#Jagadguru #SriSri Abhinava Vidyatirtha Mahaswamiji on the need to recite the Vedas correctly

#Jagadguru #SriSri Abhinava Vidyatirtha Mahaswamiji: Care must be taken to learn & chant the #Veda correctly, without errors in either the words or the intonations.

Once A poor man had unmarried daughters. He was at a loss as to how he could find the money to get them married. A friend told him, “Musicians get handsome rewards.” Consequently, the desire to learn singing sprouted in his mind. He found out that to train his voice, he would have to practise singing for long. Hence, he sat under a tree at the outskirts of his village and practised singing. But what emerged from him was mere cacophony. A ghost that had earlier been a musician inhabited that tree. It was not able to bear
the pundit’s murder of music. So it told him, “I am a music-knowing ghost. This tree is my home. Your cacophony is making it impossible for me to stay here. Go elsewhere.” The pundit replied, “Why should I go? I want to earn money and for that I want to become a songster by ardent practice. This is my chosen place for practice.” The ghost said, “Since it is money that you want, I will tell you how you can get it. I shall possess the princess. The king will have his physicians attend to her. However, they will be unable to cure her. You seek the king’s audience. Tell him that the princess
is possessed by a ghost and that you can exorcise it and cure her. With the king’s permission, go to the princess and sing there as you are doing now. I, who cannot bear your atrocious singing, will immediately leave the princess. She will get cured. The king will handsomely reward you. Thereafter, there will be no need for you to come here and kill music.”
The man agreed and the ghost’s plan was successfully executed by them. As a consequence, the man was able to get more than enough money to get his daughters married, while the ghost was able to live in peace on its tree. Just as the music-knowing
ghost of the story was put off by the poor man’s cacophony, Vedic scholars feel ill at ease when someone chants the holy Vedic mantras incorrectly in their presence. While bad singing might exceptionally fetch rewards as illustrated in the tale, incorrect
chanting of the Veda invariably results in sin accruing to the person who chants.

"Care must be taken to learn and chant the Veda correctly, without errors in either the words or the intonations. While there is no rule that a person should learn music, it is obligatory on a qualified man to learn Vedic mantras from a teacher and to chant them correctly. By fulfilling this duty, the chanter acquires puëya; by neglecting it, he incurs sin."

#SanatanaDharma #Shankaracharya #sringeri #Sadguru #SriSri #Jyeshtamahasannidhanam #Music #Vedanta #Spirituality