A Way to Worship

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify">Srimate

SrivanStakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

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A Way To

Worship   

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The importance of worshipping the

Lord daily need not be emphasized. “TiruvArAdhanam” as it is called, occupies

an extremely significant part of the Sri VaishnavA’s daily agenda, perhaps the

most substantial item thereof. Just like Sandhyavandanam, Brahmayagyam etc.,

Bhagavat ArAdhanam too is an indispensable part of our daily routine, never to

be forsaken for any reason, except when one contracts “Asoucham” or “theettu”.

This is evident from a host of texts in the Shruti, Smriti and itihAsAs. The

hallowed Rigveda emphasises the obligatory nature of such worship—“pra va:

pAntam andhasO dhiyAyatE mahE shoorAya VishNavE cha archata”. Shounaka Mahrshi,

quoting this, lays down the mode of such worship in detail, as a “nitya

karma”—“ ShounakOham pravakshyAmi nityam Visnvarchanam param”.

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify"> The

PAncharAtra, for its part, tells us that

ritualistic worship of the Lord with devotion is to be performed daily-

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify">“nityam cha

Etat VaisvadEvAdivat Bhagavat ArAdhanam”. 

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify">Emphatic

confirmation, if at all needed, comes from Sage Vyasa, who tells us that

worship of the Lord affords us greater merit than any Vaidika karma: he exhorts

us therefore to perform ArAdhanam daily—

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify">“na

VishnvArAdhanAt puNyam vidyatE karma vaidikam

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anAdi madhyAntam nityam ArAdhayEt

Harim”.

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify">The dire

consequences flowing form non-performance, due either to laziness or even

oversight or ignorance, include a birth among lowly pigs, apart from rendering

the offender liable for a spell in Hell—

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify">“YO mOhAt

athavA AlasyAt akritvA VishNu poojanam

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify"> bhunktE sa yAti narakAn sookarEshu

abhijAyatE”.

Not a single day should

we stay, nor should we partake of even water in a village, town or house, where

the Lord is not worshipped daily, says the ParAsara SamhitA—

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify">“VishnvarchA

rahitE grAmE VishnvarchA rahitE grihE

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kuryAt anna pAnAdi na tatra divasam

vasEt”.

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify">Further, the

term “YAjI’ in the Bhagavat Gita sloka

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify">“man manA

bhava mad bhaktO mad YAjI mAm namaskuru”

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify">very

obviously refers to the TiruvArAdhanam to be performed daily by everyone.

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify">And when we

say “everyone” it indeed means everyone, without differences of gender, caste

or status, economic or spiritual. While those eligible to recite the Shruti can

use the same in the Lord’s worship, those ineligible may resort to the Tantric

mode of performing TiruvArAdhanam. For instance, when the husband is away or

unwell, women can do this on the former’s behalf, limiting themselves to nivEdanam

of food cooked for the Lord, without using Vaidika mantrAs and without touching

the images of the Lord (whether vigrahAs or SAlagrAma mUrthIs) says prakritam

Srimad Azhagiasingar’s Ahnika grantham (“BhartrumatInAm bhartru AgyAya atra

pravritti: anugyAyatE-- tadapi kEvalam nivEdana Eva”).

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify">Such is the

significance of this karma, that our Acharyas, beginning with Sri Bhashyakara,

have laid down specific modes of ArAdhanam, for the benefit of people like

us,who know not how to adulate the Lord. The “nityam” is one of the nine works

of Sri Ramanuja, dealing in detail with this ritual, the very title emphasizing

the need for its daily performance. 

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify">Why should we

perform Bhagavat ArAdhanam? It should be enough reason for us that the Shruti,

Smriti and Acharyas unanimously tell us that we should. However, apart from the

need for implicit obedience to the Scripture, it is our love for the Lord that

prompts us to offer Him worship. When our affection for someone abounds, we

feel the need for doing

14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold">something for

them, as an expression of our love and care. It is paternal love for our

progeny which makes us scoop up the child in our arms, hug it, smother it with

kisses, croon to it and indulge in similar acts exhibiting our emotions. How do

we display our love to the Paramapurusha, who has, out of His infinite mercy,

given us this human birth, resides within us inseparably in an endearing

gesture of eternal love and care, provides us with a reasoning intellect

enabling us to choose a strategy for liberation most suited to us, makes us

progress along the path of choice and ultimately confers upon us the coveted

fruit of kainkaryam in Paramapadam?

