SrI: 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// ========================================================= SRI RANGA SRI VOL.08 / ISSUE # 05 dated 3rd November 2006 ========================================================== EDITORIAL Dear Bhagavatas: As Sri Anbil Ramaswamy Swami is leaving for Cleveland, I am sending this on his behalf.. Swami is available at: 25807 Iris Court, Westlake, OH-44145 Phone # (440) 716- 0771 Cell # (770) 876- 9188 You may contact him. Regards Namo narayana dAsan Madhava Kannan ========================================================== INTHIS ISSUE: 1."THE MIGHTY AND THE ALMIGHTY ? A CLASH OF WILLS?? Part-3" BY ANBIL RAMASWAMY (This is from his talk at Sri Hayagrivar Temple , Pondicherry on 31st May 2006) 2."DRAMIDOPANISHAD TATPARYA RATNAVALI" ? PART- 5": BY SRI N. KRISHNAMACHARIAR SWAMI OF CHICAGO 3."MAAL UGANDHA AASIRIYAR ? LIFE AND WORKS OF AZHWARS Part ? 2- BY SRI MADHAVA KANNAN SWAMI, SINGAPORE CO-MODERATOR OF "SRI RANGA SRI" ========================================================= ISSUES RELEASED With this issue, about 232 Regular issues of SRS have been released so far, apart from numerous "Special Issues" as indicated below: 27 Issues of Vol. 1 15 Issues of Vol. 2 42 Issues of Vol. 3 35 Issues of Vol. 4 28 Issues of Vol. 5 30 Issues of Vol. 6 50 Issues of Vol. 7 and 05 Issues of Vol. 8 --------------------------------------------------------------------- - These issues have been archived for public view at - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/srirangasri By Sri Diwakar Kannan (diwakark@xxxx) You may also view the archives at http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia maintainedBy Sri Srinivasan Sriram (ajiva_rts@xxxx) We strongly urge you to kindly peruse the "Regular Issues" archived in the Files Section and view the Contents at srsindex.html (Not the individual postings allowed for encouraging "Reader participation"). We are sure that you will be convinced of the quality of the contents. IF you are satisfied with the quality and contents of "Sri Ranga Sri" - Tell your friends to join by sending an email to Srirangasri-subscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx IF NOT: Tell us, as to how we may improve. Ever at your service Moderator "Sri Ranga Sri" ========================================================== xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxx ========================================================== 1. "THE MIGHTY AND THE ALMIGHTY ? A CLASH OF WILLS? ? Part-3" BY ANBIL RAMASWAMY (This is from his talk at Sri Hayagrivar Temple , Pondicherry on 31st May 2006) --------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------- (Excerpts from Chapter 11of"Hinduism Rediscovered") --------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------- UDASINA, ANUMANTA AND PRERITA 1. UDASINA (Indifferent) God does not want to interfere with man's free will. In the first stage, He adopts an attitude of Udaasina (indifference). No child would relish an undue interference in its activities by its parents. So also, God keeps himself away, even though he is all the time watching how we behave, whether we play our part well or ill. Imagine a silver screen on which is projected a battle scene. All the fierce fighting, the bloodshed, slaughters, guns roaring and spitting forth fire all are depicted on the screen so realistically that we sometimes slip over the edge of our seats in sheer involvement with the happenings on the screen. But, the screen itself is unaffected, unperturbed and remains a constant and silent witness to all the turmoil. It is not in the least involved except for providing a base for the enactment of the entire battle scene. So also, God is an Eye witness, but a silent one, of our own battles of life. To cite another analogy, just as a lamp which lights the room is a silent witness to all the happenings in the room and does not get involved, God is a silent witness to all the happenings in the world and does not get involved. 2. ANUMANTHA (Permitting) In the second stage, he adopts the attitude of `anumantha' (i.e.) he permits or tolerates. Let us, for example, take the case of discipline on the road. The roads have been laid and maintained, the lanes demarcated, the driving rules of the road published for your guidance, the driving license is issued after a strict oral and / or a practical test. Road signs and warnings displayed at appropriate places. To keep driving on the lanes, or keeping up the speed limits prescribed cannot be construed as undue interference in your freedom. Driving on the left side of the road (as in USA ) cannot be called arbitrary denial of your freedom to drive as we like. All these are meant to enforce a certain discipline for your safety only. The police does not interfere nor can in all cases of transgressions. On the assumption that motorists are law abiding, the law enforcing authorities may take an "Udaasina" or indifferent attitude in the first instance. They may even