Lend Me Your Ears!

December 9, 2008

Srimate

SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

Lend Me Your Ears!

I had gone to Tiruppullaani

recently for a holy dip in the sea there, for the coveted Sethu Snaanam, which

is supposed to wash off all our sins. In view of my prolific and repeated

commission of all types of apachaaram,

I normally undertake Sethu Snaanam annaully,

as a measure of periodical purification. The sands of Tiruppullanai, being the

scene of Vibheeshana's famous Sharanagati, reinforce the faith in our hearts

that however serious be our misdemeanours, the Lord would surely forgive us as

enunciated in His solemn undertaking proclaimed that distant day on the same

sea shore—"Mitra bhaavena sampraaptam na tyajeyam kathanchana—dosho

yadyapi tasya syaat, sataam etat agarhitam". So, if there is genuine regret

for our various sins of omission and commission, Emperuman is ready to forgive

all our peccadilloes and afford us eternal bliss.

With the aforesaid thoughts coursing

through my mind, I pinched my nostrils and took several quick dips in the sea

off Tiruppullaani. I forgot, however, to shut my ears and as a result, a

liberal dose of sea water entered my right ear and from that moment onwards, I

was stone deaf in that ear. Remembering another episode of Sharanagati enacted

before Chakravartthi Tirumagan at Chitrakootam by the offending crow, whose

right eye was destroyed by the Brahmaastram as a token punishment for its

grievous sin against the Divine Mother, I wondered whether the loss of hearing

in my right ear too was an act of God, intended to chastise me in a similar

fashion. Subsequently, upon my return to Coimbatore and consultation with an

ENT specialist, my hearing was restored and is as good now as it ever was.

However, for almost a fortnight, I had a taste of what it is like not to be

able to hear. Whenever someone said something, I had to turn around so that my

functioning left ear was tuned to the conversation. This was enough to set me

off on a train of thought about the ear, the faculty of hearing and allied

matters.

An ignored Organ?

I feel the Ear is a rather

ignored part of the body. It hardly gets the same importance as, for instance,

our eyes, mouth or nose. We tend to think about or bother about our Ears, only

when something goes wrong with them. Poets, who wax eloquent while describing

the luminescent eyes or beautiful nose of the heroine, hardly devote a word to

her ears. Pages have been written about Cleopatra's nose, the enigmatic smile

of Mona Lisa and the bewitching eyes of this lady or that. However, elaborate

descriptions of the Ear, whether belonging to the male of female, are hard to

come across. When you really look into the Ear and its important function, you

find how vital the organ is and what an injustice is normally done to it.

Ears in Creation:

The importance of Ears in the

Lord's scheme of things is highly evident in the role played by them in the

process of Creation. The various directions—North, South, East, West and the

resultant four subsidiary directions-- all emanated from the Lord's ears, we

are told by the Purusha Sooktam—"Padbhyaam Bhoomi: Disa: shrotraat, tathaa lokaan akalpayan" It is significant

to note that the emergence of the directions from the Lord's Ears finds mention

right at the end of the passage portraying Creation, as a sort of climax, a

fitting finale to the drama of

Creation enacted by Emperuman. The association between the directions and

Emperuman's ears finds mention in Vishnu Sahasranaamam too—"Karnou aasaah: shiro dyou: mukhamapi dahana:

yasya vaasteyam abdhi:"

Prayer to the Ears:

It is the Lord's Ears that are

most helpful to humanity, says Swami Desikan in Sri Devanayaka Panchaasat. It

is the Ears that convey to the Lord the cries of suffering emanating from

samsaaris, leading to the Lord taking appropriate action for ridding people of

their plight. It is thus the ears, which are the place of birth for various

directions, more than any other part of the Lord's tirumeni, which are entitled

the most to adulation by us—

"Aahu: shrutim Vibudha Naayaka! Taavakeenaam

Aashaa gana prasava hetum adheeta vedaa:

Aakarnite tadeeyam aarta rave prajaanaam

Aashaa: prasaadhayitum aadisati svayam tvaam".

