Timepass

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Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

 

 

Timepass

 

 

 

"Time and Tide wait for no man" says the adage. Time moves on inexorably,

whether or not we wish it to. No one, however powerful, can make a second stand

still, nor can he make it move faster. When we are engaged in an extremely

absorbing endeavour, we find that Time just flies. On the other hand, when we

are imapatiently awaiting the outcome of some event or the other, the very same

Time appears to crawl. For young lovers engaged in exchanging sweet nothings,

the passage of Time appears extremely rapid and an hour spent in each other's

company passes like mere minutes. On the other hand, to the anxious husband

pacing restlessly outside the delivery ward at the hospital, awaiting news of

his first progeny, the hands of the clock seem stuck and unmoving. Thus, the

pace of passage of Time may appear fast or slow, depending upon our perception:

however, Time neither flies nor crawls-it moves at its own unvarying, sedate and

uniform speed.

 

 

 

Most of us have regular occupations, which account for the major portion of our

waking hours. And to fill the hours of leisure, we have varied ways. Some spend

all their spare time in front of the Television, as "Couch Potatoes". Some

others, being votaries of physical fitness, spend their leisure at Gyms, toning

up their bodies and building their biceps. Yet others, interested in the fine

arts, patronise music concerts and art galleries, deriving a lot of pleasure

from these aesthetic pursuits. Cinemas too attract their share of votaries, who

forget themselves once they enter the theatre and the lights go off. Gambling in

its various forms (ranging from Cards, Casinos, Racing, Speculation in Stocks,

etc.), perusing pulp fiction etc. take up the time of some of our brethren.

Urged by our teachers to take up some hobby or the other, many of us have become

addicts to philately, numismatics, voracious reading etc. to fill our spare

time. Others like me resort to writing to spend time, irrespective of whether or

not their words attract anyone's attention and interest. Yet others simply

sleep-there were several people who spent entire lifetimes in sleep-Muchukundan,

Rip-van-vinkle and KumbhakarNa are examples. For some others, idle gossip with

kindred spirits occupies all their waking moments. This is brought out by the

following sloka, which sets out the various ways in which people spend time-

 

 

'KAvya ShAstra vinOdEna kAlO gacchati dheematAm

 

anyEshAm tu manushyANAm nidrayA kalahEna va"

 

 

 

We hear a lot of people complaining about time being difficult to pass. "Pozhudu

pOgalai" is a complaint we hear often. For these complainants, Time just stands

still and has to be practically pushed on. What a pity indeed, for, little do

they realise that every passing second second brings us that much nearer to the

end of our lives. Each hour that passes without anything useful having been

done, is a wasted hour indeed. And before we realise, these idle hours add up to

days, months and years of ill-spent time, with absolutely nothing to show for

the part of life that has slipped away unnoticed, except perhaps gray hairs.

 

 

 

That brings us to the brass tacks and the million-dollar question-how to spend

our time? This may appear to be a silly question, for there are any number of

pursuits one could adopt, as enumerated above. However, to qualify the question

further, how to spend our spare time productively? The productivity meant here

is not related to conversion of our precious time into cents and dollars, but to

something else, which might even be intangible, which would result in

self-improvement. Again, by "self", we refer here to the soul inside us and not

to the physical shell.

 

 

 

There is a beautiful word in our SampradAya-"KAlakshEpam". Though it literally

means passing of time, its popular purport is that of listening to eminent

Acharyas or scholars propounding the intricacies of one or the other of the

great works that have been bequeathed to us by merciful poorvAchAryAs. The term

has thus come to mean the spending of time listening to uplifting utterances,

whether of the Lord or of Acharyas. It is thus that we hear of "Bhagavat

Vishaya KalakshEpam", "SrI BhAshya KAlakshEpamSrimad RahasyatrayasAra

KalakshEpam" etc., alluding to the productive passage of hours in the pursuit of

enlightenment. This usage, in turn, appears to have originated from the sree

sookti of Sri Tirumazhisai Piran, in Nanmukhan TiruvandAdi-

 

 

 

"taritthu irundEn AgavE tArA gaNa pOr

 

viritthu uraittha ven nAgatthu unnai-teritthu ezhudi

 

vAsitthum kEttum vaNangi vazhipattum

 

poositthum pOkkinEn pOdu"

 

 

 

Azhwar shares with us his own experiences in passing time and lists the seven

different ways in which his lifetime was spent-

 

 

 

1. "Teritthu"-refers to the blissful contemplation of the Lord and His

glorious attributes, with overwhelming devotion and love. This makes the hours

pass in a jiffy.