allow you to exceed the speed limits by say not more than 10 miles per hour over the maximum prescribed. This can be likened to the 'Anumanta' or permission aspect of God's attitude in the second stage. Mr. ARTHUR ROBSON asks "What would you do if you notice an un-hatched chicken trying to peck its way out of its egg? To remove the egg shell would result in premature exposure and the chicken would be so much the weaker. No; let it peck its own way out of the shell, as the mother hen lets do, while she chuckles encouragement. The same applies to a man trying to break his way in his evolution to be left to work his way unassisted - whether for good or for bad" It is not known whether there are any rewards provided for a record of safe driving - other than the reward of not losing your limb or life in an accident! Maybe, the insurance company might charge you less on your next premium! 3. PRERITA (Inducing) But, if you exceed the limits and the cops catch you, they give a warning, then a ticket and the penalty increases with every offense repeated. These are only disincentives provided to discipline you. This can be compared to the "Prerita" attitude of God. When you show a genuine longing to tread the moral codes of conduct laid down in the Saastric injunctions, God is pleased and provides encouragement and incentives for you to progress on spiritual lines. Lives of great souls like Meera, Kabir, Nanak, Tulsidas and a myriad Bhaktas bear ample testimony to the way God provided them with more and more opportunities to become evolved and finally reach Godhead. Contrarily, when someone shows an adamant tendency in disregarding the codes of conduct and indulges in actions prohibited by ethical and moral standards, the only way they would learn their lesson would be by experiencing the consequences of their actions, if not in this life itself - at least in future lives. WHERE INSTRUCTION FAILS TO REFORM, EXPERIENCE SUCCEEDS IN DISCIPLINING. When one is too much wicked, too much egoistic and too much obstinate - as for example in the case of Hitler and other dictators, God encourages them to go on with their victories which at last turn out to be 'pyrrhic' and they meet with their deserved doom. God invests in human beings a free will and instructs them to use it to behave like human beings on their own and only when "Adharma" (evil) increases beyond limits, he intervenes to set things right and put back humans on the right track. That is why the unscrupulous, the fakes, the frauds and the con-men seem to flourish where honest folk seem to flounder. They are encouraged to go on indulging in their evil ways until ultimately they meet with a disaster that would really devastate them. This again provides them one more opportunity to introspect and correct themselves or in the alternative suffer the consequences and perish. Why do good people suffer? And why bad people prosper? These are questions which are very frequently being asked. We do not delve deep and see only one side of the picture. If you look at the complete picture, you will understand that after all your life is not all that unhappy and those of the bad guy all that full of felicity. They or their heirs have to pay the price for their misdemeanors sooner or later. For the fault of a Louis XIV a Louis XVI was punished. The ultimate punishment meted out to a bad person will be infinitely greater than the passing clouds of suffering of an upright person. If you are good and your well laid plans fail, it means that the divine power that directs you is giving a warning signal that there is some deficiency in your plan that is likely to land you in trouble. And, when your plans succeed, it means the divine power has bestowed its seal of approval for your plan to succeed. The great poet KANNADASAN sang: "If all that you desire come to pass, you will never realize that there is a superior power guiding you. If you go on brooding over what has happened to your detriment - there will be no peace of mind" Arthamulla Indu Matham (Bk.1, p.29) Vanathi Pathippagam, Madras , India , 1981. "Ninaippadu ellaam nadanduvittal deivam edhum illai Nadandadhaiye ninaindhu irundal amaidhi edum illai" So, do your duty. As Winston Churchill put it -"Have faith in God, but keep your powder dry" or as the Burmese (now Myanmar ) Prime Minister, Aung San observed - "Hope for the best but be prepared for the worst". As for 'faith in God' - we do have it so long as we desire specific good and we do pray for specific results. As we are all human, it is natural for us to seek what we need. This is an acknowledgment of our own incapacity to fulfill our needs all by ourselves and reveals our humility and trust in God's capacity to fulfill them. God dispenses his blessings only commensurate with our merits and if our sincerity is really deep, absolute, unconditional and unflinching like that of DRAUPADI or GAJENDRA, certainly He will deem it an extenuating circumstance and even waive or overlook our ineligibility