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Re: Pancha Sooktham recitation

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Mohan Sagar • September 8, 1998 


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> From: Mani Varadarajan 
> To: bhakti@lists.best.com
> Subject: Re: Pancha Sooktham recitation
> Date: Tuesday, September 08, 1998 2:38 PM
> 
> > Dear Bhagavatas,
> >   I have heard from a few UpAdhyAyAs that one should recite Pancha
Sooktams
> > only after learning it from a teacher, since it is part of the Vedas.
> > Is this true? Can someone shed more light on this? Are we allowed to
recite
> > Pancha Sooktams by just reading from the script?
> 
> The people who told you this are absolutely correct.
> The Vedas are not random words, nor are they mere
> words. They are words that are set in a particular
> order with particular intonations (svara) that have
> a definite meaning.  This meaning is said to reflect
> the very nature of reality, both material and immaterial.
> Saying the Vedas wrong is tantamount to misrepresenting
> reality, and is the greatest disservice one can possibly 
> do to those divine words....

> There are always alternatives to reciting the Vedas.
> During formal worship / tiru-ArAdhanam, you can
> simply recite the ashTAkshara-mantra or sections
> of the Divya Prabandham instead of the Vedas. These
> are just as valid and sometimes sweeter, since we
> can make sense of their meaning without difficulty.
> 
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This leads me to the question as to whether such a rule also applies to the
divya prabhandam, because it is considered by our sAmpradayam to be equal
to vEda in meaning and importance.  This question is a very general one,
and extends even to those commonly known paasurams such as thirupallAndu
and thirupAvai.

adiyEn,

Mohan