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Rudram presentation by a High Schooler - Shragvi Balaji
- 2. What is the Rudram and what are its physical, mental, and spiritual benefits?
- 4. Use JAPA DAILY PUJA HOMA HOMESTEMPLES ABHISHEKAM (warding off evils) Oh lord of peace, sitting on the ice cold mountaintop, radiating joy & peace in the world, will you not give me joy, happiness & peace? “Yamishum Girishanta Haste…” Everyone & Everywhere
- 5. Purpose ● Karma Kanda...Rituals Only??? ● Upasana - name & form ○ Gives Form to the Formless ○ Anchors the Mind ○ Blue throat - black hole ○ Matted locks - swirls of galaxy ○ Hair adornment - crescent moon ○ Ganga - comets ○ Garland - constellations ○ Showered by flowers - planets ○ Universe - Cosmic Form of Shiva ● Upanishad ○ Greatest Identity w/ Supreme Nature ● Nidhi Dhyasan - no name & form ○ Absorption into the nameless and formless ● Spiritual Level = Expiation of Sins ○ Prescribed for Everyone ○ Sanyasis must chant daily
- 6. RUDRALord of All Changeless in the Changing World He Who Makes People Cry???
- 8. MEANING ● Ashutosh ● Rudra Trishathi ○ “Hiranyabaahave” ○ Golden arms ● Generosity ● Thank Ganas Sarvam Khalvidam Brahman
- 9. IMPLIED MEANING Ratha = Chariot?
- 10. Castes and Solving Problems Srutyaayacha - indwelling consciousness of all beings Ishumadbhyodhanvaavibyaschavonamo - bow & arow Neelagriva - sacrifice - swallowing worldly poisons for betterment of economy
- 12. IMPORTANCE ● Center of Rudram...and Yajur Veda ● Most important mantra...in entire Yajur Veda ● Most commonly chanted...throughout the universe ● Chanted for Liberation ● Chanted everywhere ● Mountains ● Rivers ● Pilgrimage ● Forest ● Homams ● Upasana ● Japa ● Knowledge ● Protection ● Warding off evil ● Fulfilling desires ● Liberation
- 14. RESULTS “Om Namo Bhagavate Rudraya” ● Grace ● Papas Destroyed ● Leader 13, 14, 15 ● Destruction of enemies ○ Internal enemies ■ Papas ● Obstacles on path of liberation
- 15. Chanting Pattern of Vibrations Energy-based sounds
- 17. HOW TO CHANT THE RUDRAM Taught Properly Sit Correctly Pronunciation Relax Time
- 18. My Experience Begin the Day Focus Joy Qualitative Data Energy Early Riser Bathe Water Time Discipline
- 19. Sources 1. Amritananda, Swami. Sri Rudram and Purushasuktam. Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1997. 2. Hartzell, James. “A Neuroscientist Explores the "Sanskrit Effect".” Scientific American Blog Network, 2 Jan. 2018, blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/a-neuroscientist-explores-the- sanskrit-effect/. 3. Saraswathi, Dayananda. Sri Rudram. 2nd ed. Chennai: Arsha Vidya Research and Publication Trust, 2010. Print. 4. Saraswati, Dayananda. Talks on Śrī Rudram. Gangadhareswar Trust, 1999. 5. Shivatmananda, Swami. Personal interview. 2 Jan. 2018. 6. “The magic of mantras.” The Hindu, 14 Apr. 2010.
- 20. Thank You
Editor's Notes
- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MqteEheYDWQRQaiHoMkZH_sIcrh-Tr-CpHRpQ81V4_U/edit is the notes https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q9EZ4tLkBdTGU0hgJI6IL5kahIhvewQ5LCemmfdUB5U/edit# is speakers notes
- Rudram is known for its universality in approach to divine; not a specific deity but the God not one god but just - God “if Rudra is worshipped, other deities are happy too, cause Rudra is God - in general It’s basically propitiating every single deity in the universe” It is a misbelief that Rudram is only propiliating Shiva so the universality encompasses the cosmic being of creation, preservation and destruction. Because of certain words used to describe the universal power, it is directed towards Shiva. But it need not be shiva.
