SUDDHA - BRAHMA PARATPARA - RAM

" Brahman" means ' Absolute Truth'. and " Paratpara" is 'Supreme beyond the most high'. Both 'Brahman' and 'Paratpara' are synonyms. Sri Rama is the total expression of 'Brahman', and with the name and form as "Rama", he is the embodiment of dharma. He enacts the drama of Ramayana--an illusory show-- in which he acts like an ordinary man, expressing different emotions, and at the same time, sticking on to 'dharma'. He was ever conscious of his true ' Being' witnessing his own show as 'Rama the man'. Sita is not an independent entity. In the true sense, she is a part of Rama playing the role of an instigator of action in him. Sita is the 'becoming' part of Rama. They complement each other. .Rama, the hero, Sita the heroine, and Ravana the villain, are the main characters in the story of Ramayana (journey of Rama). Rama lived for 11000 years, and this story-Rama-Ayana- relates to a short period of around 40 years., including his fourteen years of forest life.


MahaVishnu and his consort Lakshmi have only , incarnated as Rama and Sita respectively, as per our belief. Now, a few thoughts regarding 'dharma':- ' Brahman the Absolute' is 'Param" (or paratparam) ' expresses' as 'Sat' which is inherent in " Param". This 'sat' only 'appears ' as phenomena. The functioning of the phenomena is according to a Rhythm. When the rhythm is applied to man's actions, it is known as 'dharma'. Thus, when man acts in a rhythmic way, he is following dharma i.e. lives in harmony with the phenomena. Sri Rama is the embodiment of dharma.


In the true sense, dharma of an individual to 'himself' is to realise the true Self in him. With this in contemplation, we may view dharma in different contexts:



dharma of an individual to another individual
dharma of an individual to parents
dharma of an individual to Guru
dharma of an individual to the family
dharma of an individual to the society
dharma of an individual to the State
dharma of an individual to the Nation
dharma of an individual to the world at large

Apart from this, there are dharmas prescribed for each varna (brahmana, kshatriya, vaisya, sudra) and for each asrama (brahmachari, grahasta, vanaprasta and sanyasa) All these codes are prescribed in dharma sastras. To realise one's true nature, is the highest dharma, as pointed out above. All other dharmas, in various walks of life, have the base in the said supreme dharma, and they are to be observed keeping in mind the supreme dharma. To the extent the supreme dharma is established in oneself, peace and harmony would prevail in his living through various walks of life. Sri Rama is fully aware of his Real ' Swaroopa', and he is exhibiting the 'swabhava' as 'Rama the man' to show dharma in its different aspects.


With this introduction, we may go through the dharma aspect projected in the story. Every hindu is expected to know the story, and so, the same is not repeated here.

When Rama is hesitant to kill the demon Tataka,( being a woman) , Sage Viswamitra justifies the necessity of killing, in the larger interest. Here, the dharma of obeying Guru's command prevails.

In the Parasurama episode, Rama could very well aim the arrow at the sage and kill him. He refrains from doing so considering the greatness of the brahmin-sage.

Rama is not at all disturbed by the words of Kaikeyi when she conveyed the desire of King Dasaratha i.e. Rama to renounce the coronation and go to the forest. Rama obeys the same. Here, the dharma towards his parents prevails.

While consoling mother Kousalya, Rama reminds her that the kingdom is not eternal, whereas dharma is eternal.

Rama endorses the view point of Sita that she is destined to share the sukha and dukkha of her husband and that she cannot be separated from him. Here, the dharma to the family prevails.

While taking leave of his father, Rama says " My only wish is to see that you adhere to dharma by fulfilling the promise given to mother Kaikeyi. I shall carry out the orders as if given by God".

Sage Bharadwaja says "Rama's forest life is going to benefit both sages and Gods. " The sage could foresee the events to happen in Rama's journey.

Rama advises Bharatha " this Universe firmly rests in Truth ("Sat'), and dharma is the manifestation of that Truth, and it is by dharma, the universe is sustained. When Bharatha threatens to go on fast till Rama returns, Rama dissuades him from that by saying that such a course is not to be resorted to by Kings, and only brahmins could do it.

Sages assembled before Rama could foresee the course of events to happen. They declare that King Dasaratha secured solution by redeeming his debt to Kaikeyi. Rama, likewise, wants to redeem his debt to his father.

When Sage Vasishta, in the capacity of a Guru, asks Rama to rule the kingdom, instead of going to forest, Rama politely replies that his parents words are to be obeyed, which is his primary dharma.

Rama, while speaking to his mother, reminds her of the tenets of dharma of a wife to take care of her husband; all religious observances on the part of a woman, are not praiseworthy if she doesn't serve her husband.

Sumitra, mother of Lakshmana, views the situation philosophically. She says that her inner mind says that Rama is the Lord of the Universe and that whether he be in the forest or in Ayodya, he would exhibit dharma. Her attitude is laudable.

Rama says that all events in one' s life are well determined, and one has no freedom on his part to change that course.

Sage Vasishta consoles Bharatha and advises that he should not react to situations and should develop an attitude of response in facing them. Sage Bharadwaja consoles Bharatha and advises that he should not blame his mother. Destiny leads our life.

Rama, in the guise of enquiry, elaborately discusses Raja - dharma, with Bharatha. Rama also advises him not to have any ill-feelings towards his mother Kaikeyi.

On reaching Dandakaranya, Rama had an encounter with one Rakshasa by name Virada who grasped Sita by surprise. Rama killed Virada and it was a blessing for him. He got again his original form of gandarva . He recalled, ' because of a curse, he turned out to be a rakshasa'.

On one occasion, Sita tells Rama that his intention of killing rakshasas without provocation from them, is not an appropriate act, although it was true that Rama had promised the sages to annihilate the Rakshasas. Further, she reminds him that in the forest , he is expected to lead an ascetic life following the principle of non-violence. Rama simply says that he has to keep his promise to the sages. (Rama is aware of the course of events to take place)

In the Surpanaka episode, Rama heard Lakshmana's sarcastic remarks (that sita is not beautiful as Surpanaka is , and that Rama might accept her as his second wife). Surpanaka then tried to grasp Sita to eliminate her. Rama asks Lakshmana to disfigure Surpanaka and chase her away. He later tells Lakshmana that it is not correct to pass sarcastic comments on wicked persons, which would result in serious consequences.

Rama spared Surpanaka's life for reasons best known to him. Surpanaka was destined to play an important role in brain - washing her brother Ravana . Similarly in the case of Maricha also, Rama purposely allowed him to escape from his arrow (which normally could not happen) on two occasions, because Ravana had to utilise him later.

Rama's killing of the rakshasas Kara, Thushana, Thisra and their army of 14000 rakshasas en- masse, single handed, is a defence measure, when they waged war against him, on the instigation of Surpanaka.

Ravana did not heed the advice of Mareecha not to have enmity with Rama , and that there is no greater sin than outraging another's wife. He also narrated his bitter experience with Rama., and his lucky escape, from Rama's arrow. When Ravana threatened to kill him , he preferred to be killed by Rama.

Sita is lured by the deer (Mareecha in disguise) and she expressed her desire to possess the animal. (Desire and posssesion lead to sorrow) . Rama himself goes to catch the deer. He does not send Lakshmana for reasons best known to him. The drama has to proceed further ultimately ending in the killing of Ravana and his associates.

Mareecha was faithful to Ravana, when he played his role as a deer, and made a false cry imitating Rama's voice. Mareecha could very well keep quiet, without making that cry. However, to have continuity of the drama, this was needed!

When Sita was being carried away by Ravana, Brahma and sages could see what was happening; but they let the event to take place, for they know that the same would result in their ultimate aim of destroying evil elements.

Rama expresses all kinds of emotions like any other ordinary mortal, when he found Sita missing. He laments, and out of anger , is threatening to destroy the entire Universe. Lakshmana took much trouble to console him.

Rama feels very sad on Jadayu's death and says 'fate cannot be conquered'.

On their way in search of Sita, they had an encounter with a rakshasa by name Kabanda. He was about to swallow them when they killed him by cutting off his hands. Kabanda then regained his original form of a gandharva , and in gratitude, directed them to Sugreeva for help to find out Sita.

After receiving the hospitality of Sabari - a woman from a hunter family-, they reached Kishkinda, made friendship with Sugriva, and promised to help to regain his wife and kingdom , by killing Vali .

Rama justifies the killing of Vali : As one belonging to Ikshavaku dynasty Rama is duty bound to protect the innocent and punish those who have transgressed the moral law. Vali being an animal, no one - to - one fight , nor face - to - face fight , was warranted to overpower and kill him.

Vibheeshana - saranagathy; Rama's famous words " I offer protection at all times to the one who comes to me only once to surrender and begs to me" This is considered as the most precious message similar to Krishna's message "sarva dharman parityajya..."

Rama tells Ravana "After being killed by me, you will also reach the same destination of gods, sages and noble kings" Rama sends back Ravana when he stood before him losing his bow as well as his chariot, and completely exhausted. Ravana was thus given an opportunity to repent for the bad deeds.

Ravana on hearing about the death of Kumbhakarna , realises and says to himself "I think Rama is Narayana himself".

On the death of Ravana, Vibeeshana laments and praises Ravana as the one who had mastered the vedas, as the one who did lot of penance, as the one who gifted lot of wealth to his friends and as the one who was determined in action. Rama consoles Vibeeshana saying "Enmity lasts upto death only, and the last rites to the dead should be performed with due honour".

Rama to Sita:"I fought the war to save the honour of my race. You now stand before me as a tainted person. You may go away from here". Sita declares "it is my femininity that stands supreme" Sita then asks Lakshmana to raise fire and she passes through it unscathed , thus proving her chastity. It is an act not to prove her chastity to Rama; but to add honour to Rama and to prove the value of chastity which even fire could not destroy.

All gods including Siva and Brahma reminds Rama "You are the Absolute; You are Brahman; You are Eternal; You are Shriman Narayana with Sri Lakshmy".

INSIGHT

What is insight? The Concise Oxford Dictionary gives the meaning of the word 'insight' as 'the capacity of understanding hidden truth'. We know what is meant by 'seeing outside' i.e. observing objects in the phenomena with our senses. In contrast, there is an art of 'seeing inside' i.e., observing thoughts arising inside. There is a third factor i.e., ' seeing from within' which means unifying both the ' seeing outside' and 'seeing inside' , and at the same time, remaining aloof as a witness. This 'seeing from within' is INSIGHT known by different names such as 'enlightenment', 'realisation', 'awakening', 'understanding', 'passive awareness', 'natural state', liberation, 'atma- sakshatkaram', 'sakshi' etc.


