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Tue, 11 Jul 2000 00:08:07 -0400

Indira Prativadi <srinprat

HH Sri Tridandi Srimannarayana Chinna Jeeyar Swami

 

 

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha:

 

Dear members of the list,

 

As some of the members have mentioned earlier HH Sri Tridandi

Srimannarayana Ramanuja Chinna Jeeyar Swami

presided over the Shree Yagam conducted here at the Shiva Vishnu

temple, Maryland. This was a concluding 5 day celeberation

of Sri Mahalakshmi Koti Kumkuma Archana started in February.

HH's participation in the pujas, His discourses, just His presence

here had profound devine effect on all those who came in contact

with Him during the function. I would like to share the write up by

son who is a student at Penn State with you all, which speaks for

itself as to what effect the Jeeyar had on his young mind.

 

 

" My Venture into Vedic Wisdom

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

I returned home from my fourth semester in college mentally and

physically tired from the recent finals week. As my sophomore year

came to a close, I looked ahead to a relaxing summer, a time for me

to

regroup. I have always been what you might call a regular Hindu in

that, I pray to God, and I know general Hindu concepts and practices.

So, having been away from home for so long, one of the things I had

been looking forward to was the opportunity to come to the temple

again. Along with home life, it's a sort of reservoir

where I can come and replenish myself spiritually. I had also

known that His Holiness Sri Sri Sri Tridandi Sriman Narayana

Ramanuja Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji was to visit our Sri Siva Vishnu

Temple once again in early June.

I was sixteen when He was last here in 1996. I attended

all the events while He was here, and had become somewhat acquainted

with who He was and what He did. Although I recognized Him then

to be an elevated soul, I was still too immature to fully absorb the

whole situation and be internally touched by it. In addition, the

circumstances of this visit would be different from 1996 in that

there has been an on going, unprecedented Koti Kumkuma Archana

for Sri Laksmi in the preceding four months, presided

over by one of the Jeeyar's disciples, Sri Prahalladachaya, and the

Jeeyar was coming to participate in the final 5 days of it.

My mother and sister had been consistently participating those

preceding months, and I had been hearing from them while I was in

school about how much of an enriching experience it has been for the

both of them. So, having matured since the last time such an

event had happened at our temple, I looked forward to the

spiritual experience of being in the company of enlightened

souls. All my anticipation, however, could not have prepared me for

the impact our Jeeyar had on me during those five days.

It is difficult to articulate the profound messages I

took away from those five days, but I can say that through the

Jeeyar's words I believe I have gained some understanding about the

essence of Hinduism, where all its universality and greatness lie.

At this stage in my academic career and my life in general

I have been asking questions as I seek to grasp my identity.

Many of the more spiritual questions, which I felt were the most

relevant ones, led me to probe my religion, and I was looking for

answers of what role my religion plays in my life.

I sought concrete answers, and received them through our

Jeeyar Swami. It was because of him that I was able to

understand that we worship the all pervading supporter of the

universe around us, visible and invisible, Sriman Naaraayana.

The issue of these many deities that Hindus worship and in

many cases quarrel amongst each other about was put to rest by

the Jeeyar's explanation that we worship the Lord of the universe

in a form we choose, a form He accepts but is not limited to.

Indeed the power that sustains everything and everyone is

intangible to us, invisible but all-pervading; we call it God,

and we give it many forms which we worship, but I was then able to

realize they are all One.

Our Jeeyar preaches the importance of the partnership

between knowledge and practice. Only when combined are the two of

these useful and beneficial. The Swami emphasizes the importance of

doing things correctly, and yet He does this without making worship

seem tedious or painstaking. He simply says that there is a

right way and a wrong way of approaching God;

just as a specific key will fit a specific lock, so too are

there specific protocols to be followed when worshipping God.

But equally or more so than protocol the Swami speaks of the

devotee. Because after all, we worship God not for His sake,

but for our own. It is for our own enlightenment that

we seek the divine power. So what does the devotee need to do get

closer to God? I learned from our Jeeyar that I should accumulate

qualities that bring me closer to the divine, such as compassion,

selflessness, respect, discipline, and suppress those qualities

which disrupt and hinder that progress, including anger, passion,

greed, and jealousy. The positive qualities that help us reach

God are automatically manifested if we accumulate bhakti towards

God. I say accumulate, because, for most people like me, it is

something that must be generated and nurtured. True bhakti

in most cases is not innate, like a mother's love for a child. I

saw that my bhakti must blossom through the consistent practice of

worship.

It is with bhakti that one should worship God, rather than fear or

sense of obligation.The only way for me to generate that kind of love

and bhaktitowards God isconstant prayer, but how does one pray

to God constantly? The Jeeyar cited the Bhagavad Gita on several

occasions when answering that question. It is through devotional

service to the Lord. I realized then that worshipping the Lord

should be integrated into my lifestyle, it should become a way

of life. It does not begin and end with going to the temple and

praying, or standing before a picture or an idol and praying.

Indeed, one's lifestyle should facilitate service to God.

The Jeeyar clarifies that one can still do normal things and live a

"normal" lifestyle, but live it righteously and in service to God.

Any work we do (karma), let it be an offering to God.

This message taught by the Jeeyar is found in the Gita too. I

found it to be the answer to many questions. My attempt to put this

philosophy into practice, however weak or incomplete an attempt, has

brought me peace of mind, and a sense of control and bliss.

What was further inspiring was the actual Yagna being

performed on those days by the temple priests and the disciples

of the Jeeyar. The Jeeyar and His diciple acharyas brought to our

temple immense energy which diffused into and visibly changed

all who were present. Our temple priests were now ritwiks, and they

performed the Yagna hand in hand with the acharyas. The atmosphere

during those five days was a window into Vedic times, an era

where the wisdom of Hinduism was undiluted and practiced in

its purest essence, where such yagnas were performed all the

time, everywhere, by enlightened men and women.

The Yagnaacharya, Sri Narasimhacharyalu, a disciple of our Jeeyar

and a teacher at His Vedic school, represented those Vedic times

with his flawless performance of the Yagna. Every action of his

was done with precision, dignity, and pride, just as the sages

and enlightened bhaktas did a long time ago. One could close one's

eyes and leave the parking lot outside the temple where the Yagna

was being done, and forget the present, inhaling the holy

smoke from the kundas, feeling the energy of the voice of

Sri Narasimhacharyalu as he perfectly recites the various slokas

and Vedic mantras, and travel back in time, escaping the trivial

worries of modern life behind.

I look back upon those five days as a period in my life

where I was able to open my eyes, and become aware of a more subtle,

and more relevant knowledge than I had ever been previously exposed

to; a knowledge that is applicable in all arenas of life. It

made me grateful and proud to be born into my culture and to have

at least scratched the surface of the Vedic wisdom which always

existed but was manifested from the deep meditation of the most

austere, wisest sages in the beginning of time. My experience

with His Holiness Tridandi Chinna Jeeyar, has pacified the

turbulent waters of life, giving me the knowledge, and through

which, the strength to progress day by day, spiritually and

otherwise. I have by no means done justice to my experience,

what I learned, how I improved myself as a person and my life

in general during the Jeeyar's visit to our temple. It is

beyond the scope of this chronicle and of my ability to articulate.

I write these words with no other motive than to express to some

extent my humble gratitude, and to pay my sincere respects to the

great souls of the past and present who have made available to

anyone seeking it the divine knowledge which can dispose of

all ignorance and lead to happiness and liberation.

 

Jai SrimanNaaraayana!

 

 

- Phalgun Prativadi

June, 2000 "