stemming from our deficiencies. But, if we approach prayer solely as a means for the satisfaction of our every need on every occasion, then we would become disappointed. This is because God knows what is ultimately good for us and however he answers our prayers it would be for that ultimate good. It is one thing to beg God for benefits; it is another to love for its own sake. When you see beautiful natural scenery, you love it; you enjoy it. You don't expect any pecuniary benefits out of it. When you see the smile of an innocent baby, you forget everything else and you are enraptured by its bewitching smiles and pranks. No monetary expectations intervene. Your love of God should also be like this. You should feel that you cannot live without loving God. "With the development of the notion of Karma, the attainment of the individual lOka was seen to depend not on the performance of the sacrifice, but on individual moral responsibility. Thus, however complex the system of lOkas may appear to be in Indian cosmology or whether mythically presented for the edification of the masses or philosophically analyzed for the sophisticated, the conclusion reached seems to be that man makes his own lOka- either a heaven or hell" HDH, p.164 7.Dr.S.Radhakrishnan, President of India, in his "Hindu view of life" (p.53) "The earth is a kind of 'soul school' where man has to graduate himself to become qualified for salvation or become a 'drop out' to be condemned to future lives on earth again and again until he works his way up finally" (ibid) Each individual is wholly responsible for his present condition and will have exactly the future he is now creating. Most people are unwilling to admit this. They prefer to locate the source of their difficulties outside themselves. They want excuses, someone to blame that they may be exonerated. This says Hinduism is simply immature. Everyone gets exactly what he deserves. As we have made our beds and so must we lie. Those who have made their bed are like the proverbial caterpillar which while coming to the end of a blade of grass draws itself together before leaping on to the next; their souls leave their bodies and take to others in the process of evolution. "Every act, every thought is weighed in the invisible but universal balance scales of justice. The Day of Judgment is not in some remote future, but HERE AND NOW and none can escape it. Divine laws cannot be evaded. They are not so much imposed from without as wrought into our natures. Sin is not so much a defiance of God as a denial of soul, not so much a violation of law as a betrayal of self. We carry with us the whole of our past. It is no our ineffaceable record that neither time can blur or death erase" In the case of the Almighty, his actions do not bind him because he has no desire for fruits of his actions. BG 4 / 14 "Na maam karmaani limpanthi na mE karma phalE spruhah " The judge who presides over the law of Karma is ALWAYS WITHIN the individual NEVER WITHOUT and dispenses justice whereby virtue is made to bring its own rewards and vice its own retribution. Melanippe of Euripides puts it picturesquely thus: "Dream you that man's misdeeds fly up to Heaven? And then, some hand inscribes the record of them upon God's tablets? And, God reading them deals the world justice? Not at all! The vault of Heaven could not find room to write the crimes of earth nor God himself avail to punish them. Justice is here on earth, if only you had the eyes to see! " To Continue ============================================================== xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx ============================================================ 2."DRAMIDOPANISHAD TATPARYA RATNAVALI" ? PART- 5": BY SRI N. KRISHNAMACHARIAR SWAMI OF CHICAGO --------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------- SrI: SrImate SrI ra'nga rAmAnuja mahA deSikAya namaH. tAtparya ratnAvaLi - Solkam 3 - Part 5 of avatArikA. Slokam 3: pA'ncAlI gAtra SobhA-hRta hRdaya vadhUvarga pum bhhAvanItyA pAyau padmA sahAye praNayini bhajatah preyasI pAratantRyam | bhaktih SR'ngAra vRttyA pariNamati muneh bhAva bandha prathimnA yogAt prAg uttarAvasthitir-iha viraho deSikAs-tatra dUtAh || One of the very first things that svAmi deSikan emphasizes is the nAyikA bhAvam that is assumed by nammAzhvAr in finding _expression to his intense devotion and love towards emperumAn. His inability to bear the separation from bhagavAn leads to his outpourings through SR'ngAra bhAvam. In the case of nammAzhvAr, he assumes the role of parA'nkuSa nAyaki, and expresses the agony of separation from emperumAn through many of his pASuram-s. This is the topic of this Slokam by svAmi deSikan. The natural question can arise in people's minds as to how nammAzhvAr, who is the personification of bhakti nishThA, can be distracted by thoughts such as assuming the role of a female deeply in love with bhagavAn, feeling the pangs of separation, and indulging in activities such as sending the birds etc. as messengers. To understand these, one has to have a feel for how a bhakti yogi's mind acts, what the bhakti yogi goes through as part of his/her meditation, and what the bhakti yogi's sole goal in life is. This is what svAmi deSikan explains to us in this Slokam, and thus explains AzhvAr's nAyikA bhAvam etc. draupadi was not an ordinary mortal. She was born out of the homa kuNDam. As such, she excelled in beauty that made her female friends feel intensely attracted to her beauty, to the point that they wished they could assume the forms of males so that they could enjoy her beauty. svAmi deSikan gives this analogy to describe the assumption of nAyikA bhAvam by the AzhvAr-s ? they feel intensely attracted to emperumAn to the point that they want to enjoy Him by assuming the role of His nAyikA-s or consorts. BhagavAn's tirumEni is so beautiful that the AzhvAr-s are overwhelmed by it, to the point of their feeling like embracing Him tightly. One upanyAsaka praises this unique aspect of the devotional outpourings in the SrI vaishNava sampradAyam, where the nAyikA bhAvam gives the intimacy to AzhvAr-s where they can take liberty with Him to embrace Him, to chide Him, to quarrel with Him, etc., and thus enjoy Him in many different ways. Let us look at a more detailed meaning of the Sloka. - pA'ncAlI gAtra SobhA-hRta hRdaya vadhU varga pum- bhAvanItyA ? Just as the close friends of pA'cAlI who saw her beauty as they were taking bath together, were attracted to her so much that they started assuming the role of males in their minds - patyA, praNayini padmA-sahAye preyasI pAratantRyam bhajatah muneh ? SrI parA'nkuSa muni, whose devotion and dedication to emperumAn who is the Lord of all and the loving Consort of padmA (mahAlakshmi) developed into the level where he prayed for complete subservience to bhagavAn - bhAva bandha prathimnA ? and since his attachment to bhagavAn grew to such an extent that - bhaktih SR'ngAra vRttyA pariNamati ? his natural love to emperumAn in the form of his natural devotion (bhakti) started manifesting itself in the form of love towards him that resembled the love that His Consort would have towards Him (SR'ngAra bhAvam ? intense attraction). - The yogAt prAg uttarAvasthitir-iha viraho deSikAs-tatra dUtAh - In AzhvAr's pASuram-s, we see that sometimes he feels close to emperumAn, and feels happy, and at other times, he feels the intense separation from Him, and starts sending messengers in different forms to bhagavAn, to inform Him of his longing for union with Him. What does all this mean? In the fourth line of this Slokam, svAmi deSikan explains that for one in bhakti yoga, the times when the bhakta is immersed in deep and concentrated meditation of Him, this is the time of association with Him (samSlesham), and the intervening states when this concentration is broken, it is a feeling of intense separation from Him (viSlesham). They undergo the experience of intimate and full enjoyment of Him during their periods of intense meditation, and when they are not in meditation, they long for that same union with Him physically, and since that does not materialize, it manifests itself in the form of their intense feeling of separation, which turns into expressing themselves in their nAyikA bhAvam. Since the AcArya-s show the path that will result in the continued state of meditation on Him for prolonged intervals without interruption, they are called `messengers' or dUta-s in our tradition. This is what svAmi deSikan points out in the fourth line ? yogAt prAg uttara avasthih iha virahah; deSikAs-tatra dutAh. Thus, in a nutshell, svAmi deSikan explains the concept of nAyikA bhAvam that is so common and widely prevalent in our AzhvArs' compositions, the cause of samSleshham (union with Him) and viSlesham (separation from Him) that AzhvArs exhibit repeatedly, and the role of the AcArya-s in our tradition, all in the four short lines of this Slokam. -dAsan kRshNamAcAryan --------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------- To Contimue ============================================================ xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx =========================================================== 3."MAAL UGANDHA AASIRIYAR ? LIFE AND WORKS OF AZHWARS Part ? 2- BY SRI MADHAVA KANNAN SWAMI, SINGAPORE CO-MODERATOR OF "SRI RANGA SRI" --------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------ SrI: SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya nama: Dearest all With the blessings of asmadhAchAryan His Holiness Srimad PaRavakkOttai Andavan Sri Gopaladesika mahadesikan Swami, and the grace of Divya dampathi and inspired by the encouraging words from Bhagavatas, I have taken up these posts to narrate the most divine and wonderful life history of our revered panniRu (12) AzhwArs who ate, drank, breathed sriya: pathi and vishnu patni's glories. AzhwArs sang verses soaked with Bhakti rasam and enjoyed immensely. It is our fortune that we are blessed with this birth of being born Sri vaishNavAs