In our search for pleasure, we encounter emotions like desire, greediness, possessiveness, jealousy, hatred, fear, anxiety etc. We are ignorant of the fact that the apparent pleasure and the absence of the same felt as pain, do not exist, as such. The pleasure and pain emanate from Peace in a distorted form. Because of our entertaining a sense of individuality and sense of doership (both are illusory in the apparent movement of Consciousness) we experience the duality of pleasure and pain. Peace is the nature of Consciousness,(Our swaroopha) and this only appears as pleasure and pain, in a distorted form, when reflected in an 'individual'. We do not bother to ' see within' leave alone to acquire ' insight' ( to see from within). We bring in an external God and pray to bestow pleasure and remove difficulties. We are ignorant that God - whose nature is Peace - is not to bestow pleasure or remove pain. He is a sakshi to his own leela for purpose best known to Him. Our experiencing pleasure and pain is out of ignorance about our true nature ( i.e. Peace, our swaroopha) God has bestowed us with 'intellect' , a source of knowledge through which we could realise our swaroopa. This is also a part of His leela. In His 'leela' , God let the 'individual' (apparent individual) to come out of the ignorance, to realise his swaroopa (Peace) and to witness the modes of prakrithy exhibited through him. In the macrocosmic aspect, God is Sakshi viewing His own creation i.e. prakrithy's function. The 'individual' out of ignorance thinks he is the doer, meaning he has the freedom of functioning. He doesnt know that it is prakrithy which is performing action.


There are certain persons who withdraw from the activities of ' living' and remain as a recluse, and search for the truth within. Here also, prakrity only shapes their living as a recluse. To realise our real nature (swaroopa) we need not forcebly withdraw our normal activities which amounts to suppression of physical activities which does not help to erase the mental activities. An intellectual comprehension of our real nature would lead us to the final understanding of Wisdom -Truth, i.e. INSIGHT, known by various names such as Enlightenment, Awakeninng etc., referred to above. The awakened is a 'witness' witnessing thoughts and events without being affected by either. The Witness never entertains a sense of individuality or freewill . He accepts the fact that it is 'prakriti' which is acting, and his real swaroopa --Peace- is never affected. He views with equanimity all dualities which otherwise would bring him pleasure or pain. Equanimity is Yoga - "samatwam yoga ucchathe" (B.Geeta). Intellectual comprehension, in the normal course, has to be attained through the practice of 'sadana chatushtyam', through 'sravana,manana,nidhityasana, through 'ashtanga yoga'. There were, however, exceptions like Sage Ramakrishna, Sage Ramana, who were blessed with Enlightenment without going through such intellectual exercise. The function of the 'intellect' and how far it helps to have 'insight' need some elucidation. The 'anthakaranam' with which one is equipped, comprises of mind, intellect, chittam (store house of tendencies) and ego (feeling of individuality and sense of doership) The mind functions as a transmitter and receiver. It transmits the stored tendencies received from chittam) as well as impressions received from outside, to the intellect for process. Intellect, as such, is pure and reflects the consciousness and can take decisions with wisdom knowledge. But the irony is that ego the fourth element (which is illusory) interferes and influences the intellect to take decisions according to its (ego's) whims and fancies! This is the root cause for the distortion of Peace.


To sum up: CONSCIOUSNESS IS OUR SWAROOPA. APPEARANCE IS SWABHAVA. SENSE OF INDIVIDUALITY (EGO) IS ILLUSORY. COME OUT OF THIS ILLUSION. OBSERVE THOUGHTS AND EVENTS WITH CONTEMPLATIVE VISION (INSIGHT) OF SWAROOPA. EXPERIENCE PEACE AND HARMONY.

SNAKE AND THE ROPE

The 'vedantins', particularly those who follow 'adwaitha' philosophy, often quote the analogy of 'serpant and rope' to bring out the truth that "Brahman alone is real; the world is unreal". Simple to know, but complex to understand! There are similar analogies: (1) desert and the mirage; (2) ocean and waves; (3) ghost and post ( 4) Real and reflection; (5) Pearl and silver. One is real and the other is appearance. All analogies have their limitations. They cannot be stretched beyond a limit. Further, these are all concepts only to find out the inconceivable. Once we start talking about the Absolute, we actually bring the same down to the phenomenal level of subject-object concepts. All concepts arise in Consciousness--expression (swaroopa) of the Absolute. This Consciousness is the substratum (athishtanam) on which phenomena of subject-object concepts appear, as if the waves arise, exist and dissolve in the Ocean. Absolute is the base (aadharam); Consciousness is the substratum (athishtanam) and the phenomena is the appearance (prathibhasam). With this concept firm in mind, the analogy of 'serpant-rope' may be analysed.


The very analysis is a concept and whatever conclusion we arrive at cannot be anything other than another concept. The saying "Sankalpanam paro - bandha; tat-abhavo vimukthatha. Concept is the bondage and absence of the same is liberation. The understanding of the 'rope' casting away the illusory appearance of 'serpant' is at the phenomenal level only; an exercise at the intellectual level. When we talk about the analogy of serpant and rope, it is implied that there is an 'observer' to perceive the rope which was mis-identified as serpant earlier. Further there need a concept of rope as well as serpant for this perception. Thus, a perceiver, an object perceived and the act of perceiving come into the scene. The truth is that there is only 'perceiving'. We can observe that this "perceiving' alone is present in the innocent observation of a two months old baby. The child doesnt differentiate either 'serpant' or 'rope'. The child merely percives without concepts. A popular analogy - When Devdatta was recognised by his friend after 40 years of interval, although the name is forgotten and the place of meting is different, and the form of the person is also thoroughly changed, the very fact of recognition "isness' of the person brings fulfilment to the friend. The name and form and the time and place concerning Devadatta, are relegated to the background.


There is a slight difference between the two analogies viz, snake and rope and mirage and desert. In the former analogy, once we realise that it is a rope , the snake disappears for ever. In the latter case, the mirage would continue to exist even after knowing the base the desert. For that matter, we cannot quench our thirst with the water in the mirage nor can we drain the water with all our intellectual exercise!
In the case of ocean and waves analogy, when once we realise that the nature of the wave is water only whether in the form of ocean or in the form of different waves, we can reconcile with the wave/waves and the ocean too placing them in their proper perspective. This analogy would help us to remember our Oneness with the Ocean and to overcome the sense of individuality and doership. The irony is we are still caged in a wave!!

'I', 'I AM' and 'ME'

Sage Ramana asks us to contemplate on "Who AM I", which is a pointer to REALITY. What is REALITY then? Who is this "I"? Is the 'I' different from what I AM? These are dobts arising in ME. My understanding is: "I" is Consciousness (bhodam) ; This "I" Consciousness is the expression of "AWARENESS". I AM is an appearance on the I Consciousness as a sense of Existence. Without I there is no I AM. To understand these concepts we need an analogy. Water,( the Reality) expresses as Ocean (I Consciousness), and waves thereon make an appearance as I AM. The Universe is perceived as 'I AM'. Without "AWARENESS" there is no "I". Without "I" there is no "I AM" and in the absence of "I AM" there is no Universe. Apart from Awareness, I-Consciousness, I AM-Universe, there is an imaginary "I" (a phantom" I " known as ME or MINE) claiming individualiy and freedom of volition. The status of this imaginary "I" can be remembered by the status of an individual wave among the innumerable waves in the Ocean. How ridiculous for a wave claiming independent existence and freedom of volition! Sage Ramana's advice is to find out the REAL I (in the analogy of ' Water - ocean - waves - wave', the wave has to castaway the enclosure it has assumed around it) . Sri Sankara's aphorism " Brahma Satyam; Jagan mitya; Jeevo Brahmaiva na aparah " - Brahman Alone is Real; the world is unreal; the individual soul is non-different from Brahman - may be remembered in this context. The 'world is unreal' has to be understood as "All differences and plurality are illusory"; " Brahman is homogeneous and Whatever is, is Brahman".


In the vedantic texts there is a mention about seven spheres of ignorance. They are:


Beeja - Jagrat; Jagrat; Maha - Jagrat; Jagrat-swapna; Swapna; Swapna - Jagrat and Susuhpthi.


Beeja-jagrat = I-Conciousness (in a static stage, without object) otherwise known as 'Avyakta' 'Akshara" or Ishwara

Jagrat= "I AM"-Consciousness with the sense of perception - otherwise known as 'vyakta', 'kshara' "viswam"

Maha-jagrat: 'Iam so & so (with a name and form) - sense of individuality and volition of its own = Vyakthy; phantom I

Jagrat-swapna: vyakthy entertaining desires, fear and anxiety

Swapna: an echo of maha jgrat and jagrat swapna

Swapna-jagrat: -do -

Sushupthy: deep-sleep where "I" consciousness remains dormant, and "I AM" and "ME" are absent


Similar to the seven spheres of ignorance there are seven spheres of Knowledge. They are:

subeccha; Vicharana; Asanga-bhavana; vilapani; satvapatthi; Pathartha-bhavana; Thureeya

Good intention; spiritual inquiry, attitude of detachment; vasanas - submerging, bodhananda bhava; enlightenment and Mukthy.

Thureeya is " I Consciousness" witnessing its own sankalpa of "I AM" the Universe and "ME" the imaginary individual I .



It is "I Consciousness" that decides out of sankalpa, the course of the Universe, similar to Ocean deciding the course of the movements of the waves.

Only by doing all these tatwa-vicharas we may be able to understand the purport of the Sage's advice. In the absence of sravana, manana and Nidhityasana, a mere repetition of the advice "Who AM I" as a mantra , I am afraid, would lead us nowhere. Sage Ramana is pointing out the temporality of the phantom I and the eternity of Real I. He is pointing out the illusory wave claiming independent status, visa-vis the Ocean, the substratum, and the water, the reality.

ETERNAL SEARCH

What is this search for? A dreamer searching for the dream person? A shadow searching for its source? A phantom-I" searching for the "real I"? A wave searching for the ocean? A person not counting himself as the tenth man and searching for him in the asembly of ten? The Truth is that there is no dreamer, there is no shadow; there is no phantom I, there is no individual wave and there is none missing. The shadow exists because of the false notion entertained by an individual that he stands independent of the SOURCE. Similarly, it is out of sheer ignorance that a wave feels itself independent, and the man too out of forgetfulness omitted to count himself. So long as, there is ignorance and there is forgetfulness about our true nature , the search will go on for ever. A dreamer cannot find out the dream person so long as he is in the dream. All these statements are mere concepts!! Once the dreamer wakes up from the dream, the concepts come to an end., or conversely, when the concepts end, the dreamer wakes up.


