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Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

                                               Timepass

 

       "Time and Tide wait for no man" says the adage. Time moves on 
inexorably, whether or not we wish it to. No one, however powerful, can make a 
second stand still, nor can he make it move faster. When we are engaged in an 
extremely absorbing endeavour, we find that Time just flies. On the other hand, 
when we are imapatiently awaiting the outcome of some event or the other, the 
very same Time appears to crawl. For young lovers engaged in exchanging sweet 
nothings, the passage of Time appears extremely rapid and an hour spent in each 
other's company passes like mere minutes. On the other hand, to the anxious 
husband pacing restlessly outside the delivery ward at the hospital, awaiting 
news of his first progeny, the hands of the clock seem stuck and unmoving. 
Thus, the pace of passage of Time may appear fast or slow, depending upon our 
perception: however, Time neither flies nor crawls-it moves at its own 
unvarying, sedate and uniform speed.

 

Most of us have regular occupations, which account for the major portion of our 
waking hours. And to fill the hours of leisure, we have varied ways. Some spend 
all their spare time in front of the Television, as "Couch Potatoes". Some 
others, being votaries of physical fitness, spend their leisure at Gyms, toning 
up their bodies and building their biceps. Yet others, interested in the fine 
arts, patronise music concerts and art galleries, deriving a lot of pleasure 
from these aesthetic pursuits. Cinemas too attract their share of votaries, who 
forget themselves once they enter the theatre and the lights go off. Gambling 
in its various forms (ranging from Cards, Casinos, Racing, Speculation in 
Stocks, etc.), perusing pulp fiction etc. take up the time of some of our 
brethren.  Urged by our teachers to take up some hobby or the other, many of us 
have become addicts to philately, numismatics, voracious reading etc. to fill 
our spare time. Others like me resort to writing to spend time, irrespective of 
whether or not their words attract anyone's attention and interest. Yet others 
simply sleep-there were several people who spent entire lifetimes in 
sleep-Muchukundan, Rip-van-vinkle and KumbhakarNa are examples. For some 
others, idle gossip with kindred spirits occupies all their waking moments. 
This is brought out by the following sloka, which sets out the various ways in 
which people spend time-


'KAvya ShAstra vinOdEna kAlO gacchati dheematAm

 anyEshAm tu manushyANAm nidrayA kalahEna va" 

 

We hear a lot of people complaining about time being difficult to pass. 
"Pozhudu pOgalai" is a complaint we hear often. For these complainants, Time 
just stands still and has to be practically pushed on. What a pity indeed, for, 
little do they realise that every passing second second brings us that much 
nearer to the end of our lives. Each hour that passes without anything useful 
having been done, is a wasted hour indeed. And before we realise, these idle 
hours add up to days, months and years of ill-spent time, with absolutely 
nothing to show for the part of life that has slipped away unnoticed, except 
perhaps gray hairs. 

 

That brings us to the brass tacks and the million-dollar question-how to spend 
our time? This may appear to be a silly question, for there are any number of 
pursuits one could adopt, as enumerated above. However, to qualify the question 
further, how to spend our spare time productively? The productivity meant here 
is not related to conversion of our precious time into cents and dollars, but 
to something else, which might even be intangible, which would result in 
self-improvement. Again, by "self", we refer here to the soul inside us and not 
to the physical shell. 

 

There is a beautiful word in our SampradAya-"KAlakshEpam". Though it literally 
means passing of time, its popular purport is that of listening to eminent 
Acharyas or scholars propounding the intricacies of one or the other of the 
great works that have been bequeathed to us by merciful poorvAchAryAs. The term 
has thus come to mean the spending of time listening to uplifting utterances, 
whether of the Lord or of Acharyas. It is thus that we hear of  "Bhagavat 
Vishaya KalakshEpam", "SrI BhAshya KAlakshEpam" "Srimad RahasyatrayasAra 
KalakshEpam" etc., alluding to the productive passage of hours in the pursuit 
of enlightenment. This usage, in turn, appears to have originated from the sree 
sookti of Sri Tirumazhisai Piran, in Nanmukhan TiruvandAdi-

 

"taritthu irundEn AgavE tArA gaNa pOr

 viritthu uraittha ven nAgatthu unnai-teritthu ezhudi 

 vAsitthum kEttum vaNangi vazhipattum

 poositthum pOkkinEn pOdu"

 

Azhwar shares with us his own experiences in passing time and lists the seven 
different ways in which his lifetime was spent-

 

1.      "Teritthu"-refers to the blissful contemplation of the Lord and His 
glorious attributes, with overwhelming devotion and love. This makes the hours 
pass in a jiffy.

