Dear Shrr MG VasudEvan
swAmy,
I am just penning (keyboarding) the
'A Peep into Periya Thiru-mozhi-148' which traverses this very subject of 'dharmam'
Hence, I am able to immediately recall the
following.
krishNan dharmam
sanAthanam:
rAmOA vigravAn
dharmA:
'vundhannai piRavip
perumthanaip puNNiyam yAmudaiyOam' thiruppAvai
28
'aRam periyan Ar
adhaRivAr'iRandAm thiruvandhAdhi 52;
'aRAm thAnAi
thirivAi' periya thirumozhi 6-3-2;
rgds.
dAsan
vanamamalai
padmanabhan
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2005 5:22
PM
Subject: [Oppiliappan] standing on one
leg
Dear srivaishNava perunthagaiyeer,
Since just I
finished the 'game of waiting', the hangover of that 'love' continues. One of
the stages of love is shy-less-ness. To prove this, it is said by elders say
while gossiping [about some youngsters when they have fallen in love with some
girl and insisted about marrying her only], 'that so and so boy stood on a
single leg just to marry that so and so girl only" - to put it in tamil and
colloquially 'anthap paiyan ivaLaiyE [alladhu anthap poNNaiyE] kalyaaNam
paNNippEnnu oththak kaalil ninnaan". So, to desire some thing and achieve that
same thing with some force, it is usual to say "stand on one leg and achieve"-
literally means strive hard and achieve.
While picturizing
visvaamithra or some other rishi, or for that matter even raavaNan, doing
penance, it is generally shown in TV or cinema as they are all standing on one
leg and doing the penance. This means doing a saahasak kaaryam - a risky and
strenuous job.
But why that 'dharmam' or the dharma dhEvathai -
personification of dharmam - not 'yama'- should stand on one leg? What dharmam
has to achieve? Because, to save that dharmam, from being snatched away or
robbed away by rogues and raakshasaas, paramaathmaa sriman naaraayaNa, [for me
it is my sri kishna], takes many avathaarams and does that saahasak kaaryam.
Then what for dharmam should stand on one leg? Is it really puzzling?
Or has dharmam been created with one leg only by that paranaathmaa, thinking
that, we, common people will be able to topple that at our convenience and
free will? Is it his intention "Hey let dharmam have only one leg, and let all
these people feel comfortable that they have toppled dharmam". Or is it true
that, as a special case, dharmam is created to stand comfortably, with that
one leg only.
No, Sirs and Madams, dharmam had initially four legs,
but as time passed, lost its legs one by one. You may say, 'hey, your
imagination is very good'. Dear bhakthaas, it is not my imagination but
srimadh bhaagavatham says so, that dharmam stands on one leg only, now, in
this kali yugam, but earlier , in other yugams, dharmam had four
legs.
thapa: saicham dhayaa sathyamithi paadhaa: kruthE
kruthaa: | adharmaamsaisthrayO bhagnaa: smaya-sangamadhais thava ||
-1-17-24 srimadh bhaagavatham [1 means first skandham, 17th is sargam,
slokam 24] word by word meaning: thapa: - austerity; saicham -
cleanliness; dhayaa - mercy; sathyam - truthfulness; ithi - thus;
paadhaa: - legs; kruthE - in the age of sathya;
kruthaa: - established; adharma - ir-religiosity; amsai: - by
the parts; thraya: - three combined; bhagnaa: - broken; smaya -
pride; sanga -too much association with women; madhai: - intoxication;
tava - your. Summary: In the age of sathya [truthfulness] your four
legs were established by the four principles of austerity, cleanliness, mercy
and truthfulness. But it appears that three of your legs are broken due to
rampant irreligion in the form of pride, lust for women, and
intoxication.
Slokam 1-17 -25 srimadh bhaagavatham idhaaneem dharma
paadhas thE sathyam nirvarthayEdhyatha: | tham jighrukshathyadharmO~yam
anruthEnaiDhitha: kali: ||
word by word meaning: idhaaneem - at the
present moment; dharma: - O personality of religion; paadha: - leg;
thE - of you; sathyam - truthfulness; nirvarthayEth - hobbling
along somehow or other; yatha: - whereby; tham - that;
jighrukshathi - trying to destroy; adharma: - the personality of
irreligion; ayam - this; anruthEna - by deceit; Edhitha: -
flourishing; kali: - quarrel personified. summary You are now
standing on one leg only, which is your truthfulness, and you are somehow or
other hobbling along. But quarrel personified [Kali], flourishing by deceit,
is also trying to destroy that leg.
