SrI: SrImathE Gopaladesika Mahadesikaya nama: Dearest all, Today is Maasi Punarpoosam ? Kulasekara AzhwAr Thirunakshathram. KumbhE PunarvasuBhavam KeraLE ChoLa PattaNE Kaustubhamsham DharAdeesham KulashekaramAshrayE Let us remind ourselves of utilizing our limbs and parts of our body to pay our obeisance to our most merciful Divya Dampathi. Vaikuntham puhuvadhu maNNavar vidhiyE? [Thiruvaymozhi 10.9] We the human beings on this earth also can attain that Srivaikunta and enjoy in as much as those Nithyasuris do. Yes. It is certainly possible. It is indeed our very birth right. That is the very reason and cause for which the most merciful Lord Sriman Narayanan has created us. We were lying dormant during dissolution / deluge [praLaya] like the golden particles sticking to the wax of goldsmith, we were lying with all our knowledge hidden and covered- says Vedas. We had lost the worldly pleasures as well as the Absolute Bliss at the upper world, Srivaikuntam. Due to our past karmas [actions] that we had performed prior to this dissolution [praLaya], we have been pushed into this horrendous samsaaric ocean. Due to His limitless grace, He takes pity on us some day due to some unknown smallest past good deed of ours, He makes us born in this birth and grants us an opportunity to get this human body, the intellect, and thus all the tools to realize Him. He enables us to have an access to all the wonderful works of preceptors, Vedas and saasthras for us to get the right knowledge, understand the means to attain the goal namely the Srivaikunta, i.e. moksha anandham. He enables Azhwars, acharyas to take birth for blessing us with the right way and the goal. He enables us with the wonderful epics, and puranas to understand the right and wrong. His upakaarams (helpful deeds) thus are innumerable. It is all due to His grace. The very existence and survival of ours is His grace. When we go to sleep, who takes care of us? Who ensures that we get up the next day? It is all due to His grace. It is He who grants us the body, mind and the intellect to us. If we don?t utilize the tools, namely the senses, the body, the mind, the intellect, to perform such actions in order to attain Him, how will we ever be able to cross the ocean of samsaara? How will we ever be able to attain Srivaikunta and the absolute, immense, permanent pleasure? How will we ever be able to get rid of further horrible births and accumulated sins after sins? If someone has given us a boat to cross the turbulent river, and if we choose not to oar the sails, and to the contrary, relish the way the boat is tormented by the river current and rocking here and there, how will we ever be able to cross at all safely? Not only will the boat get broken to pieces, the passenger will also be doomed. Unlike him, the boatman, let us oar our boat (the body and the associated instruments) in right way and in correct direction, to reach the destination namely Srivaikuntam. What are the right ways? How do we do that? ? we don?t know? No worries. Kulasekara, who immersed himself in Rama bhakti, shows the path and the way- the means and the tools. jihvE kIrtaya kESavam mura-ripum cEtO bhaja SrI-dharam pANi-dvandva samarcayAcyuta-kathA: SrOtra-dvaya tvam SRNu | kRshNam lOkaya lOcana-dvaya harEr gacchAnghri-yugmAlayam jighra ghrANa mukunda-pAda-tulasIm mUrdhan namAdhOkshajam || 16th verse of Mukunda maala. Oh tongue! Sing the name of Kesava! Oh mind! Think of Muraari! Oh hands! Perform archana to Sri Mahalakshmi?s consort Sridhara! Oh ears! Hear always the wonderful stories of dark hued cloud coloured most merciful Lord! Oh eyes! See KaNNan?s most beautiful form at all times. Oh legs! Take me to His temple. Oh nose! Smell the fragrance of the Thulasi leaves of Mukundan. Oh head! Bow down to the Paramathma! Kulasekarar entreats all his senses - tongue, ears, eyes, legs, nose, head and mind to engage in the service to Lord Sriman Narayanan. [From Sri Satakopan Swmai?s wonderful write up] The first appeal goes to SrI kulaSEkharar's tongue - He asks it to praise Lord kESavan. The name kESava has three meanings covering dushTha-nigraham, svAmitvam and saundaryam of SrI ranganaatha. In the aspect of destruction of the unrighteous (dushTha-nigraham) he refers to the