Sri Parthasarathi thunai Srimathe Ramanujaya
Namaha Sri Vara Vara munayE
Namaha Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE
Namaha (VilakkoliyAi) Similar to the light of a
lamp removing the outside darkness, emperuman through the sastras destroys all
our ignorance (inside darkness, agnAnam).
He with ultimate grace has bestowed the sAstras for the upliftment of
poor souls like us (?vedAntha krith vEda vidEva chAham?).
BrihadAranya upanishad says, ?AthmAvA arE
drushtavya: srOthavya: mandhavya: nidhithyAsithavya:? That is first stage is the
learning about the athma through listening to what the sastras say. Then a person starts to analyse and
think about it. When we feel that
the thought is good to us we start to meditate on the divine qualities of the
athma and finally we attain the athma sAkshAtkaram. But in the above upanishadic verse, the
order is a little different. It
first says drushtavya: that is to see or obtain athma sAkshAtkaram. Why? It is to increase our interest to
know. When I say the athma attains
athma sAkshAtkaram the next question will be how? Then the sruthi answers, first
learn about it, then do mananam (thinking) then meditate and finally you will
visualise. Such rearranging
due to the importance of the meaning are seen in a few other places
also. In one of his periya thirumozhi
paasuram, thirumangai azhvar says ?vAthamAmagan markadam vilangu maRRorjAdhi?
Here actually the paasuram should be read in the reverse order. Rama showered his grace on a person who
did not belong to his clan (maRRorjAdhi), that to not even a man but an animal
(vilangu), even among the animals it is not a king animal but a monkey
(markadam) not an ordinary monkey but son of vayu (vAthamAmagan). Here immediately all of us will ask,
?How is being the son of vayu be treated as lower than an ordinary monkey?? Yes
it is low because the other ordinary monkeys will consider themselves to be
inferior but due to the greatness of the birth surely ego and pride, our prime
enemies will creep in. Where there
is ego and pride (ahankAram and mamakAram) emperuman never goes near them. Only when we leave our self-effort
emperuman showers his grace on us. (?erukaiyum vittEnO drowpathiyai pOlE?-
thirukkoloor ammal varthai) In bhagavad geetha, slokas 55,56,57and
58 of chapter 2 are similarly misarranged.
The ordering according to the meaning should be 58,55,56,57. These were given to prove that at times
rearranging for proper understanding of the meaning is not wrong. Coming back to our upanishadic verse,
the ordering for understanding the meaning properly should be ?srOthavya:
mandhavya: nidhithyAsithavya: drushtavya:? The same has been translated by
thirumangai azhvar in his thirunedunthAndaka paasuram. ?vilakkoliyAi mulaiththu
ezhundha thingalthAnAi? vilakkoliyAi ?
srOthavya: mulaiththu ?
mandhavya: ezhundha ?
nidhithyAsithavya: thingal thAnAi ?
drushtavya: Our dear geethAcharya puts the same in
his words as: ?sruthivipradhipannA tE yathA stAsyathi
nishchalA I samAdhA achalA buddhi: tathA yOga
mavApsyasi II? (2-53) SruthivipradhipannA ? due to those
specially understood meanings listening to me (sruthi-listening, sravanam) ?
?vilakkoliyAi? ??srOthavya:? achalA tE buddhi: - your knowledge will
get deep rooted (orupadipatta jnAnam) ? ?mulaiththu? ?
?mandhavya:? samAdhow yathA nischala stAsyathi ? when
that leads to deep meditation ? ?ezhundha? ?
?nidhithyAsithavya:? tathA yOgam avApsyasi ? you will
attain athma sAkshAtkAram ?
?thingal thAnAi? ? ?drushtavya:? Here azhvar explains with moon as the
example. First while the moon is
seen on top of a mountain (mulaiththu) it is brighter than a normal lamplight
(vilakkoli). So just listening
removes a little of darkness and then when we think about it, it gives more
light. Further as the moon rises to
the sky (ezhundha) it spreads the light to a larger area so more darkness is
removed similarly when we start meditating without any stop on the same subject
as shown by the sastras all the darkness inside us gradually vanish and finally
we are able to visualise the athma that is athma sAkshAtkAram (thingal
thAnAi). (To be
continued) Azhvar EmperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE
sharanam Adiyen ramanuja
dAsee Sumithra
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