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ThiruvahIndhrapuram RathnAngi Kaimkaryam:Part XVI: Atharva Vedam

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sadagopan • Mon Mar 17 2003 - 15:34:27 PST 


SrI:

Dear  BhakthAs:

Today adiyEn will start the study how Vedams and Upanishads 
salute the Para  Brahmam , which in its archA form 
presides over the Dhivya dEsam of ThiruvahIndhrapuram 
with the ThirunAmams of SrI DhaivanAyakan , DevanAthan ,
Achyuthan and  Natha Sathyan .

adiyEn has  vowed to write about Lord DhaivanAyakan 
alone on the lists until the RathnAngi Kaimkaryam 
is going to be completed on October 5 with all of 
Your help .Hence this posting will also focus on Him .
It would be His ThiruvuLLam to bless all of us 
with Kaimkarya Poorthi during this year's PurattAsi
SravaNam (October 5,2003). 

High tribute from Atharva Vedam & its Upanishads
************************************************* 
All the 4 Vedams and the Upanishads associated with
each of them eulogize the Lord . Atharva Vedam is
no exception in this context. 

Inview of the vast scope of the Vedams and Upanishads 
and the mulitlevel meanings of individual Veda manthrams , 
it is not possible for anyone to understand fully  
the timeless Sruthis or intrepret their meanings .
With this caveat , adiyEn will make a very feeble 
attempt to offer my salutations .

In this posting , adiyEn will focus on the youngest of
the Vedams , Atharva Vedam . This Vedam like  the other
three vedams covers many  subjects. AchAryAs have said
that  Vedams are like a  "Pala sarakku Kadai" or a store
with many goods for "purchase". One picks and chooses 
what they need. Atharva vedam is mistakenly underestimated
for housing manthras linked with "magic and  cult ". 
Actually , it contains immense theologic revelations
a in the other three samhithAs according to some commentators.
Examples of such profound thoughts  are housed in
the following Sookthams of Atharva Vedam:

Brahma  Sooktham , Skambha Sooktham , PraaNa Sooktham et al.

Each vedam has its SamhithA, BrAhmana and AraNyakaa 
sections. The last section containing the Upanishads
are the distileld essence of Vedic philosophy (vedAnthaa). 
All known upanishads are linked with one of the four 
Vedams .

Atharva Vedam , Its SaakhAs and their Upanishads
**************************************************

Atharva Vedam has 9 skhAs out of which 2 are current
today ,. The nine saakhAs are : (1) PaippalAda 
(2)Tauda (3)MuNda(4) SaunakIyA (5)Jaajala 
(6)Jalada(7)BrAhmavEdA (8)Devadarsa and 
(9)CharaNavaidya.

Among these nine , Only Saunaka and PaippalAda 
are available to us. Others are extinct .

Upanishads belonging to Saunaka SaakhA
****************************************
The three upanishads belonging to the Saunaka SakhA
are : (1) MuNdaka (2)PraNava and (3) Gayathri .
PraNava Upanishad is housed in Gopatha Brahmanam.
The three Sookthams (Brahma , Skhambha and PrANa)
are like Upanishads and are inside the Atharva SamhithA 
itself.

Upanishads belonging to Paippalada SaakhA
******************************************
Prasna , Brahma , Garbha upanishads belong to
this SaakhA. 

Upanishads belonging to unidentified SaakhAs
*********************************************
MaNdUkya , ChUlika , Atharva SikhA , Kaivalya,
Atharva Siras , Brahma  Bindhu , Naadha Bindhu,
Amrita Bindhu and  TejO Bindhu belong to these
unidentified saakhAs. 

Among these Upanishads, some are well known :
Prasna , MuNdaka, MaaNdUkya and  Atharva  Siras .
There are commentaries avialable to these and 
also for other Upanishads such as ChUlika 
and four Bindhu Upanishads.

AdiyEn will select specific manthrams from
the original SamhithA text of Atharva Vedam 
and its Upanishads to illustrate the glory of
the Veda Purushan , who has His ArchA form at 
Thiruvaheendhrapuram as Lord Deva NaaTan 
(Dhaiva Naayakan).

Inspite of the many  references to curing of 
physical diseases , rites for prolonging of 
life on earth to serve the Lord and His BhaagavathAs ,
fulfilment of one's desires (ishta Kaamyam) ,
practise of state craft , "magic and charms ,
spells and sorcery" , the essence of Atharva Vedam
is marked by high Vedic philosophy and distinct
metaphysical thoughts about Brahma  Jn~Anam. 
Hence , Atharva Vedam should be studied and recited
with revenrence that should match that we have for 
the other three Veda SamhithAs and their BrahmaNams ,
AaraNyakams and Upanishads.

Atharva  SamhithA
******************
It consists of 5977  verses (manthrAs) spread 
over 20 Books.The 17th book has the smallest
number (30) and the 20th book has the largest 
number of verses(958). 

These 20 books are divided into hymns  as 
PrapADakAs/lectures) and as anuvAkAs( recitations)
and SookthAs. Latter (SookthAs) are divided further 
into arTa (sense hymns) or ParyAya (Period ) SooktAs. 
There are a a total of 95 AnuvAkAs in Atharva Veda 
SamhithA.There are 34 PrapAdhakAs from Book 1-18.

The meanings of this Vedam is also intrepreted 
at the three levels .  
 
We will study together some of the selected pasaages
from Atharva Upanishads in subsequent postings and
focus on the VaishNavite itrepretation according to
AchArya RaamAnujA , Swamy Desikan and Upanishad
BhAshyakArar, SrI Ranga RaamAnuja Muni of DhIpa PrakAsa 
PerumAL Sannidhi at ThUppul agrahAram.

AzhwAr EmperumAnAr Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam,    
SrI HemAbja NaayikA SamEtha SrI Achyutha Para BrahmaNE nama:

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan

 



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