[Advaita-l] meaning for certain mantras

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

Thankyou Subhanuji for answering this question.

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

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: subhanu saxena <subhanu at hotmail.com>
 
Narayan wrote:

 

"Namaskar,

In my family tradition while doing doing panca-deepa aarti, we use the
mantras "sapratha sabham me gopaya, ye cha sabhayam.........Aher budhniyam
mantram gopaya......amrutaam sathaam..."  - taittiriya brahmanam 1.2.1.26.

Can some member please give the meaning of the aforesaid mantras? Also,
whether the mantra is appropriate for panca-deepa aarti, as the puja
vidhanam book I have (published by RK mutt) gives another set of mantras.

thanking you in advance

narayan   "


 

Namaste! I saw your above question on the advaita-l archives. The mantras
you mention occur in the virATkrama mantras ( or virAjakrama) of the
agnyAdheyam. Each of the 5 fires when established are praised with 5 mantras
from TB1.2.1 25-26. Bodhayana Srauta Sutram (II.18) gives us the detail (as
does Apastamba Srauta Sutram V.18.2) :

 

athApa upasprishya virAjakramairupatiSThate (Having touched water he prays
with the virAjakrama mantras):

 

To the gArhapatya: narya prajAm me gopAya...

 

To the dakshinAgni: atharva pitum me gopAya...

 

To the AvahanIya: shamsya pashUn me gopAya

 

and then come your mantras, with meaning given below:

 

to the sabhya (the fire placed to the east of the AvahanIya in the gambling
hall): sapratha sabhAm me gopAya

 

" O spreading wide, guard my meeting place and those who are seated in that
place.

Make them strong, and may they attain the whole of life"

 

to the Avasthya fire (placed to the east of the sabhya) ahey
budhniya mantram me gopAya (you have some typos in your transliteration
above)...

 

"O Ahey budhniya, guard my prayer, which is known to the rishis who have
studied the 3 vedas

ie the Rik, SAman, Yajus; for this is the immortal wealth of good people"

 

 

To the extent that the mantras are originally part of the section praising
the 5 fires, one can see why a tradition will have taken these mantras for
the purpose of aarati. You should note that many of these traditions are
from times much later than the vedic period. So, some mantra's are used in
abhishekam ceremonies simply because they have a key word in them, eg
dadhikrAvanno akAriSam... used for curd bath in the panchamrita snAna,
simply because "dadhi" is there in the mantra (dadhikrAvan was a sacred
horse!). So, if this tradition has been past down in your family or taught
from a sampradAyavid, then I am sure it is fine. The RK books will capure a
variety of mantras used by different people for completeness, but this does
not make it mandatory. In the tradition I learned in Mattur village, the
aarati mantra used is sometimes "aashaaste'yam yajamAno'sau. Ayuraashaaste
..." etc from TB

 

I hope the above is helpful for you

 

Regards

Subhanu