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Re: Are there any Svargam and Naragam?/ A la Smt. Sumithra

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Visu9 • July 4, 2002 


Sri rAmAnujasya caraNau Sharanam prapdyE

/vaNakkam Shri Varadaragan, Shri Krishna Tathachar, Smt. Jaysree Saranathan, and Sri Mani Varadarajan.

The discussion on /svargam and /narakam has moved so fast thanks to Smt. Jayasree, I wonder where I should start? (/enku/thAn thuvankuvatu kol!)

I would like to import into this discussion the well-laid out commentaries of Smt. Sumithra Varadaraan on the /tiru/mAlai of /tonTar/aTip/poTi AZvAr. That is my destination (/poruT/kati). /nAn /pAcuram No. 2 (of /tiru/mAlai) -vaip paRRi eZutap pOkirEn. I am going to write about /pAcuram No. 2 of /tiru/mAlai, following the commentaries of Smt. Sumithra.
 
I would like to give notice of what is forthcoming as an abstract. My intitial discussion is based on the following two lines:

/amararkAl ati/pati evan/avan; tuyaraRu cuTar/aTi toZut/eZal mananE (nammAZvAr: tiru/vAy/moZi 1): Oh mind, rise in worship of the glorious Feet of the One (Shri /vishNu), Who is the Executive Head of the "well-Living" (/amarar) --- the Feet which wipe out sorrows. One may also use "ever-lasting" in place of 'well-living".

/pani vicumpil amarar paNintu/cUZn; /anita kOTi aNi/muTi mAlaiyum; . . . /munivar aJcali mAlaiyum mun elAm; (/cEk/kiZar 15: [Presiding in Court] in the cooler world, as an innumerable number of the "well-living" (/amarar) prostrate in que and encircle Him (/civA) . . . and the silent /munivarkal raise their hands in supplication. 


First, may I seek the forbearance of the /bhaktAs on my examples. I learnt mathematics from Prof. SuryanarAyana Iyer  in St. Joseph's College, Tirucci. He used to give many examples as a good teacher would do. But often he would preface his remarks by saying, "All our examples are for the glorification of mathematics only". I do the same. All examples are for purposes of illustration and glorification of Shri /vaishNava sapratAyam only. I mean no offence to anyone. I beg for understanding. I also take examples from others in the same spirit.

Let me begin with /pra/patti. I agree with Shri Thathacar that a /pra/panna is free from the cycle of births and deaths and that the concepts of /svargA and /naraka cease to have any effect on a /pra/pannA.

But what is the road to /pra/patti? May I illustrate with an example?

When we were children we used to play a game called /parama/pata cOpAnap paTam. The more children participate the more fun it is. It is a board game, the board being a matrix of about 500 squares or so. Approximately a 25 x 20 matrix, with 25 rows and 20 columns. 

Children would toss /cOZi -- the Indian equivalent of a die --using 4 to 6 /cOZis. The aim of the game is to reach /svarga/vAcal and then onto /vai/kunTam. The top most row consisted of many deities lying in wait on the way to /vai/kunTam. 

You start with cell no. 1 and wind your way up. The excitement of the game lies in the ladders and serpents in certain marked cells. The ladders corespond to /punyam and the serpents correspond to /pApam. /cOpAnam means steps or ladders in the formation of an echelon. The game is a model of /pra/patti! If you follow up the echelon without falling back, you are Blessed indeed. But the serpents lie in wait and if you land on a cell with a serpent, it swallows you and you go down its huge or small belly as the case may be and fal to a bottom cell. Each time you have to pray not to throw the wrong toss. Otherwise you may fall back to where you started. Once you reach /svarga/vAcal, there are no ladders or serpents. It is one Bliss of forward march.

In fact just  a few steps before you reach /svarga/vAcal, there is a huge snake winding its ugly belly down to square no. 1! Believe me, you could be in square 428 and then in one wink of a toss get swllowed by that huge ugly serpent. What could a child do, but to say, "/accO!" or "/acc/accacO!" I did not know then that /accO  means "give me a hug". Indeed that is what a child would need at that time. I learnt much later from /peri/AZvAr that /accO means to hug a child. So next time a child says, "/accO", please give a hug to the child and if you can, do not fail to sing a corresponding song from /peri/AZvAr. /divya/pra/pantam 97-106.

In this game, a child lagging behind may end up to be the first to win the game and a fast-track child may end up loosing. 

The game models the road to /pra/patti. It is in fact a road well-laid out in echelon formation (cOpAnam), but there are also ugly serpents lying in wait. After all we are our worst enemies, isn't it? 

Thus /pra/patti is a goal one strives for as in the game. But the outcome is not entirely in our hands. 

Thus the loser has to ask, "What is in it for me?". The answer is, 'Fear not". The concepts of /svargA and /narakA attend to these nagging questions in life. In addition to these, the concepts have important applications to our world. 

Let me mail this now. I will follow up soon. 

/naha svIkurvaka asmAt krupAm: Wherefore, please cause us to be endowed with your Grace. 

/vantanam.

Visu


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