“angan” Tiruppavai #22

[Guest guest]

Asmad gurubhyo namaha, Jai Srimannarayana

 

Hanuman tells Ravana that if he does not hand over Sita Devi to SriRama and bow

to SriRama’s lotus feet even Brahma, Rudra, Indra etc cannot save him. Those who

are affected by SrimanNarayana’s ‘nigraham’ cannot hide in any corner of this

creation and the only refuge is His lotus feet. Those who love God or hate Him,

His Lotus feet are the sole refuge. Bhaktas have a kind of pride in them – they

say God himself should identify his duties with respect to them and He Himself

should save the bhaktas.

 

Hanuma after showing his huge form tries to convince Sitamma about His capacity

to carry her to SriRama’s sannidhi, for which she refuses saying SriRama

wouldn’t like it. Bhagavan sees our state and He Himself should carry us to His

abode. This is according to His ‘nirape:ksha rakshakatvam’ and our ‘tade:ka

rakshakatvam’. So this kind of pride, if we can call it so, is an acceptable

one. Enemies who are totally destroyed, who have lost all their kingdoms/riches

and are in a pitiable state, eventually relinquish their ego and surrender to

Lord’s divine feet. Similarly we, who are suffering constantly because of the

taapatrayas, have no other option other than renouncing our ahamkara and

surrendering to His lotus feet.

 

There are two kinds of dharmas we practise in daily life – ‘sa:ma:nya dharma’

and ‘vise:sha dharma’ . If one gets an opportunity one should do both but if

practising sa:ma:nya dharma is hindered, the alternate routes as prescribed,

vise:sha dharma’, should be resorted to. Vibheshana demonstrates this at the

time of relinquishing relationship with his brother Ravana (“a:nuku:lyasya

sankalpaha, pra:tiku:lyasya varjanam” Sarana:gathi has six ‘anga:s’ ).

 

We should do “Service to mankind as service to God”, “Worship our own and

Respect All”. The service offered out of good should be atleast at par to our

capacity, if not beyond. We should become prapannas by leaving the entire

responsibility on divine and doing His service with ‘a:rti’. Both the vibutis

are Sarvesvara’s wealth. We are part of the vibuthi. We are His. If we are

suffering and need help we should not seek help from anyone else, except

sriyahpati’s lotus feet.

 

Our association with divine mother causes Bhagavan’s eyes to open like a

blossoming lotus. When we declare freedom thinking we are free birds, His divine

eyes close. When we go to a Doctor we tell all our symptoms and plead our

incapacity to cure ourselves and kind of take refuge with complete confidence in

his capacity and diagnosis. Lord Srimannarayana is our divine doctor.

 

A basic dharma a Prapanna should know is ‘ananya:rha Seshatvam’. This is

illustrated in the first word of the Ashtakshari mantra – pranavam. That is the

reason why an acharya initiates a disciple first with this mantra. An egoistic

person will never acquire jnana. So one should renounce the ego and take refuge

in Lord. In the previous pasura ‘abhima:na sunyatvam’ is said and in this pasura

‘ananya:rha Seshatvam’ which in brief denotes completely surrendering with

trikaraNa suddhi to Lord SrimanNarayana alone.

 

Bhagavan’s seva is hindered by three kinds of ego: ego due to knowledge, ego due

to wealth, ego due to birth status. Only after these three are relinquished,

service to Bhagavan and Bhagavatas and their grace is possible. Sri

Ramanujacharya showed us an example through Dasaradhi (Mudaliyandan).

 

Once the soothing divine grace of Lord’s opening eyes flows onto us all our

diseases will be cured. First our ignorance that body is same as atma will be

gone; then we will realize that we are not independent; the knowledge that we

are Lord’s servents and only His dawns onto us; the thought that we can protect

ourselves will go away. Lord is our ‘upaaya’. We will be awarded by the ‘art of

living’ and protected so that we tread on the right path. Then the ignorance

that ‘I am the doer’ will vanish. We will constantly enjoy the Lord and His

divine attributes. We will be totally immersed in His kainkaryam. All this

change is not for our own ananda’s sake but for His joy. Bhagavan’s mere glance

will result in this gradual evolvement of us to a state of ‘paramabhakti’ which

will remain for ever.

 

andal divya thiruvadigale saranam! adiyen ramanuja dasaha!

Jai Srimannarayana!