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

 

 

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P. Dileepan

423-755-4675 (Work)

423-877-9860 (Home)

[Guest guest]

Bhagawatas,

 

Thanks for some very interesting postings on kainkaryam in Moksha

dasha. This leads me to a puzzling question on what is

parama-purushartha (bhagawad kainkarya, jnana, or some other totally

different thing).

 

As far as I know (forgive me if there are errors) moksha is all of

these ...

 

a. ParipurNa BrahmAnubhavam ( ~ complete experience of the blissful

brahman ) (a manifestation of jnantrtva)

b. kainkaryam to BhagawAn (a manifestation of kartrtva)

c. ParipurNa BrahmaAnandAnubhavam (~ complete "blissful" experience

of the brahman) ( a manifestation of bhoktrtva )

 

These three features of moksha are so intertwined that it may be very

difficult for us to understand them separately. For example, in the

moksha dasha, paripurNa brahmAnubhavam results in full knowledge of

1. the svaroopa of Brahman (satyam, jnanam, anandam, amalam, etc. ),

and

2. the famous Vishistadwaitic equation "supreme = supreme qualified

by chit + achit", wherein we (the chit) are the supreme's sarira.

This knowledge will result in his (the jeevatma's) full Anukulyam

(total compliance) towards God as a servant resulting in unalloyed

kainkaryam. Both of these result in the blissful experience of the

chit + achit qualified NarayaNa ... ad infinitum.

 

If this is the case, I would argue that the jnana is the predominating

factor in all of these. In a sense, it was the unconstrained jnana

that leads to kainkaryam, which results in an un-ebbing, ever-growing

tide of bliss. So, parama-purushartham should be paripurNa jnana and

not Bhagawad kainkaryam because the latter will result from the former

anyway.

 

-- Adiyen, Murali Kadambi

 

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