Guest guest Posted January 30, 2005 Report Share Posted January 30, 2005 SrimatE Raamaanujaaya Namaha // SrimatE Nigamaanta Mahaa Desikaaya Namaha // SrIman! SrI Ranga Sriyam anupadravam anudhinam Samvardhaya/ SrIman! SrI Ranga Sriyam anupadravam anudhinam Samvardhaya// KAvEri VardhathAm kAlE, kAlE varshathu vAsava: / SrI RanganAthO jayathu Sri Ranga Sri cha VardhathAm// ================================================= SRI RANGA SRI VOL.06 / ISSUE # 10 dated 01/30/05 ================================================= IN THIS ISSUE: 1.DESIKAMRUTAM SRIMAD RAHASYA TRAYA SARAM The Three Tenets-10 By Sri SADAGOPAN IYENGAR (SRIKARYAM SWAMI OF SDDS & SRS) 2. “TRIMURTIS”- IN NAMMAZHWAR’S TIRUVOIMOZHI- PART 6 (SRI N. KRISHNAMACHARIAR SWAMI OF CHICAGO) ================================================= 156 Regular issues have been released, so far besides several Special Issues) – - 27 Issues of Vol. 1 - 15 Issues of Vol. 2 - 42 Issues of Vol. 3 - 35 Issues of Vol. 4 - 28 Issues of Vol. 5 & - 09 Issues of Vol. 6 These issues have been archived for public view at - by Sri Diwakar Kannan (diwakark) You may also view the archives at http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia maintained by Sri Srinivasan Sriram (ajiva_rts) We strongly urge you to kindly peruse the "Regular Issues" archived in the “Files” Section and view the Contents at “srsindex.html” (Not the individual postings allowed for encouraging "Reader participation"). We are sure that you will be convinced of the quality of the contents. IF you are satisfied with the quality and contents of “Sri Ranga Sri”- Tell your friends to join by sending an email to Srirangasri- IF NOT: Tell us, as to how we may improve. Ever at your service Dasoham Anbil Ramaswamy, Editor & Publisher, “Sri Ranga Sri” ============================================================== 1.DESIKAMRUTAM SRIMAD RAHASYA TRAYA SARAM The Three Tenets-10 By Sri SADAGOPAN IYENGAR (SRIKARYAM SWAMI OF SDDS & SRS) ------------------------------ The Three Tenets-10 We have thus far seen the essential Nature, state of Existence and Activity of the three types of Sentient Beings and Non-sentient Matter-"Trividha chetana achetana svaroopa stithi pravritti bhedam". All the beings and substances described above (Isvara, Jeeva,Prakriti, Kaalam,Suddha Sattvam and the like) are, in their essential nature, Eternal. A doubt may arise here. We see things undergoing destruction and ceasing to exist. If this is so, how can they be called Eternal? Some of these items are said to be temporary or transient, because they undergo a change and assume a different form and condition than the one they were in before. After the change, they are called by a different name. For instance, when a pot is broken, we say the pot has ceased to exist. However, it has ceased to exist only in the form of the pot, while the broken bits and pieces continue to exist, now assuming the name of "loshttam". Thus, nothing ever really gets destroyed fully, only undergoing changes in its form and name. It is thus that substances are termed as Eternal. This is Eternality in Nature (Svaroopa Nityatvam). There is another type of continuity, which some other things have, which makes for a Stream of Eternality ("Pravaahata: nityam"). The individual substances may appear to exist no more, but as a stream, they form a continuous entity, making them none the less Eternal. New states, similar to the ones that have ceased to exist, follow each other in quick succession without break, so as to form a stream of Eternity. If you look at a river or waterfall, the water at a particular point is never the same, being replaced constantly by a fresh flow. However, to the onlooker, there appears to be no break in the river's flow, which represents the type of Eternality described above. If you remember, we started with the Sri Ranga Gadya phrase, in which the essential nature, existence and activity of the three types of Sentients and Non-sentients was described to be dependent on the Lord-- "Svaadheena trividha chetana achetana svaroopa stitthi pravritti bhedam". What has been expounded so far is the purport of the latter part of the phrase, beginning with "trividha". It is a tribute to Swami Desikan's capabilities as a Preceptor, that he has laid bare the bountiful wealth of purport in these seven words. The Acharya now proceeds to elucidate the meaning of the first word, "Svaadheena". No substance, Sentient or otherwise, can have an existence apart from the Lord and without His divine will. All substances exist, they act and they are of a particular nature, all because the Lord wills them to be so. And as all of them form the Isvara's body, they have too no existence distinct and different from Hs own. It is thus that all the three types of Sentient Beings and Nn-sentient objects are said to be entirely dependent on Emperuman- "Svaadheena trividha chetana achetana svaroopa stitthi pravritti bhedam" Since everything and everybody is thus totally reliant on the Lord, the Lord wishes all of them to be beneficial. Accordingly, all things and beings are entirely beneficial to the Lord and to the inhabitants of Srivaikunttam. If this is so, why should some things appear detrimental to some people? For