What is service?

[Guest guest]

Swami EmperumAnAr says in SaraNAgathi Gadhyam:

 

"asEshAvasthOchitha asEsha sEshathaika rathiroopa

nithya kainkarya prApthyapEkashayA"

 

A cursory interpretation for the above may land one into

thinking that as a Muktha one would get to perform all kinds

of service at all places and at all times. If this is so, what

about the services such as the Lord's divine bed, a

function of AdhisEshan, and the Lord's vehicle, a function of

Garuda, or other services currently being performed by

Nithyas and Mukthaas already in Vaikuntam. Will a Muktha

demand that he also be a bed to the Lord? Will he say, "Why

can't I be the vehicle to the Lord?"

 

Swami Sri Desikan provides three clarifications for this.

 

(1) The service that a Mutkha would seek is "preethikAritha",

i.e. that which pleases him. Now, what would be pleasing to

the Muktha? The answer is, whatever pleases the Lord will

be pleasing to the Muktha. Since the Muktha's jyana is not

contracted he will completely know that it pleases the Lord to

have the Nithyas and other Mukthas perform their assigned

duties. Therefore, the Muktha will not feel that only one of

the services not available to him will be pleasing to him.

Actually it is the other way around - it will be pleasing to the

recent Muktha to see the others perform those services, much

like we taking pleasure in the Bhattar performing

"Thirumanjanam" to the Lord in a temple. Our pleasure is no

less compared to that of the Bhattar who is actually

performing the Thirumanjanam. For example, in our recent

Denver meeting our pleasure watching and assisting our Sri

Vijayaraghavan perform the wonderful ThiruvAradhanai was

greater, or at least no less, than his own.

 

(2) The essential nature of a Jiva is to be a servant of the Lord

and other Bhagavathaas. As a Muktha, the Jiva will be fully

cognizant of this essential nature. Thus, a service that is

meant for another Bhagavatha will not give him any pleasure.

Even in this world where the Swaroopa Jyanam of a

Mumukshu is contracted, one Bhagavatha does not seek to

perform the duties of another Bhagavathas. For example, we

don't go to a temple and demand to perform the Aradhana

ourselves. We understand our individual roles and do not find

pleasure in doing something that is not meant for us. Then, in

Vaikuntam, where the Swaroopa Jyanam is fully manifest,

there is no question of a Muktha wanting to do something that

is not available to him.

 

(3) As a Muktha our pleasure in Vaikuntam is _not_

performing service to the Lord, but to see the Lord pleasured.

Thus, a Muktha's goal is not doing service! The goal is to see

the Lord pleasured. When a Muktha sees our Lord pleasured

by the service provided by Nithyas and other Mukthas he

would not seek to disturb that. He will only want to augment

it by performing services that are available to him.

 

p.s. The above is based on, not a translation of, pages 141 and

142 of Chapter 5 Thathva Thraiya Sinthana Athikaram of Srimad

Rahasya Thraiya SAram Commentary by the 45th Jeeyar of Srimad

Ahobila Mutt, published by Sri Nrusimha Priya Trust.

 

 

-- adiyEn Srivatsangachar dhasan

 

 

------

P. Dileepan

423-755-4675 (Work)

423-877-9860 (Home)

[Guest guest]

Sri Dileepan wrote:

> As a Muktha our pleasure in Vaikuntam is _not_

> performing service to the Lord ...

 

This makes a little bit of sense to me, but I am

also confused. How would the acharya explain

Andal's famous words from "siRRam siRu kaalE"

-- "unakkE naam aatcheyvOm maRRai nam kaamangaL"?

"to you alone will we be slaves, please remove

all other desires?"

 

This implies that the desire of Andal, if anything

at all, is to be His slave.

> ... but to see the Lord pleasured.

 

This part I see entirely.

> Thus, a Muktha's goal is not doing service!

