०६८ वेदोक्तं कर्म

68. With ceremonial performance.

वेदोक्तं कर्म।
१ ब्रह्मा। कर्म। अनुष्टुप्।

[Brahman.—ekarcam. mantroktakarmamātradevatyam. ānuṣṭubham.]

Comment

Found in Pāipp. xix. Quoted once in the text of Kāuś. (139. 10), in the ceremony of introduction to Vedic study, as to be murmured prior to pronouncing, by pādas, the Gāyatrī (RV. iii. 62. 10), and the Atharvan verses iv. 1. 1 and i. 1. 1 (or 1-4). But the various schol. (the Paddhati, Daś. Kar., Keśavī) make frequent mention and use of it: thus (see note to Kāuś. 25. 36), it is reckoned to a svastivācana; it is used in the sīmantonnayana (to 35. 20) and godāna (to 53. 2) ceremonies; it is added (note to 57. 22) to vii. 33. 1 in the ceremony of restoring lost fire, in the initiation of a Vedic student; it is used in the vedavratāni (to 57. 32), in the annaprāśana (to 58. 19), and the preparation for the marriage ceremonies (to 75. 1), and for the ājyatantra (to 137. 4), and in the introduction to the rājakarmāṇi of §14 (p. 315, l. 2). In all this is very probably to be seen only the influence of the occurrence of védam and of kármāṇi kṛṇmahe in the second half-verse; it need not imply any real comprehension of the obscure verse, with recognition of its appropriateness to all these various situations. ⌊As to the critical bearing of the uses of the vs. in the ritual, cf. the table on p. 896, and see p. 897, line 12.⌋

Translations

Translated: Griffith, ii. 319.

A preliminary sacrificial formula

Translation

1. Of non-expansion and of expansion do I untie the aperture with magic;
   by those two having taken up the Veda, we then perform acts.

Notes

That is, doubtless, ‘conduct sacred ceremonies.’ All the mss.* have at
the beginning ávyasas (p. ávi॰asaḥ), and so have Ppp., the Anukr.,
Kāuś. and all its scholiasts, and the comm.; whence of course also SPP.;
it is unquestionably the Atharvan reading. Yet even the comm. can only
say for it that it is the same as avyacasas, a syllable being omitted
by Vedic license; and the analysis of the pada-text appears to be one
of those wild and senseless guesses of which in this book it presents
not a few examples. ⌊The important thing to observe in the pāda
avya[ca]saś ca vyacasaś ca is the recurrence of so many
confusingly similar syllables: the corruption is a case of haplography
(cf. note to iv. 5. 5, and Bloomfield in AJP. xvii. 418); but one would
expect avyacaso vyacasaś ca. The pada-mss. ⌊save SPP’s J.⌋ have
víṣyāmi in b as an integral word; but the comm. understands ví:
syāmi, and SPP., as well as our text, so reads; many of the mss. have
bí instead of ví. One accents in c vedám, ⌊and one has
vedam, without accent; Griffith’s ‘bunch of grass’ implies the reading
vedám here and at 72. 1⌋; we might conjecture védim as a better
reading; véda is not to be expected in the Atharvan. ⌊The Index
gives for books i.-xviii. three occurrences of véda, namely at iv. 35.
6; x. 8. 17; xv. 3. 7: at x. 8. 17 W. suggests that it is perhaps to be
rendered simply by ‘knowledge’; but in iv. and xv. it can hardly be
aught else than ‘Veda.’⌋ Some of the mss. accent kṛṇmáhe. There was no
sufficient reason for altering the accent of vyácasas in our text to
vyacásas; SPP. reads vyác- with the majority of his authorities. The
comm. has no notion of what the verse really means: he gives two
different expositions—one explaining ávyacas and vyácas to mean the
two varieties of breathing, prāṇa and vyāna, the bila to be the
mūlādhāra, and veda ’the Veda’ (akṣarātmakamantrasaṁgha); the
other taking the first two to be the paramātman and jīvātman, the
bila the heart, and veda ‘knowledge’ (cikīrṣitakarmaviṣayaṁ
jñānam). *⌊If I understand the Collation Book, W’s P. actually begins
with avyacásaś cá vyácasáś ca, which, apart from the wild accents, is
worth noting.⌋

In Ppp., this hymn is immediately followed by our hymn 72.

Both of broad and narrow I with magic power unclose the mouth. With these when we have raised the bunch of grass we pay the holy rites.

अव्य॑सः। च॒। व्यच॑सः। च॒। बिल॑म्। वि। स्या॒मि॒। मा॒यया॑। ताभ्या॑म्। उ॒त्ऽहृत्य॑। वेद॑म्। अथ॑। कर्मा॑णि। कृ॒ण्म॒हे॒। ६८.१।

• कर्म
• ब्रह्मा
• अनुष्टुप्
• वेदोक्तकर्म सूक्त

मनुष्य के कर्तव्य का उपदेश।

पदार्थान्वयभाषाः - (अव्यसः) अव्यापक [जीवात्मा] के (च च) और (व्यचसः) व्यापक [परमात्मा] के (बिलम्) बिल [भेद] को (मायया) बुद्धि से (वि ष्यामि) मैं खोलता हूँ। (अथ) फिर (ताभ्याम्) उन दोनों के जानने के लिये (वेदम्) वेद [ऋग्वेद आदि ज्ञान] को (उद्धृत्य) ऊँचा लाकर (कर्माणि) कर्मों को (कृण्महे) हम करते हैं ॥१॥

भावार्थभाषाः - मनुष्य जीवात्मा के कर्तव्य और परमात्मा के अनुग्रह समझने के लिये वेदों को प्रधान जानकर अपना-अपना कर्तव्य करते रहें ॥१॥

टिप्पणी: १−(अव्यसः) व्यचतिर्व्याप्तिकर्मा-असुन्,वर्णलोपश्छान्दसः। अव्यचसः। अव्यापकस्य जीवात्मनः (च) (व्यचसः) व्यापकस्य परमात्मनः (च) (बिलम्) छिद्रम्। गुप्तभेदम् (विष्यामि) स्यतिरुपसृष्टो विमोचने-निरु० १।१७। विवृणोमि। विमोचयामि (मायया) प्रज्ञया (ताभ्याम्) तौ ज्ञातुम् (उद्धृत्य) उद्गमय्य (वेदम्) ऋग्वेदादिवेदचतुष्टयं ज्ञानमूलम् (अथ) अनन्तरम् (कर्माणि) कर्तव्यानि (कृण्महे) कुर्महे ॥