The principles of dharmam do not
stand on some dogmas or man-made formulas, but they stand on four primary
regulative observances, or legs namely
1. austerity,
2. cleanliness,
3. mercy
4.
truthfulness. 1. Austerity means to accept voluntarily things, which may
or may not be very comfortable for the body but are conducive for god or
spiritual realization. A very good example is fasting. Fasting twice or four
times a month is a sort of austerity, which can be voluntarily accepted for
god or spiritual realization only, and not for any other purposes, like
political or otherwise.
2. Cleanliness is necessary both for the mind
and body. Bodily clean may help to some extent, but cleanliness more in the
mind is necessary. It is effected by glorifying the Supreme Lord. No one can
cleanse the accumulated mental dirt without glorifying the Supreme Lord.
3. Mercy is to have compassion to all. Human mind is expandable in
love and love given towards all [without considering the gender], enhances his
nature and hastens god realization.
4. Truthfulness in
thought and action leads one towards easy elevation in peace of mind and as
such an easy step in god realization.
We have to see things by their
resultant action. The resultant action of human civilization in the age of
Kali is dissatisfaction, so everyone is anxious to get peace of mind. This
peace of mind was complete in the Sathya age because of the existence of the
above-mentioned attributes of the human beings. Gradually these attributes
have diminished in the thrEthaa-yuga to three fourths, in the dhvaapara to
half, and in this age of kali to one fourth, which is also gradually
diminishing on account of prevailing untruthfulness.
By pride, either
artificial or real, the resultant action of austerity is spoiled; by too much
affection for female association, cleanliness is spoiled; by too much
addiction to intoxication, mercy is spoiled; and by too much 'lying
propaganda', truthfulness is spoiled.
Dear bahkthaas, I am not here to
preach. But just to point out certain facts as given above.
About this
dharmam having one leg srimadh rahasya thraya saaram of swamy dhesikan also
has the following -- ithyaadhigaLilE kali yugaththil bhaagavathargal vasikkum
dhEsa visEsham sollugaiyaalE indha yugaththil ip pradhEsangaLil bhaagavatha
parigruheethamaana sthalangalE parigraahyangaL. Thiru naaraayaNeeyaththil "Eka
paadha sthithE dharma yathra kvachana gaamini katham vasthathrayam asmibhir
bhagavan thath vadhasva na:" enRu dhEvargaLum viNNappam seyya --- page 549 vol
1 of SRTS by sri uthamoor swamy.
Commenting on above sri uthamoor
swamy puts his version as "sudhdha sthalamum aasthika parigrahamum illaadha
pOdhu vidath thakkadhu enbadhai bhaarthaththil irundhu nirubikkiRaar. Thiru
naaraayaNeeyaththil ithi - mudhalil naalu paadhangaLodu irundha dharmam engiRa
vrushabham aanadhu kaliyil 3 paadhangaL pOi oru kaalOdu iruppadhu aagiRa vEru
idam selluvadhu aana pOdhu, pazhaiya idaththil naangaL eppadi vasippadhu
emprumaanE, engaLukku solla vENum enRanar. [Thapas, gnaanam, yagnam, dhaanam,
enbana 4 paadhangaL. dhaanam ippOdhu uLLa paadham enradhu nyaaya
kusumaanjali.]
After reading all these, we can understand very well
that at each age one aspect is considered supreme and other three are
supportive. In kali truthfulness is more important.
Of course, my
point in raising this "standing on one leg" is NOT TO PREACH but to learn from
experts of SRTS, what is this 'naaraayaNeeyam' referred in SRTS.
a. It
cannot be "maaha naaraayaNa upanishadh" or the "naaraayaNa anuvaagham" of
thaithreeya upanishadh, the fourth part, after the three 'vallees'. For this
slokam is not appearing in the upanishadh.
b. In the
book of SRTS published by srimadh aandavan aasramam, it is said this slokam
ref by swamy desikan is in "saanthi parvam" ch 249 85th slokam. Of course the
sentence of Uthamoor swamy is also there referring to mahaa bhaaratham. But
there are only 17 slokams in ch 249 and that too the chapter deals with
talking with dhoumya rishi in kanteeka vanam. [I am referring vana parvam as
available in internet - mahaabhaarata based on the poona critical edition
produced by muneo tokunaga kyoto, japan and the english translation of Sri
Kesari Mohan ganguli.]
Then what is this 'naaraayaNeeyam' referred?
Is it that 'mahaa bhaaratham' has a name such as 'naaraayaNeeyam'?
Of course, I know mahaa bhaaratham is called 'jayam'.
But this
is some thing new. If I straightaway throw this question, perhaps you may not
be interested. That is why all this.
Awaiting a reply from the
scholars of the forum
Dhasan
Vasudevan m.g.
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