SRI JAYENDRA SARASWATHI VEDA PATASALAI
D.R.NAGAR, SARAM, PUDHUCHERRY
VEDAM –It’s Importance
Vedic Dharma (Apaurusesya or Non-Human) has no specific known beginning and it is considered timeless. Veda is the breathing air of Lord Eswara. The mantras, which struck the consciousness of Rishis in their meditation, took the form of Vedas.
Veda Vyasa, the expositor of the Vedas, mastered the Vedic Texts derived from various Rishis, and arranged them in a set of four. He collected the Vedic texts of prayer under the Rig Veda, the Vedic texts of rituals under the Yajur Veda, the musical form of the Vedic texts under the Sama Veda and such of the Vedic texts that dispelled dangers and annihilated enemies under the Atharvana Veda. It was because of his typological classification of the Vedas that he came to be known as Veda Vyasa.
The Vedas were essentially preserved by an oral tradition for the first couple of millennia and Vedic smrities were handed down from generation to generation by word of mouth without changing orginal sound. This oral tradition has been preserved through a hoary tradition of preceptor and disciple through generations.
“The Vedas” is a Vriksha (Tree), whose roots are the Vipras (Brahmins), the repository of the Vedas. The six Angas, the auxiliary sciences, Siksha (Phonetics), Vyakaranam (grammar), Chandas (metre), Niruktha (Etymology of words), Jyothisha, (Vedanga Jyotisha) and Kalpa-Sutra (texts dealing with the procedure, etc., for the performance of Srouta and smartha karmas, Karmanushtana), are the branches. The Karmanushtanam and the Dharmic way of life are the leaves. All possible efforts, therefore, should be taken to protect and preserve the ROOTS (i.e., give all possible support to the repository of the Vedas) as, once the roots decay, there will be neither the tree nor the branches and leaves. Preservation of the ROOTS are our inherent duty to safe guard this vast heritage which has been passed on from one generation to another from time immemorial.
“If we, of this generation, create a break in the chain of Vedic study, kept up for ages, from generation to generation, we shall be conmmiting the unforgivable crime of denying our descendants the opportunity of learning the Vedas…” – Says Parama – Pujyasri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi Mahaswaminaha of Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam.
This Vedic tradition, the root, on which this large vata-vrksha of human civilization has prospered, has to be preserved and nurtured. It is not a question of why or for what. It is the only duty ordained to us for our future generation. This great fountain head of all traditions has to be continued through preservation of the mantra-dhvani and utilizing it for the performance of the srauta and smarta rituals. World will remain alright if Vedam is maintained properly.South india has been the refuge and home of Vedic and Sastraic Learning for Several Centuries. Such a big capital is being lost in recent years Maha Periava worried much over this and wanted that every one of us should take all efforts to maintain that India is Veda Boomi. Bharathi has written as Vedam Nirainda Tamilnadu.