Significance Of Number Seven

Number "Seven"...... It has its own significance in many world traditions and religions. In this article, let us explore the importance of this number in Sanathan Dharma tradition. "Sapta" is the sanskrit name for this number. 

In Indian astrology, Navagrahas play an important role. For each Graha, a number is assigned. (see the below chart for the list). Among the Navagrahas, the number seven is assigned to "Ketu". 

Symbolically, the number seven represents the Earthly plane.  There are 14 worlds according to Sanatan dharma scriptures and they are categorized as 7 higher and 7 lower worlds. The 7 higher words are (in descending order), Satya, Tapa, Jana, Mahara, Svarga, Bhuvar, Bhu respectively. Bhu loka is nothing but the planet Earth. If you take all 14 worlds together, there are six worlds above Earth and seven below Earth. 

To know about the fourteen worlds in details, please click this link :

http://connectsciencetodivinity.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-fourteen-72-worlds-lokas.html

SAPTA DVIPAS ( SEVEN ISLANDS) :  

According to Puranas, there are seven islands, namely Jambudvipa, Plaksadvipa, Salmalidvipa, Kusadvipa, Krauncadvipa, Saakadvipa and Pushkaradvipa.

SAPTA SAMUDRA (SEVEN OCEANS) :

For each of the above dvipas, there are corresponding oceans too. Please refer the following table :

SAPTA RISHI (SEVEN SAGES) :

This refers to the famous seven sages.  For each Manvantara, there is a separate set of seven sages. Hence, the Saptarishis for our current Manvantara (which is ruled by Vaivasvata Manu) are Kashyapa, Atri, Vashishta, Viswamitra, Gautama, Jamadagni and Bharadwaja.

SAPTA SWARA (SEVEN MUSICAL NOTES) :

In Sanatan Dharma, music and dance are also believed to be divine and celestial. The Veda that deals with these kinds of arts is known as "Gandharva Veda". Among the Gods, Nataraja and Saraswati are associated with dance and music. Among the demigods and other celestial beings, there are Nandi, Narada, Tumburu, Gandharvas and Apsaras. Swara is a musical note. Since music itself is considered to be divine, no wonder that number 7 finds its significance in this divine art too.. The seven musical notes are, Sa, Ri, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha and Ni.

SAPTA PADI (SEVEN SACRED STEPS) :

This is an important ritual in Hindu marriage ceremony. As soon as the mangalsutra is tied, the newly married couple take seven steps around the holy fire.  Each step has a detailed meaning.

First step - To earn and provide livelihood for the family
Second step - Build physical, mental and spiritual powers
Third step - Earn and increase the wealth by righteous means
Fourth step - Acquire knowledge, happiness and harmony by mutual love and respect
Fifth step - To have cattle and children
Sixth step - For self control and longevity
Seventh step - To be true and loyal to each other and remain life long companions.

SAPTA CHIRANJEEVI (SEVEN IMMORTALS) :

The Puranas and the two Epics Ramayana and Mahabaratha give an account of the seven immortals, viz.. Ashwathaama, Mahabali, Vyasa, Hanuman, Vibhishana, Kripa and Parasurama. Look at the following shloka :

"Ashwathaama Balir Vyaso Hanumanash cha Vibhishana Kripacharya cha Parashuramam saptaita chiranjeevanam"

SAPTA GIRI (SEVEN HILLS) :

The popular holy shrine Thirumala, is known as saptagiri, as it is covered by seven hills. They are Vrushabhadri, Anjanadri, Neeladri, Garudadri, Seshadri, Narayanadri and Venkatadri.

Watch this video clip to know about the gods associated with each hill :

SAPTA KANNI (SEVEN VIRGIN ANGELS) :

In Hindu scriptures, especially in Devi Mahatmiyam, Sapta kannikas are mentioned as parivara devathas of Aadhiparasakthi. They are generally termed as "Saptamatrikas" (seven mothers) who are always depicted together. They have supreme significance in Tantrism and Shakthism (different sects of hinduism).

