Srimath Andavan's 21st Chaturmasya Sankalpam

[Guest guest]

Sri: Srimate Rangaramanuja Mahadeshikaya NamahaSome images taken during Srimath Andavan's 21st Chaturmasya Sankalpamat Sripuram, Bangalore:

http://www.pbase.com/svami/srimath_andavan_sankalpamThe following article was translated by Sri Shyamsundar Srinivasan in 2002

from the original Tamil that had appeared in the Sri Ranganatha Paduka magazine.Incidentally, Srimath Andavan had also observed that year's sankalpam in Sripuram.Note: The shloka recited by shishyas in Nagari reads:

निवसनà¥à¤¤à¥ सà¥à¤–ेनातà¥à¤° गमिषà¥à¤¯à¤¾à¤®à¤ƒ कृतारà¥à¤¥à¤¾à¤®à¥ ।

यथाशकà¥à¤¤à¤¿ च शà¥à¤¶à¥à¤°à¥‚षां करिषà¥à¤¯à¤¾à¤®à¥‹ वयं मà¥à¤¦à¤¾ ॥ Srimath Andavan thiruvadi,(-Shreyas) ------

Sri:

ChAturmAsya Sankalpam

 

A brAhman is called a ‘dvijan’ ie one with two births. Just like howUpAkarmA is considered very important for a brAhman, ChaturmAsyaSankalpam is considered very important for a SanyAsi (yathivara). Thenumber of chaturmAsya sankalpams observed by a yathivara is used a

measure of a sanyAsi’s age in thuri-Ashramam (i.e. after becoming asanyAsi) and not his actual age. Our shAstras require that if ayathivara who is of older age meets a younger yathivara who has observedmore chaturmAsya vrathams, the older yathivara should prostrate in front

of the younger yathivara. This is because the number of chAturmAsyavrathams observed by the younger yathivara is more than the olderyathivara and hence is considered elder in position.In the 4 months of Aavani, Purattasi, Aippasi and Karthigai, it normally

rains heavily in India. This helps in enormous procreation of manyinsects and other tiny living creatures in the soil during this rainyseason. Because they are everywhere on the ground, they are harmedimmensely by the people treading upon them and even gets killed. As

Thiruvalluvan beautifully summarizes the yathi dharmam in a KuraL: "uRRanOy nORRal Uyir KurugaN Seyyamai, aRRe thavathiR guru" about a sanyasi'sdharma, the sanyAsis have undertaken an “ahimsa dharmam†towards all

living beings, they avoid any harm to these insects and worms bystopping all sanchAram in these months and by taking a vow to stay inthat place for this 4 month period. This vow is called ChAturmAsyaSankalpam.

There is a veda vAkyam which says “pakshA vai mAsA:†i.e. a paksha (15days) can be considered as a month. Since it is very difficult nowadaysfor yathis to stay in a place for 4 months due to their sishyas wishes

for their achArya to undertake sanchAram constantly and reach out tothem, the sankalpam is nowadays undertaken by yathivaras for 4 pakshamsi.e. 2 calendar months instead of 4 calendar months. This vratham isgenerally started on the Pournami following Aani- AmAvAsyai and

completed on the Pournami day following Aavani-AmAvAsyai.On the day of the beginning of this vratham, the yathivaras completetheir nithya karmas and bhagavadh arAdhanam. A small piece of soily landwill be consecrated and purified with AvAhanam and aradhanam to Sri

Boovaraha Perumal and Sri Bhoomi Piratti. Sishyas will congregate inthis place and chant Bhoo sooktha veda parayanam during the aradhanam.After the ArAdhanam, the achArya yathivara will collect this soilhimself required for their anushtAnams during the period of the

vratham. After this, the yathivara will undergo thirumudi viLakkam(shave), will have bath and then perform special aradhanam again. Afterthe ArAdhanam, yathivara will be joined by all the sishyas in recitingpancha shanthi. After the completion of this veda parayanam, both the

AchArya and his sishyas will undertake a sankalpam (vow). First theAchArya will say“AashAda PournamAseem Arabhya bhAdrapada PournamAsi paryanthamChaturmAsya vratham sthAsyeâ€meaning “I undertake this chaturmAsya vratham from Aadi Pournami till

Aavani Pournamiâ€After the Acharya undertakes the chAturmAsya sankalpam with the abovewords, the sishyas gathered will tell the AcharyA the following verse“Nivasanthu sukhenAthra gamishyAmaha kruthArthathAm !

