Re: Shri Ganesha Upanishad
Hari Om
~~~~~
Originally Posted by
Mukunda
praNAm Orlando, Agnideva,
http://www.srivaishnavan.com/ans_vedas.html#21 says
Modern thinkers divide Vedas into four portions, as follows: Samhita Brahmana Aranyaka, and Upanishads
Question: who(
Modern thinkers divide) devided vedas into upanishads, samhitas, aryankas & brahmanas ? Also what exactly mean devided the vedas into four portions => did content change or just reorganizing the original content? --Mukunda
Namaste,
We know that the Ved was one... it was then divided by Badarayana or known Ved Vaysya. Rik, yajus, sama and atharva ved. There's 3 types of mantras - rk, yajus and sama.
Yajur ( both black or Krishna, and white or shukla as they are called) contain 50% of the mantra's from the Rik Ved, Sama Ved Samhita ,95% from the Rik Ved, Atharva Ved Samhita 20% from the Rik Ved. So , the Rk Ved is the anchor of this knowledge of ~ 20,000 mantra's ( with their repetitions).
We know the samhitha's are the mantra's. Its said that time wore on, this knowledge was almost lost. We know the Divine One assumed the incarnation of a boar and recovered the veda's burried in the depths.
What is this saying? The word boar = varaha which has the meaing of lifting up aroha that which is sacred or vara. So the meaning is the Divine One recovered the buried knowledge in the deep realms of the consciousness ( the waters ).
AS I understand it, the brahmana's are the result of the attempts to recover the lost knowledge. The recovery was in two parts: record the names.details of the hymms (samhita) recited at the various stages in the yajna AND record the steps of the yajna too. The 2nd part deals with the contemplations and wisdom contained there in, which lead to the Upanishads and the aranyaka's.
Upanishads - Upa or near + ni down + sad to sit. Now, sit near to what? Some say the master, Same say sit near to the Truth.
Some even say shad is to shatter or destroy. And one is distroying ignorance. There are 13 core Upanishads of the 108 that are recognized. How so? Badarayana quoted only from these for his Brahma Sutras. If you take the 13 Upanishads they are less then 1/2 half of Rik Ved Samhita, Yet the 2 of the 13, the Chandogya and Brhadaranyaka make up 80% of all the text of the 13. These two Upanishads are core teachings and insights.
The Aranyaka's ( means forest) - and are used for the sadhu that has retired from active life ( one of the 4 ashrama's in one's life). One retires to the forest for their spiritual pursuits. This typically comes in the Surya Dasa of ones life ( after 50 or so). Yet we look to the brahadaranyaka upanishad , and it is the vast forest or knowledge given.
So, if you have 4 veda's with 4 divisions , you have 16 types of books to consider. Yet not all Veda's have 4 divisions e.g. Shukla yajur ved and sama ved do not have the aranyaka's.
The Key theme of the veda is the seeking of and attainment of Truth ( satyam). We need to be new born ( twice born as they say) to get in touch with this knowledge. When established one is established in rta-chit or Truth consciousness. It is also said the deva's are twice born, dvi-janmanah. The second birth is in the yajamana, or the sacrificer, us.
There is a path that one travels and the native is on this journey to come to Tad Ekam ( That One). Along the way there are the devas to assist, and there are asura's too ( these asura's we have not talked much about but are vrtra, vala, the panis, etc). It is within our power to call in the deva's to assist us in this journey - and these are the deva's we hear from the rishi's - Agni ( jataveda), Muruts, Idra, etc all play a role.
More as we talk.
Last edited by yajvan; 29 December 2006 at 09:43 PM.
यतस्त्वं शिवसमोऽसि
yatastvaṁ śivasamo'si
because you are identical with śiva
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