You are here: SriPedia - Oppiliappan - Archives - Jan 2008

Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00257 Jan 2008

 
Jan 2008 Indexes ( Date | Thread | Author )
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]


NOTE: Readers having difficulty in reading the text
may need to change their encoding to UTF-8.  
------------ 

srI:
SrI  upakAra  sangraham ? 61
--- 
adikAram ? 1
poorva upakAra paramparai
(The Foremost Series of Favours) 
---   
SECTION ? 5 (18)  
(27 Favours of the Lord leading to the means for
MOKSHAM)  
-----   

        In the previous sub-section, SwAmi Desikan described
the favour conferred on the sAttvika jIvas by inducing
them to approach a sadAchArya in a proper procedure,
i.e., to prostrate at his feet, to be with him, to
serve him with devotion and putting questions to him
on the spiritual matters to receive the knowledge. 
        
There is always a possibility of our mind not
concentrating on the discourses delivered by the
AchArya  due to sensual distractions. Here also the
Lord steps in to make us attentive. SwAmi Desikan says
this is yet another favour done by the Lord:

 (18)  upadEsha kAlatthil nAm  anavahitar AkAthapadi,
hriShikEshanAn tAn cikkEna manasai niRutthi cevi
tAzhppitthathuvum;

 ?upadEsha kAlatthil nAm anavahitar AkAthapadi,? --- 

During the discourses by the AchArya, we, the
disciples, should not remain inattentive. 
        
While sitting before the AchArya and listening to his
discourse, our attention sometimes gets distracted due
to uncontrollable senses. In the process, we may miss
some very important points. SwAmi Desikan says, here
also the Lord comes to our help. This may be either
through the AchArya himself or from within ourselves.
Normally, it is the custom for the preceptor to call
our attention whenever an important fact he is going
to make. Sometimes, because of his deep involvement in
the subject matter of the discourse, he may forget to
do it. So, on both the sides this lapse is likely. At
all these moments, the Lord steps in to ensure that
our attention is not distracted. 
        
Such distraction occurs only because of the failure of
our sense-organs of knowledge, i.e., ears and eyes,
and the mind, which is the main culprit. Why should
the Lord take upon Himself the task of pulling up our
senses? Because, SwAmi Desiakn says, He is:
?hriShikEshanAn tAn? ? One of the names of the Lord
is: ?hriShikEshah? ? the Lord of our senses.   What
does He do? 

 ?cikkEna manasai niRutthi cevi tAzhppitthathuvum;? 
--- 

Promptly, He holds our mind and firmly links it to the
sense of hearing. 
        
This He does out of compassion; and due to the
invocation recited by the AchArya and the disciples at
the beginning of the kAlakShEpam. 
        
To understand this, we must know the process of such
special, exclusive discourses which our preceptors
follow without fail:

1)      As soon as the disciples assemble in the hall, the
AchArya enters in. As soon as the disciples see him
approaching the platform where his seat is placed,
they rise up and prostrate in front of him quite a
number of times in all humility seeking his blessings,
until the AchArya says ?enough?. 
2)      Soon after the Acharya takes his seat, the
disciples recite the Thaniyan (a sloka in praise of
the AchArya), followed by prostration several times
till AchArya says ?enough?.
3)      Then, AchArya gets up from his seat and stands
along with his disciples and the entire gathering then
recite the Thaniyans of poorvAchAryas starting from
the AchArya of the present AchArya, his AchArya?s
AchArya , his Acharya and thus continue the lineage of
preceptors up to the Supreme Lord, preceded by a sloka
on His Consort, SrI.  These include the thaniyans of
the authors of the commentaries, which are the
recordings of the discourses of the poorvAchAryas. 
4)      This order is reversed from the verse on the
Supreme Lord Who is the first Acharya, till the last
AchArya of the present one, followed by special slokas
about the Scripture which is going to be the subject
matter of the day?s discourse. 
5)        During this process of reciting the thaniyan
of each AchArya, the entire gathering, headed by the
Master, prostrate and get up again and again before
going to the next AchArya?s thaniyan. This is to
invoke the blessings and grace of the poorvAchAryas as
well as the Suprme Lord, SrImaN nArAyaNa and His
Consort.
6)      After finishing this recitation of the thaniyans,
the AchArya and the disciples sit on the legs and
recite certain Vedic mantras and the shAnti slokas
from the Upanishads.   
7)      After finishing this, the AchArya and the disciples
take their respective seats to start the class. 
8)      At the end of the KAlakShEpam, the process is
repeated in the same order in a spirit of
thanks-giving to the poorvAchAryas, the Supreme Lord
and His Consort. This is done before they disperse.  

        The pre-discourse Vedic recitation starts with this
Mantra:

?Ohm saha nAvavatu / saha nau bhunaktu / saha vIryam
karavAvahai /
  tEjasvinAvadhItamastu / mA vidviShAvahai // Ohm
shAntih shAntih shAntih // ?

(May He protect us (Master & student) both together
(by revealing knowledge). May He protect us both. May
we attain vigour together.  Let what we study be
invigorating. May we not hate each other. Peace!
Peace! Peace!

?Ohm ApyAyntu mamAngAni vAkprANashcakShuh shrOtram
  athO balamindriyANi  ca sarvANi / 
  sarvam brahmaupaniShadam mAham brahma nirAkuryAm
 mA mA brahma nirAkarOt anirAkaraNam astu anirAkaraNam
mEstu /
 yadAtmani niratE ya upniShatsu dharmAh
 tE mayi santu tE mayi santu / Ohn shAntih, shAntih,
shAntih // 

(May my limbs, speech, vital airs, eyes, ears, as well
as strength and all sense organs become well
developed. Everything is Brahman. May not Brahman deny
me. Let there be no denial of me by Brahman. Let there
be no discarding of Brahman by me. May all the virtues
taught in the Upanishads happen to me who am engaged
in the pursuit of the Self.  May those virtues rest in
me. Om Peace! Peace! Peace!) 

        By this invocation the Lord is pleased and he guards
our sense-organs and mind from being distracted from
the listening of the knowledge provided by the AchArya
in the discourse. Because, He is the Ruler of our
senses, ?hriShikEshah?. 
         
This is the 47th Name in the SrI ViShNusahasranAma
StOtram daily recited by us. In his commentary,
Bhagavad-GuNa-darpaNa, SrI ParAshara Bhattar, gives
the meaning of this Name: ?BhagavAn is called
HrishIkEsah because He controls the sense-organs of
ours and the gods as well.  He quotes an authority in
support of this meaning:

?HriSheekAni indriyANyAhuh  tEShAm Isho  yatO  bhavAn
/
  HriShee-kEShaH tato ViShNuh  khyAtO  dEvEShu 
kEshavA //?  (SrI Harivmsa)

(They say that HriSheekas are sense-organs. Since You
are their Controller, You are known as HriSheekEsha.
Among the gods, ?VishNu is known as Kesava.?)  
        
        The name, HriSheekEsha, is mentioned several times in
the Bhagavadgita. 

        Being the Controller of the sense-organs and the
mind, the Lord ensures that His devotees learn the
spiritual knowledge from their AchAryas keeping their
minds concentrated on the words uttered by them. So
says SwAmi Desikan here: ?cikkEna manasai niRutthi
cevi tAzhppitthathuvum;?   --   This is yet another
favour conferred by the Lord on us.

        HriSheekEsha is a thought-provoking name. Since He is
the Lord of the senses, it is because of His blessings
that each sense organ functions in the specified way,
and so also the mind. They are all under His sway,
?vasha?.  KEsha means rays. The cool rays of the moon
and the rays of the sun are His forms. Hrshta means
joy. So, He is also the giver of joy. 

