Nama puzzle

[Guest guest]

What follows is a short story with a puzzle in it related to Sahasranama

 

Nama Puzzle

 

Thuppulmani, TM hereafter, was relaxing on the verandah after a heavy meal. It

was a hot afternoon in Srirangam in the middle of July. Unusually the winds were

absent and the east Chitra street was deserted. It can get quite windy in July

and maybe that is one of the reasons Namperumal, the processional deity of Sri

Ranganathaswamy temple, Koil, stays put in the sanctum sanctorum. If Namperumal

does not cross the Jaya Vijaya portal, the streets of Srirangam appear

uninhabited especially in the post prandial period. TM was snoring gently in

cadence to the mechanical muttering of the ancient ceiling fan.

Let him be. It gives us time to get aquainted with him. TM was a retired

professor of economics and unlike most in his position he was enjoying life. His

son who was a dentist had a lucrative practice in Trichy and they were all

living together. His daughter was in Texas and along with her husband was

suffering the pangs of the post outsourcing era in that neurotic society. They

are of no concern to us and to this tale.

TM had a pleasent life because he got along well with the younger members of the

family. He was totally non interfering and non demanding. He was an acknowledged

scholar in SriVaishnavism and was considered an authority on his name sake Sri

Vedanta Desika.He loved his grand children and they returned the affection

because he behaved with them in a totally non adult way. He was a great story

teller and much in demand at bed time. Gently and with lots of fun he inculcated

the essence of the sampradaya,tradition, into the younger ones. He was a

renowned problem solver and his huge family came to him for solutions to all

kinds of problems from the mundane mechanical ones to the inconsistencies in

philosophy.

The enticing aroma of rava kesari and Mysore bonda reached the olfactory

receptors high up in his nose and he woke up. His wife Napinnai who was still

lovely set up the table next to his armchair and parked the savouries on it. She

said mischievously " Raghu seeks your majesty's audience, may he be presented my

Lord? "

In a voice like thunder TM said " Let him wait till we force these muddy snacks

into our esteemed mouth. "

" Muddy is it? Then I will lessen thy majesty's agony by taking away three

quarters of it... "

" You shall do no such thing you cowherdess... " this to a woman who held a Ph.D.

in Sanskrit. TM always called her an " aayichi " a cow girl because the original

Napinnai who was won over by Krishna when he killed seven huge bulls, was the

daughter of Nandagopa's brother in ancient " ayarpadi " , Gokulam.

Raghu short for Raghuveer came running. That was his mormal mode of locomotion.

He was a strapping lad of about twelve summers who had already mastered most of

Desika's stotras, especially the longer ones. He was an avid quizzer and was

learning the esoterics of crosswords from his grandma Napinnai who unravelled

even the tough crosswords of British newspapers in a jiffy.

Raghu was in a state of excitement and vibrating like a mixie with dried

turmeric in its maws.

" Tatha... patti look what I found in the " paran " loft " . In his hands was an

exquisitely carved rosewood box with ivory inlay work depicting a reclining

Ranganatha on a serpent bed. It was the size of a briefcase and was obviously at

least a century old.On gently shaking it they could sense something heavy move

inside. On the front was seen a shapely clasp made of brass and two small locks

were used to secure it. The locks were incongruently modern and still had the

sticker of a huge Singapore departmental store on it. They were number locks and

both showed 545.One was green and another red. TM and Napinnai were enjoying the

magnificent inlay work when Raghu impatiently remarked. " Tatha there is an

envelope pasted at the back, your name is on it. "

Giving his beautiful wife a quizzical look TM turned the box over and found a

big buff coloured envelope with his name on it. " Open it, Tatha, open it " said

Raghu with his characterstic impatience. TM was a methodical man and all his

movements were delibrate. His wife used to say of him that even if a house is on

fire he will come out in " anna nadai " the graceful unhurried walk of the

mythical hamsa.He went and sat on his arm chair and put on his reading glasses.

" I thought so " he said, " this has to be the hand writing of that old rascal

Ramanujan, it resembles the claw marks of hens on sand " . Dear reader we hasten

to add that the Ramanujan mentioned here is not Udayavar but Napinnai's elder

brother who had attained " acharyan thiruvadi " more than a year back.

Sri U.Ve Thirukandiyur Asuri Ramanujan to give his full name was renowned for

his discourses and had been conferred the title Upanasya Chakravarti. He and TM

had got along famously and they masked their affection for each other by

regularly belittling one another, a typical masculine trait. In public they

exhibited high regard for one another.

