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Re: Significance of Secrecy in prayers
GOPAL Ganapathiraju Sree Ramana (gopal@ecf.toronto.edu) wrote:
: guhyaath guhyatharam param
Dear Gopalji:
It is more a matter of tradition than anything else. As you know, there
are many examples of this secrecy in Upanishads. The one example that I
can think of is I believe, in Chandogya Upanishad, when Svetaketu went to
the kshatriya king to learn. The kshatriya king was in possession of a
secret vidya that was till then, only available to kshatriyas. The king
however, shared his vidya with Svetaketu.
The illreputed tradition that limits the pronouncement of Om in a mantra
to the initiated (dikshita), also seems a secondary outcome of this
parampara tradition. It is indicated in one of the first few verses of
Chandogya that by saying Om, one declares that he/she knows the meaning
of the mantra and agrees with the meaning of the mantra.
With best regards,
Dhruba.
