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Sri VaishNavam-3

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Madhavakkannan V • Thu Apr 02 1998 - 23:28:04 PST 


SRI:

SRIMATHE RAMANUJAYA NAMAH:

SRIMATHE NIGAMANTHA MAHADESIKAYA NAMAH:

SRIMATHE GOPALA DESIKA MAHA DESIKAYA NAMAH:

SRIMATHE RANGANAYIKA SAMETHA SRI RANGANATHA PARABHRAHMANE NAMAH:

Dearest Sisters and Brothers, the bhakthAs of Sriman NarayaNA! 

Ennuyir thandhu aLitthavaraich charNampukki/ yaanadaivE avargurukkaL 
niRai vaNanghi/
	PinnaruLaal perumpudhUr vandha vaLLal/ 
periya nambi Alavandhaar maNakkal nambi/
NanneRiyai avarkku uRaittha uyyakkoNdaar/ nathamuni sadagOpan sEnai 
nAthan/
	Innamudhath ThirumagaLenRu ivarai munnittu/ Emperumaan ThiruvadigaLai 
adaiginREnE!

SarIra  - Athma bhAvam:

This is the most important concept in Sri Ramanuja Siddhaantham or 
SriVaishNava Siddhaantham. SarIra Athma bhAvam. That means: The chEtanan 
and the achEtanan (as described in earlier post) - these two tatvams - 
(that implies all beings and non-beings;) are all the sarIram (body) for 
Emperumaan and Emperumaan is the AthmA for these chEtan-AchEtanAs. 

This concept has been described clearly by Vedas in great amount of 
details, with examples. This can even be called the life line of our 
Siddhaantham. So, let us have a closer look. 

What do we call sarIram (body matter, mind and intellect- all Gross, 
Fine and Finer matter)? And AthmA? 

1.  AthmA is the support for sarIram - without AthmA, there is no 
sarIram- AthmA only holds the sarIram. As long as AthmA stays inside the 
sarIram, there is life.
2.  AthmA only employs and directs the sarIram (body, mind and 
intellect). SarIram is being directed by the AthmA. 
3.  For the benefit and enjoyment of AthmA only, the sarIram (body, mind 
and the intellect) acts and does all; sarIram is a lifeless 
matter(achEtanam) and hence, there is no benefit or enjoyment 
exclusively for that. There is no bodily pleasure when there is no life; 
one can not satisfy his intellect by reading a book when he is dead; one 
can not see a scene and think about some joke and laugh, if there is no 
life; the sarIram is still there; but no athmA; He has gone; the same 
shoulders of the husband whom you hugged, are still there with the 
sarIram; you do not even want to go nearer- it stinks; because there is 
no AthmA anymore. SarIram is only achEtanam. The AthmA is the master for 
which the sarIram works for AthmA’s enjoyment. By nature, there is NO 
ENJOYMENT for sarIram. Through sarIram, AthmA enjoys. (Clear? That is 
sarIram is the sEshan- servant - adimai- property for AthmA). 

So, these three are the normal sarIra-AthmA relationship. Now, if it is 
clear, let us take a further step. (If it is still not clear, read the 
above three points again, until it gets drilled into the head.)

As per our Siddhaantha, Emperumaan is the AthmA and holds all chEtanAs 
(the jIvAtmAs) and all achEtanAs in His ThirumEni . i.e. our AthmA as 
well as our sarIram are His Body. (interesting!).

