Re:Advaita Bhakti thro. Contemplative Practice of Narayaniyam ( ABCPN - 4 )

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ABCPN - 4

Note: Please read the Introduction

– post #15182 - if you have not already read it)

 

Namaste.

 

Sloka No. 10 (Ref. nArAyaNIyaM : 94 - 4):

tval-lokAd-anya-lokaH kvanu bhaya-rahito yat-parArdha-dvayAnte

tvad-bhItas-satyaloke’pi na sukha-vasatiH padmabhUH padma-nAbha

/

evaM bhAvepy-adharmArjita-bahu-tamasAm kA kathA nArkANAM

tan-me tvaM cchindhi bandhaM varada kr^ipaNa-bandho

kr^ipA-pUra-sindho //

 

Tr. There is no sphere other than Thy transcendent state of

Vaikuntha that is free from the fear of death and downfall. Even

satya-loka (the world of the highest levelof divine existences,

where the creator Brahma lives), Oh Lotus-navelled One, is not

found to be a secure and happy place by the Lotus-born Brahma at

the end of two parArdhas (that being the life-span of a Brahma).

What then to speak of those who, in consequence of their

unrighteous deeds, have incurred numerous sins and reside in

hells. Therefore Oh Giver of boons! Friend of the Lowly! Ocean

of Mercy! Deign to cut off all my attachments to worldly life.

 

Comment. Recall: Certain is death for the born (‘jAtasya hi

dhruvo mR^ityuH’) (Gita II – 27). Even Brahma, though the

first-born, is born and the end awaits him. What begins has to

end. Every movement of the Sun across the sky implies the

passing away of our lives. This continual reduction in the

remaining part of our lives is something that the scriptures are

never tired of pointing out, because even after all this, we

tend to forget this especially in crucial moments of

self-consciousness, anger, jealousy, passion or disappointment.

 

Sloka No. 11 (Ref. nArAyaNIyaM : 99 - 10):

avyaktaM te svarUpaM duradhigama-tamaM tattu shuddhaika-satvaM

vyaktaM cApy-etad-eva sphuTam-amR^ita-rasAmbhodhi-kallola-tulyaM

/

sarv-otkR^iShTAm-abhIShTAM tad-iha guNa-rasen-aiva cittaM

harantIM

mUrtiM te samshraye’haM pavanapura-pate pAhi mAM kR^iShNa rogAt

//

 

Tr. Thy nature as Absolute Being is not manifest to the senses

or the intellect. It is therefore difficult to grasp or attain.

But Thy Being manifest in shuddha-satva (spiritual purity) as

Krishna is like the wavy surface of the ocean of Blissful

Spirit, definite, clear and easy to grasp. Therefore I resort to

the worship of this form of Thine which is superior to anything

manifested and which is lovable and enchanting by its sweet

beauty and other blessed attributes. Oh Krishna, Resident of

Guruvayoor! Deign to free me from my ailments.

 

Comment. This is the explanation why followers of advaita have

no reservation about the worship of the saguNa form of God

while striving to comprehend the nirguNa concept of Godhead.

Bhattatiri, through this sloka, sets at nought all the nagging

dilemmas of a doubting advaitin, in regard to worship of the

Formful. The real Nature of the Absolute Godhead is

‘duradhigama-tamaM’, that is, to reach out to it is most

difficult, almost impossible. Recall, Gita Ch.XII – 5: Greater

is the trouble of those whose minds are set on the manifest; for

the goal, the unmanifest, is very hard for the embodied to

reach.

klesho’dhikatarasteShAM avyaktA-sakta-cetasAM /

avyaktA hi gatir-dukhaM dehavadbhir-avApyate //

 

The philosophy of advaita has two facets. One is the

'kevala-advaitam' and the other is 'bheda-abheda-advaitam'. The

former one will not even talk of any attribute-ful form, as a

possibility in the absolute sense. In other words, even Ishvara

belongs to a lower reality than the Absolute. And because,

everything other than the Absolute is non-real, Ishvara has to

be non-real.

But the bheda-abheda-advaitam says that the wavy surface of the

ocean even though it appears as if it can be distinguished from

the ocean, IS the ocean. There is no distinction between them.

If we have to make a distinction between them that distinction

is one ‘without a difference’. In other words, bheda

(difference, distinction) appears ‘without a real difference’.

God is the highest being in devotional thought and He must

therefore be Absolute also, even as the wavy surface and the

ocean are one and the same in spite of the apparent difference.

Bhattatiri’s advaitic leanings are in this category.

 

Sloka No. 12 (Ref. nArAyaNIyaM : 2 - 1):

sUrya-spardhi kirITam-Urdhva-tilaka-prodbhAsi-phAlAntaraM

kAruNyAkula netram-Ardra-hasitol-lAsaM sunAsApuTaM /

gaNDOdyan-makarAbha-kuNDala-yugaM kaNToj-jvalat-kaustubhaM

tvadrUpaM vanamAlya-hAra-patala-shrIvatsa-dIpraM bhaje //

 

I adore the form of the Lord with head crowned with a diadem

that rivals the brilliance of the sun; with forehead whose

beauty is enhanced by the upright sandal paste mark; with eyes

wetted by mercy; with face lit up by a benevolent smile; with

nose well-proportioned and attractive; with ears adorned with

fish-marked pendants that add lustre to the cheeks by their

reflection; with neck wearing the luminous jewel Kaustubha; and

with chest resplendent with a variety of decorations like the

wreath of flowers from the wilderness, lines of pearl necklaces

and the auspicious mark called Srivatsa.

 

Comment. Here is the first of two slokas (this and the next)

which are very suitable subjects for meditation. When the boy

Dhruva (five years old) goes to the forest for doing penance and

getting to see the Lord, the sage Narada accosts him, tries to

dissuade him from the tortuous task of a penance in the solitary

world of the forest, but finally finds him determined; and at

that point he unfolds to the boy how he should meditate and on

what form. The description that Narada gives to the boy is

famous in the Bhagavatam for the charming visualization (of the

inaccessible Personality of Godhead) that it gives for

meditation. Bhattatiri here goes one step further, by lyrically

immortalising the beauty of form that one can see by going and

having darshan at Guruvayoor. It is to this attractive form

that Arjuna wanted the Lord to return, when he was overwhelmed,

and frightened, by the cosmic vision which he had the rare

opportunity to witness: ‘I desire to see thee as before, Oh

Lord, crowned, bearing a mace, with the discus in hand, in thy

former form only, having four arms , Oh thousand-armed cosmic

form’ (Gita Ch.XI 46):

kirITinaM gadinaM cakra-hastaM

icchAmi tvAm draShTum-ahaM tathaiva /

tenaiva rUpeNa catur-bhujena

sahasra-bAho bhava vishva-mUrte //

 

(For reference to earlier posts in this series, see #s 15207,

15231, 15250)

(To be continued)

praNAms to all advaitins

profvk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

=====

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

My website on Science and Spirituality is http://www.geocities.com/profvk/

You can access my book on Gems from the Ocean of Hindu Thought Vision and

Practice, and my father R. Visvanatha Sastri's manuscripts from the site.

 

 

 

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