Thanks to: rangaraj_ramaswamy@yahoo.co.in
________
RANGARAJ RAMASWAMY
to sabha
Srimate Srivan Satakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:
How to "See" the Lord
by Sri Sadagopan Iyengar Swami
Shastras tell us that the Lord is present in five forms.
The first and foremost is the Paramapurusha whose abode is Sri Vaikuntam, where He reigns supreme along with His Consort and the emancipated souls. Though this Cosmic form of His is in the constant sight of the nitya suris ("sadaa pasyanti sooraya:"), it is way beyond the ken of mere mortals like us, says the Veda Purusha-"na sandruse tishttathi roopam asya, na chakshushaa pasyati kascha nainam".
Similarly, the Vyuha roopams, those of Sri Vasudeva, reclining on the snaky bed in the Milky Ocean, Sri Pradyumna, Sri Aniruddha and Sri Sankarshana, are too exalted to form the subject matter of our faulty sight. Maharshis like Sri Narada and the inhabitants of the Sveta Dveepam might be endowed with the good fortune of seeing these moorties, but not poor mortals.
In the Vibhava avataras, constituting His descent to this earth assuming various forms like those of a fish, a boar, a man-lion, a giant turtle, the Princes of Ayodhya and Mathura and so on, He was indeed visible to mortal eyes, making Sri Koorattazhwan wonder at His accessibility-the Supreme Parabrahmam making itself visible to errant humanity ("nanu lochana gocharo bhoo:"). However, all those avataras were in the distant past, with absolutely no access to the present-day inhabitants of this planet.
In His diminutive form as the Antaryami, the Inner Dweller of all beings, our accumulated baggage of Karma makes us unable to see Him within us, though He is present at extremely close quarters and in as splendorous a form as the one at Paramapadam.
All that is left is the Arcchavataram, the beautiful forms in stone, wood and mud, that the Lord assumes at various temples and it is only these fantastic figures of the Lord that we are able to see and admire. Thus, the Lord who is normally totally beyond the impaired vision of errant humanity, makes Himself perceptible to mortals, out of His infinite Mercy, and out of a desire to entice, enthrall, enchant and finally ensnare recalcitrant humans, weaning them away from the debilitating path of sin.
Whatever be the glory of His other forms, which we have only heard of and have no means of confirming, we are able to see for ourselves, with our very own eyes, the immeasurable beauty of the Lord in His Arcchavatara-so much so that Sri Tirumangai Mannan holds the readily-available, blissful experience afforded by the Arcchavataram to be superior to that attainable at distant Paramapadam, admittance to which is restricted to the elite who perform Bhakti or Prapatti, and which is achievable only after herculean effort. Would anyone hanker after the flesh of a yet-to-be caught crow in the sky, which is anyway of dubious taste, when one has already captured a rabbit, which offers a delicious fare, enquires Sri Kalian, likening Arcchavatara anubhavam to tasty hare flesh and the bliss of Sri Vaikuntam to that of the crow-"Eraar muyal vittu kaakkai pin povade?". True to his fame of having Sri Kalian's sweet words etched in his heart ("Kalian urai kudi konda karrutthudayon"), Swami Desikan too spurns Celestial Bliss for that afforded by the ecstatical sight of Sri Devadi Rajan of Kanchi, prepared to swear on the point-"Satyam sape Vaarana saila naatha! Vaikunta vaasepi na me abhilaasha:"
Be it the Azhwars or Acharyas like Sri Koorattazhwan, Sri Bhattar or Swami Desikan and countless others-- they appear to consider the very sight of Emperuman in various temples to be blissful and each visit to the shrine an extremely rewarding experience, so much so that they feel capable of rejecting any offer of alternative bliss in the exalted Paramapadam, of which the Shruti, Smritis and itihaasas speak volumes. The Arcchavatara must therefore have afforded them such unalloyed pleasure, such deep delight and such immeasurable ecstasy, that they feel it to be superior to any other form of the Lord.
