Shri Gurubhyo Namaha , Harih OM 🙏
We started this Sahasranama chanting from Feb 2020 and thanks to everyone for joining in such a big number to keep your consistent efforts to protect and preserve our customs as a seeker of truth.
Veda Brahma Vidwan Dashagranti Shri Krishnamurthy ji blessed our Septermber 2021 satsangha with his gracious presence and his pravachana ( Overview - Divine talks on scriptures ).
Pundit Shri Krishnamurthy is an expert and senior to Pundit Shri Shashidhara Somayaji , both studied in same school. He is an expert scholar in Rigveda and Jyotishya Shastra. Guru for both of them is Shri . Shankara Bhat and his Guru was Shri . Lakshmi Narayan Bhat who is an expert in chanting complete Rigveda ( 10553 Mantras ) without books . Shri Krishnamurthy Bhat is on par with his Guru's Guru in his learning in this lifetime with the blessings of his Guru. He went to Kashi to get scholorly level called Vidwan Acharya recognition and currently live in Hasana, Karnataka with his family. Acharya is someone who has the desire to transfer the knowledge to their next generation. Rigveda's 10 samhita yaaga is very special yaaga and he participates as Ghanapaati for the welfare of the mankind.
It is our honor and privilege to have such a scholar amongst us today to shower his knowledge for part time seekers like us.
Shri . Krishnamurthy chanted few matras , Krama paatah ( next level /Master level of chanting Veda mantras ) and shanti mantra before starting his pravachana.
Shri Krishnamurthy started his pravachana by remembering friendship of Shri Shashidhara Somayaji in their Gurukula. Many in Bharata today says there is no time to perform dharmic rituals or to learn Shlokas/Sahasranamas/Veda Mantras to perform Pooje, Japa tapa as recommended in Shastra to achieve higher level of consciousness but he was glad that people in USA took the Interest to learn at least Sahasranamas to begin with. He expressed his happiness about our group in general who is keen to listen to katha sharavana ( Listen to stories ) and/or to chant Sahsranamas of Vishnu and Lalita. They say if we get out of Bharata, we carry our culture with it.
To realize why we have come to this earth in the first place becomes very important. To seek the ultimate mati( Buddi filled with Viveka) to gain vidhye(knowledge) through Daiva Bhakti.
Ultimate shakti or the power is defined as God through 33 crore devatas. Vedas are the root to determine the existance of such a power called Divine/Bhagavan.
Ancient Poet says Dharme Preetim Sanmatim Daivabhaktim ( To grant attraction and love for Dharma , We do not know why we are born in certain family to our parents in a particular city or village or a country as a boy or a girl especially in a certain tithi as per Hindu calendar . We never ask these questions as we do not have answers even in science or Shastras which is 100% convincing. Hence it becomes Imperative to seek the truth within .
There are some born and die immediately but we lived on ....Based on our Poorva Janma ( 7 janmas ) we come to inference that due to those pending sadhana and due to our own Karma we are born again in this human being form. Dharma is not equivalent to English word " Religion " but it is a way of life to simply put, to live life of meaning and significance. Religion is not Hindu , Christian or Islam. Dharma in Sanskrit has very elaborate way of description about our own functioning on this Earth as a human being.
Veda says Matru Devo Bhava at first , Pitru Devo Bhava as second , Acharya Devo Bhava and Atithi devo bhava which needs to be practiced on a daily basis without questioning it. These are the Karmas which we need to do religiously every single day as nithya karmas.
Satsangatam Dehi Bhaktim cha Muktim.
2. Sanmatim - Bless us with Intellect to comprehend and digest divine thoughts. There are 3 ways we can express it. 1. Buddimaan , 2. Matimaan 3. Dheemaan. Matimaan is one who reject the bad and accepts what is only good for himself and others around him.
3. Daivabhaktim - Higher power do exist whom we have kept as KulaDevata/Ishtadevata in our heart. We are giving him/her a swaroopa ( aakara for a picture ).
33 crore Devatas are figured out from Smruti( Veda ) and Puranas. Moola (Root for our Dharma) are hidden in Vedas.
