Essentials of the Four Vedas

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Essentials of the Four Vedas
Essentials of Rig Veda	Essentials of Atharva Veda
Essentials of Yajur Veda	Essentials of Sama Veda and its Music

Dr. R.L. Kashyap is Professor Emeritus of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University, Lafayette, Indian in USA. He had his Master’s degree from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and obtained Ph. D from Harvard University. He is the recipient of many International awards. Recently he has received ‘Vedanga Vidvan’ award instituted by Maharshi Sandipani Vedavidya Pratishthan (Ujjain), and autonomous body of HRD, Govt. of India and ‘Jnana Keerti’ award instituted by Harsha Kriya Foundations, Bangalore.

He has authored more than 350 research articles of which 220 are published in scholarly journals and the rest were presented at conferences. He has guided above 50 doctoral students.

He has written extensively on Veda. Some of his widely read books on Veda are : ‘Why Read Rig Veda’. ‘Secrets of Atharva Veda’, ‘Essentials of Yajur Veda’, ‘Work, Enjoyment & Progress’ Divinizing Life’ etc.

He is the Honorary Director & Trustee of Sri Aurobindo Kapali Sastry Institute of Vedic Culture, Bangalore.

Dr. R.L Kashyap
Dr. R. L. Kashyap is Professor Emeritus of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana in USA. He had his Master's degree from Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru and obtained Ph.D. from Harvard University. He is the recipient of many International awards. In 2003 he has received 'Vedanga vidvan' award instituted by Maharshi Sandipani Vedavidya Pratlshthan (Ujjain), an autonomous body of HRD, Govt. of India.

He has authored more than 350 research articles of which 220 are published in scholarly journals and the rest were presented at conferences. He has guided above 50 doctoral students.

He has written extensively on Veda. Some of his widely read books on Veda are Krishna Yajur Veda Taittiriya Samhita (3 Volumes) Rig Veda Samhita (12 Volumes), 'Why Read Rig Veda Rudra mantras 'Essentials of Rig Veda Essentials of Yajur Ved Essentials of Sama Veda Work, Enjoyment and Progress

He is the Honorary Director of Sri Aurobindo Kapali Sastry Institute of Vedic Culture, Bengaluru.

The aim of the book and others in this series is to introduce the eternal wisdom contained in the four Veda Samhitas and explain its relevance for the modern age. We focus on the concerns of the Youth regarding the study of Veda. A typical young person has little interest in the Veda Since He/ She associates Vedas with the routine religious rituals. Telling him/ Her That the Veda is our ancient book and the backbone of our culture makes little impression.

The Modern youth clearly like enjoyment but they are also keen on developing their own their own innate potentials unique to each individual They are dimly aware that enjoyment and work have to go hand in hand some of them are aware that society or family can offer little help if they do not care to develop their own talents. They are all by and large highly utilitarian Many of them can see the hollowness behind the popular slogans such as abolish poverty worship the dams as temple all of our problems such as inability to read or write are caused by society ets. So they ask what can the Veda do for us for instance some of them ask why so many student fail in examinations. They accept some student do the study enough. But they the student have never been taught how to develop fundamental skills like will power memory inspiration clarity of thought recognition of the Joy in the Work and the need for awareness while doing all actions at all times.

This book and the associated publication are designed to introduce the student to the Vedic Methods of developing will power memory inspiration clarity of thinking ets. And method of doing work and studying which brings in joy instead of being regarded as merely boring.

In the first edition of Essentials of Atharva Veda only English translation of quoted mantras were given. And the text of mantras was covered in a complimentary book titled Wisdom of Atharva Veda Now both the books are combined in this revised edition

AV Contains a large number of hymns dealing with health. Healing herbs and longevity . Since a separate Saksi book on these topic is in preparation the coverage is brief.

The first two editions of Essentials of Atharva Veda and the Kannada Version sold out in a relatively short timespan. Now the Marathi and Malayalam edition are also available. The readers and Veda lovers have expressed that the Veda Knowledge given in this format is helping them to understand the profound Knowledge of rishis and to read harmonious life.

The special feature of the Veda is that there is no simplistic idea of the Supreme God or Creator who acts like an all-powerful and unreasonable king. Human beings are not mere supplicants. Veda speaks of all the activities of human beings as collaborative activities between the human beings and the cosmic beings.

By reciting appropriate mantra-s and following certain practices, it is possible for a human being to develop the power of will or the powers of mind. Once the collaboration is established, the powers of will or mind manifest and grow in a person.

The entire Yajur Veda may be said to deal the yajna, in one-way or another. Yajna is the collaboration between the cosmic powers, also called Gods, and humans.

The focus of this book is on the Light that Yajur Veda gives us to enrich the human potential and enhance the quality of life.