However, when we go to temples and stand before the Lord with hands dutifully folded and eyes ready to drink in His magnificence, while we do feel a certain amount of inner peace, we are unable to experience the sort of bliss described by Sri Kalian or Swami Desikan. We stand on an equal footing with these venerated worthies in that we and they used only these mortal eyes to see the Lord. While the Lord's decorated idol does generate in us a lot of aesthetic pleasure, why does it not afford us as much bliss as it did to them? After all, the Emperuman at divya desams is the same today as was worshipped by our Poorvacharyas, the temples are the same but for some periodical cosmetic uplifts and the eyes too are the same, characterized by the same degree of frailty as present in all mortals.
Given this, we find only two possible reasons for our not being able to derive as much delight from the sight of the Lord, as did our Acharyas. One might be that the Lord has made up His mind to be less pleasurable to us than to our worthy Acharyas, due to their infinite superiority in matters of wisdom, bhakti or adherence to Shastras. However, given Emperuman's predilection for favouring the underdog rather than the perfect person, we find this reason untenable. The other possible reason for our deriving less pleasure out of Bhagavat anubhavam is that something is wrong with our eyes, our vision, in the way we look at the Lord. This appears to be a much more plausible explanation and one which requires us to look deep into ourselves to diagnose the possible impairment our visual equipment could have suffered.
When we go the temple and stand before the Lord, what do we see?
At best, what people like me see is a beautiful, highly decorated idol that is pleasing to the sight, with impressive height and girth, with any number of adornments to enhance its looks. We are unable to see in the idol the all-powerful Lord, who is the epitome of all auspicious virtues and the antithesis of all that is bad, the sole repository of all imaginable good, the Universal Protector, one who is ready to take ten giant steps towards us and come running to embrace us, if only we would lift our foot to take one tiny step towards Him. We are unable to see beyond the stone and mortar and wood that the Lord, out of His infinite mercy, resides in, out of a desire to be the subject matter of our mortal eyes. We do not take in the beautiful form in full and are satisfied with a superficial and overall look at Him, as shallow in our devotion as we are in our other secular endeavours (perhaps more so, since our human bosses are more demanding than the Lord, who is the personification of tolerance).
How should we "see" the Lord, when we are before Him at the sannidhi?
Sri Nammazhwar shows us the way, in his pasurams on Tirukkurungudi. According to him, the only way to enjoy the matchless magnificence of the Lord is to take Him in inch by blissful inch, part by splendorous part, with undivided attention paid to one particular aspect of Emperuman's tirumeni or adornments or Ayudhas, at a time. This is because the Lord's brilliance is too much for us to absorb, all at once. Like a child with its favourite sugar candy, we too should stretch the experience to the maximum possible, savouring the boundless beauty of the Lord little by little. Kamban says that this too is impossible, for those who set sight on a particular aspect of Emperuman is unable to pry his eyes away from that part of the tirumeni, ("toL kandaar tole kandaar") with the result that the onlooker is unable to proceed to enjoy the next part of the divine body.
Coming back to Sri Satakopa Muni's experience, the Azhwar's eyes first lock on the snow-white conch adorning the Lord's left hand, capable of striking terror in the heart of His foes with a single booming emission. After having enjoyed the sight to his heart's fill, he moves on to the dazzling Discus inhabiting the Lord's right hand, which at once serves as the ultimate weapon and an adornment par excellence.
It is significant that Sri Poygaiyazhwar too mentions the Conch and Discus among the principal items of visual attraction on the Lord's perfect physique-"serukkilarum pon Aazhi kanden, puri shankham kai kanden, en Aazhi vannan paal indru". Moving on with reluctance, Azhwar's eyes are ensnared by the Lord's own, the eyes famed for their length, breadth, blackness, brilliance and size,resembling a beautiful lotus in full bloom. The divine eyes lock with Azhwar's own, full of love and affection. The eyes speak indeed volumes ("toodu sei kangal kondu ondru pesi"), obviating the necessity for words. The long eye-brows, forming a perfect bow on the Lord's forehead, clamour for attention too. Difficult though it is to pry his gaze away, Azhwar does so with difficulty and manages to travel down the Lord's face, till he is captivated by the coral mouth, with its rows of orderly pearl-white teeth, which demands its share of Azhwar's attention, impeding further progress.
