pachai maamalai pol mene

Sunday, March 25, 2012

his little elder brother

His little elder brother
In a village there lived an indigent widow with a child of five years. The man of the house had left for God's abode when the child was just one year and what he left behind was only a thatched house, a little land and a few cattle. The lady was, through her dint of hard work, tilling the soil, rearing the cattle and eking out an income to keep the child and herself away from hunger. She would have preferred t have forty eight hours for a day to do all her chores. The child Ram was now ready to go to a gurukul to learn his first letters. The boy was enthusiastic but the gurukul was some seven miles away with a stretch of thick forest spanning three miles intervening. The boy could not travel the distance, especially the forest track for fear of the obvious dangers. The mother had no time to accompany the child lest they would starve.

So she told little Ram, " My child you can go to school from tomorrow.. Remember that you have a little elder brother who lives in the forest, rearing his own cows and happily singing on his flute. When you reach the forest area, you just call your elder brother, and he will look after you. But mind you he is a very shy boy. If you ask anything about him he will simply leave you and go away. So simply obey him and follow him."
The child had absolute faith in what his mother said. He set out to school the next morning. When he reached the precincts of the forest the child was terrified. He did not know how to proceed. He called out, "My Anna, I do not know how to go ahead, come and take me through the fores"
True to the mother's words, there appeared a dark little boy slightly older than Ram. He was surrounded by some cows and calves and he had a rustic flute which he had tucked to his hip-garment. " Young brother, I knew you will come. Now walk along with me. I will lead you through the forest path." The elder brother entertained the younger one with music, snacks and nice stories, and the child did not know the tiredness of walking so long a distance. While leaving him, the Anna said, " when you are coming back, you just call out to me, and we can happily walk back."
This happy routine continued for days. The mother was happy. Ram was a bright boy and the guru was also pleased. The class consisted of many princes and other rich students but the Guru was always kind to our little Ram.
One day it was announced that the Guru's daughter was getting married. The students were all invited for the happy function. It was the duty of the disciples to offer presents to the Guru's daughter on such occasion. Ram asked his mother what he could do. She has nothing to give. She said, "Ask your Anna"
That morning Ram unburdened his woes to his Anna. The elder brother was cheerful. " Do not worry. I shall arrange for a present."
He just filled a coconut shell with the milk from a cow he was rearing and told the young boy to give this shell with milk as the present.
The innocent Ram was happy. He carried the small coconut shell with little milk in it with great gusto and offered it as present to the marital couple. The affluent classmates around him were laughing at him. The Guru's servant openly quipped "what is to be done with this little milk in a dirty coconut shell?" The guru was kind. He instructed the servant to pour the milk into a cistern. But when the milk was poured , the flow never stopped. The cistern, and all other utensils in the house were filled with milk, but still milk was flowing.. that milk of divine aroma and taste.. The teacher was wonder-stuck. " From where did you get this cup of milk?" He asked.
The innocent boy that Ram was recounted all his story about his daily travel with his Anna, and how the elder brother had secured the present for the young child.
"What is the name of your elder brother?" Asked the Guru. The child replied that his mother had instructed him not to ask any personal questions to the Anna and so he did not know.
But the Guru knew. " That Anna of your is none other than Govinda himself. Come to the forest, let us all have a darshan of Him" The guru, his family and his sishyas all made a beeline to the forest, with Ram in the lead. As usual, Ram called out his Anna. There was no response. He repeated the address a few more times and when there was no result, Ram started crying.
Then a voice came from the forest, " My younger brother Ram , you are innocent and you did not know who I was. So I was visible to you and I played and sang with you. But now you know who I am, and all these people also know that. I cannot appear before you in person any more. But I love you so much.. Whenever you call me with love I will fulfill your wants.. But you cannot see me again."

--
।श्रीकृष्णो रक्षतु।
|śrīkṛṣṇo rakṣatu|
Have a nice and happy day
with profound respect and warm regards
K V Ananthanarayanan
blog   http://kanfusion.blogspot.com/
त्यजन्तु बान्धवाः सर्वे निन्दन्तु गुरवो जनाःI
तदापि परमानन्दो गोविन्दो मम जीवनंII
let all my relatives abandon me, let the great people insult me, still I am in supreme bliss since my life  is GOVINDA alone.
Iकृष्णात् परं किमपि तत्वं अहं न जाने"I
लोकाः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु।
lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu|

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Vithoba


VITHOBHA

In the banks of Bheema River in Maharashtra, there lived a pious couple Janudeva and Satyavati.
 By the grace of Krishna after long prayers they were blessed with a male child whom they christened Pundalika. 
 The parents loved him, rather doted on him and he became a spoiled brat, expecting all his pleasures fulfilled by his parents. 
 They never complained. 
 The boy was married to Rupavati when he was sixteen. 
 Now the duty of the aging parents was to remain as slaves to the son and daughter in law. 
While the young couple enjoyed life, the parents worked hard at the nearby mills and made food for the four. 
If the parents were slow and did not dance to the whims and fancies of the younger duo, they were abused mentally and physically. 
 Finally when Pundalik and his wife were having their afternoon siesta, the parents fed up with the treatment they received from the son and daughter in law, joined a group of devotees who were going on a pilgrimage to Vaaranaasi. 
 The youngsters at first did not notice the absence but when lunch time was due and no lunch was in the offing they found the old couple missing. 
 They were angry.. 
Who was there now to look after their youthful comforts?
 From neighbours they came to know that the parents were heading for Varanasi by foot.


The youth had a bright idea. 
 They would also accompany the parents to Varanasi after catching them up soon by chasing them on horseback. 
 Worship of the Lord of Varanasi was not their aim but they only intended to be with the old couple so that they can make them do the chores for the son and daughter in law. 
 They caught up with the parents near the ashram premises of on Saintly acharya Kukkutaswamy. The parents were terrified but felt safe in the ashram where the piligrims rested for the night.


On that night Pundalika was late in his sleep. 
 After the pilgrims were fed and honoured by the swami, the ashram went to sleep..


Then as if from nowhere seven damsels of great beauty but dressed in the dirtiest of clothes came to the ashram. 
 Silently they started cleaning and mopping the floor of the abode of the saint. 
 After almost a full nights work they entered the room of the swamy to take his blessings. 
 When they came out their dirty dresses had become spotless white and the ladies were shining with godly lustre.

Pundalika approached one of the ladies and enquired about their visit and its purpose.
 He could not understand why such majestic and godly ladies should do such a menial job.

The first lady replied. 
" I am Ganga, the holy river. With me you can see my sisters Yamuna, Godavari, Kaveri, Narmada, Sindhu and Saraswathi.
 Sinners of all types, visit us and take bath on our waters to cleanse them of their own sins. 
 We also try to receive the dirt of their sins during the day.
 But by the night we are so contaminated that we have to clean ourself. 
 We can divest of the dirt of these sins only by doing service to God , and great souls of that status.
 This swamji is so great that cleaning his ashram today has divested us of all muck."

" I am also on a pilgrimmage" said Pundalik.. 
Can you rivers wash off the sins of my wife and me?.. 
Ganga replied. "Definitely not. You were accumulating sins by ill treating and neglecting your mother and father who should be for you even on a higher pedestal that God himself. 
 Nothing can was off such a sin.

