Urgent spelling correction requested from the moderator before posting >Where is Bhagavan?

[Guest guest]

SrI:

Dear moderator,

 

May I request you to correct the loo to loop in the passage below?

 

I noticed this spelling mistake after posting the mail to you.

If the correction is not done, it would give a very unfortunate

meaning. Kindly take note and do the needful.

 

Another option is I will post the corrected one now, which you may

consider for posting.

 

regards,

jayasree

 

>>>Further elucidation on Bhoo is on the basis of Purusha suktham and

other texts such as the following which I omitted to add as appendix

for fear of taking the series too long.

Here I give them. The following are more explicit on Bhoo as His patni

or Bhoo as Himself or Bhoo as one protected by Him. (Here again I am

leaving a loo . If some one takes it up, I will come back to

elaborate :-))<<<

 

--------------------

 

--

-------- Forwarded message ----------

Jayasree Saranathan <jayasree.saranathan

Dec 7, 2005 12:41 PM

Re:Where is Bhagavan?

oppiliappan

Cc: rajan s <rajan_ramaswamy

 

 

SRIMATHE RAMANUJAYA NAMAHA.

 

Respected Sri Swamin,

 

I am very glad to get some response to the series.

 

In fact I have left at more than half a dozen places in part 14 alone,

scope for further development of respective topics into separate

articles.

 

Now let me take up this one, initiated by Sri Soundararajan.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

rajan s <rajan_ramaswamy

Re: Where is Bhagavan? (part 14)

 

Dear Bhagavatas

 

In 1st Dec 2005 mail from Smt. Jayasri Saranathan, I find one

mistake regarding the meaning of HRI in Upanishad.

 

She has written

' The description of this comes in Brihadharanyaka Upanishad, (chapter 5

- part 3) HrI is Hridhaya which is none but God Himself. The Upanishad

says that Hri is ekam aksharam. HrI means to draw or to attract.'

 

The word comes in Purusha Sukta last sentence also.

 

" Hris cha te Laksmmi cha patnau ".

 

Hri refers to Bhoomi Devi.

 

There are two cha meaning 'also'.

Nila is implied in the second cha according to vyakhyanam.

 

Adiyen

Ramanuja dasan

Soundararajan

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Issue :-1

 

The root of " Hris cha te Laksmmi cha patnau ".

 

It is from Taittriya Aranyaka.

 

To know this, let me remind fellow bhagavathas that what they recite

as Purusha sukhtham is recited either as just 18 slokas or 18 + II nd

part starting with "adbhyas sambhUtha:" which is found in Taittriya

Aranyaka.

 

The Purusha Suktam is seen earliest in the Rig Veda, as the 90th

Suktam of its 10th mandalam, with 16 slokas only. (I leave it to the

fellow bhagavathas to find the other 2 which are not found in Rig

veda.)

 

Later, it is seen in the Vajasaneyi Samhita of the Shukla Yajur Vedam,

the Taittriya Aranyaka of the Krishna Yajur Vedam, the Sama Veda, and

the Atharvana Veda, with some modifications and reductions.

 

Since the Purusha Suktam is seen in all Vedas, it is cited as the

essence of all Srutis by Veda Vyasa in the Mahabharata. Saunaka,

Apastamba, and Bodhayana have also written concerning the use of the

Purusha Suktam.

 

This part of Purusha sukhtam and Narayana sukhtam are found in and

derived from Taiittriya Aranyaka.

 

It is important to mention here that Taittriya aranyaka is well known

for emphasis on mono-syllabic terms of Vedas as fulfilling specific

aspirations. Various commentators of Vedic yore have brought out and

related the tantric roots of many mantrams, to Taittriya aranyaka. One

such root is the root of Srividya traced to this aranyaka and the

Taittriya Brahmana.

 

It is in this context, I have taken up the relevance of Hri.

 

Hri is /as manthram.

-----------

Issue –2:- What is Hri? Or what is this Hri manthram?

 

If you read my mail again, you will see that I have taken up this in

the context of the Dhyana slokam by Bhagavad Ramanuja ( 'Akhila

bhuvana janma..") for the Sribhashya of Brahma sutras, whereby he

qualifies Brahman as the Home of Lakshmi, and prays "May my

understanding assumes the form of loving devotion to That Highest

Brahman, who is the Home of Lakshmi". The exact verse is "BrahmANi

SrinivAsE".

