The Mundaka Upanishad : Post-6. Swami Krishnananda.
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Tuesday, April 19, 2022. 08:50.PM.
Chapter-1. Section-1. Mantram-5. continued
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Vyakarana is grammar.
There are two types of grammar: classical grammar and Vedic grammar. In Panini's method, both types of grammar are found. Vedic grammar is studied only in advanced stages. Students of Sanskrit usually study only classical works and the well-known Vyakarana. Unless we know the technology of the method by which words are used in the Veda mantras, we will not make any sense out of them, and so Vyakarana, the study of grammar, is necessary.
Nirukta is the etymology of the word—how the word has been formed.
Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni, and so on—what is actually meant by these words? They have a root. As every word in a language has a root from which it is derived, Vedic words also have a root from which they arise. The Nirukta Shastra of Bhaskaracharya is the great textbook which goes into the details of the etymology, or the roots of the words, used in the Veda mantras.
Chandas is the metre.
Every verse, every mantra of the Rigveda Samhita particularly, varies in its metre. It is long or short, it is Gayatri Chandas or Tristubh, and so on, and accordingly the intonation also changes.
Jyotisha is the astronomical science
It does not mean that on any day we can do some worship and on any day we can do some havanam, and so on. A particular yajna, or havan, should be done at a particular time, in consonance with the respective conjunction of the planets and the stars. That is Jyotisha, the shastra of astronomy.
We cannot go to the Veda directly and understand anything out of it unless we are proficient in these six auxiliary shastras, or scriptures, called śikṣā kalpo vyākaraṇaṁ niruktaṁ chando jyotiṣam. All these, says the great Master, together with the original Vedas—the Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda—should be considered as lower knowledge.
They purify our minds and enlighten us into the mysteries of the whole of creation. They purify our minds because of the power that is embedded in the mantras and the emotional or religious awareness that is stimulated within us on account of the meaning that we see in the mantras, the blessing that we receive from the sages who composed the mantras, and also the special power that is generated by the metre.
All these put together create a religious atmosphere in the person who takes to the study of the Veda. It is great and grand, worth studying. It will lift us to the empyrean of a comprehension of values that are not merely physical, but superphysical. Yet, it is not enough. There is a ‘but' behind it. What is that greater knowledge, which is higher than this mentioned?
To be continued .....
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