Srimate SrivanStakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:
TiruvArAdhanam
The importance of worshipping the Lord daily need not be emphasized.
"TiruvArAdhanam" as it is called, occupies an extremely significant part of the
Sri VaishnavA's daily agenda, perhaps the most substantial item thereof. Just
like Sandhyavandanam, Brahmayagyam etc., Bhagavat ArAdhanam too is an
indispensable part of our daily routine, never to be forsaken for any reason,
except when one contracts "Asoucham" or "theettu". This is evident from a host
of texts in the Shruti, Smriti and itihAsAs. The hallowed Rigveda emphasises
the obligatory nature of such worship-"pra va: pAntam andhasO dhiyAyatE mahE
shoorAya VishNavE cha archata". Shounaka Mahrshi, quoting this, lays down the
mode of such worship in detail, as a "nitya karma"-" ShounakOham pravakshyAmi
nityam Visnvarchanam param".
The PAncharAtra, for its part, tells us that ritualistic worship of the Lord
with devotion is to be performed daily-
"nityam cha Etat VaisvadEvAdivat Bhagavat ArAdhanam".
Emphatic confirmation, if at all needed, comes from Sage Vyasa, who tells us
that worship of the Lord affords us greater merit than any Vaidika karma: he
exhorts us therefore to perform ArAdhanam daily-
"na VishnvArAdhanAt puNyam vidyatE karma vaidikam
tasmAt anAdi madhyAntam nityam ArAdhayEt Harim".
The dire consequences flowing form non-performance, due either to laziness or
even oversight or ignorance, include a birth among lowly pigs, apart from
rendering the offender liable for a spell in Hell-
"YO mOhAt athavA AlasyAt akritvA VishNu poojanam
bhunktE sa yAti narakAn sookarEshu abhijAyatE".
Not a single day should we stay, nor should we partake of even water in a
village, town or house, where the Lord is not worshipped daily, says the
ParAsara SamhitA-
"VishnvarchA rahitE grAmE VishnvarchA rahitE grihE
na kuryAt anna pAnAdi na tatra divasam vasEt".
Further, the term "YAjI' in the Bhagavat Gita sloka
"man manA bhava mad bhaktO mad YAjI mAm namaskuru"
very obviously refers to the TiruvArAdhanam to be performed daily by everyone.
And when we say "everyone" it indeed means everyone, without differences of
gender, caste or status, economic or spiritual. While those eligible to recite
the Shruti can use the same in the Lord's worship, those ineligible may resort
to the Tantric mode of performing TiruvArAdhanam. For instance, when the
husband is away or unwell, women can do this on the former's behalf, limiting
themselves to nivEdanam of food cooked for the Lord, without using Vaidika
mantrAs and without touching the images of the Lord (whether vigrahAs or
SAlagrAma mUrthIs) says prakritam Srimad Azhagiasingar's Ahnika grantham
("BhartrumatInAm bhartru AgyAya atra pravritti: anugyAyatE-- tadapi kEvalam
nivEdana Eva").
Such is the significance of this karma, that our Acharyas, beginning with Sri
Bhashyakara, have laid down specific modes of ArAdhanam, for the benefit of
people like us,who know not how to adulate the Lord. The "nityam" is one of the
nine works of Sri Ramanuja, dealing in detail with this ritual, the very title
emphasizing the need for its daily performance.
Why should we perform Bhagavat ArAdhanam? It should be enough reason for us
that the Shruti, Smriti and Acharyas unanimously tell us that we should.
However, apart from the need for implicit obedience to the Scripture, it is our
love for the Lord that prompts us to offer Him worship. When our affection for
someone abounds, we feel the need for doing something for them, as an
expression of our love and care. It is paternal love for our progeny which
makes us scoop up the child in our arms, hug it, smother it with kisses, croon
to it and indulge in similar acts exhibiting our emotions. How do we display
our love to the Paramapurusha, who has, out of His infinite mercy, given us
this human birth, resides within us inseparably in an endearing gesture of
eternal love and care, provides us with a reasoning intellect enabling us to
choose a strategy for liberation most suited to us, makes us progress along the
path of choice and ultimately confers upon us the coveted fruit of kainkaryam
in Paramapadam?
How do we demonstrate our gratitude and boundless affection for the Lord (not
that He requires such demonstration), who hovers protectively over us all the
time, unseen but definitely there, ensuring that we come to no harm in any
fashion, willing to overlook all our misdeeds if only we would repent and turn
over a new leaf, aiding and assisting us all as an omnibus relative-- a father,
mother, brother, friend, wife and son, all rolled into one?