The focus of this book is on the Light that Yajur Veda gives us to enrich the human potential and enhance the quality of life.

According to Sri Aurobindo the mantras of the Rig Veda, the riks, light up the mind with the rays of knowledge; the mantras of Yajur Veda provide the power for the right ordaining of action; or the Yajus mantra guide the actions performed as yajna in accordance with the knowledge of riks. Sri Aurobindo states: “this sacrifice (yajna) is at once works, adoration and knowledge”

Traditionally, yajur Veda is mentioned as the second Veda, the first being the Rig Veda. We should view the entire Vedic knowledge in Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda and the Upanishads as a whole; they are not separate bodies of knowledge with no central core. Several of the well-known mantras of the Upanishads are already present in the Veda Samhitas; for instance, most of the mantras of the first Upanishad, Isha or Ishavasya U. are in the 40th adhyaya of the Shukla Yajur Veda Samhita.

This book is a study of two recensions (shakha) of Yajur Veda, Taittiriya Samhita from the Krishna Yajur Veda and Vajasaneyi Samhita from the Shukla Yajur Veda. Some persons who belong to one of these shakhas regard the other with sentiments bordering on antagonism.

The two recensions have more than a thousand mantras in common; yet Taittiriya Samhita is regarded as somehow ‘inferior to the VS based on a silly legend in the purana, by the followers of VS.

The protagonists of both the shakhas depend more on the legends in the puranas and the words of the commentators like Sayana or Mahidhara than the mantras in the text.

Tradition regards the Yajur Veda as dealing with physical yajna or rite; but it is the inner yajna happening in our subtle bodies which takes us to the higher and higher levels of consciousness as mentioned by TS (4.6.5.2) or VS (17.67) Outward rites have a place too, but as a physical paradigm for representing the subtle truths behind the inner yajna. It should be stressed that mantras from TS or VS are chanted in the outward rites (yajna), but TS or VS do not have any details of the performance of the rites.

Our study of the two recensions (shakha) together is in 32 chapters which are grouped under six broad Sections denoted by Roman numerals with the following titles:

I. Overviews (4)
II. Deities and the Mantras (5)
III. Yajna or Sacrifice (7)
IV. Legends, Society and Science (5)
V. Upanishads and Yogic Insights (7)
VI. Appendices (4)

[The number in parenthesis indicates the number of chapters in that section.]

The first chapter of Section 1 gives the overview of the entire book. The Chapter 2 discusses the overlap between TS and VS and also the non-overlapping parts. The Chapter 4 describes a special path (or yoga) for divinizing our life based on TS Kanda 4, VS (11-18).

The chapter 5 in Section II gives the primary role played by the cosmic power Agni in the psychological ascent of the worshipper. The remaining chapters of this Section gives the text and translation of several mantras widely used in worship such as the ‘Gayatri Mantra’, ‘Rudra Mantras’ and ‘Ganapati Mantra’.V Section III discusses the various aspects of yajna, the key concept in Yajur Veda, in chapters 10-16. Chapter 10 gives the various meanings of yajna. Chapters 11-13 discuss the relation of the inner yajna with the outer yajna-rites and their concordance. Chapters 15 and 16 discuss Ashvamedha or the Horse-sacrifice.

The chapter 17 in Section IV gives various legends in the Brahmana portions of TS and their deep significance. The remaining four chapters detail the available information on the beliefs and the aspects of the Society, the plants, metals of that time, the seasons and lists of integers.

The seven chapters of Section V deal with the Upanishads and the yogic insights in VS or TS.

The last adhyaya of VS, VS (40) is the famous Isha Upanishad. The champions of rites opine that the first 39 adhyayas of VS deal with rites, the fortieth being a singularity or abbreviation. However a more careful reading of the text of VS reveals that the last ten adhyayas VS (31)- VS (40) are philosophical and have many yogic insights. We have to remember that philosophy in the Hindu context is not merely a work of intellectual speculation, but should be supported by an experience beyond the mind and it must be capable of leading a practioner to ascend the various levels of consciousness. Five of the Upanishads in the famous oupen ‘khat collection of sixty Upanishads are in VS. Some of the phrases in the Tadeva Upanishad in VS (32) resembles those in major Upanishads like Kena or Brhadaranyaka U. Of great interest in Taittiriya Samhita are the ideas of creation and the journey of the subtle body to higher worlds indicated by Suparna, in Chapter25 and Chapter 28.

The section VI entitled Appendices has four relatively lengthy essays. The appendix 1 discuss the connection between the complex Vedic rites like Agni- chayana and the ordinary Vedic homas done today. It contains some details of the complex Agni- chayana rite in which the mantras from TS (Kanda 4) are chanted.

