upanyanam and vedic studies

A friend raised this query...

I would like to know whether our brahmin boys, before their Upanayanam is done, can be initiated to learn and chant Rudram/Chamakam. Kindly guide me as to what our scriptures say on this. I am sorry I am bothering you, yet I am taking this liberty.

My answer

Rudram is part of Yajurvedam. Chamakam too.

A young person becomes qualified to do Veda Adhyayanam only after he is taken through the Upanayana Samskaram. In fact Gayatri is the first Vedic mantra he gets initiated through Brahmopadesham.

And learning Gayatri is treated as almost equal to studying all Vedas.

So learning parts of Vedas..including Rudram Purushasooktham etc before Upanayanam is not to be done.

A guru if he is genuine will not teach too to the non-initiates.

. But if some neo guru or some CD teaches it or if some swami or baba permits it that is not according to our Srauta Smartha dictums.

An un-initiated (before Upanayanam) boy is not a dwija..and he is not entitled to study any part of Veda.

Of course if you choose to be liberal and modern that is a different issue.

I have no business to comment on that

I am seeing that some Vadhyars and some people who have memorized some Sookthams like Rudram are teaching boys without Upanayanam.. and parents too brag about it.

But that is not according to shastras.

You will see this clearly if you read any Srauta Grihya or Kalpasootram

Some sell themselves for money and popularity.

Note..

In some cases where a person dies and a person who is duty bound to perform the last rites chanting Veda mantrams.. and if such person in un initiated.. two alternates are in vogue..

First, the cremation can be done Thooshneem... without chanting any mantram

Also, Secondly the temporary upanayanam and initiation where the Vadyar acts as guru is done.. and the person is made to chant mantrams from Veda.. And the formal upanayanam and brahmopadesham can be done later..

( The second alternative is better because pitru karyams without Vedic chanting is almost impossible for us.)

Bhakti and Vibhakti are two separate things

 

In Vedas, the language used is Sanskrit.. There is no doubt.

However many expressions and usages may not be in sync with the definitions of later experts like Panini and Pathanjali..and so on..

There was Prakrita before Sanskrit some say and others think that Prakrita and Samskrutam went hand in hand..

With utmost reverence, I have to state that in the study of a language including Sanskrit I would follow the great academic traditions alone.

Bhakti and Vibhakti are two separate things.

Even today we learn of ten verbal forms in Sanskrit.

लट् वर्तमाने लेट् वेदे* भूते लङ् लुङ् लिटस्तथा ।

विध्याशिषोस्तु लिङ्लोटौ लृङ्लृटौ लृट् च भविष्यति ।।

There was a Lakaram or verbal form Let लेट् which was used in Vedas alone and nowhere else ..

I would prefer not to mix bhakti with rules of grammar and lexicology. lat is the present tense. let is in vedas, lang lung and lit for past tense..ling, vidhi ling and asheerling for directions and teaching, lot for benediction, lrung and lrut for future tense.. लट्, लिट्, लुट्, लृट्, लेट्, लोट्, लङ्, लिङ् (विधिलिङ्, आशीर्लिङ्), लुङ्, लृङ् च ..

musings 167

As per traditions,Vedas could not be learned from books..

It was prescribed that at least twelve years of almost round the clock learning under the tutelage of a guru was essential for learning the Samhita of each Sakha..

In the beginning all the four Saakhas were taught to all.. and by the time a brahmachari equipped himself, he would be almost sixty years old..

Later on rules were changed to resrtrict the study to one shaakha ..

Still we have people with surname dvidedi, tripaadee and chaturvedi.. just an ornamentation now..

Added to this, the study of rituals, vedangas , upavedas all would still require more time..

Many of the young brahmin children of today are software engineers spending fourteen or sixteen hours at the terminals, and working all around the world.. Even the brahmins of earlier generations who were clerks, vakils, accountants, had their hands full of work just to eke out their livelihoods..

And the best purohitas of today are mostly equipped only with just bare knowledge of Vedas but are equipped in abundance with dramatics, and uncanny commercial sense..

Of course there are some scholars in every part of the country who have dedicated themselves to the life of Vedas... but they are almost like Gods, and we pay lip service to them.. but never care to see how they manage to live on..