Bhagavat ArAdhanam or ritualistic worship provides us an outlet for our
enduring emotions towards the Lord. It furnishes us with an ideal way of
expressing our ecstatical feelings, where He is concerned. Such worship is born
out of "anubhava janita preeti" or the ecstasy of the individual soul, forever
enchanted by all the Lord has done, is doing and will surely do for us poor
mortals. It is the end-product of an enduring enthralment occasioned by the
innumerable auspicious attributes of the Lord, each of which affords us
indescribable delight. ArAdhanam is the compulsive reaction of all those who
are bewitched beyond measure by Emperuman's glorious and magnificent form,
which makes them lose themselves in its enjoyment, similar to a small boy let
loose in a toyshop with a bewildering variety of playthings.
It is this daily and blissful experience which prepares us for the eternal
enthralment of service to the Lord at SriVaikuntam. It is a daily dress
rehearsal, so to say, to what we are destined to do at our ultimate abode. When
we bathe the Lord tenderly in scented water, pure milk, honey etc., we should
relive the experiences of Sri Yasoda Piraatti and Sri PeriyAzhwar, who attained
incomparable heights of bliss through such ministrations to the toddler
Krishna. When we offer Him a dress of silk after the bath, we should be
reminded of the glorious garments Sri Kousalya must have dotingly dressed her
darling in. When we offer Him a lighted lamp, we should be struck at the
incongruity of showing a feeble and flickering light to one who is the ultimate
in luminiscence ("Narayana parO jyOti:"). When we place before Him our humble
offering of cooked food, we should be reminded of the love and devotion with
which both exalted BharadvAja Maharshi and the humble Sabhari fed Him, in their
own inimitable ways, and the equal gusto with which He partook of both the
sumptutuous feast offered by the former and the modest jungle fruits tendered
by the latter. When we offer flowers at His feet, we should remind ourselves
that the best and the most precious bloom He would relish is our souls-"the
Atma vastu". And that the other types of flora which would delight Him are the
qualities of ahimsA, sense control, truthfulness, mercy, etc., which we should
strive to cultivate. When we recite before Him stOtrAs for His pleasure, we
should mentally place ourselves in the footprints of Azhwars and Acharyas,
whose magnificent offerings, in verse and prose, in an uncontrollable
outpouring of overwhelming love, affection and adoration, stand as guiding
Beacons of Bhakti, till date. And when we finally put Him to bed, at the end of
the daily quota of loving ministrations, we should be reminded of the
magnificent snake who forms His eternal bed-- soft, supple, sinuous, lithe,
fragrant, broad and beautiful-- and the myriad ways in which he appropriates
the opportunities of service to the Lord-
"ChendrAl kudayAm, irundAl singAsanamAm
nindrAl maravadiyAm-neetkadaluL endrum
puNayAm maNi viLakkAm poompattAm
pulgum aNayAm TirumArku aravu".
Thus, Bhagavat ArAdhanam is only a daily practice session, to remind us
constantly of the indescribable bliss that awaits us, as PrapannAs, at the end
of this birth. For all that, it is none the less real, for kainkaryam to the
arcchA moorti, whether it be at divyadEsams or at one's own home, is as
pleasurable as that to the Paramapadanatha at Srivaikuntam, as both Sri Kalian
and Swami Desikan have attested. We should offer every arghyam or pAdyam or
other ministration/ upachAram lovingly, imagining in our mind's eye the Lord
accepting the same with alacrity and delight-delight akin to that occasioned to
the mother by the infant, who puts a morsel of its own baby food into the mouth
of the feeding parent, though its inexpert hands might spill most of the morsel
enroute to the mouth. The performance of TiruvArAdhanam in the prescribed
fashion ("gyAna vidhi pizhayAmE") is thus capable of affording us as much
delight as perhaps that of nitya sUrIs, the permanent residents of
Srivaikuntam, making us conform to the description of Sri Nammazhwar-"nila
thEvar"-Gods on Earth.
