Manthra Raja Part II

[Guest guest]

--- continues from part I ---

 

II.4 Meaning of jwalantham

 

yasmAt svamahimnA sarvAn lokAn sarVan devAn sarvAnAtmana: sarvAni

bhutAni svatejasA jwalati jwalayati jwAlyate jwAlayate|

savitA prasavitA dIpto dIpayan dIpamAna:|

jwalan jwalitA tapan vitapan santapan

rocano rocamana: Sobana: SobamAna: kalyAna:||

tasmAducyate jwalantamiti||

 

Because of His self mahima and His self prakaSa

He makes all worlds, devAs, all jIvAs, all bhUtAs shine

and be brilliant. He makes the worlds and makes them multiply.

He shines, and He makes everything shine.

He is brilliance and makes everything brilliant.

He is dIpam, is in the dIpam and causes the dIpam shine.

He spreads the heat and makes the worlds 'suffer'. He spreads

the rays and makes the rays spread. He is managala swarupI.

He is the cause of all mangalams. He is the kalaYana purushan.

Hence it is said that He is 'jwalantham'.

 

This mantram emphasizes the bright and visible aspects

of the bhagavAn. The upanishats contain Aditya upasana

and jyoti upasana as madhu vidya. Thus the Lord is jyoti.

So various bright and heat-giving aspects of the Lord are

emphasized through the word jwalantam. Sri Nrusimha is

also combined with Sri SudarSana through the tatvam portrayed

here.

 

Sri Ramanuja would echo all His auspicious and awe-inspiring

kalyana gunas throughout his bhAsyas. His choiciest phrases

would resonate in many places as follows:

 

kalyAna gunaganA ...gyAna bala aiswarya vIrya Sakti tejas...

 

Thus all His radiant qualities provide an inspiring basis for

Sri vaishvana siddAntam through Sri Ramanuja's bold expressions.

 

In this visible universe we have to meditate on the Sun or

even on the star clusters such as Andromeda gallaxy to realize

Him fully as jwalantam. Thus the chandogya upanishat preaches

madhu vidya. And that is also why we perform sandyAvandanam

and why some preform dIpa pUja.

 

 

II.5 Meaning of sarvato mukham

 

yasmAt anindriyo api sarvata: paSyati sarvata: SruNoti

sarvato gaccati sarvata Adatte sa sarvaga: sarvatastishThati|

yeka: purastAdya idam babhuva yato babhuva bhuvanasya gopA:|

yamadhyeti bhuvanam sAmparAyo namAmi tamaham sarvatomukham|

tasmAducyate sarvato mukhamiti|

 

He sees and also hears everything and everywhere without indriyAs,

goes everywhere, absorbs everything in Himself, manifests in

everything

and is in everything. Hence it is said that He is sarvato mukham.

In the beginning he was the only one. Later He became everything.

Those protecting the worlds originated from Him.

Everything rests in Him finally. I salute He who has faces

everywhere.

 

The concept exhibited here is a very big one indeed. This can be

considered as a condensation of the vaiSvAnara vidya. The universe

is

considered as a weird object consisting of the mula purusha

and prAkriti, stars, moons, earths, human beings, and everything

else figuratively glued together through His will and mahima.

Hence the purusha sUktam starts as

sahasra sIrusha pursha: sahasrAksha sahasra pAt:

sa: bhUmim viSvato vritva...

And the nArAyanA sUktam starts as

sahasra sIrusham devam viSwAksham viSwa sambavam

 

When we see He sees. When we hear He hears. When we breath He

breaths.

When we speak He speaks. When we act He acts. He has no indriyas of

His own to exist as a separate being. All our indriyas are His and

whatever action we perform is His action. That is why the bhagavad

gIta

preaches selfless actions since we should not think that we are

performing these acts. Whenever we do something, it is His action,

and we are doing it on behalf of Him. That is also why we perform

Athma samarpanam and kArya samarpanam at the end of vedic rituals

and pujas in order to remind ourselves that we are a part of him

and that He guides our actions.

 

Sri Desika would mention that all our indriyas are used by Him

by saying in Sri kAmasikAstakam verse 5 'svAtina sarvendriya:'

meaning that He uses whatever indriyam ( from us ) as He pleases.

 

The Bhagavad gIta devotes a whole chapter, adyAyA 11,

to explain this concept of His divine rUpam.

 

Since He is a vaiSvAnara, He exhibited this concept in a small way

by incarnating as the nrusimha avatAram when the situation called

for His magic. Hence the next word in the mantram.

