Acharya vaibhvam.... - 11- why do we exist? what is the purpose of life? what is the essence of saasthrAs? why do we serve the Lord?...

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya nama:

 

Dearest all,

 

Why do we exist? What is the purpose of life: what is

the essence of saasthrAs?

Essence of All SAstra-s, as nicely mentioned by

SrImath Azhagiya Singar...

 

1. Only SrIman-nArAyaNa & none other than

SrIman-nArAyaNa, is the Supreme Reality.

2. Only SrIman-nArAyaNa & none other than

SrIman-nArAyaNa, is the only Means to reaching the

only Supreme Reality, SrIman-nArAyaNa.

3. Serving SrIman nArAyaNa is the only Supreme Goal.

 

That's all there is to know!

 

The Supreme Goal is to serve Sriya: Pathi Sriman

Narayana at all times, in any condition, wherever the

Divine Couple is. It does not matter whether it is in

Sri Vaikuntham or not. As Swami Sri Vedanta Desika'

says in Sri Varadaraja Panchasat: vaikuNTha-vAse'pi na

me'bhilAsa:

I have no desire to even stay in Vaikuntha. The goal

is then nitya-kainkaryam alone. It just so happens

that while embodied, there are continuous obstacles to

performing divine service. Since there are no such

obstacles in Parama-Padam, the state of liberation, we

ask for moksha. But this is only to sub-serve the true

goal of nitya-kainkaryam.

 

Sri Mani Varadarajan few years ago wrote as to why and

what this service.. [i like reading it again and

again… would like to share with you..]

 

Quote

Why would an all merciful Lord would create a bunch of

beings only to serve Him?

 

This is a good question, but the premise on which it

is based is

a mistaken one. First of all, we have not been

*created* by the Lord. We are ever existent, just as

he is. There was no creation of the individual, nor

can there be any destruction. So there is no question

of God creating us to simply serve him. It is

realizing our inherent nature that dictates what our

purpose in life is. What is this nature, and what is

this purpose?

 

Suresvara, one of the chief disciples of

Sankaracharya, writes that all creatures naturally

seek to avoid pain and increase their own happiness.

These are the incontrovertible facts of existence.

Unfortunately, most worldly happiness is fleeting,

because we try to seek it from subsidiary things

instead of going to the source of all happiness

itself. The Upanishads teach us that the source and

essence of all happiness is Brahman, i.e., God.

Nothing in and of itself causes happiness or sadness

apart from Brahman; He, on the other hand, is the very

embodiment of Bliss.

 

Since by nature we all desire happiness, why look any

further than Brahman? This is what our sampradaaya

teaches. Serving the Lord fits in as we realize our

essential nature as Jeevathmas- as seshaas [servants]

of Brahman, mere instruments in his hands. The

service (bhavagat-kainkarya) results from a feeling of

overwhelming love and a recognition of God's presence

in all things everywhere, including the individual's

very self. Our acharyas have said that we regain our

lost knowledge and bliss, potentially infinite but

forgotten due to ignorance from time immemorial.

 

This issue can be summarized as, ``Do we love and

serve the Lord because he asks us to, or because we

want something in return?'' NO -- we do it because it

is our inherent nature to do so. Recognition of this

nature leads to the highest bliss.

Unquote..

 

Serving anyone whom we love is a pleasure… We see this

in every day today life of ours. The great so called

Mahakavi kaalidaasa was carrying huge pots of water

for a daasi [prostitute] with whom he was in deep love

and when someone asked him as to why he was serving

her when he was a great poet… he responded that it was

his pleasure to serve her as he was in deep love with

her. Serving someone whom we adore, love is a great

pleasure and it gives us immense happiness.

 

As Jeevathmas, our inherent nature is to serve the

Lord… Remember Sareera Athma bhAvam of our

VisishtAdvaita Srivaishnava sampradaya.. we [as

Jeevathmas] and the matter are His sareera and He –

the Lord is our Sareeri… or AthmA… that means- we are

His properties. Hence the body limbs have to serve the

AthmA… and when it gives us pleasure also, is there

any doubt as to why we should NOT…

 

There are three illusions… that we must avoid..

 

1. dhEhAthma bhramam.. [considering that this body of

ours is the AthmA]- that would bind us and let us go

and run after carnal desires; sensual pursuits,

worldly pleasure, materialistic pursuits, etc… etc..

so, the soul is different from body and hence the

inherent nature of souls needs to be recognized and

learnt. We have already learnt.

