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Our vedic traditions is wholistic in just about
every aspect. Even in how it trains our mind
sublimally and consciously.

We read this story about Sudama and it really is
an enactment of Gita 9-26
Patram puspam phalam toyam
yo me bhaktya prayacchati
tad aham bhakty-upahrtam
asnami prayat'atmanah

gita is a direct speeach by our Lord and it is very 
special like the Varaha Charama Sloka.

This is the neural complement of the emotiional
stories
we read.

Recently a bagawatha had asked Y Hayagriva in horse
form?
we may also ponder why garuda why hanuman why adi
seshan?

It is important to ask these questions.

Let us now return to Y Horse/snake/bird/monkey
question?

adiyen has not come across anything in my life for
which
there is no answer or clarification or guidance in
Gita.

here in 6-30
Yo mam pasyati sarvtra
sarvam ca mayi pasyati
tasy'adham na pranasyami
sa ca me na pranasyati

A RK MUTT translation of this is 

He who sees Me un all beings and all beings in Me to
him
I am never lost, not he to Me.

Our devathirajan being the ultimate compassionate has
also given simple tools to achieve this state of mind.
This thought Lord Krishna has said in every chapter in
one form or another. Here in 
9-29 same towards all beings
Samo'ham sarvabhutesu
na me dvesyo'sti na priyah
ye bhajanti tu mam bhaktya
mayi te tesu c'apy aham
I am the same towards all beings.
None is beautiful, and none dear to me.
but those who worship Me with
devotion dwell in Me, and I too dwell in them.

Being a devout Anjaneya bhakta it is very hard NOT
to think of Sri Ramabadran and transitively Sri Rama
Himself when we see a playful monkey on the roof.

Over time we loose our ability to hurt animals and
think of them as any less than ourselves. adiyen has
the fortune of having seen chaste bagawathas grab 
a scorpian with a cloth (or some such means) 
and throw it alive into the back yard.

ahimsa by thought and deed becomes an habit if we
follow
these simple tools given to us. 

We do not have to worry about being compliant with
the required qualities for nurturing sattvic nature
Gita 13-7
amanitvam, adhambitvam, ahimsa ksantir arjavam
acarya opasanam saucam sthairyam atma vinigrahah
-ahima daya, dama -- self control atma vinigrahah 
are all covered..
Please note that 
"Srivaishnavam = acharya opasanam"
is also brought
out in this beautiful verse.
What would be left in our siddhantam if we give up
on our duty to acharyan.

The point from which adiyen has digressed is the 
efficacy of our siddhantam while Gita is a
philosophical and logical treatise bagawan has given
us these stories
which we may read and live those moments and learn.

Even adiyen can hope for emancipation from all sorts
of
prison given this Gita verse 9-30
api che:th sudura:cha:ro: 
bhajathe: ma:m ananya bha:k | 
sa:dhur e:va sa manthavyaha 
samyak vyavasitho: hi saha || 9-30

Lord Sri Krishna says " Even if the vilest sinner
worships Me with exclusive devotion, he should be
accounted a saint; for he has rightly resolved.(He is
positive in his belief that there is nothing like
devoted worship of Lord Krishna)" 

Whether we are neural or emotional personalities
our vedic works (shruti/puranas) can instill in us
the requisite posture to attain HIM. adiyen needs to
inculcate this faith, one way or the other.

Vasudevah sarvam iti
adiyen's acharyan thanian
Srimath vEdhAntha rAmAnuja munikarunAlabdha vEdhAntha
yugmam
Srimath SrivAsa yogeeswara gurupadhayOrarpithaswAthma
bhAram
Srimath Sri ranganAthAhvaya munikrupayA prAptha
mOkshasramam tham
Srimath VEdhAntha rAmAnuja munimaparam samsrayE
dEsikEndram

HH Srirangam Srimath Andavan (Thirukudandhai) Sri
Vedanta Ramanuja Mahadesikan thiruvadigale charanam
anandavalli dasan


