI to preserve these Vedas. Hence there is
> no need to commit to memory the Vedas.
>
> Now, why should we do Vedadhyana?
>
> this question was asked by a young person who has completed 95 percent of
> vedadhyayana of Yajurveda and he is 20 years old. (ie. he has completed 74
> khandas out of 82 (ashiti-dvaya)) Yajurveda. He practices it every day in
> addition to doing a bachelors degree in finance)
>
> What should I tell him?
>
> *Krishna Kashyap*
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