We

are told that during the Hayagreeva Avataaram, the Lord displayed His colossal

Cosmic form, in which the upper and lower worlds became His Ears, while

Bhoomi became His forhead, Ganga and

Saraswathi His two shapely eyebrows, the Sun and the Moon His two luminous eyes,

the Sandhya Devata His nostrils, Pithru devatas His teeth, Golokam and Brahma lokam

His upper and lower lips and kaalaraathri His neck.

Birthplace of Asuras!

One version has it that the asuraas Madhu and Kaitapa, who stole

the Vedas from Brahmaa, plunging him in misery, actually came out of

Hayagreeva's ears as two balls of ear wax. It would thus appear that the

asuraas were created by the Lord Himself, to rid Brahmaa of the venal pride of

being the Universal Creator.

The Lord's ears appear to be favourite places for asuras to

emerge from. And such asuras invariably appear to have the four-headed Brahmaa

as their target. In a tale explaining the origins and significance of the

Vaikuntta Ekaadasi, we are told that two asuraas, Lokan and Kantakan,

originated from the Lord's ears, to humble a Brahmaa who had become drunk with

the pride of being the Creator, having forgotten by whom the powers had been

bestowed on him. Duly chastised by the asuraas' onslaught, Brahmaa prayed to

the Lord to save him and the Lord battled with and destroyed the asuraas on a

Dhanur maasa shukla paksha Ekaadasi day. At the request of the asuraas, the day

came to be known as Vaikuntta Ekaadasi, and again at their request, Emperuman

agreed to grant liberation to all those entering the portals of the Vaikuntta

Dwaaram (Parama Pada vaasal) at

various temples on earth on that particular day.

Of interest to ladies:

Whether we treat our Ears as important or not, the Lord

considers them to be as important as His other body parts. This is evident from

His choosing various types of adornments for His ears. One of the numerous

jewels enumerated by Ramanuja as being worn by the Lord is the Makara Kundalam—beautiful ear rings

shaped in the form of graceful fish. The Lord is never without these Kundalams and His shapely ears always

sport these golden and gem-studded droplets. These Kundalams sway gracefully when He turns His majestic head this way

and that or when He walks, adding to His beauty, if such a thing is at all

possible.

The Lord's cheeks are bright and resemble reflective mirrors. The

diamond ear rings dangling from the Lord's ears are reflected in the

mirror-like surface of His cheeks, says Sri Narayana Bhattatri—

"Utthungollaasi naasam

Harimani mukhura prollasadh gandapaali-

vyaalolath karna paasaanjitha

makaramani kundala dhvandva dheepram"

A Flower in the Ear!

Sri Krishna, however, doesn't believe in artificial

embellishments. He wears a beautiful red flower in His shapely ear, says

Periyaazhwar—"Valam kaadil tondri poo

anindu". During His triumphant return in the evening from the forests after

grazing cattle, Krishna dresses Himself up with flowers, leaves, etc. and has a

red "arali" flower stuck stylishly on

His right ear. From the absence of any mention about what He was wearing in His

left ear, we may assume that the stylish Krishna was wearing flowers only in

one Ear, which too added to His beauty (the current practice of some youngsters

wearing a ring in one ear does not appear original, after all).

However, Kanna Piraan is quite innovative in His attire. If this

is how His ears are adorned one day, the very next day, He is to be found with

adornments in both His ears. This time too, there is no dull uniformity in His

dressing up—while He sports the red "arali"

in one ear, the other has a jauntily stuck piece of cloth—"Seelai kudambai oru kaadu, oru kaadu sennira mel tondri poo".

Presumably, when Krishna went to the fields in the morning,

Yasoda had decorated both His pierced ear lobes with pieces of red silk cloth.

However, in the horse play with the Yaadava children during the day, the cloth

stuck in one ear fell off. And rather than showing a bare ear, Krishna

preferred to pluck and stick in His empty ear a beautiful red "tondri" flower. However, nothing looks

asymmetric or unsuitable on Krishna—every manner of attire and adornment

eminently suits Him. Krishna looks so fetching in this attire that Yasoda

invites the whole world to come and witness the indescribable sight of the Lord

returning from His preferred occupation of grazing cows.