YathAsakthi cha sisrooshAm karishyAmO vayam mudha !!â€meaning “You (the AchArya) please kindly stay in this place with allhappiness and bless us for an opportunity to serve you. We vow to serveyou to the best of our abilitiesâ€

The significance of starting the sankalpam on Aashada Pournami is thatit is celebrated as the avathAram day of the great sage VyAsa whoorganized the Apourusheya Vedas into 4 major sections.(Rig: 1131 Sakhas

or Recensions divided into Rig (21 sakhas), Yajur: 101 sakhas, Sama:1000 sakhas and Atharvana Veda: 9 sakhas); wrote the Brahma Sutras (555Sutras); wrote 18 Maha Puranas which includes Srimath BhAgavatham(Brahma Purana, Padma Purana, Bhagavata Purana, Siva Purana, Skanda

Purana, Garuda Purana, Brahmanda Purana etc. Of these 18, Vishnu Puranawas wrote by Vysacharya's father Parasaracharya, but was edited andpresented by Vyasa). He is also celebrated as “VyAsAya vishnu rupAya

vyAsa rupAya vishnave†in Vishnu Sahasranam and by our Swami Desikan as“mey alladhu viLambhadha vyAsan kAttum vilakillA nan neRiyE viRaindhuselveerâ€. Such is the great significance of this chAturmAsya sankalpam

day. In someOn this day, let us pray the divya dhampathis to bless us all bygranting all our AchAryAs with many more chaturmAsya sankalpams andbless them to guide us all to serve Sriman Narayana with nithya

kaimkaryam. ------

[Guest guest]

Sri: Srimate Rangaramanuja Mahadeshikaya NamahaThe video highlights are available in the following link. This includes Bhoomi Devi-Varahar aradhanam, Mrith sangraham, complete Pancha-Shanti japam (Yajur and Sama), the main Sankalpam and Srimath Andavan's Anugraha bhashanam. http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=31D8AE040C99CA6BSrimath Andavan tiruvadi,(-Shreyas)Shreyas Sarangan <saranganandavan ; enthralling_archa ; Sent: Wednesday, July 8, 2009 10:33:06 AM Srimath Andavan's 21st Chaturmasya Sankalpam

 

Sri: Srimate Rangaramanuja Mahadeshikaya NamahaSome images taken during Srimath Andavan's 21st Chaturmasya Sankalpamat Sripuram, Bangalore:

http://www.pbase.com/svami/srimath_andavan_sankalpamThe following article was translated by Sri Shyamsundar Srinivasan in 2002

from the original Tamil that had appeared in the Sri Ranganatha Paduka magazine.Incidentally, Srimath Andavan had also observed that year's sankalpam in Sripuram.Note: The shloka recited by shishyas in Nagari reads:

निवसनà¥à¤¤à¥ सà¥à¤–ेनातà¥à¤° गमिषà¥à¤¯à¤¾à¤®à¤ƒ कृतारà¥à¤¥à¤¾à¤®à¥ ।

यथाशकà¥à¤¤à¤¿ च शà¥à¤¶à¥à¤°à¥‚षां करिषà¥à¤¯à¤¾à¤®à¥‹ वयं मà¥à¤¦à¤¾ ॥ Srimath Andavan thiruvadi,(-Shreyas) ------

Sri:

ChAturmAsya Sankalpam

 

A brAhman is called a ‘dvijan’ ie one with two births. Just like howUpAkarmA is considered very important for a brAhman, ChaturmAsyaSankalpam is considered very important for a SanyAsi (yathivara). Thenumber of chaturmAsya sankalpams observed by a yathivara is used a

measure of a sanyAsi’s age in thuri-Ashramam (i.e. after becoming asanyAsi) and not his actual age. Our shAstras require that if ayathivara who is of older age meets a younger yathivara who has observedmore chaturmAsya vrathams, the older yathivara should prostrate in front

of the younger yathivara. This is because the number of chAturmAsyavrathams observed by the younger yathivara is more than the olderyathivara and hence is considered elder in position.In the 4 months of Aavani, Purattasi, Aippasi and Karthigai, it normally

rains heavily in India. This helps in enormous procreation of manyinsects and other tiny living creatures in the soil during this rainyseason. Because they are everywhere on the ground, they are harmedimmensely by the people treading upon them and even gets killed. As

