Tit-Bits continued

7       Daksha and Sishupala are the only two people who criticises the Lord right iun His face.

8.       Sannyasa is the stage where you have to make every one happy; because you have to rise above all likes and dislikes.

9.       ‘Sorrows are unavoidable in life; but sufferings are optional’ –the Buddha.

10.       Sorrows are of two kinds: Sympathy (anukampana) and Self-pity (kRRipaNatA or klaibyaM). The latter is wrong. To overcome self-pity (which is nothing but a weakness of the heart), three challenges have to be met: Accept uncertainties of life; Dissolve desires; Have a detached purpose of action.

11.       Face uncertainties of life. The only thing that is certain is the fact  that  nothing is certain.

12.       The root of all desires is fanciful thinking, known in Sanskrit as Sankalpa. Ignorance gives rise to sankalpa. Sankalpa gives rise to desire. And Desire gives rise to sorrow. Sankalpa-prabhavAn kAmAn, says the Gita 6 – 24.

13.       Mind-oriented desires are to be overcome by Intellect.  Intellect itself has to be then overcome by a change in the goal of life.

Sita's summary of Vedanta in two shlokas

Sita’ summary of Vedanta in two shlokas

I heard the following from a lecture of Dr.  Veezhinathan (in Chennai) several years ago:

In her weakest moment of captivity  in the Ashoka Grove in Lanka, Sita decides to take away her own life  and after going through a woeful recall of all her sufferings, she gears up to congratulate, appreciate and revere all those ‘mahAnubhAvulu’ (Great meriorious persons) who can take pleasure and pain alike: She says (Valmiki Ramayana: Sundara Kanda- 26 – 49,50):

dhanyAH khalu mahAtmAno munayaH satya-sammatAH /

jitAtmAno mahAbhAgA yeshhAM na staH priyApriye // 49 //

priyAn-na sambhaved-duHkhaM apriyAd-adhikaM bhayaM /

tAbhyAM hi te viyujyante namas-teshhAM mahAtmanAM //50//

Meaning: Great souled ones with abandoned sins, with a conquered mind, those who are anchored in Truth, sages are indeed fortunate to whom there is no pleasure and pain. From pleasure sorrow and from pain great fear do not occur to great souls. Whoever are thus dissociated  from both pleasure and displeasure, my obeisance to such great souls.

Sita has actually remembered at this point the great saying in Chandogya-Upanishad VIII – 12 – 1:

Maghavan, martyaM vA idaM sharIraM AttaM mRRityunA / tat asya amRRitasya asharIrasya AtmanaH adhishhTAnaM, Atto vai sa-sharIraH, priyApriyAbhyAM, na vai sa-sharIrasya sataH priyApriyayoH apahatir-asti, asharIraM vA va santaM na priyApriye spRRishataH //

Meaning: It is true that the body is perishable, but within it dwells (it supports) the bodiless imperishable Self. This body is subject to pleasure and pain; no one who identifies with the body can escape from pleasure and pain. But those who know they are not the body pass beyond pleasure and pain to live in abiding joy.

In the Gita also Lord Krishna is never tired of emphasizing this:

‘with mind undisturbed in the midst of sorrows and free from desires in the midst of pleasures’ (2 – 56)

‘equal in failure and success’ (4 – 22)

‘neither rejoices on obtaining what is pleasant, nor sorrows on obtaining what is unpleasant’ (5 – 20)

‘He who neither desires the pleasant and rejoices at its touch nor abhors the unpleasant and sorrows at its touch’ (12 – 17)

‘He who regards happiness and suffering alike, gold, mud and stone as of equal value, to whom the pleasant and the unpleasant, praise and blame, honour and insult,.. etc. are equal things’ (14 – 24)

‘unelated by success, undepressed by failure’ (18 – 26).

MAN AND ANIMAL

Man & Animal

I was reading the book ‘The First American’ by H.W. Brands published by Anchor Books in 2002 – incidentally, it is a wonderful book that should be read by all who believe that they can shape their own character by reading good biographies --.

Almost in the very beginning I came across the following passage:

QUOTE

I was once emptying the cistern of nature, and making water at the wall. At the same time, there came a dog, who did so too, before me. Thought I: ‘What mean and vile things are the children of men, in this mortal state! How much do our natural necessities abase us, and place us in some regard, on the same level with the very dogs’.  Additional reflection inspired a determination to transcend the gutter in which men’s bodies were consigned to live. My thought proceeded: ‘Yet I will be a more noble creature, and at the very time when my natural necessities debase me into the condition of the beast, my spirit shall, at that very time, rise and soar and fly up towards the employment of the Angel’. ….

