more on 'rahasya mantra" and "adhikara"

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SrimathE SriLakshmiNrsumha ParabrahmanE Namaha

Sri Vedanta Desika GuravE Namaha

 

Sriman Mani Varadaraja has in his latest posting pointed out, by way of

commenting on my last posting on the subject, our beloved "achaarya",

Nammalwar's "pasuram" where he has sung about how the Lord Himself does not

protest if a devotee were to mis-pronounce his name !

 

I am deeply grateful to our revered Sriman Mani Varadaraja to have taken the

time to read and critically scrutinize my humble efforts at essaying some

thoughts on the doctrine of 'rahasya mantras' and 'prapatti'.

 

Please correct me if I am wrong, but my understanding is that the "paasuram"

referred to is perhaps really to be taken to apply more to 'nAmOtchAraNam"

which we know is distinct from 'mantrOtchAraNam", the principal focus of my

postings.

 

I would believe that all "achaaryaas" of all persuasions are unanimous in

emphasizing that a 'bhaktha' can get away with impunity even if he were to

inadvertantly mutilate or mis-articulate "bhagavan-nama" but there seems to

be no such leeway given to what 'sastra' lays down as "rahasya mantras".It

is indeed the lofty ('Uyarntha') quality of 'bhagavan-nama' that it is the

perfect substitute -- in terms of yield for the lay aspirant -- for esoteric

'mantras'. This is the point which our 'achaaryaas' make when they urge us

to whole-heartedly embrace their devotional non-esoteric works if we are not

'adhikaris' for 'mantrOtchAraNa' "karmas".I do not want to belabour this

point any more than I have already done in my postings.

 

Since Sri Mani has brought up the subject of "nAmOtchAraNa", I would like to

share with "bhAgavatOttamas" in this group a very humorous but nonethelss

poignantly convincing incident that I once heard U.Ve.Mukkur

LakshmiNarasimhachariar (whom I consider as my "mAnaseega guru") many years

ago recount during a discourse to drive home the points on the very same

subject of "mantra and adhikara" which I have only feebly attempted in my

postings.

 

Mukkur Swami, (he really should be called "Mukkur Swami II" because we are

all familiar with the name only as being used to address the 'mahAn' 44th

Jeeyar of Ahobila Mutt), he related, once visited Tirumala kshetram. Before

the "suprabatha darsanam" Swami wanted to have his ritual bath in the temple

"pushkaraNi" near the "Varaha swami sannidhi". He climbed down the

"pushkaraNi" steps and suddenly heard someone nearby shout,"gOhindA",

"gOhindA".It was some poor pilgrim who had just finished his own bath and

who was readying himself eagerly for "suprapatha darsanam".

 

Mukkur Swami was a little uneasy about the Lord's name being mis-pronounced

and that too so un-inhibitedly by a common pilgrim. Nevertheless, Swami

related, he ignored it and proceeded with his own ablutions. After Swami

finished he sat on the 'pushkarini' steps and prepared to don

"tirumaN-kAppu". Again the pilgrim nearby began to yell hoarse, "gOhindA,

gOhindA, g-O-O-OhindA".Swami recounted that this was taking place at around

2AM, there were not many people around the temple tank and in the silence of

the night there the cry of "gOhindA,gOhindA" at once seemed to reverberate

through all the Seven Hills !

 

The Swami said that this time around he couldn't tolerate the rustic pilgrim

anymore continuing to mis-pronounce the most lovely 'tirUnAmam' of

'tiruvEngadamUdiyAn' and decided to do something about it. He intended to go

up to the pilgrim and gently correct him in the correct pronunciation of the

Lord's name and if necessary to briefly enlighten the poor unlearned soul of

the beauteous significance of "govinda-nama shabdham".

 

Mukkur Swami then related how he was stopped dead in his tracks when he

heard the pilgrim presently break into a wonderful, most touching dialogue

with 'tirUvengamUdaiyAn' himself.The Swami recounted :

 

"As I rose wanting to make my way to the pilgrim to gently chide him for

abuse of the Lord's name, I suddenly saw him turn on his feet on the

pushkarani steps and face the glorious 'vimanam' of the Lord's temple across

its walls and over the 'garbha-griha". And then in the stillness of the

night I heard the poor pilgrim converse loudly with the Lord in the boorish

Telugu accent of deep Guntur heartland:

"Oh gOhindA, my saviour, O gOhinda, I thank you very much, my gOhindA. Last

year at this same time, dear gOhindA, I was at this very spot, o gOhindA and

talking to you. Remember, O gohindA, I prayed to you that my crops be good,

my cows be good, my family's health be good, my son pass his matriculation

and my daughter be married. You never fail me O gOhinda ! I only have to ask

you for a thing o gOhindA, and when have you ever refused oh gOhindA ! So

here I stand again in this spot Oh gOhindA, and pray to you Oh gOhinda in

the sure hope that next year too, oh gOhinda, I shall stand here in this

very spot,oh gOhinda, looking into the sky at your 'vimana', oh gOhinda and

call you gOhinda! gOhinda! g-O-O-OhindA !"

 

Mukkur swami continued, "At this point I had got up from my seat on the

pushkarini steps to go to him but when I eavesdropped on this most wonderful

dialogue between the poor pilgrim and the Lord of the Seven Hills I sat down

again without a murmur. It struck me with the force of 'sastra-ic' truth

then that I had no business to chide and advise the pilgrim on the correct

"utchAraNam" of 'bhagavan-namA'. Here he was saying loudly, the poor blessed

pilgrim, that he had been at the same spot the previous year and had

similarly addressed the Lord in seeking favours and was now reporting back

to the Lord, in thanksgiving, that everthing was fine with him and his

family thanks to the Lord !

 

"I thought", Swami continued," and trembled at the gravity of what I had

been about to do in wanting to correct the boorish 'bhaktha'.I might have

persuaded him to switch over to "gOvindA" instead of 'gOhinda' but in the

process I might have deprived the Lord of the Seven Hills next year around,

when the pilgrim returned, of listening to and savouring the sound of the

unusual 'nama' of "gOhinda" which obviously seemed to have given Him so much

"swArasyam" (the kind we too enjoy when toddlers in our homes lisp out names

of family-members)in the past year.In the process not only would I have

incurred the displeasure of the Lord but would also have unnecessarily upset

a most touching relationship built up over the years by a simple-minded

rustic 'bhAgavata' with the Lord he so casually and presumptuously called

"gOhinda, gOhinda."

 

" It struck me," Swami continued," that obviously the Lord wasn't the least

concerned about how the pilgrim pronounced his glorious name of "GOVINDA"

for, if he had so been, the pilgrim would not have had all his wishes, of

the years gone by, fulfilled by Him. So what business was it of mine to go

up to the pilgrim and correct him when the Lord himself apparently happily

accepted the unusual "tirunAmA' of "gOhindA, gOhindA" ! "

 

Listening to Sri Mukkur swami relate this amusing anecdote many in the

"bhAgavata" audience went into splits of laughter. Many of us however

couldn't help fight back a tear or two because it immediately brought to

one's mind the "paasuram" of Sri Nammalwar that Sriman.Mani Varadarajan

refers to in his latest posting !

 

I hold that although liberties such as those taken by the poor pilgrim on

the Tirumala pushkarani steps are allowed in respect of "bhagavan-namAs", as

our achaaryaas point out,we take similar attitude with "sastra-ic rahasya

mantras" only at the peril of committing "sastra-virOdham" which is

"bhagavath apachAram"?

 

SrimathE Srivan Satagopa Sri Narayana YathIndra MahadesikAya namaha.

 

sudarshan.