A question

[Guest guest]

Dear BhaghavattOmAs

 

The following is a slOka from Gopala Desika Ahnikam:

 

Dandavat pranipAtEna dEvatA bhuvi sannidhau

chakravath brAmayEnnAngam prushta bhAgam na darshayEt.

 

The second line - does it imply that one should not turn around in circles

(standing at the same place)in front of perumAl sannidhy. This sems to be

contrary to the smArta practice of saying ....pradakshina padE padE where

they remain in one place and turnaround in circles. Does this slOka

disapprove that practice. I would request BhaghavatAs to clarify.

 

Similarly, VaishnavAs do not follow the practice of keeping the hands over

the arati and accepting it after the karpoora Arati is offered to PerumAl.

 

 

Vijayaraghavan

>

 

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[Guest guest]

Vijayaraghavan Srinivasan writes:

> The second line - does it imply that one should not turn around in circles

> (standing at the same place)in front of perumAl sannidhy. This sems to be

> contrary to the smArta practice of saying ....pradakshina padE padE where

> they remain in one place and turnaround in circles. Does this slOka

> disapprove that practice. I would request BhaghavatAs to clarify.

 

It appears that it does disapprove. I cannot speak with certainty about

this sloka, but I can extrapolate from other advice that if at all possible,

one is to never turn one's back on Perumaal, especially as part of ritual

practice. For example, even in sandhyAvandanam, Perumaal is given precedence

over the sun (Aditya-maNDala-madhya-vartI nArAyaNa). If one is doing

sAyam sandhyA in the ananta-saras in Kanchipuram Perumaal kOvil, for example,

one offers the arghyam in the direction of Lord Varada, irrespective

of where the sun is. In the dig-dEvatA pradakshina and namaskAra after

the sandhyA, Kozhiyalam Swami recommends that we ensure that we not turn

our back on Perumaal. I follow this practice if I am forced to do my

sAyam sandhyA inside the house near our Perumaal sannidhi for some reason.

> Similarly, VaishnavAs do not follow the practice of keeping the hands over

> the arati and accepting it after the karpoora Arati is offered to PerumAl.

 

It is not our practice to do this, but when asked, Sri Rangapriya Swami said

it is "not wrong" to do this.

 

daasan,

Mani

[Guest guest]

Dear Vijayaraghavan

 

"The second line - does it imply that one should not turn around in circles

(standing at the same place)in front of perumAl sannidhy."

 

I do not know the meaning of the verses that you have quoted. When we turn

around in circles, we end up showing our back to the perumAL which is

considered to be disrespect. This is the reason for not turning in

circles.

 

adiyEn

Diwakar

[Guest guest]

Dear BhAgavatOttamas

 

Re the seemingly unanswerable riddle posed by

Sri L.kumar,the following information could

perhaps be helpful.

 

The immanence as well as transcendence of the Lord

is undisputable,and is vouched for by all the PramANas.

AzhwAr says in unmistakeable terms,"He is as comfortably

inhabiting the most minute being as if it were as

spacious as the Universe."(1.1.10); "He is inside my soul

as well as my body"(8.8.2).

 

The question is- how? Since the JIvAtma itself is ANu

and by defenition the smallest particle and indivisible

to boot-how could BhagavAn get in and out? The Sruti says

again,"He created it and ENTERED it through the medium

of the JIvAtmA." So He is somehow inside.But doesn't

the Sruti itself call Him,"ANoraNIyAn mahato mahIyAn"?

So notwithstanding the defenition of ANu,He is more

subtle than that and hence can enter even the ANU.

But this explanation doesn't satisfy us.

The whole thing appears totally confusing and illogical.

But does it really?

 

In an absolutely magnificent passage brimming with humor

in SrI VEdArtha Sangraha, Swami EmberumAnAr declares

in the grand manner,"AsmAkam kim na sEtsyati?"- with

the arsenal at our command,whom can we not conquer,

what can we not prove? And the most potent weapon in

the arsenal (in that passage as well for the present

riddle) is our knowledge of the Nature of Brahman and

Atman.The simple answer is that-both have GnAna as

swarUpa as well as quality;except that for Brahma both

are infinite,whereas for Atman(in his free state) only the

quality is infinite.So since both swarUpas are constituted

not of unbreakable physical matter but GnAna only and

since the GnAna as quality is no different in texture there is

no difficulty in perceiving that Brahma's entering the

JIva to sustain him ;as well His control thro His Sankalpa;

are all done by means of His Dharma-bhUta-GnAna only.

It is something like light entering another light.

What difficulty could there

be in undertanding this phenomenon for the disciples

(however far removed) of Sri BhAshyakArar?

 

Sri EmberumAnar TiruvaDigaLE SaraNam!

[Guest guest]

Sri Bharat and other bhAgawatAs,

 

This explanation of yours is by far the most

convincing reply to that question I have heard in

several years. That goes to show that I had not paid

attention to what our own AcAryas say on the subject.

 

However, I do have a question?

 

You mention that the brahman's influence on this world

is through his dharma-bhoota-jnana only. I would

think "influence" means "presence" and "perception".

 

The Sruti on the other hand states somewhere that the

brahman perceives through both his swaroopa and his

dharma-bhoota-jnana (DBJ). I apologize I cannot quote

the appropriate verse. In other words, the Lord's

swaroopam and DBJ are both not only omnipresent but

also omniscient. Could you and/or other knowledgeable

people please confirm (or negate) that?

 

--adiyen, muraLi kaDAmbi

 

 

 

 

 

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