DIVINEINFORMATION PART 21
Dear friends,
While going through one of my externalmemory device, I came across some good
information from Kanchi SankaraMatam. I thought of sharing interestingones
from them as a series.
Inpart 21 , I am starting with 80th item in this posting.
Sincerely,
Gopala Krishnan 31-05-2021.In
80More details of Yanjas
The flower offered in the anthill forthe snakes is sarpabali. In what are
called panca-mahayajnas there is a ritecalled "vaisvadeva": in this offerings
are made in the fire or they are thrown inside and outsidethe house with the
chanting of mantras. The latter are meant for variouscreatures of the earth and
are termed as bali.
81Swaha and swadha and hanta
Whenwe make an offering to a deity with mantras we must say "svaha".
When it is made to the fathers we must say "svadha".
The corresponding word to be said when offerings are made to variouscreatures
is "hanta".
Here we have something like thegradation of authority: "your majesty", "your
honour", andso on.
Inthe last haviryajna called "sautramani" sura (liquor or wine) isoffered to
appease certain inferior powers or deities for the welfare of theworld.
Our government, which otherwisestrictly enforces prohibition, relaxes the rules
to entertain foreigners with drink,considering the gains to be had from them.
The oblation of liquor in sautramani is to bejustified on the same grounds. It
is never offered in the sacrifices meant for higher deities.
What is left over of the liquor - what is purified bymantras - is imbibed by
the performers of the sacrifice, the quantity taken inbeing less than a quarter
of an ounce.
To say that Brahmins drank the somajuice and sura to their heart's content on
the pretext of performing sacrificesis an outrageous charge.
82Samstas and somayaga
I will now deal briefly with somayajnasor somasamstas.
What is a samsta? The conclusion of theSamavedic hymnschanted by the udgata is
called samsta.
Compositions recited in praise ofdeities are generally known as stotras. But in
the Vedic tradition the Rgvedic hymns are"sastras".
In the Samaveda such hymns whichsuggest the seven notes or saptasvara are
called stotras. In soma sacrifices itis this, singing of the stotras of the
Samaveda, that is the major feature.
Homa (placing oblations in the fire) isthe dominant feature of paka and
haviryajnas while in somayajna it is thesinging of stotras.
The name somayaga is derived from the fact that the essence of the soma plant,
so muchrelished by the celestials, is made as an oblation.
Even so the singing of the Samancreates a mood of ecstasy. When a musician
elaborates a raga and touches thefifth svara of the higher octave the listeners
are transported to the heightsof joy.
So in the singing of stotras of the Samaveda during the samstaall those
assembled for the sacrifice feel asif heaven were upon earth. This is one
reasonwhy somayajna is also known as "somasamsta".
Insuch soma sacrifices there is the full complement of priests - the hota,
theadhvaryu, the udgata and the brahma.
Each priest is assisted by threeothers. So in all there aresixteen priests in a
soma sacrifice.
Agnistoma which is the first of theseven somayajnas is the prakrti(archetype)
and the other six are its vikrti. These six are: atyagnistoma, uktya, sodasi,
vajapeya,atiratra and aptoryama.
83Vajpeya
Vajapeyais regarded as particularly important.
When its yajamana (sacrificer) comes afterhaving had his ritual bath (avabhrtha
snana) at the conclusion of thesacrifice, the king himself holds up a white
umbrella for him.
"Vaja"means rice (food) and "peya" means a drink. As the name suggests, the
vajapeya sacrifice brings in a bountiful crop andplentiful water.
The name is appropriate in anothersense also. This sacrifice consists of
soma-rasa homa, pasu-homa (23 animals) and anna- or vaja-homa. The sacrificer
is "bathed" in the rice that is leftover. Since the rice is "poured over" him
like water the term"vajapeya" is apt.
My note- Instead of animals whitecucumber may be using now.
In the old days a Brahmin used all his wealth in performing the somasacrifice.
Much of this was spent in daksina to the priests and the rest formaterials used
in the sacrifice.
Now people are concerned only withtheir wealth and do notperform even
sandhyavandana which does not cost them anything.
Among Namputiris, until some forty or fifty years ago, atleast onefamily out of
ten performed the somayajna. Since only the eldest member of the family could
conduct the sacrifice he alone had the right to property.
Therewas also a time when even poor Brahmins performed this sacrifice every
spring (" vasante vasante ") by begging.
ABrahmin who conducted the sacrifice every year was thus
called"prati-vasanta-somayajin".
TheVedas will flourish in the world if at least the somayajna called agnistoma
orjyotistoma is performed.
Iwill continue in next posting
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