Please Pay Attention!
Thus,  We, the sarIra of Emperumaan-our body, mind, intellect as well as 
our jIvAthmA are His servant, His body, His property- His sEshan (as was 
seen in point no.3 above) and are MEANT ONLY FOR HIS ENJOYMENT. We have 
to render service to the Master only and THERE IS NOTHING UNNATURAL 
ABOUT IT. THAT IS THE ONLY NATURAL THING. If we (our mind, body, and 
intellect as well as jIvAthmAs ) DO NOT carry out any activities for His 
enjoyment, THAT IS SOMETHING UNNATURAL AND  UNORTHODOX. That is 
SOMETHING THAT WE ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO DO OR BE. )

Now, next step: If the sarIram of Emperumaan is jIvAtmAs and achEhatnAs, 
then logically the sarIram does not have any enjoyment. But DUE TO THE 
LIMITLESS, GRACE AND MERCY / DAYA of Emperumaan- our master, our sEshI, 
our AthmA, the Param AthmA the jIvAthmAs, i.e we are given free will, 
intellect, the sixth sense to experience enjoyment. IS IT NOT 
APPROPRIATE to utilise to the Greatest extent end enjoy the Absolute 
Bliss by rendering service to our AthmA (for which we are the body) and 
make Him enjoy and be pleased! Anything that jIvAthmA (by itself or 
thru’ its body, mind and intellect - either here in this life or at 
SriVaikuntam ) does to please the Emperumaan, the master is thus, 
NATURAL. Anythinh else, IS NOT NATURAL and against the Law.  Hence, this 
is called VishishtAdvaitam. 

Hitham: 

The upaayam-the means to attain mOksham is called Hitham. Such ways for 
attining mOksham are Bhakti yOgam and Prapatti (Surrender). (Bhakti 
Group members have discussed at length about Bhakti and Prapatti). Just 
a single statement to further supplement. If we pour a viscous oil, how 
uninterruptedly, without any gap, or porosity, the oil flows down the 
floor- like that the jIvAthmA has to keep thinking and meditating 
continuously on Sriman NarayNA from this moment upto the last 
consciousness before falling into the death trap and the last 
breath/unconsciousness), without any gap, or interruption with the 
highest level of bhakti- that is Bhakti yOgham. We very well know it is 
next to impossible due to our "monkey-like" vacillating mind, Bhakti 
yOgham is extremely difficult to achieve. (Please note that we are 
talking about performance of Bhakti yOgham; and not bhakti). There are 
so many NiyamAs for Bhakti Yogham. Since we are not capable of 
performing Bhakti yOgam, we are blessed with Prapatti (an act of 
surrender)which can facilitate us to attain mOksham, by getting our Lord 
Sriman NarayaNan immensely pleased by our surrender to His Lotus Feet 
unconditionally with complete faith. All that we have to do is to 
surrender unto Him and His Lotus Feet completely (as assured by Sri 
KrishNA in gItA). But, please again note- for Prapatti yOgham, too, what 
we need is MAHA VISWASAM. MAHAA- note Big, Terrific- Great, 
Tremendous-Complete- Enormous or whatever- We should have so much faith 
in Him. HE WILL SAVE US; HE WILL SAVE. HE WILL OF COURSE SAVE US; (That 
MahA Viswasam is not all that easy, dear ones!) . Prapatti, therefore 
also warrants our Great Faith in Him at all times under all situations; 
We should Never have any doubt about Him; His Parathvam; His Supremacy; 
His Capacity; Do all that pleases Him; Don’t do anything that DOES NOT 
PLEASE HIM. Surrender (Prapatti or SharaNAgathy is only the means to 
please Him. He is the SiddhOpaayam; Prapatti is only SaddhyOpaaayam.

Prapatti is also addressed as bharaNyAsam, bharasamarppaNam, 
saraNAgathi, and athrushtam. One should approach his AchAryA and get to 
know about Bhagavadh VishyaNgaL. After, one should perform aurrender 
(Prapatti) at the Feet of AchAryA and surrender to the Lord. Through the 
AchAryA, we should perform Prapatti. Then we need not worry about the 
mOksham; we should only repose total, complete faith in Him. (This 
formal function of performing BharNyAsam is not followed by Thenkalai 
Sampradaayam). Just simply prostrating once at His Feet is enough; He, 
the Merciful one will save us: It is also a different school of thought 
- They do perform surrendering at the Lord’s Lotus Feet; not as a 
function; it is only just a matter of opinion; Let us not go further 
into it; Because, any way at SriVaikuntam, all of us are going to be 
together rendering the same Beautiful eternal service at the Lotus Feet 
of Divya Dampati; (along with Parama bhAgawathAs like AzhwArs, with our 
Great AchAryAs Sri RamanujA, Sri Vedanta Desika, Sri Pillai LokAchAryA, 
Sri ManavaaLa MaamunigaL, et al, together with all of them- Don’t we 
feel EXCITED about it? How nice and Blissful it will be! (Why to talk 
trivial issues!) 

