Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri
Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:
The Ultimate Arsenal
?ommAcchI, kai kooppu? is what our parents told us to do, in our
childhood. And it is what their parents told them to, when they in turn
were children. Thus, as a tradition, we have been taught to fold our palms in
supplication, when standing before the Lord. What exactly does this gesture,
which has been in vogue from time immemorial and is being passed on from one
generation to another, actually mean? Is it based on some scriptural authority
or is it just an empty mannerism which, rightly or wrongly like so many others
of its ilk, has somehow survived the test of time?
Scripture refers to this gesture of supplication with folded palms, as
?anjali?. And references to this anjali are numerous and adulatory, be it in
Srimad Ramayana, Sri Mahabharata, Puranas or Acharya sreesooktis. The
greatness and glory of this simple gesture are so vast that Swami Desikan
thought it fit to author a separate work on the same, titled ?anjali
Vaibhavam?. Sri Alavandar has enshrined the significance of this gesture in
his Stotra Ratnam, while other Acharyas too are not lacking in glorifying the
greatness of anjali.
If we look
into the etymological structure of this word, we find it to be extremely
significant??am jalayati iti anjali:??this tells us that the apparently simple
folding of palms is so potent that it completely floors the Lord and melts Him
down, making Him abandon all idea of awarding commensurate penalty for our
innumerable misdeeds. ?am? in the aforesaid sentence refers to the Lord, who
is represented by the letter ?A? (?akArArtthO VishNu:?). Sage BharadvAja tells
us that this anjali is the best of all gestures and secures for us the favours
of the Lord , with all expedition??anjali: paramA mudrA, kshipram dEva
prasAdinI?. There are any number of good deeds which earn us merit and
ultimately afford us liberation from this mundane morass?cleaning up the
Lord?s temple, adorning it with floral designs, fashioning garlands for
Emperuman out of fragrant blooms, lighting up the Lord?s abode with lamps lit
with ghee, gingelly oil etc., circumambulation of His sannidhi, prostrating
before Him in such a way that all eight parts of the body touch the ground
(?sAshtAnga praNAmam?), constant contemplation on esoteric formulations
incorporating His hallowed names (Mantra japam), engaging in melodious
exposition of His praises and so on. If the ultimate aim of all these
endeavours is to please the Lord, then one need not resort to all these at
all, and could confine himself to a mere anjali, which is more powerful than
all the aforesaid in earning us the Lord?s pleasure. Whatever merits the other
kainkaryams listed above might earn us in course of time, a single gesture of
folded palms secures for us in a trice, says Sri Bharadvaja??Kshipram dEva
prasAdinI?.
Sri
Alavandar devotes a full verse to adulate this anjali?
? tvat
anghrim uddisya kadApi kEnachit yathA tathApi sakrit krita anjali:
tadaivam mushNAti asubhAni asEshata:
subhAni pushN
Ati na jAtu heeyatE?
Each
word of this verse is pregnant with meaning.
?Tvat
anghrim uddisya??This gesture is meaningful only if addressed to the Lord.
Anjali to all and sundry human beings or to lesser dieties would not bring us
any lasting benefit.
?kadApi??There is no time
specification for anjali. Unlike Sandhyavandanam which can be performed only
at the confluence of the three sandhIs, unlike Mantra japam which requires
purity of body and soul, unlike yAgAs and yagyAs which too are time-specific,
this gesture of folded palms can be adopted any time, with absolutely no
restriction. Night or day, summer or winter, full moon or new moon, makes no
difference for joining our palms in supplication to the Lord. We can do it the
moment we develop the urge.
?kEnachit??Performing
sacrifices is the prerogative of the traivarNikAs. BrahmachArIs alone can perform
SamidAdAnam. Only males of the aforesaid group can imbibe and propagate the
Vedas. Unlike all these restriction-bound deeds which are subject to
constraints of VarNa, Ashrama etc., anjali falls within the domain of
everyone, irrespective of cast, creed, colour, age or sex.
?yathA
tathA vApi??Most of the karmAs which earn us merit have to be performed in a
particular fashion. Doing them otherwise would not only deny us of the
intended fruit, but would also prove counter-productive. We thus hear of
TvashtA begetting a son who would be killed by Indra, while his actual prayer
was for an offspring who would end Indra?s life, all because Tvashta erred in
the intonation of a Veda mantra. We hear of Brahmins turning into
BrahmarAkshasAs due to shortcomings in the performance of sacrifices. Unlike all these rule-bound deeds, an
anjali can be executed in any fashion.
?Sakrit
krita:??While most of the meritorious deeds require repetitive performance, a
single performance of anjali destroys all inauspiciousness and builds up all
that is good for us.
Why is
this simple gesture touted to be such an effective instrument in accomplishing
such exalted goals? Because it signifies the surrender of one?s soul, the
absolutely priceless offering which is relished by Emperuman. If we consider
the ?anjali? mudrA, the palms folded together resemble a lotus bud, which is
also the shape of our heart (Hridaya Kamalam)??Padma kOsa prateekAsam hridayam
chApi adhO mukham? says the Narayana anuvAkam. Just as the lotus is the best
of flowers one can offer the Lord, our heart and the soul resident therein,
are indubitably the most valuable of tributes that we can submit at His feet.
