Friday, November 30, 2012

Divine Con(ch)siousness

Recently, was listening to Sri Hari Sharanaashtakam, a devotional composition that expounds Sharanaagati to Lord Hari. The interesting point to note was that Lord Vishnu is addressed as "ShankaPani". I wondered about the specific choice of the name of the Lord. Some points come to my mind.

The first incident that comes to my mind is Dhruva Charitram. The divine child and bhakta meditated on the Lord to reclaim the affection of his father. The blessed child meditated on the Lord for several months on end, without food or water. He was blessed with the inner vision of Maha Vishnu. How fortunate to retain the vision of the Lord and be immersed in that joy !!! Contrast this experience with my visits to Tirupati. Each time after the visit, the only feeling that I am left is "Asai Mugram Maranthu Poche". Coming back to the story, Dhruv maharaj was immersed in infinite bliss, when Swami wanted to get Dhruv Maharaj out of his meditative experience. Lord Vishnu disappeared from the inner vision of Dhruv Maharaj and showed his glorious form in the external world. Having been in deep meditation for months on end, Dhruv Maharaj was unable to speak and express his joy on seeing the Lord. So, Lord Vishnu touches the right cheek of Dhruva, which his conch, to give him the gift of speech. I recollect another joyful interpretation of this incident from one of the upanyasams. So, it goes that Lord Vishnu was so dazzled by the tejas of his divine Bhakta after months of penance, that he wanted to compare it with the most dazzling object in his immediate possession. The only such object was his Shankha or Conch. So, he touched the divine child with his conch to compare if the dazzle of his Shankha matched the tejas in his divine bhakta's face. Now, its our guess on what was more dazzling, the tejas on Dhruv Maharaj's face or the divine Shankha :)  One thing is apparent, when it comes to granting Bhaktas, the gift of Bhakti or Gyana or Vairagya, the merciful Lord will use his conch and hence, its justified to address him as Shankhapani in Sri Hari Sharanaashtakam.

The second is the leela of the Prabhu as Vithoba, or Panduranga in Pandarpur. The soulabhyam of the Lord and his immense mercy is seen in this avatar, where he appears with 2 hands, one holding the Shankha. The chronicles in Mahipati's Bhakta Vijayam, amply illustrates the infinite mercy of the Lord in Kaliyugam. He is not standing there in the Yoga peetam with his mutlifold astras to punish. He is standing there as a Karunaa moorthi, with the conch in hand, to bless his bhaktas just like he bless Dhruv maharaj. Here, he is no mood to punish :) His leelas in Bhakta Vijayam, shows how accessible he was to bhakta's and will help his Bhakta's tide over their problems just by nama samkeertanam.

So, Shankha paani it is :) it seems well justified to the address the Lord by this name, when we approach him with our multiple paapa punya accounts and ask for redemption :)





Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Mahaperiyava and Panduranga

Well, there is always something divine and inspirational to write about Mahaperiyava :) Rencently, came across divine experiences shared by Muralishara Swamigal in his program Veedu Thedi Varugiran Vittalan, about Panduranga and Mahaperivaya

The first incident is about the Maha Periyava's Hatha Yoga expertise. So, the legend goes that there was a bhakta who wanted Maha Periyava to visit his home. He was a devout bhakta, but had a secret desire. He wanted sit in an asana (posture) higher than Maha Periyava. On the appointed day, Maha Periyava comes to the Bhakta's residence with his mutt officials. They all lay out his peetham (seat). The Bhatka was waiting to take an asana higher than the guru, but Maha Periyava made an unusual change. He did not sit in his designated asana, but chose to sit in Kukkutasana and conversed with the Bhakta for hours. This asana is very complicated asana, but apparently, paramacharya could sit and converse in this posture for hours on end. Such was maha periyava's knowledge of Hatha Yoga. Now, what is the link to Pandarpur and Panduranaga? So, Pundalika was a sant who was on a pilgrimage to Kashi. On the way, his parents were unwell, so, he halted in Pandarpur, so that he could take care of his old parents and young child. He was still longing to go to Kashi. One day, on the banks of Chandrabhaga is where is met Kukkutaka maharishi, who advised him to stay in Pandarpur and take care of his aged parents. The guru mentioned that the punya of visiting Kashi would accrue from his service of aged parents. Pundalik lived according to his Guru upadesha and served his parents. This was a time when Lord Krisha was king of Dwaraka. Lord Krisha felt that he had missed the opportunity of serving his parents and hence wanted to experience the same through his Bhakta. Legend has it that he walked with Maa Rukmini and waited on a brick to meet his beloved bhakta, Pundalik. Such is the prowess of Mahaans and their blessings.

