[nukkad] SHAASTRA

[Amir'AliMackwani <>]

Dr Tirumurti Vasudevan

here i have done some paragraphing
to make the article more easily readable, and
this version forwarding bcc to our religions affairs organization.

what is // shriiraamo vijayate //

what is your son's name

-------- Original Message --------
Resent-From:     nukkad-list@mumbai-central.com
Date:     Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:40:16 +0530
From:     Tirumurti Vasudevan

sorry for a very delayed reply.
i hope the original interest is still there to read through this article.

this is the creation of my son who is a sastra vidvan himself.
first i thought of pointing to a wiki and getting away.
to my surprise i found it was absolutely inadequate.
so  i asked my son to write on it.
he took his own time to do it.
he is not the kind to do a half hearted job and therefore
i am afraid it is quite lengthy.

you might want to save it and read at leisure.
regards
tv
====================================

// shriiraamo vijayate //

An introduction to the shaastra-s

Some notes on translating Samskrita words 

I request my readers to never be satisfied with a single word English
translation of any Samskrita word. A word in any language has a
certain set of shades of meaning, and it is highly unlikely that
another word in another language has the exact same set of meanings.

To a certain extent, words in closely related languages may have many
common meanings. But when two languages were born in different
cultural backgrounds, a supposed translation for a word belonging to a
certain language may in fact convey entirely different overtones to a
reader who is not acquainted with that language.

In the present case, Samskrita and English are languages with highly
different cultural backgrounds. So please refrain and discourage the
deplorable but prevalent custom of giving one word English
translations for Samskrita words.

The meaning of the word "shaastra"

The word shaastra comes from the root shaas, which has various shades
of meaning such as to teach, to instruct, to discipline. The shaastras
may be enumerated under the following categories:

1.Veda
2.Vedaanga
3.Upaanga
4.Upaveda
5.Miscellaneous

The Vedas

The Vedas are the first shaastra. They are the oldest and holiest of
the ancient Indian texts. They are organized into the Rig Veda, Yajur
Veda, Saama Veda and Atharva Veda.

Each Veda contains:

1.Mantras expressing lofty thoughts and meant for chanting and meditation,

2.Elaborate texts exploring the meanings of the mantras.

3.Instructions for dharmic rituals meant at the same time for the
personal welfare of the doer of those rituals and for peace and
prosperity of all living beings in general.

4.Rules for a dharmic life, enabling everyone to satisfy their just
desires, but at the same time ensuring that the society as a whole is
benefited or at least not hurt by each person's actions.

5.Philosophical thoughts, ruminations on the meaning of life, creation etc.

6.Pithy utterances that are embodiments of flashes of Divine Experience.

The four different branches of the Veda mentioned above basically
differ in the kind of mantras that they contain:

The Rig Veda contains mantras that call upon the deities, the various
forces of the one Supreme Being, to receive their offerings and grant
peace and prosperity.

The Yajur Veda contains mantras that are related to the performance of
the dharmic rituals, and are used in the preparation of materials to
be offerred to the Supreme Being, the actual offering of those
materials etc.

The Saama Veda contains musical forms, similar to the raaga-s of
classical Indian music. Mantras chiefly from the Rig Veda are sung in
these musical forms to please the Supreme Being.

The Atharva Veda contains mantras that are more "down-to-earth". There
are mantras used for the achievement of assorted mundane desires,
without which the average human would not attach much importance to
rituals meant to propitiate some unseen Supreme Being. There are also
mantras meant to protect dharmic rituals from hindrance by
malevolents.

Each Veda is divided into many branches, each of them chiefly
propagated by a certain sage and hence named after him. For example,
the branch of the Yajur Veda propagated by the sage Tittiri is called
Taittiriiya.

The Vedaangas

The Vedaangas, literally "organs of the Vedas", are shaastras that are
accorded the first place in the process of protecting the Vedas,
understanding their import and then following the path shown by them.

Many of these shaastras also double up as guidelines for other matters
than directly pertaining to the Veda.

