Five essential Suktas for Vedic worship
Introduction
Rigveda is made up of around 10,600 mantras divided into 10 mandalas.
Each mandala contains a certain set of mantras called "sukta" and there are around 1028 suktas spread across these ten mandalas.
For example, the famous "purusha sukta" is the 90th Sukta in 10th mandala.
Various Vedic traditions use veriety of Suktas for the daily worship of the almighty. For the purpose of this write-up, we have chosen five such widely used & essential Suktas; ie., Purusha Sukta, Manyu Sukta, Ambrini Sukta, Sri Sukta and Balitha Sukta.
Vedic Tribe is happy to bring you this introductory series on these five essential Suktas for Vedic worship.
Our intention is to create curiosity in you so that you may later learn these Suktas traditionally from a proper Guru and make them part of your daily worship.
All the best
Madhwesh K
Vedic Tribe
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1. Purusha Sukta
Purusha Sukta is the 90th Sukta in 10th mandala of Rigveda.
In Vedic tradition, Purusha Sukta is chanted while performing various rituals including "maha-abhisheka" of the almighty's idol.
This Sukta is addressed to "purusha" (the cosmic consciousness - the almighty) and the Rishi is the almighty itself "Narayana".
First fifteen mantras are in Anushtup chandas and the sixteenth mantra is in Trishtup chandas.
One may listen to the traditional way of chanting this sukta using this link: https://youtu.be/kyYfT94hNU4?si=TvnD-6zJ5EMaB28v
If you are a beginner in spiritual practice, you may start by listening to this Sukta in the morning everyday. This elevates your mind and makes it ready to observe the super-consciousness which is immanent in this cosmos.
In the next write-up, we will discuss "Manyu Sukta".
Madhwesh K
Vedic Tribe
—
2. Manyu Sukta
Manyu Sukta is a combination of 83rd & 84th Suktas in 10th mandala of Rigveda.
In Sanskrit, "manyu" means anger. In Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna says that - to protect the innocent and to punish the oppressors, he manifests via avatars. Among all avatars, Lord Narasimha avatar displayed the highest of the devine anger. Hence, Manyu Sukta is special in the worship of Lord Narasimha.
This Sukta is addressed to "Manyu" (Lord Narasimha) and the Rishi is "Manyu Tapasa".
Jagati chandas and Trishtup chandas are used in their different varieties.
One may listen to the traditional way of chanting this sukta using this link: https://youtu.be/IG3J5iLzc_Y?si=bbQgAYeyNttzNlQs
If you are a beginner in spiritual practice, you may start by listening to this Sukta in the morning everyday. This elevates your mind and makes it ready to observe the super-consciousness which is immanent in this cosmos.
In the next write-up, we will discuss "Ambrini Sukta".
Madhwesh K
Vedic Tribe
—
3. Ambrini Sukta
Ambrini Sukta is 125th Suktas in 10th mandala of Rigveda.
As per "Paingi-shruti" confirmed by Sri Madhwacharya (and later explained by Sri Vadiraja Swami), the name "Ambrini" is that of "Maha-Lakshmi".
This Sukta is addressed to "vac" which is another name of "Maha-Lakshmi" and the Rishi is herself with another name "vac-ambrini". It is chanted while performing various rituals including "nirmalya-abhisheka" of the almighty's idol
Jagati chandas and Trishtup chandas are used in their different varieties.
One may listen to the traditional way of chanting this sukta using this link: https://youtu.be/Jyw3--vT0lY?si=5spOvATu__KL0On3
If you are a beginner in spiritual practice, you may start by listening to this Sukta in the morning everyday. This elevates your mind and makes it ready to observe the mother goddess Lakshmi who represents the cosmos both at physical and non-physical levels.
In the next write-up, we will discuss "Sri Sukta".
Madhwesh K
Vedic Tribe
—
4. Sri Sukta
Sri Sukta is found as part of Rigveda's appendices and hence is one of the prominent "khila-sukta".
Sri Sukta is chanted in various rituals including "abhisheka" to Maha-Lakshmi.
This Sukta is addressed to "Maha-Lakshmi" and is one of the widely chanted suktas beyond ritualistic worship.
Sri Sukta is made of anushtup chandas and also brihati, trishtubh and pankti / prasara pankti chandas. Rishis are Ananda, Chiklita, Kardama and Srida. However scholars disagree extensively in deciding chandas & rishis of Sri Sukta.
One may listen to the traditional way of chanting this sukta using this link: https://youtu.be/_yQs6-v0584?si=QThtOCTj6mldUn-A
If you are a beginner in spiritual practice, you may start by listening to this Sukta in the morning everyday. This elevates your mind and makes it ready to observe the mother goddess Lakshmi who represents the cosmos both at physical and non-physical levels.
In the next write-up, we will discuss "Balitha Sukta".
Madhwesh K
Vedic Tribe
—
5. Balitha Sukta
Traditionally the first five mantras in 141st sukta in the first mandala of Rigveda - are chanted as Balitha Sukta.
This Sukta is addressed to "agni" which is another name of the deity "mukhya-prana" who is the highest active consciousness within the realm of this creation.
It is chanted while performing various rituals including "abhisheka" of the deity mukhya-prana's idol.
This sukta also states that mukhya-prana, manifests in our realm in three avatars, the last being that of a saint "Madhwa". Sri Ananda Theertha identifies himself as Madhwa and hence is popularly called Sri Madhwacharya.
First four mantras are in Jagati chandas and the fifth is in Trishtup chandas (used in their different varieties). The Rishi of the entire 141st Sukta is Dhwergathamas Aucitya.
One may listen to the traditional way of chanting this sukta using this link: https://youtu.be/K4Q5Brf1PM4?si=V2AZDG5uXPk50ZOe
If you are a beginner in spiritual practice, you may start by listening to this Sukta in the morning everyday. This elevates your mind and makes it ready to observe the highest active consciousness within the realm of this creation.
Vedic Tribe is happy to have brought you this introductory series on five essential Suktas for Vedic worship.
Our intention is to create curiosity in you so that you may later learn these Suktas traditionally from a proper Guru and make them part of your daily worship.
All the best
Madhwesh K
Vedic Tribe
Very well written. Really wonderful, clear and crisp. I loved the tag line spread knowledge not belief.
ReplyDeleteOutstanding work. Thank you so much.