Boring the Ear

Krishna might wear beautiful makara

kundalams on His ears—but first His ears had to be pierced. As we all know

from experience, piercing the ear for the first time, when one is a baby, is an

extremely painful affair and all infants bawl out as if they are being

murdered, when the needle passes through the ear-lobe. While in the case of

most infants, they are just picked up, put on the uncle's lap and held fast

while the goldsmith pierces the ear with a swift insertion of the golden

needle, no such summary procedure is possible in the case of the Divineler. Yasoda coaxes, cajoles, persuades and pleads with Krishna to come and

have His ears bored and adorned with golden ear rings. Periazhwar describes

Yasoda's untiring efforts in this regard in all of thirteen paasurams,

beginning with "Poyppaadu udayaan".

It is interesting to note that against the normal quota of 10 paasurams+1 in

the other tirumozhis, the one dealing

with the ear-boring of Sri Krishna has 12+1, is set to the Andaadi style which is normally not adopted by Periazhwar, and has

one of the twelve holy names of the Lord (from Kesavan to Damodaran) embedded

in each paasuram—"Paaraar tol pugazhaan

Puduvai Mannan Panniru naamatthaal sonna aaraada andaadi pannirandu"

Again, we learn from Azhwar's paasuram—"Kundalam taazha kuzhal taazha naan taazha"—that the kundalams adorning Krishna's ears were

quite long and reached up to His shoulders, moving enchantingly in tandem with

His curly hair locks. Tirumangai Mannan is enthralled by the sight of the

Lord's long and beautiful ears, swaying gently along with pitch black locks—"Mai vanna narum kunji kuzhal pin taazha

Makaram ser kuzhai iru paadu ilangi aada"

The Emperuman at Tiruvaali hides Himself from Tirumangai Mannan,

who is desolate at the separation. And when the Lord reappears, it is the Makara Kundalams gracing His ears which

fall first on Azhwar's thirsting eyes—

"Ippaal kai valayum

mekhalayum kaanen

Kanden kana Makara kuzhai

irandum naangu tolum"

Even today, He is to be seen with long ear rings, at the

glorious divya desam of Tirupperai, where He sports the name of "Makara nedum kuzhai kaadar".

Appropriately, His Consort's tirunaamam here is Kuzhai Kaada Valli, because She too adorns Herself with enchanting

ear rings.

Hearing without Ears?

The Lord does indeed have beautiful ears: however, does He need them at all? While He affords us a glorious spectacle replete with enchanting eyes, ears, nose, etc.

, He doesn't really need the aid of these body parts, to perform the function of the respective faculties—the Paramaatma is able to hear even without ears, the Upanishad tells us-- " Apaani paadou javano griheetva pasyati achakshu: shrunoti

akarna: " . His divine will is enough for Him to perform any function.

"Hear no Evil!"

The Vishnu Sahasranaamam pays a special tribute to the Lord's

ears, with the aphorism, "Suchisravaa:".

While this tirunaamam has several

connotations, the principal one refers to the Lord as having beautiful and

divine ears. The Lord's ears are so beautiful that the very sight of them

affords infinite delight to devotees. Conversely, to those who suffer from His

separation, the thought of the beautiful ears alone, with the lovely kundalams dangling from them, is enough

to make the pangs of separation more painful and acute, says Sri Nammaazhwar-

"Uyvidam ezhayarkkum

asurarkkum arakkarkatkum

Evvidam endru ilangi

makaram tazhaikkum talir kol

Paivida Paamabanayaan

tiru kundala kaadugale

Kaividal ondrum indri

adugindrana kaanmingale"

Coming back to "Suchisravaa:",

Sri Bhattar tells us that the name means one who listens to words and sounds

that are pure and untainted. The Lord Himself tells Arjuna that He listens only

to words that are auspicious and pure and never to ones that are sinful and

therefore He is known as "Suchisravaa:"—

"Sucheeni Sraavaneeyaani srunomi

iha Dhananjaya!

na cha

paapaani grihnaami tatoham vai Suchisravaa:" (Mahabhraratam- Shanti Parvam).

According to Sankara, the name refers to the Lord whose holy

names and glories are extremely purifying for the ears.

--To be continued

Srimate Sri LakshmiNrisimha divya padukasevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra mahadesikaya nama:dasan, sadagopan

December 10, 2008

Respected Sir,

The article of yours asking to lend our ears was awesome..