With the above 'concepts' in mind, we may proceed with the 'search'. Philosophers as well as Vedantins commonly use a few terminologies in their search. They are:


Brahman -- Ishwara -- Viswam -- Jeeva

Awareness - Consciousness -- Universe -- individual

Noumenon - No-phenomena - phenomena -- sentience

Base -- Substratum -- Appearance -- manifestation

Aadharam -- Athishtanam -- Abhasam -- Prathibhasam

Vyaktavyakta -- Avyakta -- Vyakta -- Vyakthy

Purushottama -- Akshara Purusha -- Kshara Purusha -- jeevatma

Paramashiva -- Parashakthy -- Adhishakthy -- Iccha-kriya-gnana sakthy

Mayadeeda -- Mahamaya -- Jaganmaya -- jeeva

In each of the above quadruplets, the first one represents Absolute, the second one is Expression, the third one is Appearance and the last one is dreamer-the individual!


The individual experiences pleasure and pain alternately while reacting with persons and events. He desires for continuous pleasure forgetting the fact that pleasure and pain are two facets of the same coin. It is PEACE that appears as pleasure and pain on either side. The Truth is that both pleasure and pain, apparently opposites, get synthesised in PEACE (which is the swaroopa of Consciousness - the Source of the individual) We can see many more dualities , apparently opposites, posing as thesis and anti-thesis, getting merged in synthesis. To mention a few: Ritam and satyam merging in Param; preyas and sreyas merging in Moksha; priyam and hitam merging in Anantham, aham and twam merging in Asmi, avaranam and vikshepam merging in Vastu-nishtam; apara and para merging in Paratpara, saguna and nirguna merging in Gunatheeha; gnanam and vignanam merging in Atma-gnanam , vyakta and avyakta merging in vyaktavyakta, kshara and akshara merging in Purushottama, Adhisakthy and parasakthy merging in Paramasiva, Universe and consciousness merging in Awareness, Ishwara and Viswam merging in Brahmam.

The individual experiences duality only because he has forgotten the SOURCE--Consciousness--Peace. The peace in him (which is his true nature) dissipates as pleasure and pain. To the extent he develops an attitude of equanimity, he realises his Self - he realises PEACE - his true nature. With this realisation established permanently in him, he could see his Self in all beings and all beings in his Self. There is no more duality of subject and object. An individual wave finds harmony with other waves realising that they in common emanate from the Ocean, exist in the Ocean and ultimately dissolve in the Ocean. Similarly, an individual feels harmony with the entire universe once he has realised that both himself and the universe rest in Consciousness.


The individual is Consciousness, the Universe is Consciousness and whatever is, is Consciousness only. Consciousness is the expression of Awareness and it is Consciousness which appears as Universe . The individuals with a sense of individuality and doership and experiencing the dual aspects of pleasure and pain, are also in the 'sankalpam' of that One Source - Consciousness.


The dreamer-individual is dreaming with dream concepts of independece, sense of doership and experience of pleasure and pain. Consciousness which has caused the dreamer and the dream, shall one day (if It chooses so) wake this dreamer up from the dream to remain as Consciousness (pure) forever. May this dreamer till then merge with the Cosmic Dream!! (Consciousness, the maker of the cosmic dream has control over it and each event in the Cosmic dream is decided by the Consciousness similar to the ocean deciding the course of individual wave) The Cosmic dream of the Consciousness is the Universe along with the illusion of individual with a sense of volition of his own. The purpose for which Consciousness creates a dream and a dreamer entity is best known to Consciousness only. A microcosmic dreamer-"an individual wavelet", cannot measure the fathom of the Ocean. May the Will of Consciousness function in this tiny speck ,as It Wills.

TRUTH--ABSOLUTE

TRUTH ABSOLUTE
We have a body - a physical structure- and we are ever conscious of it.
So long as we have this body-consciousness, we would continue to differentiate chit and jadam, dehi and deham, kshetragna and kshetra, akshara and kshara, atma and anatma, actual and perceptual, avibhaktham and vibhaktham, consciousness(pure) and consciousness (dynamic), purusha and prakrithy, Ishwara and jagat,etc. This body- consciousness would disappear only with the death of the physical structure, and in some exceptional cases, it would disappear when one enters nirvikalpa samadhy. Even saints and sages who are intellectually convinced about the adwaithic finality of the one TRUTH Absolute (Awareness), are not able to outlive this phenomenon of body- consciousness. However,our understanding of the TRUTH ABSOLUTE (Awareness) contemplatively would enable us to remain as Pure Consciousness, as a Witness, to all its reflections. Pure Consciousness is the Witness to its own reflection which shines as diversified form of consciousness. To make it more clear -Pure Consciousness is the Witness and the Consciousness in the reflected aspect is the doer while TRUTH Absolute -Awareness- remains as such without the act of doership or witnessing.
Pure Consciousness is known differently as Chit, Dehi, Purusha, Ishwara etc. The first expression of the Absolute is Pure Consciousness . Vedantins declare this as 'beeja jagrat'. The reflection of consciousness is 'Jagrat" and with the sense of individuality and sense of doership the same becomes 'maha jagrat. "I" is the 'beeja jagrat': "I AM" is the 'jagrat' and "I am so and so; this is mine" is the 'maha jagrat'. In beeja jagrat, Consciousness remains as such. in the jagrat, the reflection of Consciousness is dynamic, and in the maha jagrat, the reflection is ego. It can be easily remembered with the analogy of Water, ocean, waves and individual wave (Water the Reality; Ocean the Pure Consciousness: waves the Consciousness reflected as dynamic; and individual wave is the ego sense of individuality and doership. Truth Absolute (Awareness) is the base; Pure Consciousness (the first expression) is the substratum, and the Universe(consciousness in dynamic form) is the REFLECTION. Ishwara ( another name of Consciousness) is the expression of the Truth Absolute. I see Him enveloping the Universe, I see Him in me and I see Him in 'perceiving'. It is His will that prevails to express as phenomena, to express as individual and to express as individual volition. With this intellectual conviction and by contemplative vision of the one and only Truth, let my little ego immerse in Him just as a wavelet immerses in the Ocean. May His Will prevail. May I ever feel that I am only a wavelet willed by the vast Ocean of Consciousness. This is the Ultimte Truth.

COSMIC DANCE

COSMIC DANCE

Lord Nataraja's dance pose is symbolic of the non-phenomena expressing as phenomena. There is a famous temple in Chidambaram (in the State of Tamil Nadu in India) where the deity is Lord Nataraja. The place Chidambaram is aptly named for it denotes 'Chit" (Cosmic Knowledge) and 'Ambaram' (Cosmic Existence) Avyaktha expressing Vyaktha, Akshara expressing Kshara, Bhodam expressing Jagat, Consciousness expressing Cosmos, Latent power expressing dynamic - all these signify the Cosmic Dance.


As we know there are different art forms such as painting, music, dance. The dance form is however unique. In the case of music and painting the creator i.e. the musician and the painter can be separated from their respective creation whereas the dance cannot be separated from the dancer. The dance cannot be viewed in the absence of the dancer. The cosmos has no existence in the absence of Consciousness. We have personified Consciousness in Lord Nataraja and we view His dance in 'Existence'. The very knowledge of Existence (SAT) is CHIT. In the dance of Lord Nataraja we view 'thirukoothu' - sat-chit-anandam together.


Sage Thirumoolar in his famous work Thirumandiram has explained "the dance of human beings is of two kinds 'maruthaikoothu' and 'inbha koothu'.; they are otherwise known as 'namankoothu'; they end when the life ends. The Cosmic Dance is 'thirukoothu'. Even if the 'namankoothu' ends the 'thirukoothu' would continue. (Even if the movement of an individual wave ends the totality of movement in the ocean would continue. Sage Thirumoolar advises that if only we constantly remember Lord (consciousness personified) we would outlive the namankoothu and merge with the Lord for ever. This merging is 'atma-nivedhanam'.


Lord Nataraja witnesses His own dance. At any time he can put an end to His cosmic dance if He wills so. Each movement of the dance has no independent volition without the conscious function of the Dancer. (The movement of each individual wave is decided by the ocean). Lord Nataraja is Consciousness personified and every animate and inanimate being including the five great elements, planets and stars - the entire Cosmos - are the expressions of that One Consciousness.


There is a tamil saying conveying the idea that unwanted desire and aversion and the consequent cycle of birth and death are as willed by God. Understanding this great truth, Be Still in the thought of God. There is another tamil saying conveying the idea 'Lord, you give what I deserve (and not what I desire) and You shower your grace in full. In case I do not deserve/desire anything that too is your command."


The question of Free Will or Fate gets dissolved in our understanding that the all pervading Consciousness is the only Truth. Because of non-understanding or mis-understanding of this Truth, ego sprouts in. Ego is the feeling of individualiy against totality. An egoless mind is the total mind of Consciouness. The total mind is the witness to its own diversified expression similar to ocean as a witness to the waves and dancer as a witness to his own dance.


To sum up: shed the ego; fill the mind with Lord Nataraja. He knows our 'hitam' while our ego craves for priyam. Lord Nataraja is symblic of that great Truth that whatever is, is Bhodam - Consciousness.

T E N S I O N

T E N S I O N


There is a term "tapathrayam" in the vedantic texts. This term means three kinds of afflictions, one caused by elements , another caused by men/animals affecting the body and the third one caused internally such as diseases. Floods, vulcanos, storms are some of the calamities caused by elements. Accidents, bombing and killing, bites by animals fall under the second category. The third one is relating to diseases psychological and physiological. When we view them as a detached observer, we would realise that in our life , in one way or other, on some occasion or other, one has to face these afflictions. We have rather no control over the same.

The afflictions caused psychologically are subtle and at the same time grave and very difficult to be diaognosed and treated. Despite psychologists, clinical psychologists, psychatrists and counselers not to speak of those claiming spiritual/healing powers, mental tension is wide spread. Anxiety and fear are closely connected with tension. Fear connected with illness, anxiety over imaginary situations and anticipated results induce tension. Like certain bodily diseases mental tension is also genetically induced influenced by gunas.


We generally take medicines to cure our diseases, and diseases are cured. So also the psychological tension can be treated by a unique healing method. As we all know the instrument 'mind' is a flow of thoughts. Never does it dry up. Mind transmits stored up impressions from 'chittam' to the intellect where analysis take place and as a result action emanates. Similarly mind receives thoughts from outside. transmits the same to the intellect and the resultant analysis is stored in chittam as impressions (vasanas) In the functioning of the intellect there is disturbance from ego (feeling of individuality) which doesnt allow the intellect to take decision objectively. As a result the decisions we take are coloured by ego with its likes and dislikes. Self-interest is projected when action take placed based on the decisions of the coloured intellect. Every action based on such decision causes a reaction, fresh impressions enter the mind, coloured intellect 'okes' it and the impressions are stored in chittam as fresh vasanas. This is a vicious circle - vasanas from chittam enter the mind, from mind to intellect; interference from ego; wrong decisions by intellect coloured by ego; selfish action with likes/dislikes; reactions; fresh impressions enter the mind; from there to the intellect already coloured by ego, fresh impressions are sent to chittam - the storehouse of vasanas.


