[Advaita-l] Om in the Vedas

[Venkata sriram P]

Namaste,

 

I think the elders who were arguing about the non-reference of

praNava are not aware of sastra(stuti) mantras in rg veda.   

 

During the invocation of devatas (dEvatAvhAna), the shastra (stOtra) 

rUpa riks that are chanted again and again (navIyasIM navatarAM

punaH punaH) is of the form of praNava only.  

 

praNUyatE prastUyatE iti praNavaH 

 

The devata who receives the stuti which is nitya-nUtana, such a

nNitya-nUtana pra-sastra(stuti) is called pra-Nava.

 

Rg veda mantras say :

 

navya matakShadbrahma hariyOjanAya

 

hariyOjanAya indrAya navyaM nUtanaM brahma

EtatsUkta rUpaM stOtraM atakShat akarOt

 

In yajna karmas also, the dEvata stuti which ends with 

O-kAra having 3 mAtrAs is taken to be praNava only.

 

apAM rEtAMsi jinva tOjaM

dEvAn jigAti sumnayOjaM

 

In the above mantra, O-kAra is considered to be praNava only and the 

Pramana is “yajnakarmaNi Teh praNavaH AdEsO bhavati”

 

Moreover, it is understood by shrauta ritualists that in karma kANDa,

the dEvata stuti (dEvata satra) is implicitly called “praNava” 

and exclusively praNava neednot be mentioned “praNavaiH 

sastrANAM rUpaM” mentions the vAjasanEya saMhita. 

 

Like this, the dEvata who is extolled in vedas again and again 

Is said to be praNava-swarUpa (punaH punaH prastUyatE &

sadA navaH).  

 

Such a dEvata in rg veda is said to be “sadA navaH” (3-11).  

Such a dEvata in rg veda is said be nityayA (vAchA virUpa nityayA).

Such a dEvata who is sadA navaH & extolled again and again (punaH

punaH prastUyatE) is praNava-vAchya (tasya vAchakaH praNavaH).

 

Rg veda says:

 

indraH navIyAn navataraH kalyANaH stutyaH (6-44-7)

 

ukthaiH sastraiH navya stutyO yaH indraH (1-61-13)

 

namasA navyO arkaiH (1-92-11)

 

For the above mantra, sAyaNAchArya writes:

 

hE indra arakaiH sashtrarUpaiH mantraiH namasA namaskArENa

yaH tvaM navyaH stutyO bhavasi 

 

Which implies that the dEvata who is extolled again and again 

(nUyatE stUyatE iti navaH) is symbolically represented with

pra-Nava (nUyatE stUyatE iti navaH ---Nu stutau). 

 

Moreover, the niruktkAra yAska while commenting on the 

Mantra “richO akSharE paramE vyOman” says that this mantra

Points towards the praNava only.

 

The famous mantra of Rg Veda ie., 

 

“chatvArivAkparimitA padAni tAni vidurbrAhmaNA ...”

points towards praNava only.

 

So, from this it is evident from pra-Nava is not 

incorporated in later stage during karma-kANDa

but also implicit in Rg Veda mantras in the form of

dEvata stuti  “praNavaiH sastrANAM
rUpaM”.

 

Regs,

Sriram