Shiva (Leftmost) with the Matrikas

By Daderot (I took this photograph.) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

SAPTA PURI (SEVEN HOLY CITIES) :

These are the seven holy pilgrimage cities. These are where important avatars and spiritual masters are born. The pilgrimage centres are Ayodya, Mathura, Dwaraka, Ujjain, Kasi, Kanchi and Haridwar.

SAPTA NADHI (SEVEN HOLY RIVERS) :

These are the seven holy rivers namely, Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Saraswati, Narmada, Sindhu and Kaveri.

SAPTA CHAKRA (SEVEN ENERGY POINTS) :

There are subtle energy points in our body. They are classified as seven upper chakras and seven lower chakras. The upper seven chakras are the major energy points and hence termed as "sapta chakra". They are (in descending order), Sahasrara, Ajna, Vishuddha, Anahata, Manipura, Svadhishthana and Muladhara.

By Siddhasana.jpg: http://www.yogaartandscience.com/about/about.
html derivative work: Mirzolot2 (Siddhasana.jpg) [CC BY-SA 3.0
 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Apart from the above, we also have the following attributes for the number seven......

• Total number of days in a week = 7
• Total number of horses on Surya's (Sun God) chariot = 7
• Total number of classical planets = 7
• Saptamukhi Rudraksh (Rudraksh having 7 faces) is considered to give prosperity, contentment, peace of mind to one who wears and also believed that it removes bad luck and miseries. 
• Ratha saptami, is a festival which is observed on the 7th day of the bright fortnight (sukla paksha) in the month Maghaa. It is symbolically represented that the sun god surya, turns his ratha (chariot) pulled by seven horses, towards the northern hemisphere.

References :

http://www.sakthiolhi.org/sapthakannikas.html

http://www.hinduwebsite.com/numbers.asp

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_(number)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saptarishi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swara
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/seekingshanti/2012/07/seven-steps-to-sacred-bliss-hindu-wedding-rituals/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_wedding

Recitation Of Veda Mantras - The Eleven Methods Which Passed The Greatest Knowledge In Oral Form Without The Need For Writing For Many Thousand Years

We all know that Vedas are four in total. We also know that they were oral treasure for many thousand years and were not meant to be preserved in written form, though they are documented now. It is important, and indeed interesting to know, how these were passed orally, from person to person, over many generations, without even slightest change in pronunciation.  Sound and vibration are the key factors in chanting the Veda mantras and just because of this main reason, they were taught in oral form. In order to preserve the Vedic pitch accent and to aid in perfect memorization, Eleven methods were widely practiced in olden days while reciting Veda mantras. In this article, we will briefly learn about these methods. 

Watch this amazing chanting by the European Veda Union Group - (you will get goosebumps) :

The Eleven Methods : 

The names of these methods are already mentioned in the introductory slide. Hence let us proceed with the specific details now. This order is ascending, which means, these methods are from simple to complex.

SAMHITA : 

The simplest form of recitation. Also known as "Vaakya". Memorizing as it is. Continuous recitation.

PADA :

This is word by word recitation, in which compounds (sandhi) are dissolved. In every sentence, Padhas will be segregated and memorized. A "Pathin" is a scholar who has mastered the pada method of recitation.

KRAMA :

In this method, the first letter of a mantra will be joined with second letter, second with the third, third with the fourth and so on, till the mantra ends. Typically the pattern will be ab, bc, cd, de and so on. A person who mastered this method of recitation is called a "kramavit".

JATA :

In this method, every two adjacent words in the text are first recited in original order, then repeated in the reverse order and then repeated again in the original order.  The pattern will be ab ba ab ; bc cb bc ; cd dc cd ; and so on. "Jata Vallaba" is the title given to those scholars who have mastered this method of recitation.

Sikha :

This is somewhat similar to JATA method. But three adjacent words in the text are taken (while in JATA method, two adjacent words are taken). Except for this, the method is exactly same as that of JATA method.