He opened the envelope carefully took out one of the papers inside. On it was

written:

" Lets see if you can decode this Thuppulmani . A prize beyond your dreams awaits

you.The box and the clasps are as valuable. Do no try to force them open. This

is in gratitude for all you have done for me, unknown to others. You will

definitely need Napinnai's help. I will be waiting for you both in Paramapadam. "

TM couldn't control the tears that welled in his eyes. A concerned Napinnai who

had seen her husband cry but once took the letter from his hand and broke down

completely after reading it. Women cry effortlessly like monsoon rains.

Both of them replayed the scenes of Ramanujan's futile battle with idiopathic

pulmonary hypertension. He bore it with quiet dignity but his relatives were

left shattered. Everyone questioned the will of God who makes such a profound

devotee, a long time " prapanaa " , suffer. Till the end Ramanujan was steadfast in

his love for our Lord and never once did he question His will. " It is prarabdha "

he would tell all " my little problem is nothing compared to the sufferings

undergone by immaculate SriVaishnavas like Kuratazhvan and Perianambi " .

TM recovered first and read the second page. It was type written and TM recalled

Ramanujan's old typewriter with its flawed " s " and worn out " h " . This dear

reader was what he saw:

 

The upaya is from the mirror of qualities. Sankhya of the saguna Brahman leads

to the pramanas. Even Devanagari aksharas though pratyaksha are often

delusional.

 

1. ABBAS HIT A ROTOR HERE

 

2. ODD ABRAHAM HUNG ROY

 

The three of them read it again and again. Suddenly Raghu ran away and came back

minutes later with a mirror. It was an oval one set in dark teak, showing signs

of wear and tear. " I found it near the box " Raghu said. Nappinai recognised it

at once. It was the lid of her brother's " thiruman petti " the container in which

he kept a small silver rod, white clay " thiruman " and yellow " shisharanam " used

to apply the Vaishnava insignias, " urdhva pundra " . " Is there a clue in it? "

Raghu asked eagerly. But alas it was totally featureless. The only result was it

made Nappinai's eyes wet again as she remembered the meticulous way her brother

used to apply the twelve " urdhva pundra " all over his body.To distract her TM

said " This is anything but a mirror of quality. " Which fetched him a glare from

Nappinai's beautiful wet eyes. " You always find faults with my relatives and I,

dont you, you old sourpuss. "

" Did you think that that old goat would have set such an easy puzzle. There is

more to this than meets the eye. Let us start with those locks " TM said.

Both the locks were set at 545. " Hmm, That is the number of axioms in Vyasa's

Brahma sutras according to Ramanuja siddhantha " said TM the Vishistsadvaita

scholar. " But does that help us in any way? " asked the ever practical Nappinai.

In short it didn't.

Raghu started twirling the numbers of first one lock and then the other. But all

in vain. The lock remained closed and the numbers hopelessly jumbled. " You have

been very helpful my dear grandson " said TM cuttingly, " now you have made it

very simple, all we have to do is crack the code. Any chance of getting the

correct numbers by trial and error is now out of question. "

" Dont scold my grandson " Nappinai scolded TM, " he is trying to help " . " If you

call this help then I wonder what term you will use when he sets his mind to

impede us. "

The boy under discussion was already losing interest in the puzzle. " Can we open

it from the back, thro' the hinges I wonder " he said. Boys of this era are

always looking for cheat sheets, the boon of computer gaming. This idea of his

raised the hackles of his doting grandma who said sweetly " Raghu kanna maybe you

should go and get some more bondas for all of us... give me that box. " Raghu

sped away thinking about bondas and kesari. These boys have the attention span

of a charging rhinoceros which they say is just 12 secs. Must be because of

constant zapping the channels on cable TV.

TM was puzzling over the second line. " I wonder what it means. There is

something wrong about it. The Sankhya system does not accept the presence of

Brahman, Supreme God, so where is the question of it being Saguna, with

attributes or Nirguna, without attributes. "

" Where is the Devanagari, Sanskrit words, they are all in English.They seem to

make sense though. "

Nappinai gave him a withering look, wives usually reserve for their spouses when

they know that they are in an unbeatable position. " You highly intelligent man,

those are anagrams.There are two sets. . So we have to unravel them to get two

words or phrases. "

TM who was well known for his deft footwork said " Where would I be without you,

my beautiful and brainy Nappianai... " " In the madapalli - temple kitchen -

surely " . came the answer a swift ricochet.