Lord slaying an asura by name "kESi" - therefore the name kESava. In the aspect of svAmitvam, kESava stands for SrI ranganaatha being the master of brahma and rudra. In the aspect of saundaryam, kESavan means one with beautiful hair. Through the invocation of the name kESava, SrI kulaSEkhara implies that the kalyANa guNa-s of the Lord are countless and his tongue will not run out of kIrtana-s to sing about Him. The second appeal of SrI kulaSEkhara - hE "cEta: mura-ripum bhaja!" ? goes to his mind. He asks his mind to meditate on the Lord who is the destroyer of an asura by name "muran". By this meditation one will see Him clearly inside oneself, says the AzhvAr. He probably has the following verse from brahma-bindu-upanishad in mind: ghutamiva payasi nigUDham bhUtE ca vasati viGYAnam | satatam manthayitavyam manasA manthAnabhUtEna || " The upanishad verse says that Lord SrIman-nArAyaNa is hidden in all cEtana's hearts like ghee in milk. Just as one churns the milk with a wooden instrument (ie mattu, in tamizh) to release the butter, so should one use one's mind to witness SrIman-nArAyaNa in one's heart. Then the AzhvAr asks his two hands to do arcana with tulasi leaves and flower petals. He wants his hands to do arcana to SrI-dharan with perfection appealing - "pANi-dvandva SrI-dharam samarcaya (samyak arcaya)". He wants his hands to do arcana not only to nArAyaNa but also to SrI-dEvI by choosing the name, SrI-dhara. The divya-dampatI-s are inseparable. SrI svAmi dESikan later followed the AzhvAr's thought when he bowed to the divya-dampatI's Eka-SEshitva-yOgam in his SrI-stuti and declared: "yuvAm dampatI daivatam na:" (ie dampatI yuvAm na: daivatam) SrI dESikan amplified the thought behind SrIdhara: by stating that both mahAlakshmI and nArAyaNa, shining as matchless couple, serve as Supreme and unified God in one inseparable form. After the appeal to his hands, SrI kulaSEkhara turns his attention to his ears. He asks them to hear (SrOtradvaya tvam acyuta kathA: SRNu !) stories about acyutan. The name acyutan symbolizes His total resolve to come to prapannas' rescue without fail. By invoking acyuta, SrI kulaSEkhara reminds his ears about SaraNAgati-vratam and abhaya-pradhAna-guNam of SrIman-nArAyaNa reclining on Adi-SEsha at SrI-ranga kshEtram. AzhvAr says to his ears that hearing of the kathA-s of acyutan such as vibhIshaNa-SaraNAgati, kAkAsura-SaraNAgati, draupatI-mAnasamrakshaNam, gajEndra-mOksham, ambarIsha-caritram etc. can only assure one of the secure and delectable experience of tasting the nectar-like SaraNAgata-rakshaNa anubhavam. sAtvata-samhitA echoes AzhvAr's thought as follows: "sankalpAdEva bhagavan tattvatO bhAvitAtmAnAm | vrtAntamakhilam kAlam sEcayatmRtEna tu || " The samhitai verse states that SrI acyutan blesses those who worship Him with the nectar-like experience of association with Him throughout their earthly lives and gives them the refuge of His cool feet by driving away afflictions. SrI kulaSEkharar next calls on his pair of eyes to enjoy the beauty of SrI ranganaatha in His avatAra as SrI kRshNa. His appeal is "kRshNam lOkaya lOcana-dvaya:" To witness and enjoy the beauty of SrI kRshNa bhagavAn, he asks his legs to go to temples where His arca-mUtIs are enshrined. The AzhvAr advises his legs as follows : "anghriyugma harE: Alayam gaccha". AzhvAr then asks his nose to smell the sweet perfume of tulasi leaves that adorned the holy feet of SrI kRshNa - "hE kRshNa, mukunda-pAda-tulasIm jighra". Finally, he asks his head to bend and offer its namaskAram-s to Lord ranganaatha - "hE mUdhan adhOkshajam nama". Sarvam SrI kRshNArpaNamastu.... Let us place our heads at the lotus feet of Sri Kulasekara perumAn. AzhwAr ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam Regards Namo narayana dAsan ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SriRangaSri/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SriRangaSri/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:SriRangaSri-digest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx mailto:SriRangaSri-fullfeatured@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: SriRangaSri-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia |
srirangasri-subscribe@yahoogroups.com To subscribe to the list |