- “Its use is huge. It is used in daily puja, daily prayers, for it is a complete prayer asking for the soul to come out of the difficulties of life for the soul yearns to enter a state of bliss by being one with the lord. And beautiful prayers are employed in the Rudram. Oh the lord of peace, sitting on the ice cold mountaintop radiating joy and peace in the world will you not give me joy and happiness and peace? Yamishum girishanta...purusham jagathu japa, the repetition of the name of the lord like it uses 300 names of lord shiva, known as rudra trishathi, homa, sacred fire rituals, and other religious rituals. During abhishekam it is highly effective in warding off evils and various benefits result to those chanting it, and those listening to it; - physical, mental and spiritual benefits to name a few.
- “It is in the Karma Kanda of the Vedas. The Vedas are the oldest of scriptures, and are separated into 3 parts - karmakAnda, upAsanakAnda, and gnyAnakAnda, ritual part, worship part, and knowledge part respectively. So that makes it part of the ritual section of the vedas, so is it only used in ritualistic practices? No, it’s use goes past rituals; it is used in upAsana - the mental worship of God, done on a God with a name and form - but with Rudra there is no form since he surpasses all forms and thus the Rudram helps describes him - all forms are covered; We need a picture of the deity to visualize, and therefore, it gives a vivid description of Rudra; with his snake as an ornament, his blue throat - thus called neelakantan, a name you may have heard many times, such as in “namaste astu bhagavan...neelakantAya”, blue throat is the black hole, and it describes his matted locks upon which lies the crescent moon - the matted locks a swirls of the galaxy, going on to talk about the the constellations and stars are garlands of flowers, the planets the flowers offered, the comets are the beautiful flow of ganga out of his matted locks, thus many mystics have seen the cosmic form of rudra as seen by the lenses of the Hubble telescope. its describes his nataraja pose , dancing in the ring of fire, directed especially for those dancers among you and so much more of a description is given - they all help in meditating on the form of a formless God. Apart from upAsana, nidhi dhyAsan is another type of meditation; it is meditation without form, in which an upanishadic mantra is used; t can be characterized by deep absorption into the nameless formless god, for those people who have progressed into a state in which they are able to do such a form of meditation. Any form of meditation that is done, whether upAsana or nidhidhyAnasn, has immense effects on mental health, especially if done over a period of time. Since the human mind tends to easily drift, it is quite preferable to use chanting as a form of meditation, for in silence it is difficult sometimes, to focus. For the vast majority of us, ut is best to do upAsana rather than nidhidhyasan, for chanting keeps you focused for you must apy attention to what you are chanting, and by meditating upon a form, it is more difficult for the mind to get distracted, resulting in a greater chance of focus and calmness settling upon the mind, finally resulting in an overall greater positive effect on us. Rudram is used for both types - used as upanishadic mantra for nidhidhyAsan and as a way to focus and visualize, during upasana. Rudra japa is also considered the most effective atonement of sins. The chanting of this is prescribed even for SanyAsis.”
- “So Rudra is basically the Lord of All, and as it says, the changeless in the changing world, for no matter how much time passes on this Earth, Rudra will remain the same, and will remain in every single object, in every single being. Notice how there is nothing specific on this slide that I mention. That is because he is God, not specifically one God, but just the pure existence of God - of God in all, in all things, in all people, just everywhere. Rudra himself is not anything or anyone specific, but the Rudram, as I mentioned earlier, helps one visualize a form in her mind, and no matter what the form is, it is still something to focus on. Many think Rudram is only towards Shiva, but no, it is towards all god, in fact, it is just directed toward the presence -the existence - of God - the concept - of God.”
- “The Rudram is made up of 2 parts: the namakam and the chamakam; the namakam focuses on describing and propitiating the lord, and the chamakam focuses on asking for the desires of one. Namakam is actual rudram and chamakam is a type of phalasruti where the devotee seeks spiritual favors for spiritual growth.
- “So it illustrates Sarvam Khalvidam Brahman, or “all is brahman”, in english, all is the absolute truth; and to go into a little more specifics on the meaning of the Rudram, it begins with the first anuvaka asking for Rudra to please give up all anger. He is also known by the name of aashutosh, or one who is easily pleased. It then moves one to anuvakas 2 - 9, the second to 9th stanzas, in which the 300 names of shiva are chanted ,to praise the lord in the universal form, known as rudra trishathi as mentioned before.. The 10th anuvaka, celebrates the generosity, of the lord and praise prosperity of devotees, and the last - 11th anuvaka, is dedicated to thanking the Lord’s Ganas, his attendants.”