 

 

II.6 Meaning of Nrusimham

 

yasmAt sarveshAm bhUtAnAm vIryatama: SreshTatamaSca simhamo

vIryatama: SreshTatamaSca

tasmAn nrusimha AsIt parameSvaro jagaddhitam vA

etadrUpamaksharam bhavati|

pradatvishNu: stavate vIryAya mrugo na bIma: kucaro girishTa:|

yasyorukshu trishu vikramaNeshvadhi Siyanti bhuvanAni viSwa|

tasmAducyate nrusimhamiti||

 

Of all beings the lion is the most powerful and loftiest

( considering power and loftiness together ).

So the Lord took the (man-)lion avatAr. This endless rUpam come to

do good to the worlds. Hence it is said that He is Nrusimham.

This mahAvishNu having a lot of vIryam and coming in the mruga

rUpam is not source of fear for the bhaktas. He is instead

worshipped by them. He is the one who exists as one who performs

sancharam in this world and lives (even) in the mountains.

In His tiruvikrama avatar he covered all the worlds in three steps.

 

Thus this verse connects the lines from the VishNu sUktam

with the nrusimha tatvam. It interprets the word 'mruga' as lion.

Compare gIta verse 10.30 - 'mrugANAm ca mrugendro(a)ham'.

Also compare a verse from AsIrvadam 'paSavo vIro mruga:.'

 

In this verse it is said that the bhaktas are not afraid of Him.

This portrays the situation where Sri PrahlAda calms the Lord

after Hiranyakasipu vadam while all the devas watching Him were

shivering with fear after having taken a look at His rUpam.

The Lord even touched the bAlA's head and stroked his hair and

performed AsIrvadam on Him. Thus it is said that there are beings

who are afraid of Him if they happen to be not His pure bhaktas.

Even the nature is said to be 'afraid' of Him and said to follow

His orders. Such a situation is indicated by the next word

in the mantra rAjA.

 

II.7 Meaning of bIshanam

 

yasmAdyasya rUpam drushTva sarve loka: sarvedevA:

sarvANi bhutAni bItyA palAyante svayam yata: kutaccinna bIbheti|

bIshAsmAd vAta: bhavate: bIshodeti sUrya:|

bIshasmAdagniScendraSca mrutyurdhAvati pancama:|

tasmAducyate bIshaNamiti||

 

His rupAm causing fear in the all the worlds, all devAs, all bhutAs

and making them run with fear, yet He being not being

afraid of anything, He is called bIshanam, one who causes fear.

The air swirls around because it is afraid of Him

(and hence follows His orders); the sUrya is afraid of Him and

does his job out of fear. And even the agni and Indra and as the

fifth

enumerated here, the yama, are afraid of Him and do their duties.

 

This description can also be considered as a commentary on Taitriya

upanishat Ananda valli verse 8.0. This upanishat exhorts that the

way

to live without fear is to have Him in our minds all the time.

In one sense this explanation enforces the fact that He rules

all the worlds through His careful design - a design with precision

far beyond our imagination.

 

He appears in the terrorizing form because he is also vaiSvAnara

and chose to exhibit this tatvam in a small way through this

Nrusimha rUpam. However the bhaktas who know Him and hold Him

dearly in their hearts will have no fear. Per taitrIya upanishat

Ananda valli verse 4.0

 

Anandam bhrAhmano vidwan na bibheti kadAcaneti.

 

In general His intention is not to cause fear. His intention is

to do good. He considers all our welfare, because He is vishNu.

To emphasize this fact the next word in the mantra is put in

carefully. This word leads the bakthas feel safe by tell them

that He is looking after our welfare since He is all auspiciousness.

 

--- continued in Part III ---

[Guest guest]

Swami,

 

The brahma vichara that you write has been very absorbing and fully based on

vedas. Time spent on these is very valuable. Thanks.

 

I would like to know what is Acharya's and his followers (Sri Vedantha

Desika) writings on madhu vidya & Dahara Vidya (of Chandogya). Please take

up this at your convenience.

 

thanks

sukumar

 

 

 

rtvrajan [rtvrajan]

Friday, September 24, 2004 1:19 PM

 

Manthra Raja Part II

This mantram emphasizes the bright and visible aspects

of the bhagavAn. The upanishats contain Aditya upasana

and jyoti upasana as madhu vidya. Thus the Lord is jyoti.

So various bright and heat-giving aspects of the Lord are

emphasized through the word jwalantam. Sri Nrusimha is

also combined with Sri SudarSana through the tatvam portrayed

here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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