Dear Sir,
Thank you for your most enlightening mail on
prerequisites of chanting mantras by males/females. I
have a few queries in this context. Would appreciate
it if you could reply to them.
1) I had my upanayanam and initiation to Gayatri
mantra through my father, at the age of 12. I didn't
know the significance of the mantra then, and so
probably took the whole thing in a playful way and
didn't do Sandhyavandana and gayatri japam regularly.
Now, 15 years later if I start doing it regularly,
would I still benefit from 'learning the mantra though
Gurumukha'?
2) As you have mentioned, nobody can trace the mantras
to their origin and nobody to this day knows who
originally pronounced them. Doesn't this mean, the way
the mantra is chanted now, could be different from the
way it was originally intended to be? I remember
reading an excerpt from Swami Vivekananda's Collected
works where he says that in Samadhi he had a vision in
which he saw an old man reciting the Gayatri in a tone
markedly different from the way we recite them now. If
we go by this vision, then could that mean even the
way we chant the Gayatri mantra is wrong?
Regards,
Member
Response From Mr B. V. Krishnan
Dear Sir,
You are not alone in your dilemma. So many of my generation and your
generation are facing the same problem. Our parents conducted Upanayana and
gave us "Brahmopadesam" (incidentally it is significant that it is called
"brahmopadesam"!), but due to various circumstances we stopped practising
Gayathri japam. Now an entire generation has lost the benefits of this
price-less heritage which was only available to Brahmins.
I really do not know whether anybody can be competent to give correct answer
to your question: whether after a 15 year break, can one restart the mantra
and still hope to get the same power from it? Anyhow, I am not competent
for this.
Only our acharyas (like Shankaracharya, for instance) can give correct
directions. But I can suggest something:
1. First start doing Sandhya Vandana without fail every day. Whether there
is material result or not, I find Sandhya Vandana very enjoyable because, it
is a multifunction ritual:
a) It first cleans your mind & body (mantras like Apohishta, Suryashcha
mamanuscha etc.)
b) By arghyapradanam and tharpanam, it gives you an opportunity to offer
oblations not only to Surya, but also to all Navagrahas and
to Lord Vishu also., every day.
c) Prana Yamam, it has been found, is a very effective tool for
preventing heart and lung ailments. Moreover, during prana yama, you
learn to calm your mind. Mental calmness is half the battle won in our day
to day work.
d) Gayatrhi Japam is nothing but Transcendantal Meditation.
e) After this we offer namaskarams to the lords of four disas (prachyai
dise namah etc).so that they bless us during our
days endeavours, and finally,
f) We offer all our karma phalas to Lord, thus escaping from the bondage
of our karmas.
It is well and truly a great procedure, and once we start doing it after
understanding its purport, we can really enjoy doing it.
I intend doing a small write-up on Sandhya vandanam which I hope to post in
this site shortly.
2. After doing regular Gayathri Japam, but before "upasthanam" you do one
more sankalpam "Aneka kala vicchinna Gayathri manthra japa
prayaschidhardham, ........... samkhya gayathri mantra japam karishye") and
then once more do the allotted numbers of gayathri japa. You can yourself
decide the number of gayathris you do for this, according to your choice.
But let it not be less than 16 at least. More the better. After this you
can do upasthanam etc. and continue.
3. You know before beginning the Gayathri japam, there is a mantra "Ojosi
Sahosi Balamasi". When uttering this mantra, you strongly suggest to your
mind that Gayathri devi is going to come to you during the japa and empower
you. Do this everyday whenever you do Gayathri Japa. Slowly you will find
that your mantra will become more and more powerful.
I am only giving these suggestions from the very small and limited purview
of my knowledge. However, I am sure it will do no harm to try it. Best of
luck.
Answering your second query, I am on surer grounds. I have no doubt in my
mind that the mantras are being chanted the way it was done from the
beginning (whenever it was), for the following reasons:
a. The veda mantras conform to a very accurate and exact grammatic regimen.
These are so clear cut and accurate that not a single shabda or letter can
be found out of place or incorrect in any of the veda samhitas. In some
brahmanas like Araynayka etc. you may find some of these non-conformities,
but they are very minor, but in the samhithas, i.e. the main texts, not a
single letter, word or phonetic syllable is incorrect, i.e. they all conform
exactly to the same regimen without a single exception. In fact, the
mantras contain their own phonetic codes (swaras) which give different
meanings to the words also. In the entire text of veda, you cannot find a
single out of place swara! Even today this applies to the veda mantras as
we know them, therefore they could not have undergone any change. You know
sanskrit has been found to be the best suited language for computers, and
one of the reasons for this is that its structure is so precise.