"Then what are we to do?" asked Pundalik.
 Ganga Said, " I can only make a suggestion. It is your parents whom you have ill-treated. They cannot hate you by their own loving nature. So fall on their feet and serve them faithfully for the rest of your life. You may be exonerated".

Pundalika was both convinced and remorseful. He, along with wife fethced the parents back home on horsebacks walking alongside the horse all the way. 
They treated the parents like Gods from that day onward.

Rugmini, the queen of Dwaraka and the Divine mother heard of this. 
She was not prepared to believe this transformation of Pundalika. 
So she took the help of her Krishna and came to the Pandharapura and the couple stood outside the house of Pundalika watching the man's faithful services to the parents. 
 Pundalika saw the divine couple but did not have time to take off to received them, as he was serving his parents. 
So he placed a brick before them and asked them stand and take rest, promising that he would come to them after his service to his parents were over. It took a lot of time, but the Divine Couple waited patiently and with pride. After the work was over, Pundalika came to Krishna and Rugmani and prostrated before them and apologized for the delay. Krishna said that there was no need for apologies.

Service to parents was a greater duty that the service to God.


Punadlika was blessed and he took the boon from Krishna and Rugmani that they will remain manifest standing on the brick and He built a great temple there by name Pandharapura. 
Krishna there is called Vithobha because he waited on a brick for the sake of a devotee.
 The rest is history.


--

Thursday, March 22, 2012

all is well that ends well

क्ळेशः फलेन हि पुनर्नवतां विधत्ते ।।

when incessant hard toil is rewarded by matching restults, it gives impetus to futher attempts.

this is a simple but very true statement  by Kalidasa. 
This remark appears  in Kumarasambhavam. 
 The Divine mother is born as Parvathi and she is yearning for reunion with her Lord Shiva. 
 With this desire in mind, she set out to the forests in the valleys of Himalaya and set up a hermitage and started doing penance. 
 A vibrant, beautiful and affluent girl blessed with all virtues and wealth and having the whole world offered to her as if in a platter for mere enjoyment, gave up all the pleasures of the world just to attain the company of her Lord. 
 It is remarked by Kalidasa in the words of the Sakhi of Parvathi... 
" This girl. having attained marriageble age, has rejected all the affluent suitors starting from the Lord of Gods, Indra and the masters of the directins, but is intent on having Pinakapani the Shiva as her husband, in spite of realizing that the Lord has simply annihilated the lord of love, Kamadeva..
इयं महेन्द्रप्रभृतीनधिश्रियः चतुर्दिगीशानवमत्य मानिनी
अरूपहार्यं मदनस्य निग्रहात् पिनाकपाणिं पतिमाप्तुमिच्छति॥
iyaṁ mahendraprabhṛtīnadhiśriyaḥ caturdigīśānavamatya māninī
arūpahāryaṁ madanasya nigrahāt pinākapāṇiṁ patimāptumicchati||

Shiva had reached the hermitage of Parvathi to test her and receive her (the Lord is disguised as a young initiate) and Parvathi's friend tells Him in desperation.
" the saplings which were planted by this girl as souvenirs of the start of her penances have all borne fruit, but the plant of this girl's desire to attain the company of Shiva does not appear to have even given out little sprouts.. and the chariot of imagination of her communion with the Lord is a non-starter "

द्रुमेषु सख्या कृतजन्मसु स्वयं फलम् तपः साक्षिषु दृष्टमेष्वपि
न च प्ररोहाभिमुखोऽपि दृश्यते मनोरथोऽस्याः शशिमौलिसंश्रयः॥
drumeṣu sakhyā kṛtajanmasu svayaṁ phalam tapaḥ sākṣiṣu dṛṣṭameṣvapi
na ca prarohābhimukho'pi dṛśyate manoratho'syāḥ śaśimaulisaṁśrayaḥ||

The Lord was listening to all this with keen interest and was blissfully happy, but he pretended as if the girl was doing the most foolish thing by opting for Shiva. 
 He tells that girl that she is so rich and beautiful and Shiva is a wandering mendicant clad in the bark of an elephant, wearing matted hair and snakes as ornaments and his chariot was an old wizened bull.  
He adds that the whole world would laugh at her if she committed the blunder of accepting of all the people, Shiva as the husband . 

Parvathi is enraged. She is hurt by the sarcasm and she feels that not only one who tells ill of the great people but also one who happens to hear of it, becomes a sinner.

न केवलम् यो महतोऽपभाषते शृणोति तस्मादपि यः स पापभाक्
na kevalam yo mahato'pabhāṣate śṛṇoti tasmādapi yaḥ sa pāpabhāk

Then in impossible rage, the young girl simply tells that she is going to withdraw from the presence of the foulmouthed youth.. (shiva in disguise)
She started going away in haste, and the bark of trees which covered her bosom just fell away and even without caring for it she tries to make a quick retreat.
 But enough was enough. Thinks Shiva 

  The lord with the bull as insignia in his flagstaff could not persist with the playful activities.
 He simply assumed his Regal form and caught Parvathi by her Hand.
इतो गमिष्याम्यथवेदि वादिनी चचाल बाला स्तनभिन्नवल्कला
स्वरूपमास्थाय च तां कृतस्मितः समाललम्भे वृषराजकेतनः
ito gamiṣyāmyathavedi vādinī cacāla bālā stanabhinnavalkalāa
svarūpamāsthāya ca tāṁ kṛtasmitaḥ samālalambhe vṛṣarājaketanaḥ


He says, 
"from today onwards, I am your slave, as you have purchased me though your sincere penance.. 
Then, and at that point itself, all the tiredness and physical debilities she had imposed upon herself left her and she was jubilant and was in the seventh heaven of happiness. 
 When even unbearable hard work  culminates in its expected result, the body and mind gets rejuvenated and one  forgets all the past tiredness. 

अद्यप्रभृत्यवनताङ्गि तवास्मि दासः क्रीतस्तपोभिरिति वादिनि चन्द्रमौलौ
अह्नाय सा निय्मजं क्ळममुत्ससर्ग क्ळेशः फलेन हि पुनर्नवताम् विधत्ते॥
adyaprabhṛtyavanatāṅgi tavāsmi dāsaḥ krītastapobhiriti vādini candramaulau
ahnāya sā niymajaṁ kḻamamutsasarga kḻeśaḥ phalena hi punarnavatām vidhatte||

All is well that ends well.


--

Sunday, March 18, 2012

KANNAPPAN

KANNAPPAN
------------------
It was a thick forest with no civilized population. 
But even there by the Grace of Mahadeva, there appeared a Shivaligam, in the midst of the thickets. 


A hunter passing by once noticed it. He did not know what it is but he had the gut feeling that it is the living symbol of the Divine. 

As a realist suffering all the pangs of life, he knew it was very uncomfortable to live without a shelter, it was unbearable to go without water for bath and drink and so he presumed that even the greatest of beings would die if he goes without food. 

So he did all that he could do to make the deity comfortable immediately. 

He built a hut of dried leaves and twigs to house the lord. 

He used his chappals to clean the deity and the surrounding..

He did not have any vessels. 

So he went to the nearby brook, cleaned his mouth and filled in with as much water as he could and brought it to the lot and spat it on the idol so that the Lord could be clean. 

He did this for three of four times as abhishekam ( he did not know the word) and again brought water in the same way for the deity to drink.


He adorned the deity with wild flowers. 

The food he could offer was the raw meat of the beasts he killed and he did it by softening it with bites of his own sharp teeth so that the great god could eat with relish. 
This routine continued for days.