        The sense organs being under His control, what can
the jIva do if they go astray when he is attending the
AchArya?s discourse? The Lord Himself teaches how to
control the sense-organs and the mind. In His upadEsha
to Uddhava, SrI KriShNa teaches his disciple-friend
how to practice the control of the senses. (SrImad
BhAgavata-mahApurANa, 11th Skandha, Uddhavagita)

        The Lord says: ?When the mind, while being
concentrated, begins to wander and is unsteady, the
individual should bring it within his control in the
following way: 

1)      He should not lose sight of the course of the
mind, but holding his prAna (breath) and sense-organs
under control, he should bring around the mind by
exercising his sAttvika intellect. 
2)      It is like the control of an unruly horse by its
driver. He has to run some distance with the horse,
holding the reins tight in his hands, and finally take
control of the animal. Similarly, the aspirant should
allow the mind to wander a little, keeping a strict
vigil on its movements, and then little by little gain
mastery over it.
3)      He should reflect through discrimination on the
origin and the end of all things in their forward and
the backward order, till the mind comes to rest. 
4)      He, who has understood the teachings of his
AchArya, gives up identification with things other
than his self ? Atma. 
5)      He should think of the ParamAtman with Whom union
is sought, through worship and meditation. 
6)      So, possessed of an intellect fully attached to
Me, he should control the mind perfectly. This is the
gist of Yoga.  
        
After a serious discussion, it would always be welcome
to have a lighter look but it is also a process of
learning. 
        
SrI MahAviShNu, the HriSheekEsha, took the incarnation
of a very charming lady, namely, MOhini. It was when
He helped the churning of the milky ocean by both
devas and asuras for getting the nectar out of it. We
can compare the milky ocean to the vast Vedic
scriptures. The sense-organs are divided into two sets
? those with the benign qualities represented by the
devas, and the other set with the malign qualities
represented by the demons. The AchArya with the divine
knowledge is the churning-staff represented by the
mountain, Manthara. Thus, the ocean of scriptures is
churned by the Lord using the two sets of the
sense-organs and took out the essence, represented by
the nectar.  

There was a stiff competition between the two sets of
sense-organs for the nectar. In order to allow the
benign sense organs to get the benefit of it, the Lord
appeared as an attractive woman from whom the malign
sense-organs could not turn away. In the process, they
could remain only attracted by the beauty of the
temporary appearance of the woman, losing the highly
beneficial nectar, which went to the benign
sense-organs and the mind attached to them. 
        
Only a person of sAttvic nature can attain the
Ultimate Reality, that is, the Lord, through
concentrated intellect with all the sense-organs under
control. Those who cannot develop control over their
sense-organs and the mind will never succeed in
attaining the Ultimate. The Lord helps those who are
of sAttvik nature to keep their mind under control and
to get the necessary spiritual instructions from a
sadAchArya. This is another favour of the Lord
revealed by SwAmi Desikan in this sub-section.
                   

[Books consulted: 
1) Principal Upanishads, Vol I, Edited & translated by
Dr.N.S. Anatha Rangacharya,  
                                                      
                                 Bangalore.
2) SrI ViShNu SahasranAma with the BhAshya of SrI
ParAsara Bhattar ?  
                                            English
Translation by Prof. A.SrInivAsarAghavan.  
3)  ViShNu SahasranAma - Commentary by SwAmi DayAnanda
Saraswati.
4) Uddhava Gita ?English Translation by SwAmi
MAdhavAnanda, Advaita Ashrama.

(To continue)
dAsan
Anbil S.SrInivAsan
-----------  
   



      
____________________________________________________________________________________
Looking for last minute shopping deals?  
Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.  
http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping


Oppiliappan Koil Varadachari Sadagopan
http://www.sadagopan.org  
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Oppiliappan/

<*> Your email settings:
    Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Oppiliappan/join
    (Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
    mailto:Oppiliappan-digest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
    mailto:Oppiliappan-fullfeatured@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    Oppiliappan-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 


[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index ] [Thread Index ] [Author Index ]
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia
oppiliappan-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To subscribe to the list