The Vedas

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Mon, 29 Dec 1997, Chandran, Nanda (NBC) wrote:

> Over the weekend, I stumbled on this book called, "The Vedas" published by
> Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan. The book is basically a translation of lectures in
> Tamil given by Sri Chandrashekara Saraswati, the former pointiff of Kanchi
> Kamakoti Peedam (the Shankara Ashram at Kancheepuram). I've been fortunate
> enough to have been in his presence on two occasions and though an atheist
> at that time, even then I had no doubt that I was in the presence of a truly
> holy man.
>
> Explaining the background of the shruti, he stresses the importance of
> chanting the mantras in a specific way. This, he cites, as the reason as to
> why the shruti was taught by the ear to the sadhaka by the guru, down the
> ages. This, he explains, is also why the importance of a guru is stressed in
> the sacred texts, for if the mantras are not chanted in the proper way, it
> would be useless. He further explains that chanting such mantras, in the
> correct way, creates vibrations within our body to produce the desired
> effect etc.
>
> This moves into a sphere of  metaphysics which is quite far from standard
> Advaitam logic. Can the knowledgeable elaborate?
>

What is being explained is the standard Mimamsak doctrine.  The correct
use of the Mantras (which includes a lot more creates a force called
apurva which is responsible for the effects.  I don't know about creating
vibrations in the body though.

--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>