As you had written, no one really takes care of the ears unless there arises a trouble with it..

It reminded me of my school days where we had learnt

one whole decad on 'the wealth of listening' from 'Thirukkural' by Thiruvalluvar.

To my surprise, i did not find any mention of it in your article..

Thanks

Subhashini

On Tue, Dec 9, 2008 at 7:09 AM, sadagopan iyengar <sadagopan.iyengar wrote:

Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

Lend Me Your Ears!

I had gone to Tiruppullaani recently for a holy dip in the sea there, for the coveted Sethu Snaanam, which is supposed to wash off all our sins. In view of my prolific and repeated commission of all types of apachaaram, I normally undertake Sethu Snaanam annaully, as a measure of periodical purification. The sands of Tiruppullanai, being the scene of Vibheeshana's famous Sharanagati, reinforce the faith in our hearts that however serious be our misdemeanours, the Lord would surely forgive us as enunciated in His solemn undertaking proclaimed that distant day on the same sea shore— " Mitra bhaavena sampraaptam na tyajeyam kathanchana—dosho yadyapi tasya syaat, sataam etat agarhitam " . So, if there is genuine regret for our various sins of omission and commission, Emperuman is ready to forgive all our peccadilloes and afford us eternal bliss.

With the aforesaid thoughts coursing through my mind, I pinched my nostrils and took several quick dips in the sea off Tiruppullaani. I forgot, however, to shut my ears and as a result, a liberal dose of sea water entered my right ear and from that moment onwards, I was stone deaf in that ear. Remembering another episode of Sharanagati enacted before Chakravartthi Tirumagan at Chitrakootam by the offending crow, whose right eye was destroyed by the Brahmaastram as a token punishment for its grievous sin against the Divine Mother, I wondered whether the loss of hearing in my right ear too was an act of God, intended to chastise me in a similar fashion. Subsequently, upon my return to Coimbatore and consultation with an ENT specialist, my hearing was restored and is as good now as it ever was. However, for almost a fortnight, I had a taste of what it is like not to be able to hear. Whenever someone said something, I had to turn around so that my functioning left ear was tuned to the conversation. This was enough to set me off on a train of thought about the ear, the faculty of hearing and allied matters.

An ignored Organ?

I feel the Ear is a rather ignored part of the body. It hardly gets the same importance as, for instance, our eyes, mouth or nose. We tend to think about or bother about our Ears, only when something goes wrong with them. Poets, who wax eloquent while describing the luminescent eyes or beautiful nose of the heroine, hardly devote a word to her ears. Pages have been written about Cleopatra's nose, the enigmatic smile of Mona Lisa and the bewitching eyes of this lady or that. However, elaborate descriptions of the Ear, whether belonging to the male of female, are hard to come across. When you really look into the Ear and its important function, you find how vital the organ is and what an injustice is normally done to it.

Ears in Creation:

The importance of Ears in the Lord's scheme of things is highly evident in the role played by them in the process of Creation. The various directions—North, South, East, West and the resultant four subsidiary directions-- all emanated from the Lord's ears, we are told by the Purusha Sooktam— " Padbhyaam Bhoomi: Disa: shrotraat, tathaa lokaan akalpayan " It is significant to note that the emergence of the directions from the Lord's Ears finds mention right at the end of the passage portraying Creation, as a sort of climax, a fitting finale to the drama of Creation enacted by Emperuman. The association between the directions and Emperuman's ears finds mention in Vishnu Sahasranaamam too— " Karnou aasaah: shiro dyou: mukhamapi dahana: yasya vaasteyam abdhi: "

Prayer to the Ears:

It is the Lord's Ears that are most helpful to humanity, says Swami Desikan in Sri Devanayaka Panchaasat. It is the Ears that convey to the Lord the cries of suffering emanating from samsaaris, leading to the Lord taking appropriate action for ridding people of their plight. It is thus the ears, which are the place of birth for various directions, more than any other part of the Lord's tirumeni, which are entitled the most to adulation by us—

" Aahu: shrutim Vibudha Naayaka! Taavakeenaam

Aashaa gana prasava hetum adheeta vedaa:

Aakarnite tadeeyam aarta rave prajaanaam

Aashaa: prasaadhayitum aadisati svayam tvaam " .