He never thought he was doing a great thing.. 

He was just looking after his guest in the forest. 

The lingam had three marks for its eyes and they used to shine brilliantly. 

One day the lord could not contain Himself. 
As is His wont he started giving heartburn to a true friend. 

One fine morning the hunter saw that one of the eyes of his friend had become lusterless and it was bleeding profusely. 

The hunter thought. " I have two eyes to see. This God has to see the entire world. So he will do better with one more eye. Hie eye should not be lost". 

Without hesitation, with the sharp edge of his bow, he extracted his own eyeball and placed it where the Lords eye was bleeding . 

The bleeding stopped. 
The hunter was blissfully happy. 
But his only slight disappointment was that the loss of one eye would affect his capacity to bring food to the friend. 

His travails did not stop there.
On another morning he saw the second eye of the Lord bleeding. 
He was at his wits end.
He could offer his second eye, but after that who will bring water and food to the God? 
However he made his final decision. With dexterity he extracted his own second eye and now without any capacity to see, he groped with his hands and found out the lord's bleeding eye and placed his second eye there. 

Then he thought. " Now there is no way for me to bring water and food to the lord. 
All I have is my body.
Let me lie down before the lord and offer myself as his final supper." 
Waiting for the god to receive his mortal body as food, the hunter just lied down before the Sivalingam.

Even for the hardened heart of the stone that the Sivalingam was , this self-sacrifice was too much. 
The lord appeared before the ignorant but faithful hunter in his Divine form and blessed him and gave him a place in the array of the sixty three nayanamaars, who are considered as the foremost devotees of Shiva..

He is Kannappa Nayanaar.


THIS HAPPENED IN KALAHASTI


-----------------------------------------------------
Srimat Shankarabhagavat paada in his Shivananda lahari alludes to this incident at sloka 63


मार्गावर्तितपादुका पशुपतेरङ्गस्य कूर्चायते
गण्डूषाम्बुनिषेचनं पुररिपोर्दिव्याभिषेकायते।
किञ्चिद्भक्षितमांसशेषकबलं नव्योपहारायते 
भक्तिः किं न करोत्यहो वनचरो भक्तावतंसायते॥६३॥
॥श्रीमत् शङ्करभगवत्पाद विरचिते शिवानन्द लहर्याम्॥
mārgāvartitapādukā paśupateraṅgasya kūrcāyate
gaṇḍūṣāmbuniṣecanaṁ puraripordivyābhiṣekāyate|
kiñcidbhakṣitamāṁsaśeṣakabalaṁ navyopahārāyate 
bhaktiḥ kiṁ na karotyaho vanacaro bhaktāvataṁsāyate||63||
||śrīmat śaṅkarabhagavatpāda viracite śivānanda laharyām||


free translation
what is there that sincere devotion cannot do?
The footwear that war worn out through wandering in the forest was all that the hunter could find to clean and adorn the body of Shiva
the water filling the mouth was used by the hunter to offer divine abhishekam to Shambu the vanquisher of the three worlds (puraripu.. the enemy of Tripuras)
Pieces of meat, which the hunter tasted first to see whether it would suit the Lords palate became the naivedyam or holy offering of fresh food for Shankara
And that obscure hunter became the greatest devotee of the Lord of Lords Parameshwara..
-------------------------------------------

PALANI


  •   PALANI


    From the stala puranam of Palani. We know the chlid Muruga has reached the hill to reside there permanently because he had got angry with his parents on the question of  a fruit supplied by the wily Narada which the elder brother Ganesha managed to get as a present from the parents. The child, not more than three years old was just running around and playing among the peacocks and snakes in the hillock. Sage Agastya was there with his disciple Idumba, residing by the side of the hill. The boisterous play of the child distracted him and he was rather impatient. He saw the child, and as luck would have it, did not recognize the Master of the World there and started advising the child to go elsewhere and not cause nuisance to him. The naughty child said, "you old man, if you are so irritated with we, you can go away and stay somewhere else." The puny but powerful sage was enraged. The slip of a child talking to him like that! He wanted to finish off the child. He chanted many mantras and threw some ashes on the boy. In the normal course the sage expected the child to be burned to ashes. But the child was still there unmoved, just laughing and playing. The child in turn gave the sage a small piece from the dried sandal paste He was wearing on his forehead and asked the sage to taste it. The sage was skeptical but still put a little piece of that into his mouth. Suddenly he lost balance of himself and started flying in the space as if catapulted from a rocket-launcher  and knowing no means of of coming back. Suddenly realization dawned on him. It was the son of his master who had come there to purify the South India. He apologized and was taken back to his own place. The sage made himself the disciple of the Lord Muruga, and the siddha system of medicine is said to have come from Muruga himself through Agastya and his disciples like bhogs. Even now, in Palani a particular type of sandal paste which is placed in the body of the idol during night is given as rare prasadam in the morning for the devotees to eat. It is called raakkaal chandanam 



                     Pazhani Andavar did not reside there all alone for long time. The lovely brother and the doting parents would not let him. They followed him without any delay. Wherever you go in Palni, you will find only Ganapatis. The brother was so affectionate that he was running round the younger one to take him back to Kailas. You will find many ganapathis here with Murugan sitting in his lap. Their love is model for fraternal affection. Even now when we prepare kavadi one of the legs is adorned by Murugan and the other is by Ganapathi. We actually invoke Mahaganapathi also in the mudra. After Agastya left, the boy had a tiff with Idumba also. In fact the two hillocks were being carried on the ends of a huge rod by this rakshasa Idumba, and being carried south. When this Idumba saw this boy he tried to remove him. The boy simply give him a short kick and the demon was dead. Then his family entreated with the Lord and the pleased lord  revived him  decided that his own presence will be there at the top and Idumba or idumbas presence willbe in the middle. He also ordained that the first puja in palni should be given to Idumba, "Idumbanukku muthal poosai".
     The master of Siddhaa, sage Bhoga, later on finding the presence of Murugua in the mountain, started worshipping him in an idol made of nava paashaana....nins rocklike medicines.. and this is the idol which is still there. Bhoga has recorded that he has made nine such idols and when time comes the next idols will be revealed in succession. There is a cave route between the place of Bhoga and Garbagriham at Palni.. we can see the samadhi of Bhoga and the Marakatha lingam of Shiva which was worshipped by Bhoga in the temple even now. The puuja at the bhogar samadhi is even now being conducted by a descendent of that great physician sage. The worship of the temple was entrusted to the local people, Pandarams or Othuvars. But the potency of the lord was too great and the people stared witnessing depletion in their population. So they brought in the Sivacharyas (Gurukkals ) for pooja. The presiding gurukkal in Palani is held in great reverence . He is called TavarajaPandita.
                