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify">How do we

demonstrate our gratitude and boundless affection for the Lord (not that He

requires such demonstration), who hovers protectively over us all the time,

unseen but definitely there, ensuring that we come to no harm in any fashion,

willing to overlook all our misdeeds if only we would repent and turn over a

new leaf, aiding and assisting us all as an omnibus relative-- a father,

mother, brother, friend, wife and son, all rolled into one?

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify">Bhagavat

ArAdhanam or ritualistic worship provides us an outlet for our enduring

emotions towards the Lord. It furnishes us with an ideal way of 

expressing our ecstatical feelings, where He

is concerned. Such worship is born out of “anubhava janita preeti” or the

ecstasy of the individual soul, forever enchanted by all the Lord has done, is

doing and will surely do for us poor mortals. It is the end-product of an

enduring enthralment occasioned by the innumerable auspicious attributes of the

Lord, each of which affords us indescribable delight. ArAdhanam is the

compulsive reaction of all those who are bewitched beyond measure by

Emperuman’s glorious and magnificent form, which makes them lose themselves in

its enjoyment, similar to a small boy let loose in a toyshop with a bewildering

variety of playthings.

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify">It is this

daily and blissful experience which prepares us for the eternal enthralment of

service to the Lord at SriVaikuntam. It is a daily dress rehearsal, so to say,

to what we are destined to do at our ultimate abode. When we bathe the Lord

tenderly in scented water, pure milk, honey etc., we should relive the

experiences of Sri Yasoda Piraatti and Sri PeriyAzhwar, who attained

incomparable heights of bliss through such ministrations to the toddler

Krishna. When we offer Him a dress of silk after the bath, we should be

reminded of the glorious garments Sri Kousalya must have dotingly dressed her

darling in. When we offer Him a lighted lamp, we should be struck at the

incongruity of showing a feeble and flickering light to one who is the ultimate

in luminiscence (“Narayana parO jyOti:”). When we place before Him our humble

offering of cooked food, we should be reminded of the love and devotion with

which both exalted BharadvAja Maharshi and the humble Sabhari fed Him, in their

own inimitable ways, and the equal gusto with which He partook of both the

sumptutuous feast offered by the former and the modest jungle fruits tendered

by the latter. When we offer flowers at His feet, we should remind ourselves

that the best and the most precious bloom He would relish is our souls—“the

Atma vastu”. And that the other types of flora which would delight Him are the

qualities of ahimsA, sense control, truthfulness, mercy, etc., which we should

strive to cultivate. When we recite before Him stOtrAs for His pleasure, we

should mentally place ourselves in the footprints of Azhwars and Acharyas,

whose magnificent offerings, in verse and prose, in an uncontrollable

outpouring of overwhelming love, affection and adoration, stand as guiding

Beacons of Bhakti, till date. And when we finally put Him to bed, at the end of

the daily quota of loving ministrations, we should be reminded of the

magnificent snake who forms His eternal bed-- soft, supple, sinuous, lithe,

fragrant, broad and beautiful-- and the myriad ways in which he appropriates

the opportunities of service to the Lord—

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify">“ChendrAl

kudayAm, irundAl singAsanamAm

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nindrAl maravadiyAm—neetkadaluL endrum

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify"> puNayAm maNi viLakkAm poompattAm

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify"> pulgum aNayAm TirumArku aravu”.

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify">Thus,

Bhagavat ArAdhanam is only a daily practice session, to remind us constantly of

the indescribable bliss that awaits us, as PrapannAs, at the end of this birth.

For all that, it is none the less real, for kainkaryam to the arcchA moorti,

whether it be at divyadEsams or at one’s own home, is as pleasurable as that to

the Paramapadanatha at Srivaikuntam, as both Sri Kalian and Swami Desikan have

attested. We should offer every arghyam or pAdyam or other ministration/

upachAram lovingly, imagining in our mind’s eye the Lord accepting the same

with alacrity and delight—delight akin to that occasioned to the mother by the

infant, who puts a morsel of its own baby food into the mouth of the feeding

parent, though its inexpert hands might spill most of the morsel enroute to the

mouth. The performance of TiruvArAdhanam in the prescribed fashion (”gyAna

vidhi pizhayAmE”) is thus capable of affording us as much delight as perhaps

that of nitya sUrIs, the permanent residents of Srivaikuntam, making us conform

to the description of  Sri

Nammazhwar—“nila thEvar”—Gods on Earth.

