Yaksha Prashnam Questions 101 - 102

Continued From: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/03/yaksha-prashnam-questions-97-100.html

The following questions are from Tamil Mahabharatam.

The Yakshan asked, ‘which is the greatest book?’

Yudhishtirar answered that the Vedas are the greatest among all books. The Vedas were not created by any human being. They were discovered by Sages like Vishwamithra just like the way in which America was discovered by Columbus. America existed prior to Columbus’s discovery similarly the Vedas also existed prior to their discovery by the sages.

The Vedas cannot be read. They are learned by listening as the “swaram”, the musical scale/pitch is very important. For example the word “ajanam” is Sanskrit for goats and refers to more than 2 goats. The word “janathi” means “he knows”. In order for a person to say that “I came to know” in Sanskrit, the word used is “ajanam”. Therefore when a person mentions just “ajanam”, is that person referring to more than two goats or is the person saying, ‘I came to know’? The context in which the words are used cannot be determined easily either in the Sanskrit Vedas. Therefore, pitch plays an important role; the words said in high pitch refer to noun and in low pitch to verbs. By listening to the scale/pitch in which the words are uttered a person can determine if the word is used as verb or as a noun.

Prathamam in Sanskrit means the first time; dwithiyam means the second time and by extension then thrithiyam should mean the third time but this word also means 1/3^rd. Once again to identify if the word is used to refer to the third time or to quantity as 1/3^rd, pitch/scale is used.

It can be seen that the Vedas could not have been created by any human being. The scale/pitch classification also varies from one Veda to the other. This classification based on the Veda is known as “Pada Patham”.

Isavasopanishad is part of Shukla Yajur Veda and starts with “Isavasyam mitham sarvam”. The Shaivites started to interpret “Isavasyam” as “Isa + Avasyam” and misunderstood the meaning as “lord Siva is present in everything and therefore he is the Supreme Being”. Shrutaprakasikachar used the commentary of Sri Adi Sankaracharyar to prove that the word “Isavasyam” should only be split as “Isha + Vasyam” because the word is found in Krishna Yajur Veda. According to the Pada Patham of Krishna Yajur Veda, the word could only be split as “isha + vasyam”. The word “Isha” refers to our inner controller known as “Iit” in Sanskrit. Therefore the statement refers only to our inner controller Lord Narayana as Iit and not to lord Shiva popularly known as Isan.

The Vedas are too perfect to be manmade. Thus they are the best knowledge or the best book.

What is required by a householder?

A householder requires the company of a mature and intelligent wife. The wife should have mental maturity to be satisfied with what is available for her and her family. She should not be jealous of other women and feel that they have a better life than her. She should know that every family faces their own problems. Both the husband as well as the wife should not keep secrets from each other.

Continued On: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/03/yaksha-prashnam-questions-103-105.html

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Based on, Yaksha Prashnam - A discourse in Tamil by Sri U.Ve. Karunakaran Swamy
(Any errors or inconsistencies in the following series are due to the mistakes I made while taking notes. ) 

Copies of the CDs can be obtained from Sri Karunakaran Swami’s website http://www.nadadoor.org/ . This series is for the benefit of people who do not understand Tamil. Those of you who understand Tamil very well must definitely obtain a copy of Swami’s Upanyasam. You can do so by contacting Nadadoor.org. Swami also renders discourses in English but I am not sure if Yaksha Prashnam discourse is available in English.  The experience of listening to Swami’s upanyasams could never be obtained by reading the following series. I have done my best to take notes with due diligence. I apologize for any errors that I have made while writing this series.