b) When I wanted to start my "adhyayana" of Yajur Veda in 1986 or so, I was
searching for a Thaithireeya Samhita text. I did not then know the Granthi
lipi, and hence I could rely only on Sanskrit text. I enquired and heard
that one Satwalekar was publishing Thaithireeya Samhita in deva nagiri
(sanskrit) lipi from an ashram in Paradi in Gujarat I sent money to the
ashram and received a copy of the text book "Krishna Yajur Vedeeya
Thaithireeya Samhita" in devanagiri script. I took it to my Ghanapadikal
and started my adhyayanam. My guru, the Ghanapadikal, had mastered the
samhita solely from his teacher in Kumbakonam. There was no way his master
could ever have seen this sanskrit text, or vice versa. But, when I started
the adhyayanam, I found that every syllable, every letter,every word, every
swara, uttered by my Ghanapadikal (he was not using any book), was exactly
as per what was printed in the devanagiri script book I had received from
Sri Satwalekar. Therefore it is clear that the vedas being chanted in every
part of India all had one, and only one source. The methods of adhyayana
contained several pre-cautions to ensure that the mantras were passed on
exactly the same way from generation to generation, and it is wonderful to
know that the system works even now. That is why I exort everyone to utter
the mantras with swaram after learning from a Guru who in turn had taken
upadesa from another guru.
Sorry for being lengthy. Trust I have allayed some of your doubts.
Regards
B V KRISHNAN
Dear Member,
Let me first appreciate your readiness to perform
sandhyavandana despite a long gap.
I am not an authority in Sastras,but from smriti
granthas i have read , the prayaschitta suggested for
not performing sandhyavandana continuosly for a week
is punarupanayana(re-upanayana).
However for performing
punarupanayana you need not call your relatives and
friends for a feast!.It is a simple ritual .Since due
to many reasons it may not be practical today to
perform a re-upanayana,you can restart performing
sandhyavandanam as you have the right mindset to do
that.Performing sandhyavandana cannot at any point
harm you.
The mantras are apourusheya as they were visualised by
Rishis by the grace of Paramatma or brahman.However
the corresponding rishis are the Manthradrashta or
person who envisioned it.The mantras have got
variations in chanting in different veda samhitas of
the same veda itself.for example the rudraadhyaya is
different in Taittiriya samhita , kapistala kada ,
kadaka and maithrayani of Krishna yajurveda as well as
Kanva and Madhyandina samhitas of Sukla yajurveda.
Pratishakya helps one to find the differences in
chanting within the same samhita (the different
opinions followed by acharyas in chanting taittiriya
samhita can be found in taittiriya pratisakhya and the
commentators follow one recension as the favourable
one while commenting the sutras).Hence there is a
considerable difference in the way vedas are chanted
even within one sakha itself.
In this instance Gayathri itself is chanted different
for the 3 vedas as yajurvedins alone follow "Nichrut
Gayatri" Chandas(23 letters.Nichrut chandas being one
letter lesser than original one).Many pandits
themselves get confused about the
phenomenon where veda say"Tripada gayatri"(Taithiriya
brahmana portion for
darsapurnamaseshti-vatsaapakarana).Gayatri consists of
3 padas or 3 lines and normally gayatri chandas have 6
letters in one line and comprises of four lines. We
can see from Sounaka pratisakya that tripada gayatri
chandas will have astaksharas in each (8 letters in
one line)pada.
And for other vedas Gayatri mantra is
recited in Gayatri Chandas itself as 24 lettered
mantra.Hence you need to chant the Gaythri mantra
belonging to your veda shakha.
The mail by B V Krishnan was very much
informative,however the book edited by Sripad Damodar
Satavlekar for the Taithiriya samhita in Sanskrit
script itself mentions in the preface about
Daakshinaatya (South Indian) pada and uttara(North
Indian) pada where in the Phonetical rules differ.The
first anuvaka of Taittiriya samhita itself has this
example,where in "rakshah" is pronounced(and hence
printed) as "raKHshah" in dakshinatya pada and
"rakshah" in uttara pada.(The difference is that 2nd
KH is used in dakshinatya pada and 1st K in uttara
padas).this law applies in many places.
It could have
been so minor that the difference may not have been
noticed properly while pronouncing it.Such pada bedas
are common and is followed based on the pratisakhya
and siksha rules followed locally.
Also the daakshinatya pada books show deergha svaritas
also whereas the uttara pada books show only svarita.
The book edited by sri Satavlekar contains rishi
chandas and devata for the anuvakas whereas the other
north indian publications like anandashram samstha
pune ,as well as south Indian publications(New
heritage India ,Mylapore) doesnt have these.
We are missing the tradition of vedas as today just
studying veda samhita itself is considered as veda
padana,whereas it will be only complete if it is
studied with vedangas.
I have represented my understanding from books(and not
from one specific guru).
Kindly share your opinions in this regards and correct
me if the understanding is wrong.
thanks and regards,
Ganesh.
