Rudram Meaning 001

Meaning of Sri Rudram - Part 001

Śri Rudram appears in Kanva and Mādhyandina sākhas of the Śukla-Yajur-Veda, and the Taittirīya, Kātaka, Maitrayānī sākhas of the Kṛṣṇa Yajur Veda. Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswati has written a commentary based on the mantras on Taittirīya sākha of Kṛṣṇa Yajur Veda.

Śri Rudram blesses the vaidika with prosperity in this life and in the after-life. When the mantras are chanted as a prayer supported by an understanding and contemplation of the Lord as revealed in the mantras, it can lead to jnānam.

Among the various Vedic hymns recited daily by a vaidika, the crown jewel of all of them is the Śata Rudrīya. This vedic hymn is the source of inspiration for all other sahasra namavalis such as Vishnu Sahasranāma and Lalita Sahasranāma. Both in form and content these nāmavalis are not different from the Vedic Rudram. Even in the Vedas, one does not see a section like Śri Rudram consisting of many names of the Lord along with the word, namaḥ, salutation.

The famous five-syllabled mantra, namaaśśivāya, is from this great hymn.

Nāma japa

Nāma japa is an important element in the religious life of a vaidika. Repeating different names of the Lord is nāma japa. The most ancient source of this mode of prayer is Śata Rudrīya. Śri Rudram is also called as namaka because the word namaḥ is added to each name depicting the Lord.

Three type of Prayers

Kāyika, vācika and mānasa are three ways of praying to Īṣvara.

(1) Kāyika: A vedic homam is kāyika ─ meaning physical action is involved with hands and materials. Abhishekam done in the temple or in the house, namaskarams, sounding of counch and all actions where physical activity is involved is a kāyika type of prayer.

(2) Vācika is a verbal prayer. In this type of prayer, vāk, the organ of speech and the mind are involved. Vedic chanting, bhajans, sahasranāma chanting and singing rāma nāma are some examples of this type of prayer.

(3) Mānasa type of prayer is done only in the mind ─ manaḥ. Dhyāna, meditation is any physical act of worship done mentally. You perform an abhishekam only in the mind. If you chant rāma nāma only in the mind, it is a mānasa pūja.

Śata Rudrīya is used in all these three forms of prayer. During a vedic fire ritual – homa it is kāyika. If you just chant it, it is vācika. When you meditate on the meaning, or mentally repeat Om namaaśśivāya, it is mānasa.

Rudropaniṣad and the benefits of chanting Sri Rudram

Īṣvara is both manifest and unmanifest. Īṣvara, the Lord is both with attributes ─ saguṇa and and without attributes ─ nirguṇa. Sri Rudram is used for praying to Īṣvara either with form or without a form.

Upaniṣad is the end portion of veda, which reveals the essential nature of an individual. Śata Rudrīya when chanted with direct and simple meaning of the words provides a means of purifying the mind and creating a conducive atmosphere in our lives as puṇya phalam. Chanting of rudram is karma yoga in the form of upāsana. Upāsana yoga ─ physical, verbal and mental prayers to Īṣvara is part of karma yoga and provides eligibility for jnāna yoga.

When we understand the implied and philosophical meanings in Śri Rudram, the very same words become an Upaniṣad.

Sri Rudram is very effective in freeing one from many pāpams, incurred by any wrongful action against dharma. It frees one from emotional depression, mood swings and all mental disturbances.

Even a renunciate ─ sannyāsī, is advised to recite this hymn daily with understanding of the words.

Name of the Lord is greater than the Lord

Devotees believe that the name ─ nāma is greater than Īṣvara, who is addressed by that name. We hear that Hanumānji was doing rāma nāma japa, even when Rāma was around. Why? Because Rāma as a person cannot be put in the mind and repeated in japa! Japa is an act of repetition and the named person – nāmi does not have a place there, because the life story and the personality of nāmi can cause distractions. When the nāmi is no more, the nāma lasts forever, serving as a focus point for the devotees.

When we say gold, it represents all the manifestations of gold such as a bangle, chain, ring and such. When we say clay, it represents all the forms such as pot, cup and utensils. So when we say the word Rāma as the Lord of this universe, the name includes all manifestations in this world. Thus nāma becomes greater than nāmi, since the name signifies all creations.

Consists of eleven anuāvkas

Śata Rudrīya consists of eleven sections – anuāvkas. The first anuvāka is prayer to Lord Rudra asking him to be kind and giving. From the second to to ninth anuvāka, salutations are offered to Īṣvara as all forms constituting the world. The tenth anuvāka consists of prayers to the Lord and in the eleventh, the Lord is prayed to in the form of many devatās sustaining different spheres of experience. In the first nine sections of the Rudram, the word namah occurs three hundred times which is why the Śata Rudrīya is popular as Namaka.

Camakam

Namakam hymn is invariably followed by another hymn where the syllables, "ca" and ‘me’ occur in every sentence and that hymn is called Camaka.

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Note: This is the first in a series of a multi part blog based on Swami Dayananda Saraswati's book - Sri Rudram.
Laghunyasam, Namakam and Chamakam verses in Tamil, Sanskrit and English are available in the following links.
Sri Rudram in Sanskrit
Sri Rudram in International Phonetic Alphabet - IAST
Sri Rudram in Tamil