and we should grab this opportunity to taste the nectar at least one millionth portion of what AzhwArs conveyed to us and unearthed by Sriman Nathamuni. It is our pUrva janma punya and those of our ancestors that we are blessed of this srivaishnava janmam and there shall be no doubt about it among us. As Lord KrishNa says in Gita, He will place the soul in an appropriate conducive environment for the Development of the soul based on its past actions; His mercy and dayA has put us in this fortunate birth. With that little(!) note I would like to travel back into the History when Great AzhwArs were born as incarnations of His various amsangaL (Ayudhangal , Chakra, Sankhu etc) and sang verses in our sundara thamzh which are equal to vEdAs if not better. They are better than vEdAs because; It is a language which we can attempt to understand and 2. It is a definite proof of "Having seen the God" (thirukkandEn ponmEni kandEn....) whereas vEdAs are talking in wild guessing about Him as " yato vAchO nivartantE aprA^pya manasA sa:- Lord's glories are beyond comprehension. They were born of different castes; but all their verses sang the same tune; as if their voice was just one- Eka kaNtar [one neck] Their verses were enriched with indescribable amount of devotion, love and bhakti for our Lord. They were "mayarvaRa mathi nalam aruLap petravargaL". It is the Lord who has again shown His dayA and extraordinary mercy on us to guide us , to show us the correct path and to liberate us from these samsAric afflictions, by ordering His paraphernalia as His messengers and to be born as AzwArs to propagate His Glory. The AzhwArs had come to rule us with their marvelous verses ? the sweet pAsurams based on their experience with the Lord (ALa vandhavaRgaL). The very fact that the Lord made AzhwArs appear in different castes/jAthis, proves to us that to pray to our Lord there is no difference/disparity or partiality with respect to caste/creed/sex etc., Wherever and whatever you are born as; when we become a Thondar (His and His bhaktALs servant), we are all one and equal- His dAsa bhoothars; and servant of His servants. Dr Sri S.M.S.Chari says in his book "Philosophy and the Theistic mysticism of the AlwArs" that the essence of the twenty four divya prabhandhams of the twelve AzhwArs as summarized by Dr.S.M.S.Chari is as follows: " The most striking feature of the Reality as portrayed prominently by the ALvArs is that the Supreme Being of VedAnthA is a personal God in the name of Sriman NaarAyaNA , who possesses not only infinite auspicious attributes but also a spiritual body bedecked with weapons and ornaments ". Swami Desikan pays his ultimate respects and tribute to AzhwArs in every opportunity and mentions that the most difficult and incomprehensible Upanishadic statements are clarified by a Azhwars' srisooktis. Seyya thamizh maalaigaL theLiyavOdhi theLiyAtha maRai nilangal theligindrOmE? Acharyas have unambiguously and very nicely explained in their wonderful commentaries that Azhwars' divine works are the very essence of the Vedas. On the title : "mAl uganda aasiriyar" [from Sri U Ve Ananthapadmanabhan Swami write up] SwAmi DESikan, in a pAsuram in his chillarai Rahasyam amrutAswAdini viz. "kAsiniyin maNi anaitthum ....." (27) says that Just like how, all the Gems in the earth can't match the greatness of Kowstubha Gem adorned by the Lord and how all the kshEtras in the earth can't match the glories of PEraruLALan's (Lord VaradarAja's) KAnchi kshEtra, the works < Smrutis, IthihAsa-purANas etc> of sinless and clear/pure minded Maharishis can't match even a word of "mAl Uganda aasiriar" (those who are most beloved to Lord SrIman nArAyaNa and became the object of His abundant special mercy; They are the likes of NammAzhwAr and other AzhwArs/AchAryas). SwAmi DESikan adds "I am saying this <difference between the glories of the works of Maharishis and the words of 'mAl uganda aasiriyar'> after knowing the due differences present. Oh People of the World ! Become Joyful by taking these things <the points put forth> as your Treasure ". Thus "mAl uganda aasiriyar" refers to those AchAryas like NammAzhwAr, BhAshyakArar and others, whose divine words and works have no parallel. This is the verdict of the Sarvaj~nya and Sarva Tantra Svatantra, VEdAntAchArya, KavitArkika Simha AchArya SArvabhouma SrI NigamAnta MahAdESikan alias VEdAnta DESikan. Let us begin with the first three Azhwars' lives in the next post AzhwAr EmperumAnAr Desikan ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam Regards Namo narayana dAsan --------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- To Continue ============================================================ xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx ============================================================ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SriRangaSri/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SriRangaSri/join (Yahoo! 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