Fwd: DEvil MAhAtmyA - Chapter - 5

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Venkataraman Ranganathan <kaamakshi wrote:"Venkataraman

Ranganathan"

srividya101

DEvil MAhAtmyA - Chapters

Fri, 17 Sep 2004 00:04:02 +0530

 

 

Pranam Shri NairSaab

 

I seem to have given an expression of arrogance in the spntaneous response.I am

extremely sorry. As I was writing the eralier letter to Ganpathyji I was

thinking it was more for me than for others. It does not address persons rather

the Devils in us. It emerged out of a sense of helplessness as these

distractions take a heavy toll on our sadhana.

 

A bhaktha does not know the order, basis etc but has only implicit faith and

total surrender. He has one thing "seeking" - The seeking for Divinity,

divinising every aspect of life, immersing itself in dvine thoughts. Divine

thoughts are not necessarily scholarly thoughts. Divine life is very tough where

we put actions and thoughts to critical dissection and seek a resolve to correct

ourselves the next time, each time. It is really tough. We can repeat a mantra

lac times or crore times and we can even have Her Darshan but we cannot correct

our inner core. If we take the example of Asuras, did they not do thapas? Why

then they either did whatever are attributed to them? The answer lies somewhere.

It is that they did not correct the fundementals. They did have darshana but the

impure mind got distracted. Was not Ravana a great scholar too? With all his

scholarship did he not do Mahapathakas? These ithihasasas have deeper and inner

significance - not meanings. Each sadhaka has to dwelve

deeper by introspection into these matters and seek divine guidance. Divine

guidance comes from within and not from outside. We need to cultivate the habbit

of seeking divinity in each action or thought of ours. Then we are at least not

away from THAT. The beauty, order, sublime phenomenon reveals itself in each

action around us. We know the thoughts are not ours but HERS, we realise the

success or failures are not due to our efforts but due to HER Will. The order

reveals itself to us as an antharanga and not as words. Words mean something

else in That state. what we have been all along talking becomes intimate to us,

just as when you enjoy eating sweets. It is real and not words. The order will

reveal itself. You may have interest or no interest. It may not be in any

scriptures. This is how Shri Shri BhaskaraRayar and all other mahans realised

it, out of love for Divinity. Scholarship was a bye-product. That is again why

Scholars - though briliant -are not endowed with the humility

or even the taste for that. If we see humility in a scholar let us recognise

that he is a noble soul but happens to be a scholar as She wants him to preserve

these vidyas for certain purpose - like Radhakrishna Sastrigal.

 

It goes on....like river, I am life. Let us divinise it. Let us pray to Her that

She lets us do the paadaaravinda Anusanthanam in all our sthithis.

 

Pranam and Hari om.

 

Again apologising if I had hurt your sentiments by the words.

 

Regards

 

Venkat

 

 

 

Ranganathan Venkata Raman FCA

 

Chartered Accountant

 

Audit Manager, Dubai National Insurance & Reinsurance PSC

 

PO Box - 1806, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

 

Ph: 009714-2635568® - 0097150-4535970 (Mobile)

 

----Original Message Follows---- ganapathy = = vijaya

<srividya101 kaamakshi Fwd: Re:

Fwd: DEviI MAhAtmyA - Chapter 5 devi sthuthi Thu, 16 Sep 2004 07:50:08

-0700 (PDT) Madathil Rajendran Nair

 

 

 

<madathilnair wrote: "Madathil

Rajendran Nair" Thu, 16 Sep 2004 05:06:45 -0000 Re:

Fwd: DEviI MAhAtmyA - Chapter 5 devi sthuthi Namaste Shri Ganapathyji. Thanks

for posting Shri Venkataraman Ranganathan's advice and words of wisdom in the

matter. Incidentally, all the verses mentioned by me refers to Her sulabhA

aspect. I am just trying to 'grip' them with a better understanding. If Shri

Venkataramaman Ranganathan can help me in this endeavour, instead of brushing

aside the whole thing as necessary, I shall be most grateful. Thanks for sharing

your understanding in a previous message. PraNAms. Madathil Nair

_________________________ ---

 

 

 

 

Ganapathy --- Vijaya

 

" Jai Bhavani "

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Namaste Shri Venkataraman Ranganathanji.

 

Immense thanks for your post# 7260.

 

I would be being dishonest to myself if I say I didn't feel

offended. I have to confess I was terribly upset initially and

wanted to send you a real `stinker' because it was not my intention

to be scholarly when I sent in my first post on the topic to the

List. To be honest, your position in the company you are employed in

and all the contact details appearing at the end of your post annoyed

me very much. I thought: "Hey, look this guy talks so much about

surrender to Her but yet is very particular about highlighting

details of his mundane status!". Sorry I misunderstood you so very

badly.

