dhai akshar re-visited...

[Guest guest]

Dear Vinita ji,

Thanks for the beautiful mail - and you are absolutely

right.

The Vedangas are -

1. Jyotisha

2. Kalpa

3. Nirukta

4. Siksha

5. Vyakarana

6. Chanda.

http://www.svbf.org/sringeri/journal/vol1no3/vedas.html

 

In an astrology forum we will have to deel with all these and much more.

Why? Read below -

 

Kalpa (Collective knowledge): Kalpa is more about collecting the

knowledge from various other knowledge branches and presenting it in a coherent

way. Dharmasutras (law books), Grihya sutras (which describe the rituals

the vedic people used for to be perform from the time of formation of the

embryo in the womb to the time of cremation of the body - thus deals with

maths, astrology, philosophy and much more), Samhitas (which are

collected knowledge - but here I am using the word 'samhita' not to refer to mundane

astrological texts) all come under this broad category called

Kalpa. Thus knowledge of astrology is essential to people who deal

with this branch and vice-versa.

 

Niruka (Word meaning): It is all about a unique approach to origin

and inherent meaning of words. The only problem is that Nirukta does not

give importance to word deformations and meaning alterations that is a usual

phenomenon in our daily language use. It is the oldest Dictionary system!

The first Dictionary in the world would be Yaska Nirukta. But it is a beautiful

knowledge branch and when dealing with Astrology, and other ancient

indian literature which contain astrological references (Vedas, Upanishads,

Epics, Puranas etc), in an effort to understand things in the original

perspective we would have to go into the depth of words and their

meanings (than the superfluous meaning) and thus no astrologer can neglect

Nirukta, and a prime understanding of the same is essential.

 

Sikhsha (phonetics): All Mantras, Vedic hymns etc have many layers

of meaning and can be interpreted based on different perspectives. The sounds

hide secrets and can provide many important clues to our understanding - for

example note how the 4 padsa of OHM (and the related philosophy) and its

pronunciation is interlinked. Phonetics and the meaning and secrets

hidden in sound and alphabets becomes more important in Tantra (Agama) than in

Veda (Nigama). The knowledge branch itself is fascinating and you could

clearly see the importance to Mantra, Japa etc given in india.

The tantric mantras hides multi layered subjects such as -

* Philosophy - meditate on any mantra you will

realize that a unqiue philosophy is behind it

* Maths - yes, there are many mantras which can

provide unique insights related to maths.

* Breath exercise (Pranayama methods) - Remember

Soham (it is the Ham-Sa mantra) . It is the ajapa gayatri (the song with saves

one who sings it - every being sing this gayati through breathing. it is a japa

which is not a japa and that is why the word ajapa). Remember how Ravisankar

popularized it. Many mantras with all those Hrum, Hrim etc are about breath exercise

- or deals with breath exercise as well.

* Medicine - yes, some medicine related secrets are

present in mantra! That is why mantra letters are related to body parts. An

indian acupuncture specialist from Bangalore

is present in our group who got fascinated by this mutual relation.

* Rhythm, Music - Remember that the phonetics can not escape

from nataraja (Siva) and his Dhakka ninada (sound of drum) - because that

was the origin of all sounds!

* Grammar - Again Nataraja comes into play! It is based on

the Dhakka ninada (drum sounds) of Nataraja that Patanjali (the naga

saint) created the whole grammar! Thus essentially the even grammar and the origin

of language is related to clear understanding of phonetics, and is tantric!

 

Grammar: To understand the astrological texts and the meaning of

quotes - a better understanding of Sanskrit grammar would be much useful. Thus

a minimum understanding of Sanskrit grammar and usage is essential for any astrologer

who is trying to learn ancient indian astrology.

 

Chanda(meters): Chandra is more about meters and creation of rhythmic hymns and

poems. But there could be some astrological, astronomical, mathematical meaning

hidden in them - because Chanda too is all about numbers. Note how the

pingala's chanda sutra is related to binary number system (as Subhash kak has

shown to us) and also hwo the number 24 indicated by Gayatri chanda becomes

important in astronomy/astrology. Chandrahari may has many things

to say about chanda astrology co-relation found in many ancient texts.

 

Thus it is clear that no true seeker of ancient indian astrology

can keep himself away from all the other related knowledge branches as

noted above. But the list does not stop here. The list of related

knowledge branches extends to -

Ancient knowledge branches such as : Music, Dance, Rituals,

Festivals, Medicine (Ayurveda) and so on AND

Midevial knowledge branches such as: Philosophy, Scientific and Holistic

approach, Pchycology, Sociology and so on AND

Modern knowledge branches such as : Astronomy, Science (Physics,

Chemistry, Biology etc)

 

(Note that the terms Ancient, Medieval, Modern in the above reference is irrelevant

because all of them is in practice even today! But I have used those words just

to show a shift in trend with time)

Thus the point is - "a word can take us very far and a proper

understanding of a word, a letter or half of it in a proper manner can provide

us a mountain of knowledge" an some ancient texts puts it.

Love and regards,

Sreenadh

 

, "vinita kumar" <shankar_mamta wrote:>> it was with some fascination that i read the dialogues between > shreenadhji and poddarji on dhai akshar. i did not realise that > there is so much precision attached to how a word is pronounced. > > But then didn't everything begin with THE WORD...or naad...or OM? > > And aren't the vedas also all abt shruti of THIS WORD? > > Could it be that THE WORD was split up / dissected to make it more > understandable to pupils? And that is how the limbs of the Vedas > emerged in the first place?> > i had heard abt astrology being the eyes of the vedas...Today i > chanced upon the other limbs of the veda too!> > http://www.svbf.org/sringeri/journal/vol1no3/vedas.html> > Sikhsa reminded me of dhai akshar on this forum.> > " - Siksha lays down the rules of phonetics – pronunciation / > sounds / duration of utterance of each syllable – euphony. The goal > is to achieve correct pronunciation and articulation through, > akshara suddhi (syllable purity); svara suddhi (tonal / pitch > purity – discussed in Vol. 1.2) and maatraa suddhi (durational > purity), balam (force of articluation), samam (evenness) and > santana: (continuity)."> > And then there is Nirukta:> > "Nirukta is generally known as vedic dictionary or kosa . Amara Kosa > is one of the popular sanskrit dictionaries. Dictionary is also > called nighandu. Kosa is actually the etymology where each word is > split into syllables and gives the root from which the word is > derived with meaning. The root of a word is called dhaatu . In > Sanskrit all words have roots". > > This reminded of layers and layers of meaning that Sanskrit words > can have which is also being discussed here. How difficult it must > be to arrive at the root meaning of each word in a shloka!!!> > The interesting thing is that many on this forum already know about > all this....but since these concepts are new to me i find them very > fascinating. > > So can we say that the root of the discussions here, whether they be > on astrology, or how a word is pronounced or what a word means > expresses an urge in all of us to hear / experience THE > WORD???????????>