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From: M K Sudarshan (sudarsan_at_batelco.com.bh)
Date: Mon Apr 07 1997 - 00:24:58 PDT
srimathE lakshmi-nrsumha parabrahmaNE namaha sri vedanta desika guravE namaha Dear "bhAgavatOttamA-s", The first thing about "mantrA-s" --- at least those truly "vEdic" "mantrA-s" of which Swami Desikan and other "pUrvAchAryA-s" have talked about, and even the one the boy in Mukkur Swamy's story worked on --- the first thing that should strike one about such "mantrA-s" is that they are NOT INCANTATIONS in the sense in which incantations are commonly referred to in "voodoo-ism", "shamanism", tribal or even modern occult practices in many countries and societies. It's important to understand that while INCANTATIONS are central to the practice of "voodoo" or shamanism, the same cannot be said of the Vedic tradition where "mantrA-s" constitute only a sub-set of a much larger body of "vEdic" experience, "samhitA-s" (texts), "brahMaNA-s" (practices), speculation, injunction, ritual and belief. Therefore, at the outset, in discussions on "mantrA", we must avoid the folly of mistaking "mantrA" to be akin to the frenzied abracadabra of some village witch-doctor moaning his mumbo-jumbo ! In the vEdi-c tradition, "mantrA-s" serve a much more sophisticated, much more evolved purpose than those of voodoo or similar occult practices. "mantrA" is essentially a religious exercise; it is occult, if at all, only very incidentally. Next post. srimathE srivan satagOpa sri narayana yathindra mahadesikaya namaha sudarshan