[Advaita-l] Rudram Chanting in White House

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan via Advaita-l]

> We had long discussion on Go Mamsa and others long time back. The cannon
> guns are silent now. I don't want to re ignite. Sorry. You can check the
> archives.

That's a welcome approach, for keeping to the focus of this list. Cannons will
not be required, so long as nobody brings them out in the first place.
 
I am not going to pass any personal comments on the appropriateness or
otherwise of the two boys who recited the first anuvAka of the kRshNa
yajurvedIya rudra namakam, recordings of which are available in the public
domain now. However, I find that various qualities of their recitation are
better than average, based on what I've heard from various yajnopavIta
wearing Indian male reciters over the last few years here in the USA. This
means that whoever has taught them has done a very good job with the
content, although perhaps lax in terms of adherence to the other niyama-s
expected in our tradition.
 
And lest anyone here mistake me, yes, I do find the sight of the two reciting
the veda in suits and ties, with shoes on, very jarring to my eyes as well. I
am not arguing that it is all ok, but any harm resulting from not observing
certain niyama-s will pertain to those who break them. We, on this list, would
do much better to focus our energies on following our niyama-s properly
ourselves. I would request everyone to first do some  basic research as well.
A simple Google search on the names of these two boys reveals that they are
students from Boulder, Colorado, sons of a faculty member in the music
department at the University and that they have all spent much time in
south India. No doubt, they have learnt to recite the veda from someone
in south India as well, so if one has to find a problem with Americans chanting
the veda, then one has to first find a problem with the Indians teaching them.

All that, however, is not about advaita vedAnta, so let's leave it alone on this
forum. And there is no need to go all over the place either, from a recording
of Americans reciting the veda to the dietary habits/restrictions to be followed
by Indians. Such branching into wide-ranging discussions neither serves the
purposes of this list, nor does it help such discussions in even a general manner.

Regards,
Vidyasankar