Ashvamedham (was Re: [Advaita-l] A lost Vedic ritual is brought alive)

[Abhishek RK]

Namaste,

On 11/3/05, Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian <rama.balasubramanian at gmail.com>
wrote:
>
> Shankara also points out in the very first brAhmaNa of the
> bR^ihadaaraNyaka (called the ashvamedha braahmaNa) that the effects of
> this sacrifice can be obtained by proper meditation alone. The inner
> principle of the ashvamedha yajna is beautifully explained in this
> upanishad. I suggest you look that up and also shankaras commentary on
> it.

 I had thought that meditation substituted for the rite itself imposes very
strict rules on the yajamana. I had read in the shrouta list that the
aupasana agni can be "transferred" into one's body (as opposed into a samit)
but this requires brahmacarya etc to be followed. Also in the shankara
digvijaya we read Sureshwaracarya "transferring" his agnihotra "internally"
before taking up sannyasa. My point is: this meditative performance of
certain karmas is much tougher and probably not recommended for beginners.

> Coming back to the taittiriiya yajur veda, the prashna 7 (called
> acchidra suuktam) , 8 and 9 (ashvamedha prashnam) are typically
> chanted on ekaadashii and the taittiriiya upanishhads (last four
> prashnas of the aaraNyakam) are chanted the following day. The
> tradition is that it cleanses sins and purifies the mind.
>
> Rama

 Thank you for this information. Presently I am learning the second
prapaathka of the first ashtaka. I assume prasna is same as prapaathaka?
 Regards,
Abhishek


On 10/26/05, Abhishek RK <rkabhi at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Could the scholars on this list elaborate about this Yagam? What is a
> > "Snarta" Yagam? Is it "Smarta"?
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