KarmanirNaya

Prof. K.T. Pandurangi

Bangalore

The purpose of this text is to explain the philosophical meaning of Rigveda. For this purpose Mahanaamni hymns are selected. These hymns are called Mahanaamni, because, the names of Indra etc., occuring in these hymns are really the names of the Great God Visnu. In fact every word, every mantra, and every sukta conveys Him only. All sacrifices are meant for Him only. The Chaturmukha Brahma, Rudra etc., gods perform the sacrifices for Him only. This is made clear in the very mangala verse of this work.

Visnu is called Mahat i.e., the Great: because, he has infinite number of qualities. This is contested in Advaita who consider him as Nirguna. Therefore, his gunapurnatva is established by quoting the relevant Shruti passages. Then the question ‘How can the God be conveyed by the Veda, because, vedas communicate something that is to be acted upon` is raised. It is claimed that all sentences communicate Karya (the thing to be carried out) only.

This question is answered by pointing out that even Siddhavastu (things in existence) is conveyed by the sentences and therefore, there is no difficulty to convey Visnu by the veda.

After the Above Preliminary observations, the Mahanamni hymns are interpreted word by word. The import of the very first hymn is explained as under: ‘O, Lord of the Sacrifice! give us the knowledge to praise you, teach us the import of the traditionally handed down hymns. You are the lord of the speech and you are the lord of the knowledge.'

While giving the above import the passages from other hymns are profusely quoted in support of the meaning given. For instance, to support the meaning given to the word Maghavan, as many as seven occurances of the word Magha and Maghavan in Rgveda are given. The method of fixing the meaning of a word in Rgveda by examining its occurances in other places of Rgveda in different contexts is supposed to be a modern method. However, Sri Madhvacharya had employed this method seven hundred years before in his Rgbhasya and Karmanirnaya. Ancient laxicons like Shabdatatva are also quoted.

Another interesting question raised while interpreting these hymns is the relative position of Vaachanika artha (denoted meaning) and tatparya artha (conveyed meaning). So far as the Vedas are concerned, there is no Tatparyartha. It is always vachanikartha. Even the Arthavadas have Vachanika artha. In Pouruseya (man made) statements, the Vachanikartha helps to infer the tatparyartha. Its validity depends upon the reliability of the speaker.

Another interesting point that is stated: All Vedic words are Yaugika words. When a word is stated as RuuDha ‘Áñc>’, it only indicates Yoga-visranti i.e., stopping of the discovery of further yoga.

There are many levels of Mukhyarthas. The Supreme God is Paramamukhyartha (ultimate meaning) of every word. All sacrifices and rituals should be performed with the devotion to the God and the detachment from worldly results.All sacrifices be offered at the feet of the God.