 

However, She prevailed over me at last and made me write out a

politely-worded short reply. In fact, She wrote it for me. I am happy

that it has paid off resulting in a better understanding between us.

Now, I have no problem accepting what you wrote as I see only Her in

your words, your misunderstanding that I was trying to be scholarly

and your understandable antipathy for scholarship in matters of

bhakti. She has Her on ways of appearing in Her sulabhA aspect (as

you say) in many diverse ways. What right do I have to choose

between them and demand eternal pleasantry? Don't we sing `yA dEvi

sarvabhUteSu bhrAnti (error) rUpeNa samstitA' and accept it as a fact?

 

Even after I sent out my reply, the annoyance was still lingering. I

was driving back home with resentment brimming up and clouding my

mind. It was then that I remembered the currently ongoing discussion

on advaitic sAdhana at Advaitin, where I have been

waxing eloquent on the need for abhyAsa. I was ashamed of my

thoughts and began chanting the LalitA SahasranAmavali straight away.

Lo! The nAmapArAyaNaprItA started smiling. The resentment vanished

replaced by the reddish hue of our SarvaruNA and AnavadhyAngI as we

see Her on the home page of Ambaa-l – all smiles and splendour!

 

Thanks to you, who is none other than Her, I have been taught a great

lesson. I shudder to think of the consequences if I had continued in

my offended mood and taken cudgels with you. Besides embarrassing

you and Shri Ganapathyji, I would have been inflicting unnecessary

pain on myself. What a shabby, abominable, self-proclaimed bhakta

that would have made of me!

 

To tell you honestly, this is not the first time I have had

difference of opinion in the Lists I am participating. However, it

is a gratifying thought that self-restraint and timely apologies have

always helped me emerge better educated from awkward situations and

maintain very friendly relations with other Members. In matters

advaitic, I am perhaps boringly repetitive due to my immense ardour

for the subject, which prompts other Members to express veiled

sarcasm. In all such circumstances, I have made it a habit to write

polite personal posts to them off-list asking the reason for their

sarcasm and if they thought I could improve in any way. Some of them

reply. That helps build better mutual understanding. Others don't.

Well, then I accept their silence without resentment and continue.

 

Now, let me come back to the raison d'etre of my original post. By

now, I might have chanted the whole of Devi MAhAtmya as many as five

hundred times. It took me only about ten chants to memorize the

entire 11th Chapter (NArAyanI Stuti), which I might have by now

chanted thousands of times. I chant it morning and evening and

whenever I get free time or am confronted with difficulties. The

results have been amazing even in my daily transactions, not to speak

of the spiritual. For instance, if I am toiling trying to locate an

old reference in our office archives, I have found to my surprise

that the document in question materializes from nowhere in front of

my eyes when I earnestly sit back and chant the NArAyaNI Stuti.

Once I had misplaced the keys of the suitcase I was carrying through

the customs where I couldn't open it in time. I was fidgety and

frantically trying all the keys I had. I then thought of seeking Her

Help and began a mental chant of the stuti. Lo, the suitcase opened

with the first key I tried. Such instances are rather many in my

life.

 

Let me revert from this digression to the point I was trying to

make. Despite my ability to easily memorize the different Devi

StOtrAs, the stuti in the 5th Chapter has always eluded memory's

grasp after all these years of repeated reading. The difficulty in

memorizing it lies in the progression of the verses. They go in a

certain apparently random order from vishNumAyA to chEtanA to buddhi

to nidrA and so on. When I chant them without the text in front of

me, I get mixed up. In such situations, normally I employ

mnemonics. When I guide my daughter in her lessons where she has to

remember several important points from a lesson, I normally compose a

helpful rhyme for her with the first letters of the points to be

memorized. I am sure you have seen this practice employed in early

Indian mathematics and astrology where difficult equations or

principles are presented in the form of easily rememberable shlOkAs.

 

Sadly to say, I couldn't invent any mnemonic aide to help me learn

the 5th chapter by heart. She was eluding me. I besought Her for

help. No avail. She only smiled – perhaps meaning: "I have granted

you the intelligence to find it out for yourself. Why don't you try

again?". It was then that I thought there could be a secret

relationship between these various sulabhA aspects of Her

manifestation around us. Being precise in number, their order in the

Chapter couldn't be random. The verses could be a mnemonic device in

themselves pointing at a higher truth knowing which it would be

easier for me to memorize the chapter in right order. This is the

reason for my writing to the List for help. Is this a scholarly

pursuit, Sir?

 

The assistance received from Shri Ganapathyji has, no doubt,

broadened my understanding. Yet, it has not completely answered my

question. Perhaps, you, Sir, or Raviji or Satishji can help. I am

sure you all have by-hearted the Chapter and may be in a position to

grant me some helpful hints.

 

Thanks once again and praNAms to all.

 

Madathil Nair