The YAJUR-VEDA - part of the Four Vedas

SANATANA DHARMA
सनातन धर्म 

Hinduism-part 4

SCRIPTURES -Part 2-C-I
(ग्रन्थ)

YAJUR VEDA

(यजुर्वेद)

YAJURVEDA is the second of the four Vedas. The other three are The Rig Veda, The Sama Veda and The Atharva Veda.

The word ‘Yajur’ यजुर means offerings, and ‘Veda’ वेद means knowledge. ‘YajurVeda’ means ‘knowledge of offerings’. This was the most widely and commonly used Veda for chantings at ceremonies by priests in Vedic era.

This Veda discusses and ponders mainly about the knowledge (and understanding) about life and our own existence and the purpose of our existence and also discusses in detail about the soul and how the soul of the deceased can have a comfortable ‘afterlife’, or life in a new ‘avatar’-अवतार- incarnation (rebirth in a different ‘yoni’ योनि -[a lifespan in different life-form/human form]). The Veda also discusses about human psyche and cosmic energy of a human being and how it can be used to achieve greater consciousness. Finally it states how a human being can attain ‘Moksha’-मोक्ष (freedom from the cycle of death and re-birth) by being humble (sacrificing one’s ego and vices) and being devoted to the Supreme Soul (Parmatma-Brahman पर्मात्मा-ब्राह्मण).

     THE GAYATRI MANTRA    

The 'Savitur Gayatri Mantra' - गायत्री मंत्र comes from the Yajurveda. Though the mantra is based on a verse, AUM BHUR BHUVAH - ॐ भूर्भुवः from the Rig Veda, the Yajur Veda mentions the Gayatri Mantra in its complete present form and recension.

ॐ भूर्भुवः॒स्वः तत्स॑वितुर्वरे॑ण्यं।

भ॒र्गो॑_दे॒वस्य॑_धीमहि।।

धियो॒यो नः॑ प्रचो॒दया॑त्॥।

Oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ

tát savitúr váreṇ(i)yaṃ

bhárgo devásya dhīmahi

dhíyo yó naḥ prachodáyāt

A Guru in meditation (Yoga-pose)
गुरु-योग मुद्रा में 

Through the chanting of YajurVeda hymns, the recite of the hymns is elevated to a higher level of consciousness. It helps in purifying the mind and body through yogic practice.

A great piece of work in this Veda is its stress on the pronunciation and grammar of Sanskrit language. This book is principally responsible in making Sanskrit the most grammatically perfect and scientifically best pronounced language ever spoken or used by mankind.

Verses of Vedas

This book has four sections like all other Vedas:

The Samhitas - सम्हिता 

The Aranyakas - आरणक्य 

The Brahmanas - ब्राह्मण 

The Upanishads.- उपनिषद् 

The SAMHITAs of YajurVeda has two principle versions: The Shukla  -शुक्ल सम्हिता (bright/white) Samhita and The Krishna (dark/black) Samhita- कृष्ण सम्हिता. The Krishna Samhita contains some of the most important hymns which are used in ‘Yagnyas’-यज्ञ like the Ashwa Medha - अश्वमेध यज्ञ (this was prominently highlighted in The Ramayana-रामायण  where Lord Ramchandra - भगवान श्री रामचन्द्र performed the AshwaMedha Yagya to claim His undisputed superiority over the land He ruled).

The Samhitas also contain some of the other important Yagnyas like the Agnihotra-अग्निहोत्र  , SomaYagnya -सोमयज्ञ, RajaSuya- Yagnya- राजसूययज्ञ, The Purush Medha Yagnya - पुरुषमेधयज्ञ, Pitri-Yagnya- पित्रीयज्ञ, The SarvaMedha Yagnya-सर्वमेध यज्ञ  and The Sautramani -सौत्रमणियज्ञ (this deals with dealing with the effects of the Soma-Ras-सोम रस  an intoxicating drink of the Devas- देव , derived from Soma plant). This Veda, like the other three is also a compilation of hymns and chants. Like the Sama Veda, Yajur Veda too has many hymns borrowed from the Rig Veda, but unlike Sama Veda, this Veda also has many hymns from the Atharva Veda. Like Sama Veda, Yajur-Veda also mentions a liturgical system of chants for various religious ceremonies and sacred offerings while performing rituals and pujas, like 'Yagnya's-(यज्ञ)-[a ritual offerings with libations of Soma-ras, flowers, fruits, honey and other ceremonial offerings are made while chanting of sacred 'Shokas'-श्लोक  and 'Mantras' मंत्र ]. The Yagnyas were ceremonial occasions which were held on large, massive scales.

It is amazing to notice here that the society in that ancient era was almost near to perfection which allowed such ‘Yagnyas’ to be performed where the Royal families, the ministers, the priests, the citizens of the country and people of every section of the society participated in these ‘Yagnyas’. The Yajur Veda literally describes how these should be performed, step-by-step. While doing so, it also puts great impetus on basic mathematics-गणित, geometry-रेखागणित and algebra -बीजगणित because, to perform such massive ‘Yagnyas’, certain geometric formations were required and had to be calculated accordingly.

Among the other Samhitas which are popular to this day, are the Vajasaneyi and the Taittariya Samhitas.

***

The BRAHMANAs
(section of Vedas)वेदों का ब्राह्मण खंड 

Some BRAHAMANA chapters of Yajur Veda are incorporated in the Samhita section of this Veda.

The Shatapatha Brahmana-शतपथ ब्राह्मण (a Hundred paths to Brahman - God): This chapter highlights the Sanatana-Dharma philosophy of approaching towards one's goal through one of the many paths which one can choose. It provides various spiritual ways to reach the ultimate goal; the soul's unity with God through 'Moksha'.  This highlights the spiritual democracy which is abundantly professed by various scriptures. 

In this chapter, the equally interesting and absorbing parts are the sections where creation of the universe is discussed. This chapter also has various similarities to some other religious books about the creation of the Universe which includes the primordial water, explanations of light and darkness and differentiation between good and evil.

This book also discusses and explains the concept of ‘Time’-(Kaal-काल).

The Yajur Veda also briefly speaks about curative methods in medicine. Though Atharva Veda is purely dedicated to science and more specifically to medicine, the Yajur Veda also has a ‘Charak Samhita’ - चरक सम्हिता, (which many consider it to be a part of Atharva Veda).

Regarding medicinal aspects of the Vedas, we shall be reading about them in the Atharva-Veda, my next posting on the blog after this one.

The Upanishad manuscript
(an ancient, undated scroll)

The UPANISHADs section of this Veda has some famous ones:
The Maitraayani Upanishad - मैत्रायणी उपनिषद्
The Katha Upanishad-कथा उपनिषद्
The Taittiriya Upanishad तैत्तरिया उपनिषद्
The Shvetashvatara श्वेताश्वतर उपनिषद्
The Brihadramanaya Upanishad-बृहदरमणआय उपनिषद्
The Brihadaarankya Upanishad-बृहदआरणक्य  उपनिषद्, ...and the more famous
The Isha Upanishad-इशा उपनिषद्.

etc.,

The Brihadkaranya Upanishad is of vital importance, so I will be writing about it in my next posting along with some other important books of Yajur Veda.

Kindly follow this one. It is of great relevance.

***

Some 'Shlokas'-श्लोक (verses) from this Veda and the Rig Veda have been used to compile the 'Purush Shuktam' -पुरुष शुकतम, a venerable and widely chanted verses, for it's philosophy.

I hope this has been of some information and importance to the readers.

You are requested to send me your comments and provide additional information.

Thank You,

Siddharth S. Sinha,

ssselan@yahoo.in