--- sudarshan madabushi <mksudarshan2002@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
> In the Vedic pantheon the god of Fire is
> 'agni-dEva'.
> He is a very important and sacred one. No Vedic
> ritual
> ("yagnya") can normally be undertaken without
> 'agni-dEvata'. This 'dEva' is a benign god bestowing
> upon the whole world the comfort of warmth,
> protection
> against dark dangers, the blessings of good health
> and
> the wholesomeness of spirit...
> 
> The 7-tongued flame of 'agni' ("sapta-jihvA") that
> glow inside a sacrificial mound of fire are
> reverentially tended to in the ancient Vedic rite
> called 'nitya-agni-hOtra". The fire that appears in
> such a sacred rite is worshipped as a 'dEva'... only
> because it is firmly 'controlled' by the restraint
> of
> 'dama'...
> 
> Yet, 'agni', the same 'dEvata', is feared and
> loathed
> whenever he is seen to lose self-control or 'dama'.
> A
> wild forest-fire that goes berserk is everybody's
> nemesis. An accidental fire that suddenly blazes out
> of control is everybody's nightmare. An inferno
> brings
> about tragedy and death on an epic scale... 
> 
> No one ever calls such malevolent, uncontrollable
> Fire
> as 'agni-dEvata'... 
> 
> ************
> 
> In the 'Srimadh-Bhagavatham', a Vedic 'purANa' of
> lofty spiritual values and insights, there is the
> story of Hiranyakasipu, the great 'asurA' who had no
> 'dayA', not an iota of compassion, in his heart...
> not
> even for his little child.
> 
> Hiranyakasipu's little son, Prahlada, a mere boy of
> six years, in spite of the father's best, and often
> violent efforts, could not just be weaned away from
> his religious conviction that the the Almighty was
> none else than Srimann-Narayana. The father
> furiously
> resented the son's faith. He wished the boy would
> instead recognize and defer to Hiranyakasipu's own
> power and glory... he being, as he was, the monarch
> of
> all that he surveyed. The 'asura' was indeed a great
> one... he had attained superhuman powers and
> qualities
> by dint of long and severe austerity, will and
> labour.
> He had conquered empires and subjugated peoples all
> over the world. He believed he was entitled to the
> obeisance of all. Why his son alone should think
> otherwise and persist in his apostasy in search of
> another God, another faith was beyond
> Hiranyakasipu's
> understanding.
> 
> After subjecting the little child to all manner of
> oppression and torment only to make him somehow
> recant, and meeting with no success whatsoever, the
> 'asura' finally decided to have Prahlada murdered in
> cold blood by his own palace courtiers. 
> 
> The story of the 'Bhagavatham' tells us that the
> 'asura' King possessed all great and noble qualities
> behoving a world leader. Except one. 'dayA',
> compassion... He lacked the unique compassion which
> normally would move any father's heart, however
> steely, towards his child no matter how errant or
> wayward the little one may be. And for the one
> solitary virtue that mighty Hiranyakasipu lacked, he
> paid penalty with his own life in the end... at the
> hands of God Himself.
> 
> ***************
> 
> There is another story in the Bhagavatham which
> tells
> the story of a 'manushya' and the Upanishadic virtue
> of 'datta' or 'dAna'. It is the story of Sudama
> (also
> well known by his alias, Kuchela).
> 
> This man was a good Brahmin who had a loving wife.
> The
> couple had lovable children. They were all living a
> modest but happy life... until one day they woke up
> to
> the rude reality that they were destitute. The
> children's next meal was an uncertain prospect and
> Sudama desperately had to do something.
> 
> Brahmins are generally not obliged to give alms.
> They
> are sanctioned by Vedic scripture ("sAstra"), in
> fact,
> to receive charity. Looking around for a kind donor
> in
> town to help the family in dire straits, Kuchela's
> wife suggested the husband should try knocking on
> the
> royal doors of his old friend and school-mate, Lord
> Krishna, whom Kuchela had not met for several years.
> Kuchela the Brahmin, thus set out, a trifle
> reluctantly, on the mission to seek alms from his
> old
> boyhood friend and benefactor, Krishna.
> 
> Krishna and his queens, Rukmini and Satyabhama,
> received Kuchela into the royal quarters with all
> the
> courtesy due to an old friend... but no more. They
> feasted him, entertained him and Krishna recollected
> all their pleasant boyhood memories. And then,
> quickly
> enough, it was time for the guest to go. The Lord
> and
> consorts politely prepared to take leave of him and
> Sudama knew it was the moment to exit. A sense of
> shame overtook him and prevented him from disclosing
> to his host the real purpose of the visit. Kuchela
> resigned himself to returning empty-handed to his
> wife
> -- his mission an utter failure.
> 
> On his way out, Kuchela suddenly remembered he had
> brought with him a little gift meant for Krishna...
> just for old times sake. It was a little pack of
> rice-bran. In his boyhood days, Kuchela had
> remembered, Krishna had relished bran so much as an
> afternoon snack. "Oh, Krishna, I almost forgot",
> said
> Kuchela as he took leave, "Here is some rice-bran I
> brought for you! I remembered how much you'd enjoyed
> bran snack back in those young days! Here, please
> accept this". The Bhagavatham recounts how Krishna
> received the little gift of rice-bran with overjoy!
> He
> embraced his poor Brahmin friend for the kindness.
> 
> The overjoy, notwithstanding, the Bhagavatam records
> that Krishna still let the poor Sudama return home
> empty-handed.
> 
> It was when the Brahmin journeyed back home,
> however,
> that the miracle happened! 
> 
> Kuchela's shabby hutment turned into a grand mansion
> with liveried servants on call! His wife and
> children
> were no longer in tatters! They were dressed in
> finest
> silks and all decked up in brilliant gold! Sudama
> was
> invited into his own opulent quarters by a bevy of
> hand-maidens who showered petals upon him, washed
> his
> feet with perfume, laid out a moonlit banquet for
> him
> with serenading bards in attendance..!
> 
> Sudama and his family lived happily thereafter!
> 
> A 'manushyA's' single act of 'datta' or 'dAna' had
> possessed enough power to work God's own miracle
> upon
> Sudama...
> 
> ************ 
> 
> Although the story in the BrhadAranyaka Upanishad
> gives us the impression that Prajapati is addressing
> 'dEva', 'manushya' and 'asura' separately, as if
> they
> were three distinctive individuals, actually it is
> Man
> alone, the 'manushya', who is being addressed here.
> It
> would be quite tempting otherwise to conclude that
> the
> virtues of self-control and compassion are of little
> concern to Man since, as Prajapati himself makes it
> appear in the story, "dama" and "dayA" are for
> celestials and demons to worry about! In the story
> "dEva" and "asura" are really the Upanishad's
> metaphor
> for the higher and lower self within Man. Each
> represents a certain stage of advancement along the
> path up the ladder of man's evolution. The "asura"
> represents the lower rungs; and the 'dEvas' are the
> 
=== message truncated ===


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