kali kAlakke smayugavilla - Ughabhoga -17/06 Aradhana of Sri Sripadarajaru

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Hare Srinivasa!

 

kAlE phalati surudrumam chiMtAmaNirapi yAchanedAtA

varShati sakalamabIShTam darshanamAtrAt shrIpAdarAja munIH

 

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Sri Sripadarajaru is a great saint of Madhvaparamapare(1412-1504). Sri Swarnavarna Theertharu is the sevent pontiff in the line of Sri Padmanabha Theertharu the direct disciple of SriMadhvacharayaru. Sri Sripadarajaru was the jewel who was spotted and polished by Sri Swarnavarna Theertharu . Even as a young lad while his great intellect was recognised , due to an ordinary encounter. It is said that once Sri Swarnavarna Theertharu was going from SriRangam towards Abbur to visit Purshotmma theertharu the gurugalu of Sri Brahmanya Theertharu. He was in a forest with his disciples and the entire group were wondering how much longer it was to Abbur.

 

It was just approaching dusk, when a young lad named Lakshmi Narayana was seen grazing some cows. Swamiji enquired of him regarding the distance to Abbur. He was surprised by the answer he got from one whom he had assumed to be a cowherd. Lakshminarayana the lad said, "Look at me, look at the cows around and then at the Sun. Now you will know how far Abburu is" . This riddle like answer surprised Swamiji and he immediately understood that this lad was not an ordinary lad but someone of extraoridnary intellect. Later with the help of Sri Purushottama Theertharu he managed to acquire Lakshminarayana as his disciple. He requested the parents of the lad to accompany his entourage to his base-Srirangam. He was given ashrama at a young age and became a great scholar even while a youth.

 

Sri Sripadarajaru is an avatara of Dhruva. His unique contibution to Dvaita philosophy is the inclusion of songs in prasie of the Lord sung in the common man's language-Kannada. Though Narahari Theertharu had already begun the tradition of singing in Kannada, it was Sripadarajaru who made it as a form of sadhana in daily life and popularised it . Until then all pujas had rituals which included stotras, parayanas of sanskrit based texts, poetry. The following text is in Kannada font and may not appear properly if you don't have Baraha installed. Please refer to text in English.

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kalikAlakke sama yugavillavayya

kaluSha harisi kaivalyavIvudayya

sale nAmakIrtane smaraNe sAkayya

smarisalu sAyujya padavIvudayya

balavaMta shrIraMgaviTTalana nenedare

kaliyugave kritayugavAvudayyA

Sri Sripadarajaru in his sincere attempt to highlight the benefits of Kaliyuga has given us the gist of its benefits and ease of implementation of a simple solution to cure the ills of samsaara, in this small ugabhogha.

Sri Sripadarajaru exhorts all human beings . He says, "The Kali age is the most important of all the four ages for Sadhakas. It is because the merit that is usually secured by severe austere practices in the other yugas can be secured by mere Namasmarana- recollection of His sacred Name, attributes, leelas. The impeller of this imperious Time too is the omnipotent Lord. Unfortunately many do not take this golden opprotunity and waste away thier lifetime in trying to acquire emphemeral pleasures.

 

He says , "There is no comparison to this Kaliyuga. It is because it has the ability to wash away the sins of a sincere seeker and bestow moksha. And the criterion for such a great benefit is just singing the nAma of Rangavittala while remebering the Lord's attributes and forms in the mind and using all our faculties to glorify Him. Such a shaDaMga seva causes total concentration which is a pre-requisite to fulfill the requirement of smaraNe. smaraNe means, unfailing, unbroken continuous rememberance of the Lord, with full interest and concentration. One uses all of the faculties for knowledge and thinks of the Lord as described in the Shastras and Puranas. By singing or listening to Devurunamas sung with raga, tala, laya one can engross oneself in the contemplation of the Lord. Sripadarajaru says,"If one can conteplate on the

balavaMta raMGa vittala- meaning the all powerful, omnipotent Lord then this yuga is like kritayuga."

 

Why should Dasaru compare these two yugas or make one as the same as the other when there is vast difference in the abilities of people in the times and also of the times themself ?

 

The reason is that Krita yuga is the yuga where satva guna pre-dominates creation. All mukthi yogya jivas have their hearts turned towards pure knowledge and the Lord. During that age there is very less external influence on the mind and it is pure and calm . The spiritual sadhana of the people of these times is very strict and disciplined. They are fully aware of the Lord's compassion and grace on them and understand that they have to do sadhana rather than enjoy life on earth for its paltry pleasures. In otherwords most the satwic souls in Krithayuga are alert and aware of the purpose of life- to seek knowledge about the Lord. And they make full use of the instructions given in the Vedas and perform Dhyana of the Lord as instructed to please the Lord.

 

Such a kind of discipline, austere penance is unthinkable for a normal human being in Kali age. But the fact is that that Satwa guna should be pre-dominently acting on our faculties for acquiring knowledge, as well as on our mind and intellect in order to gain knowledge .

Lord Krishna states this explicitly in the Bhagavad Gita 14.17

satvAtsanjAyate jNAnam rajaso lObha eva

pramAdamohou tamasoO bhavatOajNAnamaeva cha ||

"Stawa guna brings worldly and divine knowledge, Rajo guna makes one hanker after heavenly happiness and Tamo guna moves the jiva to become careless, confused and ignorant."

 

So Sri Sripadarajaru says if we want Satwa to reign on our faculties so that we can quest after knowledge and use this life for fulfilling its purpose then we should do nama smaraNe without stopping. Only then the environment for acquiring knowledge is establised in our mind which becomes purged of impurities. The impurities in the mind causes the knowledge that we may otherwise try to obtain to get dissipated.

