Fwd: [t'vengadam] Prayer - dyAnam - powerful medicine to unrest

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs:

 

SrI Venkatesan has kindly fowarded this

beautiful mail from SrIman U.Ve. VeLukkudi

KrishNan Swamy.

 

In these difficult times , you might like to

reflect on this powerful message.

 

V.Sadagopan

>

>Sri:

>Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:

>

>Dear bhAgavatas,

>

>Attached is a message from Sri U. Ve. Velukkudi Krishnan Swami

>for our minds in this time of unrest.

>

>adiyEn

>

>--

>

>Dear Bhaktas,

>

>SrI nidhim nidhim apAram arthinAm arthithArtha paridAna dIkshitam

>sarva bhUta suhrdam dayAnidhim dEvarAjam adhirAjam AsrayE

>

>(Let my salutations be to Lord Devaraja whose unparalleled wealth

>is Perundevi thayar, who Himself is the wealth of all the begging

>jivatmas, who has resolved to grant all the needs of His bhaktas,

>who is the well wisher of one and all and who is a treasure of

>mercy.)

>

>Swamy Koorathazhwan's invocatory verse of Sri Varadaraja stavam has

>a lot to convey to us. It is all the more important in these days of

>unrest. We need to pray together and individually for the safety and

>well being of all our fellow citizens on Mother Earth. Srivaishnavism

>and all the vedas accept that the whole universe is the divine body

>of Sriman Narayana. All the residents of this earth, cutting across

>countries, language, sex, community, caste , religion and above all

>whether they are humans or flora or fauna, belong to one group -

>Servants to the Lord. One attribute that is common to all of us is

>SEshatva - absolute unconditional servitude to our Lord. This

>jivatma's first and foremost identification is this SEshatva. Swamy

>Ramanuja in his work, defines SEshatvam as (paragata atisaya AdAna

>iccha...) i.e., a servant who is always wanting to add glory to his

>Master. So let us try to add glory to the Lord.

>

>Alas ! Adding glory to Him is impossible. If He is short of glory

>I could add. But He is proclaimed as " avikArAya suddhAya nityAya

>paramAtmanE, sadaika rUpa rUpaya vishnavE sarva jishnavE " .. (one

>whose inherent nature,attributes and divine body is unchanged). I

>would fail in my attempt to add any glory to Him as He is already

>full with it. This failure pushes me to another problem. If I do

>not serve him by glorifying him, I lose my status to be a SEsha.

>This leads to the destruction of jivatmas' inherent nature.

>

>Our preceptors have showed us the way to wriggle out of this

>problem and retain our SEshatvam. He - is the embodiment of all

>the sentient and non-sentient beings in this Universe. So SERVICE

>TO FELLOW CITIZENS WOULD BE ADDING GLORY TO HIM. Service to

>humanity would ultimately retain our SEshatvam. Now let us try

>to serve humanity. But how?

>

>WE can monetarily or physically help them in days of need. It is

>misconceived that Srivaishnavas should help Srivaishnavas alone.

>Are we accepting that Sriman Narayana is the Master of only

>Srivaishnavas? Are the others not the divine body of the Lord?

>Let us pack up these ideas and focus on serving everyone who is

>in dire need. I will find some road blocks while implementing

>this. You have access to known people to help them. Go ahead and

>do your might. But how do we serve humanity at large? Seek the

>help of someone who is close to all of them. That unique

>personality is none other than Sriman Narayana. Whether others

>agree to His Lordship or not, we agree to their servanthood. So

>let us look upon Sriman Narayana to help everyone. He is the

>one who can and who should give a helping hand.

>

>This is why Swamy Koorathalwan calls upon us to collectively pray

>to Him as He is the " sarva bhUta suhrt " (common well wisher).

>Prayer is nothing but a call, a representation, a plea - not only

>for me but for Him, for His well being. His well being would mean

>the well being of this universe. So bhaktas, let us resolve from

>today to pray together for the well being of our Lord and

>humanity. This fetches many fruits in one throw. I retain my

>SEshatvam, I have prayed for Him, I have prayed for everyone.

>Lastly this prayer is nothing but a form of " dyAnam. "

>

>Swamy Ramanuja says that the first step to salvation is gnAnam -

>knowledge about self and the Lord. (jivatma paramatma gnAnam).

>But mere knowledge would make you grope in the darkness of

>samsara. We need to focus this gnAnam on Paramatma which

>transforms to dyAnam - meditation. Meditation can be in the

>form of mantra japa, vigraha pUja etc. Mere meditation would

>make us rigid and egoistic. One needs to refine it with love

>and affection (snEham). Ramanuja says " dyAna arcana

>pranAmadibhi: atyartha priya: tat prApti phala: " (the Lord is

>pleased with meditation, pUja and surrender - His pleasure is

>the means to salvation). He also defines bhakti as " snEha

>pUrvam anu dyAnam bhakti: " - (meditation with love is known

>as bhakti).

>

>Swamy Nammazhwar says " eNNilum varum .. " (first centum tenth

>decade of tiruvoimozhi). The Lord is waiting in the aisle to

>come to our rescue - expecting us to think about Him. A humble

>thought has the power to invoke Him.

>

>I am sure you would all now appreciate the importance of dyAnam.

>Is it just closing our eyes and thinking about our Lord. We

>need to do more. We must enjoy his attributes, recollect his

>divine actions during incarnations for our well being, plead

>for His well being (mangalasanam / pallandu pallandu un sevadi

>sevvi tirukkappu) and in turn ensure the well being of everyone.

>Perialwar pleaded for the safety of His lotus feet which is the

>embodiment of all bhaktas.

>

>So make it a daily practise to establish an undisturbed stream

>of focussed thoughts on Sriman Narayana. Pray to Him. Do not

>plead for any mean fruits. Request for the well being of

>everyone. All the other wealth would automatically be granted.

>Once in a while, make this jointly in a satsang, then the

>energy gets multiplied and you start feeling the synergy.

>

>We can pray. We should pray. Will we pray?

>SarvE janA: sukhinO bhavantu. Samasta san mangalAni santu.

>

>

>

>Namo VenkateshAya namah:

>

>

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>

>