Search:
Bhakti List Archives

Srimathi Nagu Satyan's kind note

From the Bhakti List Archives

V. Sadagopan • January 22, 1997 


Dear Mrs. Satyan :

 I am deeply grateful to you and 
all the other members , who have written to me and have encouraged 
me to write on topics that are dear to us all. We are learning a lot from each
other 
about our illustrious sampradhayams . I am very happy to read the postings 
by Sri M.Srinivasan , Sri Mohan Sagar , Sri Varadan , Yourself and others , who
are knowledgable about our Tenkalai sampradhAyam . It is very educational 
for the rest of us , who have been brought up in the Kanchi AcharyaL's 
sampradhayam . Both of the sampradhayams are indeed branches 
of the same tree of Bhagavadh Ramanuja SiddhAntham .
 
Back in India , we would never have had such a welcome 
opportunity to balance our knowledge about the many rich
Sri Vishanavite traditions and to benefit from them. 

There is yet another kalai that remains behind the Vada Kalai 
and Tenkalai . That is what I would like to describe as 
ucchishta Kalai . This is the SARVA SESHI , the Bhagavan
saluted by the Vedas as UCCHISHTA BRAHMAM . The Atharva 
Veda devotes a  whole hymn called Skhamba suktham 
to salute this Ucchishta Brahmam , who stands as the 
Skhambham or divine support of His  entire creation and
holds it in equilibrium across time and space (AV X. 7.1.44). 
UcchishtA (Ut-SishtA ) stands for that eternal, everlasting
Brahman that " weaves this cosmic cloth with divine woofs 
and warps , shuttles and pegs , the art of two divine maidens 
(day and night ) working incessantly  in the parameters of space
ant time " ( Atharva Vedam X. 7.42-44 ) . He creates the Universe
and the created Universe assumes His form : 

ya imE dhyAvApruthvee janithree rupairapimsidh 
bhuvanAnani visvA  ( Rg Vedam X. 110.9 ) 

Atharva Vedam then goes onto conceive the majestic weaving 
of the Universe by the Lord through His divine thread ( Tanthu ):

rOhithO dhyAvApruthvee jajAna tathra TANTHUM  PARAMESHTI 
tathaana ( Atharva Vedam XIII .1.6) 

Rg vedam chimes in and states that this entire Universe is 
sustained by that great Parameshti, the Ucchishta Brahman.
This Rk of Rg Vedam (VI.45.3 ) points out that this entire 
Universe is sustained by the great principle ( Mahi PraNithi ) 
and protected by the undecaying devices of protection ( Uthi ):

maheerasya PRANEETHAYA: purvOrutha prasasthaya: I
naasya ksheeyantha  UTHAYA : II

This Ucchishta Kalai , exists , when nothing else exists
at the time of MahA PraLayam ( the great dissolution ) ,
when His own creation reverts to primordial matter , devoid 
of Name and Form . Then , this supreme Self alone exists,
persists , since He is beyond change, decay or death . 

One of  the great Rks of Atharva Vedam declares loud and 
clear that EVERY THING and PRINCIPLE is sustained in 
this UCCHISHTA BRAHMAN including the Rg , Yajuh, Sama , 
UdhgithA , HinkarA , Svara , and Saman rhythms and Saman 
rhymes :

rk saama yajurUCCHISHTA udhgeetha: prasthutham sthutham I
himkAra UCCHISHTE svara: saamnO medhisccha tanmayi II
( Atharva Vedam XI. 7.5 ) 

This passage of Atharva Vedam captures the essence of all
the three other Vedams , which went ahead of it and reveals
the additional glories of this JYESHTA BRAHMAN AS THE 
SARVAADHAARAM (entire support ) for this universe in 
the rest of the Rks of Skhambha suktam and the PARSINI
SUKTAM ( atharva Vedam X.2) . I will quote some passages
that echo with the Purusha Suktham rks :

"everything is born from Him after the  dissolution , the disciplines of
divine knowledge , the sense organs , the vital realm , the blissful
realm, and ALL CATEGORIES of human beings --He is the Father and 
Grandfather and He is equaly the sustainer of the inorganic and 
organic world, of clouds, lightning and rains " . 

The representation of this Cosmos as the figurative form 
of this Ucchishta Brahman , as one possessing a human body 
helps us to come closer in our understanding of Him and His
pervasive majesty . Yet , this body of Him is different from ours according to
the hymns
of Purusha SukthA  celebrated in all the four Vedas . Man has two eyes , 
one mouth, two legs and two arms. This Ucchishta Purushan however has 
thousands of eyes , legs , mouths and arms and through His innumerable 
eyes can see in every direction . Purusha Sultham in the Rg Vedic 
version covered very well by Sri Sundar and housed in the SrivaishNavA home page

discusses this grand conception . A pasage of Purusha Suktham says :
 " The moon was gendered form His mind, and from His eye 
the sun had birth --earth from His feet , and from His ears the 
regions  , thus they formed the worlds (tathA lokAgum akalpayan )"
--Rg Vedam X .90.13&14 .

The Atharva Vedam and the other three Vedams celebrate in their
many Rks and Saamans , the infinite glories of this Ucchishta 
Kalai of Jyeshta Brahman and these eulogies are known
as BRAHMA -PRAKAASANAM . 

May we all be inspired by these Vedic Thoughts 
and enjoy the Bhagavad  Vishayam related to 
this  UCCHISHTA BRAHMA KALAI !

Sri Veda PurushAya Nama :

Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan