Fifth verse of Sridakshinamurti stotram

[Guest guest]

Namaste Friends:

Recently there were some questions about the fifth verse of the

Sridakshinamurtistotram:

Deham praanamapi…

Strii-baalaandha-jadopamaa…

 

Reproduced here below is the portion relevant to that second line of the verse

Strii….as contained in the Book: Sridakshinamurtistotram Vol. II, pages 227 to

241. The Author of the Book: Sri D.S. Subbaramaiya, published in 1990 by

Dakshinaamnaaya Sri Sharada Peetham, Sringeri.

 

Let me share with you all an interesting information about this. When the

book was being prepared for printing, by the Grace of the Guru, i had the

opportunity to be involved in the process. The revered Author, a Venerable

Jivanmukta, used to dictate the matter and his disciple, Smt. Manikarnikamma,

used to write it down on reams and reams of paper, over a period of several

years. It was a replay of the Great Epic Mahabharata being told by Bhagavan

Vyasacharya and scribed by Lord Ganesha, with the condition that every word that

was spoken was first understood and only then inked. Smt. Manikarnikiamma was a

Reader in Mathematics in the University Visveswariaya. Engineering College,

Bangalore and was a student for long of the Author in Vedanta. When this

particular portion was readied for printing, it was she who insisted that it be

presented in such a manner that nobody entertains a misconceived idea about The

Acharya, Sri Shankara, in respect of the use of Strii, etc. in the

fifth verse. This venerable Lady, now in her eighties, lives in Bangalore

expounding Vedantic works to a group of earnest seekers.

 

As the portion is pretty long, it is being posted in three parts over three

days. The portion is an exact reproduction, without changing or including

anything. I have only highlighted some portions in bold so as to draw attention

to the question pertaining to the Strii..portion of the Stotram.

Here is the Part I:

 

8.9.3 Outlook of the Deluded is Feminine, Childish, Blind and Dunce- like as

Spoken of ordinarily

 

This reminds one, of the use by Sri Bhagavan, of expressions such as

purushRshabha (II-15), purusha-vyaaghra(XVIII-4), to drag Arjuna out of the

depression to which he has apparently succumbed. Sri Bhagavan further demands

that he should cease to be effeminate and give up this trifling faintheartedness

which are unbecoming of a 'man' like him, and brace up to the situation –

Klaibyam maa…..(Gita II.3)

 

It is to be noted that Sri Bhagavan commences His instruction by pin-pointing

to the lack of discriminatory knowledge between Self and the non-Self, as the

root cause of the muddle in which Arjuna finds himself. It is in the same

manner that the hymn declares that those who identify themselves with anything

other than the true Self are woman-like. However dexterous they may be in

formulating their theories with suitable adjustment in respect of the details

thereof, these philosophers can at best be compared to an ideal housewife who is

all engrossed only in housekeeping; that is, they are only strii-prajnaaH i.e.,

of feminine outlook, as described by Sruti (Br. U. 6-5-1) while referring to

Katyayani, one of the two spouses of the Sage Yajnavalkya. The Atmapurana (7-75

to 82) gives a vivid description of the unsurpassed efficiency of Katyayani in

the art of housekeeping in all its aspects, which is summarised by the tika on

it –

Tasya muneryaa kaatyaayanii-naama bhaarya….

This endeavour on her part to remain the best housewife for all times is

stemming from her firm conviction ' I am a woman'. The enquiry as to how this

conviction has come to be, is totally absent in her case. The result is that

the involvement is so deep that there is not the least suggestion of even an

attempt to transcend this state. So is each one of the philosophers involved in

one or the other in the realm of non-Self, affirming it as his own Atman

accommodating all else in a manner suitable to it, not concerning, however, as

to how that idea of oneself came to be revealed. They are like kids who revel

in their concoctions and conjectures in a playful manner, each of them

considering himself as a king, a priest, a teacher, a driver or even an engine

etc., depending on the role in the fanciful play he sets for himself, any object

being made to stand for what he desires it to be, without the least concern for

what it really is; that is, they are baalaaH meaning i.e.,

ignorant, lacking in discrimination, not knowing the thing as it is, 'scholars'

who have no knowledge of the profound Truth revealed by Vedanta, as the Sruti

says:

ParachaH kaamaan-anuyanti baalaaH….(Katha Upanishad 2-1-2)

 

[The childish (the ignorant) pursue external objects of desire;

they get into the meshes of widespread death; but the intelligent, knowing

Brahman, the sure Immortality, do not covet the uncertain things here.]

Avidyaayaam bahudhaa vartamaanaaH….(Mundaka Up.1.2.9)

 

[The ignorant following the diverse ways of ignorance, flatter

themselves that their objects have been accomplished. As these devoted to karma

do not realise the truth, owing to their attachment, they grow miserable; and

after the fruits of their karma are consumed, fall from heaven.]

 

Also says the Gaudapadakarika

Yathaa bhavati baalaanaam gaganam…..(3.8)

 

[As the sky appears to the ignorant children to be dirty with

cloud, dust and smoke, similarly Atman also is regarded by the ignorant as

affected by the evils of misery, action and the fruits thereof.]

 

Their theories are like the fanciful fairy tales concocted to amuse children.

Like the blind who grope in the dark in respect of all their activities, subject

to disasters like falling into a pit or a well, these philosophers are blind to

the Light that illumines all that they are about. Into blinding darkness enter

these who practise rites; into greater darkness, as it were, enter these who are

devoted to the knowledge concerning these rites, disregarding the teachings of

the Upanishads. Miserable are those worlds enveloped by that blinding darkness

of ignorance. To them, after death, go those people who are ignorant and

unwise, devoid of the knowledge of Self. Says Sruti –

Andham tamaH pravishanti …Br.Up.6-4-10,11

In their frantic search for the Self, some of them are lost to themselves to

such an extent that they even proclaim that there is no Atman at all. Again,

entrenched in their own way of thinking which has become an obsession with them,

they are impervious even to a suggestion of the Upanishadic declaration in

respect of Atman. They behave like dunces, so inert. Even when their attention

is drawn to It, they obstinately deny the Existence and Shine of the abiding

Atman; says the Pancadasi (VI-27)-

Ajnaanii vidushaa pRstaH….(VI-27)

 

Entangled as they are so much in the mesh of the non-Self, their ways of

thinking have been conditioned to such an extent that some of them declare Atman

to be an inert entity; some, that It is not abiding; some, that there is no such

thing; and even those who declare Atman as sentient or talk of Isvara as well,

bring in the notion of enjoyership, as also difference and multiplicity into

this realm, which are ideas carried over from the insentient non-Self. The

proper procedure would be to examine and understand the non-Self in the light of

self-effulgent Atman. How can the Sastra enlighten him who denies the

experience of his own Consciousness which brings about the consciousness of

everything else? He is a dunce, a clod of mud in human form. A statement which

is the denial of such an experience of one's own Consciousness would be like an

utterance 'have I a tongue or not?' that leads only to shame. So says the

Pancadasi(III-19, 20) –

Bodhe'pyanubhavo yasya …

 

Thus are the vaadins wedded to the non-Self, playing in the realm of non-Self

that is imaginary, oblivious of their own true Self and showing no concern

towards the call of the Self as also the instruction in the Sruti pertaining to

It.

 

End of Part I.

 

 

 

 

 

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