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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00056 Dec 2002

 
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The famous Orlov diamond of 280 carats approximately valued at 150 crores,
now kept in Kremlin was one of the eyes of SriRanganatha Swamy Temple.
During the mughal rule it was sold to French man he sold to an Engishman and
again sold to to ana Armenian thus it has reached Kremlin.

----- Original Message -----
From: "sadagopaniyengar" <sadagopaniyengar@xxxx>
To: "SriRangaSri" <SriRangaSri@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "malolan_net"
<malolan_net@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "bhakti-list" <bhakti-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>;
"tiruvengadam" <tiruvengadam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "Oppiliappan"
<Oppiliappan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "radha" <radha@xxxx>;
"j.srinivasan" <j.srinivasan@xxxx>; "cs srinivasan"
<chetlurvas@xxxx>; "smt padmaja" <ayodhyarama@xxxx>; "mythily
ramadesikan" <r_mythily@xxxx>
Cc: "sadagopaniyengar" <sadagopaniyengar@xxxx>
Sent: Thursday, December 19, 2002 7:34 PM
Subject: [SriRangaSri] "Ignorance and Bliss"


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> Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya Nama:
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> Ignorance and Bliss
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> There are several similarities between the Lord and Tiruppavai.
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> Firstly, Neither the greatness of the Lord nor the depth of meaning of
Tiruppavai can be fathomed.
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> Secondly, to the first-rung devotee, the Lord is always ready to bestow
all material benefits upon request. To the Prapanna who looks askance at
such frivolous pleasures, the Lord gives Moksha and Himself too in the
bargain. Similarly, to the superficial student, Tiruppavai does give off
beautiful meanings on a prima facie reading itself. However, to the
connoisseur who is prepared to plumb its depths, Andal's outpouring is full
of hidden gems and pearls, which are available for the mere asking.
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> Thirdly, the month of Margazhi is dear to the Lord ("mAsAnAm
MargasIrshOham") while Tiruppavai too generates intense interest and
in-depth research in Margazhi.
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> Fourthly, if Emperuman is acclaimed as the "Veda Mudalvan", Tiruppavai too
is eulogized as "Vedam anaitthukkum vitthu".
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> Sri Ramanuja was as much enamoured of Tiruppavai as he was of the Lord,
which earned him the title "Tiruppavai Jeer".
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> One such gem in Tiruppavai, to be discovered by the connoisseur, is to
be found in the pasuram "KaravaigaL pin chendru".
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> The unlettered cowherds wonder at their enormous good fortune in having
Sri Krishna born into their lowly clan-"arivu ondrum illAda Aykkulatthu un
tannai piravi perum tanai puNNiyam yAm udayOm". They hasten to add "Kuraivu
ondrum illAda GovindA!", clarifying that the Lord's greatness remains
undiminished by His birth and sojourn among the cowherds.
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> To the general reader, these lines provide a wonderful perspective of the
Lord's accessibility or soulabhyam, His preparedness to go to any lengths to
emancipate errant humanity and His utter disregard for caste, creed, colour,
race and other such fetters, when it comes to taking birth among mundane
mortals ("ennindra yOniyumAi pirandAi imayOr talaiva!"-Sri Nammazhwar).
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> The GopAs and their women wonder at the incongruity of the omniscient Lord
being born amidst the ignorant and unlettered and His growing up with
apparent enjoyment amidst people unaware of the distinction between their
right hand and the left ("idakkai valakkai teriyAda Aycchiar"). When the
Gopis remember the liberties they had taken with the Lord- abusing Him for
stealing butter, tying Him up to the grindstone, even beating Him up for
minor misdemeanors ("Ayar kozhundAi avarAl pudayuNNum MAya PirAn")-they are
awe-struck at their own transgressions and blame it all on the ignorance of
their race ("arivu ondrum illAda Aykkulam"). Some people are blessed with
knowledge in some matters, though they may not be experts in other fields.
However, the cowherds confess to total ignorance- "arivu ondrum illAda".
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> The Upanishad says, "avigyAtam vijAnatAm, vigyAtam avijAnatAm". Those
who know that they know not, know all, while those who claim knowledge, are
ignorant, according to the Shruti, which repeats the idea elsewhere too, for
good measure-"yasya amatham tasya matam, matam yasya na vEda sa:".