     Going back to Bhogas time, one of the disciples of Bhoga was a sage named Pulippani (vyagrapada) and it is said that this sage rode on a tiger and used to bring water for the abhishekam of dandayuthapani from the nearby varattaru. By his yogic powers, he would just take water in a big globe without any contained. This Vyagrapada is supposed to be a nambuthiri and while he was in his moksha stage, he asked the Lord to go to Kerala. People from kerala were thronging Palani even in those times. The assuranace given by god is that He will stand facing west, looking at Kerala, and if and when a day comes when a Kavadi from Kerala is not reaching Palani He would come to Kerala. 
     Till this day that has not happened.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Analogy between thought process and data on a disk

The basic idea in deleting a data is only removing its header address.Unless and until a new data is taking over the incapacitated area, the old data remains there sleeping. Then the individuals receptacles that keep the zero and one signals are too accommodating and make the first set of data quiescent and another set of data which is having address and is recognizable becomes prominent. It is only because such units have sufficient space where some sort of cell is charged with a small unit or electricity or is kept not charged. So the medium is already there. The charging or discharging of the elements of the disk only takes place. and the electron is infinitesimally small so also the positive charged particle. When the disc is formatted a huge surge of current makes the entire disc blank. Even this can be done by going through the process about 19 times. So the memory signals actually go nowhere. They are just siiting in the background. If the thought process is retrieved through some means the whole thing comes back again. The deleted data does never vanish fully. The sum and substance of this analogy is that one thought, once created does not die away.. It is only living concealed. That is why we use mantras with auto suggestion, like Gayatri. To force in positive thoughts. While describing about the spontaneous study process of child Uma parvathi in the house of Himavan, Kalidasa said..
 तां हंसमालाः शरदीव गङ्गां
महौषधीं नक्तमिवात्मभासः।
स्थिरोपदेशामुपदेशकाले
प्रपेदिरे प्राक्तनजन्मविद्याः॥
काळिदासः कुमारसंभवे


Taam Hamsamaalaa shardeevaa gangaam,
 mahaushadiim nakthamivaatmabhaasaH, 
 sthiropadesaam upadeshakaale prapedirre 
praakthana janmavidhyaaH.. 
for her, like the crowd of swans reaching ganga spontaneously in the sharat season, like inherest glow visiting the herbs at night, when she was advised, the knowledge and education of earlier life (of Dakshayani Sati) came back spontaneously. Such comeback was caused by the fact that originall thoughts never fade away, unless erased through sterile means.

Monday, March 12, 2012

the Viraat purusha

अण्डं तत्खलु पूर्वसृष्टसलिले तिष्ठत् सहस्रं समा
निर्बिन्दन्नकृथश्च्तुर्दश्जगद्रूपं विराडाह्वयं।
साहस्रैः करपादमूर्धनिवहैर् निश्शेषजीवात्मको
निर्भातोऽसि मरुत्पुराधिप स मां त्रायस्व सर्वामयात्॥१०
श्रीमन्नारायणीयं दशकं ५
पूर्वसृष्टसलिले सहस्रं समाः तिष्टत् तत् खलु अण्डं निर्भिन्दन् चतुर्दशजगद्रूपं  विराडाह्वयं अकृथाः।  निःश्शेषजीवात्मकः साहस्रैः करपादमूर्धनिवहैः निर्भातः असि।  मरुत्पुराधिप सः मां सर्वामयात् त्रायस्व।


aṇḍaṁ tatkhalu pūrvasṛṣṭasalile tiṣṭhat sahasraṁ samā
nirbindannakṛthaścturdaśjagadrūpaṁ virāḍāhvayaṁ|
sāhasraiḥ karapādamūrdhanivahair niśśeṣajīvātmako
nirbhāto'si marutpurādhipa sa māṁ trāyasva sarvāmayāt||10
śrīmannārāyaṇīyaṁ daśakaṁ 5
pūrvasṛṣṭasalile sahasraṁ samāḥ tiṣṭat tat khalu aṇḍaṁ nirbhindan caturdaśajagadrūpaṁ  virāḍāhvayaṁ akṛthāḥ|  niḥśśeṣajīvātmakaḥ sāhasraiḥ karapādamūrdhanivahaiḥ nirbhātaḥ asi|  marutpurādhipa saḥ māṁ sarvāmayāt trāyasva|

The golden egg created by you floated for thousand years  in the primordial waters already present through your will.  You divided that egg into fourteen exact parts as worlds called viraats.  You  manifested and encompassed the entire universe in that Viraat form forming the internal living force of all the moving and non-moving objects, you shone  there possessed  of  thousand heads, limbs.
You the Lord of the city of winds, who manifested as the Viraatpursha, oh Guruvayurappa, that you, please save me from the pangs of all these ailments.

This virat purusha is described in the Vedas as Sahasresheershaa purushaH sahasraakshaH sahasrapaad.... remember the PurushasookthaM?

--
।श्रीकृष्णो रक्षतु।
|śrīkṛṣṇo rakṣatu|
Have a nice and happy day
with profound respect and warm regards
K V Ananthanarayanan
blog   http://kanfusion.blogspot.com/
त्यजन्तु बान्धवाः सर्वे निन्दन्तु गुरवो जनाःI
तदापि परमानन्दो गोविन्दो मम जीवनंII
let all my relatives abandon me, let the great people insult me, still I am in supreme bliss since my life  is GOVINDA alone.
Iकृष्णात् परं किमपि तत्वं अहं न जाने"I
लोकाः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु।
lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu|

the golden egg..

एते भूतगणास्तथेन्द्रियगणा देवाश्च जाता पृथङ्
नो शेकुर्भुवनाण्डनिर्मितिविधौ देवैरमीभिस्तदा।
त्वं नानाविधसूक्तिभिर्नुतगुणस्तत्त्वान्यमून्याविशं
चेष्टाशक्तिमुदीर्य तानि खटयन् हैरण्यमण्डं व्यधाः॥९
श्रीमन्नारायणीयं दशकं ५
एते जाताः भूतगणाः तथा इन्द्रियगणाः देवाः च भुवनाण्डनिर्मितिस्विधौ पृथक् न शेकुः।  तदा अमीभिः देवैः नानाविधसूक्तिभिः नुतगुणः त्वं  अमूनि तत्त्वानि आविशन् चेष्टाशक्तिं उदीर्य तानि खटयन् हैरण्यं अण्डं व्यधाः।
ete bhūtagaṇāstathendriyagaṇā devāśca jātā pṛthaṅ
no śekurbhuvanāṇḍanirmitividhau devairamībhistadā|
tvaṁ nānāvidhasūktibhirnutaguṇastattvānyamūnyāviśaṁ
ceṣṭāśaktimudīrya tāni khaṭayan hairaṇyamaṇḍaṁ vyadhāḥ||9
śrīmannārāyaṇīyaṁ daśakaṁ 5
ete jātāḥ bhūtagaṇāḥ tathā indriyagaṇāḥ devāḥ ca bhuvanāṇḍanirmitisvidhau pṛthak na śekuḥ|  tadā amībhiḥ devaiḥ nānāvidhasūktibhiḥ nutaguṇaḥ tvaṁ  amūni tattvāni āviśan ceṣṭāśaktiṁ udīrya tāni khaṭayan hairaṇyaṁ aṇḍaṁ vyadhāḥ|

He created the various elements and their presiding deities through his dexterous Maaya power.  But such creations were not capable of effecting further creations, jointly or severally.  So Guruvayurappa, you were invoked and prayed to by them with various hymns  and then you yourself entered the various tattwaas  and enabled their faculty of functioning  and created the Golden egg.


It was indeed a very elaborate task even for the Lord.  He impelled his own maaya powers and created the elements and tattwas and the deities, but such deities were powerless by themselves to extend the chain of creation.  All they could manage was to praise him with hymns in supplication.  And the Lord in his infinite mercy created the Golden egg, the source for all creations further.  May be this is something like programming the DNA and the genes.  The Lord was the greatest engineer in genetics ever.

