Upanishad Story on Bharadwaja Rishi
At the outset, let us understand the voluminous nature of Vedas before venturing to find out the persons who can recite one of them from memory. All the Vedas put together contain 1134 sakhaas (Chapters or Parts) and it takes about 8 years to fully assimilate one saakha by heart. So, you can imagine the time taken by Great Rishis to convey Veda Saakhas to their wards, what is called Guru-Shishya Parampara. The Great Rishis used to convey by voice only, with swara. By passage of time, we lost Vedaadhyana and so many of the Saakhas. Knowing this the Almighty has given us Omkara, which is the essence of Vedas. There is an interesting Upanishad story. The Rishi Bharadwaj wanted to study all the four Vedas and so he started Vedaadhyana and continued it for many years, when he realized that his life may end, he Prayed for Indra. Indra appeared before him and wanted know his wish. Rishi Bharadwaj asked for one hundred years of more longevity. Indra before granting the wish wanted to know what the Rishi would do with one hundred years of Ayush. The Rishi replied that he would pursue Vedaadhyana. Indra disappeared and Rishi continued with his Vedaadhyana and finally could realize that even extra one hundred years were also coming to an end. So, he prayed for Indra. Indra again appeared and the Rishi again wished for one more hundred years of longevity. Indra again wanted to know what the Rishi would do with one more hundred years of Ayush. The Rishi replied that his Vedaadhyana was incomplete and so would pursue the Vedaadhyana and Indra again granted one more hundred years of Ayush to the Rishi. Like this Rishi Bharadwaj continued Vedaadhyana for three hundred years. But yet the Rishi was not content with Vedaadhyana and was unhappy. Indra appeared before him without praying and enquired why the Rishi was unhappy, even after 300 years of Vedaadhyana. The Rishi informed Indra, he could not complete Vedaadhyana, despite deeply studying them. Then Indra created three great mountains in front of him and enquired whether the Rishi knew anything about them. The Rishi pleaded his ignorance. Then Indra told him that they are the symbolic representation of Knowledge contained in three Vedas. Indra took one fistful of sand from each one of the mountains and explained to the Rishi that after three hundred years of strenuous efforts the Rishi could attain only fistful of knowledge out of great mountains of Knowledge from Vedas. Then Rishi Bharadwaj realized that it was totally impossible to completely study the Vedas and assimilate them. For a Rishi like Bharadwaj after three hundred years of strenuous efforts, he could attain only very little of knowledge, then what of common man. The Almighty is full of mercy, so he started reciting the Vedas for trillions and trillions of times. Then out of his Avruttas, (Repetitions), three Matras viz., OM BHUVUH, OM BHUVAH, OM SUVAH, have come out. The Lord directed the humans to recite them to acquire the supreme knowledge from Vedas. We were ingnorant to accept them from the Lord. So again the Almighty has done Avruttas trillions and trillions of times, and then AA, VU, MA has come out of His Avruttas. Still we were reluctant to accept the Lord's directions, he combined them AA+VU+MA into one Matra making it OM. Thus Omkara is the gist of all Vedas. The Upanishad story concludes by giving us a direction to recite Omkara in every moment of our life, so as to attain the supreme knowledge. It is not one's own capacity to recite the Vedas from out of memory, but it is his conduct of life according to the Directions of Vedas, which tells whether he is a scholar / Dharamata or not. -- Shivah shakthya yukto yadi bhavati shaktah prabhavitum Na chedevam devo na khalu kusalah spanditumapi; Atas tvam aradhyam Hari-Hara-Virinchadibhir api Pranantum stotum vaa katham akrta-punyah prabhavati Lord Shiva, only becomes able. Meaning of the above sloka: To do creation in this world. along with Shakthi Without her, Even an inch he cannot move, And so how can, one who does not do good deeds, Or one who does not sing your praise, Become adequate to worship you Oh , goddess mine, Who is worshipped by the trinity. - Ananda Lahari (The waves of happiness)*
