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garuda/mantrA etc.-11

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M K Sudarshan • April 13, 1997 


srimathE lakshmi-nrsumha parabrahmaNE namaha
sri vedanta desika guravE namaha

Dear "bhAgavatOttamA-s",

While seeking to provide an answer to the question, "What purpose do
"mantrA-s" serve in our lives if they are not really meant to obtain
"quick-results" for us?" --- in trying to answer that specific question we
took up 3 magnificent verses from the "garUDa-panchAshath" and distilled
therefrom the following cues to help us tackle it. We saw Swami Desikan
describe therein the utility of the "garUDa-mantrA" in the ordinary life of
man ensuring as it does for him :

a) the nullification of the sins ("karmA") of the past, present and future

b) the conquest of primal "gUNa-s" of "prakriti" : "tamAs, raja-s and
sAttvic"     -- the limitations imposed by what we called "reflexivity"

c) the attainment of human ends of "dharma, artha and kAma"

d) the "crossing" of human-ends and human-nature --- from the world of
"visuality" right across and over to the vEdic world of "AURALITY through
'mantrA-s'

e) and, eventually, realization of actual "liberation" (from "karma-ic" cycle) 

Now, the Mukkur Swamy II story I related to all of you a week ago through
posts #3 to #6 in this series will easily help us understand the above
themes as they relate to "mantrA" and the part it plays in our lives in
pretty much the same way as Swami Desikan has portrayed the "garUDa-mantrA"
as doing in the 3 verses from his "panchAshath" hymn.

Dear "bhAgavatOttamA-s", kindly therefore go back, for a moment, to my posts
#3 through #6 in this series and please carefully re-read the Mukkur Swamy
II story about the brahmin-boy and his "mahA-mantrA": "ingEnthu-angE;
angEnthu-ingaE!".

After you have read the entire story again, I recommend you take a thick
pencil or 'Staedler-highlighter' and begin to "mark-off" the following
passages in it : 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PASSAGE #1 :Many centuries ago in a village there lived a brahmin boy
hailing from an extremely poor family.
Since the parents couldn't afford a proper education for him the boy was
encouraged to "school" himself. The parents wished to be left alone to eke
out a bare livelihood.
The boy therefore spent his life loitering around the village streets
merrily doing whatever he willed.
      ------------------------------------------------------------------
PASSAGE #2 : The boy listened just once to the "rk" and was simply
demoralised. He couldn't pronounce a single syllable from the "rk" in spite
of the master
enunciating it clearly several times !!
      ------------------------------------------------------------------
PASSAGE #3 : (Whenever) euphonic vedic sounds filled his ears, he felt a
strange thrilling sensation run through his body.
     ----------------------------------------------------------------------
PASSAGE #4 : The magic of Vedic sound again cast a spell on the boy !! His
heart again began to stir and quicken with a burning desire to learn the
Vedic hymns the village guru was imparting to his other students.
     -----------------------------------------------------------------------
PASSAGE #5 : The poor boy, who did not realise that the Master was pulling
his little legs, faithfully and with child-like innocence chanted: "ingEnthu
angae !
angEnthu-ingae ! "
     -----------------------------------------------------------------------
PASSAGE #6 : Everything in this world seems to have changed ! Except two
things ! One is yourself, Oh Great Boulder, you who have been constant and
my only companion these many years.... "And the other unchanging thing... is
the "mantrA" itself which I have been meditating on :"ingEnthu angae!
angEnthu-ingae!" !!"
      ----------------------------------------------------------------------
PASSAGE #7 : The boy ..... felt an extraordinary sense of gratitude to his
guru who had taught him the great "mantrA" !! The boy exulted, too, in the
happy knowledge that now he could easily go back to the Master and proclaim
his eligibility for further Vedic studies !!
      -------------------------------------------------------------------------
PASSAGE #8 : I am sure the "mantrA" works and I have mastered it !! Hence I
have returned to you to commence our Vedic studies !", said the boy.
      -------------------------------------------------------------------------
PASSAGE #9 : How can I ever praise you enough for your "shraddhA" (faith) !!
I had poked fun at you and given you a nonsense-phrase as "mantrA" to just
get rid of you ! You took it all so seriously and with prodigious faith have
turned even nonsense into potent incantation !! You are truly a fit soul, my
dear child, for all vedic disciplines !!
      ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----


Each of the above passages from the Mukkur Swamy story, dear
"bhAgavatOttamA-s", will help us undertand the 5 themes we distilled from
Swami Desikan's 3 verses from the "garUda-panchAshath" as well as everything
else (including "enigma" and "reflexivity" !) that we have so far discussed
in this series.

We will explore how in the next few posts.

srimathE srivan satagopa sri narayana yathindra mahadesikAya namaha
sudarshan