NARAYANEEYAM Part-12

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Namaste. Sloka No. 34 (Ref. nArAyaNIyaM : 1 - 7):

kaShTA te sR^iShTi-ceShTA bahutara-bhava-khedAvahA jIva-bhAjAm-ity-evaM pUrvam-Alocitam-ajita mayA naivam-ady-AbhijAne /no cej-jIvAH kathaM vA madhura-taram-idaMtvad-vapush-cid-rasardraMnetraiH shrotraishca pItvA parama-rasa-sudh-Ambhodhi-pUre

rameran //

Tr. Oh Supreme Being! Once I thought that Thy creative activityis a tragic sport, as it inflicts various forms of suffering onembodied beings involved in the cycle of births and deaths, butnow I do not think so. For, if there were no creation and

therefore no embodied beings, who would have been there to revelin the ocean of unparalleled joy derived from the experience ofseeing this Form of Thine replete with Consciousness and ofhearing descriptions of Thy glory?

 

Comment. God 'descends' from His pedestal of perfection andassumes an imperfection in terms of a name and form so that wemortals may be guided from our extremities of imperfection ontothe path towards perfection. This descent of the Divine from its

divine pedestal is called an Avatara. The complete such Avatarais Krishna. What appears before us as a deity in the form of animage is not just an image but it is itself the personificationof that Transcendental Absolute. Such divine Images for worship

in temples are called 'archAvatAras' in Vaishnava theology.Great saints and seers (from Prahlada and Ambarisha of yoredown to Sage Ramakrishna of modern times) have actuallyexperienced the presence of the Absolute in such 'archAvatAras'.

 

Sloka No. 35 (Ref. nArAyaNIyaM : 1 - 1):sAndr-Anand-Avabodh-Atmakam-anupamitaM kAla-desh-AvadhibhyAM nirmuktaM nityamuktaM nigama-shata-sahasreNa nirbhAsyamAnaM /aspaShTaM dR^iShTa-mAtre punar-uru-puruShArth-AtmakaM

brahma-tattvaM tat-tAvad-bhAti sAkShAd-guru-pavana-pure hanta bhAgyaM janAnAM//

Tr. In the temple of Guruvayoor there shines in truth and inreality what appears at first to be a mere image but oncontemplation reveals itself to be the condensed essence ofConsciousness-Bliss – the veritable Brahman Supreme – who is the

ultimate end of all human endeavours, to whom there is nonecomparable, who is ever beyond the limitations of time andspace, who is eternally free, and whose nature the numeroustexts of the Vedas seek to reveal. Fortunate indeed, is mankind

(that such a manifestation of Divinity exists in its midst asthe image of Krishna)!

Comment. The Lord of Guruvayoor, is no distant exclusive deity.He is famous as the One deity accessible to all devout, ofwhatever condition and degree, learned and unlearned. Therituals performed daily and the many temple festivals, round the

year, all confirm this impression. There is a fascinatinglegend about the origin of rituals in the temple. For this, seemy separate posting entitled : 'Fascinating legend about Sankaraand Guruvayoor'.This first sloka of Narayaniyam has been hailed by many as

pregnant with meanings, devotional, philosophical and esoteric.Brahman Supreme is impersonal according to Upanishadic accountsbut Bhattatiri believes that it is also simultaneously personal.And because of this conviction he begins to rapturously pour

out, in the presence of that deity, his devotional thoughts thathave become the now-immortal poem. The very first word'sAndra' is notable. 'sAndra' means thick, dense, violent,intense, soft, bland; crowded with, full to the brim of. This

inimitable word is so powerfully expressive that Bhattatiri usesit very often. Not being derived from any other root word, itstands alone as an adjective by itself. In our selection of 36verses, it occurs in Sloka nos. 3, (the Gopis reached the

heights of bliss), 31 (full to the brim with consciousness), 33 (intensely brilliant with incomparable extreme bliss) and herein 36 (condensed essence of consciousness-bliss).In the beginning, that is, in the early stages on the spiritual

