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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00058 Dec 2002

 
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yOga vidAm nEta (star-aSwini) = The one who guides the yOga vidAs (those who 
know the means) and effects the fruition of their endeavours.

pASuram : Tiru-eluk-kutrirukkai (Tirumangai ALwAr tiruvaDigaLE SaraNam)

samanvayam with pASuram : Since He leads those who know the means, He is the 
'yOga vidAm nEta'.
Brahma is a yOga vidA as He is erudite in the process of ensconcing the soul in 
the body. "He" provides full succour and direction to Brahma in his creation.
Dvaya manthram advocates the best means of bringing the Atma to the paramAtma. 
He propagates it with extreme care through the AchArya parampara. Thus, He 
directs the dvayam too.

What does He achieve through this?.

We have seen through the previous nAma (yOgaha) that He Himself (with His 
kaLyANa guNAs) forms the sublime means to reach Him. However, there are other 
established means (involving self-effort) like the karma, jnAna and bhakti 
yOgAs. Even their accomplishment finds its end in Him only. For, He guides 
those yOga vidAs (those who resort to such paths of self-effort) in their noble 
expedition right from its inception stage to the attaiment.

pASuram :
oru pEr undi yirumalar taviSil
On the huge Lotus emanating from the great navel.

orumurai ayanai Inranai
You were the one who once gave birth to Brahma

orumurai iruSuDar mitinil | iyankA mummatin ilankai
Once when the sun and the moon were afraid to move above the three walled Lanka

irukAL vaLaiya oruSilai Onriya Ir yeyittu
>From the nicely curved teeth of the mighty bow, bent at both ends

azhalvAi vAliyil aTTanai
You shot arrows spitting out monstrous fire.

Detailed Interpretation (with the pASuram) :
1) You were the one who once gave birth to Brahma on the huge lotus emanating 
from the great navel : Brahma knows full well the yOgam of creation(process of 
uniting the soul and body). Such a yOga vidA is directed by the Lord in his 
efforts. Brahma derives His sustenance and capabilities from the Lotus which 
originates from the great navel of the Lord. Thus, He is the nEta of Brahma.

He became the "Haya vadana" and "Matsya" to impart the supreme knowledge to 
Brahma and perpetuate it continuously. Thus He ensures that the beginning (our 
creation) is secure.

There are innumerable BrahmAnDAs in His universe. Each one has its own 
progenitor, a Brahma. He is the sole nEta (leader) of all such progenitors.

2) Once when the Sun and the Moon feared to move above the three walled Lanka - 
You shot arrows spitting out monstrous fire from the nicely curved teeth of the 
mighty bow : 

Moon - AchArya
Sun - ParamAtma
Lanka - SarIram 

Lanka with the three walls (signifying 3 openings) - There are three ways out 
of this SarIram :
1) Attaining heavenly abodes (svargam) through the accumulation of merits.
2) Going to hell due to deplorable self-centered thoughts.
3) Coming back to a similar state (another Lanka) due to the balancing of 
virtues and vice.

Bow - Signifies the praNavam

The two bent ends of the bow forming curved teeth - Signify the upAyam and the 
upEyam (means and end).

The arrow originating from such a bow is the dvaya manthram.

Once, my indisposed mind used to discard the commands of the AchArya. The 
rock-like heart used to be an unfit place for the paramAtma. He won over such a 
body by shooting the arrow (dvayam) and thus forged the thought of total 
subservience to the AchArya and Him.

He through His KaLyANa guNAs entices one and all to do complete surrender to 
Him. If we realize His overflowing love for us, we will be immediately relieved 
of all our worries. We are atonce reminded of the joyful veracity that His love 
itself is the panacea for all our afflictions. The Loving parents they are (Our 
Mother and Lord), Do they expect any effort on our part to get to them?. 
Absolutely No!!.

What is required on our part is a firm conviction cemented with the realization 
of His extreme love for us. This conviction would lead us to do a total 
surrender to Him by casting aside all the worries.

In case there is still an iota of doubt in this matter, it may urge us to do 
something to please Him. Then we resort to the other established means like the 
karma, jnAna and the bhakti yOgAs. All these paths involve self-effort. Those 
who know well about these means and practice them assiduously are the yOga 
vidAs. Since such a propensity for self-effort arises out of an intensified 
longing for Him, it too serves as an infallible means to reach Him, if directed 
properly. He ensures such a fruition, by guiding those yOga vidAs continuously 
in their endeavours.

This He does by propagating the Dvayam (which is pregnant with the thought of 
total surrender to Him) through our AchArya parampara. The Dvayam is fully 
efficacious in re-uniting the Atma (SIta) with the paramAtma (Sri Rama 
Chandra). He directs that powerful arrow at us. We at once realize His mad love 
for us and our complete surrender follows suit.

He ensures that this thought is there in the creator at the time of our 
creation (beginning). Also, He sees to it that we do not loose sight of this 
supreme truth, by propagating it through our AchAryAs from time to time.

The dvayam treated as His weapon, knows well (contains) the yOgam (means to 
re-unite the soul with Him) - hence it can be considered as the king among all 
the yOga vidAs. He directs the dvayam to perfection and thus gets the famous 
epithet - "yOga vidAm nEtA".

Happy TiruppAvai celebrations to all of you.

Jai Sriman Narayana




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