In the course of the above process, tension arises when mind faces reaction. This is something similar to our throwing a stone against a ego-wall and it boomerangs. Ego, the mischief maker always wants to protect its interest even at the cost of the interest of others.We cannot avoid action and the impressions already stored in chittam as prarabdham are to be exhausted through action only. But the interference of ego can be checked by brushing it aside and connecting the intellect with the ultimate power - call it by any name - God, Ishwara, Consciousness etc.The decisions taken by the intellect in the light of consciousness projects as action and not activity to create a reaction. Such actions wont be coloured by rag-dwesha Even we would start viewing our body in a detached way. In such a state, fear and anxiety have no place. The technique of bringing in the Supreme Power to our rescue is the most important factor to reduce tension. First of all, we should have trust in that Power and then we should constantly remember that power which guides the intellect in the proper d irection. Actually the intellect is only a ray of that Supreme all pervading Light. We have only to take care that it is not obstructed or coloured by ego. Diseases may affect us, accidents may come, or sometimes we may be affected by natural calamities . In whatever situations we are, we should have the conviction about the presence of God and this God-thought erase our tension completely. God doesnt interfere to change the events; but He does help with His ray of light to erase the ego and give us strength to view the events as a witness, whether the events are pleasurable or painful. Fill the mind with God-thought and free yourself from tension.

SAT-CHIT-ANANDAM

SAT-CHIT-ANANDAM

According to Vedantins, Brahman is the ultimate Truth. There is nothing beyond that. Sankhya system starts their philosophy with Purusha and Prakrithy and visishtadwaida (a branch of Vedanta) claims Shriman Narayana as the Supreme. Adwaita vedantha accomodates both the above concepts of sankhya and visishtadwaida. Brahman is beyond explanation ; once we talk about Brahman we are bringing that Truth down to the level of Consciousness (bhodam) . The term Sat-chit-ananda is a popular one among vedantins to describe the nature of Brahman. As said supra, Brahman cannot be explained since the same is beyond explanation. This term Sat-chit-ananda can at best be applied to describe the nature of Consciousness. Consciousness is the life power in every animate beings. Even in inanimate beings like mountains and trees, which are stationary, Consciousness is dormant. There is growth for the trees and the mountains as well.

Sage Ramana says that we describe the Reality as 'Sat-chit-ananda' (existence, Consciousness and Bliss); Even this is not quite a correct description. It cannot really be described. There is a tamil saying: "urai atta thontai urai cheyyum oomarkal; karai attat thontai karai kanalogumo" conveying that our attempt to explain the Ultimat Truth is like the blaberings of a dumb man; How can we decide the boundary of that Truth which has no boundary at all.


Sat-chit-anandam is one unit. When shadowed by Maya, it appears as Asat-jadam-dukkam. Maya is anirvachaneeyam for the common man and there is no maya for the realised men. A lay man's attempt to explain Maya is similar to a man standing in darkness attempting to explain the darkness. When light enters there, darkness atomatically disappears. A man in complete darkness doesnt bother about that; a man in shadow observes a ray of light and he is inquisitive to find out its source.We, majority of us, belong to this second category and hence we do this tatwa-vicharam.


"I exist" - this declaration has come out of consciousness. Even the "I" can be removed and only Existence remains in its purity. This Existence is Sat. Similarly when sankalpas - concepts are wiped off from the chittam, it shines in its purity as "Chit"The synthesis of Sat and Chit brings in Anandam - Shanty. So from the Existence" I" should be removed and from the subsistence, sankalpas should be removed to experience Happiness.


Sage Ramana asks us to analyse "Who am I?" By analysing the same, all the conditionings will go away and finally,"I"would merge in Consciousness - Heart-- Consciousness, as termed by the Sage. He has put it in simple terms - "Mind; Heart Consciousness and Unmanifest". In the descending order - Unmanifest; Heart-- Consciousness; Mind. This is explained as Brahman; Consciousness and Prapancham The prapancham when individualised is 'anthakaranam' i.e. a unit of mind, intellect, chittam and ahamkaram.This anthakaranam only forms as a shadow and covers the Heart Consciousness resulting in our experiencing pleasure and pain instead of Happiness. We, the Pure Consciousness, are in the shadow of ahamkaram (phantom I) and chittam with sankalpas (concepts) To get rid of this shadow of concepts and ahamkaram, we have to depend on intellect which only sheds a ray of light from Consciousness. An intellect with determination can take us out of the shadow. Tatwa-vicharam, trust on the existence and development of satwa guna go a long way in this respect.


Consciousness is Existence; Consciousness is Bhodam; Consciousness is God; Consciousness is Brahman; Consciousness is Atman. The mahavakyas" Pragnanam Brahma; Ayamatma Brahma " convey this idea. "Satyam, Gnanam, Anandam Brahma" "Om Tatsat" and "Satyam Shivam and Sundaram" all these are derived from Sat-Chit-Anandam. Consciousness is conscious of itself. To believe "I exist", there need not be an outside agency to point out the same. Trust in ourTrue Existence is the Trust in God. "Come out of the shadow of egoism and sankalpas"' Live from moment to moment and be in Happiness".

MAHA VAKYAS

M A H A V A K Y A S



The four famous maha-vakyas in the Vedantic texts are: 1)Pragnanam Brahma (2) Aham Brahmasmi; (3) Tatvamasi and (4) Ayamatma Brahma. These four mahavakyas find place in Aitreya upanishad, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Chandogya Upanishad and Mandukya Upanishad respectively. These upanishads form part of Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva vedas respectively.

Pragnanam Brahma: Consciousness is Brahman. As already said, this mahavakya finds place in Aitreya upanishad of Rig Veda. It is believed that Rishi Maheedasa is the author of this upanishad. Rishi had another name Aitreya and hence the upanishad authored by him is known as Aitreya Upanishad.


Consciousness is Brahman. This Consciousness is the first expression of Brahman. The swaroopam of Brahman is conceptualised as Sat-chit-ananda. That which exists is "Sat"; the knbowledge of the Existence is "Chit" and the resultant anuboodhy is "Anandam". Brahman alone exists and the knowledge of the same is also that of Brahman. "Sat" and "Consciousness - Bodham" are synonyms. "I exist and so Iam".
The knowledge implied here is Self-knowledge i.e. 'Chit'.


Consciousness is Ishwara; Consciousness is Bhodam; Consciousness is Pragnanam; Consciousness is Sarva-sakshy; It is 'sarva bhoodantharatma; sarva vyaphi, nirguna etc. While Brahman is the mooladharam, Consciousness is the athishtanam and on this athishtanam Prapancham exists. Consciiousness is the life-principle of all animate beings and even in the so called inanimate objects like mountain, consciousness is dormant. In the Upanishad mahavakya it is declared "Atman is Brahman. five elements are Brahman; all animate and inanimate beings are Brahman; the eye of the prapancham is Brahman; Consciousness is Brahman." Atman is the vyashti bhavam and Consciousness is the samshti bhavam of that Absolute Brahman - the only Truth.


Aham Brahmasmi: This mahavakya brings in the term Aham instead of Pragnanam as in the first mahavakya. Aham is pragnanam only. Aham-pragnanam-bodham& Atma, are merged with Brahman. Here 'Aham' does not in any way denote 'ahamkara' i.e.ego. Aham meant here is the reflection of that Brahman in the individual. This pure Atman is covered by ego - ahamkara, a feeling of individuality putting an enclosure to atman, threby selfishness, narrowness etc., are reflected in our thoughts and action. Atman otherwise Aham is known by the names, Pragna, paramarithkan, pratyagatma, chitabhasan, avichinnan, kudasthan, jeeva. taijasan, prathibhasakan, swapnakalpithan, viswan, vyavaharikan etc.. As jeeva, it gives life-power to anthakarana without which man is dead. The problem arises when jeeva attaches itself to anthakaranam, (instead of standing as a witness and giving life power) with the result jeeva experiences pleasure and pain of the anthakaranam. The technique of reminding onself by meditating on the mahavakya 'aham brahmasmi' helps one to realise his real swaroopam and come out of the clutches of ego.In one of the saiva vedantic texts it is explained that Jeev's attaching itself to anthakaranam is not to be caught by it as is generally understood. In that case, we may have to consider jeeva as subordinate to anthakaranam. It is not so. Jeeva voluntarily attaches itself so that anthakaranam is purified and both jeeva and anthakaranam get merged in Atma and ultimately immerses in Brahmam. When more quantity of pure water is poured in a pot containing muddy water, the pot overflows and ultimately the muddy water disappears and only pure water remains in the pot. Jeeva's satwa guna dominates and the other gunas in the anthakaranam subsides.Jeeva being the reflection of Atma, is predominantly satwik whereas the anthakaranam and other indriyas are tamasic.


Tatvamasi: "Tat" means that and "twam" means you. In the ordinary sense these are two distinct and different identities. The mahavakya declares there is really no difference and no duality of you and that exists. In the analogy "are you not Devadatta whom I have seen long years back in Kashi a distant place?" Here you "Devadatta in front of me" and "Devadatta seen years back in another place" although at the first sight, appear to be different, ultimately when the knowledge dawns, realisation comes that Devadatta standing in front and Devdatta seen elsewhere, are one and the same person. Here once the realisation is attained, time, place and even name and form are relegated to the background to bring out the truth "Asi". With this analogy in mind if we analyse the mahavakya it would bring out the true meaning.. 'Tat' i.e Brahman and 'twm' i.e. you are one and the same. This mahavakya is explained by Saint Tirumoolar in his famous work Tirumandiram. "Siva and Jeeva are synthesised in "Asi". "Asi" is the truth and 'that' and 'you' are pointers, He says. Again it is explained that the mahavakya represents 'para thuriyam', 'jeeva thuriyam' and 'Siva thuriyam'. In the Lalitha Sahasranamam, Devi is praised "Tatwamartha swaroopinyai namah". Devi is the ultimate truth of 'tat' and 'twam'.


Ayamatma Brahman: This mahavakya finds place in the Mandukya Upanishad of Atharva veda. The upanishad is comparatively a small one with a dozen mantras only; but a detailed commentary has been written by sage Gowdapada for this Upanishad. known as Gowdapada karika. The upanishad deals with pranava mantra "OM" and the three stages of jagrat, swapna and susuhpthy and the substratum thureeyam on which these three stages appear, exist and dissolve.The three syllable "A" "U" and "M" and the unsound non-syllable that follows are connected to the three stages of waking, dream and sleep and thureeyam mentioned above. Thureeyam is the essence of Atma "Ekatma Pratyayasaram" and its swaroopam is "shantam, shivam and adwaidam". The mahavakya finds place in the mantra "sarvam ethath Brahmaayamatma Brahmasa ayamatma chathushpath.* Thureeyam is described as" that which does not cognise either internal objects or external objects (it has no outside or inside so as to recognise) which is neither cognitive nor non-cognitive, that which cannot be seen, which cannot be described, which cannot be grasped, which is the essence of the knowledge of the oneness of the Self, in which the world ceases to exist, peaceful, bnign and non-dual.