Rigveda , Yajurveda, SamaVeda , Atharva Vedas are 4 vedas which we refer as Chaturvedas. These Vedas cannot be captured in books as this is huge and anantha ( There is no limit and cannot be captured in books at all ) . Small Story - Bruhaspati Devacharya was Rushi muni and had the knowledge of all 6 shastras but one day Muni realized that without doing Vedadhyayana, his life is not going to be complete hence he asked Indra to give him 100 yrs to study Vedas. He has highest memory power and studies Vedas for 100 yrs. If he just listen to Vedas once he will not forget as everything used to get stored in his memory rightaway. He kept on studying Vedas for 100 yrs but he could not complete it. He goes again to Indra for 100 yrs of life, again he could not complete even though he studies Veda daily in second term of 100 yrs. Another term he gets it , totally 300 yrs he studies but could not complete Vedas in full. 4th time when he went to Indra , Indra shows him a mountain and takes 3 handful of mud and says this is how much Vedas he has studies in 300 yrs of life span . This gives perspective of how much we have to learn and digest before we stop taking birth in a circle of life and death ( punarapi Jananam Punarapi Maranam ) .
Then Vedas were properly segregated in parts in Rig Yajur Sama Atharva by Vyaasa muni hence he is called "Veda Vyaasa". He is such a genius person and visionary and great fore thinker.. He knew about future Yugas and human beings born in those Yugas that has logical mind in Evolution hence he further segregates Rigveda into 21 shakes. Just to complete 1 shake out of 21 shake of Rigveda , we need 12 yrs at a minimum. Shakala Bhaskala etc kind of Prabhedas are there . When we chant Pravara and do namaskara to elders and Gurus and Scholars we say out loud Ex : Rigshaka Adhyayi means I have studied or studying that particular shake from a Guru and belonged to such and such Rushi muni Gothra...Our Identification was always with a cosmos ( Brahmanda ) and pravara is the best example to illustrate that fact . This is niyama ( descipline ) before we prostrate and take blessings from Elders /Scholars/Learned Pundits who do Homa Havana and Pooje daily without compromising Nithya Karmas ( Gayathri Anishtana through Sandhyavandane for example ) . So coming back to topic, Out of those 21 shakes there is only one shake by name shaakala shake is remaining in 21st century of Kaliyuga . We can only say ,Other shakes are aged but we do not have rights to say it has become extict.
In Yajurveda, there are 3-4 shakes listed Taittireeya, KaaNva , Maadhyandina , Maatyayini are existing. Similarly , Vedanam Samavedosmi is what Krishna has said in Bhagavadgeete. SamaVeda exists in the form of a song with raaga. Sahasratatvaa Samavedhaha - Samaveda had more than 1001 shakes but today, only 3-4 ( Gowthami, Ramayani,Dainini) are existing through Guru - Shishya Parampare.
Atharva Veda had 9 shakes out of which Shavanaka shake is the only one which is existing in 21st century of Kaliyuga. This tells clearly how much we have lost from time immemorial due to lack of learning abilities in us. Vedas are apourusheya which means it is not written scripted and narrated by a purusha or group of people. Rushayaha mantra Drushtaraha - All these Rushis are not kartrus of Vedas as they have not written. They are mantra Drutaru which means they have done tapassu for thousands of years , these divine thoughts has come to their thoughts hence they uttered these mantras which is passed from generation to generation as Veda VaaNi.( VaaNi means sound which is obsorbed in Dhyaana state to utter it to betterment of all jeevas ) .
See the beauty here : Our learning started from ಅ ಇ ಉ . Rigveda starts from AgnimeeLe Purohitam ( starts from ಆ kaara ). Rigveda's one shake consisting of 10553 mantras ends with ಇ kaara - samasathi - E kaara ). Yajurveda starts with Ishe ( ಇ kaara and ends with ಉ kaara in Bandhuh). 3rd one is sama veda which is in song form ( those who give ahuti to Devastas to invite are called Hotah . Once they come , Samavedi does daana with his plaeasing gaana which has ಅ ಇ ಉ aksharas in song form . Devata gets pleased to bless the Invitee ).