Dhwaja :

This is literally called as "flat recitation". A sequence of "N" words were memorized by pairing the first two and last two words. The pattern goes somewhat like this : 

word1word2, word(N-1)wordN, word2word3, word(N-3)word(N-2)........,word(N-1)wordN, word1word2

Ghana :

This is the most complex form of recitation. Literally, it is known as "dense recitation". Sankaracharya says that there are four different types in this "Ghana" method of recitation. Typically, this is a permutation combination method of recitation. He says that this method is so difficult to even explain. Just take a look at the pattern (source - wikipedia) :

word1word2, word2word1, word1word2word3, word3word2word1, word1word2word3, word2word3, word3word2, word2word3word4, word4word3word2, word2word3word4...............

Recitation of Rigveda Samhita in "Ghana" Format :

We do not have much information about recitation under the methods, "Malaa" ; "Rekha" ; "Danda" and "Rathaa". I searched many sources for writing this article and I could not find the exact recitation methods under these formats. I really felt bad about this. It is our divine tradition but we are slowly losing the roots. I would really appreciate if any one of you, reading this article, can share some information about these formats. I am pretty sure that details about these four formats are available somewhere.

Let me conclude this post by quoting Sankaracharya's (source - kamakoti.org) words :

"All these different methods of chanting are meant to ensure the tonal and verbal purity of the Vedas did not undergo the slightest change. It is futile for modern researchers to try and establish the date of our scriptures by finding out how the sounds of its words have changed."

References :

http://www.kamakoti.org/tamil/kural14.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedic_chant

http://www.srimatham.com/uploads/5/5/4/9/5549439/introduction_to_vedic_chanting.pdf
http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/en/RL/00062

Some Experiences About My Recent Temple Visits In India

Just came back after India vacation feeling refreshed. Missed my blog writing though I manged to post couple of updates in Vishnu Sahasranama sloka. This is again a very quick post about my recent temple visits in India, We had been to Kanchipuram, Thirupathi, Vaitheeswaran Kovil and our Kuladeivam temple in Mayavaram, Tamilnadu. We had very good darshan. But I felt little bad and sad to see certain happenings and the business tactics played in some of such sacred places. Let me quickly share my experience.

The moment we arrived at Vaitheeswaran Kovil, one person tried to redirect us to a specific shop (located outside the temple) to get the Archana items . We silently walked away and went inside the temple. There are lots of shops inside the temple and indeed lots of competition too, among themselves. We bought Archana items from one such shops, priced at about 200 rs. and proceeded further. Next comes the sales of salt and pepper (that we use to offer in a specific place in that temple as a form of prayer) for about 20 rs. They try to sell it somehow to you even if you do not have such kind of prayer. We had to buy one packet each and then finally went inside. By the time we arrived at the temple it was about 3.30 p.m.and the Sannadhis were closed. So we waited till 4 (that's when they open for evening darshan) and went around the temple. Since it was the first darshan in the evening, we faced extreme crowd. It was like mini Thirupathi to be more specific. We got the Archana tickets and proceeded to a Gurukkal who performed the Archana, for which, we again gave him some dakshinai. (we could not take a closer look though, due to the huge crowd) and completed our darshan. 

The following points really disturbed me:

• Except Thirupathi, all the other temples I visited, lack in cleanliness. People even spit near temple areas.
• Priests definitely show two faces to people who offer money in their trays and who do not.
• In Kanchipuram, we received Sankaracharya's photo by one person, and while we started to take it as a blessing, the same person came with a pen and a paper to note down our address for getting money for some cause. This disappointed me a lot.
• Crowd is unmanageable at times. We need to certainly push others (while we are pushed by others) to have darshan. Or else it is impossible to see the deity.
• The salt and pepper area (in vaitheeswaran koil) is always overflowing. I just wish and pray that they do not recycle (sell) the same salt and pepper to new people.

I do understand that priests make their living by the offerings people give them. But what disturbs me is the way they behave to others who do not give any offerings. They even yell and shout when there is extreme crowd, and sometimes skip giving prashad like holy ash, kumkum, thirtha, etc. Their frustration could be due to many factors, but people visit temples mainly to get mind peace and if that itself is affected, then whom should we blame for it? Is it right to bring business inside temples? What can we , as common people, do to improve such conditions? Please share your suggestions.