geethA sAstramum nedunthAndaka sAstramum-13

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Sri Parthasarathi thunai

 

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

 

Sri Vara Vara munayE Namaha

 

Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha

 

 

 

How to come out of this cycle of life and death? This question lies in most of

our minds where to find the answer? Emperuman who has so much grace on us will

never leave us in darkness so he gifted us with the Vedas that alone can clear

all our doubts. Once Indra and virOchanan approached brahma and asked, " Please

let us know about the athma (nature of the soul)? " Brahma replied, " that which

you see with your eyes is the athma " . Virochanan accepted the same without any

further questioning and believed that the body visible to our eyes to be the

athma but Indra analysed a little deeper and came to brahma again and asked the

same question. Now brahma told him " consider your prAnan (breath) to be the

athma. Since the body has life only when there is inhalation and exhalation " .

Again Indra started to think and couldn't get satisfied. So he went back to

brahma and enquired. Brahma said, " consider your mind to be the athma " In this

way Indra refused to accept each time and kept on questioning brahma and finally

brahma told him the truth that the soul who is a seshan (servant) to the

emperuman and he who is jnanasvaroopan (personification of knowledge) is the

actual athma. So to learn the truth we have to analyse and not accept whatever

one says. The Vedas are the text that does these analyses in depth and provides

us all the final facts. Thirumangai azhvar feels his utmost gratitude towards

emperuman to have granted the Vedas with full mercy on each one of us. So

Azhvar next calls emperuman as (vEdam nAngAi) Oh! Lord the 4 vEdas are none

other than you yourself. Emperuman himself declares this as, " vedaischa

sarvai: ahamEva vEdhya: " (I am the prime topic of all the vedas and hence I am

well understood only through the sastras). Among the three accepted pramAnAs,

prathyaksham, anumAnam and sabhdham only the sabhdha pramAna (the Vedas) can

actually show us the paramatma.

 

 

 

But does the Vedas show only the paramatma Sriman Narayanan? No. It gives

references to number of devas and even states them to be the supreme. Not only

that the Vedas also specify a number of karmas and ways to attain the supreme.

Why are the Vedas not clear and why are they confusing? True. The Vedas do

talk about a variety of things. Why? That's because not all of us are equal in

knowledge and practice. Each one of us differs in different manner. Our

interests are different. Our understanding capacities vary. So the Vedas that

are common to all show different things suitable to different adhikAris

(categories of people). The same is done by our dear geethAcharyan also in his

divine bhagavat geetha where he talks about karma, jnana, bhakthi and prapaththi

yoga to suit different adhikaris (categories of people).

 

 

 

GeethAcharayan says in the second chapter,

 

" triguNya vishayA vEdA: nistraigunyO bhavArjuna I

 

nirdvanthvo nithya satvasthO niryOgakshEma AthmavAn II " (2-45)

 

 

 

(Oh! arjuna the Vedas say the good for people with all three gunas. But you can

climb a step higher. Overcome the doubles viz., joy and sorrow, hot and cold,

profit and loss, victory and defeat. Let your satva guna grow day by day. Leave

the yoga, effort in obtaining other objects other than the athmasvaroopam and

the kshemam, effort put in preserving the obtained objects and get involved with

the upliftment of the soul alone)

 

 

 

" yAvAnartha udhapAnE sarvadha: sampluthodhakE I

 

thAvAn sarvEshu vEdhEshu brAhmanAsya vijAnatha: II

 

 

 

(In a big river (water source) a person who is thirsty can drink only the

required amount of water similarly out of all the Vedas whichever part is

necessary for a vaidhikan/mumukshu he has to choose that much only. Not all

will be applicable to everyone.)

 

 

 

Now arjuna didn't really know which he has to choose and hence krishna himself

guides him in the next sloka:

 

 

 

" karmanyEvAdhikArasthE mApalEshu kadAchana I

 

mA karmapalahEdur bhoo: mA thE sankOstva karmani II "

 

 

 

(For a mumukshu like you, your concentration should be on your nithya naimithya

karmas but never think about the lowly results of svargam etc as your result to

be obtained. Don't consider yourself to be the reason for both the karma and

result. Don't get involved in not doing the karma that results in moksha)

 

 

 

In this manner geethAcharyan instructed arjuna the importance of karma yoga. In

this manner emperuman stands as the four vedas to show the right way to each one

of us so that all of us will get uplifted from this samsAram gradually. Karma

yoga is the first step that will lead to purification of our mind that will in

turn lead to Jnana yoga that will help us in attaining athma sAkshAtkaram

(knowing the soul) and then we will be able to indulge in the ultimate enjoyment

of the soul and permanently mediate on it. This is the crux of the first six

chapters in geetha.

 

 

 

(To be continued)

 

 

 

Azhvar EmperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam

 

 

 

Adiyen ramanuja dAsee

 

Sumithra Varadarajan