The long, perfect and extremely shapely nose, from which emanate all the Vedas and the beautiful throat commend themselves to the Azhwar's attention next, followed by the Lord's jet black locks, which fall bewitchingly on His forehead and shoulders. Only part of the beautiful hair is visible, the rest of it being contained by the long and majestic kireetam, set with the most brilliant of gems, signifying the Lord's supremacy by its very magnificence. The broad and beautiful chest, adorned by the matchless Tirumagal, swims into view next and completely captivates the onlooker, embellished by the microscopic Kousthubham and the Vaijayanti maala.
The four strong shoulders culminating in slender but strong arms, holding the Discus Sudarsanam, the Conch Paanchajanyam, the mace Koumodaki, and the invincible bow Sarngam, with the sword Naandakam hanging by His side, refuse to release Azhwar's vision, with the shining black torso competing for his attentions. The white Yagyopaveetam lies across the black chest like a flash of lightning in an overcast sky, with the several strands of Titutthuzhaai competing with garlands of pearls and fragrant flowers, to embellish the Lord's chest. The entire picture is one of unmatched magnificence and blinding brilliance, one which makes Azhwar dizzy with bliss and incapable of taking his eyes away to see mundane sights. It is this pinnacle of joy that made Sri Paananathan too exclaim,
" en amudinai kanda kangal mattrondrinai kaanaave".
It is thus that we should "see" Emperuman, with each of His perfect aspects
leaving an indelible impression in our eyes and hearts. We should let ourselves be swept away by the wonderful waves of splendour emanating from the Lord, letting His beauty seep through each and every pore of our body, making us weak with delight, with our eyes filling with tears of joy and yet affording an uninterrupted view of the Lord's magnificence, our voices aquiver with uncontainable emotion, each individual hair on our head and body erect in enthrallment, with the palms automatically folding themselves in supplication and the head bowing in an involuntary gesture of submission and veneration. There should be thoughts in our mind only for the Lord, only about His glorious form and endearing exploits, with all other contemplations banished for the nonce, the mind verily an abode of pure love reserved solely for the Divine Inhabitant. In sum, the sight of the glorious Lord should reduce us to a state of utter incapability to turn our eyes, ears and other faculties away from Him even for a second, for fear of missing that second's delight. This state of bliss is described vividly by Sri Kulasekhara Perumal thus-
"Baddhena anjalinaa, natena sirasaa, gaatraischa romodgamai:
Kanttena svara gadgadena nayanena utkeerna baashpaambunaa
Nityam tvat charanaaravinda yugala dhyaanaamrita aasvaadinaam
Asmaakam Saraseeruhaaksha! satatam sampadyataam jeevitam"
If we are able to achieve this sort of vision and emotion while in the Lord's presence, the delectable experiences Sri Azhwan and Swami Desikan were able to imbibe from the Arcchavatara, prompting them to contemplate foregoing eternal bliss in Paramapadam, would definitely be ours too. We would be awash with the same sort of ecstasy and endless delight as Azhwars and Acharyas, if only we cultivate the habit of truly "seeing" Emperuman, instead of merely looking at Him as a showcase doll. This sort of experience which dedicated devotees undergo is extremely difficult to describe to third-parties. To sceptics who might feel all this to be exaggeration and embellishment, Sri Nammazhwar's advice is to look at the Lord through his (Azhwar's) eyes and heart, viz., eyes filled with devotion and a heart brimming with love and affection-"en nenjinaal nokki kaaneer". " Cast away your glances full of avarice, scepticism, half-belief and insincerity and look at the glorious Lord through eyes like mine, filled with genuine emotions, and you would definitely see Him truly and experience the indescribable bliss it affords" says Sri Nammazhwar to us, in a homily worth its weight in gold.
Finding his plodding friend seeing everything that he himself does, but not deriving the same incisive and didactic insights therefrom, Sherlock Holmes tells Watson, "Alas, Watson! You see, but you don't observe". Such is our plight too, it would appear. We do see the Lord, but we fail to let the spectacle make an indelible impression on us. The next time we stand before the Lord in any sannidhi, we would definitely find the difference if we try emulating even one-hundredth of the Azhwar's attitude.