instance, cold water, though it is by nature beneficial, turns out to be inimical to a person with a severe cold. Some others may meet their end due to fire or water. Some persons may develop hostility to us, apropos of nothing. People, who are normally favorably disposed towards us, may turn against us at times. All these are due to our own Karma, which, in order to make us experience its effects, turns things or people against us. Whatever be the attitude of outside agencies, one's own Atma is forever beneficial to one. This is again due to the Lord's will. Since we imagine the body to be identical to the soul ("Deha Atma Bhramam"), even this troublesome body appears beneficial to us, mainly due to our Karma again, which keeps us steeped in ignorance. Since worldly things acquire an inimical nature to us due to our Karma, an aspirant for liberation should abandon all attachment to them. For those who have attained Moksham, all things mundane are indeed beneficial, due to their having relinquished all baggage of Karma. Anything we acquire with pride and possessiveness turns inimical to us: however, once we see everything as but aspects of the Lord's bounty, the very same things turn beneficial to us. ---- To Continue =========================================================== Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx =========================================================== 2. “TRIMURTIS”- IN NAMMAZHWAR’S TIRUVOIMOZHI- PART 6 (SRI N. KRISHNAMACHARIAR SWAMI OF CHICAGO) -------------------------- tri-mUrti-s in tiruvAimozhi – Part 6. 1.9.10: (9) neRRiyuL ninRu ennai ALum nirai malarp pAda’ngaL SUDi kaRRait tuzhAi muDik kOlak-kaNNa pirAnait-tozhuvAr oRRaip-piRai aNindAnum nAn muganum indiranum maRRai amararum ellAm vandu enadu ucci uLAnE. Because we are not going through all the ten pASuram-s of this tiruvAimozhi, we will capture briefly the anubhavam that nammAzhvAr is having – the anubhavam of mingling with perumAL with every indriyam of his, gradually and intimately. BhagavAn has His relationship of different kinds with others, depending on who He is interacting with – with His pirATTi’s as their Consort, with garuDa as His vehicle, with anantAzhvAn as His bed, with yaSoDa as His mother, etc. AzhvAr is enjoying BhagavAn in every one of these ways, simultaneously. Even though AzhvAr cannot have the direct samSlesham or embrace that the likes of guha and the gopa-s had in the rAma and kRshNa incarnations, still AzhvAr’s intense devotion is making it possible for AzhvAr to experience this samSlesham with kaNNan. This anubhavam is not given by bhagavAn all at once and in one sweep to AzhvAr, but is bestowed only gradually, in small steps at a time. This guNa of emperumAn is described as “sAtmya bhoga pradatvam” – which can be roughly explained as ‘giving the anubhavam of Himself to the devotee so that it can be fully enjoyed, gradually and in steps, such that the devotee is not overwhelmed by the experience, but can digest the anubhavam completely’. This is like the mother who introduces her child to solid food very gradually, so that the child’s digestive system can adjust to the food gradually, or like the teacher who introduces the student to the difficult portions of any given subject gradually, instead of giving all the instruction in one step. This is how bhagavAn gives the anubhavam of Himself to nammAzhvar, as described in this tiruvAimozhi. AzhvAr first feels bhagavAn being all around him (ennuDaic cUzhal uLAnE – 1.9.1), then coming closer to him (en arugil ilAnE – 1.9.2), being with him (ennODu uDanE – 1.9.3), climbing to his waist just like getting on to yaSodA’s waist (en okkaliayAnE – 1.9.4), getting into His heart and mind (en ne’njil uLAnE – 1.9.5), getting on his shoulders and giving him the anubhavam like garuDa (1.9.6), causing him to sing His greatness through his tongue (ennuDai nAvil uLAnE - 1.9.7), occupying his eyes with His Divine vision (en kaNNil uLAnE – 1.9.8), going to his forehead (en neRRi uLAnE - 1.9.9), and finally reaching nammAzhvAr’s head (1.9.10), thus enveloping nammAzhvAr in His anubhavam completely. Another analogy given to describe this stepwise anubhavam is that of a person going to a river and taking bath – by first stepping into water, then getting into the water up to the waist level, then up to the level of the neck, and finally taking a dip. The One Who has thus pervaded nammAzhvAr in and out, and is occupying all his indriya-s and putting them totally and completely at His service and in His enjoyment, is none other than kaNNa pirAn who is worshipped by the one who has the moon on his head (Siva), the one who is four-faced (brahmA), indra, and all the other deva-s. This is the gist of the current pASuram. oRRaip piRai aNindAnum – Siva who has the nascent moon on his head, and who would rather prefer to have Your Feet instead on his head (nirai malarp pAda’ngaL SUDi). nAn-muganum – The four-faced brahmA, whose four faces represent the four veda-s, which all sing the glory of Your Feet. indiranum – indra, the chief of all the deva-s. maRRai amararum, ellArum vandu– and all the deva-s, and every one else. nirai malarp pAda’ngaL SUDi – wearing the Lotus Feet of kaNNa pirAn in their heads. kaNNa pirAnait tozhuvAr – They all worship kaNNa pirAn. kaRRait tuzhAi muDik kOlak kaNNa pirAn – This kaNNa pirAn wears the garland made of tulasi leaves in His head. - kaRRait tuzhAi – the budding, fresh, green-looking tirut tuzhAi. Even if one decorates the Lord with dry tulasi leaves, their association with His head will make them look fresh and green. vandu enadu ucci uLAnE – This kaNNa pirAn, who is thus sought after by Siva, brahmA, indra, and every one else, voluntarily left them all and came (vandu) to me, surrounded me all around, climbed over me, took control of all my indriya-s, and is now seated on top of my head. ------ 2.2.2: (10) E pAvam paramE! Ezhulagum I pAvam aruLAl aLippAr Ar? mA pAvam viDa ararkkup piccai pei gopAla kOLari Er anRiyE. In this pASuram, nammAzhvAr feels sad that there are still people around who cannot understand the truth about the Supreme Deity, and that he has to spend his precious time explaining the obvious, instead of spending his time in the full and uninterrupted anubhavam of emperumAn ( E pAvam paramE! – O Lord! Why is it that You have entrusted me with this burden of revealing the obvious to all the people of this world – that You are the Only Supreme deity, instead of fully spending my time enjoying You all the time?). AzhvAr points out that gopAlan is the Only One who can eradicate in a fraction of a second, the enormous sins of this world that will normally take eons to overcome through normal expiation of the karma. He gives the example of bhagavAn eradicating the brahma hatti dosham of Siva when Siva clipped off one of the heads of brahmA. This is given in brahmANDa purANam, and is part of the sthala purANam for tirukkarambanUr. The same incident is also assigned to badarikASrama in some accounts. AzhvAr reinforces once more that gopAla KOLari is the only Supreme Deity, and He is the Supreme and only rakshakan or Protector. Whenever brahmA or Siva get into any kind of problem, it is gopAlan who gets them out of their problems. There are the two deities who get into problems again and again, and there is the One Deity who gets them out of these problems. Of the two deities who get into trouble always, one goes and cuts the head of the other, and the other stands with his head cut off. The third one (gopAlan) goes and saves them. This being the case, why is it so difficult to identify who the Supreme Deity is? This is AzhvAr’s message in this pASuram. E pAvam! - nammAzhvAr starts this pASuram with “E pAvam!”, expressing his sadness. He is one who has attained divya j~nAnam, and is all set to enjoy the divine anubhavam of emperumAn. And yet here he is, spending his time in things such as showing us all the difference between diamond and a mere blob of clay, that should be obvious to anyone. So he is lamenting – “Why is it that it has fallen to my lot to have to ‘prove’ the obvious – namely, that gopAlan is the Supreme Deity”. paramE! – This is interpreted as the samskRt word “bharam” – load. As explained above, AzhvAr laments at the ‘load’ of proving the obvious, that he has to deal with. ee pAvam Seidu – The word represented by the single letter pronounced “ee” in tamizh means ‘to destroy’. “ee pAvam Seidu” means “destroying the sins (that have accumulated over several yuga-s)”. Ezh ulagum ee pAvam Seidu aruLAl aLippAr yAr – Who else (other than gopAla KoLari) can be merciful enough (aurLAl) to protect (aLippAr) all the seven worlds (Ezh ulagum) by destroying the sins (ee pAvam Seidu) accumulated by all these worlds over several yuga-s? Note the word ‘aruLAl” – BhagavAn offers this protection to everyone out of His sheer kRpA. GopAla KOL ari anRi – But for the Mighty Lion that is gopAlan (no one else can eradicate these huge accumulated sins over a fraction of a second). KOL means ‘strength’, and ‘ari’ refers to Lion. The choice of the name ‘gopAlan’ by AzhvAr in this pASuram is significant. Even though He is only a cowherd boy in this incarnation, still He is the Protector of all the worlds nonetheless. He has declared in the gItA – aham tvA sarva pApebhyo mokshayishyAmi mA SucaH (18.66) – “I will release you from all sins. Grieve not”. Who is this gopAla kOL ari? mA pAvam viDa ararkkup piccai Sei - The same One who relieved Siva from the great sin (mA pAvam viDa) of brahma hatti dosham, by giving him alms (piccai Sei) when Siva committed the mahA pApam of brahma hatti doshsam by plucking one of the heads of his own father, brahmA. In matsya purANam, we find that Siva himself declares that out of intense anger, his eyes became red, and he plucked the head of brahmA with the nail of his left hand. This brahmA is none other than the father of Siva, and is known as loka –guru (the guru for the whole world). So what he did was mA pAvam – Great sin. This is one of the pASuram-s where AzhvAr’s message is straight and direct about who the Supreme Deity is, and where Siva and brahmA stand with respect to the Supreme Deity – gopAla kOlari. ------------------------ To Continue ========================================================= Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ========================================================= Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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