 

Then the course this leads us is how Brahman is the Home of SrI.

 

This leads us to see the different facets of Brahman. The lead here

was gained by me by the connecting notes on this verse from Sruti

texts by the translators (SrI M.Rangacharya and M.B. Varadaraja

Iyengar). And that is the taittriya aranyaka verse on Hri and Lakshmi.

 

The Hri is traced to Brihadharanyaka upanishad.

 

Chapter III—Brahman as the Heart

 

"esa praja-patir yad hrdayam, etad brahma,

etad sarvam, tad etat try-aksaram;

hr-da-yam iti. hr ity ekam aksaram;

bhiharanty asmai svas canye ca,

ya evam veda; da ity ekam aksaram,

dadatyasmai svas canye ca ya evam veda;

yam, ity ekam aksaram;

eti svargam lokam ya evam veda"]

 

(Prajapati is this—the heart (intellect). It (the heart) is Brahman.

It is all. Hridayam (the heart) consists of three syllables. One

syllable is hri; and to him who knows this, his own people and others

bring presents. One syllable is da; and to him who knows this, his own

people and others give their powers. One syllable is yam; and he who

knows this goes to heaven.)

 

This verse clearly speaks about the Hridhaya as Brahman, and Hri as

ekam aksharam, the mediataion on which gives one all that he wishes.

This corresponds with the description and scope of what Lakshmi

grants.

 

From this you may continue to read the mail to see the sthithi of

Lakshmi as Will enshrined within Brahman in states other than Leela

vibhoothi and as the projected Will, or the first 'created' (refer to

the Bhrigu- Bhardwaja dialogue in my mail) one in Leela viboothi.

 

It is interesting to note that Bhagavad Ramanuja in this sloka makes a

mention of all this as leela which He does with Lakshmi, who has

Himself as her Home.

Another point to note is about the meditation on Hri as Brahman as

told in this Upanishad. This is Brihad – Aranyaka. Any Aranyaka is

supposed to give details on mediaition as methods to achieve specific

aspirations. The meditation on Hri is seen in this way only, by

commentators.

 

Here in this verse the literal meaning of the very word Hridaya is

taken as a symbol for meditation. Hr-da-yam iti hir ity ekam aksaram:

 

The first letter of the word Hridaya is Hir, a Sanskrit letter. Now

the teacher of the Upanishad tells us that you can meditate on the

import of this single letter Hr. Do not go to the entire meaning of

the word Hrdaya, or heart, here Hr, the first letter is itself

sufficient. What does it mean? How do you contemplate on the import of

the first letter Hr? Hr ity ekam aksaram: 'Hr is one letter'.

Abhiharanty asmai suds canye ca, ya evam veda: Hr means draw. That is

the grammatical root meaning of the word Hr.

Drawing, to attract, to pull towards oneself, to compel everything to

gravitate towards oneself, to bring everything under one's control, to

subjugate everything, to superintend over all things and to be

overlord of everything - all these meanings are comprehended in the

root meaning of the letter Hr.

 

 

When you contemplate the heart, bring to your mind the meaning of the

very first letter of the word Hrdaya, that which draws everything

towards itself.

 

And, what is the conclusion? What is the result that follows by this

protracted meditation? Abhiharanty asmai: 'Everyone gravitates towards

that person'.

 

Like the gravitational pull of the sun exerted upon all the planets

that move in their own orbit and revolve round the sun, so all

creatures will rotate, revolve and gravitate around you if you

contemplate, the capacity that one has, to draw everything towards

oneself, as the Supreme subject. (Relate this to Hrudhayam in Adhitya

Hrudhayam)

 

Abhiharanty asmai svas canya ca: 'Everything comes to you' means -

whatever belongs to you, and whatever does not belong to you also

comes to you. People pay tribute to you, not merely people who love

you. 'Even those who are not your friends', even those with whom you

are not personality related, even they shall pay homage to you. They

shall also pay tribute to you. They shall accept the supremacy of your

being. Svas canye ca abhiharanty asmai: This is the grand result that

is proclaimed by mere meditation on the implication of the root

meaning of the letter Hr 'to draw'.

 

The other letter is Da. In the word Hr-da-ya, 'Da is the second

letter'. Dadatyasmai svas canye ca ya evam veda: 'Everyone shall give

to you' rather than take anything from you, which means to say,

everything shall become obedient to you, everything shall become

subservient to you. Da connotes the meaning, 'to give' in Sanskrit.