First we have three shaastras devoted to protecting the sound form of
the Vedas. The Vedic mantras are not special only because of the lofty
thoughts embodied in them, but also because the very sound of those
mantras are highly efficient in one's spiritual growth, as for example
in calming the mind, causing it to focus in meditation and so on.

Therefore it is vital that the sound form of the mantras be protected
from distortion.

This sound form first consists of individual varna-s (loosely
translated as "letters"), then words, and then sentences, which may
either be formed in poetic meter or not. For this purpose are the
first three vedaangas:

1.Shikshaa is related to (but not the same as) phonetics. It describes
the processes involved in the pronunciation of varnas and prescribes
the proper ways of pronunciation.

2.Vyaakarana is similar to grammar. It enumerates the rules describing
the formation of words from word-roots and from other words. It also
provides guidelines on what word-forms are used in which contexts and
senses of meaning. It thereby guards the sequence of varnas composing
words, ensuring that words in mantras do not deform.

3.Chandas describes the various metres used in mantras that are
embodied in poetic form. The rules prescribe what kind and number of
letters should compose each foot of a poetic verse, thereby providing
a sort of "checksum" for the contents of verses.

The above shaastras also serve as guides for pronunciation, grammar
and poetic composition, respectively, of the Samskrita language.

The other three Vedaangas are:

4.Nirukta which teaches how to analyse the words in Vedic mantras for
various shades of meaning.

5.Jyautisha which describes the motions of heavenly bodies and based
on that, the calendrical systems used for determining the occasions of
festivals and appropriate times for other dharmic activities.

6.Kalpa which summarizes the procedures mentioned in the Vedas for the
dharmic rituals in a succinct format that is directly usable during
their actual performance.

The Upaangas

The Upaangas or "secondary organs" are the next step in the
interpretation and application of the content of the Vedas.

1.Miimaamsaa which teaches the rules to be followed in the
interpretation of the Vedic texts. It is branched into two. Puurva
Miimaamsaa deals with the first part of the Vedas that concerns itself
chiefly with dharma and Uttara Miimaamsaa deals with the philosophical
second part of the Vedas.

2.Nyaaya which is a highly developed system of logic

3.Dharma Shaastra which summarizes the rules for a dharmic life that
have been mentioned in a scattered manner in the various parts of the
Vedas.

4.Itihaasa Puraana which are epics and other books that present the
philosophy and dharma contained in the Vedas in a manner palatable to
the masses. They aim to get people interested in dharma, via telling
them stories of great people, extolling the praises of the Supreme
Being and how He is accessible through dharma.

The Upavedas

The four Upavedas or "additional vedas" are:

1.Ayurveda which is not only a highly developed medical system, but
most importantly a guide for a healthy life, true to its name "the
science of life".

2.Dhanurveda which is a system of weaponry and war. It also includes war 
ethics.

3.Gaandharva Veda which is usually identified with music but relates
to the fine arts in general.

4.Sthaapatya related to building and architecture.

Sometimes Artha Shaastra related to economics, politics and social
order is considered as number 4.

Further, the four Upavedas are often
associated in order with the four Vedas.

Miscellaneous

There are many shaastras that do not fit into the above four chief
categories. They are too numerous to be completely listed here. We
only give a selection:

1.Vaisheshika discusses a system of material classification of all
objects in the world into categories such as "objects" "qualities"
"actions" etc.

2.Saankhya proposes a world-view based on the three guna-s (never to
be merely translated as "qualities") - sattva, rajas and tamas.

3.Yoga teaches practises to calm and control the mind and elevate it
to be suitable for spiritual experience.

4.Rasaayana is similar to chemistry.

5.Vimaana Shaastra contains instructions for building airplanes and
other vehicles.

Conclusion

There are many other shaastras, but the one common factor among all of
them, even in Kaama Shaastra (which I have not listed above due to
being well known), is that they never lose sight of the spiritual goal
in life. Even the practise of Artha Shaastra or Kaama Shaastra is
prescribed in a way that is not conflicting with Dharma, as Dharma is
paramount, since only Dharma can ensure individual as well as social
well-being. Dharma is also the only path to spiritual fulfillment or
Moksha.

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