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Peace invocation from Vedas

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FROM THE VEDAS

 

Om saha navavatu

 

Saha nau bhunaktu

 

Saha viryam karavivahai

 

Tejasvinavadhîtamastuma vidvishavahai

 

Om shanti, shanti, shanti

 

Om. May He protect us both. May He help us both to enjoy the fruits of

scriptural study. May we both exert together to find the true meaning of the

sacred text. May our studies be fruitful. May we never quarrel with each

other. Om Peace! Peace! Peace!

 

Krishna Yajur Vedataittiriya Upanishad 2.2.2

------------------------------

 

Knowledge Travels on Harmony

------------------------------

 

Averting contention and achieving a union of minds

 

*

 

Commentary by Swami Chinmayanand*

 

This peace invocation is chanted both by the teacher and the taught every

day during the study of the *Vedas*. In thus reminding themselves, before

their study each day, that they are to exert themselves together in order to

experience the Truth of the *Upanishads,* they get more and more tuned up

with each other. This condition of perfect unison between the teacher and

the taught is unavoidable in the study of the subjective science, Vedanta.

 

As in the modern colleges, Vedanta cannot be learned merely from the bazaar

notes. A deep and intimate personal experience is to be conveyed by the

teacher in teaching the students. A transcendental experience that inspires

the experiencer to a complete sublimation of his ego-centric consciousness

cannot become a theme that can be sung through the flimsy instrument of

language. Therefore, the success in understanding the *Vedas* and ultimately

gaining the experiences of its Truth is dependent entirely upon the seeker's

capacity to tune himself to the Master's own intimate experiences which are

expressed vaguely in the intuitive song sung by him in the finite language

of the text.

 

This perfect unison between the teacher and the taught generally gets

molested by some misunderstanding between them. It may be either in the form

of the teacher's dissatisfaction towards his student, or it can be due to

the student's misjudgment of the teacher's attitude or words. If either of

them suffers from a similar clogging of the heart, they become, as it were,

"shortcirculated," and the transference of knowledge is immediately

blockaded. In order to avoid such a sad plight and to assure a perfect tune

up—both from the teacher to the taught and from the taught to the

teacher—this stanza with all sincerity is chanted daily by the preceptor and

the disciple. Any constriction of heart in either of them towards the other

will screen off the flow of light and love between them. Unless there are

the unseen beams of mutual love and respect, the reverence and admiration

connecting the thrilled heart of the inspired saint and the thirsty head of

the sincere students, no actual transaction of Truth-experience can take

place. Upanishad being a subjective science, these adjustments are

unavoidable.

 

In the Vedanta classroom, the teacher writes with words on the heart slabs

of the boys; the students read the golden letters of knowledge in the light

of kindling love, and understand them with a "head" peeping out of his

"heart." In the still moments of its silent inspirations, in quick and

brilliant flashes, the boy experiences the Truth transcendental.

 

Hence the chanting of peace-passage both in the beginning and in the end of

each chapter and each day.

------------------------------

 

Swami Chinmayananda (1917-1993), Vedantist writer, lecturer, translator,

dynamic spiritual leader and Hindu renaissance founder of Chinmaya Mission

International

 

The Vedas are the divinely revealed and most revered scriptures, sruti, of

Hinduism, likened to the Torah (1,200 bce), Bible New Testament (100 ce),

Koran (630 ce) or Zend Avesta (600 bce). Four in number, Rig, Yajur, Sama

and Atharva, the Vedas include over 100,000 verses. Oldest portions may date

back as far as 6,000 BCE

 

Coutesy: www.hinduismtoday.com <http://www.hinduismtoday.com>

 

--

devishakti_india

( divyabhakti )

 

 

 

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