Rigveda has Ayurveda as Upaveda. Yajurveda has Dhanurveda as Upaveda. Samaveda has GandharvaVeda ( Shastreeya Sangeeta ) as Upaveda. Atharvaveda has Stapativeda ( ex : Vaastu) as its Upaveda. These are wealth of Knowledge comes from Vedas using which we can worship Devatas. One cannot take book and start reading Vedas as it becomes totally ashudda ( if we do not keep the swaras( Udaatta Anudaatta, Swarita grammer in alignment as guided by Guru ) intact and totally conveys a wrong or different meaning for the sentence. First step is to lean how to chant with accuracy ). One small story to go with this - Veda Mantras has such a power , once rakshasa wanted to kill Indra. He got the yajna done through Rushis to have a new boy to be born . Devatas immediately went to Brahmaa to protect Indra. Saraswati maate just gives wrong swara to Rushi...then mantra pronounciation altered. Meaning became "Instead of killing Indra, let the new boy who is coming to this earth gets killed by Indra " It became.
Hence it is Important to recognize which letter comes from tongue, those comes from epiglottis and nabhi ( from the stomach ).Padachedda is very important as well Ex : Tatsaa space Viturvarenyam is wrong. Tatu Savituhu is padacheda is correct ( contact the Guru who gave Upadesha ). Vedadhyayana and anushtana is difficult subject why because Mantraadeenantu Daivatam which means Devatas will listen and surrender to Veda Mantras. Shloka Mantras, Beeja Mantras Mananaat mantra ityaahuhu Which means those who are chanting any sahasranamas , Beejakshara Mantras or Shloka mantras are all ok to chant but chanting perfectly will help us get blessings from Divine .
Vishnu Sahasranama , Lalita Sahasranama and Stothra Sahithya are available to us for our daily chanting. Every single minute, Our shareera(body) and buddhi ( Mind) keeps doing paapa karmas. We do Sandhyavandane in Sandhyaa kaala ( When night is vanishing and day is starting , when morning is going and noon is coming, when evening is going and night is coming. When Night converges with morning again ) , we do sandhyavandane to eliminate those paapas which was done in a day by doing trikaala sandhyavandane. Shastra means niyama ( Rules and Regulation ) to be followed to lead a life of a meaning and significance. What we have to do when we wake up , In a typical day what can be done at what hour of the day is called Shastra. Human beings have to conduct in certain way in certain time of the day as we have a descretionary mind. Ex : When we are driving vehicle , there is a descipline to be followed on the road. Jantoonam nara janma Durlabham - Manushya Janma is very rare. Ahara Bhaya Maithuna, Nidra is common for all 84 lakh species but human beings stands out as have descretionary mind to develop Viveka in order to earn Jnaana/Wisdom.
In life, Prarabhda Karma is there hence life situations are unavoidable but we have to do our Karmas without fail in order to overcome the bigger damages in order to keep our focus on the journey of life to achieve the purpose . Ex : If we are hungry, food is made at home by our mother/wife but if we do not chew food properly(our own efforts ) , it will serve the purpose of keeping the body and mind fit by supplying nutrition.
Bhagavanta is akhilanda koTi Brahmanda nayaka . We cannot even learn what is there in our town completely where as this entire brahmanda consists of Koti KoTi Brahmandas for which He/she( no gender ) is adhipati. We do not have nowhere to go but Bhagavan. Ex: Mother knows what to give for her son/daughter at a certain time. She also knows what not to give . We need maturity to handle the things else it won't come that easily. Hence Bhagavan is Sarvagna Sarvavyaapaka and knows what to give and how much. If something does not come to us , our efforts Bhakti and Shradde is still lagging , thats all to it. Hence we take shelter of these Sahasranamas with ananya bhakti and shradde , our Janma will be in a state of samadhana( calmness- getting rid of anger and frustrations) , shanti ( Peace of mind) and it becomes sarthaka ( complete fulfillment ). Another meaning of Shanti - Shamyate iti anena iti shantihi means we get parihaara ( solution ) . Just like when we clean the body with water by taking shower everyday, Manas will also be cleaned and purified thoughts will only rule in our mind if we do pooje daily with the help of Sahasranamas. We get shaswatha sukha ( permanent bliss ) ..You might ask how ? basically the desire that we have itself will vanish and we settle for what we have with happiness and contentment.
Pooje , Archane , Shloka , Japa , Dhyaana , Mantra , Tapa everything helps to keep the manas happy and peaceful .
Harih OM
Dhanyavadah
Subrahmanya Padmanabha
