Generally, the mantras are addressed to the Gods and Goddesses. Some Western scholars believe that the Vedic man used the mantras in sacrificial ceremonies and for performing mystic rituals. This may be true for a number of mantras. Apparently, many mantras or hymns were meant for devotional or ceremonial purposes. In fact, they seem to be symbolic and need exceptional scholastic efforts to decipher them.
Swami Dayananda Saraswati made extraordinary efforts to bring out the significance of the mantras of the Vedas. Shri Aurobindo also challenged the Western philosophers and opined that the mantras are found to express esoteric truths which the Westerners can not grasp. He strove hard to elucidate the cryptic meanings of the Vedic words and the hymns.
The Samhitas are named after the Vedas they belong to. For example, the Samhita of the Rig Veda is called the Rig-Veda-Samhita or the Rig-Samhita.
The Rig-Samhita contains the mantras or the hymns known as ‘richas’. These hymns are metered verses. The Sam-Samhita contains mantras in the form of songs meant for liturgy or public worship. The Yajur-Samhita contains verities of mantras composed in the poetical and the prose forms. The Atharva-Samhita contains mantras meant for routine rites and rituals.
PARTS OF THE VEDAS
The Vedas are voluminous literary work. In the formative phases, they have never had been in written form. The scholars differ on the issue of “parts” or the "sections" of the Vedas.
In the opinion of some scholars, the Vedas are constituted of two parts: The Samhitas and the Brahmanas. Other scholars opine that each of the Vedas is divided into four parts (or the sections): the Samhitas, the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas and the Upanishads.
The Samhitas and the Brahmanas form the Karma-Kanda segment of the Vedas. They are apparently concerned with the ceremonial rites and rituals. The Aranyakas and the Upanishads form the Gyan-Kanda segment of the Vedas. They explicitly focus on the philosophy and spiritualism.
The Atharva-Veda or the wisdom of the Atharvans, is called so because it is associated with the name of the ancient poet Atharvan (The Wise Old One). The families of the atharvan sect of the Brahmins have traditionally been credited with the composition of the Vedas.
The custom is to enumerate Yajurveda and Samaveda after the Rigveda, and mention Atharvaveda last. Atharvaveda contains about 6 thousand verses forming 731 poems and a small portion in prose. Atharvaveda contains first class poetry coming from visionary poets, much of it being glorification of the curative powers of herbs and waters and has incantations for everything – from success in love to the realization of otherworldly ambitions.. Many poems relate to diseases like cough and jaundice, to male and female demons that cause diseases, to sweet-smelling herbs and magic amulets, which drive diseases away. There are poems relating to sins and their atonement, errors in performing rituals and their expiatory acts, political and philosophical issues, and a wonderful hymn to Prithvi or Mother Earth.
The Sama-Veda or the wisdom of chants or knowledge of melodies. The name of this Veda is from the Sanskrit word saman which means a metrical hymn or song of praise. It consists of 1549 stanzas, taken entirely (except 78) from the Rig-Veda. Some of the Rig-Veda verses are repeated more than once.
Its purpose was liturgical and practical, to serve as a songbook for the "singer" priests who officiated at the rituals of the soma ceremonies. A priest who sings hymns from the Sama-Veda during a ritual is called an udgat, a word derived from the Sanskrit root ud-gai ("to sing" or "to chant").
It is not surprising that the Sama-Veda is better known for the precise meter of its poetry than for its literary content. There are also painstaking instructions in Sama-Veda about how particular hymns must be sung; according to certain fixed melodies; using the seven svaras or notes. Such songs are called Samagana and in this sense Samaveda is really a book of hymns. This is perhaps because great emphasis was put upon sounds of the words of the mantras and the effect they could have on the environment and the person who pronounced them.
Two major recensions remain today, the Kauthuma/Ranayaniya and the Jaiminiya.
The Yajur-Veda or the wisdom of sacrifices lays down various sacred invocations (yajurs) which were chanted by a particular sect of priests called adhvaryu while they performed the sacrificial rites. This is very much a ritual based Veda for although there are a few hymns to various Gods the main stress is on the theory of the ritual. Its purpose was practical, in that each mantra must accompany an action in sacrifice. The Veda also outlines various chants which should be sung to pray and pay respects to the various instruments which are involved in the sacrifice.
Yajur-veda has two branches, Krishna or Black and Shukla or White. While both contain mantras or incantations to be chanted at rituals, Black Yajurveda also has many explanations. Of the Black Yajurveda four major recensions survive, Taittirya, Katthaka, Maitrayani and Kapishtthala. Those of White Yajurveda are Madhyanadina and Kanva. The literary value of Yajurveda is mostly for its prose, which consists of short terse sentences full of meaning and cadence.
The Rig-Veda Samhita is the oldest, largest and most important of the Vedas. The books were composed by sages and poets from different priestly groups over a period of at least 500 years. As a body of writing, the Rig-Veda (the wisdom of verses) is nothing short of remarkable. It is a collection of 1,028 Vedic Sanskrit hymns and 10,589 verses in all, organized into ten mandalas or book sections.
Rig-veda means the wisdom of adoration and mostly contains verses adoring Rigvedic deities; who were, quite expectedly, nature deities. About two-thirds of Rigveda is about the gods Agni (Fire) and Indra (rain god; king of heavens), Agni (fire god) and Rudra (storm god; the 'howler'). But it also dealt with other subjects, like the procedure of wedding, the folly of gambling. There are references to a divine creeper, the Soma, whose juice was an energizer. Some animals like horses, some rivers, and even some implements (like mortar and pestle) were deified.
Vedas have everything but today it reach to nook and corner with simple logic with science. then our children and youth will understand more.
PRASTHANA-TRAYA
The Prasthantrayi refers to three holy books. They are: The Upanishads, the Brahma-Sutra and the Bhagavad Gita. These three books are collectively known as the Prasthantrayi or the Prasthantrayam. They form the Scriptural Trinity of the Sanatan Dharma or the Hinduism.
The Upanishads present the cream of the Vedas. The Upanishads pronounce the Ultimate Truth. The Upanishadic philosophy puts an end to all forms of ignorance in life and leads to the realization of the self. The different systems of philosophy in India find their roots in the Upanishads.
Badarayana (Ved Vyasa) was a great scholar with exceptional erudition. He initiated the challenging task of systematizing the Vedas. He meticulously studied the vast philosophical doctrines of the Upanishads. He pioneered the efforts to simplify the Upanishadic philosophy what we know as the Vedanta.
The result of his efforts was one of the most illustrious works on the Vedanta. Badarayana’s work is known as Brahma-Sutra.
The Brahma-Sutra is also referred to as Vedanta-Sutra or Uttar-Mimamsa-Sutra.
The Bhagavad Gita is a part of the great epic, the Mahabharat.
The Mahabharat, authored by the great sage Veda Vyasa, is an epic that vividly depicts the different facets of human life. There are unsurmountable aspirations, ceaseless activities and inspiring achievements in Mahabharat. Amongst all these shine out the philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita.
The Bhagavad Gita sheds a flood of light on all questions associated with life. It proclaims the relationship between the Supreme Self and the self, the Brahman and the atman, between God and man. One finds solutions to all the problems of life in the Bhagavad Gita.
If ever a controversy arises on any philosophical issue in Hinduism, the interpretation of the Prasthantrayi is final and binding. If there is a difference in the statements of the Prasthantryi and any other book of Hinduism, the former is considered supreme.
Generally the fundamental philosophy pronounced in the Prasthantrayi is referred to as the Vedanta.
Source : indianscriptures.50webs.com