The special feature of TS, unlike VS, is that it has several section or anuvakas which have no mantra, but only prose passages giving various types of information including legends, conditions of society, brief explanations of rites etc. Many persons attached to rites seem to be under the delusion that these Brahmana passages give solid support for the outward rites. So we have discussed in detail all the Brahmana passages appearing in TS in appendix 2.

We refer to the table in p. 145 in a number of places.

In appendix 3 we discuss all the mantras in TS (5) and TS (7) dealing with Ashvamedha to show that these mantras support the idea of inner yajna rather than the outward one.

The appendix 4 gives a detailed listing of the contents of TS Kanda 4, clearly the most important Kanda in TS. It gives a variety of knowledge on spiritual practices.

Summing up, the main contribution of this book is the discussion of the role of mantras in both inner and outer yajna, as well as the study of the relation between the two recensions of Yajur Veda, namely Taittitiya and Vajaasaneyi, often viewed as separate.

Those who are interested to study the whole Taittiriya Samhita can read the three volume set published by SAKSI.

Dr. R.L. Kashyap is Professor Emeritus of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University, Lafayette, Indian in USA. He had his Master’s degree from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and obtained Ph. D from Harvard University. He is the recipient of many International awards. Recently he has received ‘Vedanga Vidvan’ award instituted by Maharshi Sandipani Vedavidya Pratishthan (Ujjain), and autonomous body of HRD, Govt. of India and ‘Jnana Keerti’ award instituted by Harsha Kriya Foundations, Bangalore.

He has authored more than 350 research articles of which 220 are published in scholarly journals and the rest were presented at conferences. He has guided above 50 doctoral students.

He has written extensively on Veda. Some of his widely read books on Veda are: ‘Krishan Yajur Veda Taittiriya Samhita, ‘Rig Veda-First Mandala’, ‘Rig Veda-Third Mandala’, ‘Rig Veda-Fourth Mandala’, ‘Rig Veda-Fifth Mandala’, ‘Rig Veda-Sixth Mandala’, Rig Veda-Tenth Mandala’, ‘Sama Veda-Purvarchika’, ‘Why Read Rig Veda’, ‘Rudra Mantras’, ‘Essentials of Atharva Veda’, ‘Essentials of Yajur Veda’, ‘Work Enjoyment & Progress’ etc. He is the Honorary Director & Trustee of Sri Aurobindo Kapali Sastry Institute of Vedic Culture, Bangalore.

Sama Veda Samhita is the third in the traditional sequence of four Vedas. All its mantras are risks in some specified metres with names such as Gayatri, Anushtubh etc.

Sama Veda is the earliest known systematic procedure for giving a melody to a verse meant for chanting. Most persons who have heard with devotion the singing of Sama Veda verses will attest to the sense of exhilaration or ecstasy experienced by them. It is no wonder that the famous poem Bhagavad Gita in the epic Mahabharata declares that the Sama Veda is the best among the four Vedas. Each Sama Veda mantra contains in it not only the deep meaning of music. Sama Veda is the Foundation for all systems of music in the subcontinent of India. Note however that mantras in Sama Veda are different from the mantras in the other 3 Vedas in one way. In the other 3 Vedas, a mantra is chanted as the text indicates. However this is not the case in Sama Veda.

Sama Veda Samhita, in reality, has two parts. The first part consists of the text of the rik mantras which are to be sung. It is properly called Sama mantra Samhita. The second part of Sama Veda gives the text or text for singing. Thus every mantra in the first part, is expanded to yield one or more Samagana mantras. Note that there are also several Samagana mantras which do not have a source rik mantra.

Now, only the book of the mantras of the first part is accessible, with relative ease namely the edition of the Pandit Sripad Damodar Satavalekar having 1875 mantras. The book having the text of the Samagana mantras, is available only in specialized libraries. Hence even the so-called experts call the book with only the first part as the entire Sama Veda.

We are happy to present to our readers the second edition of, ‘Essentials of Sama Veda & Its Music’. This book on Sama Veda complements our three other books namely, Essentials of Rig Veda, Essentials of Atharva Veda and the Essentials of the Shukla and Krishna Yajur Veda.

This book has 32 chapters divided into 3 parts. The Part 1 having 10 chapters’ deals with the general information given here is not original, the presentation of this body of knowledge in a compact from is a highlight of this book.

The chapter 19 is particularly interesting because of the use of relatively advanced mathematics in devising a scheme for detecting the errors in the pronunciation of accents during chanting.

Part III having 13 chapter deals with the psychological powers associated with the various deities occurring in Sama mantras and the text and meaning of the associated mantras. Note that symbolism is an integral part of the meaning behind these mantras. The psychological powers associated with the deities such as the will-power, clarity of mental operations, inspiration can be developed with the help of these mantras. Understanding the meanings of words in a mantra and their deeper meanings is of great help in this process.