Krishnamurthy: Can a Rigvedi perfrom Yajurveda rituals? I am Yajurvedi and my father monthly and yearly Shraddha was done with help of Rigveda Vadhyar who has learnt Yajurveda also.
Swami Ram Swarup: Yes, a devotee can chant any Ved or all Ved. It is a matter of deep thinking that no any other Ved permit to perform shraadh. I will advise you to please study even Yajurved from any learned acharya wherein you will find that Vedas’ preach to worship only one Formless, Almighty, Omnipresent God Who never takes birth. Yajurved also states that when soul comes out of the body then body is burnt on pyre and hence, no shraadh can be performed. In this connection, I paste my article below-
SHRADH
At the time of de ath, the soul comes out of the body and when a person is dead, his body is burnt on pyre. When soul resides in human body, person uses his mouth to eat, ear to listen, eye to see, hand to work, legs to move etc. Now the body has been burnt and the soul remains alone. Alone soul can do nothing but remains in the stage of Sushupt i.e., like in coma. Then after thirteen days, the soul takes rebirth. So how the dead person would eat the food which is made for him during Shradh. So Shradh is not mentioned in Vedas. Vedic meaning of Shradh is to serve the alive parents and elders by providing them with food, bedding and necessary goods etc., faithfully and lovingly.
Gaurav: Sir, please explain what is “shudh adwaitwaad..”
Swami Ram Swarup: Advaitwad is man-made path. Therefore, it is not mentioned in Vedas. So, it is not a question, what is shuddh advaitwad etc. But, infact when advaitwad itself does not exist in Vedas then learned of Vedas do not accept it being unauthentic. In Vedas, Traitwad is preached as under-
Traitwad
There are three matters in the Vedas which is called “Traitwad” first Almighty God, second – souls, third – Prakriti.
Almighty God and souls are alive whereas Prakriti is non-alive from which God creates universe. So, there is not only atma (souls) but Almighty God and Prakriti are also there.
Souls (Atma) are several but God is one. Soul takes living being’s body based on his previous lives’ Karmas – good or bad so human being’s bodies , animals and birds’ body etc., are taken by souls.
So, God states in Vedas that services to mother, father , learned atithi, learned acharya of Vedas and Yoga philosophy are required to be rendered when they are alive only and not after death.
Adwaitwad
Adwaitwad which tells that there is only one God and apart from God nothing exists.
