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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