SrimatE Raamaanujaaya Namaha //
SrimatE Nigamaanta Mahaa Desikaaya Namaha //
SrIman! SrI Ranga Sriyam anupadravam anudhinam Samvardhaya/
SrIman! SrI Ranga Sriyam anupadravam anudhinam Samvardhaya//
KAvEri VardhathAm kAlE, kAlE varshathu vAsava: /
SrI RanganAthO jayathu Sri Ranga Sri cha VardhathAm//
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SRI RANGA SRI VOL.05 / ISSUE # 09 dated 22nd December 2003
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IN THIS ISSUE:
1. GOTRAS AND PRAVARAS ? AN OVERVIEW ? PART 17
THE GLORY OF AANGIRASA GOTRAM
(Anbil Ramaswamy)
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(Based on Monograph of MahaamahOpaadhyaaya Sri Srivatsaankaachaar Swami, now
Head of Dept. French Indolgical Research Institute, Pondicherry and
?MaharishigaL Charitram? by Mimamsa SirOmaNi Mimamsa Vidvan Mimamsa Kovida,
Ubhaya Mimamsa Saaragjna, Veda Vedanta ChooDaamaNi Sri N.S. Devanathachariar
referred by Sri Srivatsankachariar Swami)
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2. DESIKAMRUTHAM
SRIMAD RAHASYA TRAYA SARAM
By Sri Sadagopa Iyengar Swamin (of Coimbatore)
?Srikaaryam? of the Board of Advisors of ?Sri Ranga Sri?
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3. FROM MAHABHARATA: ?YAKSHA PRASNAM?
Part 34: Prasnams 90 and 91
By Sri M.K. Ramaswamy Iyengar Swami,
Senior Officer of Govt. of India.
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1. GOTRAS AND PRAVARAS ? AN OVERVIEW ?PART 17
THE GLORY OF AANGIRASA GOTRAM
(Anbil Ramaswamy)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Based on Monograph of MahaamahOpaadhyaaya Sri Srivatsaankaachaar Swami, now
Head of Dept. French Indolgical Research Institute, Pondicherry and
?MaharishigaL Charitram? by Mimamsa SirOmaNi Mimamsa Vidvan Mimamsa Kovida,
Ubhaya Mimamsa Saaragjna, Veda Vedanta ChooDaamaNi Sri N.S. Devanathachariar
referred by Sri Srivatsankachariar Swami)
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The GOTra Pravartaka of this GOtram is Sage Aangeeras. Just like Brighu
Vamsam, the lineage of Aangeeras is also famous for the brilliance of its
Rishis, This lineage has 3 main branches that expands to no less than 20 sub
branches. All of them are together known as ?Aangeerasa GaNam?. ?GaNam?
means a great crowd. Thousands of adherents to this ?GaNam? have been
adorning the earth from time immemorial down the ages. Sage Aangeeras is
also known as ?angiraah? and ?aangirasah?. We will see why later.
Aangeeras is said to be the ?maanaseeka putra? of the original creator, the
four faced Brahma. May be because, he appeared the very moment Brahma
thought of creating him, he is considered so. He is also said to have
emanated from the face of Brahma. Since the fire-god, Agni was also born
from the face of Brahma, both Aangeeras and Agni become brothers.
In the Vedas, the word ?Aangeeras? is mentioned as a substitute name for
?Agni? ?nEdeeyO yagjnam aangeerah? (Taittriya Samhita 2.6.11) Sometimes the
suffix ?tamah? is added to the word ?Aangeeras? for referring to ?Agni?
Tubhyantaa angirastamah? (Taittriya Samhita 1.3.14). Thus ?agnir? and
?angir? were deemed to be equivalent terms (paryaaya padas).
The AitarEya BraahmaNam 3.34 also confirms this. In fact, live coal (TaNal)
is called ?angaara?. In any fire- based karma (agni-kaaryam), the word
?angaara? is used to denote live coal Vide- ?angaaran Niroohya?. When we
come across a person with a blinding brilliance, it is customary to call him
as shining like burning coal ? one whose Brahmavarchas shines through one?s
face.
ChandhOkhya Upanishad belonging to Saama Veda, however, gives another
interpretation. It says:
?Tamhaangiraa udgeethamupaasam chakrE, yETamu yEva anggirasam manyantE/
angaanaam yad urasah // (ChandhOkhya Upanishad 1.2.10)
This statement is made in the context of describing the first part of Saama
Veda called ?Udgeetam?. It says that Sage Aangeeras meditated so much on
?Omkaaram? as ?Mukhya praaNan? that he came to be identified with the very
breath. ?Angam? means ?limb? We know what is ?Rasam? ? the very essence.
What is the essence of limb? In other words, what makes the limbs function?
It is the ?mukhya praaNan? - the very essence of breath. The limbs function
only so long as there is breathing. When the breath finally goes out without
returning, the limbs become inactive and the body becomes a dead body. This
way, the Sage ?Aangeerasa? is also deemed to the very life breath, says
Saama Veda BraahmaNam.
Thus, ?aangeeras? is at once the brilliance of fire and the essence of life
breath that are the basis of all life on earth.
When he created life on earth, Brahma created also Yagjnas (sacrifices).
Brahma himself says:
?Oh! Creatures of the Universe! You will have lot of desires to get
fulfilled. To help you succeed in this, I have created sacrifices. If you
perform these sacrifices properly, you can get all you want?
The same fact is echoed in Bhagavad Gita: (3.10)
Saha yagjnaa: prajaa: srushTvaa purOvaacha prajaapatih /
AnEna prasavishyadhvam yEsah vOsthvishTa kaamadhuk //
Sage Aangeeras is the pioneer in demonstrating how to perform sacrifices
properly as laid down in the Saastras without any blemish. This fact is
attested in all the four Vedas. (e.g.) Taittriya Samhita 5.5.6 says:
?YO vaa ishTakaanaam pratishTaam vEda pratyEva tishTati, tayaa dEvatayaa
aangeerasvad dhruvaa seedEti aahaishaa vaa ishTakaanaam pratishTaa ya yEvam
vEda pratyEva tishTati//?
Here the specialty of the glory of Sage Aangeeras is referred to.
Let us see how.
In the olden days, people used to show great enthusiasm and devotion to the
performance of Yagjnas that they continued to do lifelong by preserving and
nurturing the fire as a matter of prime duty. For this, they used to
construct ?Homa kunTas? (fire urns) in special architectural designs so that
the fire would never get extinguished but glow incessantly for years on end.
The art of constructing such urns is known as ?agnisayanam?. Clods of mud of
varying sizes and consistency were hand picked and arranged with special
care. These clods are called ?IshTikais?. The way they were juxtaposed is
called ?PratishTai of IshTikais?. Though it is said so easily, in practice,
it entailed great effort and clear knowledge of the art. Vedam avers: ?one
who knows this art of constructing a stable ?homa kunTam? will remain stable
in life?.
It is not only the art of juxtapositioning that matters. The practitioner
has also to offer prayers to ?IshTkais? in the following manner:
Oh! IshTikai! Please be as firm and stable with me as you were with Sage
Aangiras?
One thing is clear from this. Sage Aangeeras did ?agnisayanam?. When he
arranged the clods, they automatically juxtaposed themselves without any
disheveling, firm and beautiful to behold and stood like rock. The Yajamaana
refers to this incident and seeks the mercy of IshTkais to help him
similarly. Vedas prescribe that every time the clods are arranged, it has to
done uttering the mantra ?angirasvad dhruvaaa seeda?. This string of
utterance has to be scrupulously remembered and uttered without fail or
forgetting. Those who have done ?Veda Adhyayanam? can appreciate this fact
better.
Ever since the appearance of mankind on earth, numerous Rishis, Kings and
commoners have performed ?agnisayanam?. Vedas have not mentioned any of them
but has reserved its special praise to sage Aangeeras as a model performer.
That this mantra relating to Sage Aangeeras has been made compulsory while
constructing the ?YaagavEdi? on all those who seek to perform yagjnas speaks
volumes of the glory of this Sage and how mankind stands inextricably
connected with him.
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2. DESIKAMRUTHAM
SRIMAD RAHASYA TRAYA SARAM
By Sri Sadagopa Iyengar Swamin (of Coimbatore)
?Srikaaryam? of the Board of Advisors of ?Sri Ranga Sri?
The Five Fundamentals-7
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We saw so far in considerable detail, the nature of ParamAtma and that of
the JeevAtmA, the two principal players in the Great Cosmic Drama. All
scriptures are unanimous that the ultimate goal of all human endeavors is to
be rid of the mortal shackles, which push us deeper and deeper into the
morass of SamsAra. And every informed human being does direct his effort
towards Liberation from the whirlpool of Karma. However, not everyone
succeeds in this Herculean endeavor, with success rate abysmally low in
comparison with the number of aspirants. What exactly could be the reason
for this propensity for failure in attempts at adhyAtmic liberation? What
precisely are the hurdles that stand in the way of the Pilgrim's Progress,
making him slip down two feet for every foot he climbs? We have heard that
good things always attract hurdles ("ShrEyAmsi bahu vighnAni"), but what are
the almost insuperable impediments that the path to Paradise is paved with?
