geethA sAstramum nedunthAndaka sAstramum-14

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Sri Parthasarathi thunai

 

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

 

Sri Vara Vara munayE Namaha

 

Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha

 

 

 

(VilakkoliyAi) Similar to the light of a lamp removing the outside darkness,

emperuman through the sastras destroys all our ignorance (inside darkness,

agnAnam). He with ultimate grace has bestowed the sAstras for the upliftment of

poor souls like us ( " vedAntha krith vEda vidEva chAham " ).

 

 

 

BrihadAranya upanishad says, " AthmAvA arE drushtavya: srOthavya: mandhavya:

nidhithyAsithavya: " That is first stage is the learning about the athma through

listening to what the sastras say. Then a person starts to analyse and think

about it. When we feel that the thought is good to us we start to meditate on

the divine qualities of the athma and finally we attain the athma sAkshAtkaram.

But in the above upanishadic verse, the order is a little different. It first

says drushtavya: that is to see or obtain athma sAkshAtkaram. Why? It is to

increase our interest to know. When I say the athma attains athma sAkshAtkaram

the next question will be how? Then the sruthi answers, first learn about it,

then do mananam (thinking) then meditate and finally you will visualise. Such

rearranging due to the importance of the meaning are seen in a few other places

also.

 

 

 

In one of his periya thirumozhi paasuram, thirumangai azhvar says " vAthamAmagan

markadam vilangu maRRorjAdhi " Here actually the paasuram should be read in the

reverse order. Rama showered his grace on a person who did not belong to his

clan (maRRorjAdhi), that to not even a man but an animal (vilangu), even among

the animals it is not a king animal but a monkey (markadam) not an ordinary

monkey but son of vayu (vAthamAmagan). Here immediately all of us will ask,

" How is being the son of vayu be treated as lower than an ordinary monkey? " Yes

it is low because the other ordinary monkeys will consider themselves to be

inferior but due to the greatness of the birth surely ego and pride, our prime

enemies will creep in. Where there is ego and pride (ahankAram and mamakAram)

emperuman never goes near them. Only when we leave our self-effort emperuman

showers his grace on us. ( " erukaiyum vittEnO drowpathiyai pOlE " - thirukkoloor

ammal varthai)

 

 

 

In bhagavad geetha, slokas 55,56,57and 58 of chapter 2 are similarly

misarranged. The ordering according to the meaning should be 58,55,56,57.

These were given to prove that at times rearranging for proper understanding of

the meaning is not wrong. Coming back to our upanishadic verse, the ordering

for understanding the meaning properly should be " srOthavya: mandhavya:

nidhithyAsithavya: drushtavya: " The same has been translated by thirumangai

azhvar in his thirunedunthAndaka paasuram. " vilakkoliyAi mulaiththu ezhundha

thingalthAnAi "

 

vilakkoliyAi - srOthavya:

 

mulaiththu - mandhavya:

 

ezhundha - nidhithyAsithavya:

 

thingal thAnAi - drushtavya:

 

 

 

Our dear geethAcharya puts the same in his words as:

 

" sruthivipradhipannA tE yathA stAsyathi nishchalA I

 

samAdhA achalA buddhi: tathA yOga mavApsyasi II " (2-53)

 

 

 

SruthivipradhipannA - due to those specially understood meanings listening to me

(sruthi-listening, sravanam) - " vilakkoliyAi " - " srOthavya: "

 

achalA tE buddhi: - your knowledge will get deep rooted (orupadipatta jnAnam) -

" mulaiththu " - " mandhavya: "

 

samAdhow yathA nischala stAsyathi - when that leads to deep meditation -

" ezhundha " - " nidhithyAsithavya: "

 

tathA yOgam avApsyasi - you will attain athma sAkshAtkAram - " thingal thAnAi " -

" drushtavya: "

 

 

 

Here azhvar explains with moon as the example. First while the moon is seen on

top of a mountain (mulaiththu) it is brighter than a normal lamplight

(vilakkoli). So just listening removes a little of darkness and then when we

think about it, it gives more light. Further as the moon rises to the sky

(ezhundha) it spreads the light to a larger area so more darkness is removed

similarly when we start meditating without any stop on the same subject as shown

by the sastras all the darkness inside us gradually vanish and finally we are

able to visualise the athma that is athma sAkshAtkAram (thingal thAnAi).

 

 

 

(To be continued)

 

 

 

Azhvar EmperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam

 

 

 

Adiyen ramanuja dAsee

 

Sumithra Varadarajan