Napinnai went on " I think those are Sanskrit words written in Roman letters. Now

to deduce... where do they come from, what is the source? There must be a clue

in those sentences. "

TM said " That learned brother of your surely knew that Sankhya philosophy is

Godless without a Brahman. That means it is a pointer to something else. It may

mean a number, sankhya in Sanskrit, to Saguna Brahman. That is Brahman with

Gunas, attributes. Usually the number of Bhagavan, Eswara is 26, but we need two

sets of numbers. "

" So we need to unravel the anagrams to get two words or phrases which will the

lead us to numbers, which will then unlock the box and you will get whatever

prize is inside " said Nappinai implying that she wouldn't get anything, in a

typically feminine manner.

" How will the words lead to numbers? "

" Dont you remember? In Sanskrit each letter of the alphabet also has a number.

Like in Rama, Ra is equal to 2 and ma is 5 and Rama is equal to 10.

Rama,Rama,Rama is 10*10*10 that is 1000. ...Sahasra nama taththulyam Ramanama

varanane...the single name Rama chanted thrice is equal to thousand names " .

" We need to get the correct word, that to in Sanskrit with the proper spelling.

Hmmm... "

They were quiet for a while.

" The upaya is from the mirror of qualities. Mirror of qualities... in Sanskrit

that is guna darpana...Bhagvad Guna Darpana...That is the commentary of Sri

Parasara Bhatta on Vishnu Sahasranama which reiterates that Brahman is saguna

and not without attributes as described by Sankara. "

" Not bad old man " said Napinnai " you got it. So these anagrams point to two

Names from Vishnu Sahasranama and the numbers of those names will open the

locks.That explains everything. Now to get those names. "

" Once again the efficacy of Rama nama is proved.That pointed to Sahasra nama and

so on... "

" And who gave you that Ramanama? " asked Napinnai.

" Who else but you O! lovely Napinnai, you are the very prana of my life... " said

a seemingly rapturous TM.

" Enough, enough... with one foot in the grave you are still romnancing

me...Where is this fellow Raghu... "

" And more importantly where is the promised bondas and sojji... I think we

deserve those after this brainstorming session " .

Just then Raghu entered " What is this I hear about romancing, Tatha Patti, shame

shame... aravudhillum asai varum..love comes again in the sixties... " He placed

the savouries on the table and continued " what are you oldies so happy about?

Have you opened the locks? "

Napinnai said " We are half way through. " " Thats great patti how did you do it? "

" The two phrases are anagrams to names from Vishnu Sahasranama. We decipher the

names and note their numbers in the sequence of thousand and those numbers will

open the locks " .

Raghu picked up the paper with the clues.

" The upaya is from the mirror of qualities. Sankhya of the saguna Brahman leads

to the pramanas. Even Devanagari aksharas though pratyaksha are often

delusional. I still dont get it patti " .

TM explained " The upaya here means answer....mirror of qualities... in Sanskrit

it is guna darpana. There is a commentary on Vishnu Sahasranama named Bhagvad

Guna Darpana by Sri Parasara Bhatta. Sankhya means number, number of saguna

Brahman means the number of the quality of Brahman, Vishnu. In our sampradaya

each name in the Sahasranama points to one or more guna of Bhagvan. The last

line means that it is in Sanskrit but jumbled up and the those two phrases which

when unjumbled will give us the names and then the numbers. "

" Chance e illai " exclaimed Raghu. To TM's quizzical look Nappinai explained " He

means WOW! Great! "

" I didnt know grand-uncle was such a cool cat. So... how are you going to

unravel the phrases? "

 

1. ABBAS HIT A ROTOR HERE

2. ODD ABRAHAM HUNG ROY

 

Nappinai said " I think Anna used an anagram making software to get these. They

make such perfect sense.If it had been English words we could use a similar

software and get the originals. But these are Sanskrit names. We must go about

it logically " .

" That lets Raghu out " remarked TM " it is really tragic he doesn't know the magic

of logic " .

" Stop picking on my grandson... you were just waiting for a chance to use that

phrase. Raghu he must have read it recently some where. " To which Raghu said

" Cool! " and kept repeating it to himself " ...tragic...magic... logic... "

 

Dear readers we will stop here. You are hereby invited to solve the puzzle and

send the answer to the group. Please let us know the steps by which you got the

answer. Later on we will let you know how TM, Nappinai and Raghu solved the

conundrum. Happy puzzling!

Dr.S.Sundar Rajan MS ortho

Trichy

24 July 2009.