- So more than the literal meaning, the implied meaning is more important and more meaningful. For example, one part says salutations to the Lord of the chariots, and to the lord of those without chariots. What\ does that mean and what does it have to do with me? I mean when you think about it, we are in the modern era, chariots? But when you think of the deep significance and symbolism, you realize that chariot actually refers to the body, the chariot of our souls, and those without chariots are those without physical bodies; the subtle bodies within our world. So that’s an example of how implied meaning is more important than, literal meaning.
- So the Rudram also references the castes, and how each caste aims to solve worldly problems. So brahmins meditate upon their problems, and when you think deep enough, you realize what is that problem in the greater scale, when you realize who you are and then your material issues are nothing, so they disappear pretty much. So for brahmins is the word “Srutyaayacha,” like in “namo sruthyaayacha patyaayacha,” it means salutations to the indwelling consciousness of all beings; for brahmins, it's like one who understands that God dwells in all so when the same Atma is in everyone, everything, knowing that the consciousness is everywhere...all is one..so what then are the problems? And then for kshattriyaas is Ishumadbhyodhanvaavibhaschavonama - salutations to the one who has arrow and bow - for that is their duty, that is pretty obvious no need for explanation. And finally Neelagriva, in neelagrivaayacha sitikantaaycha, means blue throated one -representing one who is capable of swallowing all types of worldly problems and poisons - which is the dharma of vaishyas and shudras, so it is giving them the will to fight to go through all these worldly problems - just swallow it all and keep on going with life.
- “8th anuvaka - most important mantra is revealed (Mentioned “Namah Shivaya” in Anuvaka 8 “namah shivaya cha shivataraaya cha”) - millions of people use this mantra - namah shivaya - most commonly chanted throughout universe.
- All chant for liberation for gods and demons alike. Yajur veda; exactly at center of Yajur Veda and center of Rudram, is the sacred mantra, shivapanchAkshari - namah sivaya. The most important anuvaka of ht e entire rudram is this anuvakak 8 because it reveals thie most sacred mantra. And it is tchanted like - mano mahanta muta mano...ukshitam - oh lord pls protect the baby horses/cows, children and unborn children dwelling in the womb of moms of all species, and warding off evils as mentioned before and fulfilling desires, speicifally the chamakam - the second part of the Rudram, and ultimately our final goal in life - liberation.
- “Tryambakam is the second most chanted mantra in the world; in this mantra, it is asking for death and immortality which sounds self-contradictory, but truly is not. immortality here is of the soul while death is of the body. All that is born, dies, so you are asking for salvation, where the body dies, and the soul lives on in peace, without going into another body. it directly grants liberation from the clutches of the lord of death; The story of Markandeya - his soul is immortal . Markandaya’s story is basically that a wife and husbadn wanted a child for they did not have one; they prayed to Shiva and shiva came and gave them 2 choices: 1 dull-witted, evil child who will live long or a good, wise child who will live only 16 years? The couple chose the wise child and thus the had a child. The child was a perfect child, smart, kind all good qualities, but at 16-years old, the day he would die, his parent told him the hwole story of how he was born and that he was to die today. The child reassured his parents that death was not something to fear and told them he would win over death that day. As yama came to take him, Markandeya was conducting prayers and shiva immediately came out of the lingam and stopped yama from taking away the life of the child. Thus Shiva granted Markandeya immortality of the soul, and this shows how rudra is able to control even time.
- “So for each mantra there are also said results, such as “Om namo bhagavate rudraya”, in which the one who chants while circumambulating gains the grace of lord, has their papas, or sins, destroyed and gains leadership qualities. Another example is, chanting mantras 13, 14, and 15, from the first anuvaka, is said to cause the destruction of enemies - enemies being internal enemies - internal enemies being papas - and papas being obstacles on the path of liberation.
- “Chants are energy-based sounds. Whenever you say something a certain physical vibration is produced. if these vibrations are produced in a certain pattern, a certain result will occur”
- “According to research done by professor Dr. T. Temple Tutler of Cleveland University in the U.S., Chanting is known to have a neurolinguistic effect, or NLE. Neuro - affecting the brain, linguistic - relating to language, and effect - or, effect. So NLE, or neuro linguistic effect, is caused by production and spread of chemicals in the brain, resulting in a calming effect on the body This is an example of the physical effects of chanting. This happens even if meaning is not known...but knowing meaning is very beneficial, as it helps you stay focused on the chant and understand more, progressing further toward a state of spiritual realization. It has also been linked to various other effects in the brain, as written by James Hartzell, such as an increase in cortical thickness - various professional Vedic pandits had participated in a study by a group of individuals and structural magnetic resonance imaging - MRI scan - was used to scan their brains. They saw an increase in cortical thickness - the combined thickness of the layers of the cerebral cortex in the brains of mammals - which is related in an increase in cognitive function. Also, the right hippocampus of pundits which plays a major role in the storing of memory, specifically patterns, had more gray matter across almost 75% of it. Finally, chanting helps us meditate,as I mentioned many times before, bringing our focus to one thing and one thing only, and that has immense mental effects, along with spiritual effects. But what is most fascinating to me, is its physical effects - on the body, which I was pleasantly surprised to discover. Meditation actually brings the brain waves into a sinusoidal pattern; basically, a steady wave pattern, compared to how the brain functions in other states, such as alert, sleep, drowsy, and even relaxed. These are some of the effects of chanting, and this truly shows the power of chanting from a scientific perspective.