We are told that during the Hayagreeva Avataaram, the Lord displayed His colossal Cosmic form, in which the upper and lower worlds became His Ears, while Bhoomi became His forhead, Ganga and Saraswathi His two shapely eyebrows, the Sun and the Moon His two luminous eyes, the Sandhya Devata His nostrils, Pithru devatas His teeth, Golokam and Brahma lokam His upper and lower lips and kaalaraathri His neck.

Birthplace of Asuras!

One version has it that the asuraas Madhu and Kaitapa, who stole the Vedas from Brahmaa, plunging him in misery, actually came out of Hayagreeva's ears as two balls of ear wax. It would thus appear that the asuraas were created by the Lord Himself, to rid Brahmaa of the venal pride of being the Universal Creator.

The Lord's ears appear to be favourite places for asuras to emerge from. And such asuras invariably appear to have the four-headed Brahmaa as their target. In a tale explaining the origins and significance of the Vaikuntta Ekaadasi, we are told that two asuraas, Lokan and Kantakan, originated from the Lord's ears, to humble a Brahmaa who had become drunk with the pride of being the Creator, having forgotten by whom the powers had been bestowed on him. Duly chastised by the asuraas' onslaught, Brahmaa prayed to the Lord to save him and the Lord battled with and destroyed the asuraas on a Dhanur maasa shukla paksha Ekaadasi day. At the request of the asuraas, the day came to be known as Vaikuntta Ekaadasi, and again at their request, Emperuman agreed to grant liberation to all those entering the portals of the Vaikuntta Dwaaram (Parama Pada vaasal) at various temples on earth on that particular day.

Of interest to ladies:

Whether we treat our Ears as important or not, the Lord considers them to be as important as His other body parts. This is evident from His choosing various types of adornments for His ears. One of the numerous jewels enumerated by Ramanuja as being worn by the Lord is the Makara Kundalam—beautiful ear rings shaped in the form of graceful fish. The Lord is never without these Kundalams and His shapely ears always sport these golden and gem-studded droplets. These Kundalams sway gracefully when He turns His majestic head this way and that or when He walks, adding to His beauty, if such a thing is at all possible.

The Lord's cheeks are bright and resemble reflective mirrors. The diamond ear rings dangling from the Lord's ears are reflected in the mirror-like surface of His cheeks, says Sri Narayana Bhattatri—

" Utthungollaasi naasam Harimani mukhura prollasadh gandapaali-

vyaalolath karna paasaanjitha makaramani kundala dhvandva dheepram "

A Flower in the Ear!

Sri Krishna, however, doesn't believe in artificial embellishments. He wears a beautiful red flower in His shapely ear, says Periyaazhwar— " Valam kaadil tondri poo anindu " . During His triumphant return in the evening from the forests after grazing cattle, Krishna dresses Himself up with flowers, leaves, etc. and has a red " arali " flower stuck stylishly on His right ear. From the absence of any mention about what He was wearing in His left ear, we may assume that the stylish Krishna was wearing flowers only in one Ear, which too added to His beauty (the current practice of some youngsters wearing a ring in one ear does not appear original, after all).

However, Kanna Piraan is quite innovative in His attire. If this is how His ears are adorned one day, the very next day, He is to be found with adornments in both His ears. This time too, there is no dull uniformity in His dressing up—while He sports the red " arali " in one ear, the other has a jauntily stuck piece of cloth— " Seelai kudambai oru kaadu, oru kaadu sennira mel tondri poo " .

Presumably, when Krishna went to the fields in the morning, Yasoda had decorated both His pierced ear lobes with pieces of red silk cloth. However, in the horse play with the Yaadava children during the day, the cloth stuck in one ear fell off. And rather than showing a bare ear, Krishna preferred to pluck and stick in His empty ear a beautiful red " tondri " flower. However, nothing looks asymmetric or unsuitable on Krishna—every manner of attire and adornment eminently suits Him. Krishna looks so fetching in this attire that Yasoda invites the whole world to come and witness the indescribable sight of the Lord returning from His preferred occupation of grazing cows.

