Guest guest Posted July 3, 2006 Report Share Posted July 3, 2006 Managing Oneself Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha ! Srimathe Vedhantha Desikaya Namaha !! Srimate Sri Lakshminrisimha Divyapadukasevaka Srivan Satakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya namaha !!! Dear Bhagavathas ! The writer , humbly , submits this article to the group , prepared , keeping in mind , the present situation of the modern youth in the world , some of whom , are probably not lucky enough so far , to have an exposure to these subjects . The article was written based on the details collected during the various lectures and upanyasams attended by the writer and also reading some of the books on the subject. While many may find it very elementary , it is hoped that , this article would be of use to some , within the appropriate audience . May Sriyapathi bless us all. Regards yours- Ramanuja Dasan G.Sampath. Managing Oneself When the whole world is talking of Managing an enterprise , managing other human race, managing natural and material resources etc. talking about ‘ managing oneself ’ may appear a bit strange . But , if one analyses in depth , one would note that , it is an important aspect in every one’s life . If we are able to achieve this effectively , instead of efficiently , then we all would have managed all things in this universe around us , very satisfactorily . All our current problems are attributable to not managing our selves effectively. On the day of ‘ Peria Alwar’s ’ Thirunakshatram , falling on the 6th July ( Tamil month of Aani, Swathi Thirunakshatram ) , it would be a befitting tribute to the Alwar , if we are able to do some introspection within and work out a methodology of ‘ managing our own self’. For, Vishnu Chittar alias Pattarpiran got his name changed to ‘Peria Alwar’, by the will of Almighty , since he became the father in law of Sri Ranganathar of SriRangam through the wedlock of his foster child Sri Andal ( an avatar of Bhoomadevi ) to Sri Ranganathar . Also he did ‘Mangalasasanam ’ to Thirumal . When alwar was taken in procession in the streets , on a decorated elephant , by the Pandian King Vallabadevan , to celebrate the victory of Alwar in establishing the supremacy of Sriman Narayanan as the only Paramathma and when Sriman Narayanan Himself appeared in the sky , sitting on the Garuda along with His consorts , Perialwar did not want evil eyes to be cast on the Paramathma. Hence he did this ‘Mangalasasanam ’. Normally , only the elders would do the blessings to the younger ones for their welfare and longevity . But by doing this , Perialwar established a new tradition in the Srivaishnava community. He did it out of his utter devotion and outflowing affection to the Lord Sriman Narayanan , arising out of pure ‘ Gjnam ’about the Lord coupled with true ‘ Bakthi ’. Manavala Maamunigal , in his ‘ Upadesa rathnamala ’ , brings out this aspect very vividly. So also Swami Desikan , in his Vyakyanam on ‘ Thirupallandu ’ . In view of this ‘ Thirupallandu’ , the mangalasasana Divya prabandam gifted to us by Perialwar , is being compulsorily sung in all temples and rituals in the Sriivaishnava Sampradayam , during the Thirumanjanam time of the Lord . In our Visistadvaitha philosophy , we strongly believe that every ‘Jeevathma ’, who becomes eligible to attain ‘ Makshaprapthi ’ is blessed with a ‘ Saamyapatthi ’ state , i.e , he acquires all the Thirukalyanagunas of the Lord and enjoys the company of the Lord along with Him. This is what Sri Andal ( foster daughter of Perialwar ) prayed for , in her 28th verse in the ‘ Thiruppavai ’ and did total Saranagathi to ‘Sri Krishna ’ in the 29th verse. She learnt these principles during her association with her father Perialwar . Perialwar did the ‘ Pushpa kainkaryam ’ to the Lord Vatapathrasaayee in Srivilliputhur in Tamil Nadu by maintaining an exclusive ‘ Nandavanam ’ for the Lord , a great enviable Kainkaryam one would like to do to the Almighty. He concentrated on this activity , with full devotion to the Lord, instead of concentrating on worldly material pleasures induced by ‘ Maya ’ . Thus he evoked true ‘ Bakthi ’ in him about the Lord , developing ‘ Saathvik’ Gunas’ , a process of managing his mind and thus his Self. It would be interesting to note the following statistics. As a child , we all laugh on an average , about 400 times a day. During our adolescent period , we laugh 17times a day . When we grow up , we laugh only 2 to 3 times a day . Still we all call laughter as the best medicine . In this modern times , we do have special classes and courses to teach us how to laugh and keep ourselves happy. This only shows to prove how much we all have lost our value systems in life . It is a known fact that, smile costs nothing. So The best way to find a smile is , to give one away .It is a contagious one. There is a saying , when one smiles , the world smiles with you. But when one weeps , the person weeps alone. Keeping a smiling face mproves one’s personality a lot . For frowning , more number of body muscles have to work and strain themselves , where as for smiling there are no such strains involved. Hence it would be better for every one to keep a smiling countenance. Smile keeps one always in a happy state and look positive. It exhibits confidence in oneself.. Such a person is able to interact with any one effectively. Smile with sincerity, with your eyes and your face as well as your lips, and you'll naturally bring out the best in the people around you. When you come across a smiling face , automatically people around also becomes happy. Thus the happiness pervades and the place becomes an enjoyable one to live . I am sure , no one would like to be in a company where people are quite serious and frown at each other most of the time . It only increases the blood pressure of all around. Similarly if we go in detail , we would note that we have almost forgotten to develop in ourselves , certain basic Saathvik attributes , viz . Empathy, Compassion , Love , spirit of sacrifice, sincerity , dedication , self control , building up character and integrity , developing proper attitude, providing a proper leadership, Valuing other’s opinion, giving up ego centric desires , winning confidence of others , safe guarding our age old culture and religion etc. All these would come in handy , once we start managing our inner self effectively . We all do our routine physical exercises to take care of our body and to lead an active life, only to enjoy the materialistic pleasures , created by ‘ Maya ’, of this mundane world.We do not for a minute think of the ‘ Antharyami ’ ( Paramathma ) inside us and do not take any actions to cleanse our inner mind . We allow ourselves to be led and controlled by our Indriyas , only to enjoy the fruits of life in this mundane world . We are allowing all the time , to develop in us only ‘Tamasic’ and ‘Rajasic’ Gunas and never bother to develop ‘Saathvik ’ Gunas , which is the basic essential thing for the ‘Antharyami ’ to become active within us. Let us not forget Sriman Narayanan is the only ‘ Suddha sathvam’ and if we have to attain ‘ Saamyapatthi’ with the Lord , we also should have only ‘Saathvik ’ Gunas within us. This can be achieved only by Managing our inner self as was done by the Alwar. Thus Spirituality in us and spiritual sadhana can help us to introspect within us and realize our true self , to enable us to handle ourselves and things around us in a better way. India is a pioneer in the knowledge of Spirituality . Still we are all struggling in life . We have all inherited the wrong things from the East and West under the pretext of modernization and development . We have made our lives on this earth , more materialistic and miserable compared to the times of our forefathers . We have lost all value systems in life in the bargain. So , we should take corrective steps , forthwith, by trying to look into our selves and develop all the ‘Saathvega ’gunas within us . Then we will be able to manage our inner selves better like the Alwars and can hope to make our Saranagathi to Lord Sriman Narayanan , a fruitful one. Alwar Thivadigale saranam ! Sarve Jana Sukhino Bhavanthu ! Yours , Adiyen Ramanuja dasan G.Sampath. India Answers: Share what you know. Learn something new Click here Catch all the FIFA World Cup 2006 action on India Click here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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