Thank you for your most enlightening mail on
prerequisites of chanting mantras by males/females. I
have a few queries in this context. Would appreciate
it if you could reply to them.
1) I had my upanayanam and initiation to Gayatri
mantra through my father, at the age of 12. I didn't
know the significance of the mantra then, and so
probably took the whole thing in a playful way and
didn't do Sandhyavandana and gayatri japam regularly.
Now, 15 years later if I start doing it regularly,
would I still benefit from 'learning the mantra though
Gurumukha'?
2) As you have mentioned, nobody can trace the mantras
to their origin and nobody to this day knows who
originally pronounced them. Doesn't this mean, the way
the mantra is chanted now, could be different from the
way it was originally intended to be? I remember
reading an excerpt from Swami Vivekananda's Collected
works where he says that in Samadhi he had a vision in
which he saw an old man reciting the Gayatri in a tone
markedly different from the way we recite them now. If
we go by this vision, then could that mean even the
way we chant the Gayatri mantra is wrong?
Regards,
Member
Response From Mr B. V. Krishnan
Dear Sir,
You are not alone in your dilemma. So many of my generation and your
generation are facing the same problem. Our parents conducted Upanayana and
gave us "Brahmopadesam" (incidentally it is significant that it is called
"brahmopadesam"!), but due to various circumstances we stopped practising
Gayathri japam. Now an entire generation has lost the benefits of this
price-less heritage which was only available to Brahmins.
I really do not know whether anybody can be competent to give correct answer
to your question: whether after a 15 year break, can one restart the mantra
and still hope to get the same power from it? Anyhow, I am not competent
for this.
Only our acharyas (like Shankaracharya, for instance) can give correct
directions. But I can suggest something:
1. First start doing Sandhya Vandana without fail every day. Whether there
is material result or not, I find Sandhya Vandana very enjoyable because, it
is a multifunction ritual:
a) It first cleans your mind & body (mantras like Apohishta, Suryashcha
mamanuscha etc.)
b) By arghyapradanam and tharpanam, it gives you an opportunity to offer
oblations not only to Surya, but also to all Navagrahas and
to Lord Vishu also., every day.
c) Prana Yamam, it has been found, is a very effective tool for
preventing heart and lung ailments. Moreover, during prana yama, you
learn to calm your mind. Mental calmness is half the battle won in our day
to day work.
d) Gayatrhi Japam is nothing but Transcendantal Meditation.
e) After this we offer namaskarams to the lords of four disas (prachyai
dise namah etc).so that they bless us during our
days endeavours, and finally,
f) We offer all our karma phalas to Lord, thus escaping from the bondage
of our karmas.
It is well and truly a great procedure, and once we start doing it after
understanding its purport, we can really enjoy doing it.
I intend doing a small write-up on Sandhya vandanam which I hope to post in
this site shortly.
2. After doing regular Gayathri Japam, but before "upasthanam" you do one
more sankalpam "Aneka kala vicchinna Gayathri manthra japa
prayaschidhardham, ........... samkhya gayathri mantra japam karishye") and
then once more do the allotted numbers of gayathri japa. You can yourself
decide the number of gayathris you do for this, according to your choice.
But let it not be less than 16 at least. More the better. After this you
can do upasthanam etc. and continue.
3. You know before beginning the Gayathri japam, there is a mantra "Ojosi
Sahosi Balamasi". When uttering this mantra, you strongly suggest to your
mind that Gayathri devi is going to come to you during the japa and empower
you. Do this everyday whenever you do Gayathri Japa. Slowly you will find
that your mantra will become more and more powerful.
I am only giving these suggestions from the very small and limited purview
of my knowledge. However, I am sure it will do no harm to try it. Best of
luck.
Answering your second query, I am on surer grounds. I have no doubt in my
mind that the mantras are being chanted the way it was done from the
beginning (whenever it was), for the following reasons:
a. The veda mantras conform to a very accurate and exact grammatic regimen.
These are so clear cut and accurate that not a single shabda or letter can
be found out of place or incorrect in any of the veda samhitas. In some
brahmanas like Araynayka etc. you may find some of these non-conformities,
but they are very minor, but in the samhithas, i.e. the main texts, not a
single letter, word or phonetic syllable is incorrect, i.e. they all conform
exactly to the same regimen without a single exception. In fact, the
mantras contain their own phonetic codes (swaras) which give different
meanings to the words also. In the entire text of veda, you cannot find a
single out of place swara! Even today this applies to the veda mantras as
we know them, therefore they could not have undergone any change. You know
sanskrit has been found to be the best suited language for computers, and
one of the reasons for this is that its structure is so precise.