There are 2 more incidents. Maha Periya was instrumental in setting up the Uttara Chidambaram Sri Nataraj Mandir at Satara, Maharashtra. The most sacred aspect of the Nataraja temple is the Chidambara Rahasyam (secret of Chidambaram), which is privy to a prevailed few. When the time came to install the chidambara sahasyam, Maha Periya taught this to a Mutt Devotee. The rahasyam was inscribed on the leaves, protected with a Thailam (sacred oil) and installed in the Nataraja temple. The devotee felt happy that he was among the few who knew the Rahasyam. He prostrated before the acharya after the installation of the rahasyam in the satara temple and Acharya said "the purpose of your rahasyam learning is over and may you forget the rahasyam". The devotee could not recollect it anymore.

On a visit to this temple, a couple came and prayed to the acharya that they beget children. Acharya blessed them. As per the blessings of the Acharya, the couple had a son, but they came to the Acharya later with a concern. The child had a strange impression on his head and they were concerned that it might impact the health of the child. The acharya asked them to visit the Panduranga temple and request the priest to let them touch the head of Panduranga. The couple found a similar impression on Panduranga's head. Paramacharya explained that when the couple asked for his blessings, he was worshipping Pandu Ranga and hence, the child had the features similar to Pandu Ranga. Thus, people came to know about the impression on Pandu Ranga's head :) This incident is explained by Muralidhara swamigal in his lectures. Such is the power of Mahaan and how fortunate are we to live in the land where he lived and prayed to Ishwara..




Saturday, September 29, 2012

Tribute to teachers and process of learning

The following mantra, quintessential part of school prayers...

 सह नाववतु ।
सह नौ भुनक्तु ।
सह वीर्यं करवावहै ।
तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु मा विद्विषावहै ।
 शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3t7ivQ3A3g)

Must have said this mantra like a zillion times, but never understood the beauty of this mantra... till today... Read the meaning of this shloka in a book on Kathopanishad... 

So, here goes the meaning (as taken from the book - http://www.chennaimath.org/estore/katha-upanishad)

"Aum. may Brahman protect us both, the teacher and the student, equally. May the Brahman enable us to share the benefit of learning equally. May we be equally strong to grasp the meaning of the learning. May the learning be equally fruitful to us. May we never be jealous of each other. May there be peace  to oneself, peace to the environment and peace for the entire world. The study if the upanishads is search for truth. It is a joint enterprise, where both the teacher and student should work vigorously with mutual trust and goodwill. The purpose in not scholarship. The purpose is to discover the Truth and be blessed in the process. To achieve this, the spirit of togtherness between the teacher and student is underscored". 

What caught my attention is the loftiness of the thoughts. Firstly, its about teacher coming down to the level of the student in stating that this is a "joint effort". What an amazing thought :) I have been blessed to learn from teachers who have actually lived by these principles. It makes learning such a blessed and enriching experience. This according to me is avataranam, where the teacher comes down to the level of the student to teach.

Secondly, it talks about the teacher asking that the fruits benefit both the teacher and student equally. Isn't that a moving idea? Its not about pedagogy, its about sharing the fruits of learning together. Students like me are blessed to have teachers who practiced the above approach.

Thirdly, it asks the supreme brahman to give strength to both the teacher and the taught to grasp the nuances of what is taught. Focus, concentration and strength of perseverance to learn what is being taught. How I missed this in my earlier days of study. Thanks to my teachers in later days, I atleast know what I missed and am able to appreciate the need. 

Fourth, What a nice catch .. just loved this bit where the teacher and taught pray that they may not fall prey to jealousy. Oh.. my my ... I cannot name the number of people I have been jealous because of their scholarship during my school/college days. It just preys and feeds on you. And in hindsight, it destroys the joy of learning. Such an important point, that let us not be jealous of each other during the learning process. Dear brothers and sisters, whom I had been jealous of, please forgive me :(

I think once you have imbibed the essence of this mantra, learning would be such a joyous experience :) and such peace :) 

Why is it relevant today? Well, as I see it, our education system has always rated scholarship higher than learning. I have always felt the strain of One-up manship, jealousy, rat-race for the limited quality education resources in our system. In some sense, this has been pushing a few us in trying to excel in our chosen (??) pursuits. What I have seen is the legacy of such training process lingers in for a long time. It manifests in our relationships, our actions, in our workplace long after the spirit of competition has served its need :) 

The essence of the shloka also comes out nicely brings out the section of "Maitreem bhajata.." (Maitreem Bhajata - TextMaitreem Bhajata - MS), specifically in the context of "Spardham tyajata" ...."Give up competition and jealousy", especially in the context of learning :) So, its time to enjoy the meaning of such lofty ideas :) 


Salutations to all my teachers and the wonderful people I had as companions in my journey as a student :)