# 003 Know the value of Culture & Traditions

Facilitation function for MS. Semmangudi to garland and put salwar. As always in his inimitable humorous style he turned to the audience and asked for their opinion for his garlanding MS. The crowd overwhelming conveyed it is okay for him to do so. Then he said, you have given consent, but what about Sadasivam ? To this Sadasivam instatntly said “besha” (definitely).” Now , I need have my wife’s view as I will have to face her after the function ?” quickly quipped Semmangudi. His wife, visibly blushing, communicated “yes” by wave of her hand typical of Housewives (those days !). But Semmangudi won’t leave it at that and asked “ What about MS ?” To this MS also indicated acceptance by a ever slight nod of her head. Audience has approved. Sadasivam has given his consent. My wife has given the permission. MS has also authorized. Still “something” makes me hesitate. So I request Sadasivam to come to the dais and garland MS.
Now what is that “ something” that Semmangudi referred as coming in between? It is the “parampara” – the tradition, culture, one’s own consciousness - whatever you call it. Now the point is not whether it is right or wrong for a man to garland a woman. It is for each individuals to introspect and decide. But there are certain traditions which are better followed and others which can be broken. For example it is in Indian (not just Hindu) tradition that a father never physically comes close to his own daughter after she grows to certain age. And like wise for a mother not to be too close to a grown son. May be certain other societies do not approve of such restrictions. But it is a fact that divorce is high among persons who have been brought up with close attention even after their growth by their parents.

As narrated by Suki Sivam in a TV show on 23.1.2011 from a conversation his father had told him when he was a boy.

# 002 Vedas

It is seen that Hinduism is not just a religion but a view of life and a way of life.

Veda is the chief authority. Since it is cryptic and difficult to understand by self study it has to be studied under a Guru (teacher) who himself has studied under another Guru in the tradition of an unbroken chain starting with Sadashiva (God) Himself. This is called Guru Shisya Parampara (Teacher Student lineage). The whole learning used to be only thro listening to Guru's teachings. No written documents were used. Since the Vedas are thus learnt only thro listening it is called Srutis.

Each Veda has 2 Kandas (sections); the Karma Kanda and Gnana/Tattva  Kanda. Karma Kanda deals with actions (karma) like rituals etc. Gnana or Tattva (Philosophy) Kanda deals with nature of reality, eternal truth of life etc. The former is further divided into two sections viz Mantra and Brahmana. Brahmana portion refers to the details of the ritual and indicates the particular mantra to be recited in each ritual/act. Mantra portion supplies the mantras. Gnana/Tattva  Kanda is also called as Upanishad. As the Upanishad is positioned at the end (anta) of a Veda it is also called as Vedanta.

Karma Knada is also called as Purvamimamsa and Vedanta or Upanishads as Uttaramimamsa meaning former and later parts of the Vedas. They are thus supplementary to each other. But there are schools of thought who adopt each one as independent Darsanas about which more will be said later.

It is already said in #001 Introduction that Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva are the 4 main vedas.

Rig Samhita is the biggest & oldest of all. It is in poetic style.There are 10552 mantras (Hymns) in Rig and has 2 Shakhas (schools): Shakla & Vashkala. Aitereya Brahmana is the well known Brahmana of this Veda. This Brahmana has an Aitereya Aranyaka which further has the Aitereya Upanishad.

Yajur veda is in prose form and has 2 shakas : Krishna Yajur Veda & Shukla Yajur Veda.It is the smallest of all Vedas.

Sama veda is in the musical form and has to be sung. Most of the mantras of Sama veda contain mantras from Rig. It has a total of 1875 mantras.

Atherva veda is for specific and special purposes and has 5977 mantras.

There is a Mahavakya in each of the 4 vedas conveying the essential teaching of the Vedas namely, Reality is one, and the individual is essentially identical with it.

These Mahavakyas are expressions to convey supra-essential essence of the ultimate reality, and not to describe it with reference to accidental attributes, such as creatorship etc. that which is ultimately responsible for all our activities. It is the final meaning of our mental and physical activities. Brahman is that which is Absolute, fills all space, is complete in itself, to which there is no second, and which is continuously present in everything, from the creator down to the lowest of matter. It, being everywhere, is also in each and every individual.

The 4 Mahavakyas are:

             Rig Veda: Prajnanam Brahmma ( Consciousness is Brahman)

             Yajur: Aham Brahmmaasmi (I am Brahman)

             Sama Veda:  Tat twam asi ( That thou art)

             Atharva Veda: Ayam aathma Brahmma (This self is Atma, the Brahman)

The Vedas can not be known without aids or angas (parts) called Vedangas. There 6 Vedangas namely

       Siksha            - Phonetics
       Vyaakaranam - Grammer
       Chandas         - Metre (Maatra)
       Niruktha         - Origin of words (Kosa)
       Jyothisha        - Astrology/Astronomy
       Kalpa             - Method of doing pooja-sacrifice-offering etc.

The Guru also uses other scriptures as aids to teach the eternal truth and values. They are called Smiritis the details of which will be given next.