L O V E

L O V E

Love has been given the highest status spiritually equating the same with God. The irony is that it is also brought down to the lowest level of carnal pleasure. In the religious/spiritual level, Love is a bhavam- an attitude - expressed as bhakthy or premam to unite oneself with the highest Truth. Our love towards God is not to crave for any material gain. It is a medium communicating with Him. Sri Krishna explains to gopies on one occasion - one loves another based on reciprocation, a circular love. Another one loves even if the other doesnt reciprocate. There is a third category who never expresses love in either of the above situations. This category is further divided as 1)Atmaraman. 2)Aptakaman, 3)Akritgnan and 4)Guru drohi. Here, the first two are laudable and the 3rd and 4th are condemnable. Krishna says that He is neither of the above categories or sub-categories. He doesnt reciprocate and in order to strenghthen the bhakthas' love He ocasionally enacts the drama of invisibility. He says He considers bhakthas with strong love as part of Him or rather they do not have a separate existence apart from Him.



In the ordinary level i.e. in the vyavakarik level, this love is expressed differently such as mother's love towards children and conversely children loving the mother, a wife loving her husband and vice-versa, a worker - whether he be a manual worker, artist or a white collar worker - loving the work he is engaged in. Mother's love has to be emphasised here since the same is comparatively superior. A mother loving the children doesnt expect reciprocation of the same from the children. She loves her children for love sake. An artist or for that matter a manual worker or white collar worker cannot rise upto that level. Many a time they forget the intrinsic value of love and they engage themselves in their respective work with expectation of material benefit. In the case of mother's love she gets fulfuilment even while loving the children and apart from that she expects no other benefit. If only this fulfilment is derived in the case of other categories it is an achievement indeed. Ofcourse there is a small percentage of such persons who enjoy doing their respective work and they consider the material benefit as incidental and the happiness as intrinsic. In the case of a mother also there might be a small percentage loving the children with expectation of return either immediately or at the time of their old age. This category is rare or almost nil since mother's love is an expression of consciousness through instinct and without the interference of ego or selfishness.


In the case of our loving God, many of us beg Him to give this and that and even we go to the extent of bribing Him in advance or later when we gain in the bargain with Him. We forget the fact that God bestowes 'hitam' and not priyam and in our prayer we should remember this . As said in the beginning, Love is an attitude - a bhava - to unite one another. In our loving God we should unite ourselves with Him as children sit comfortably on the shoulder of their father and viewing and enjoying the surroundings with least bother about their safety which ofcourse is taken care of by the father.


We may take the case of a young couple. Each of them crave for the love of the other. If the love is not passed on either in the material fulfilment or sexual appetite or fulfilment of any other desire they possess, the attitude changes to different emotions like disappointment, anger, and ultimately they end in quarrel. The crux of the problem to this development is that instead of giving love in abundance unconditionally, each one of them crave for the love of the other. Thus they lead a beggar's life always begging and not giving at all.


We may wonder, as said earlier, if each one of us go on giving love, there should be someone to receive it. We interpret love as a friendly attitude or sympathetic attitude forgetting the true meaning of it. Love is a medium where there is neither a giver nor taker. This medium connects man with God, mother with children, a manual worker or a white collar worker with their respective work and ofcourse connecting husband and wife and connecting each one of us with the other. We may think for a moment how it works as a medium. In the ocean how nicely each wave is connected with the other. The base - water is the medium there. Only in the medium of Love we exist and our forgetting the medium causes disturbance to that extent mentally and brings chaos in our relationship with men.





If there is only Love and nothing but Love - an adwaithik truth - what justification is there for our inter-actions seeing multiuplicity everywhere. Hindu philosophy, particularly adwaitha has the answer. We see waves, we see mirage, we see snake, forgetting the reality of water, desert or rope. We are caught in the illusory appearance and we suffer in one way or other. Once we have the intellectual conviction about the reality behind these deceptive appearances, the next step is that we should constantly contemplate/concentrate on the Reality and be one with it - a fulfilment, call it either atma-anuboodhy or Brahma-anuboodhy.


Again, going down and viewing love at the lowest level, there is campus love, teenagers' attraction towards each other, our love towards pets, our love towards Nature and people around us - all of them are expressions of that Love only in a dissipated way passing through a medium of selfishness, smallness, separateness, multiplicity etc., in a concealed form. If only the true reality of Love as fullness, oneness, unity instead of selfishness, separateness and multiplicity, is realised first in the form of intellectual conviction and following that in our anubhavam, our actions come out in a different dimension covered by true love in and out and as Iswara prasadam - thinking of God every moment and there wont be conflicts whatsoever because every expression would be an expression of that LOVE.

P R A Y E R

PRAYER


By the term ‘prayer’ we generally mean our earnest submission to God. Through prayer we seek for what we desire and to get rid of what is not desired. In the broad sense it is ‘sukha prapthy’ and ‘dukka nivritti’. But, in practice we desire for material things, thinking that on obtaining them we would get sukha. Similarly we pray to to do away with the tapatriyam which we undergo as per prarabdham. Instead, our real prayer should be for eternal happiness and to get out of delusion of temporal value with which we are bound. Even when we pray for material benefit, we have a strong faith that God would fulfil our desires.

Praising God by way of ‘stuthy’ ‘stotram’, ‘japa’ ‘mantra’ ‘keertana’ also come under the terms ‘prayer’. We praise God with the epithets like ‘sarvagna, sarvakarana, sarvantharyami, sarveshwara, sarvasreshta, sarvasthitikaraka, sarvasamkaraka etc’ The pranavamantra “OM” and shantimantras like ‘Poornamatha Poornamitham’, and Gayatri mantra are popularly chanted as japam or dhyanam. Vishnu sahasranamah and Lalitha sahasranamah and Sri Rudra are very popular to praise God in one form or other.

Many a times our wishes are fulfilled and thus our faith in prayer becomes stronger. Even when events don’t take place as we wish we do not blame the Supreme power; instead we attribute the same to lack of sincerity in our faith. Thus we get consolation.

What we generally wish for is ‘priyam’ whereas God dispenses ,’hitham’. This is the reason for our not getting the wishes fulfilled and in the circumstances we fail to understand this principle. In the katopanishad there is a declaration:

“ The good and the pleasant approach a man; the wise considers and
Distinguishes the two; wisely does he prefer the good to the pleasant;
But a fool chooses the pleasant for its worldly good.”

As our bhakthy gets strengthened and we come closer to God, the concept of God as the dispenser of results for our actions, is slowly changed. In introspection we realise that vasanas with which we are born are responsible for the actions and the result thereon and that God remains as a ‘Sakshi’. He is a Witness for the functioning of the entire Prakrithy in which our individuality (anthakaranam) forms a part. Ofcourse God – Ishwara- is the life force for the prakrity as well as anthakaranam. In the individual God shines as Atma – Kudastha. Once this knowledge is dawned in us (it is His Grace – Arul – that gives this enlightenment) we have no reason to bring in God to take part in our every small affairs .An analogy – a fan gets its life force from electricity and the efficiency of the working of the fan depends on its make. The defective functioning if any for the fan cannot be attributed to the current.

This understanding of the functioning of Prakrithy, anthakaranam and God’s role thereon, shall lift us to the witness stage from the ‘doer’ stage., and in that stage we realise God in us. On this realisation, our attitude towards action changes. A ‘samabhava’(Equanimity) is reflected in all our expressions and we are least affected by the likes and dislikes. We will start viewing the functioning of the anthakaranam (based on vasanas) dispassionately, as a witness. A constant remembrance of God in and out should be practised by our Free Will on all occasions, notwithstanding the tapathriyam in which the anthakaranam revolves. Our prayer, our praise, pooja, idol worship, pilgrimage etc., should help to strengthen this understanding.

Sri Sankara from his high pedestal of Brahmanuboothy declares:

“I committed my first sin, Oh Lord of the Universe by ascribing
form to the formless; Praising with laudation that which is
indescribable, I committed my second sin; Locating in a
particular temple and locality the Great Lord of the universe, I
committed my third sin. Oh Lord of the Universe! Pardon me
for my triple sin.”

The above declaration cannot in anyway demean the worship in temple, chanting of mantras or undertaking pilgrimage. He has only declared the ultimate truth from the Absolute stand point. He only can come with such bold declaration.. Keeping in view the common man he has composed many bhakthy stotrams, established satwik pooja in temples with the authority of agamas and has praised Varanasi – the piligrim centre – as the city of God.

In the vyavahariha stage there is definitely a place for temples, pooja, keerthans, prayer and pilgrimage. All these jointly and severally strengthen our faith in that Supreme Power which is all pervading within and without.

Before concluding let us recollect a sanskrit sloka – “Eko deva sarvabhootheshu
Gooda, sarva vyaphi, sarva bhoodhantaratma, karmathyaksha, sarva bhoodhathi vasa, sakshi chetha kevalo nirgunacha” meaning You are Nirguna and Sakshi. You are all pervading, you reside in every being; you preside over the functioning of Prakrithy.

VISISHTADWAIDA

VISISHTADWAIDHA


This system of philosophy evolves around Paramatma, Jeevatma and Jagat. All these three are considered as ‘anadhy’. When relating to Paramatma, the jagat is like a spiders web, emanating from Paramatma and the jeevatmas emanate like sparks from the fire. Consequent on some error on the part of jeevatmas they were lying motionless and without any feeling , in Paramatma’s abode and they were made to come down to jagat to start acting in the field of jagat. By the grace of Paramatma – Shriman Narayana – the jeevatmas again return to His abode to lead a life of praising Lord Narayana and enjoying His bliss.

Om Namo Narayanaya is the beeja mantra. By repeating the same mentally, jeevatmas get lifted gradually to Paramatma’s abode, after their existence in this jagat is over. In the word OM which consists of O, U and M, Paramatma and jeevatma are indicated by the first and last letter and the connection between them is indicated by the middle letter. ‘Namah’ indicates Na and Ma i.e. ‘Not I am’ or ‘Mine’ and the apparent meaning is namaskaram. Narayanaya indicates Paramatma. Jeevas are His property i.e. Narayanaya. Thus ‘Om Namo Narayanaya explains the connection between jeevatma and Paramatma and the selfless thoiught of ‘Not I am’.