--
।श्रीकृष्णो रक्षतु।
|śrīkṛṣṇo rakṣatu|
Have a nice and happy day
with profound respect and warm regards
K V Ananthanarayanan
blog   http://kanfusion.blogspot.com/
त्यजन्तु बान्धवाः सर्वे निन्दन्तु गुरवो जनाःI
तदापि परमानन्दो गोविन्दो मम जीवनंII
let all my relatives abandon me, let the great people insult me, still I am in supreme bliss since my life  is GOVINDA alone.
Iकृष्णात् परं किमपि तत्वं अहं न जाने"I
लोकाः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु।
lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu|

Sunday, March 11, 2012

the five elements created by Him

शब्दाद्व्योम ततः ससर्जिथ विभो स्पर्शं ततो मारुतं
तस्माद्रूपमतो महोऽथ च रसं तोयं च गन्धं महीं।
एवम् माधव पूर्व्वपूर्वकलनादाद्याद्यधर्मान्वितं
भूतग्राममिमं त्वमेव भगवन् प्राकाशयस्तामसात्॥८
श्रीमन्नारायणीयम्  दशकं ५
शब्दात् व्योम ततः स्पर्शं अतः मारुतं तस्मात् रूपं ततः महः अथ च रसं तोयम् गन्धं महीं च विभो ससर्जिथ। माधव एवं पूर्व पूर्व कलनात् आद्यादिधर्मान्वितं इमं भूतग्रमं भगवन् त्वं एव तामसात् प्रकशयः।

śabdādvyoma tataḥ sasarjitha vibho sparśaṁ tato mārutaṁ

tasmādrūpamato maho'tha ca rasaṁ toyaṁ ca gandhaṁ mahīṁ|
evam mādhava pūrvvapūrvakalanādādyādyadharmānvitaṁ
bhūtagrāmamimaṁ tvameva bhagavan prākāśayastāmasāt||8
śrīmannārāyaṇīyam  daśakaṁ 5
śabdāt vyoma tataḥ sparśaṁ ataḥ mārutaṁ tasmāt rūpaṁ tataḥ mahaḥ atha ca rasaṁ toyam gandhaṁ mahīṁ ca vibho sasarjitha| mādhava evaṁ pūrva pūrva kalanāt ādyādidharmānvitaṁ imaṁ bhūtagramaṁ bhagavan tvaṁ eva tāmasāt prakaśayaḥ|

"Guruvayurappa, You  created the sky from the sound, from the sky you created the sense of touch, and from that sense of touch you created air, and from that air you created definite form and from that form you created the splendid energy,  and from that energy you created rasa ( the taste, of the capacity to enjoy), water, sense of smell and the earth.   You Madhava, Bhagavan Guruvayurappa, thus you created the entire chain of the earthly features by you may in regular succession, and made them manifest on earth through the taamasic  ahamkaara."
The sky is of the quality of sound.  air is of the quality of sound and touch.  The tejas or splendour of energy is having sound, sense of touch and form also.  Water is having the sense of sound, touch, form and taste also.  The earth is having sound, sense of touch, form, sense of sound, sense of taste and sense of smell also.
The successive creation of the Panchbhuuthas in the Macro form from their mircro forms is described. here.  The process was executed through the tamasic ahamkara.

--
।श्रीकृष्णो रक्षतु।
|śrīkṛṣṇo rakṣatu|
Have a nice and happy day
with profound respect and warm regards
K V Ananthanarayanan
blog   http://kanfusion.blogspot.com/
त्यजन्तु बान्धवाः सर्वे निन्दन्तु गुरवो जनाःI
तदापि परमानन्दो गोविन्दो मम जीवनंII
let all my relatives abandon me, let the great people insult me, still I am in supreme bliss since my life  is GOVINDA alone.
Iकृष्णात् परं किमपि तत्वं अहं न जाने"I
लोकाः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु।
lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu|

creation through rajas and tamas.

भूमन् मानसबुद्ध्यहङ्कृतिमिळच्चित्ताख्य वृत्त्यन्वितम्
तच्चान्तःकरणम् विभो तव बलात् सत्त्वांश एवासृजत्।
जातस्तैजसतो दशेन्द्रियगणस्तत्त्तामससांशात् पुरः
तन्मात्रं नभसो मरुत्पुरपते शब्दोऽजनी त्वत्बलात्॥७
श्रीमन्नारायणीये दशकं ५
भूमन्  विभो तव बलात् सत्त्वांशम् एव मान्सबुद्ध्यहङ्कृतिमिळत् चित्ताख्यवृत्त्यन्वितं अन्तःकरणम् च असृजत्। तैजसतः दशेन्द्रियगणः मरुत्पुरपते त्वद् बलात् पुनः तत्तामसांशात्  नभसः तन्मात्रं शब्दः अजनि।
bhūman mānasabuddhyahaṅkṛtimiḻaccittākhya vṛttyanvitam

taccāntaḥkaraṇam vibho tava balāt sattvāṁśa evāsṛjat|

jātastaijasato daśendriyagaṇastatttāmasasāṁśāt puraḥ
tanmātraṁ nabhaso marutpurapate śabdo'janī tvatbalāt||7
śrīmannārāyaṇīye daśakaṁ 5
bhūman  vibho tava balāt sattvāṁśam eva mānsabuddhyahaṅkṛtimiḻat cittākhyavṛttyanvitaṁ antaḥkaraṇam ca asṛjat| taijasataḥ daśendriyagaṇaḥ marutpurapate tvad balāt punaḥ tattāmasāṁśāt  nabhasaḥ tanmātraṁ śabdaḥ ajani|

You the lord of the world, you who pervades the whole universe, Guruvayurappa,  it was only through your desire that the sattwa ahamkaram of Mahat tattwa created  the anthaH karanam or the inner functioning unit of the being consisting of mind, intellect, sense of uniqueness and faculty of discretion.   You created the ten indriyas, five jnaanendriyas and five karmendriyas,  hearing, touch, vision, taste  and sense of smell, being  the five jnanendriyas and speech, hands, legs, excretionary organs and the sexual organ, being the five Karmendriyas, through your Rajo Ahamkara and  the molecular movement (tanmatra) of the sky forming the Sound from there, was created by your Taamasa Ahamkara. 

This again indicates that the Lord, through his own Maaya created the Mahat tatwa which in turn created the Ahamkara which divided itself into sattwa rajas and tamas. and created various objects and phenoment ascribed to them.
The process is very precise but difficult to  understand for we laymen.

--
।श्रीकृष्णो रक्षतु।
|śrīkṛṣṇo rakṣatu|
Have a nice and happy day
with profound respect and warm regards
K V Ananthanarayanan
blog   http://kanfusion.blogspot.com/
त्यजन्तु बान्धवाः सर्वे निन्दन्तु गुरवो जनाःI
तदापि परमानन्दो गोविन्दो मम जीवनंII
let all my relatives abandon me, let the great people insult me, still I am in supreme bliss since my life  is GOVINDA alone.
Iकृष्णात् परं किमपि तत्वं अहं न जाने"I
लोकाः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु।
lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu|

Saturday, March 10, 2012

creation of gods through sattwa...