These and similar questions are dealt with by Swami Desikan, under the
heading "PrApti VirOdhi".
Listing out the chief predators that lie in wait, ready to gobble up the
unassuming aspirant, Swami Desikan indicates five of them-
1. AvidyA-This consists of our overwhelming illusion of identity between our
imperishable AtmA, which is the moving spirit and our physical body, subject
to death and decay, otherwise known as "DEhAtma Bhramam?. When we are unable
to distinguish our real selves from the mortal coils that we inhabit, we
become unable to appreciate our essential nature as the Lord's own servants,
mistaking ourselves to be mere physical entities experiencing pleasure and
pain due to some arbitrary dispensation. This prevents us from even
attempting release from the endless cycle of births and deaths and ensures
our everlasting enslavement to matters mundane.
Even if we are able to differentiate between body and soul, there is yet
another insuperable hurdle that ensures our remaining bound to the shackles
of Karma - this is the secondary illusion that we are independent agents,
endowed with absolute autonomy. While we are actually little better than
puppets dancing on a chain, animated by the Cosmic Puppeteer, we imagine
ourselves to be our own masters, in full control of our destinies. We
realize little that we are, by nature, eternal slaves of the Lord and that
it is His sankalpam which makes it possible for us to even lift a little
finger. This illusion is known as "Svatantra Atma bhramam" and, along with
its twin brother "DEhAtma bhramam", forms a deadly duo defeating any efforts
at Liberation.
It is of these two impediments of "ahankAram" and "mamakAram" that Sri
Nammazhwar claims to have been a victim, prior to being blessed with the
wonderful wisdom of discernment and discrimination- "YAnE ennai ariayagilAdE
yAnE en tanadE endru irundEn".
Even if the Lord were to present Himself before us and claim us as His own,
the aforesaid delusions would make us turn our face away, as Sri Bhattar
portrays graphically in his muktakam, "tvam mE aham mE". When the Lord
declares, with all love and affection, "You are mine!? we rebel, steeped in
dEhAtma and svatantra Atma bhramam, and retort, " No! I am my own master".
This is what avidyA does to us.
2. Karma-The second roadblock on the path to the Promised Land is the
accumulated baggage of good and bad deeds that we have been committing over
innumerable births. While the Lord has been kind enough to endow us with a
physique for the purpose of endeavoring for emancipation, we, in our
ignorance, use it to acquire more shackles, getting deeper and deeper into
bondage instead of unraveling the constricting ropes of Karma. It is again
Sri Nammazhwar who describes graphically the benumbing bondage-
"thiNNam azhunda katti pala seivinai van kayittrAl
puNNai maraya varindu ennai pOra vaitthAi puramE"
By terming this Karma "van kayiru", Azhwar gives us a good idea of how
strong these shackles are and how difficult it is to rid oneself of them.
This is the "tadai Agi tokkiyalum oozhvinai" spoken of in the tanian to
Tiruvaimozhi.
3. VAsanA is the cumulative imprint that the innumerable deeds, good and
bad, leave upon the individual soul, the SamskAra that is generated due to
the unending stream of Karma.
4. Ruchi-The unshakeable VAsanA gives rise to Ruchi or the proclivity to act
in a particular fashion. A sin leads on to more of its ilk, resulting in
habitual offence. And such continual transgression of divine laws makes us
eternally toil in SamsAra, with little inclination to even to think about
liberation.
5. Prakriti Sambandham-This fifth impediment is perhaps the seed for all the
others listed above and refers to the association of the pure and
imperishable AtmA with the impure and decaying physical body, which in turn
gives rise to avidyA, Karma, VAsanA and Ruchi. It might also be said that it
is Karma which gives rise to Prakriti sambandham. However, both being
timeless and without a beginning or end, which gave to rise to which would
be a matter of debate, akin to the irresoluble argument about which came
first, the chicken or the egg.
It is this lethal group of adversaries that act as veritable landmines in
our path of progress and blow up the unwary traveler when he takes a wrong
step.
However, there is a root-cause of all the evils listed above, viz., the
Lord's anger ("Bhagavat nigraham"), caused by repetitive transgression of
His commandments. Emperuman's directives, formulated for our own Atma
kshEmam, are enshrined in the Shruti and the Smritis "Shruti: Smriti:
mamaiva Agya".
Wanton disregard of their provisions and willful disobedience of their
dictates naturally generates displeasure in the Lord. When He has endowed us
with discerning intellects to distinguish right from wrong and good from the
bad, supplemented this in-born wisdom with Shastras which serve as
guideposts whenever we are at life's cross roads, provided us with merciful
Acharyas to guide and enlighten - when He has done all this, if we still
insist on treading the perilous path to destruction, He is naturally
saddened by our waywardness and defiance, which in turn results in
displeasure. It is this divine displeasure that is the greatest hurdle to
our efforts at emancipation.