Srimate Sri Lakshmi Nrisimha divya paduka sevaka Sri Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:
Courtesy Sri Sadagopan Iyengar Swami
________
RANGARAJ RAMASWAMY
to sabha
Srimate Srivan Satakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:
How to "See" the Lord
by Sri Sadagopan Iyengar Swami
Shastras tell us that the Lord is present in five forms.
The first and foremost is the Paramapurusha whose abode is Sri Vaikuntam, where He reigns supreme along with His Consort and the emancipated souls. Though this Cosmic form of His is in the constant sight of the nitya suris ("sadaa pasyanti sooraya:"), it is way beyond the ken of mere mortals like us, says the Veda Purusha-"na sandruse tishttathi roopam asya, na chakshushaa pasyati kascha nainam".
Similarly, the Vyuha roopams, those of Sri Vasudeva, reclining on the snaky bed in the Milky Ocean, Sri Pradyumna, Sri Aniruddha and Sri Sankarshana, are too exalted to form the subject matter of our faulty sight. Maharshis like Sri Narada and the inhabitants of the Sveta Dveepam might be endowed with the good fortune of seeing these moorties, but not poor mortals.
In the Vibhava avataras, constituting His descent to this earth assuming various forms like those of a fish, a boar, a man-lion, a giant turtle, the Princes of Ayodhya and Mathura and so on, He was indeed visible to mortal eyes, making Sri Koorattazhwan wonder at His accessibility-the Supreme Parabrahmam making itself visible to errant humanity ("nanu lochana gocharo bhoo:"). However, all those avataras were in the distant past, with absolutely no access to the present-day inhabitants of this planet.
In His diminutive form as the Antaryami, the Inner Dweller of all beings, our accumulated baggage of Karma makes us unable to see Him within us, though He is present at extremely close quarters and in as splendorous a form as the one at Paramapadam.
All that is left is the Arcchavataram, the beautiful forms in stone, wood and mud, that the Lord assumes at various temples and it is only these fantastic figures of the Lord that we are able to see and admire. Thus, the Lord who is normally totally beyond the impaired vision of errant humanity, makes Himself perceptible to mortals, out of His infinite Mercy, and out of a desire to entice, enthrall, enchant and finally ensnare recalcitrant humans, weaning them away from the debilitating path of sin.
Whatever be the glory of His other forms, which we have only heard of and have no means of confirming, we are able to see for ourselves, with our very own eyes, the immeasurable beauty of the Lord in His Arcchavatara-so much so that Sri Tirumangai Mannan holds the readily-available, blissful experience afforded by the Arcchavataram to be superior to that attainable at distant Paramapadam, admittance to which is restricted to the elite who perform Bhakti or Prapatti, and which is achievable only after herculean effort. Would anyone hanker after the flesh of a yet-to-be caught crow in the sky, which is anyway of dubious taste, when one has already captured a rabbit, which offers a delicious fare, enquires Sri Kalian, likening Arcchavatara anubhavam to tasty hare flesh and the bliss of Sri Vaikuntam to that of the crow-"Eraar muyal vittu kaakkai pin povade?". True to his fame of having Sri Kalian's sweet words etched in his heart ("Kalian urai kudi konda karrutthudayon"), Swami Desikan too spurns Celestial Bliss for that afforded by the ecstatical sight of Sri Devadi Rajan of Kanchi, prepared to swear on the point-"Satyam sape Vaarana saila naatha! Vaikunta vaasepi na me abhilaasha:"
Be it the Azhwars or Acharyas like Sri Koorattazhwan, Sri Bhattar or Swami Desikan and countless others-- they appear to consider the very sight of Emperuman in various temples to be blissful and each visit to the shrine an extremely rewarding experience, so much so that they feel capable of rejecting any offer of alternative bliss in the exalted Paramapadam, of which the Shruti, Smritis and itihaasas speak volumes. The Arcchavatara must therefore have afforded them such unalloyed pleasure, such deep delight and such immeasurable ecstasy, that they feel it to be superior to any other form of the Lord.