Pancha Samskaaram
     
As mentioned earlier, Sri VaishNavan, who wants to go on the right 
track, shall approach the AchAryA. AchAryA teaches him the sampradaaya 
vishayangaL. Then the SrivaishNavan shall carry out the Panch samskaaram 
(samAshrayaNam- Please read Sri Anand’s excellent posts on 
samAshrayaNam- They are really lucid and descriptive and simply 
SUPERB!).  AchAryan applies the marks of sanghu and the chakrA on the 
Sri VaishNavan’s shoulders, as a part of samAshrayaNam.(Please note that 
these Panch samskaarams ARE ALSO applicable to SriVaishNava ladies. 

Every VaishNavan shall CERTAINLY carry out this Pancha Samskaaram. (Five 
Samskaarams). 
1.  Carrying the marks of Sanghu and ChakrA on his shoulders (as applied 
by his achAryA)
2.  Applying 12 ThirumaN SrichoorNam on his body (please apply ThirumaN 
SrichoorNam at least one on his forehead daily- or even that is 
difficlut due to various reasons, at least on Saturdays and Sundays and 
holidays- But apply and cultivate that habit for your son - very 
essential- be an example- I have seen in Saudi Arabia, even the Chief 
Executive Director of a Petrochemical Complex a Saudi, who has graduated 
from the US, does not change from his traditional attire; nor does he 
forget the five times prayers during the day- no airs about that; why 
shall we be afraid of- embarrassed about- the guys who see us with 
ThirumaN srichoorNam are going to be seeing us for a fraction of a time 
in our entire life cycle- why do we give a damn to them- We belong to 
Emperumaan’s party and let us have His chinnam on our forehead.- we are 
ready to wear the dress code as specified and as called for the occasion 
but why don’t we wear the dress code as warranted by the sampradaayam- 
the Kaccham, the Oordhva puNdram- ThirumaNsrichoorNam- Please!)
3.  Having the dAsya naamam, (as named by AchAryA- like NarAyaNa dAsan- 
PadmanAbha dAsan, etc.,)
4.  getting upadEsam from AchAryA on the ManthrAs. (ahtAksharam, dwayam, 
charama slOkam)
5.  UpadEsam for performing daily Thiru ArAdhAnam for Emperumaan with 
the three manthrAs as described earlier (even maanasIka ArAdhanA can be 
performed if one is not fortunate to get a saalagraamam or due to any 
other reasons;

MaansIka ArAdhanA: (This is as exactly described to me in an extremely 
moving narration by Srimad Poundareekapuram Andavan during His upadEsam- 
I have attempted not to dilute to a large extent) 