- “So there is a proper way to chant the Rudram, basically a proper Guru must teach you - Swamiji taught me. Learning properly like I learn dance, singing, chanting not from youtube but a teacher thta transfers not only knowledge but the energy. Sit cross-legged - called sukhasana - on a certain rug everytime you chant so your body energy is not lost to the ground, take a deep breath, don’t rush through, and know that the effects will come over time so don't expect anything immediate.”
- I decided to test it on myself, you know, see how it makes me feel. Since there was already so much quantitative data on the internet, I decided to instead aim to obtain qualitative data, using on the mental effects of chanting the Rudram - the namakam, to be specific - everyday. I learned the Rudram from Swamiji during the summer of 2016, and began the project 2017, so I started September 1st 2017 and decided to chant the Rudram every morning. The results were some directly related to chanting the Rudram, and some, indirectly related. So some examples of indirectly related effects of it were that waking up early gave my body a healthy sleep schedule; I ended up sleeping earlier, and since i had to wake up and chant every morning - weekdays at 6 and weekends at 7, I ended up automatically waking up early everyday, even if I had forgotten to set the alarm, before. So that was nice. Another example of this is taking a bath in the morning - I could feel the freshness throughout the morning and the whole day, and I felt extremely clean the whole day, and a lot more active in the morning, which helped more on the weekends since I could do so much in the morning since I was active, full of energy, and had lots of time. I was also forced to drink lots of water before chanting since it gets you super dehydrated and thirsty, and drinking water in the morning you know, really increases that freshness you feel in the morning after bath. So those are indirect results. Some direct results of the chanting itself were mainly just how good it made me feel to be able to focus on 1 thing - and 1 thing only - for 15 minutes. When I chanted, I could feel the sound coming from my abdomen, through my lungs, my throat, it was an amazing feeling. And beginning the day chanting is so satisfying, as my morning started with calmness, focus, deep breathing. Chanting helps so much in meditation, because you have to focus on every word, intonations, the whole time you are chanting, eliminating chances of a drifting mind. Furthermore, I felt so filled with energy from the chanting because it’s not easy to chant for 15 minutes straight, and I felt so much more active that morning; it’s a nice feeling. Also, I just started to feel so optimistic, I mean I was waking up early, showered, chanted the Rudram, feeling that sense of satisfaction and happiness every morning, even the tiniest of things can make you happy. Additionally, discipline was a big thing. A sense of discipline entering your life is all you need, to change your life. What started with just doing an experiment seeing the results of chanting on myself, influenced my lifestyle, like every single day, I’d wake up shower, chanted, and that became lighting the lamp in my prayer room daily, and refilling that water, causing me to even become more organized, like I could not chant in a messy room so anytime there was any trash or anything fallen on the floor, I’d first clean the room and then chant the Rudram, and it also made me a more organized person. So all of these results were effects of the Rudram, which I later realized transformed my lifestyle, and therefore, I am so thankful that I chanted the Rudram every morning.
- So I hope you all learned some things from this presentation and I hope you will have a better understanding of the Rudram during Shivratri this year. Thank you so much to everyone for listening to this presentation, thank you to Mr. Rudd for the idea to test it on myself, thank you to Swamiji for teaching me the Rudram,and guiding me throughout the process of gathering information to put together this powerpoint. thank you to my parents for motivating me throughout the process and for always reminding me to work on the presentation especially when the presentation day was coming closer, and to you all for being a wonderful audience and for watching the presentation, so I would totally recommend chanting in the morning for everyone, hopefully the Rudram is you have learned it but any mantra is fine, I am so glad I did this project as it has been an unforgettable life changing experience. Thank you.