सोऽहं च त्रिगुणक्रमात् त्रिविधतामासाद्य वैकारिको
भूयस्तैजसतामसाविति भवन्नाद्येन सत्त्वात्मना।
देवानिन्द्रियमानिनोऽकृत दिशा वातार्कपाश्यश्विनो
वह्नीन्द्राच्युतमित्रकान् विधुविधिश्रीरुद्रशारीरिकान्॥६
श्रीमन्नारायणीयं दशकं ५
सः अहं च त्रिगुणक्रमात् त्रिविधताम् आसाद्य वैकारिकः भूयः तैजस तामसौ इति च भवत्।   आद्येन सत्त्वात्मना  दिशा वातार्क पाश्यश्विनः वह्नीन्द्राच्युतमित्रकान् विधु विधि श्रीरुद्र शारीरिकान् इन्द्रियमानिनः देवान् अकृत।

so'haṁ ca triguṇakramāt trividhatāmāsādya vaikāriko

bhūyastaijasatāmasāviti bhavannādyena sattvātmanā|
devānindriyamānino'kṛta diśā vātārkapāśyaśvino
vahnīndrācyutamitrakān vidhuvidhiśrīrudraśārīrikān||6
śrīmannārāyaṇīyaṁ daśakaṁ 5
saḥ ahaṁ ca triguṇakramāt trividhatām āsādya vaikārikaḥ bhūyaḥ taijasa tāmasau iti ca bhavat|   ādyena sattvātmanā  diśā vātārka pāśyaśvinaḥ vahnīndrācyutamitrakān vidhu vidhi śrīrudra śārīrikān indriyamāninaḥ devān akṛta|


The poet Bhattathiri now starts to describe what  Ahamkara, the product of Mahat (cognitive limb of the Lord's Maaya)  set out to do.  The description would go beyond one sloka.

In this sloka
"This Ahamkara ( this has nothing to do with arrogaance... this ahamkara is the recognition of existence and sense of discretion acquired through the cognitive faculties by the maya force performing the duty of creation) assumed the forms of pure calmness, authoritativeness and power of destruction and christened the three as sattwa, rajas and tamas.   Out of these the first one, namely, saattwika was employed in cration of  the gods who have the sense of being owners and presiding deities of limbs and objets.  The Gods  thus created were  the gods of direction,  air, the sun, the rope wielding Varuna, the divine doctors Ashwins,  agni the fire, Indra, upendra, Mitra, Prajapati, the moon, the fourheaded Brahma, the Rudra and the Kshetrajna,

I feel  from this sloka it should be clear that the maya had to divide the ahamkara tattwam into the three Gunas because creation of objects having predominance in any of  the three Gunas can be created only by a source that is having comparable guna.

The creation process of Ahamkara in Saattwika form are 1,  hearing, touch, eyes, tongue, and smell, directions.. vayu, sun, varuna, ashwins,  2. words, hands, legs, excretory organ, sexual organ, agni  indra, achyuta (upendra) mithra, prajapathi, 3. Mind, intellect ahamkaram(sense of uniqueness) and discretionary power,  moon, brahma, rudra and kshetrajna.. these are respectively  the manifestations and the connected deities as created by the Sattwa Ahamkara.

।श्रीकृष्णो रक्षतु।
|śrīkṛṣṇo rakṣatu|
Have a nice and happy day
with profound respect and warm regards
K V Ananthanarayanan
blog   http://kanfusion.blogspot.com/
त्यजन्तु बान्धवाः सर्वे निन्दन्तु गुरवो जनाःI
तदापि परमानन्दो गोविन्दो मम जीवनंII
let all my relatives abandon me, let the great people insult me, still I am in supreme bliss since my life  is GOVINDA alone.
Iकृष्णात् परं किमपि तत्वं अहं न जाने"I
लोकाः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु।
lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu|

Friday, March 09, 2012

Nishthraigunyo Bhavarjuna

on sloka 5 of satakam 5 of Narayaneeyam, which I tried to expalain, the following query was raised.
Nish Trai Gunyo Bhavarjuna , was the lord's statement in Gita.
I felt , that the state of Trans Satwa is the supreme state.
Narayana Bhattathri cannot be wrong.
I am confused.
Can you please help me understand the subtle intent of Shri Bhattathri?
My answer to that query is
 When the process of genesis(creation of universe) is to be described, the author battathiri had to scrupulously follow the original authorities.  Here it is the Bhagavatham of Vyasa, The world has to be seen as is created and not as the  ideal situation where a creature should reach.  The very fact that arjuna was subject to the three gunas like anyone else, made the blessed lord to say" nistraigunyo bhavaarjuna.. "  The lord prefixes this advise with a statement, " Traignunya vishayaa  lokaah..".  the creations are afflicted by the three gunas, and arjuna, please go above this..  So the state of affairs is evident.. the three gunas were created, and surely they were created through the will of God through his own maaya ..
 One of the main purposes for the beings to assume life in this world is to enjoy or suffer and expiate the Karmaphalam.. for a suddhasattwa,( a man with only sattwa or in your perception one who is above all the three gunaas)  there will be no pleasure or pain.  So how can an ordinary human being live in this world and live out his karmas, ?  If you try to subscribe to the view  that there are two states for the creations.. one which is the ordinary state as we see in our mundane lives which is subject to all the vagaries of the gunas and sufferings arising from there because these creations are caught in the web of maayaa, and  the ideal state, where, after contemplation on the Lords Grace, the same being gets emancipated from the grip of such maaya and become inure to all the worldy vaasanas.  You are assuming the ideal which has to be reached in this world through bhakthi and saadhana  should be present in the whole word right from the first moment  of creation.  If that is so the creation itself which is only a leela of the Blessed lord through his maya, becomes unnecessary.  In the earlier sloka bhattathiri has already stated that the Lord just willed through his power of maaya the creation, and there he wanted every type of persona.. not only the ideal one who has transcended the three gunas.  How can one transcend the three gunas  if such gunas are not there.  We do not become post graduates or rulers of the world, nor  evil and imbecile persons on the day we enter the world as  infants.  We train ourselves for life, and we have to go though the same process for the life above or beyond  the ordinary life also.
            If you would  follw  of the advaita philosophy of Shankara alone then there is a different argument..  If we subscribe to that philosophy  then the whole process of creation and even the fact of existence of the universe with all its constituents  is just an illusion, there is only the supreme soul that has real existence.   If that is so our debate and even bhattathiris account is just academic. That is the stuff for philosophers and renunciates, and not for the ordinary humans  who form the majority in the scheme of things.
My view is that nobody in the frame of reference of the physical world as we see and feel  can deny the existence of good and evil, and both these are created by god through his illusory powers,  and the Blessed Lord's exhortation to arjuna is to be seen as a call for the sadhaka to raise himself beyond three gunas.. We should differentiate between the real and the ideal which we strive to reach.    Narayana bhattathiri is not wrong.  He is stating a fact.  We cannot expect any narrative of such dimension just to talk about  supreme state alone.  Bhattathiri at this point of Narayaneeyam  is  only starting his work.. he is creating the proper framework.  If you have to wonder that Bhattathiri is right or wrong here, then you will have to wonder about the entire puranas, itihasas, and even vedas which never fail to acknowledge the existence of the three gunas.  I do understand your query in the light of this particular sloka, but we can explain things only with reference to a wider canvas..

from sattwa to rajas and tamas...

