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Re: Vedanta Discussions
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To: alt-hindu@uunet.uu.net
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Subject: Re: Vedanta Discussions
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From: vidya@cco.caltech.edu (Vidyasankar Sundaresan)
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Date: 27 Dec 1994 20:49:51 GMT
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Distribution: world
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From news@nntp-server.caltech.edu Tue Dec 27 15: 40:00 1994
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Newsgroups: alt.hindu
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Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
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References: <3dfpfb$8oo@ucunix.san.uc.edu>
In article <3dfpfb$8oo@ucunix.san.uc.edu> vijaypai@kachori.rice.edu (Vijay
Sadananda Pai) writes:
> Before anyone jumps on my back about the Chandogya Upanishad
> reference, it was the sage Sanatkumara who first made the statement
> that the Itihas and Purana were the 5th Veda, and it was later
> repeated by Narada Muni. The statement occurs more than once in
> the same Upanishad, though.
>
> -- Vijay
>
Please! Sanatkumara never made the statement. Have you read the Chandogya
Upanishad at all? In the seventh prapathaka, directly following the
tattvamasi teaching, Narada goes to Sanatakumara and says,"Teach me, sir".
To which Sanatkumara says, "Tell me what branches of knowledge you know, I
shall tell what is beyond your limits of knowledge." Narada then says, "I
know the Rg Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sama Veda, the Atharvanaas the
fourth, the Itihasa-Purana as the fifth, the Veda of the Vedas (grammar),
Rasi,...."
All acharyas interpret "itihasa-puranah pancamah vedanam vedah" as
follows.
"Itihasa-puranah pancamah" - the Itihasa-Purana as the fifth,
"vedanam vedah" - the Veda of the Vedas, i.e. grammar.
And when I say all acharyas, I don'tjust mean Sankaracharya, the Vaishnava
acharyas also agree on this. All acharyas also note the fact that the word
"puranah" is in the singular. Definitely, the umpteens of Puranas known
today were composed much later, and this fact is not lost upon them. By no
means is the phrase interpreted by anyone to say that the Itihasa-Purana
is the fifth Veda.
Maybe you don't need the commentaries at all. Maybe it is all crystal
clear to you, as the terse Brahma-sutra is. But remember that you are no
authority on this. If you care to go against all traditional commentaries,
that is your business, but please don't expect anyone else to agree with
you.
S. Vidyasankar
