Sri VaishNavam-5

[Guest guest]

SRI:

 

SRIMATHE RAMANUJAYA NAMAH:

 

SRIMATHE NIGAMANTHA MAHADESIKAYA NAMAH:

 

SRIMATHE GOPALA DESIKA MAHA DESIKAYA NAMAH:

 

SRIMATHE RANGANAYIKA SAMETHA SRI RANGANATHA PARABHRAHMANE NAMAH:

 

Dearest Sisters and Brothers, the bhakthAs of Sriman NarayaNA!

 

Ennuyir thandhu aLitthavaraich charNampukki/ yaanadaivE avargurukkaL

niRai vaNanghi/

PinnaruLaal perumpudhUr vandha vaLLal/ periya nambi Alavandhaar

maNakkal nambi/

NanneRiyai avarkku uRaittha uyyakkoNdaar/ nathamuni sadagOpan sEnai

nAthan/

Innamudhath ThirumagaLenRu ivarai munnittu/ Emperumaan ThiruvadigaLai

adaiginREnE!

 

 

Twenty Commandments:

 

1. As per our saasthrAs, traditions, as stipulated, we should continue

to do our Nitya karma anushtaanams (like trikaala sandhyaa vandhanams).

There is no statement in our saastras that say that we need not perform

our anushtaanams after surrendering to the Lord completely. (Even

sanyaasis are required to do sandhyavandhanams as per Sri Ramanuja

siddhaantham). Of course, there is mOksham for our surrender to the

Lord; but, the karmAs (nitya karmAs) are His command to us; If we do not

do that we are disobeying the Lord. And even after Prapatti, we should

not antagonise the Lord- He may not punish us severely; " vaaL koNdu

veesinaappOlE!" means ; He will take the sword and with a pretending

anger He raises His sword at our neck but stops there! He scares us

only; do we need that?- hence, do the tri kaala sandhyavandhanams

regularly- Here again Srimad Andavan Swami said: if one misses the

sandhi during the flight or due to any other reason, one can still

perform when it is possible at the earliest opportunity and say that it

is for that time- of course, we can NOT do ten sandhis together and skip

the next ten sandhis- This is only for exceptional cases, especially

when you fly!)

2. We should live in a good place and should speak truth always; Speak

softly and sweetly; (But by speaking truth is going to hurt other’s

feelings, let us be silent).

3. If someone scolds us or shows disrespect to us, never get angry or

feel bad; All that happens is His leelA, Bhagavadh sankalpam; Good or

bad is His game; we are only His property. We have performed Swaya

ssmarpaNam, Bhara samarpaNam and Phala samarpaNam.

4. We should be ALWAYS CLEAR ABOUT THE PARATHVAM OF SRIMAN NARAYANAN

and know for sure that all others are only jIvAthmAs wherein He, Sriman

Narayanan stays as antharyaami.

5. There is nothing wrong in gratification of desires that are not

banned in saastrAs; (for example, marrying, having children, etc..),

earning for livelihood, etc.. But we SHOULD NOT CRAVE FOR worldly

pleasures and material pursuits.

6. When we get more money or wealth or position or promotion or

whatever, we should always think that it is all HIS GRACE and His

blessing only. We should not unnecessarily jump with joy; nor should we

feel unduly depressed and feel like committing suicide if we get

failures or lose something or any calamity comes due to unforeseen

circumstances; We should not lament and pray to Him for granting us the

strength to withstand such sorrows. (In fact, we should even consider

the fellow human beings, the poor, the orphans and the destitute (the

Nara Narayanas) and try to help them by sending little bit of our

earnings regularly to charitable organisations; a good and

non-religious, organisation in Madras is Udavum KarangaL (Helping

Hands). Jana seva is Janaardhana seva. (You may like to see the web

page created by IIT Madras on this good organisation- It is my humble

request to my dearest fellow bhAgawathALs, sisters and brothers of this

group to contribute liberally to this organisation for helping those

less fortunate orphans and destitute. Thanks- ThiruvaLLuvar says:

vaRiyaarku onRu EvadhE eegai maRRellaam kuRi edhirppai neerathu

udaitthu- means: helping the poor only is the donation; all others are

done with an expectation from the recipient.)

7. We should NEVER FEEL PROUD and have ahankaaram that we have done

kaalakshEpam, we have studied ph D, we are Engineers, we have a Mercedes

Benz, We hail from Sri Rangam, we belong to Vaishnava traditions, etc.

etc., It is all His grace that there is nothing in us- We should

consider ourselves lower than the lowest straw in the street; We should

NEVER look down at others who have not done what we have done (or who

are not blessed with what we are blessed with) or who do not understand

the philosophy like what we do; NEVER HAVE KALVI, SELVA and KULA

CHERUKKU. Being proud of one’s education (or knowledge), one’s wealth,

or one’s kulam is NOT GOOD, It is all due to His grace.

8. We should be kind to all including the animals, trees and plants; we

should be kind hearted and never get jealous of others’ growth or

prosperity. Since Emperumaan is an antharyaami in all lives, all are to

be considered equal to us; This should always be at the back of our

minds.

9. We should do PaarAyaNam of any (or all of) VedAs, Divya Prapandham,

RamayaNam, BhAgawatham, Vishnu sahasranaamam (on Saturday evenings at

least), Vedanta Desika Slokas, etc., We should attempt at reciting at

least ThiruppalaaNdu, ThiruppaLLi yezhucchi, Thiruppaavai,

Amalanaadhipiraan and KaNNinun chirutthaambhu (if not daily at least on

Sundays- if some one needs a copy of them, it is my pleasure to post

English transliterated version or in Tamil- but please recite them. )

10. We should eat sAtvik food; Especially the food that increases the

rajasic, thamasic qualities of ours (like onions, garlic, Drum stick,

etc.,) shall be avoided. (of course Non vegetarian stuff including eggs

and consumption of alcoholic drinks shall completely be avoided.)