Even during maanaseeka ArAdhaNA, one can do it in a couple of minutes or 
take an hour or so; We all know that our heart is like an inverted  Red 
lotus bud. Assume that is has been made vertical in upright position and 
consider that it has fully bloomed as the Most Beautiful Red Lotus 
flower. Imagine the Antharyaami, who is sitting on that flower- Our 
Lord, Emperumaan- Right from waking the Dearest Emperumaan and Piraati 
from the Red Lotus considered to be bloomed to its full grown petals 
from an inverted heart of ours; consider yourself seated at the corner 
at the feet of Divya dampati and one can visualise to his fullest 
satisfaction performing Thirumanjanam, most fragrant sambhiraNi smoke, 
agrbatthis, adorning Them with the most valuable vEshti and utthriyam 
with lots and lots of jarigai for Emperumaan and Great, Gorgeous looking 
Most colourful pattu pudavai (silk sari) with rettai pEttu jarigai and 
jarigai puttAh in the most beautiful bright, marvellous colour- adorning 
Them with the world’s costliest jewels, randging from diamond, 
MANickkam, Gold, Coral, Emerald, countless numbers of necklaces, rings, 
maalais, saharanaama malai, Most Fracgrant, Big, ThuLasi maalais, 
Diamond kireetams (crowns) etc., etc., - Just think of them; after all 
only imagining- Let us give Them the best that we can imagine; we can 
imagine and visualise Their smile while wearing all that we offer; one 
can continue with the japam of those sacred manthrAs while decorating 
Divya Damati; one can visualise also his spouse taking part (we need not 
even ask them; that is also our imagination) in the alankaara kaimkaryam 
for the Piraati while the male member can decorate the Emperumaan with 
great love. One can imagine any avathaar or any ishta deivam Sri Sita 
Ram or Sri RukmiNi KrishNan or Sri RanganAyakI samEtha Sri RanganAthA or 
Sri BhUmi Piraatti samEtha Oppliliappan or Sri Lakshmi Narasimhan- any 
deity of Lord Sriman Narayana or any avathaar.; while the alankaaram is 
about to be over, quickly one can (imagine) ask his spouse to bring from 
the kitchen, with a pure clothing and great love and bhakti, the 
Prasaadham to be offered to The Divya Dampati- This also- one may bring 
in variety of dishes and amudhu for our Dearest Lord- AkkAra adisil, 
navaneetham (butter), PuLiyOdharai, sakkarai Pongal, VeNpongal, tasty 
Dhadhhiyannam, kadalai paruppu suNdal (favourite for Sri Lakshmi 
Hayagreeva PerumAL), vadaparuppu, pAnakam (for Sri Rama Navami)- any or 
combination of them in big Golden vessels so that we can offer Them 
sumptuously and also offer to other bhakthA and NityasUris present in 
Your Heart of Sri vaikuntam; Offer to everyone- all BhAgawathAs; Ask 
them again if they need more and more of it; Enjoy looking at the Lord, 
Piraati and all devotees eating the prasadham with fullest enjoyment. We 
have enough to offer to all 33 crores of dEvAs even; While They are all 
enjoying the prasaadhams, one may keep prostrating at Their Lotus Feet 
as many times as one can (this is not imagination- really!) and ask for 
Their pardon for all our apachaarams done knowingly and unknowingly- one 
can make Them sit on a "Oonjal" also decorated so nicely with flowers 
and ThuLasi and gently swing it so that They look at each other and 
smile at our acting so much funny like the small kid tries to comb the 
mother’s hair for fun; While They are having fun at the Oonjal, one may 
prostrate (without of course getting hit by the oonjal), at Their Lotus 
Feet; They may feel sleepy and like to relax - one may request Them to 
walk unto the amsa dhULikA manjam nearby (also in your heart), and ask 
Them to lie down- one should also request the Periya Piraatti to lie 
down next to the Lord and assure Her that we (you and your spouse) will 
gently press Their legs and calf muscles and perform kaimkaryam to Them- 
we can continue the entire day activities with The Divya Damati and make 
this list bigger and bigger; It is all our anubhavam- We can do this 
only when there is less disturbance at home ; that is why we should try 
to get up before others get up especially the little ones at home - If 
you have no time, you can quicken the process and complete the entire 
activity in less than five minutes - He knows all our problems and 
understands too!).  .......

It is better to stop this post here when we are in that beautiful state 
of mind with pErAnandham after having performed the ArAdhanam. 

We will see about the three Rahasya manthrAs that are to be uttered by 
us; and their meanings, AchArya Mahimai, BhAgawathAs, etc.. in our next 
post. (Thanks to each one of you for your encouragement through private 
e-mail.) 

AchAryAL ThiruvadigaLE saraNam


Ram Ram

With Best Regards

NarayaNa dAsan madhavakkannan


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