UNQUOTE

The ability to identify one’s dharma in a given set of circumstances is what distinguishes human beings from animals. In Hitopadesha, we have the following shloka:

‘AhAra-nidrA  bhaya-maithunam ca sAmAnyam-etat pashubhir-narANAm /

dharmo hi teshAm adhiko visheshho dharmeNa hInAH pashubhissamAnAH //

meaning,     Hunger, sleep, fear and the sex urge are common to men and animals. But the understanding of dharma is the extra quality of man, and without dharma he is just an animal.

According to the dharma shAstras a brahmin ceases to be a brahmin the moment he does one of the following: (this is not an exhaustive list!) (i) defaults on his GayatrI japa, (ii) sells his knowledge (iii) accepts a bribe (iv) urinates, like an animal, while standing, or (v) copulates without wanting a progeny.  If we dare apply this criterion, most of the so-called brahmin-born moderns (including the writer!) should be considered to have lost their brahmin-hood!!!

Some tit-bits

1.       When the Guru refers to the Atman as a ‘nitya-vastu’, we do not understand it because we have not seen anything that is nityam. Whatever we see is only anityam. That ia why Guru says: The Atman is something which is different from everything that you have seen or known.

2.       Ishvara is JnAnam + MayA.  But Guru is JnAnam only.

3.       Guru has three facets’  He gives the JnAna-janma; He protects jnAnam; and he destroys our ajnAnam. So Guru does the three fundamental duties of Creation, Protection and Destruction.

4.       Ramana’s selection from Shivanandalahari: Shloka nos. 61,76, 83, 6, 65, 10, 12, 9, 11, 91.

5.       Shankara & Ramana taught the same advaita vedanta.  Only their personalities were of two different types.  Shankara was dynamic Ramana. Ramana was static Shankara!

6.       At the end of Kenopanishad, there is a concluding statement that tapah, damaH, karma are the three pillars that support the entire brahma-vidyA. Swami Chinmayananda’s remark (made in a lecture) on this is remarkable: tapaH is controlling the mind from sense wandering. damaH is controlling the sense organs from sense objects. These two conserve the mental vitality. They must be spent in the karma, - service of the people!

Living upto Father's given word - Three Ramayana characters

Living upto Father’s Given word

pitR-vAkya-paripAlanaM is the central thread of Dharma woven through the entire Ramayana.  Certainly Rama’s greatness in this quality nobody can deny.  But there are two more characters in the Ramayana who are usually missed in this category.One is Indrajit who gave his life for his father.The other is Angada. Angada became loyal to Rama just because his father Vali told him to be so. At least Indrajit did not live to see his father Ravana being killed by Rama. But Angada knew who killed his father and lived all his life serving him. Also it should be noted that  Angada, being a monkey and therefore of a natural chapala-buddhi, could still control himself and discipline himself.  So it appears Angada is greater than Rama in his pitR-vAkya-paripAlana.

But Rama’s pitR-vAkya-paripAlanam has another not-well-known facet to it. Dasaratha once promised to Jatayu (at the time of his love-marriage with Kausalya; it was Jatayu who had united them) to give his first-born son to Jatayu.  But due to the long time that elapsed until Rama was born, both of them obviously forgot it. Finally Rama as a sarvajna did the unique obsequies to Jatayu which he did not do to his father Dasaratha. So he took care to see that the word given by his father were protected in toto

Never 'BY CHANCE' - CONTINUED

Ramakrishna-ji's reference to  vedabase URL which gives a long list of the use of yadRcchA in Srimad Bhagavatam under several different shades of meanings is illuminating and interesting. Wonderful indeed!

His suggestion about 'yadRcchA-lAbha-santushhTaH' (B.G.4-22) is also quite apt. I was myself going to take that post in this next post. The compound word literally means 'satisfied with whatever gain one gets'. Seen more deeply it means 'satisfied with whatever gain one is gifted  by the Lord' and thus succinctly here also 'yadRcchA' means 'By God's Will'!

Thought for 12th November 2011

Never ‘BY CHANCE’

One  Sanskrit word that is mistaken to mean ‘By Chance’ is yadRcchayA. In scriptural and religious literature this word is very sparingly used, implying also this sense. Most often when it is used it means ‘By the Will of the Supreme’.  The word ‘yat’ stands for the supreme; one standard example is the statement in Taittiriyopanishad: ‘yato vA imAni bhUtAni jAyante’  meaning, ‘From the Supreme all these beings emanate’.

It is interesting to list a few of the places where the word is forcefully used to indicate that what happens or happened was not ‘by chance’ but by God’s Will.

1.   B.G. II- 32 ‘yadRcchayA copapannaM ….’ My dear Arjuna, says Krishna, even by looking at one’s svadharma, you should not sorrow; by divine will you have this opportunity of dharma-yuddha, which opens the gates of heaven for you; kshatriyas are rare who meet with such an opportunity ….’