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify">Azhwars tell

us how such ArAdhanam is to be performed. Sri Nammazhwar is so particular that

all flowers should be utilised for adorning the Lord’s tirumEni and tiruvadi,

that he tells us to gather blooms from all eight directions for the

purpose—“endisayum uLLa poo koNdu Etthi ugandu ugandu”. He also lists the

various upachArAs that are to be offered to the Paramapurusha—

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify">“mEvi tozhudu

uymmin neergaL VEda punida irukkai

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koNdu achuthanai gyAna vidhi pizhayAmE

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pugayum viLakkum sAndamum neerum

malindu

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tozhum adiyArum bhagavarum mikkadu

ulagE”

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify">The Lord is

to be adulated with  choice words of

praise (like the Purusha Sukta) that Vedas reserve for the Supreme Being. The

best of scented smoke is to be offered to the Lord after a ceremonial bath,

with the Veda mantra, “dhoorasi dhoorva dhoorvantam dhoorvatam yOsmAn

dhoorvati….” and He is to be courteously shown a lighted lamp, as an auspicious

item, to the accompaniment of the Mantra, “uddeepyasva JAtavEdO apagnan

nirritim mama…”. The best of flowers are to be showered on His tiruvadi, to the

recitation of Mantra Pushpam (extracts from the four Vedas, itihAsAs, purANAs,

divya prabandAs, poorvAcharya Stotras, etc.). The Lord’s tirumEni is to be

adorned with fragrant and cool sandalwood paste. He is to be propitiated with

water time and again, in the form of arghyam, pAdyam, Achamaneeyam, SnAneeyam

and pAneeyam. These are some of the offerings Sri Nammazhwar prescribes during

TiruvArAdhanam.

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify">Rather than

search for external implements for worship, Sri Nammazhwar prefers to offer

extremely personalised upachArAs to the Lord. Secure in the knowledge that He

would relish these much more than any other external and ostentatious

paraphernelia, Sri Nammazhwar offers his own mind, made extremely cool and

fragrant with constant thoughts of the Lord, in the place of sandalwood

paste—“poosum sAndu en nenjamE”. Considering even the smooth sandalwood to be

too rough for the Lord’s extremely soft and delicate tirumEni, Azhwar considers

his own mind to be a much better substitute. 

Rather than search for some flowers suitable for Emperuman and string

them together into a garland, Azhwar finds a garland of verses much easier to

fashion and more to the Lord’s liking, substituting a “Poo mAlai” by a much

sweeter, fragrant and poignant “PAmAlai”. While flowers by nature wilt and fade

after a day at the most, Azhwar’s garland of verses remains eternally fresh and

fragrant, which is another reason for his preference—“punayum kaNNi ennudaya

vAsagam sei mAlayE”. These divine and delightful verses serve not only as an

adornment for the Lord’s chest, but also double as glorious and glittering

garments for His dressing up—“vAn pattAdayum akhdE”. Woven as they are in

various metres, with the warp of devotion, these Prabandas form the apparel of

choice for Emperuman. Azhwar says that much more than glittering ornaments

sculpted out of precious metals like gold and silver, a single gesture of

supplication with joined palms—an “anjali”—would serve as the best of jewelry

for the Lord. It is the surrender of our soul in the ultimate gesture of

Prapatti that the Lord deems to be the most valuable of adornments. It is hence

that Azhwar says, “dEsamAna aNikalanum en kai kooppu seigayE”.

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify">It is

TiruvArAdhanam such as the one practised by Azhwar that occasions the maximum

delight to Emperuman, much more than any characterised by the offering of items

acquired at considerable cost. What He looks for is sincerity, devotion, love

and piety: He bothers little about how much we spend and much more about how

much of our thoughts are on Him.

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify">We thus find

that it is our duty, albeit a delectable one, to worship the Lord daily and

that, in the process, the use of our internal organs as aforesaid, affords

Emperuman great delight. The Lord calls him a thief, who eats daily without

offering the food first to the Universal Provider—‘stEna Eva hi sa:”. It is for

this reason that our Acharyas mercifully initiate us into the process of

Bhagavat ArAdhanam, during Pancha SamskAram, in the fond hope that we would,

from that day, perform ArAdhanam continuously. When we do the karma sincerely

and with devotion, we would be able to discern a distinct smile on the face of

the Lord who adorns our homes. Whatever be our occupation, whatever be the

timings we have to observe in our profession, when we find time for a hundred

other personal and official errands, we ought to accommodate Bhagavat ArAdhanam

too in our daily schedule, not as something to be performed per force or out of

a sense of obligation, but something to be done prompted solely by love,

affection and adoration for the most magnificent of beings, one who delights in

hearing our voices raised in praise, much as a parent would in hearing his

toddler’s first words, hardly intelligible but eminently satisfying all the

same.

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify">Srimate Sri

LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra

Mahadesikaya nama:

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify">Dasan,

sadagopan