The Purpose of Life part I - a discourse by HH Sri Tridandi Chinna Jeeyar Swamy

[Guest guest]

Respected Ramanuja Bhaktas,

 

Today, HH Sri Tridandi Chinna Sriman Narayana Jeeyar Swamy began what is

to be an ongoing series of telephone-upanya:sams in Telugu for the

benefit of the Telugu speaking devotees here in the USA.

 

Those of you who have heard it being spoken know that Telugu is a rich

Sanskrit-based language that when spoken formally, seems to have an

almost poetic air about it. Consequently, hearing of the Greatness of

our Lord and the richness our Ramanuja Darshanam in this language seems

to make the experience all the more sweet. This is particularly so when

the speaker is Sri Jeeyar Swamy, who has the rare ability to present his

profound knowledge of Sri Ramanuja Siddhantam in a simple and

compassionate tone such that all of us, including novices like myself,

will understand.

 

While I cannot even begin to capture in words the inspiration and

insight that HH provided in his lecture today, I would like to share

with you the key points that I came away with from this talk, for the

benefit of those who do not speak Telugu, as well as for those who could

not attend today's discourse. Before starting, I should state that this

is a very feeble attempt by a layman to capture the wisdom of a Great

and Learned Soul. If any of the following is inspiring, it is only due

to the Compassion of HH Sri Jeeyar Swamy. All errors are due solely to

my ignorance.

 

 

Topic: The purpose of life

 

A journey is truly enjoyable and truly meaningful when the goal of that

journey is known. If our neighbor or friend is about to embark on a

journey, and we ask him/her where they are going, it would seem odd and

rather eccentric to us if the person were to reply that he/she did not

know.

 

The same holds true for the journey of life. If we do not know where we

are going, what the purpose is for all of this, then our life would also

be odd and futile.

 

The search for the meaning behind this journey, this seeking out the

purpose of life, is the reason why humanity has so many faiths, so many

cultures, and so many philosophies.

 

For those of us who are followers of the Vedas, we come to understand

that the method our forebearers used to find the purpose of life is

through the practice of tapas. While our legends and folklore describe

tapas as involving sitting in a remote area, withdrawing our senses, and

going through great austerity, a more general understanding of the term

"tapas" is offered by our Acharyas. Tapas really describes a spirit of

inquisitiveness, a desire to learn from our Teachers, a contemplation on

what we have learned, and the initiative to put it into practical

application.

 

So, based on this, what is it that we are to learn? This will be

shared in my next posting.....

 

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan

Mohan