b) When I wanted to start my "adhyayana" of Yajur Veda in 1986 or so, I was
searching for a Thaithireeya Samhita text. I did not then know the Granthi
lipi, and hence I could rely only on Sanskrit text. I enquired and heard
that one Satwalekar was publishing Thaithireeya Samhita in deva nagiri
(sanskrit) lipi from an ashram in Paradi in Gujarat I sent money to the
ashram and received a copy of the text book "Krishna Yajur Vedeeya
Thaithireeya Samhita" in devanagiri script. I took it to my Ghanapadikal
and started my adhyayanam. My guru, the Ghanapadikal, had mastered the
samhita solely from his teacher in Kumbakonam. There was no way his master
could ever have seen this sanskrit text, or vice versa. But, when I started
the adhyayanam, I found that every syllable, every letter,every word, every
swara, uttered by my Ghanapadikal (he was not using any book), was exactly
as per what was printed in the devanagiri script book I had received from
Sri Satwalekar. Therefore it is clear that the vedas being chanted in every
part of India all had one, and only one source. The methods of adhyayana
contained several pre-cautions to ensure that the mantras were passed on
exactly the same way from generation to generation, and it is wonderful to
know that the system works even now. That is why I exort everyone to utter
the mantras with swaram after learning from a Guru who in turn had taken
upadesa from another guru.
Sorry for being lengthy. Trust I have allayed some of your doubts.
Regards
B V KRISHNAN
Dear Member,
Let me first appreciate your readiness to perform
sandhyavandana despite a long gap.
I am not an authority in Sastras,but from smriti
granthas i have read , the prayaschitta suggested for
not performing sandhyavandana continuosly for a week
is punarupanayana(re-upanayana).
However for performing
punarupanayana you need not call your relatives and
friends for a feast!.It is a simple ritual .Since due
to many reasons it may not be practical today to
perform a re-upanayana,you can restart performing
sandhyavandanam as you have the right mindset to do
that.Performing sandhyavandana cannot at any point
harm you.
The mantras are apourusheya as they were visualised by
Rishis by the grace of Paramatma or brahman.However
the corresponding rishis are the Manthradrashta or
person who envisioned it.The mantras have got
variations in chanting in different veda samhitas of
the same veda itself.for example the rudraadhyaya is
different in Taittiriya samhita , kapistala kada ,
kadaka and maithrayani of Krishna yajurveda as well as
Kanva and Madhyandina samhitas of Sukla yajurveda.
Pratishakya helps one to find the differences in
chanting within the same samhita (the different
opinions followed by acharyas in chanting taittiriya
samhita can be found in taittiriya pratisakhya and the
commentators follow one recension as the favourable
one while commenting the sutras).Hence there is a
considerable difference in the way vedas are chanted
even within one sakha itself.
In this instance Gayathri itself is chanted different
for the 3 vedas as yajurvedins alone follow "Nichrut
Gayatri" Chandas(23 letters.Nichrut chandas being one
letter lesser than original one).Many pandits
themselves get confused about the
phenomenon where veda say"Tripada gayatri"(Taithiriya
brahmana portion for
darsapurnamaseshti-vatsaapakarana).Gayatri consists of
3 padas or 3 lines and normally gayatri chandas have 6
letters in one line and comprises of four lines. We
can see from Sounaka pratisakya that tripada gayatri
chandas will have astaksharas in each (8 letters in
one line)pada.
And for other vedas Gayatri mantra is
recited in Gayatri Chandas itself as 24 lettered
mantra.Hence you need to chant the Gaythri mantra
belonging to your veda shakha.
The mail by B V Krishnan was very much
informative,however the book edited by Sripad Damodar
Satavlekar for the Taithiriya samhita in Sanskrit
script itself mentions in the preface about
Daakshinaatya (South Indian) pada and uttara(North
Indian) pada where in the Phonetical rules differ.The
first anuvaka of Taittiriya samhita itself has this
example,where in "rakshah" is pronounced(and hence
printed) as "raKHshah" in dakshinatya pada and
"rakshah" in uttara pada.(The difference is that 2nd
KH is used in dakshinatya pada and 1st K in uttara
padas).this law applies in many places.
It could have
been so minor that the difference may not have been
noticed properly while pronouncing it.Such pada bedas
are common and is followed based on the pratisakhya
and siksha rules followed locally.
Also the daakshinatya pada books show deergha svaritas
also whereas the uttara pada books show only svarita.
The book edited by sri Satavlekar contains rishi
chandas and devata for the anuvakas whereas the other
north indian publications like anandashram samstha
pune ,as well as south Indian publications(New
heritage India ,Mylapore) doesnt have these.
We are missing the tradition of vedas as today just
studying veda samhita itself is considered as veda
padana,whereas it will be only complete if it is
studied with vedangas.
I have represented my understanding from books(and not
from one specific guru).
Kindly share your opinions in this regards and correct
me if the understanding is wrong.
thanks and regards,
Ganesh.
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