 

This conclusion seems a little far fetched. Do

the two not go hand in hand? The service we do

is because we are motivated by our svarUpa

jnAna (knowledge of our essential nature) as

His sesha, as well as bhakti, and these by

their very nature will please Him.

 

It seems the two go hand in hand. But my views

here are tentative and just my gut reaction.

Can someone clarify?

 

Mani

[Guest guest]

The following is a translation of the Tamil commentary of

HH the 45th Jeeyar of Srimad Ahobila Mutt, relating to the

third explanation for the saraNAgathi Gadya phrase posted

earlier. This third explanation is to be understood within

the context of the other two explanations. If one is not

careless it would be clear that all three explanations are

consistent with each other and equally valid. It is not

fruitful to contrive a meaning for one explanation that

contradicts with the other two.

 

-- adiyEn

 

=======Translation of the third explanation==============

The Saranagathi Gadya phrase "asEshAvasthOchitha

asEsha sEshathaika rathiroopa nithya kainkarya

prApthyapEkashayA" should not be interpreted as "wishing

for all kinds of service". If you did, inconsistency arises.

Therefore, " asEsha .... kainkarya prApthyapEkashayA"

should be understood as " asEsha .... kainkarya phala-

prApthyapEkashayA". That is, we should understand the

phrase as "I wish for the results of performing all kinds of

service".

 

In Vaikunta the only reason everyone performs service is to

please the Lord. With that the Lord is delighted. Seeing

this the rest are delighted. That is, some perform the

services that are assigned to them and it delights the Lord.

This makes the rest get delighted as well.

 

Why else would everyone perform service to the Lord but

to pleasure Him. Thus how does it matter whether this

pleasure is created due to services we perform or others

perform. The pleasure derived by those who perform the

service and those who simply watch such service being

performed are equal. Even though there is difference in the

service that is performed, there is no difference in the

pleasures derived. There is no inequality in the pleasure

enjoyed between those who perform the service and those

who simply watch.

 

Thus, even if the Mukthas don't get to do all the services,

they enjoy equal pleasure as enjoyed by Anantha, Garuda,

and Visvaksena from the services they perform, respectively.

===========================================================

[Guest guest]

The following is a translation of the Tamil commentary of

HH the 45th Jeeyar of Srimad Ahobila Mutt, relating to the

third explanation for the saraNAgathi Gadya phrase posted

earlier. This third explanation is to be understood within

the context of the other two explanations. If one is not

careless it would be clear that all three explanations are

consistent with each other and equally valid. It is not

fruitful to contrive a meaning for one explanation that

contradicts with the other two.

 

-- adiyEn

 

=======Translation of the third explanation==============

The Saranagathi Gadya phrase "asEshAvasthOchitha

asEsha sEshathaika rathiroopa nithya kainkarya

prApthyapEkashayA" should not be interpreted as "wishing

for all kinds of service". If you did, inconsistency arises.

Therefore, " asEsha .... kainkarya prApthyapEkashayA"

should be understood as " asEsha .... kainkarya phala-

prApthyapEkashayA". That is, we should understand the

phrase as "I wish for the results of performing all kinds of

service".

 

In Vaikunta the only reason everyone performs service is to

please the Lord. With that the Lord is delighted. Seeing

this the rest are delighted. That is, some perform the

services that are assigned to them and it delights the Lord.

This makes the rest get delighted as well.

 

Why else would everyone perform service to the Lord but

to pleasure Him. Thus how does it matter whether this

pleasure is created due to services we perform or others

perform. The pleasure derived by those who perform the

service and those who simply watch such service being

performed are equal. Even though there is difference in the

service that is performed, there is no difference in the

pleasures derived. There is no inequality in the pleasure

enjoyed between those who perform the service and those

who simply watch.

 

Thus, even if the Mukthas don't get to do all the services,

they enjoy equal pleasure as enjoyed by Anantha, Garuda,

and Visvaksena from the services they perform, respectively.

===========================================================