 

2. swathathra bhramam- [considering that this athma of

ours- though is different from the body, is

independent.. and we can take our own efforts and we

ourselves are Brahman.. we can take control of our

actions.. etc… ] this would let us assume that we are

swathanthran… [remember Bhattar’s tvam mE.. aham mE..

– given below for those who do not know]

 

3. dEvathAnthara bhramam- [after knowing that the

jeevathma is different from body, and after realizing

that the jeevathma is NOT independent, but is a sesha

[servant] and belongs to other Supreme Brahman and

ParamAthmA… the question is: who is that? That

illusion that someone else – some demi god is the

ParamAthmA; some other one is the one that can remove

all our paapams and can grant salvation; get rid of

our suffering – is the bhramam –illusion – that we, as

Srivaishnavas, should avoid

 

Let us discuss the third one in subsequent post as it

is VERY IMPORTANT. We need to be fully convinced of

this; then only we can develop the Complete,

unflinching faith on the ParamAthmA. If you know that

the doctor would cure your diseases or not, you would

not try and gamble on the unknown doctor. If the

Medical Council, the nurses, Other patients have

declared that here is the ONLY Doctor who can remove

your diseases and cure you; would give you medicine

[as He only has the medicine and He only knows the

dosage] to get your all sufferings removed, would you

not believe? Would you still run after the unknown

doctor as claimed by tabloids and bit notices and not

believe in Medical Council declarations?

 

Tomorrow- let us see who this Doctor is.

asmadhAchAra paryanthAm vandhE Guru paramparaam.

AchAryan ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo narayana

Dasan

******

tvam mE aham mE- meanings: [from Sri Sadagopan Swami’s

translation]

 

tvam mE aham mE kuthastath tadhapi kutha

idham vEdamUla pramANAth

yEthaccha aNAdhisiddhAth anubhava vibhavAth

tarhi sAkrOsa yEva I

kvAkrOsa: kasya GithAdheeshu mama vidhitha:

kOathra sAkshee sudhee syAth

hantha tvath pakshapAthee sa ithi nrukalahE

mrugyamadhyasThavath tvam II

 

(This passage is from the Thirumanjanak Kattiyam of

ParAsara Bhattar for Sri RanganAthA . This is the

first of the stray verses of his Kattiyam sung in

front of Sri RangarAjA during His hirumanjanam even

today . This is in the form of a captivating di alog

between a stubborn chethanam and its Master, the Lord

Himself .)

 

The Lord of Srirangam notices the " impunity and

stubbornness " of the Jeevan , which considers itself

to be a svathanthra purushan . The Lord in wet clothes

from His just begun Thirumanjanam reminds the

argumentative Jeevan that it is not independent and it

is His property as attested by VedAs , GitA and men of

wisdom . The Jeevan disagrees with the Lord wearing a

TuLasi garland on His wet body .

 

ParAsara Bhattar reminds us that the situation of the

Lord proving His claim over His Lordship over the

protesting and deluded Jeevan is like practice of

DivyA [kind of taking a vow or oath] referred to in

smr*ithi texts . Divya practice relates to taking an

oath to give testimony . To prove the ancient

sesha-Seshi relationship between the Jeevan and the

Lord , Parasara Bhattar constructed this wonderful,

imaginary dialogue :

 

Lord : tvam mE ( You are Mine ; I own You ).

Jeevan : aham mE ( No, I belong to myself; I am

independent)

Lord : Kuthas tath? (No, How could that be possible ?)

Jeeavn :Tadhapi kutha: ? ( How about Your own claim ?

)

Lord: idham vEda moola pramANAth ( My claim is based

on the authority of the VedAs )

Jeevan : yEthacchAnaAdhi siddhAth anubhava vibhavAth

( My position however is based on my own experience ,

which is " beginning-less in nature " ).

Lord : Tarhi SaakrOsa yEva( But that position of yours

has already been repudiated )

Jeevan : KaakrOsa: kasya ? ( where and by whom was

this repudiated ? )

Lord: GitAdheeshu mama vidhitha: ( By Me , of course !

I repudiated it clearly in GitA )

Jeevan: kOathra Saakshi: ? ( Pray , who is the witness

for Your repudiation in GitA ? )

Lord: Sudhee: syAth ( A man of wisdom and clear mind)

Jeevan :Hantha, tvath pakshapaadheesa ( Well , well!

Then Your wise man is partial to You ).

The Lord's above conversation with the deluded soul

reminding of its eternal sesha relationship

(servitude) to the Lord is to be remembered by us

during the Thirumanjanam . He is attesting to that

sacred truth with wet cloth and Tulasi garland .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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