Guest guest Report post Posted March 17, 2004 Vedic shAnti mantra-s - 2 --- 2. shAnti mantra in the Rig Veda During the course of study of the upaniShat-s in the Rig Veda, the shAnti mantra for Rig Veda is chanted at the beginning and at the end of each session. Among the 108 important upaniShat-s, 10 are from the Rig Veda. The shAnti mantra for all of them is the mantra starting with ' vA~Nme manasi pratiShThitA '. It is said in muktikopaniShat 1-2-1 that the mantra starting with ' vA~Nme manasi pratiShThitA ' is the shAnti mantra for aitareya, kauShItakI, nAdabindu, Atmapraboda, nirvANa, mudhgala, akshamAlikA, tripurA, saubhAgya and bahvricha Upanishad. shAnti mantra: ' OM vA~Nme manasi pratiShThitA mano me vAchi pratiShThitamAvirAvIrma edhi.. vedasya ma ANIsthaH srutam me mA prahAsIH anenAdhItenAhorAtrAn saMdadhAmi RRitam vadiShyAmi satyaM vadiShyAmi.. tanmAvavatu tadvaktAramavatu avatu mAmavatu vaktAramavatu vaktAram.. ..OM shAntiH shAntiH shAntiH.. ' [ Translation: OM! May my speech be based on (accord with, established in) the mind; may my mind be based on speech. O Self-effulgent One, reveal Thyself to me. May you both (speech and mind) be the carriers of the Veda to me. May not all that I have learned depart from me. I shall join together day and night through this study. I shall utter the Supreme Truth; I shall utter the Truth. May That (Brahman) protect me; may That protect the speaker (the teacher); may That protect me; may That protect the speaker; may That protect the speaker. OM! Peace! Peace! Peace! ] This is a prayer chanted by a seeker of Truth who is established in the path of Knowledge. All shAnti mantra-s start with the syllable 'OM'. The actions commencing with the chanting of this sacred syllable is considered auspicious. The syllable itself is considered sacred and auspicious. So it is a general practise in our Dharma to begin all activities with the chanting of this sacred syllable. It is believed to ward off evil and to aid in the fulfillment of the desired results. The syllable 'OM' is the quintessence of the entire Veda-s (Read sarva-veda-sAram). OM is the Supreme Principle, the Infinite Brahman outlined by the entire Vedic mantra-s. We have countless quotes like 'omityekAksharam brahma' (Bh.Gita 8-13 - The single letter OM is Brahman), 'omityetadaksharamida{\m+} sarvaM' (Ma.Up.1 - This letter that is OM is all) in the sruthi and smrithi literature which teaches us that OM is verily Brahman and the source of all. So the shAnti mantra is commenced with the sacred syllable OM which is the Supreme Principle unfolded in all the veda-vedAnta-vedAnga-itihAsa-purANa shAstra-s of our eternal Dharma. OM which is a combination of the three sounds 'a', 'u', 'm' and the consequent tone (Read dvani) is not only the representation of the entire universe of experience comprising the three guNa-s and the three states, but also the innermost Self which is the transcendental Reality and the substratum of the entire universe. With the three sounds 'a', 'u' and 'm' representing all the triads in the empirical universe such as Waking-Dream-Dreamless states (jAgrat-svapna-sushupti avasta), Waker-Dreamer-Deepsleeper (vishva-taijasa-prAGYa), Gross-Subtle-Casual bodies (sthUla-sUkshma-kAraNa sharIra), satva-rajas-tamo guNa-s, brahmA-viShNu-rudra dieties, Heaven-earth-hell worlds (svarga-bhUmi-pAtAla loka), and the following indeterminable tone representing the indestructible Supreme reality of Brahman which is beyond all these triads, the syllable OM is indeed ALL. An investigation into the vast literature concerning the meaning of the syllable OM is beyond the scope of this work. So keeping in mind that the syllable OM which is chanted at the beginning of the study of the upaniShat symbolizes the very Supreme Reality expounded by the text, we will move on. To be continued.. Hari Om Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest guest Report post Posted March 17, 2004 advaitin, "Ranjeet Sankar" <thefinalsearch> wrote: > Vedic shAnti mantra-s - 2 > --- > > > 2. shAnti mantra in the Rig Veda Namaste, Thank you, Ranjeetji, for this series. The audio-files for these mantras are available at URL: http://sanskrit.safire.com/Audio.html The site also has the pdf files in Devanagari and English for these mantras. Regards, Sunder Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest guest Report post Posted March 17, 2004 Namaste Sunderji, Thanks for the link. Actually I should be the one thanking you for allowing me to post this in the group. Sunderji, can you help me out with the ITRANS for sru, as in Sri or in Srutam? Hari Om - "Sunder Hattangadi" <sunderh > > The audio-files for these mantras are available at URL: > > http://sanskrit.safire.com/Audio.html > > The site also has the pdf files in Devanagari and English for > these mantras. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest guest Report post Posted March 17, 2004 advaitin, "Ranjeet Sankar" <thefinalsearch> wrote: > Namaste Sunderji, > > Thanks for the link. Actually I should be the one thanking you for allowing > me to post this in the group. > > Sunderji, can you help me out with the ITRANS for sru, as in Sri or in > Srutam? > > Hari Om > > Namaste, Ranjeet-ji I was also wanting to congratulate you for your posts on the Shanti mantras. The ITRANS for 'shruti' is 'shruti' ! For Sri it is 'shrii'. PraNAms to all advaitin s profvk Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest guest Report post Posted March 17, 2004 advaitin, "V. Krishnamurthy" <profvk> wrote: > advaitin, "Ranjeet Sankar" > <thefinalsearch> wrote: can you help me out with the ITRANS for sru, as in Sri > or in > > Srutam? > > > > Hari Om > > > > > Namaste, Ranjeet-ji > > I was also wanting to congratulate you for your posts on the Shanti > mantras. > > The ITRANS for 'shruti' is 'shruti' ! For Sri it is 'shrii'. Namaste, For the complete ITRANS code : http://www.aczone.com/itrans/#itransencoding [The main advantage of this scheme is that it can be converted into any of the major Indian language/scripts, as well as Roman script with diacritics.] Regards, Sunder Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest guest Report post Posted March 17, 2004 - "Sunder Hattangadi" <sunderh > advaitin, "V. Krishnamurthy" <profvk> > wrote: > > > > The ITRANS for 'shruti' is 'shruti' ! For Sri it is 'shrii'. > > > Namaste, > > For the complete ITRANS code : > > http://www.aczone.com/itrans/#itransencoding > Namaste Sunderji, Prof-ji, Thank you very much. So the 4th line in the mantra should have been 'shrutam me mA prahAsIH ' instead of 'srutam me mA prahAsIH'. Sunderji, thanks for the link. I was also 'trying' ITRANS 5.30. There is good ITRANS tool available at http://www.omkarananda-ashram.org/Sanskrit/Itranslt.html I find it very easy to use. Moreover, its free for download. Hari Om Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