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> Going by these standards, the cowherds who know full well that they know
not, that they are completely unlettered and comprehensively ignorant,
appear to be the true knowers. This becomes clear once we delve into the
nature of the ignorance they disarmingly admit to. The following are the
types of ignorance which the Gopis plead guilty of:-
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> 1. Ignorance of other Deities"-The cowherds are firm in their
conviction that all their needs would be catered to by Sri Krishna, and see
no need to turn to any other devata for any purpose. Thus they are true
"ParamaikAnti"s, owing allegiance only to the Lord and to none other. Their
simple thoughts are filled only with Kannan and His doings, and they look to
Him and only to Him for anything and everything they need. Their needs are
simple and adequately catered to by their cattle-wealth. All they need from
Sri Krishna is His bewitching company and blissful presence. They appear to
be eminently qualified to fit the description in the Gita sloka-
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> "ananyA: chintayantO mAm yE janA: paryupAsatE
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> tEshAm nitya abhiyuktAnAm yOgakshemam
vahAmyaham"
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> 2. Ignorance of other upAyAs: The cowherds know not the intricacies
of Karma yoga, Gnana Yoga or Bhakti yoga. All they know is their Krishna and
that He would take care of them at all times. Such staunch devotion is what
Mahavisvasam is all about. They would never do anything that displeases
Krishna and go all out to conform to whatever He lays down, thus displaying
"Anukoolya Sankalpam" and "PrAtikoolya Varjanam". They unreservedly look to
Krishna as their saviour, thus complying with the requirement of "Goptrutva
varaNam". Their very words admitting their ignorance and incapacity are
hallmarks of the important element of "Akinchanyam". By affirming "unakkE
nAm AtcheyvOm", they categorically perform "Atma SamarpaNam". Thus the
"ignorant" cowherds are Prapatti nishttAs of a very high order, conforming
in letter and spirit to the Lord's homily, "Sarva dharmAn parityajya mAm
Ekam sharaNam vraja".
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> 3. Ignorance of other desires: All that these Gopas want is to be of
service to the Lord in this birth and others, and to be close to Him always,
without ever experiencing the pangs of separation. They crave not riches,
social status or glory. Their needs and desires are simple, and revolve
totally around Sri Krishna. This is evident from their ardent
declarations-"ettraikkum EzhEzh piravikkum untannOdu uttrOmE AvOm, unakkE
nAm AtcheyvOm". Their overwhelming desire to perform kainkarya to their dear
KannapirAn is displayed in their entreaty to the Lord not to deny them the
bliss of service-
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> Nee kuttrEval engalaI koLlAmal pOgAdu".
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> They just do not recognize that there are other desirable goals or
PurushArtthAs, and pray to their Krishna not to make them fall prey to
desires of other types-"Mattrai nam kAmangaL mAttru". These simple souls are
true adherents to Sri Tiruvarangattu AmudanAr's dictum, "KaNNanukkE Amadu
kAmam" (our desires should be directed solely towards attaining the Lord).
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> We are told that Sri Bhattar, the personification of erudition and
devotion, who joined the ghOshti late one day for the mangalasasanam of Sri
Rangaraja, preferred to take a position opposite to that of the learned
Brahmins and at the tail-end of a line of YadavAs. When members of the
ghOshti sought the reason for this strange conduct, Sri Bhattar is reported
to have told them that he felt the benign glance of Sri Ranganatha was
directed not towards the erudite Brahmin ghoshti performing mangalasasanam
in chaste Sanskrit, but towards the Yadavas who were wishing the Lord well
in colloquial language devoid of hyperbole but rich with devotion.
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> We often pray to the Lord to give us good thoughts ("nalla buddhi"), to
deliver us from the darkness of ignorance and to "lead kindly light"
("tamasO mA jyOtir gamaya"). We yearn for our darkened soul to light up with
true knowledge. However, when we consider the state of the Gopas described
above and the indescribable bliss they could attain through such lack of
knowledge, we too feel like praying to the Lord to keep us steeped in
ignorance-ignorance of the right type. It is only now that we realize the
true meaning of the adage, "Ignorance is Bliss".
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> Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana
Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:
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> Dasan, sadagopan.
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> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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