It is thus that the anjali pleases Emperuman no end, signifying, as it does,
the ultimate offering that can be submitted by anyone. And a tip here about the folded
palm, learnt from elders?the palms should not be pressed flat together, but
held loosely together with the tips of the fingers touching one another, so
that the joined palms resemble a lotus.
A
further beauty of the anjali mudrA is that while it represents a gesture of
surrender to the arcchA murtthi we stand before at the Sannidhi, it
simultaneously envisages obeisance to the Inner Dweller, the antaryAmi, who is
forever resident in our hearts and souls. The position of the palms in this
mudrA is such that it is in line with our chest, inside which is situated our
heart, in which is enshrined the Lord, in His form as the ?HArda? or the Inner
Dweller.
We might
adorn the Lord at temples with any number of the most brilliant of gems and
jewels made of the most precious of metals, but the ornament the Lord likes
the most is our ?anjali?, the simple gesture of folded palms with an
accompanying attitude of self-surrender, says Sri Nammazhwar?
?dEsamAna aNikalanum en kai
kooppu seigayE?.
Just as
a diamond?s brilliance is enhanced by a glittering gold setting, so too the
efficacy of the anjali is heightened by certain accompaniments, says Sri
KulasekharAzhwar. The palms folded in obeisance should be accompanied by a
head bowed in devotion, hairs standing erect with the intensity of Bhagavat
anubhavam, a voice made extremely shaky with emotion, eyes full of tears
occasioned by depth of feeling for the Paramatma and so on, all of which
cumulatively take us to unimaginable heights of sublime spiritual experience.
It is those who have all these external signs of devotion, whose constant
company we should crave for, says Azhwar. Here is the beautiful sloka from Sri
Mukunda MAlA?
?baddhEna anjalinA natEna
shirasA gAtraischa rOmOdgamai:
kanttEna svara gadgadEna nayanEna
utkeerNa bAshpAmbunA
nityam tvat charaNAravinda yugaLa
dhyAna amruta AsvAdinAm
asmAkam SaraseeruhAksha! satatam
sampadyatAm jeevitam?.
However,
many a folded hand hides a lethal weapon, as happened in the case of MahAtmA
Gandhi, whose life was taken by NAturAm GhotsE, hiding a pistol between his
folded palms. People like me are very much like Ghotse, for the anjali mudra
addressed to the Lord often hides an attitude of ahankAram and MamakAram
(Pride and Possessiveness), both of which are deadly weapons causing extensive
damage to the soul. These ?kAram?s, apart from being hurtful to oneself, also
bring tears of pain and sorrow to Emperuman, who is saddened at the
incorrigibility of the human race despite His efforts for its emancipation.
Hence, it is not enough to simply fold our hands, for anjali to be effective
and rewarding?all the external accompaniments as prescribed by Sri Kulasekhara
Perumal should be there. More important than these, we should make the anjali
with the right attitude of mind, with our souls shorn, at least for the
moment, of the stigma of the crippling ahankAram and killing MamakAram.
?Easier said than done!?, I hear readers remark sceptically, but all this
comes out of constant practice, as Sri Krishna tells Arjuna??abhyAsEna tu
KountEya!?.
We have
been talking about weapons lurking between folded palms. Swami Desikan says,
however, that the folded palms are themselves a weapon and the most potent of
them at that. You can imagine the efficacy of this missile, if I tell you that
it has the capability of flooring Emperuman Himself and of proving to be an
effective shield against any arrows that the Lord might let loose against us,
fed up with our constant transgression of His dicta. In His anger at our
unrepentant attitudes and continuing crimes against ourselves, humanity and
the Lord, the Lord often considers possibilities of punitive action, when all
else (SAmam, bhEdam and dAnam) fails. And He lets loose against us arrows of
token punishment for our sins. However, even the Lord?s weapons loose their
efficacy, when confronted by our gesture of ?anjali?. This potent weapon in
our hands melts down the Lord to such an extent that He throws down bow and
arrow, forgets everything about chastising us and comes running to embrace us
and to take us to His abode, to treat us to the eternal and boundless bliss
that He Himself enjoys at Paramapadam. Thus even the most potent of punitive
arrows lose their cutting edge and become mere blunt and impotent missiles,
when warded off with the weapon of anjali, says Swami Desikan in Sri
Varadaraja Panchasat?
?HastIsa! Du:kha visha
digdha phalAnubandhini
Abrahma keetam aparAhata samprayOgE
Dushkarma sanchaya vasAt duratikramE
na:
Pratyastram anjali: asou tava
nigrahAstrE?
Anjali
is thus both a protective weapon (guarding us against exemplary divine
retaliation on account of our sins) and an offensive one, flooring the Lord
with a single shot, making Him feel compelled to rush to our rescue from the
mundane morass.
Is there
any doubt in declaring Anjali to be The Ultimate Arsenal?
Srimate
Sri LakshmInrisimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra
Mahadesikaya nama:
dasan,
sadagopan