[Advaita-l] Anantaa vai vedaah

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Tue, 30 Aug 2011, Venkata sriram P wrote:

> The mantra darshana bhAga of Brahmarishi Daivarata is called
> Chandodarshana.  The entire darshana is in the form of
> vedic intonations with 3 svaras.  I have the entire
> copy of the mantra darshanas which resonate with the
> rg vedic mantra / brahmana bhaga.
>

I have wondered about this.  Given that the grammar and intonation of 
Vedic is explained in full in Panini and the pratishakyas, a sufficiently 
skilled person could compose "Vedic-style" suktas  I see that some people 
have done exactly that.


> What is wrong with it and in what way Ganapati Muni &
> Daivarata (aka Ganapati Bhatt of Gokarna) differ from
> ancient vedic seers?
>
> The mantra darshana can be done even in modern times and that
> is what they have displayed with their tapas.
>

You do not know in which manner the Rshis saw mantras.  You are assuming 
it is by yogic means but that is by no means settled.  It could have been 
because of their practice of yajna as mentioned in the purusha sukta. 
There is a theory that soma was a hallucinogen which could have put the 
Rshis into a suprasensory state.  In fact why even assume any virtue on 
the part of the Rshis.  Some of them very unpleasant characters giving 
shapa to people according to the stories about them.

The Rshis themselves did not call everything they thought and felt Veda. 
For instance Yajnavalkya who was a mantradrashta by the favor of the Sun 
also is the author of a dharmashastra.  In the introductory part of that 
work he is acclaimed as a "yogishwara" yet it is called yagnavalkya smrti 
not shruti.

And then big practical problem is that when shastra is replaced by 
whatever ones pet guru has said (and no two people will agree on which 
gurus are authoritative) objectivity goes out of the window.  The winner 
will be the one with the best PR department not necessarily the most 
enlightened.  The reason Mimamsakas pushed this doctrine of apaurusheyatva 
so hard in the first place is to put the focus on the text not the author.




-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>