2.   Valmiki Ramayana: Ayodhya kanda, 7 – 1:

‘jnAtidAsI yato jAtA kaikeyyA tu sahoshhitA / prAsAdaM candra-samkAshaM Aruroha yadRcchayA’ .  This is the shloka which creates the turning point in the story of Ramayana. This is where, when the entire AyodhyA is joyously celebrating the ensuing crowning of their beloved Rama – that has just been announced in the King’s Assembly – the old maid-friend of Queen Kaikeyi climbs up the stairs ‘accidentally’ as it were, but ‘yadRcchayA’ in Valmiki’s composition.

3.   At the other turning point in Rama’s story also, namely, on the ‘accidental’ (!) first arrival of SurpanakA at PanchavaTi,  the word ‘yadRcchayA’ is used.  V.R. AranyakANDa: 17 – 5: ‘taM deshaM rAkshhasI kAcit AjagAma yadRcchayA’. In both these situations Valmiki has made it clear by using this word that it was Divine Will that created these turning points in the life of Ram.

4.   In Srimad Bhagavatam, which is the wonderful narration by boy-sage Shuka to King Parikshit for seven days, the arrival of Suka on the stage where King Parikshit  was sitting before an assembly of great Rishis for the purpose of awaiting his death in 7 days according to the  curse he has just invited on himself by his own impulsive action – this arrival is announced as ‘yadRcchayA’, accidentally, as it were, but in reality, ‘by God’s Will’! :

Tatraabhavad bhagavaan vyAsaputro yadRcchayA gAmaTamAno’napekshaH /  -- Bhagavatam1-19-25.

I would like to know where else this ‘yadRcchayA’ is used in this sense.

Thought for 8^th November 2011

Catur-gagAra samyukte punar-janma na vidyate //

This is an old saying.  It means: When the four ga’s are all together with us, there is no more birth again.

The four ga’s are: GangA, GitA, GayatrI, Govinda.

The GangA should be on our heads;

The GitA should be in our minds;

GayatrI should be in our hearts; and

Govinda, the name of God, should be in our tongues.

kAyena, manasA, vAcA – is a familiar refrain in all Hindu thought processes.

By the body, by the mind, by speech .

Sins by the body will lead us to an inanimate state, if not in this life, certainly after life.  AhalyA is one example.

Sins by the mind will lead us to a lower level of reincarnation. Bhishma is one example.

Sins by the tongue will cause us to be born in the speechless animal world. Shirdi Sai Baba narrates a real story to illustrate this.

Finally, GayatrI is the one thing to be cherished in the heart all the time so that we can realise the truth of

Ishvaras-sarva-bhUtAnAM hRd-deshe’rjuna tishhTati /

bhrAmayan sarva-bhUtAni yantrArUDhAni mAyayA // (B.G. 18 – 61)

the meaning of which is: GOD IS IN THE HEART OF ALL BEINGS, CAUSING THEM ALL TO REVOLVE THROUGH MAAYAA, (AS THOUGH) THEY ARE MOUNTED ON A MACHINE.

sadA mohATavyAM carati yuvatInAM kuca-girau
naTaty-AshA-shAkhAsu aTati jhaTiti svaramabhitaH /
kapAlin biksho me hRdaya-kapim-atyanta-capalaM
dRDhaM bhaktyA baddhvA shiva bhavad-adhInaM kuru vibho //

This is Shloka 20 of Adi Shankara's SivAnanda-lahari. This should, by repetition with sincerity, help anybody to overcome sensual thoughts occupying the mind.

Meaning: Oh Lord Shiva, the mind constantly dwells on the sensualities of the woman's form and dances on the hopes and desires generated by such thoughts. Oh Lord, with the skull as the begging bowl please deign to bind my extremely fickle monkey-mind tightly with the rope of devotion and make it totally subservient to you!

For the benefit of us, ordinary mortals, Adi Shankara himself has given us this strong forceful prayer. We have to imbibe it and make it come from our innermost heart.

kArpaNya-dosho-pahata-svabhAvaH
pRchhAmi tvAm dharma-sammUDha-cetAH /
yacchhreyaH syAn-nishcitaM brUhi tan me
shishhyas-te'haM shAdhi mAM tvAM prapannaM//

This is ch.2-7 of the B.G. Arjuna, after lamenting about his compassion and diffidence to wage war, acknowledges his total confusion and surrenders to the Lord and asks for being counselled about what is 'shreyas' for him.

By repeating, with faith,  this shloka several times  in front of an altar we ordinary people can get solution for our extra-ordinary dilemmas which arise almost daily.

Thought for 6th November 2011

tvat-pAdAmbujam-arcayAmi paramaM  tvAm cintayAmyanvahaM
tvAm-IshaM sharaNaM vrajAmi vacasA tvAm-eva yAce vibho /