6. SATSANGAM

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6. SATSANGAM

(Read, Understand, Appreciate, Internalise and Assimilate to reach

the Ultimate)

Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya Nama:

 

The Writing On the Wall

 

People take life for granted. They are sure that day would follow

night and vice versa, and that they would indeed wake up to see the

next sunrise. They enter into all sorts of commitments, personal and

professional, presuming their continued existence. All business and

commerce is based on an abiding but misplaced faith in the

permanence of life. Such faith is indeed touching, for, when you

really come to think of it, there is no assurance that anybody would

live to be a ripe old age. We often see instances of people being

snatched away in the prime of their youth, with whole lives of

promise ahead of them. And even when such an unexpected event

happens, people do not learn its lessons, and invariably fail to

associate such an eventuality with themselves. They do not even

think of the possibility that they themselves could have easily been

in the place of the victim.

 

When queried as to what was the strangest thing on earth, Sri

Yudhishttira tells the Yaksha (in the Yakshaprasna of Sri

Mahabharata) " We see the body of a dead man being carried away for

disposal, and remark to ourselves, 'how sad!' little realising that

we ourselves are destined to go the same way, if not tomorrow, then

someday in the future " . In fact, our attitude is nothing new, and

mankind has always been blissfully unmindful of stalking end, as the

following sloka from Srimad Ramayana would indicate:

 

" nandanti udita AdityE nandanti astamitE Ravou

Atmana: na avabudhyantE manushyA: jeevita kshayam "

 

Says Chakravartthi Tirumagan to Sri Bharata- " People are so unaware

of their lives slipping away gradually. They greet every sunrise

with happiness, excited at the possibilities each fresh day brings.

And when the sun sets too, they are happy at the opportunities for

revelry in the pleasures of the night. Little do they realise that

each sunrise and sunset bring them closer to their death. "

 

The following sloka graphically describes the fallacy of our

attitudes:-

 

" vYAghreeva tishttathi jarA, paritarjayantI rOgAscha shatrava iva

praharanti dEham

Ayu: parisravati bhinna ghatAt iva ambha: lOka: tatApi ahitam

Acharati iti chitram! "

 

Old age and senility stalk us like a ferocious tiger, diseases lie

in wait for us at every step, and the body troubles us verily like a

sworn enemy. Time, and with it, life too, slips away slowly but

surely, much like water leaking from a cracked pot. Oblivious to all

these afflictions, people continue to be wayward and errant. How

strange and what a pity!

 

However, even in the midst of all this lack of awareness, there is

always a vague fear lurking at the back of people's minds of

the " unthinkable " (as insurance agents euphemistically put it)-of

life coming to an end, either suddenly or in due course. This is why

they provide for their near and dear, so that the latter are not

unduly affected financially, in the event of an end, untimely or

otherwise.

 

However, even such people with financial foresight lack real

perspicacity, as they do not bother to consider themselves and their

souls, and pulling themselves out of the unending, vicious cycle of

births and deaths.

 

" ThAyE tandai endrum tAramE kiLai makkaL endrum nOyE pattu ozhindEn "

rues Sri Tirumangai Mannan, highlighting people's tendency to set so

much store by the so-called relatives, as to ignore their own long-

term spiritual interests.

 

Most people also lack the realisation that this human body has been

attained after innumerable other janmAs as inanimate objects, etc.,

and the body is endowed with a limited life. We should hence make

the most of the precious life in preventing our souls from being

sucked again into the vortex of karma. This is the theme of the

following couplet from Sri Varaha Purana :-

 

" MahatA puNya paNyEna kreetEyam kAyanou: tvayA

prAptum dukha udadhE: pAram tvara yAvat na bhidyatE "

 

This human body is a gift to us, a reward for innumerable good deeds

performed in our previous lower births. However, the body, with all

the frailties of flesh, is little better than a leaky boat. Hence,

the wise man should hurry to cross the ocean of SAmsAric sorrow,

before the leaky craft sinks.

 

Sri Nammazwar too concurs with this idea-

 

" Minnin nilayila mannuyir AkkaigaL

ennumidatthu irai unnumin neerE " .

 

Having realised that life is but ephemeral and fleeting, what does

the wise man do in the short time left for him to redeem himself?

There is but one way for him to save his soul, as karma, gnAna and

bhakti yOgAs are too long-drawn and impossible of performance.

Sharanagati or absolute surrender to the Lord, through the good

offices of an understanding Acharya , is the only option open to

people in a hurry to redeem themselves from Samsara. Paradoxically,

we find that even after realisation of life's impermanence and the

need for Prapatti dawns on people, they are still complacent under

the mistaken notion that Prapatti is for the old and infirm, not for

the young and active.

 

The following anecdote from the life of Sri Koorattazhwan

graphically highlights the need for urgency in such matters.

 

Sri Embar was the Acharya for Sri Parasara Bhattar and Sri Vedavyasa

Bhattar, twin sons of Sri Koorattazhwan. Once when the father of the

twins was expounding on the purport of a Tiruvaimozhi pasuram, he

found that it incorporated the essence of Tirumantram

(ashtAksharam). As the Mantra and its significance are to be learnt

only from one's Acharya, Azhwan sent the children to Sri Embar for

obtaining upadesam. Immediately realising the impermanence of life,

Sri Azhwan called them back and performed the upadesam himself, lest

something should happen to them on the way to Sri Embar, and

deny them the MantrOpadesam. One may think, " What could possibly

happen to the children during the short journey it involved in

reaching Sri Embar's residence nearby? " However, it was Sri Azhwan's

realisation of the extreme fragility of human life that made him act

the way he did.

 

The moral of this itihyam is that when we resolve to do something

good, it had best be executed immediately, without procrastination

and postponement. If we intend to recommence the abandoned

sandhyavandanam, if we intend to obtain mantrOpadEsa from our

Acharya, if we have the intention to perform Prapatti either for

ourselves or for our children, if we intend to learn a stotra - for

all these, today is the day to begin. For, who knows what tomorrow

has in store for us?

 

Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri

Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya Nama:

 

.... Dasan, Sadagopan.

 

Presented by P Gopi Krishna