ladder, one does not see Him at all. Or, even if one happens tosee Him, the vision is all vague and diffuse. This is what theword 'aspaShTam dR^iShTa-mAtre' implies. The truth is not easilyperceived, because, everything is mixed up everywhere. 'nAhaM

prakAshas-sarvasya yoga-mAyA-samAvR^itaH' (Gita VII – 25) – Iam not manifest to all (as I am) veiled by the yoga-mAyA, saysthe Lord. That is why the initial pictures and images are allblurred, if at all. But if we persist in our sAdhanA, in our

pursuit of the search for Truth, He reveals Himself as our ownSelf. The word 'nitya-muktaM' (eternally free) is significant.The Almighty, by the very definition, is eternally free. Why wasit necessary to call Him eternally free? It is the self which is

mistakenly thought to be bound and needing release from bondage.So it is necessary to say of the self, that it is eternallyfree, it is in fact the Self that is nothing but theBrahman-principle (brahma-tatvaM).

 

Sloka No. 36 (Ref. nArAyaNIyaM : 1 - 2):evaM durlabhya-vastuny-api sulabhatayA hasta-labdhe yad-anyat tanvA vAcA dhiyA vA bhajati bata janaH kShudrat-aiva sphuTeyaM /ete tAvad-vayaM tu sthiratara-manasA vishva-pID-Apahatyai nishsheSh-AtmAnam-enaM guru-pavana-purAdhIsham-ev-AshrayAmaH //

Tr. But alas! What a pity that in spite of the easy availabilityof this rarest of blessings right on hand, human beings,prompted by their base nature, overlook it and pursue worldlyobjects with all the powers of their body, mind or intellect!

But we, devotees, however, shall, with unswerving devotion,serve the Lord of Guruvayoor, Sri Krishna, the soul of allbeings, for the total eradication of all the (physical andspiritual) woes of the world.

Comment. The word 'nishsheSha-aatmAnaM' means He is the Selfand there is nothing remaining. In other words He is the Self,period. This is the conclusion of advaita. The word'vishva-pIDApahatyai' is to be noted. Vishva-pIDA is the

disease of not recognizing vishvam (universe) as nothing but theLord Almighty. The cure for it is contained in 'neti neti'. Thevery universe which is visible to us in our sensory experienceshould remind us that the Absolute is neither this nor like

this. So vishvam has to be seen not as vishvam, but as theUltimate itself. That is why it is the very first word in Vishnusahasranama. Vishvam, with the meaning 'universe' really means'that which has entered', the root word being 'vish' to 'enter'.

In other words, the Almighty is in it, that is, it is immanentin it. This immanence in everything is the most importantconcept of Vedanta. More, it defines this most ancient religion:'God is everywhere; not only that, God is the ONLY ENTITY

everywhere'. Of course the ordinary meaning of vishva-pIDApahatyai isobvious. All the penance, all the rituals, all the worship –are all for the goal of the universal good of the universe. lokAs-samastAs-sukhino bhavantu

May the entire universe be happy.

(Concluded).I thank all the readers who have gone through this series ofpostings. My capsule summary of a gist of this series of 36verses is already available under the heading: 'Devotionvis-à-vis non-Duality a la Narayaniyam', at http://www.geocities.com/profvk/gohitvip/77.html=====Prof. V. KrishnamurthyMy website on Science and Spirituality is

http://www.geocities.com/profvk/You can access my book on Gems from the Ocean of Hindu ThoughtVision andPractice, and my father R. Visvanatha Sastri's manuscripts from thesite.-- dotcompals:

www.dotcompals.in .Org domain Nemes for just 2.5 USDKrishna PrasadDare to give up the comfort of the 'known' and venture into the 'unknown' The more we know, the more we will come to realize what we do not know.

If we want to achieve our true potential and live life to the fullest. As Poojya Gurudev said it, "Open your eyes. Burst your shell. Spread your wings and fly!"Swami ChinmayanandaHate not the sinner - hate the sin; and always hate the sin even with an excess of hatred. "