From the Bhakti List Archives
Mani Varadarajan
• Thu Jul 09 1998 - 15:13:14 PDT
Ram Gopalaswamy asks:
>
> - Are zriimad askTaaksharam, and zriimad dvayam eternal mantras (ie. zruti) ?
> or are they revealed by an avataara of Bhagavan from time to time
> as necessary (ie. smrti) ?
>
Vedanta Desika covers these topics in Srimad Rahasya Traya Saaram.
According to Desika, the ashTaakshara mantra is a Vedic mantra,
and is found in the nArAyaNa upanishad, among other places. It can
become a tantric, i.e., Veda-inspired but not _from_ the Vedas, with
slight modifications, as discussed in a separate thread earlier.
The dvaya mantra is a tAntrika mantra that is alluded to in the Vedas.
Reference to it is made in a now-lost section of the Vedas known as
"kaTha Sruti".
I do not know whether this makes it technically "smRti".
> Are the rshi-s avataara of zriiman-naaraayaNa for the purpose of
> revealing mantras or are they svayam zriiman-naaraayaNa Himself ?
I don't understand the distinction between the two. Could you elaborate?
Mani