One can understand this with a simple analogy. If one pours fresh, pure milk into a dirty vessel then it is certain that the milk will become spoilt. Within the limations of this example, one should try to understand that the impure mind only cannot retain the correct knowledge.

 

Only a pure mind can hold on to the knowledge that the jiva is trying to acquire. Retention of knowledge is a must for contemplation ,so Namasmarane is a must for purification of the mind and to make namasmarana a constant habit we need to have constant association with the names of the Lord .

So one has to chant, we have to listen, listen and listen to songs glorifying Him to narrations of His leela and then chant .One also needs to place complete trust in the words of Dasaru who says that redemption is sure to come to those who do this . We have to place our faith in the Lord and continue to do smarane with the anusandhana that He is the controller of Time and will bestow everything that is due to us at the right Time.

Just chanting the names outwardly without the mind being involved will not have the same effect. To indicate that there is need for complete involvement Dasaru uses the words, 'smaraNe' and 'balavantha'.

We have already discussed smaraNe earlier .The name 'balavantha' for the Lord signifies that the right knowledge about the Lord should be acquired after which such smarane if done, will yeild the benefits of mukthi. Now if we analyse what does this name refer to we find that Balavantha is one who is very powerful,extremely powerful, this means He can accomplish anything instantly means He is omnipotent- pUrNa aishwarya. If he omnipotent He is the only independent being sarva swatantra and all others are dependent on Him for everything including thier own existence-stambhaH. Since He is the only independent being, He controls all actions of beings - sarva karma karta, sarva karma

sakshi,kartru If He controls things He should have a thorough knowledge about the entities He is controlling as well as be able to provide the environments and other accessories required by the entities to perform sadhana -pUrNajNanAtma. This means He provides the suitable environments for the sadhana-lOka palaka and it

goes on endlessly. So Sripadarajaru has hinted about the abundance of auspicious attributes which exists in the boundless Lord and has mentioned that smaraNe with this proper anusandhana will definitely lead the devotee to moksha , not otherwise.

 

Similar thoughts have been expressed by Purandara Dasaru in his devrurnama

kaliyugadalli harinaamava nenedare kulakOTigalu uddarisuvuvu

sulabhada mukthige sulabhavendenisuva jalaruhanAbhana nene manave

 

Sri Jagannatha Dasaru has written one whole sandhi in the Harikathamruthasaara explaining the efficacy of chanting the names of the Lord, remembering His glories . This Harikathamurtha's target audience is the pamaras of kaliyuga. He has distilled all the knowledge contained in the entire tatvavada of SriMadhvacharya and then expanded subtle concepts with explicit examples . So when and why one should recite is listed very clearly.

He has stated specifically all the occassions, all the places, times when and where one should chant. In effect Dasaru does not generalise by saying that one must remember the Lord always and chant His name always without any respite. Instead he lists all the possible of expereinces of emotions, joys, places and times and says one should recite the Lord's name at these junctures. If one observes keenly it makes a superset of entire human expereince. Such doubts about times,place of when to pray, when to chant the Lord's name etc do arise in the minds of the people in these times when tatva jNAna is not firmly in one's minds, so the foresight of Jagannatha Dasaru is laudable because it almost looks as if he has purposely answered all such questions.

makkalADisuvAga, maDadiyol akkaradi nalivAga haya pallaki

gajamOdalA vAhanagalEruvAga.....

..................... ............dEvakitnayana nenebutiha nara

sikkanu yamadootarige Avalli nODidaru

bikkuvAga AkalisuvAga,.......

saridu pravahadalli,divyAmbaradi putrAdiyali harshamarsha......

malaguvAgali EluvAgali kulitu matADuvAgali.... kelasagala mADutali...

AvakuladavanAdarEnu innAva dEshadol iddarEnu......

 

These are the different joyful expereinces with one's family. He lists all and says that one who remembers -Lord Krishna during all these times , such a person will never be in the clutches of Yamadootas. He says you may search all the puranas and texts for any examples to the contrary but you will never find such a thing and such a thing will never happen. All those who have the correct knowledge about the Lord and understand His sway on all thier expereinces and His supremacy in controlling all actions of all jivas,jadas and existence itself, such a one will be graced by the Paramatma.

In the Bhagavatham Devaki Devi extolls the just-born Lord Krishna and glorifies Him as the controller of TIME.

yOyaM kAlastasya tEavyaktabaMdhO cheshTAmAhushchEshTate yEna vishvam

nimeshAdirvatsarAMtO mahIyAMstaM tvashAnaM kshamadhAma prapadhye ||

Devaki Devi says, " O unmanifest Lord, who operates in a way so that all jivas are bestowed exactly with what is best for the realisation of their true destination, the wise proclaim thee as the motivator of the wheel of Life, as the supreme Master who controls Time. The smallest second or a smaller measure of time during which the wink of an eye takes place, as well as a whole year are all controlled by You and are subject to You. You are the prime benefactor of the devotees and are the bestower of eternal bliss. Those who are disinclined towards Three become deluded mainly because of You the Kalarupi Paramatama. The pretext of such ignorace is the heretic doctirnes but the actual buttons are pressed by You. So being aware of the fact that Time is unpredictable and unstoppable, I am anxious to seeks shelter in Thee, the seat of

security, the abode of welfare."

 

Following the advise of the saints and Dasarus of our lineage, one should put in the efforts as fas as possible to chant the Lord's name and at the same time think of Him as the Supreme power who grants everything to everyone and who is completely devoid of any defects eternally. At the same time, one should every remember that it is His grace that propels one to engage in all activities and to nothing can be done by the jiva without the Lord energising it and dedicate every epereince,every action at the lotus feet of the Lord.

 

srI krishNArpaNamastu

I am not the doer, Lord Hari is the doer

Whatever He makes me do is His worship by His grace

 

R.Parimala

 

 

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