Boring the Ear

Krishna might wear beautiful makara kundalams on His ears—but first His ears had to be pierced. As we all know from experience, piercing the ear for the first time, when one is a baby, is an extremely painful affair and all infants bawl out as if they are being murdered, when the needle passes through the ear-lobe. While in the case of most infants, they are just picked up, put on the uncle's lap and held fast while the goldsmith pierces the ear with a swift insertion of the golden needle, no such summary procedure is possible in the case of the Divine Toddler. Yasoda coaxes, cajoles, persuades and pleads with Krishna to come and have His ears bored and adorned with golden ear rings. Periazhwar describes Yasoda's untiring efforts in this regard in all of thirteen paasurams, beginning with " Poyppaadu udayaan " . It is interesting to note that against the normal quota of 10 paasurams+1 in the other tirumozhis, the one dealing with the ear-boring of Sri Krishna has 12+1, is set to the Andaadi style which is normally not adopted by Periazhwar, and has one of the twelve holy names of the Lord (from Kesavan to Damodaran) embedded in each paasuram— " Paaraar tol pugazhaan Puduvai Mannan Panniru naamatthaal sonna aaraada andaadi pannirandu "

Again, we learn from Azhwar's paasuram— " Kundalam taazha kuzhal taazha naan taazha " —that the kundalams adorning Krishna's ears were quite long and reached up to His shoulders, moving enchantingly in tandem with His curly hair locks. Tirumangai Mannan is enthralled by the sight of the Lord's long and beautiful ears, swaying gently along with pitch black locks— " Mai vanna narum kunji kuzhal pin taazha

Makaram ser kuzhai iru paadu ilangi aada "

The Emperuman at Tiruvaali hides Himself from Tirumangai Mannan, who is desolate at the separation. And when the Lord reappears, it is the Makara Kundalams gracing His ears which fall first on Azhwar's thirsting eyes—

" Ippaal kai valayum mekhalayum kaanen

Kanden kana Makara kuzhai irandum naangu tolum "

Even today, He is to be seen with long ear rings, at the glorious divya desam of Tirupperai, where He sports the name of " Makara nedum kuzhai kaadar " . Appropriately, His Consort's tirunaamam here is Kuzhai Kaada Valli, because She too adorns Herself with enchanting ear rings.

Hearing without Ears?

The Lord does indeed have beautiful ears: however, does He need them at all? While He affords us a glorious spectacle replete with enchanting eyes, ears, nose, etc.

, He doesn't really need the aid of these body parts, to perform the function of the respective faculties—the Paramaatma is able to hear even without ears, the Upanishad tells us-- " Apaani paadou javano griheetva pasyati achakshu: shrunoti

akarna: " . His divine will is enough for Him to perform any function.

" Hear no Evil! "

The Vishnu Sahasranaamam pays a special tribute to the Lord's ears, with the aphorism, " Suchisravaa: " . While this tirunaamam has several connotations, the principal one refers to the Lord as having beautiful and divine ears. The Lord's ears are so beautiful that the very sight of them affords infinite delight to devotees. Conversely, to those who suffer from His separation, the thought of the beautiful ears alone, with the lovely kundalams dangling from them, is enough to make the pangs of separation more painful and acute, says Sri Nammaazhwar-

" Uyvidam ezhayarkkum asurarkkum arakkarkatkum

Evvidam endru ilangi makaram tazhaikkum talir kol

Paivida Paamabanayaan tiru kundala kaadugale

Kaividal ondrum indri adugindrana kaanmingale "

Coming back to " Suchisravaa: " , Sri Bhattar tells us that the name means one who listens to words and sounds that are pure and untainted. The Lord Himself tells Arjuna that He listens only to words that are auspicious and pure and never to ones that are sinful and therefore He is known as " Suchisravaa: " —

" Sucheeni Sraavaneeyaani srunomi iha Dhananjaya!

na cha paapaani grihnaami tatoham vai Suchisravaa: " (Mahabhraratam- Shanti Parvam).

According to Sankara, the name refers to the Lord whose holy names and glories are extremely purifying for the ears.

--To be continued

Srimate Sri LakshmiNrisimha divya padukasevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra mahadesikaya nama:

dasan, sadagopan

-- LoveSubhaI asked God, " How do I get best out of life? " God said, " Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence. And prepare your future without fear " .