11. we should try to eat, as far as possible, at home and avoid hotel

food because the food becomes the thought. At home, naturally (we hope),

the food is prepared with affection and love for us; Then the mind will

not go after rotten things.

12. we should offer whatever that we eat or drink to the Lord before we

take in; That will naturally prelude us to avoid taking stuff that we,

naturally do Not want to offer to the Lord (For example, can you offer a

hot cup of coffee or a coke to the Lord) let us try to avoid the

beverages like coffee and tea;

13. we should try to observe fasting on EkAdasi days (If not

completely, at least eat only fruits, milk and avoid solid food like

rice; It is also told that ladies and children need not observe Ekadashi

fasting). Also try to persuade your spouse to cook at least poruccha

saaRUmudhu on dwAdashi day (if someone does not know, I can ask my

better half to send the recipe), because for having fasted on the

previous day, one should not eat "turmeric" stuff for its acidic effect

on the empty stomach; Poruccha rasam is good for health. Of course, if

one can get agatthi keerai, Nellikkaay pacchadi, suNdaikkay, it is

great. - But never mind.)

14. We should not cheat, deceive, people and get benefited thereby. As

far as possible, let us perform kaimkaryam to bhAgawathAs and AchAryA.

15. we should be scared and feel disgusted to do things that are

against the saastrAs. (Now, we do not know all saastrA; if in doubt ask

the Bhakti Group; there are great scholars; or if it pricks your

conscience, it is against saastrAs- definite.)

16. We should always recite ( utter) the dwaya manthram and while

reciting imagine a fully bloomed Most Beautiful red lotus flower with

hundreds of petals on which the Most Loveliest red Lotus like Feet of

Sriya: Pathih Sriman NarayaNA just in front of your eyes; one can

continue to visualise himself prostrating completely holding those two

Lotus feet. Thinking of this scene, please always recite Dwaya manthram.

17. We should perform kaimkaryams at the Lord’s temples/sannidhis by

lighting lamps, offering sandal paste, garlands, flowers, etc.,

18. When we see other bhAgawathAls, we should feel as if we have seen

freshly bloomed flowers, the full bright moon, the lovely charming kid,

etc., and feel so much happy. On the same token, when we see a nAsthikA

(an atheist), or a person who hates Sriman NarayanA or one who considers

the Primordial Chief Sriya: Pathih Sriman NarayaNan as equal to other

demi Gods- we should ignore their presence and try to avoid them. (and

not enter into arguments with them)

19. here again, when we see someone who does not recognise the

Supremacy of The Lord, we should not feel proud that we are better off

than them; That thinking will make us feel proud and make as inflate our

ego; On the contrary, we should be thankful to the Lord for His mercy on

us and pray to Him for showing such mercy on that person, too.

20. We should ignore and be indifferent to those who are also

indifferent to Sriman Narayanan. They are worse than atheists.

 

All these are to be always followed by each and every bhakthA of Sriman

NarayanA.

 

Greatness of Prapatti (Surrender)

 

It is our fortune that the Lord was so compassionate to us and took a

vow to save all of us if only we surrender to him unconditionally,

completely, and take refuge at His Most Beautiful Lotus feet. He assured

and promised that those who surrender to His Feet and Him alone will

NEVER be deserted by Him; What He speaks is Truth because Sri Rama never

talks twice; He is a Satya vrathan, He is Druda vrathan. He will never

leave us once we surrender to Him and Him alone with complete faith in

Him (mahAvishwasam). That is performing Prapatti. Prapatti is only an

act of surrender. Once, we have surrendered to Him once, there is no

need to do it again. He will DEFINITELY GRANT US MOKSHAM. The question

is: what happens to the karmAs and paapams knowingly and unknowingly

being committed after performing Prapatti ? (Whatever sins and karmAs

committed during all our previous births before performing Prapatti are

all removed by Lord KrishNA as promised and assured by Him). If due to

lots of circumstances, we perform paapams (which we will definitely),

they all will also be removed by the Lord for the prapatti which we had

done before. If at all we have committed any sins KNOWINGLY, we are

supposed to do Praayaschittam; Emperumaan accepts that.

 

But, if someone (a vidhaNdAvadhi), argues that what happens if someone

performs Prapatti, and commit sins knowingly afterwards, will he still

attain mOksham? Emperumaan is, no doubt, compassionate; But He is the

Most Shrewdest maayavan KaNNan. He can understand all our ill-intentions

crystal clear. If someone does any sins knowingly after performing

Prapatti, and does Not do any Praayaschittam, He punishes them, in this

birth itself (by making him disabled, or blind or lose his children,

etc., etc., )and STILL grants him the fruit of mOksham for performing

Prapatti (unconditionally and completely). VaaL koNdu veesinaap pOlE- As

if someone is just raising the sword to cut our neck and kill us, but

not actually killing us- That is the sort of punishment one gets.

 

But Please remember: All that we need is MAhA Viswaasam- the Complete

Faith in Him; unflinching faith in Him; Prapatti is only the means for

getting His grace. He is the One who grants us mOksham. Have faith in

Him; Then, simply forget about all other births and deaths, He is sure

to save us!

 

Enough for today. In the next CONCLUDING post, we will see how one

travels to Sri Vaikuntam (Archiraadhi Maargam) and enjoy the eternal

Bliss performing kaimkaryam to Divya Damapti.

 

Narayana Narayana

 

Sri RanganAyikA samEtha RanganAtha ParabhrahmaNE namah:

 

AchAryAL ThiruvadigaLE saraNam

 

NarayaNa dAsan MadhavakkaNNan

 

 

 

 

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