However, when we go to temples and stand before the Lord with hands dutifully folded and eyes ready to drink in His magnificence, while we do feel a certain amount of inner peace, we are unable to experience the sort of bliss described by Sri Kalian or Swami Desikan. We stand on an equal footing with these venerated worthies in that we and they used only these mortal eyes to see the Lord. While the Lord's decorated idol does generate in us a lot of aesthetic pleasure, why does it not afford us as much bliss as it did to them? After all, the Emperuman at divya desams is the same today as was worshipped by our Poorvacharyas, the temples are the same but for some periodical cosmetic uplifts and the eyes too are the same, characterized by the same degree of frailty as present in all mortals.
Given this, we find only two possible reasons for our not being able to derive as much delight from the sight of the Lord, as did our Acharyas. One might be that the Lord has made up His mind to be less pleasurable to us than to our worthy Acharyas, due to their infinite superiority in matters of wisdom, bhakti or adherence to Shastras. However, given Emperuman's predilection for favouring the underdog rather than the perfect person, we find this reason untenable. The other possible reason for our deriving less pleasure out of Bhagavat anubhavam is that something is wrong with our eyes, our vision, in the way we look at the Lord. This appears to be a much more plausible explanation and one which requires us to look deep into ourselves to diagnose the possible impairment our visual equipment could have suffered.
When we go the temple and stand before the Lord, what do we see?
At best, what people like me see is a beautiful, highly decorated idol that is pleasing to the sight, with impressive height and girth, with any number of adornments to enhance its looks. We are unable to see in the idol the all-powerful Lord, who is the epitome of all auspicious virtues and the antithesis of all that is bad, the sole repository of all imaginable good, the Universal Protector, one who is ready to take ten giant steps towards us and come running to embrace us, if only we would lift our foot to take one tiny step towards Him. We are unable to see beyond the stone and mortar and wood that the Lord, out of His infinite mercy, resides in, out of a desire to be the subject matter of our mortal eyes. We do not take in the beautiful form in full and are satisfied with a superficial and overall look at Him, as shallow in our devotion as we are in our other secular endeavours (perhaps more so, since our human bosses are more demanding than the Lord, who is the personification of tolerance).
How should we "see" the Lord, when we are before Him at the sannidhi?
Sri Nammazhwar shows us the way, in his pasurams on Tirukkurungudi. According to him, the only way to enjoy the matchless magnificence of the Lord is to take Him in inch by blissful inch, part by splendorous part, with undivided attention paid to one particular aspect of Emperuman's tirumeni or adornments or Ayudhas, at a time. This is because the Lord's brilliance is too much for us to absorb, all at once. Like a child with its favourite sugar candy, we too should stretch the experience to the maximum possible, savouring the boundless beauty of the Lord little by little. Kamban says that this too is impossible, for those who set sight on a particular aspect of Emperuman is unable to pry his eyes away from that part of the tirumeni, ("toL kandaar tole kandaar") with the result that the onlooker is unable to proceed to enjoy the next part of the divine body.
Coming back to Sri Satakopa Muni's experience, the Azhwar's eyes first lock on the snow-white conch adorning the Lord's left hand, capable of striking terror in the heart of His foes with a single booming emission. After having enjoyed the sight to his heart's fill, he moves on to the dazzling Discus inhabiting the Lord's right hand, which at once serves as the ultimate weapon and an adornment par excellence.
It is significant that Sri Poygaiyazhwar too mentions the Conch and Discus among the principal items of visual attraction on the Lord's perfect physique-"serukkilarum pon Aazhi kanden, puri shankham kai kanden, en Aazhi vannan paal indru". Moving on with reluctance, Azhwar's eyes are ensnared by the Lord's own, the eyes famed for their length, breadth, blackness, brilliance and size,resembling a beautiful lotus in full bloom. The divine eyes lock with Azhwar's own, full of love and affection. The eyes speak indeed volumes ("toodu sei kangal kondu ondru pesi"), obviating the necessity for words. The long eye-brows, forming a perfect bow on the Lord's forehead, clamour for attention too. Difficult though it is to pry his gaze away, Azhwar does so with difficulty and manages to travel down the Lord's face, till he is captivated by the coral mouth, with its rows of orderly pearl-white teeth, which demands its share of Azhwar's attention, impeding further progress.