Swami Desikan lists no less than a dozen ill effects flowing from this
Bhagavat nigraham, which we shall see in the next installment.
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3. FROM MAHABHARATA: ?YAKSHA PRASNAM?
Part 34: Prasnams 90 and 91
By Sri M.K. Ramaswamy Iyengar Swami,
Senior Officer of Govt. of India.
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PRASNAM 90
YAKSHA:
? KIM CHA AARJAVAMUDAAHRUTAAN??
?HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE THE QUALITY CALLED STRAIGHTFORWARDNESS??
YUDISHTIRA:
?AARJAVAM SAMA CHITTATAA?
? STRAIGHTFORWARDNESS OR TOTAL UPRIGHTNESS CONSISTS IN A PERFECT EQUALITY
TOWARDS ALL THINGS AND ALL PERSONS?
NOTES:
As Aurobindo would say in the Chapter entitled ?Equality? in the ?Essays on
Gita?, ?an equal and all equalizing spirit is that oneness in the midst of
million differences and inequalities in the world?
The man of self-knowledge cannot be anything but upright. He is a man who is
aware that Brahman is faultless and also equal ?nirdOsham hi samam Brahma?.
The Brahman is flawless. It is also the same in all (BG 5.19)
Since Brahman is equal and same in all, Gita affirms that the man with
self-knowledge also develops a uniform and identical perception of the
learned and scholarly Brahmin, the quadrupeds like the cow, the elephant and
dog as well as an outcaste. The relevant sloka 18 in Chapter 5 is:
Vidya vinaya sampannE BraahmaNE gavi hastini /
Suni chaiva svapaakE Cha paNDitah sama darsinah //
What does self-knowledge leading to ?sama drishTi?- to see oneness amidst
?millions of differences and inequalities in the world? further lead to?
The answer is given in Sloka 29 in Chapter 6 of BG
Sarva bhootastham aatmaanam sarva bhootaani cha aatmani /
EekshatE yoga yuktaatmaa sarvatra sama darsanah //
With a mind immersed in yogic beatitude and bliss, the man who has developed
equality becomes equal to all at the level of the soul. He sees himself in
all. He also sees all in himself.
YudishTira speaks of equality as the basis for total uprightness in thought
and deed. It would be useful to remember that one is in all and all is in
one. This is founded in true knowledge that is to say, ?Jnaanam? ?
?tattvaarta SambOdah? (Vide Qn.85) the true realization is that God is in
everything.
-------------------------------------------------------
PRASNAM 91
YAKSHA:
?KAH SATRUH DURJAYA: PUMSAAM??
?FOR MEN, WHO OR WHAT IS THE MOST UNCONQUERABLE FOE??
YUDISHTIRA:
? KRODAH SUDURJAYAH SATRUH?
?IT IS ANGER THAT IS UNCONQUERABLE AMONGST ALL FOES?
NOTES:
Anger is born when desire is thwarted or ego is slighted. ?kaamaath krOdhO
abijaayatE?. It is desire that sprouts anger. When desires remain
unfulfilled, it results in anger. (BG 2.62)
Similarly ego is also closely bound with everyone?s individuality. It
manifests as selfishness, self-assertion, self-aggrandizement or such other
forms. When such an ego manifestation is thwarted or obstructed in some way,
anger is born.
A forest fire may start off with a small spark. Yet very soon it assumes the
form of a huge conflagration. It is not easy to put off a forest fire.
Likewise, it is not easy to control anger. Anger, like a forest fire, can
cause a great devastation within a short time.
A person who is in a rage will not stop at any crime. ?What crime will a
person who has become a victim of anger cannot commit?? bewailed Hanuman
when he stepped back and reflected after setting fire to RavaNa?s capital.
He told himself, with immeasurable remorse and a sense of shame that a man
seized with anger will not stop at anything. He will go to the extent of
laying his hands on his preceptor and even killing him. He will inflict
utmost cruelty on others by flinging very harsh and unjust words at them. He
will lose all sense of discrimination between an appropriate and an
inappropriate word or deed.
Kruddhah paapam na kuryaat kah kruddhO hi nyaad guroon api /
Kruddhah parushayaa vaachaa narah saadhoon adhikshipEt //
Vaachyaa vaachyam prakupitO na vijaanaati karhichit /
Na kaaryam asti kruddhasya na vaacham vidyatE kvachit //
(VR 5.55: 4, 5)
No wonder YudishTira considers anger to be very difficult enemy to tackle.
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