Azhwars tell us how such ArAdhanam is to be performed. Sri Nammazhwar is so
particular that all flowers should be utilised for adorning the Lord's tirumEni
and tiruvadi, that he tells us to gather blooms from all eight directions for
the purpose-"endisayum uLLa poo koNdu Etthi ugandu ugandu". He also lists the
various upachArAs that are to be offered to the Paramapurusha-
"mEvi tozhudu uymmin neergaL VEda punida irukkai
nAvil koNdu achuthanai gyAna vidhi pizhayAmE
poovil pugayum viLakkum sAndamum neerum malindu
mEvi tozhum adiyArum bhagavarum mikkadu ulagE"
The Lord is to be adulated with choice words of praise (like the Purusha
Sukta) that Vedas reserve for the Supreme Being. The best of scented smoke is
to be offered to the Lord after a ceremonial bath, with the Veda mantra,
"dhoorasi dhoorva dhoorvantam dhoorvatam yOsmAn dhoorvati...." and He is to be
courteously shown a lighted lamp, as an auspicious item, to the accompaniment
of the Mantra, "uddeepyasva JAtavEdO apagnan nirritim mama...". The best of
flowers are to be showered on His tiruvadi, to the recitation of Mantra Pushpam
(extracts from the four Vedas, itihAsAs, purANAs, divya prabandAs, poorvAcharya
Stotras, etc.). The Lord's tirumEni is to be adorned with fragrant and cool
sandalwood paste. He is to be propitiated with water time and again, in the
form of arghyam, pAdyam, Achamaneeyam, SnAneeyam and pAneeyam. These are some
of the offerings Sri Nammazhwar prescribes during TiruvArAdhanam.
Rather than search for external implements for worship, Sri Nammazhwar prefers
to offer extremely personalised upachArAs to the Lord. Secure in the knowledge
that He would relish these much more than any other external and ostentatious
paraphernelia, Sri Nammazhwar offers his own mind, made extremely cool and
fragrant with constant thoughts of the Lord, in the place of sandalwood
paste-"poosum sAndu en nenjamE". Considering even the smooth sandalwood to be
too rough for the Lord's extremely soft and delicate tirumEni, Azhwar considers
his own mind to be a much better substitute. Rather than search for some
flowers suitable for Emperuman and string them together into a garland, Azhwar
finds a garland of verses much easier to fashion and more to the Lord's liking,
substituting a "Poo mAlai" by a much sweeter, fragrant and poignant "PAmAlai".
While flowers by nature wilt and fade after a day at the most, Azhwar's garland
of verses remains eternally fresh and fragrant, which is another reason for his
preference-"punayum kaNNi ennudaya vAsagam sei mAlayE". These divine and
delightful verses serve not only as an adornment for the Lord's chest, but also
double as glorious and glittering garments for His dressing up-"vAn pattAdayum
akhdE". Woven as they are in various metres, with the warp of devotion, these
Prabandas form the apparel of choice for Emperuman. Azhwar says that much more
than glittering ornaments sculpted out of precious metals like gold and silver,
a single gesture of supplication with joined palms-an "anjali"-would serve as
the best of jewelry for the Lord. It is the surrender of our soul in the
ultimate gesture of Prapatti that the Lord deems to be the most valuable of
adornments. It is hence that Azhwar says, "dEsamAna aNikalanum en kai kooppu
seigayE".
It is TiruvArAdhanam such as the one practised by Azhwar that occasions the
maximum delight to Emperuman, much more than any characterised by the offering
of items acquired at considerable cost. What He looks for is sincerity,
devotion, love and piety: He bothers little about how much we spend and much
more about how much of our thoughts are on Him.
We thus find that it is our duty, albeit a delectable one, to worship the Lord
daily and that, in the process, the use of our internal organs as aforesaid,
affords Emperuman great delight. The Lord calls him a thief, who eats daily
without offering the food first to the Universal Provider-'stEna Eva hi sa:".
It is for this reason that our Acharyas mercifully initiate us into the process
of Bhagavat ArAdhanam, during Pancha SamskAram, in the fond hope that we would,
from that day, perform ArAdhanam continuously. When we do the karma sincerely
and with devotion, we would be able to discern a distinct smile on the face of
the Lord who adorns our homes. Whatever be our occupation, whatever be the
timings we have to observe in our profession, when we find time for a hundred
other personal and official errands, we ought to accommodate Bhagavat ArAdhanam
too in our daily schedule, not as something to be performed per force or out of
a sense of obligation, but something to be done prompted solely by love,
affection and adoration for the most magnificent of beings, one who delights in
hearing our voices raised in praise, much as a parent would in hearing his
toddler's first words, hardly intelligible but eminently satisfying all the
same.
Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana
Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:
Dasan, sadagopan
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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