 

2        "ezhudi"-Among the numerous ways of enjoying the rare delight that is 
Emperuman, is to write His names. Even today, we find several people continuing 
this hallowed tradition by writing Rama nAma. It is the practical experience of 
these worthies that putting the Rama nAma to paper affords them great inner 
peace. Just as the infatuated lover finds joy in penning his beloved's name, 
for the devotee, writing the Lord's names gives infinite pleasure. Azhwar thus 
tells us to spend time in writing down the Lord's names. This would also refer 
to composing paens of praise, in prose and verse, on Emperuman and His glory, 
so that it would benefit oneself and others.

 

3.      "VAsitthum"-Another admirable way to spend our waking moments is to 
read-not of worldly affairs or pulp fiction which are of negligible value, but 
of spiritual matters, especially tales of the Lord, stotras on Him composed by 
His admiring votaries and so on. Veda PArAyaNam, Sriamd Ramayana ParAyaNam, 
Srimad BhAgavata ParAyaNam, aruliccheyal anusandhAnam etc. fall under this 
head. 

 

4.      "KEttum"-Delightful stories of the Lord and His exploits, enthralling 
descriptions of His innumerable auspicious attributes, the glories of His 
devotees, etc. form nectarine inputs for the audio faculty. "KarNAbhyAm bhoori 
vishruvam"  "Bhadram karNEbhi: shruNuyAma dEvA:" are some of the prayers 
enshrined in the Upanishads, praying to the almighty that only the best of 
sounds, viz., Bhagavat BhAgavata kathA, fall on our ears. Ipso facto, this 
calls for eschewing lending our ears to idle gossip and accounts of mundane 
matters. It is to enable the unimpeded flow of such sacred sounds that our ears 
have not been provided with shutters, unlike our eyes which have eyelids.

 

 

5.      "VaNangi"-This might be construed as a physical expression of devotion, 
with all the symptoms of enthrallment that affect a devotee in the throes of 
Bhakti, as described by Sri Kulasekhara Perumal in Sri Mukunda MAlA-

 

     " baddhEna anjalinA natEna sirasA gAtraischa rOmOdgamai:

        kanthEna svara gadgadEna nayanEna utkeerNa bAshpAmbunA"

 

        This "vaNakkam" is thus an act involving almost all parts of the body, 
with the head bent in devotion, the hands folded in supplication in the "anjali 
mudrA" which floors Emperuman, eyes filling with tears of joy at the sight of 
the Lord or His devotees, each individual hair on the skin erect with delight, 
the voice aquiver with emotion and each individual part of the body vying with 
the other to express its devotion separately.

 

6.      "Vazhipattum"-This refers to performing worship, various ways of which 
have been described by poorvAchAryas beginning with Sri Ramanuja (in his 
"nityam"). Performing TiruvAradhanam to the Lord is such a delightful 
experience as to be a pursuit par excellence, filled with overwhelming joy. 
This Bhagavat ArAdhanam is only a daily practice session, to remind us 
constantly of the indescribable bliss of Kainkaryam that awaits us, as 
PrapannAs, at the end of this birth.

7.      "Poositthum"-This we may take to be a variant or a component of 
Bhagavat ArAdhanam, involving the worship of the Lord with garlands of fresh 
blooms or of verses. And this type of worship is to be offered only to 
Emperuman Sriman Narayanan, as Sri Nammazhwar avers-"dEvan emperumAnukku allAl 
poovum poosanayum tagumE!"

 

This, then, is how time is to be spent.

 

Sri Nammazhwar too, whose entire life, every waking moment of it, was spent in 
the contemplation of the Lord and His glory, wonders how it is posssible for 
mortals to pass time except through the blissful perusal, utterance and 
propagation of sacred words full of the Lord's magnificence and grandeur, His 
innumerable auspicious attributes, etc.-

 

"KAr kalanda mEniyAn kai kalanda AzhiyAn

 PAr kalanda val avayittrAn-seer kalanda sol

 ninaindu pOkkArEl soozh vinayin Azh tuyarai

 en ninaindu pOkkuvar ip pOdu?"

 

For those who are at their wits' end as to how to "kill" time, the aforesaid 
prescriptions should come in useful.

 

Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka Srivan Satakopa Sri Narayana 
Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

dasan, sadagopan        



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]




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