Hari Om
~~~~~~
Namaste saksin,
As of late there have been a volley of posts regarding the vedas. What they are , how many, their completeness, etc.
An inquiry has been made as to who has read them and pondered this knowledge.
All my readings and my instruction clearly point to reading is fine, but hearing is essential. To think one will grasp the wisdom of the Veda's (in this sense I am discussing the mantra's themselves, the samhita) by reading them is a noble cause, which will only bare little fruit. Why so? The mantra's of the veda's touch three worlds as the risi's would say:
Sabda - this sound/vibration - rest and activity of the meter is of key import
Artha - meaning
Sakti - the inherent energy within the sound - it's power to transmit Bhuma, fullness; note the mantra's in the Ved are known as Brahman.
So, proper chanting & hearing of the Vedas are vital to the transmission of its Bhuma , fullness of understanding and culturing ones consciousness. This discipline is called siksa ( sheek -sah). This siksa is vital. In conventional terms the word means education and learning ( and I then would be the sisya, or student, of siksa). Proper siksa brings out the fullness of the ved. Just as the proper use of a japa-mantra brings its fruits, like that.
Siksa is concerned with proper chanting and the applicaiton of syllables, sound, meter, strength, even-ness (sama) and the connection of these sounds, not to mention intonation and pitch . This is why the samhita's hve been handed down from teacher-to-student, as the sudent learns these subtlety's from the master via listening.
When someone wishes to read the veda samhita as if it was a text book will miss the richness found in Sabha, Artha and Sakti inherent in the mantras.
This is what the rishi's bring to the family of man. This is what they have 'seen' in their consciousness. Not a book of words, but the full knowledge transmission of jnana (from jna, to know). Yet if one wished to read the veda for it's enjoyment I would recommend the 9th and 10 th mandala's.
That said, this truth is paramount - the level of or the expansion of one's consciousness makes the Veda's bare maximum fruit - That is, knowledge is structured in our consciousness, because ultimately knowledge Is Consciousness, and their connection point is one and the same:
Richo akshare parame vyoman yasmin deva adhi vishve nisheduh,
Yastanna veda kim richa karishyatiya it tad vidus ta ime samasate.
(Rk Veda, 1.164.39)
The Veda or rks, reside in the transcendental field or akshara, of the highest (parame) ethereal Being (vyoman) in which reside all the adhi vishve deva's (or impulses of creative intelligence, the laws of Nature), responsible for the whole manifest universe. He whose awareness is not open (na veda) to this field, what can the verses accomplish for him? Those who know this level of reality are established in evenness (samasate or rest contented) , in That ( Tat or Bhuma, fullness-wholeness of life)."
What does this say in short? Of what use is the ved, for he whom is not becoming established in the Absolute? Where will be the value of this great knowledge other then words... become established in the avyayam (undecaying), the atman, the SELF, sama or even-ness to reap the full value of the knowledge.
A past post on Rishi, Meter and Devata that is identified for each sloka of the Rk Ved.
http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showpost.php?p=9372&postcount=1
pranams,
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