Before getting initiated to the beeja mantra, one is advised to repeat the japa “shriman Narayana charanow charanam prapathye; shrimathe narayanaya namah. Here ‘shriman Narayana charanow’ is the expansion of OM, prapathye is the alternate for namah and ‘shrimathe Narayanaya namah’ is the expansion of Narayanaya. This japa can be chanted at any time without any special discipline.

Saranagathy and Prapathy are only synonyms, The sloka ‘sarva dharman parthyajya…’ gives the full purport of Saranagathy. Sarva dharman in the sloka means that karma yoga, gnana yoga and even bhakthy yoga (these three are considered as dharma) are to be outlived and mamekam saranam in the sloka indicates Paramatma alone is to be sheltered as saranam for emanicipating from all papas (i.e. punya karmas as well as papa karmas – difference between the two being one is a gold cuff and the other is an iron cuff with which human beings are bound and caught in the vicious cycle of birth and death),. The difference between Karma and dharma is that when karmas are performed with the conscious thought of Paramatma they become dharma and karmas assume the names of karma yogam gnana yoga and bhakthy yoga. Lord declares that without doubt one gets moksha by doing saranagathy. Escapism is not meant by the declaration ‘parithyajya’. Escapism is tamasic in nature. What is meant here is satwik parithyajya i.e. even while performing the dharmas as karma yogi etc., one shoud leave the part of dispensing the result to Lord Narayana. This is the purport of sarva dharman parithyajya. Thus karmas which we perform with ego sense should be transformed as dharma by bringing God’s thought and the resuilt of these dharmas we should relegate to God.

Jeevatma and Paramatma never merge as adwaithins claim. They are distinct and even after saranagathy and after the end of one’s existence here in the jagat, the jeevatma gets a unique status of mukta in the abode of Shriman Narayana and the jeevatma lives there forever praising the Lord and doing kaingaryam. Jeevatma has all the power and status of Lord in the macrocosmic aspect except ofcourse Lakshmeethwam which Lord alone possess.(mukthas dare not aspire for it and the story of Ravana desiring Seetha pratti – another form of Lakshmi – is well known.

Saranagathy explained in the sloka ‘sarva dharman parithyajya’ was expounded in dwapara yuga by Lord Krishna while narrating Geetha. In the yuga of Sri Rama (tretha yuga)a similar sloka appears when describing vibeeshana saranagathy. ‘sakritheva prapannaya thava asmi yachathe; abhayam sarva bhoothebhyo dadami yetat vritam mama'’(means: if one surrenders to me once and once only, I will protect him forever from any one and any trouble) Here surrender to be done once only just like brahmastra and the question of second or third surrender never comes and if done they will be otiose like brahmastra. Yet there is another saranagathy sloka in Varaha purana. Lord Lakshmivaraha declares ‘sthithe manasi, swasthasta sareere, yo nara smarah, khasta bhasham sannibham, tham aham smarami, math bhaktham nayami paramamgathim (means:even if one is similar to a log or stone, by developing sthitha pragna and swastha sareera and constantly contemplate on me – aham smarami – he is my bhaktha and I lead him to vaikunda.

In the first sloka (as in Geeta) Lord assures that without doubt one gets moksha by sacrificing dharmas and surrendering to Him. In the second one (as in vibheeshana saranagathy) Lord assures protection from all men and from all troubles and in the third one Lord Lakshmivaraha emphatically declares that He will lead that bhaktha to Vaikunda. How beautiful the slokas are and the meaning they convey.

Unlike adwaitha theory, Lord Narayana has attributes (gunas)which comprises the jagat and beyond and are in macrocosmic status. Jagat constitutes non-conscious form of Lord and jeeva is the conscious form. Jeeva manifests out of his own essence as already indicated – like sparks from the fire or waves of the ocean or rays from the Sun. It is one with the Lord but yet separate. Lord makes unconscious jeevatmas manifest and to become conscious. Lord projects the jagat like the spiders web.

Savikalpa samadhy is the one advocated by this system of philosophy. Paramatma is compared to the main lamp from which different lamps are lighted. The lamps will remain distinct and ofcourse the supremacy is to the main lamp being Paramatma from which only other lamps could light.

Sanchita and Agami karmas get burned once saranagathy is fulfilled. With regard to prarabdha, the punyas go to the well-wishers and men of satwik nature and papas get transferred to evil doers. Thus on saranagathy one is cleansed of all the categories of karma and he qualifies himself to reach the abode of Lord Narayana.

The exponents of this system interpret the mahavakyas differently. They claim that in the vedas mahavakyas are not given as such. For e.g. the mahavakya ‘Tat twam asi’ is a conjunction of Tat asi and twam asi appearing in different places in the vedas.

The analogy of serpent-rope, mirage-desert are adopted by adwaithins wherein the serpant and the mirage are concluded as maya or vivartham. In the system under discussion the ocean and waves appear to be a near example. Water represents Paramatma; ocean is viswam and the waves are jeevas. The ocean and waves are anadhy along with water. They are manifestation – vibhoothy, they form part of water and yet they are distinct.

As long as one has body-consciousness, nirvikalpa samadhy cannot be attained. For all practical purposes the concept of visihtadwaitha is to be accepted.

As in other systems, visishtadwaitha also commands performing good deeds and avoiding bad deeds. It also recommends tatwa-vichara and to have utmost faith in the supreme Lord Narayana. One should also realise his helplessness which is a prelude to saranagathy. It also advises not to do paradevada upasana, probably for the reason that the mind should not get distorted by sankalpas regarding various Gods. While seeing other Gods they should entertain the thought that the antharyami in those Gods is Shriman Narayana alone.

It is said that bedha sruti is adopted by Shri Madva to evolve dwaida philosophy and Sri Sankara adopted abeda sruthy to establish adwaitha. Shri Ramanuja synthesised the above two and adopted kataka sruti.

RASALEELA

RASALEELA


In Srimad Bhagavatham there are five chapters known as 'Rasapanchadyayam' dealing with Rasaleela of Sri Krishna.

Sri Krishna, the Supreme Power, subdued the ego of Brahma (by creating Gopas and cows); subdued the ego of Indra (in the Govardhan episode). His performance of rasaleela is another drama He enacted to subdue the Love-God Manmada's ego. Manmada was proud of his powers. Indra's tricky play with Ahalya, Brahma's emchantment towards his own creation, Chandra's secretly enjoying with Guru Brahaspathy's spouse, sage Atri's son abducting Brahaspathy's wife and begetting a son through her, Sivas attraction towards Mohini , are some of the success stories of Love-God Manmadha!

Gopies in the company of Sri Krishna got the same paramananda which gnanis experienced in their dhyana. While reading the portion dealing with rasa leela one should remember the fact that the author of Bhagavada is Sage Suka, son of sage Vyasa, who cannot but project the highest sanctity to Rasa leela. It is Lord's sankalpa that through rasa leela one should realise the path of Nivrity marga outliving the carnal pleasures.

The irony is that when Sri Krishna was in the climax of Rasa leela, Manmada himself fell pray to his own powers and thought for a while if he were born as a woman he could also join the rasaleela and enjoy the company of Sri Krishna!!

Sri Krishna got the name of Manamohana (not mana-mohitha) since he entered the mind-chariot of Gopies and subdued Manmada . He was 'radan' in Gopies emotions and not 'mohidan'. Krishna showed the path of enjoyment in one's own Self without the need of any outside agencies.

There are views that Sri Krishna was only a boy of 7 years when he did rasa leela. These are the views of those who are anxious to cover the rasa leela and free the Lord from the carnal pleasures!! There are other views that Krishna's embracing Gopies was symbolic of Jeevatma and Paramatma union.

Rasaleela is not mere sringara rasa; it is paramamadhura sringara rasa. One should not attempt to view the rasa leela with 'neerasa bhava' or enter into pravrithy marga citing Sri Krishna !! Rasaleela advocates nivrithymarga after winning over kama - the carnal pleasure. Once the outward 'avaranam' is removed from rasaleela, Sri krishna's atmaramtwam, yogasratwam, His readiness to fulfil the desires of bhakthas, gopies parama premam, sarva thyagam - all these are exhibited therein - rasaleela would lead one to nivrithymarga.

There are many who out of selfish interest, under the pretext of niv rithymarga, engrossed in pravrithy, whereas Rasaleela with the cover of pravrithy actually reveal nivrithy!!

Soon on hearing the melodious sound of flute , gopies stopped their respective work in which they were engaged - some gopies milking the cow, some others boiling the milk , some others making some eatables etc etc - and went after the melodious song to find out the source. Thus they set aside the dharma and artha of the ordinary life. Gopies, through love, Sisupala out of hatred, Kamsa out of fear, Yasoda out of affection, Pandavas through friendship, Narada through bhakthy became one with that Supreme.

Sri Krishna advises the Gopies to return to their respective home and follow the dharma of a house wife. Gopies were determined to stay with Him. They observe that husbands and children are the source of sorrow!!

Thereafter rasa kreeda starts on the shore of river Yamuna. By embrassing the gopies, touching them all over the body, occasionally givin g them pain by pinching….He brings their love to a climax! Then Gopies ego interfered and pulled them to think that they are the only dear to Lord. He, understanding this, disappeared from the scene by His Yoga maya.

Gopies go in search of Him and repent for their ego. Each one starts behaving as if she is Krishna and enacts the roll of Krishna , imitating his smile, walk, his look, his talk - all leela-vilasams of Sri Krishna. Finally Krishna appears before them with all smile.

Gopies pretend to be angry for his disappearance and, with a desire to snub Sri Krishna, raises certain doubts which Sri Krishna willingly answers. Krishna explains - one loves another based on reciprocation, a circular love which is normally seen between husband and wife. Another one loves even if the other one does not reciprocate (eg: parents' love toward children). This is more glorious than the former. There is a third category who never expresses love in either of the above situations. This category is further divided as I) Atmaraman, 2) Aptakaman, 3) Akritagnan, 4) Guru drohi. Here the first two are laudable and the 3rd and 4th are condemnable. Krishna says He is neither of the above categories or sub-categories! He does not reciprocate and in order to strenghthen the Bhakthas loveHe occasionally enacts the drama of invisibility. He says He considers bhakthas with strong love as part of Him or rather they do not have a separate existence apart from Him.

On hearing the philosophical truth from the Lord Himself Gopies viraha tapam disappears. Once they attained this mental attitude Krishna found them qualified to be played with. He volunteers for Jalakreeda, Vanakreeda etc with them. Lust transformed into Love and gets qualified to merge with the Supreme Love!!

