Brahma muhurtha.

[Guest guest]

This article was posted in a SriVaishnava conference .

 

 

Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

 

 

The Early Bird

 

 

 

“Please, five more minutes!”—this is the standard request I hear from my son

and daughter, whenever I wake them up in the morning. And when they say five

minutes, you shouldn’t take it literally and expect them to be up and about

after three hundred seconds. One block of five minutes naturally leads to

another and before the kids actually get up, it is anywhere from 25 to 30

minutes from the time they were woken up. I am sure that my experience is

not unique and must be shared by many a parent. Though we expect our

children to rise and shine early in the morning, they invariably tend to

disagree, reluctant to forego their beauty sleep.

 

 

 

When you come to think of it, this disinclination for early rising is not

confined to children—many adults too are equally guilty. “Guilty!—is that

the correct word to use for merely enjoying a few more minutes or hours of

sleep!” I hear you saying. Well, I leave you to decide for yourself, after

going through the following.

 

 

 

Coming back to getting up early, many of us tend to wake up only when the

sunlight falls on our face, forcing us to open our eyes and blink. Yet

others wake up when the milkman sounds his bell, while some sleep on,

oblivious to the chirping of birds or to the shrill tones of the proverbial

cock, heralding the imminent sunrise. (Incidentally, it is quite some time

since I heard a cock—the urban environs appear to have taken a toll on this

species too, which used to faithfully function as an effective alarm system,

waking us up in time). In any case, even if a dutiful alarm clock were to

emit loud rings, we are accustomed to snuggling back into the bedcovers

after stifling its strident tones. Somehow, the hours and minutes just

before our waking appear to be especially precious and we are prone to

resent any intrusion into our slumber more at those times than at others.

Like the “Maamaan magal” in Tiruppavai, who is loathe to leave her bed of

swan feather_-(“Toomani maadatthu suttrum vilakku eria, dhoopam kamazha

tuyilanai mel kan valarum maamaan magale!”), we too are deep in slumber in

our comfortable beds, with a “Good Knight” battling valiantly to drive away

mosquitoes.

 

 

 

“Kousalya supraja! Rama! Poorvaa sandhyaa pravartate

 

Uttishtta nara saardoola! Kartavyam daivam aahnikam”

 

 

 

This is a slokam from Srimad Ramayanaam, with which all of us are

familiar—so much so that in cinemas and TV serials, this couplet finds a

place whenever daybreak is depicted. It is Visvaamitra Maharshi who utters

this slokam, urging the young Sri Rama, who is sound asleep, to rise and

shine, the time for performance of morning prayers being at hand. (My son

murmurs with indignation, “So, it appears to be an age-old practice for

elders to torment kids, forcing them to get up at unearthly hours!”). The

point is that Visvaamitra attaches so much importance to early rising, that

he doesn’t mind waking up the obviously tired Sri Rama, whom he

(Visvaamitra) had taken by walk all the way from Ayodhya into the

inhospitable forests, paying scant attention to the Prince’s tender years

and the creature comforts to which He was accustomed. We are faced with a

question—Why? Why should the Rishi urge the young Prince to rise early,

knowing full well that the latter must have been tired by the long journey

by foot?

 

 

 

As in everything else, here too, Srimad Ramayanam is a guide book for human

conduct, telling us how we ought to live our lives.

 

 

 

The Shastras are emphatic that barring invalids, all others ought to be up

and about pretty early in the morning. What exactly does “early morning”

mean?

 

 

 

The day is divided into eight “Yaamaas”, each consisting of 3 hours, four of

them accounting for Day and the remaining four constituting the Night.

However, half of the first Yaama of the night and the latter half of the

fourth Yaama of the night are counted along with the day, which really

leaves the Night with just three Yaamas. Thus the last part, of the last

Yaaama of the night, roughly corresponding to around 4.30 a.m., is the ideal

time prescribed for our rising. This is the auspicious hour known as the

“Braahma Muhoortam” --“Yaaminyaa: charamo yaama: Braahma eerita:”. It is at

this hour that we should rise, say the Smritis—“Braahme muhoorte utthaaya”.

 

 

 

What is so special about this “Braahma Muhoortam”, I hear you enquire. The

Smriti Ratnaavali, a comprehensive compendium of rules for good conduct,

tells us that this hour belongs to the Deities. Devas and Pitru devataas

visit our homes at this auspicious hour, says the Smriti. When we have

distinguished visitors, it is only courteous on our part to be up and about.