The long, perfect and extremely shapely nose, from which emanate all the Vedas and the beautiful throat commend themselves to the Azhwar's attention next, followed by the Lord's jet black locks, which fall bewitchingly on His forehead and shoulders. Only part of the beautiful hair is visible, the rest of it being contained by the long and majestic kireetam, set with the most brilliant of gems, signifying the Lord's supremacy by its very magnificence. The broad and beautiful chest, adorned by the matchless Tirumagal, swims into view next and completely captivates the onlooker, embellished by the microscopic Kousthubham and the Vaijayanti maala.
The four strong shoulders culminating in slender but strong arms, holding the Discus Sudarsanam, the Conch Paanchajanyam, the mace Koumodaki, and the invincible bow Sarngam, with the sword Naandakam hanging by His side, refuse to release Azhwar's vision, with the shining black torso competing for his attentions. The white Yagyopaveetam lies across the black chest like a flash of lightning in an overcast sky, with the several strands of Titutthuzhaai competing with garlands of pearls and fragrant flowers, to embellish the Lord's chest. The entire picture is one of unmatched magnificence and blinding brilliance, one which makes Azhwar dizzy with bliss and incapable of taking his eyes away to see mundane sights. It is this pinnacle of joy that made Sri Paananathan too exclaim,
" en amudinai kanda kangal mattrondrinai kaanaave".
It is thus that we should "see" Emperuman, with each of His perfect aspects
leaving an indelible impression in our eyes and hearts. We should let ourselves be swept away by the wonderful waves of splendour emanating from the Lord, letting His beauty seep through each and every pore of our body, making us weak with delight, with our eyes filling with tears of joy and yet affording an uninterrupted view of the Lord's magnificence, our voices aquiver with uncontainable emotion, each individual hair on our head and body erect in enthrallment, with the palms automatically folding themselves in supplication and the head bowing in an involuntary gesture of submission and veneration. There should be thoughts in our mind only for the Lord, only about His glorious form and endearing exploits, with all other contemplations banished for the nonce, the mind verily an abode of pure love reserved solely for the Divine Inhabitant. In sum, the sight of the glorious Lord should reduce us to a state of utter incapability to turn our eyes, ears and other faculties away from Him even for a second, for fear of missing that second's delight. This state of bliss is described vividly by Sri Kulasekhara Perumal thus-
"Baddhena anjalinaa, natena sirasaa, gaatraischa romodgamai:
Kanttena svara gadgadena nayanena utkeerna baashpaambunaa
Nityam tvat charanaaravinda yugala dhyaanaamrita aasvaadinaam
Asmaakam Saraseeruhaaksha! satatam sampadyataam jeevitam"
If we are able to achieve this sort of vision and emotion while in the Lord's presence, the delectable experiences Sri Azhwan and Swami Desikan were able to imbibe from the Arcchavatara, prompting them to contemplate foregoing eternal bliss in Paramapadam, would definitely be ours too. We would be awash with the same sort of ecstasy and endless delight as Azhwars and Acharyas, if only we cultivate the habit of truly "seeing" Emperuman, instead of merely looking at Him as a showcase doll. This sort of experience which dedicated devotees undergo is extremely difficult to describe to third-parties. To sceptics who might feel all this to be exaggeration and embellishment, Sri Nammazhwar's advice is to look at the Lord through his (Azhwar's) eyes and heart, viz., eyes filled with devotion and a heart brimming with love and affection-"en nenjinaal nokki kaaneer". " Cast away your glances full of avarice, scepticism, half-belief and insincerity and look at the glorious Lord through eyes like mine, filled with genuine emotions, and you would definitely see Him truly and experience the indescribable bliss it affords" says Sri Nammazhwar to us, in a homily worth its weight in gold.
Finding his plodding friend seeing everything that he himself does, but not deriving the same incisive and didactic insights therefrom, Sherlock Holmes tells Watson, "Alas, Watson! You see, but you don't observe". Such is our plight too, it would appear. We do see the Lord, but we fail to let the spectacle make an indelible impression on us. The next time we stand before the Lord in any sannidhi, we would definitely find the difference if we try emulating even one-hundredth of the Azhwar's attitude.
Srimate Sri Lakshmi Nrisimha divya paduka sevaka Sri Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:
Courtesy Sri Sadagopan Iyengar Swami
No comments:
Post a Comment