Krishna by his yogamaya is appearing with everyone at the same time - each one is happy for Krishna is exclusively with her. They starts singing as well and Krishna appreciating each of them for their excellence in singing. Gopies became mohayukthas; but at the same time Krishna is looking at the gopies as His reflection (prathibhimbam) and enjoying His own sankalpas similar to a well dressed boy or girl standing before a mirror , showing all sorts of mimicries and enjoying their reflection in the mirror!!

Gopies in the performance of rasa leela with krishna, sacrifice their dharma and artha and entere in Him through Parama Prema. Any type of vaideeka karma including yagnams wont bring in such Brahmanandam as the Gopies experienced. Bhakthy is extolled here. Rasa leel is placed on par with - rather superior to Karma yoga and Gnana yoga.

It is Sri Krishna's Maya that throughout the rasa leela episode, the respective spouses of gopies feels as if Gopies are with them only and so they have no jealousy or hatred towards Sri Krishna. Those who with all sincerity and faith hears this Rasa leela shall develop Understanding and Bhakthy and shall win over lust. .

ASHTAPATHY: Poet-saint Jayadeva is the author of this work originally named as Geetha Govindam and popularly known as Ashtapathy. He was born in a village in West Bengal (12th century AD) He married a pious lady Padmavathy who was a renowned danseus. They enjoyed married life with all plwasure and happiness of the vyavaharic world. After some years both of them lost interest in the ephemeral pleasures and they longed for Brahmanandam. Both of them were very much devoted to Sri Krishna. Sri Jayadeva started composing Geetha Govindam which he completed in the presence of Lord Jagannath in Puri. Both husband and wife complemented each other - one by singing the songs and the other dancing to the bhava in the poem.

In the Geetha Govindam the theme is Rasa leela - characters being Radha, her friend and Lord Krishna. The story goes that Lord himself approved his work and thus the songs got the sanctity over and above the poetic beauty, and the songs became a part of the devotional bhajans sung by bhakthas.

Without the sanctity attached to it, the poems would resemble Vatsayanas Kama sutra. Majority of the bhakthas do not therefore bother to go into the meaning of the poems and they are happy with the songs for the melody and it is suffice for them to realise that the songs extol prema bhakthy - a bhava between the lover and the Loved. It is said that Jayadeva in his earlier birth was convinced of the truth "Eko Narayana Dwaidam Nasthy" and in the present birth he realised the the ultimate truth "Ekam Brahma Dwaidam Nasthy".

Some of the Ashtapathies describing the romantic aspect are: 4th Ashtapathy - 'chandana charchida' Sri Krishna is described as embracing one Gopi, kissing another, pleasing another one by his smiling look, consoling another who seemed to be angry, In the sixth Ashtapathy , Radha recalls the sportive and romantic manoeuvres she had with Krishna and requests her friend to bring back Krishna to her place. In the said poem Radha says Krishna has surpassed even the Kama sastra in playing with her, describing different acts in the love-making. Radha's friend approaches Krishna with Radha's message. Krishna asks her to bring Radha to His place. The messenger says that Radha is very much dejected for she is concerned with Krishna's playing with other gopies ignoring her. The messenger-friend then returns and cajoles Radha to go to Krishna (Ashtapathy 21) encourages her with alluring words describing the uniqueness of Radha.,and also Krishna's yearning to have her for 'radhikreeda'.

Atlast Radha yields and Krishna too gets bound by Radha and bears her sadistic ways , with pleasure. Ultimately Radha accepts her defeat and recognises the supremacy of Sri Krishna - symbolicallky Purusha wins over Prakrithy. Radhai is elsewhere described as Prakritheeswari.

It is consipicuous that in Srimad Bhagavadam nowhere Radhas name is mentioned. Probably Radhas 'incarnation' and fame came only with the introduction of Geetha Govindam. Ordinary persons cannot understand or appreciate the Divine Love which is truly unconditional without upadhies. Only with this in mind , lover and loved upadhies are projected in Geetha Govindam.

Ashtapathy has 24 songs and 93 slokas interspersed . Each song has 8 padams except the 1st and 10th ashtapathies. They have 11 and 5 padams respectively - average comes to 8. Thus the name Ashta pathy is given to Geetha Govindam. Geetha Govindam probably is the first sanskrit work in poetic form and the name Geetha Govindam is given to the work by the author himself in the 89th sloka.

In the 22nd Ashtapathy Krishna's appearance before Radha is described. For Radha, after so muich yearning, when Sri Krishna appears before her, it is not mere Krishna her friend who appeared. She sees Iswara in Him. For her It is an "Iswara Darsanam". Radhai is Lekshmidevi in another form (described in Devi Bhagavadam) Radha has sprung from Yagna bhoomi (similar to Seetha or Drowpathy?)The relationship of Sri Krishna and Radha is so much that Sri Krishna is otherwise knownm as Radhakrishna. One wonders whether Radha is an ordinary milkmaid, or Krishna's lover, or one of his dharma pathnies, or embodiment of paramabhakthy or Shakthy or Maya prakrithy., whether her relationship with Sri Krishna is merely that of lowkeekam or Divine Love. We cannot get answer to any of these questions. The answer differs according to each one's concept.

When we add mysticism to Geetha Govindam the love between Radha and Krishna can be termed as bhakthy and the earnest desire of jeevatma to immerse in Paramatma. Radha, her messenger-friend and Sri Krishna - the three characters represent Jeeva, Bhakthy and Paramatma respetively. There is a view that Rasaleela is a kind of day-dream Gopies enjoyed. It has only the status of prathibhasam in contrast to vyavahariham and paramarthikom.

In the vyavaharika stage even when a baby sucks its mother's breast, we do not view as indecent. But the same act in different circumstances is viewed differently. Our likes and dislikes are due to mind's relating to situations. Jeevatma with individual mind has such duality of likes and dislikes whereas Iswara personified in Krishna with a Cosmic Mind has no likes and dislikes. He is only a witness to those apparent contrasts. Any attempt to emulate Sri Krishna's leela would be hypocrisy and mischievous so long as we, with a narrow vision , are in the thick clouds of ignorance

There is a saying - "A Sage is one who never comments on the scriptures, but recommends; About the other world he never talks; About this world he talks; but does not pass opinions". Can we emulate the Sage and stop evaluating Rasaleela?

G A Y A T R I

G A Y A T R I


Gayatri is the mother of Vedas. "Gayantham Trayate Iti Gayatri" Gayatri protects and redeems one who chants it. Pranava OM is included in the mantra since Gayatri originated from OM. The sound OM is the music produced in the rotation of innumerable planets in the galaxy. OM is otherwise termed as the sound energy of Brahman. Thus Brahman is the potential energy and OM is the kinetic energy from which Gayatri came and subsequently Vedas.OM is the musical sound (udgeeta) of heaven. Probably, this OM only has been adopted by some other religion as AMEN. When sage Vasishta blessed Sage Viswamitra as "Brahma Rishi" and touched his forehead Viswamitra could hear the celestial music from which Gayatri came. Viswamitra was a king prior to his sanyasa. When he went to the hermitage of Vasishta with all his entourage, all of them were treated with all comforts and fed well, because of the power of Kamadenu Vasishta was having. King Viswamitra wanted to possess Kamadenu. When Vasishta declined to fulfil his wish for the reason that the King was not spiritually qualified to have Kamadenu, the king used force, but miserably failed and accepted defeat before the spiritual strength of Sage Vasishta. As soon as he returned to his kingdom he relinquished the kingdom and started doing tapas to gain spiritual strength. This tapas was not backed up by tatwa gnanam. Alas, when the charming Urvasi came and danced before him, he, overwhelmed by lust, fell prey to her and he begot a daughter Sakunthala in the relationship with Urvasi. Thus lust took away all the tapa-sakthy he had acquired so far. Again, after some years, another charming maiden- Rambha came ; but this time he was full of anger and in rage he cursed Rambha to become a stone. For the second time he lost all the tapa-sakthy because of anger. There was another incident - when a king by name Trisanku expressed his desire to go to heaven with this human body, sage vasishta sent him away for he was asking for the impossible. Viswamitra took up this as a challenge and sent Trisanku to heaven using his tapa-sakthy. When he saw Trisanku falling from heaven he built another swarga in the middle as the king was falling. The egoistic act of Viswamitra took away all the tapa-sakthy he had acquired so far. Thus lust, anger and ego overpowered him. Again he started tapas and after many years Lord blessed him as 'Rishi' and asked to him to approach Vasishta to confer the status of Brahma Rishi which Vasishta was only qualified to do so being a Brahma Rishi himself! Rishi Viswamitra was full of jealous and he wanted to do away with Vasishta . When he approached the hermitage of Vasishta with that intention, he overheard the conversation between Sage Vasishta and his wife to the effect that Vasishta was waiting for the arrival of Viswamitra to confer the Brahmarishi title. Viswamitra was ashamed of his behaviour and shed the jealousy and approached Sage Vasishta with all humility. He was made Brahma Rishi and he could hear the music of the Cosmos when Sage Vasishta touched his forehead and blessed him. Thus Viswamitra atlast got intiation of OM and Gayatri from Vasishta.

The chanting of gayatri is a saguna worship leading to krima mukthy. Gayathri has 24 sylables grouped in 3 padas. There is a belief that it has a fourth pada which is invisible, but eternal, transcending the earlier three padas which represent the three worlds, 3 vedas and prana sakthy.Each of the vedic mantras has three aspects viz rishy, chandas and devada. For Gayathri, Viswamitra is the rishi, Gayathri is the chandas and Savida is the Devada. So, from this, we understand that Savidha is the Devada and Gayathri is the chandas (vedic metre) For the pranava mantra OM, Brahma is the rishi, gayathri is the chandas and Paramatma is the devada. For the vyahrities (bhu, bhuva, swah, maha, jana, tapa and satyam) rishies are Atri, Brihu, Kutsa, Vasishta, Gowthama, Kasyapa, Angeerasa, and chandas are gayatri, ushnik, anushtup brahathee, pankthy, drushty and jagathee. The devadas are agni, vays, soorya, Brahaspathy, Varuna, Indra and Viswadeva. Rishi is one who has, as a result of his tapa-sakthy, realised the purport of the mantra and benefitted by it. So when the name of the rishi of the mantra is chanted, one has to place his hand on his head. Similarly when the name of the chandas is chanted one has to place his hand on the upper lip and when Devada's name is chanted one has to place his hand on the heart. These three, rishi, chandas and devada are together known as 'nyasam'.

