[Advaita-l] Fwd: vedic yajna

[Rajaram Venkataramani]

Hare Krishna. Please find below the answer to my questions by Shri
Vidyasankar. I thought it would be useful to others who want to learn the
traditional interpretation of these popular and controversial upanishadic
verses.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Vidyasankar Sundaresan <svidyasankar at hotmail.com>
Date: Sun, Dec 4, 2011 at 11:04 PM
Subject: RE: [Advaita-l] vedic yajna
To: rajaramvenk at gmail.com



> This question for Shri Vidyasankar. As far as I know, sthAlipAka yajna
does
> not involve animal sacrifice. Is there any reason why this involves animal
> sacrifice? Does 6.4.19 say that this is an extension to sthalipaka yajna
or
> does it say that sthAlipaka yajna should be performed the next day? If it
> is the latter, then this should be different from sthAlipaka yajna. is it
> not?


6.4.19 says that the man should offer oblations to agni, anumati, etc. in
the
morning, according to the manner prescribed for sthAlIpAka. This applies not
only to the rice + meat scenario of 6.4.18, but also to the rice +
milk/curd/water/
sesame in 6.4.14-17. The reason why this particular case involves mAMsa is
given in the 6.4.18 passage itself - it is the specific icchA of the kartA
for a son
who will become a master of four vedas, honored in society etc.

By virtue of the direct reference to sthAlIpAka in the chapter, any other
yajna
would be ruled out in this context. Regular sthAlIpAka involves
straightforward
cooking of rice, nothing majorly special about that part of it. Regular
sthAlIpAka
is naimittika, to be done on amAvAsya and pUrNimA (the corresponding
prathamA,
according to some sources), but the upanishad is describing a kAmya
performance
on a different day.  It is an "extension" of the sthAlIpaka because (a) in
the vast
majority of cases, the end of the monthly cycle of the wife will fall on
other
tithi-s, and (b) the meal to be eaten by the couple is in preparation for
the
actual performance of the yajna the next morning. In that sense, what the
upanishad is saying is much like the niyama to have phalAhAram in the
evening
before a SrAddha, which is observed by those who are very strict about it.

For any more details, only the gRhyasUtras followed by Sukla yajurvedins and
their ritual experts can answer. What I have said is based on rigorous
application
the principles and does not cover all the nuances of actual performance.



Vidyasankar