Wonder as Worship: The Way of the "jignyAsu" - Part 1

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Dear friends and members,

 

Have you paused at any time in life to wonder why you

offer worship unto God?

 

Have you sometimes found yourself asking, "What makes

me pray? What impels me to go to a temple? Why do I go

on long pilgrimages to worship at far-off shrines? Why

do I observe rites and sacraments? Why do I read the

holy scriptures? Why do I perform "hOma" or "yagnya"?

Why prostrate and genuflect? Why undertake fasts and

similar other austerities?"

 

Clear and honest answers to such searching personal

questions are never very easy. It is often hard to

fathom the inner intentions or motives for our many

acts of worship, both spontaneous and ceremonial. Why

I worship, and the reasons why I turn to God, is a

complex question indeed and the answers can vary

widely with time, circumstance and self-awareness.

 

**************

 

The "Bhagavath-gita" is an unfailing source of answers

for many such difficult questions in life. In the 18

blessed chapters of the 'Gita', there is one

particular gem of a verse that reveals to us 4

principal reasons behind the human impulse to Worship:

 

"chatur-vidha bhajantE mAm janAh: sukritnOr'juna

ArthO jignyAsur'arthArthi gnyAnI cha bharatar-shabha"

(Bhagavath-gita: 7:16)

 

"There are 4 principal motives, O Arjuna, why men of

this world turn to Me in worship", said the

GitAchAryA.

 

There is the (1) "ArthA", the man motivated by Fear,

(2)the "arthArthi", the man driven by Desire (3) there

is the "jIgnyAsu", the man inspired by Wonder, (4) and

finally, there is the "gnyAni", the man of complete

Wisdom. These clearly defined 4 motives for human

Worship --"Fear", "Desire", "Wonder" and "Wisdom"--

each in turn typify what is generally known in the

philosophy of Vedanta as "tri-gUNa" -- the 3-fold

Quintessence, the three intrinsic qualities, inherent

in everything that exists in the world viz.: "sattva",

"rajas" and "tamas".

 

**************

 

(1) The first motive of Worship, Fear, is said to be

characteristic of men seized by "tamOgUNa" -- the

quality of Negativity. Fear is a truly negative

("tAmas"-ic) emotion indeed that makes all men cringe.

Such men are called "ArthA".

 

(2) The second "gUNA", called "rajas", also impels men

towards Worship. It is the Quintessence which arouses

within them all manner of ceaseless, restless and

countless desires. Such men are called "arthArthi".

Their desires drive them to a lifetime of endless,

frenetic and self-acquisitive activity.

 

(3) The third motive, Wonder, is a rather special one

(and it is the main theme of this essay). The sense of

Wonder that in some special moments overwhelms the

human mind is said to be inspired by a Quintessence

("gUNa") within called "sattva". It is the quality

that propels men to look at the world around them with

a sense of deep awe, inquisitiveness, disquiet and

quest. It makes mentally probe the Reality of

Existence. The "sattvA-guNA" drives them to constantly

seek answers for "What?", "Why?", "How?",

"Wherefore?",

"Whither?"... Such men the Gita calls "jignyAsu". We

will have more to say about the "jignyAsu" later in

this essay.

 

(4) The fourth motive for human Worship is rarely at

all, if ever, found amongst men. But it is Krishna's

most favourite and, strangely, Vedanta does not give

it any name at all. It is said to be the "gnyAnI's"

motive, the Wise One's motive. The "gnyAnI's" impulse

to worship is not ignited by any particular "gUNA" or

Quintessence within. It is simply motiveless Worship.

The Wise One worships for no reason other than that he

regards Worship as reward in itself. In a way that is

beyond comprehension of ordinary humanity, the

"gnyAnI's" Worship transcends the 3 "guNA-s" of

'sattva', 'rajas' and 'tamas'. He worships not because

he wants to, or, because he has to. He worships

because Worship is simply second nature to him. It is

his very 'raison d'etre' -- he worships to live, and

he lives to Worship.

 

Of such extraordinary men, Krishna in the

Bhagavath-Gita said, "mAmevAnUthamAm gatim..." (7:18)

i.e. such men are possessed of only one aspiration in

life: "To attain Me... They know of no other way

leading to Me other than the path of Worship".

 

Sometime around the 7th century AD (according to some

historian-hagiographers), in a small village in South

India called 'Tirukkurugur', there lived a great saint

called 'NammAzhwAr'. This saint is remembered and

revered today as the foremost among 12 'AzhwArs' --

12 great mystic-saints in the long SriVaishnavite

lineage of Vedantic preceptors. NammAzhwAr was a

natural-born "gnyAni". For him Worship of God was as

involuntary as bodily breathing. This AzhwAr's time on

earth was quite short, but he chose to spend it

full-time in constant contemplative worship of the

Almighty. Living like a hermit, he resided under a

great tamarind tree within the temple precincts of the

village of Alwar-Tirunagari... In that rather

remarkable living-quarters of his, he spent his days

like a true yogi -- lost in meditation, unmindful of

everything in the world except the inner object of his

Worship. The saint's waking hours were few, brief and

far between but it was during those lucid moments that

the saint sang the 1000 verses of a Tamil poem, the

"tiruvoimOzhi" -- a hymn of such great mystic power

and revelation it came to be regarded in history as

the equal of the Vedas in much of the Tamil-speaking

country of India.

 

***********

(to be continued)

 

Regards,

 

dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

 

 

 

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