As mentioned above Gayatri has 24 syllables; some persons are of the opinion that it has only 23 1/2 sylables and only when the word varenyam is pronounced as vareniyam it would count 24. It doesn’t matter whether it is 23 or 24; the meaning of it is important. All the same there is a commandment that Gayatri should be chanted correctly and also understanding the meaning of it. There is a story that King Janaka while riding on an elephant came to know from the elephant about its previous birth and the elephant told the king that he was not chanting gayatri properlyin his earlier birth and that has resulted in his rebirth as an elephant. The 24 syllables are connected to different organs of the body viz. Toes, feet, ankle, knee, urinary tract, reproductive organ, hip, navel, stomach, breast, lungs, heart, veins, neck, face, jaws, nose, eyes, arms, forehead, ear, scalp, nerves and brain!!

In the early vedic period women folk were also chanting gayathri and there were women like Gargi and Maitreyee who excelled in the knowledge of vedas. Now only men, that too only those who are born in the brahmin community are initiated Gayatrhi and after initiation he is known as a dwija. There are stories that Lord Rama explained the Gayatri mantra to Lakshmana and Bhishma explained the same to Kowravas and pandavas. So at that time kshatriyas were also chanting gayatri (God forbid Lord Rama is an incarnation and He doesn’t belong to a particular community!) Similarly Lord Krishna says in Geetha that among mantras He is Gayatri.

Savitha in the mantra is Light of Consciousness and Dhiya is the meditative mind. Gayatri is both a prayer and meditation.For prayer, Gayatri is personified as Goddess with five heads and ten arms to have control over 5 elements and for controlling the cosmic rays emanating from 10 directions through the nine planets.(Thus the total number comes to 24 - sylables of gayaytri!) Again the word GA YA THRI represent the three essential things for life viz Air, Fire and Water! Another concept - this Savitha has three names Gayatri (presiding deity of senses) Savitri (prana tatwa) and Saraswathy (presiding deity of speech).Yet another concept is that Gayatri represents Saraswathy (Brahma swaroopini), Durga (Rudra swaroopini) and Lakshmi (Vishnu swaroopini)!

Vaishnavites equated Gayatri with Ashtakshari mantra OM Namo Narayanaya and declared that all inviduals irrespective of cast, creed or sex can chant this Ashtakshari and gain the same benefit which one derives from Gayatri. Chanting of Gayatri has been confined to the male members of the brahmin community and that too lot of discipline is required for chanting whereas Ashtakshari is free for all and at all times and not with strict discipline!
OM TAT SAVITHUR VARENYAM
BARGO DEVASYA DEEMAHI
DEEYO YONA PRACHODAYAT

WE MEDITATE ON THE MOST ADORABLE GLORY OF THE EFFULGENT SUN THE SUPREME BEING WHO PURIFY AND ILLUMINE OUR INTELLECT


Pranayama is an important anga to Gayatri. The Pranayama mantra also begins with OM followed by seven lokas Bhu, Bhuva, Swah, Maha, Jana, Tapa, Satyam which represent the different stages in the progress in Self Realisation. Bhu loka is the world we live in and through Bhuva one has to reach swarga loka. These three are to benefit mankind with material benefits. The next three are for tapsvee, saint , sage or brahmavith, brahmavaran and brahma vareeyan. The seventh one is for Brahma varishtan. There is another concept that they represent the shad-chakra which leads to sahasraram. These chakras are physical (mooladharam), sexual(swathishtanam), psychological (manipuram)mental state of equipoise (anahada) spiritual (visuddhi), spiritual transcended (agna) and finally sahasraram (cerebrum?)

Followed by the names of the seven lokas , gayathri is chanted and in continuation the mantra 'Om apo jyoti rasa amritham brahma bhurbhuvswarom" is chanted which means five elements, aham tatwam, mahat tatwam and prakrithy. The last mentioned three aspects are Sankya concept of creation; aham (ego), mahat (germ of the Universe and prakrithy (primary cause). At the beginning and end OM is there as if the entire Universe is condensed in OM ..Here 'amritham' represents the eternal air and 'brahma' represents the all pervading ether.

While chanting pranayama mantra it is recommended that breathing also should be regulated in the ratio of 1:3:2 for inhaling, retaining and exhaling the breath. The purpose of this is to be attentive on breathing as well. In Vipasana meditation (anapana-sati yoga ?) it is said that we need be just a witness to our breathing. The length and shortness of breath does not matter.It is not that the breath controls the mind ; it is the otherway. The mind and breath are however closely interlinked and that might be the reason certain section of people give importance to breath-control to control the thoughts. As per the vedantic concept, our negating the prapancham is symbolically 'rechakom', bringing the thought 'aham Brahmasmi' is 'poorakam' and remaining quiet without any vritties is 'kumbakom'. Without the backing up of tatwa gnanam our controlling the breath would only be an exercise on breath with some benefit for the time being.

Like Pranayama, the meditation of 'Aikya anusandanam' is a very important anga to Gayatri. ASAVADHITYO BRAHMA -- BRAHMAIVA SATYAM -
BRAHMAIHAVASMI - THIS SUN IS BRAHMAN; BRAHMAN IS THE ONLY TRUTH; I AM BRAHMAN.

While Gayatri, Pranayama and Aikya anusandanam are the three important aspects in 'Sandhyavandanam', it does not mean that other aspects like marjanam, argya pradanam, abhivadanam, digdevada vandanam are less important. Let us make an attempt to understand the significance of the mantras in sandyavandanam instead of doing the karma as a matter of routine and habit.

Y A G N A

Y A G N A


The term "Yagna" is commonly interpreted as a religious rite. Aswamedha yaga, Puthrakameshti yaga, Maha yaga, are some of the yagas which are performed for certain specific purpose. In ancient times - rather during treta yuga when yagas were popular,animal- sacrifice was in vogue. In the later perioid Saiva siddhantins and Buddhists proclaimed that animal sacrifice in yagna is detestable and that one should approach God with a loving mind and compassion to living beings. In the Daksha Yaga, the story goes that animals - cows, goats etc; were sacrificed and ultimately when Daksha was beheaded, Lord Shive placed a goat head on his neck as a reminder to everyone that man also would reap the same fate as that of the sacrificed innocent -animal.. The concept of Yagna was revalued during dwapara yuga and this can be seen in many slokas in the Bhagavad Geetha. Yagna is an epithet for Lord Vishnu. In Vishnu Sahasranamam it is said "Yagno yagna pathiryagna yagnango yagna vahana". Agin it is said "Yagnabrith, yagnakrith yagnee, yagnabukh, yagna sadhana". In Lalitha Sahasranamam, Devi is praised "Mahayaga kriya radhyayai namah"Maha yaga is one performed with 64 devi roopams like Brahmi etc. Another interpretation is that Mahayagm is one in which 'aham' buddhy is sacrified in chitagni - jeevatma merging with chit sakthy.Devi is again praised as 'yagna roopayai namah' 'yagna karthrai namah''yagna swaroopnyai' etc. In Purusha suktha it is said "yagnena yagnamayajanta devah' - the gods worshipped yagna through yagna." thani dharmani prathamanyasam - those processes become the primary dharma of mankind". In Sree Rudram, in the chamaka portion there is mention about yagna." Ayur yagnena kalpantham, prano yagnena kalpantham, vak yagnena kalpantham, Atma yagnena kalpantham, yagno yagnena kalpantham" etc.After expressing gratitude for what all prosperity one is blessed with, there is a prayer "may my prana, vak , atma etc., be strengthened enabling me to perform yagna. The brahmin class is expected to perform five yagas every dayy; bootha yagna, manushya yagna, pitru yagna, deva yagna and brahma yagna.


Philosophically, yagna is equated with tyaga. In the Yoga Vasishta it is said "yavat sarva na sum thyaktham thavathatma na labhyathe"Atma cannot be realised until and unless everything is sacrificed". Again in the Aparokshanabhoodhy there is a sloka "thyaga prapancha roopasya chithatmatvat lokanath thyago hi mahatham poojya" Relinquishment of the world appearance by experiencing Pure Brahman permeating all the manifested things, is adored. As in Purusha suktham, Purusha is the first manifestation of unmanifested Brahman. This first expression as Purusha is known as primary creation. Then Purusha manifested Himself as "Virat". He also manifested as five elements, Then Purusha let Himself be sacrificed by devas (powers inherent in Purusha) to bring out the secondary creation. From His mind emerged moon, out of eyes emerged sun, Indra and Agni emanated from face and mouth etc. Thus from Purushottama, Akshara Purusha and from Akshara purusha , kshara purusha appeared. Here the emphasis is the sacrifice of Akshara Purusha to bring out Viswam - the kshara purusha.


Yagna is essentially "offering the individual good for the universal good. Purusha sets the example of sacrificing Himself to bring out Prakrithy as detailed above. In Bhagavad Geetha, Yagna has been revalued to suit the practical application of the same. "By performing work for yagn alone, the entire karma melts away." "The oblation is Brahman, the clarified butter is Brahman; it is offered in the fire of Brahman. Unto Brahman he goes who cognizes Brahman alone in his action." "Some offer hearing and other senses as sacrifice in the fire of restraint; others offer as sacrifice the breath; some others offer wealth as sacrifice; all these yagnas are born of karma. Gnana yagna is superior to 'dravya'sacrifice . All karmas culminate in knowledge.Krishna declares that He is Aadhiyagna in this body. While describing the steps for self realisation, dhanam, dharmam, swadhyaya, tapas and yagnam are emphasised. Action should be performed free from attachment, for the sake of sacrifice. The supreme power is always present in sacrifice.


There is an episode in Srimad Bhagavatham connected with yagna. Sri Krishna's friends approached the priests in a yagna salai and requested the priests for food to appease their hunger. The priests refused to give and they proceeded with the yagna they were performing. As instructed by Sri Krishna, the children then approached the wives of the priests and mentioned about the arrival of Sri Krishna. Soon on hearing the news, they rushed to the place where Sri Krishna was, and offered all kinds of food which were meant for yagna. Alas the spirit of yagna was forgotten by the priests when they denied food to the starving children.


The very functioning of the world we live in is in the form of Yagna. In prakrithy as well as in the individual, karmas true meaning is sacrifice. The very sacrifice of virginhood on the part of a woman makes her a mother; a seed cannot come out as tree without sacrificing itself; the clouds sacrifice their contents as rain. Every sacrifice in its true meaning bring in a new aspect for the society as a whole. When karma is performed with tyaga buddhy, it not only benefits the mankind around but benefits the doer as well. For e.g. a muscian brings happiness to the people around by his singing and at the same time he also derives happiness in that performance. Such karmas come under the definition of yagna. A spouse sacrificing the needs and pleasures for the happiness of the other partner, a mother sacrificng her needs and pleasures for the happiness of her children, a social worker sacrifficing his needs for the welfare of the society. In all these exmples happiness pervades both the sacrificer and the receipient. In that happiness God's expression is explicit without dissipation like selfish motive or egoistic pleasure.


To sum up any karma one performs without a selfish motive becomes a dharma as well as yagna, since such karma extends to the expanded Self.