 

So the meaning of this root syllable here, the etymological

significance of the letter becomes the object of meditation, and when

you contemplate thus as the centre of a force that receives everything

towards itself as an ocean that receives all rivers into itself, 'such

contemplation brings the result of complete acquisition. Everything

shall come to you'.

 

Yam, iti ekam aksaram; iti svargam lokam ya evam veda:

The third letter is Ya of Hr-da-ya.

In Sanskrit Ya means 'to go'.

 

You go to the highest abode by contemplation on the meaning of the

letter Ya of the word Hrdaya.

 

So contemplate not merely the light in the heart or the consciousness

in the heart or the ether in the heart, but the linguistic

significance of the very word Hrdaya also.

Even this can be a symbol. If you cannot go deep into philosophical

and mystical techniques of contemplation on the heart, can you not at

least understand this much, a mere linguistic meaning, a grammatical

connotation, a literal significance of the word Hrdaya?

 

This too, can take you to a great glorious achievement

 

That is why the contemplation of this ekam aksharam is promoted in the

Upanishad.

Thus the contemplation on Hri is developed in this verse of

Brihadhatranyaka Upanishad to attain Brahman, who is none other than

Hridaya.

 

When Hri is meditated as Brahman, He attracts. The one who attracts is

Lakshmi –as she is one who shows you what your lakshyam or goal is.

That is how the concept of Lakshmi is developed.

--\

-

Issue – 3:-

 

Hri as Bhu devi.

 

This can be seen in two ways.

 

One, as one among the 2 patnis of Vishnu.(Here again the trouble comes

as Vishnu has 3 not 2 patnis. But the 'patnyau' is dwi vachan, related

to 2 wives only.) Since the very next word continues as AhO rathrE,

that gives a further clue to the 2 wives or consorts, day and night.

I have further elaborated the night as NiLA, based on the verses in

NeeLaa suktam which have striking resemblance to the magnetic corona

which is the latter-born sister of earth.

 

The exact translation goes thus:-

 

hreeshca te lakshmeeshca patnyau | ahorAtre pArshve |

nakshatrANi roopam | ashvinau vyAttam |

 

iSHTam maniSHANa |

amum maniSHANa |

sarvam maniSHANA ||

 

(hreeshca) Hree and (lakshmishca) Laskhmi are (patnyau) wives (te)

to you. (aho - rAtre) The day and the night (pArshve) your sides.

(nakshatrANi) the Stars (roopam) your brilliant form. (ashvinau)

the Healing Ashvins (vyAttam) your mouth

 

 

HrI is the Goddess that grants Modesty ( a reference to second stanza

of Sixteenth Chapter of Gita also shows this Hri as meaning modesty.

 

ahimsaa satyam akrodhas

tyaagah saanthir apaisunam

dayaa bhuutesu aloeluptvam

maardavam hrir acaapalam). (Here I leave a loop on 'te' aspect to

develop into a separate article, if necessary)

 

And Lakshmi who grants Wealth. ( hreer-lajjAbhimAninee devata ,

lakshmee- raishvayAbhimAninee devatA - iti sAyaNA) The Day and the

Night are even such opposites. Sriman Narayana is the conciliation of

all such opposites, even as Sesha, the snake, and garuda, the eagle,

worshipping him together signify. He is brilliant as the stars, and

healing comes from him.

 

My treatment in the mail of the origin of Home of Lakshmi is with Hri

as in Hridaya which is equated to Brahman. (as shown in the Upanishad

above) which is the Home of Lakshmi.

 

But coming to the 3 devis of Vishnu / Narayana. I have dwelt it in the

context of 3 vyahruthis which also has sruti backing.

 

Further elucidation on Bhoo is on the basis of Purusha suktham and

other texts such as the following which I omitted to add as appendix

for fear of taking the series too long.

Here I give them. The following are more explicit on Bhoo as His patni

or Bhoo as Himself or Bhoo as one protected by Him. (Here again I am

leaving a loo . If some one takes it up, I will come back to

elaborateJ:-))

 

In Purusha Suktam, it is said

 

Sahasra sirsha…….(verse 1)

A thousand heads had Purusha, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet;

He covered earth on every side and covered ten fingers breadth beyond

 

In Narayana Suktam it is said,

 

(Verse 5). yacca kincign-jagat sarvam drshyate shrooyate api vaa |

antar bahish-ca tatsarvam vyaapya naaraayaNa: sTHitha: ||

 

yacca kincid (All that) jagat sarvam (all over the world) drshyate (is

seen) api vaa (or is) shrooyate (heard), naaraayaNa: (Sriman Narayana)

sThitha: (stands) vyaapya (manifesting) tat sarvam (all that) anta:

(inside) bahish-ca (and out).