 

 

 

2 "ezhudi"-Among the numerous ways of enjoying the rare delight that is

Emperuman, is to write His names. Even today, we find several people continuing

this hallowed tradition by writing Rama nAma. It is the practical experience of

these worthies that putting the Rama nAma to paper affords them great inner

peace. Just as the infatuated lover finds joy in penning his beloved's name, for

the devotee, writing the Lord's names gives infinite pleasure. Azhwar thus tells

us to spend time in writing down the Lord's names. This would also refer to

composing paens of praise, in prose and verse, on Emperuman and His glory, so

that it would benefit oneself and others.

 

 

 

3. "VAsitthum"-Another admirable way to spend our waking moments is to

read-not of worldly affairs or pulp fiction which are of negligible value, but

of spiritual matters, especially tales of the Lord, stotras on Him composed by

His admiring votaries and so on. Veda PArAyaNam, Sriamd Ramayana ParAyaNam,

Srimad BhAgavata ParAyaNam, aruliccheyal anusandhAnam etc. fall under this head.

 

 

 

4. "KEttum"-Delightful stories of the Lord and His exploits, enthralling

descriptions of His innumerable auspicious attributes, the glories of His

devotees, etc. form nectarine inputs for the audio faculty. "KarNAbhyAm bhoori

vishruvam" "Bhadram karNEbhi: shruNuyAma dEvA:" are some of the prayers

enshrined in the Upanishads, praying to the almighty that only the best of

sounds, viz., Bhagavat BhAgavata kathA, fall on our ears. Ipso facto, this calls

for eschewing lending our ears to idle gossip and accounts of mundane matters.

It is to enable the unimpeded flow of such sacred sounds that our ears have not

been provided with shutters, unlike our eyes which have eyelids.

 

 

 

 

 

5. "VaNangi"-This might be construed as a physical expression of devotion,

with all the symptoms of enthrallment that affect a devotee in the throes of

Bhakti, as described by Sri Kulasekhara Perumal in Sri Mukunda MAlA-

 

 

 

" baddhEna anjalinA natEna sirasA gAtraischa rOmOdgamai:

 

kanthEna svara gadgadEna nayanEna utkeerNa bAshpAmbunA"

 

 

 

This "vaNakkam" is thus an act involving almost all parts of the body,

with the head bent in devotion, the hands folded in supplication in the "anjali

mudrA" which floors Emperuman, eyes filling with tears of joy at the sight of

the Lord or His devotees, each individual hair on the skin erect with delight,

the voice aquiver with emotion and each individual part of the body vying with

the other to express its devotion separately.

 

 

 

6. "Vazhipattum"-This refers to performing worship, various ways of which

have been described by poorvAchAryas beginning with Sri Ramanuja (in his

"nityam"). Performing TiruvAradhanam to the Lord is such a delightful experience

as to be a pursuit par excellence, filled with overwhelming joy. This Bhagavat

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

indescribable bliss of Kainkaryam that awaits us, as PrapannAs, at the end of

this birth.

 

7. "Poositthum"-This we may take to be a variant or a component of Bhagavat

ArAdhanam, involving the worship of the Lord with garlands of fresh blooms or of

verses. And this type of worship is to be offered only to Emperuman Sriman

Narayanan, as Sri Nammazhwar avers-"dEvan emperumAnukku allAl poovum poosanayum

tagumE!"

 

 

 

This, then, is how time is to be spent.

 

 

 

Sri Nammazhwar too, whose entire life, every waking moment of it, was spent in

the contemplation of the Lord and His glory, wonders how it is posssible for

mortals to pass time except through the blissful perusal, utterance and

propagation of sacred words full of the Lord's magnificence and grandeur, His

innumerable auspicious attributes, etc.-

 

 

 

"KAr kalanda mEniyAn kai kalanda AzhiyAn

 

PAr kalanda val avayittrAn-seer kalanda sol

 

ninaindu pOkkArEl soozh vinayin Azh tuyarai

 

en ninaindu pOkkuvar ip pOdu?"

 

 

 

For those who are at their wits' end as to how to "kill" time, the aforesaid

prescriptions should come in useful.

 

 

 

Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka Srivan Satakopa Sri Narayana

Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

dasan, sadagopan