तत्रासौ त्रिगुणात्मकोऽपि च महान् सत्त्वप्रधानः  स्वयं
जीवेऽस्मिन् खलु निर्विकल्पमहमित्युद्बोधनिष्पादकः।
चक्रेऽस्मिन् सविकल्पबोधकमहं तत्त्वम् महान् खल्वसौ
संपुष्टं त्रिगुणैस्तमोऽतिबहुलं विष्णो भवत्प्रेरणात्॥५
श्रीमन्नारायणीयं दशकं ५
तत्र असौ च महान् त्रिगुणात्मकः अपि सत्त्वप्रधानः अस्मिन् जीवे स्वयं निर्विकल्पं अहं इति उद्बोधनिष्पादकः खलु।  असौ महान् खलु विष्णो भवत् प्रेरणात् अस्मिन् त्रिगुणैः सम्पुष्टं तमोऽतिबहुलं सविकल्पबोधकं अहंतत्त्वं चक्रे।
tatrāsau triguṇātmako'pi ca mahān sattvapradhānaḥ  svayaṁ
jīve'smin khalu nirvikalpamahamityudbodhaniṣpādakaḥ|
cakre'smin savikalpabodhakamahaṁ tattvam mahān khalvasau
saṁpuṣṭaṁ triguṇaiastamo'tibahulaṁ viṣṇo bhavatpreraṇāt||5
śrīmannārāyaṇīyaṁ daśakaṁ 5
tatra asau ca mahān triguṇātmakaḥ api sattvapradhānaḥ asmin jīve svayaṁ nirvikalpaṁ ahaṁ iti udbodhaniṣpādakaḥ khalu|  asau mahān khalu viṣṇo bhavat preraṇāt asmin triguṇaiḥ sampuṣṭaṁ tamo'tibahulaṁ savikalpabodhakaṁ ahaṁtattvaṁ cakre|

Now the great poet Bhattathiri describes how from the same Mahat which at first was manifesting only the Sattwa or most noble traits but had in it inherently the other gunass of rajas  --ahamkara or ego or arrogance and tamo gunas like rage, destructive tendencies etc, in the initial stages only manifested the Sattwa guna and had a sense of being a unique one (aham) which was a stand-alone feeling because there was no awareness of anything other than that unique existence.  But by the instigation of you Vishnu the  Guruvayurappa, the same principle of Mahat manifested as Ahamkara with a sense of unique existence with a sense of aloofness and difference from all other beings and a sense of superiority over others.

The three Gunas, sattwam rajas an tamas are necessary for the existence of the manifested world.  If the creations just do not take cognizance of anything other that the supreme soul which is inherent in them and continue to be just contemplating on that like aatmaaraamaas, there would be no further expansion or creation in all its vividness.

In fact this portion of Narayaneeyam is only  expounding the theory of creation, and Bhattathiripad is scrupulously following the contents of Vyasa's Srimad Bhagavatham, because, it was the tradition in our culture to follow the earlier authorities with great respect.  These parts are just the necessary contents of Narayaneeyam but one may wonder whether these dasakas have  much popular appeal in a work essentially based on the Devotion of the bhaktha to the Lord. But no one is entitled to skip such parts.


--
।श्रीकृष्णो रक्षतु।
|śrīkṛṣṇo rakṣatu|
Have a nice and happy day
with profound respect and warm regards
K V Ananthanarayanan
blog   http://kanfusion.blogspot.com/
त्यजन्तु बान्धवाः सर्वे निन्दन्तु गुरवो जनाःI
तदापि परमानन्दो गोविन्दो मम जीवनंII
let all my relatives abandon me, let the great people insult me, still I am in supreme bliss since my life  is GOVINDA alone.
Iकृष्णात् परं किमपि तत्वं अहं न जाने"I
लोकाः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु।
lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu|

Thursday, March 08, 2012

your maaya started her duties right earnest

मायासन्निहितोऽप्रविष्टवपुषा साक्षीति गीतो भवान्
भेदैस्तां प्रतिबिंबतो विविशिवान् जीवोऽपि नैवापरः।
कालादिप्रतिबोधिताथ भवता सञ्चोदिता च स्वयम्
माया सा खलु बुद्धितत्त्वमसृजद्योऽसौ महानुच्यते॥४
श्रीमन्नारायणीये दशकम् ५
मायासन्निहितः  अप्रविष्टवपुषा उपलक्षितः  भवान् साक्षि इति गीतः।  तां भेदैः प्रतिबिम्बतः भवान् एव विविशिवान्।  जीवः अपि न अपरः।  अथ कालादि प्रतिबोधिता भवता सञ्चोदिता च सा माया खलु बुद्धितत्त्वं असृजत्।  यः असौ महान् उच्यते।

māyāsannihito'praviṣṭavapuṣā sākṣīti gīto bhavān

bhedaistāṁ pratibiṁbato viviśivān jīvo'pi naivāparaḥ|
kālādipratibodhitātha bhavatā sañcoditā ca svayam
māyā sā khalu buddhitattvamasṛjadyo'sau mahānucyate||4
śrīmannārāyanīye daśakam 5
māyāsannihitaḥ  apraviṣṭavapuṣā upalakṣitaḥ  bhavān sākṣi iti gītaḥ|  tāṁ bhedaiḥ pratibimbataḥ bhavān eva viviśivān|  jīvaḥ api na aparaḥ|  atha kālādi pratibodhitā bhavatā sañcoditā ca sā māyā khalu buddhitattvaṁ asṛjat|  yaḥ asau mahān ucyate|

I am continuing Narayaneeyam from where I had stopped about two months ago. The point where I stopped was the process of creation initiated by the divine will of Krishna the Guruvayurappa. 

" Your presence is very much manifest in your power of delusion (maayaa) but  you are not a part of that maya, as you have not entered the realms of maya physically.  Therefore you are always sung as the witness to the working of your own maya.   (It is like an artist taking out his palette and paints and brush and adding his ideas and transferring them to a canvas but the artist himself is not a part of the picture.. but there is that subtle something between the creator and the created.)  The jeevatma who has entered maya with some different upaadis or conditions is also none other than you.  After the deluge, the maya which was aroused by time, adhrustam (the unseen inherent force) and her own inherent attributes decided by you and further  who was sufficiently prodded by you Guruvayurappa,  created the tattwa of buddhi or congnition all by herself.   That buddhitattwam is called the tattwam of Mahat."


Maya is an integral part of the Lord but the lord is not essentially entering that area of maya and doing the creations.  He is only the witness. But the inherent nature of Maya coupled with the tacit prodding of the Lord could create almost anything, and she started the creation process.  The first thing when a new set up is established is to have an index or master list.. the cognizion.  This she created. first.   More creations would be seen  getting added to the kitty in the subsequent slokas.  This part of Naryaneeyam is very abstruse and it was pat on this point that it got stuck up.  But without understanding the process of working of divine will through his own powers of illusion(maya), further understanding of Bhagavatham or Narayaneeyam is difficult for a scholar.  For the bhakta, we can just say the Lord started his process of creation through the agency of maya, and the first creation was the Mahat tattwa.  This knowledge is sufficient.



--
।श्रीकृष्णो रक्षतु।
|śrīkṛṣṇo rakṣatu|
Have a nice and happy day
with profound respect and warm regards
K V Ananthanarayanan
blog   http://kanfusion.blogspot.com/
त्यजन्तु बान्धवाः सर्वे निन्दन्तु गुरवो जनाःI
तदापि परमानन्दो गोविन्दो मम जीवनंII
let all my relatives abandon me, let the great people insult me, still I am in supreme bliss since my life  is GOVINDA alone.
Iकृष्णात् परं किमपि तत्वं अहं न जाने"I
लोकाः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु।
lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu|

Monday, March 05, 2012

Finally the Victory..

