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

[Bandaru Viswanath]

Byhearting the shruti is not the only thing in vedadhyayana. There are
more. One must learn all the angas and upangas, lakshana and bhashya.
Patanjali says in Mahabhashya -

- ब्राह्मणेन निष्कारणेन धर्मः षडङ्गे वेदो अध्येतव्यो ज्ञेयश्च ।

The key here is the ज्ञेय word. So learning doesn't stop after byhearting.
If one doesn't have the shruti by memory, there is no way he will be able
to learn the anga/upanga/lakShana/bhashya. For that reason alone, shruti
must be imprinted in memory. If anyone is studying a poorvamimamsa text or
a dharma shastra text, without having shruti in memory, it will not be
possible to appreciate the text. Just like studying brahmasutra without
being able to recall quoted  shruti/upanishat vakya. Ofcourse, we can be
content, but that won't be fruitful learning.

Ofcourse Patanjali also laments the fact that people are not doing this way
(in his time itself).

So even if we have printed texts, we still need shruti imprinted in memory,
if we were to use it.

Thanks
Viswanath.


On Fri, Jun 21, 2024 at 9:26 AM K Ram via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> In order to have good grasp of Shadba Pranaman one needs to master the
> Shruthi of their lineage.
>
> The idea of Veda Adhyayanam is not for maintaining and preserving the oral
> tradition but it's considered one's Swadhyaya at least according Taittriya
> Yajurveda. In fact the very idea of Brahmayagnam is Veda Adhyayanam which
> is one of the pancha MahaYagnas that one needs to perform everyday.
>
> One develops adhikarithvam for receiving the Brahma Jnanam through
> undertaking Svadhyaya of their Veda. If the Upanishads are seen as a mere
> academic exercise by disregarding the Poorva Mimamsa practices, one does
> not develop the necessary adhikarithvam for receiving the Jnana. Some
> Mahatmas maybe exceptions but the Vedas in itself is revealed in it's
> entirety for a reason.
>
> All the personality traits (Viveka, Vairagyam, Shatsampatti and
> Mumukskhutvam) that one needs to develop based Shankara Bhagadvadpada
> guidance is achieved through Veda Adhyayanam.
>
> I would also question that student (who claims to have learnt most of the
> Yajurveda) on what he has truly understood in his learning years because he
> should've learnt all of this through Adhyayanam alone.
>
> Hope it helps. Hari Om 🙏
>
> On Thu, Jun 20, 2024, 18:59 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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