The Smriti is very specific that these celestial visitors deem it a great

insult if we remain in bed, with predictable consequences. In fact, the

Smriti goes to the extent of terming such a home, where the residents are

asleep at the Braahma Muhoortam, as a “Smasaanam” (burial ground). In a

rather wholesale condemnation of sound sleepers who know not what sunrise

is, the Smriti calls them permanently impure and ineligible to undertake any

vaidika karma. We may well slumber on irrespective of sunrise, but we do it

at the risk of all our merits (Punyam), accumulated through lifetimes of

good deeds, being destroyed. Such inconsiderate slumber is considered not

merely a minor misdemeanour, but a veritable sin, warranting atonement or

Praayaschittam. One who sleeps on beyond sunrise (known as an “Abhyudita”)

can wash off the sin only through Gayatri Japam for the whole day, while

remaining on fast. Failure to atone in such a fashion leads to accumulation

of great “Paapam”, says Manu.

 

 

 

Aapasthamba Maharshi adds to the difficulty of the aforesaid Praayaschittam,

by saying that it should be done while on one’s feet—no sitting or lying

down is permitted during the entire day, which is to be spent in Gayatri

Japam and fasting.

 

 

 

Frightening, isn’t it? And all for merely sleeping! Well, we must keep in

mind that Shastras are guidebooks fashioned by our kind Lord, indeed His

helping hand, extended for lifting us up from the mundane morass—“magnaan

uddharate lokaan kaarunyaat Shastra paanina”. Shastras are indeed the voice

of the ever-merciful Emperuman, enunciated through venerated seers, to guide

us in this world and others. As such, the Shruti and the Smritis have

nothing but extreme benevolence towards us-- all that they say are indeed

for our good, even if some of their injunctions may sound unpalatable and

inconvenient. Remember, medicine may be bitter, but it cures us of our ills.

 

 

 

And it is not only what the Smritis lay down, but is also what the Doctor

ordered. Ask any doctor, and he will list for you the advantages of early

rising. The mind and body are fresh and compliant and the hour is extremely

conducive to all good deeds. The Biological Clock which nature has endowed

us with at birth, comes with the alarm set to the early morning hours. It is

hence natural for us to get up before sunrise. Our body and mind are

designed to function at their peak during the early morning hours—if a

survey of inventions and discoveries is undertaken, I am sure we would find

that many of the sparks, which ignited the ideas, occurred during the wee

hours of the morning. And as the day wears on, so do our strength and mind

power, till they reach their nadir at night, when rest is prescribed in the

form of sleep. With peace and quiet reigning within and without, isn’t the

early morning the ideal time for all creative work? Only those who have

savoured the pre-dawn serenity would be able to appreciate the beauty of the

hour and its conduciveness to all endeavour, especially spiritual.

 

 

 

The references in Tiruppavai to early rising are numerous and noteworthy. Of

these, the most poignant is “Chittram chiru kaale vandu unnai sevitthu”. The

venerated commentators wax eloquent on the auspiciousness of the Braahma

Muhoortam, as signified by the words, “Chittram chiru kaale”. They point out

that it is this time of the day/ night which is ideally suited for

worshipping the Lord, as it is then that all the noble qualities of man come

to the fore. Sri Nammazhwar too advocates paying obeisance to Emperuman in

the wee hours of the morning—“Kaalai nal gnaanatturai padindu aadi”.

 

 

 

With all these in favour of early rising, is it a wonder that all the

Smirtis exhort us to be early birds? Admittedly, before it becomes a habit,

early rising does tend to torment one, the natural instinct being not to

relinquish the comfortable warmth of the bed—however, once we brave the

first few days, grit our teeth and get up at the golden hour, once we

experience fully what it has to offer in terms of peace, tranquility,

productivity and concentration, once we restore our biological clock to its

original settings, the elation you experience is a commensurate reward for

your efforts. Clarity of thought, creative sparks, good resolutions and

spiritual inclination—all these automatically follow, when you rise early.

Even black swallows get up early, so why not we human beings, hints Sri

Andal—

 

“Kaalai ezhundirundu karia kuruvi kanangal

 

Maalin varavu solli marul paadudal meimmai kolo!”

 

 

 

For those who are still loathe to leaving their bed, all that we can do is

to despair, along with Sri Kodai Naachiar—“Elle! Ilam Kiliye! Innam

urangudiyo!”, stopping short of Her more uncomplimentary epithet, “Pey

Penne!”.