Finally the Victory..
The battle was over now.  The valiant bird had won the pot of nectar through his valour without comparison.  Amrutha is a potion which would give immortality to a person who drank even a little of it.  But Garuda had never thought of partaking of it for himself to gain immortality.  His only aim  was to ensure that his mother Vinatha was released from the slavery from Kadru.  Even now it was not too late.  He could have his own share of amrutha because the entire pot was with him.  But Garutman would have nothing of it.  He was dutifully carrying the pot to where his aunt and cousins were stationed.  On the way he met Lord Narayana.  The Lord of Lords was pleased with the utter lack of selfishness on the part of the bird.  So He addressed Garuda and told him that He was granting a boon to the bird.  The  request of Garuda was that he should stay stationed above the Lord and that if the lord pleases he should be granted immortality even without consuming amrutha. The boon was granted.  The Lord gave a place to Garuda in his flagstaff.  Garuda in turn offered a boon to the Lord and the Lord asked the bird to be his mount. Garuda thus became the eternal servant of Lord Narayana.
While Garuda was heading for his own abode with the pot of amrutha, Indra hurled his weapon of thunder and lighning, Vajrayaudha at the bird.  The bird laughed it off.  He was not at all affected by the weapon.  But the bird was acutely aware of the sacrifice of Sage  Dadhiichi who gave up his life to offer his backbone to be crafted as this weapon to enable Indra to annihilate Vritrasura.  Moreover the bird did not  want to bring infamy either to the weapon on its wielder Indra.  So he offered to shed one of his feathers in response to the impact of Vajra.  The huge feather fell on the space and the living beings were not even able to measure it from one tip to the other.  The feather was very beautiful.  So the Gods and other occupants of heaven praised Garuda as Suparna, the possessor of beautiful feathers.
Indra then requested eternal friendship with Garuda and it was granted.  Indra pleaded to Garuda that if the amrutha was consumed by the thousand wily and venomous snakes, they would become very powerful and as they were already having only evil intentions towards living beings, their gaining immortality would be a catastrophe to all living creatures.  Garuda replied that  he was forced into the adventure of capturing amrutha by an action of deception on the part of his aunt Kadru in collusion with her sons and all that he had promised was to fetch the pot of nectar to their place in return to his mother's liberty.  He had no intention of allowing them to drink the nectar. So Indra was free to take away the nectar once it was placed in the presence of the snakes and Vinatha's liberty was ensured.
Accordingly, Garuda reached the place where the snakes and Kadru were residing.  There was a thick growth of Kusa grassed and Garuda placed the pot on the grass  and told the snakes to have their hearts content of amrutha and they could have their drink after purifying themselves with a ritualistic bath and other observances.  The foolish snakes went for a bath after releasing Vinatha and  as already determined, Indra  took away the pot of amrutha back to its place.
The snakes returned from their bath and ablutions to find the pot of amrutha missing.  They had no means of retaliation. Garuda was too strong an adversary, and he had kept his promise.  All they could do was to lick the Kusa grasses over which the pot of nectar was placed earlier.  Their tongues became split  due to the sharpness of the grass.
Since the pot of nectar was placed on Kusa (Darbha) grass, they became sacred from that time onwards. 
Garuda did not keep quiet.  He attacked the snakes with great vigour and killed most of them, and only about ten Nagas were left behind.  Garuda spared them only because of divine intervention.
Thus after accomplishing his mission with great success, Garuda lived happily in the company of his beloved mother Vinatha ever after.
The episode of Garuda has many things in common with the adventures of Anjaneya as we could see in the Sundarakandam and Yuddhakandam of Ramayanam.
The total lack of selfishness on the part of Garuda  as he chose not to drink nectar but  preferred to remain the faithful servant of Lord Narayana  makes his glory even more praiseworthy.

Now it is our turn to look into the history of Hanuman.



--
।श्रीकृष्णो रक्षतु।
|śrīkṛṣṇo rakṣatu|
Have a nice and happy day
with profound respect and warm regards
K V Ananthanarayanan
blog   http://kanfusion.blogspot.com/
त्यजन्तु बान्धवाः सर्वे निन्दन्तु गुरवो जनाःI
तदापि परमानन्दो गोविन्दो मम जीवनंII
let all my relatives abandon me, let the great people insult me, still I am in supreme bliss since my life  is GOVINDA alone.
Iकृष्णात् परं किमपि तत्वं अहं न जाने"I
लोकाः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु।
lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu|

Sunday, March 04, 2012

chandrakalabham chaarthiyurangum

ചന്ദ്രകളഭം ചാര്‍ത്തിയുറങ്ങും തീരം
ഇന്ദ്രധനുസ്സിന്‍ തൂവല്‍ പൊഴിയും തീരം
ഈ മനോഹരതീരത്തു തരുമോ
ഇനിയൊരു ജന്മം കൂടി
എനിക്കിനിയൊരുജന്മം കൂടി

ഈവര്‍ണ്ണസുരഭിയാം ഭൂമിയിലല്ലാതെ
കാമുകഹൃദയങ്ങളുണ്ടോ?
സന്ധ്യകളുണ്ടോ ചന്ദ്രികയുണ്ടോ
ഗന്ധര്‍വഗീതമുണ്ടോ?
വസുന്ധരേ വസുന്ധരേ...
കൊതിതീരും വരെ ഇവിടെ പ്രേമിച്ചു മരിച്ചവരുണ്ടോ?
(ചന്ദ്രകളഭം ....)

ഈ നിത്യഹരിതയാം ഭൂമിയിലല്ലാതെ
മാനസസരസ്സുകളുണ്ടോ?
സ്വപ്നങ്ങളുണ്ടോ പുഷ്പങ്ങളുണ്ടോ
സ്വര്‍ണ്ണമരാളങ്ങളുണ്ടോ?
വസുന്ധരേ വസുന്ധരേ.....മതിയാകും വരെ
ഇവിടെ ജീവിച്ചു മരിച്ചവരുണ്ടോ?
(ചന്ദ്രകളഭം ...)
the immortal poetry of Vayalar Ramavarma

The beaches that are lullabied  to sleep covered by the sandal paste of the cool rays of the moon, 
The beaches where the feathers from the bow of Indra (the rainbow) are shed,
Oh, the power that be,
will you please give me another chance to live in this beautiful landscape..
assuming yet another life?

Can there exist the romantic hearts of lovers anywhere other than on this colourful and fragrant earth? 
Can there be sweet dusks,
soothing rays of the moon
and the songs of singers equalling the gandharvas
 anywhere other than on this earth? 
 Oh earth, who carry on your bosom all the wealth and greenery of life,
 is there anyone living  on your surface 
who has loved to his hearts content
 before departing from  you to go to  the abode of death?

Can there exist anywhere other than on this earth which is ever lush in greenery, 
the Manasa saras of Ganga and sources of water so sweet?
Can there be sweet dreams, fragrant flowers and golden beetles? 
Is there anyone who has  lived on this earth and  has lived his life to his heart's content before taking leave of   you to go to  the abode of death?
Oh, the power that be, will you please give me another chance to live in this beautiful landscape..assuming yet another life?