This verse again reinforces that all that is seen , that is heard and

that is in this world are all Narayana.

 

Read this along with the Purusha suktam, "sa: bhoomim vishvato vrtva"

– As this earth He manifests Himself.

 

This also echoes the Uttarataapani Upanishad

 

" sa vaa eSHa bhootaneendriyaaNi viraajam devata: koshaamsca

srSHTvaa praviSHyamooDHo mooDha iva vyavaharan-naaste maayayaiva".

 

-- manifesting the world "inside and out", we may again go back to the

Purusha Suktam : "tasmaad viraatajaayata; viraajo adhi puruSHa:" -

>From him was nature (the female principle viraat) born.

 

The Sahasranaamam again echoes this, praising Sriman Narayana as

"bhu- garbha:"-"Who contains the world (bhoo) in his womb

(garbha:)"- "He guards his wife Bhoomi Devi as a mother

guards her womb".

 

----------------------------

A general note:-

 

In Taittiriya Aranyaka it is stated that we derive knowledge through

four different means: First there are the codes of law (smriti) which

give us knowledge about what is permitted and what is not, what is

right and what is wrong.

 

Then there is knowledge about the existence of tangible things. Thus

we know that the knife is sharp, that the sky is blue, that there is

music in the air, that the rose of fragrant and sugar is sweet. Such

knowledge is acquired through the senses. This is pratyaksha.

 

Then we have knowledge about the importance of festivals, about the

days when we must fast, and so on. This kind of knowledge comes from

tradition (aitihya).

 

Finally, when we know that it is going to rain because there are dark

clouds above, or that something must have happened to an absentee

student in class who is normally regular, we have inferential

knowledge (anumana).

 

Much of later Hindu epistemology consists of elaborations and

modifications of these basic concepts.

 

What is interesting in this analysis is the insight that knowledge

serves a variety of purposes, and is therefore to be contextualized.

 

Thus, knowledge may serve as a guide to proper conduct (smriti).

 

It could make us aware of the world in our immediate vicinity (pratyaksha).

 

Knowledge also serves to keep us connected to our community and

collective history (aitihya).

 

Finally, knowledge could be about matters that are not immediately

recognized (anumana).

 

For those who may be wondering what all those 14 mails are about,

(which I wished someone should ask), the above exposition is the

answer. They are about things around us, about us, before us and after

us and from which we came and to which would go - which can be seen in

the light of 4-fold knowledge which I have blended with my minimal

knowledge of sruti.

 

Thanks and regards,

 

Jayasree saranathan.

[Guest guest]

SrI:

Dear moderator,

 

I have just sent the corrected one under the subject, Re: Where is

bhagavan? (part 14). I changed it into 'gap'.

 

regards,

jaaysree

 

On 12/7/05, Jayasree Saranathan <jayasree.saranathan wrote:

> SrI:

> Dear moderator,

>

> May I request you to correct the loo to loop in the passage below?

>

> I noticed this spelling mistake after posting the mail to you.

> If the correction is not done, it would give a very unfortunate

> meaning. Kindly take note and do the needful.

>

> Another option is I will post the corrected one now, which you may

> consider for posting.

>

> regards,

> jayasree

>

> >>>Further elucidation on Bhoo is on the basis of Purusha suktham and

> other texts such as the following which I omitted to add as appendix

> for fear of taking the series too long.

> Here I give them. The following are more explicit on Bhoo as His patni

> or Bhoo as Himself or Bhoo as one protected by Him. (Here again I am

> leaving a loo . If some one takes it up, I will come back to

> elaborate :-))<<<

>

> --------------------

>

> --

> -------- Forwarded message ----------

> Jayasree Saranathan <jayasree.saranathan

> Dec 7, 2005 12:41 PM

> Re:Where is Bhagavan?

> oppiliappan

> Cc: rajan s <rajan_ramaswamy

>

>

> SRIMATHE RAMANUJAYA NAMAHA.

>

>