Thiruvalluvan beautifully summarizes the yathi dharmam in a KuraL: "uRRanOy nORRal Uyir KurugaN Seyyamai, aRRe thavathiR guru" about a sanyasi'sdharma, the sanyAsis have undertaken an “ahimsa dharmam†towards all

living beings, they avoid any harm to these insects and worms bystopping all sanchAram in these months and by taking a vow to stay inthat place for this 4 month period. This vow is called ChAturmAsyaSankalpam.

There is a veda vAkyam which says “pakshA vai mAsA:†i.e. a paksha (15days) can be considered as a month. Since it is very difficult nowadaysfor yathis to stay in a place for 4 months due to their sishyas wishes

for their achArya to undertake sanchAram constantly and reach out tothem, the sankalpam is nowadays undertaken by yathivaras for 4 pakshamsi.e. 2 calendar months instead of 4 calendar months. This vratham isgenerally started on the Pournami following Aani- AmAvAsyai and

completed on the Pournami day following Aavani-AmAvAsyai.On the day of the beginning of this vratham, the yathivaras completetheir nithya karmas and bhagavadh arAdhanam. A small piece of soily landwill be consecrated and purified with AvAhanam and aradhanam to Sri

Boovaraha Perumal and Sri Bhoomi Piratti. Sishyas will congregate inthis place and chant Bhoo sooktha veda parayanam during the aradhanam.After the ArAdhanam, the achArya yathivara will collect this soilhimself required for their anushtAnams during the period of the

vratham. After this, the yathivara will undergo thirumudi viLakkam(shave), will have bath and then perform special aradhanam again. Afterthe ArAdhanam, yathivara will be joined by all the sishyas in recitingpancha shanthi. After the completion of this veda parayanam, both the

AchArya and his sishyas will undertake a sankalpam (vow). First theAchArya will say“AashAda PournamAseem Arabhya bhAdrapada PournamAsi paryanthamChaturmAsya vratham sthAsyeâ€meaning “I undertake this chaturmAsya vratham from Aadi Pournami till

Aavani Pournamiâ€After the Acharya undertakes the chAturmAsya sankalpam with the abovewords, the sishyas gathered will tell the AcharyA the following verse“Nivasanthu sukhenAthra gamishyAmaha kruthArthathAm !

YathAsakthi cha sisrooshAm karishyAmO vayam mudha !!â€meaning “You (the AchArya) please kindly stay in this place with allhappiness and bless us for an opportunity to serve you. We vow to serveyou to the best of our abilitiesâ€

The significance of starting the sankalpam on Aashada Pournami is thatit is celebrated as the avathAram day of the great sage VyAsa whoorganized the Apourusheya Vedas into 4 major sections.(Rig: 1131 Sakhas

or Recensions divided into Rig (21 sakhas), Yajur: 101 sakhas, Sama:1000 sakhas and Atharvana Veda: 9 sakhas); wrote the Brahma Sutras (555Sutras); wrote 18 Maha Puranas which includes Srimath BhAgavatham(Brahma Purana, Padma Purana, Bhagavata Purana, Siva Purana, Skanda

Purana, Garuda Purana, Brahmanda Purana etc. Of these 18, Vishnu Puranawas wrote by Vysacharya's father Parasaracharya, but was edited andpresented by Vyasa). He is also celebrated as “VyAsAya vishnu rupAya

vyAsa rupAya vishnave†in Vishnu Sahasranam and by our Swami Desikan as“mey alladhu viLambhadha vyAsan kAttum vilakillA nan neRiyE viRaindhuselveerâ€. Such is the great significance of this chAturmAsya sankalpam

day. In someOn this day, let us pray the divya dhampathis to bless us all bygranting all our AchAryAs with many more chaturmAsya sankalpams andbless them to guide us all to serve Sriman Narayana with nithya

kaimkaryam. ------