Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Festival of Tiruvaimozhi

It is not just an honorary encomium to call Srirangam as Sri Vaikunta on Earth. It closely follows the descriptions of Sri Vaikunta given in Agamas. Great scholars like Parameswara Samhita Govindachariyar Swami were able to say the significance of each and every piece of the theological topology around - so I have heard it said by scholars. In Vedanta and Agamas there are descriptions of souls after death reaching through the path of Archiraadi, the Ultimate Divine Land. Archiraadi comes from the root 'archis', which means light. How very positive the very eschatology becomes! The picture of grim death is transformed into a journey through light!

But alas! we have left everything to the fag end of life, all things spiritual to be bothered only after 60th or 70th year. And before we turn 50 we incur all diseases and eye problem, ear problem, if we walk our body lags behind, we cannot attend to anything for long, too much strain is against doctor's advice and so on so on. Such is our involvement and luck!

'Hey! you do not know what cares, what problems, ... bread winning is tough... Job's demands rule large and thick! No time.. as if it is not enough, family worries raking'

Yea yea... of course... but no problem prevents us from long hours of watching cricket, our favorite cine shows, and and... Nothing wrong. World is full of different tastes. But sometime, if at all we care and stop and listen to this line of Nammalvar, "Before the brimming youth withers away, Temple of Mayon of abounding brilliance, wit and wisdom indeed to go and worship undelaying", if one really understands these lines and takes to heart to go to Srirangam, a rare scene indeed to be seen there during the month of Margazhi.

Day break, the cool fogs and the streaming chants of Thiruppavai making the very land of Srirangam as Sri Vaikuntam. Hot pongal and the pleasing morning rays beating rhythm with divine music and Sri Ranaganatha showing the path of liberation all through the month. Araiyars chanting and reciting the Divine Tamil of Divya Suris to Aranga! Who made it possible when? It was Thirumangaimannan. He built the wall around the town. Encircling Truth fashioned his Tamil. Sri Andal woke up the dormant devotion. The unwinking God was fully aware in His wakeful sleep. And Sri Ranganatha, the chasing lover of Tamil, is all attendence in His Divine Office when Tamil is pouring forth all around. Kaliyan was so fond of Nammalvar and his Tamil. He was waiting for an occasion. Once the divine voice spoke to him, 'Kaliyan! what is that you want?' Kaliyan said, 'You must hear our Alwar's Tiruvaimozhi beginning from Ekadasi of Sri Vaikunta.' So it started and so it is coming down. The Tamil planted by Kaliyan, watered by Nathamuni became Karpaga Vritcha in Sri Ramanuja's time, Tamil of Sanga blossoming as Tamil of Ranga.
Srirangam Mohanarangan 

***

Vedanta in Tamil - Coimbatore V Kuppuswamy Iyer's translation of Gita

At the start of the twentieth century a wonderful book of translation in Tamil has come out. It is the translation of Srimad Bhagavad Gita. Why this translation is wonderful, when more than one translation were coming out even in nineteenth century and even after this translation in the twentieth? It is because of the format and coverage of this attempt. This translation was by one V Kuppuswamy Iyer of Coimbatore. He is Villavarambal Kuppuswamy Iyer, who was a Vakkil in Coimbatore District Court in 1901 (the traditional year of publication given is Kali 5002).

The book runs to nearly 900 pages. Perhaps a further edition came out later which contains 995 pages in total published in two volumes. The slokas are given in grantha lipi, followed by word by word meaning in Tamil. Then follows explanatory elaborations which contain varied and many interpretations of great Acharyas and Commentators, sometimes in great detail and sometimes only the portions which bear on the differences. The author seems to have avoided as per his own declaration the caustic criticisms among various schools of thought. His approach seems to be a new one whereby we can see the varied perspectives on Gita slokas in a continuous narrative in Tamil. Perhaps he might have missed the detailed nuances of colloquy that happen back and forth across time between different schools. But it is a unique treat for the somewhat deep and common reader to get a feel of the variety without the heat of the difference. In the second volume Sri V Kuppuswami Iyer has done a great thing in the 18th chapter on the subject of Brahma Jnana. He has collected nearly all the relevant passages from the various Upanishads on the theme of Brahma Jnana and has given it in 60 pages as part of the elucidations. 

It is really astounding to see how many persons down the centuries have put forth their efforts in Vedanta in Tamil.
Srirangam Mohanarangan

***

Monday, February 17, 2020

Vedanta in Tamil and Sri Ramakrishna Math

I have been writing every now and then on the subject of Vedanta in Tamil. And this subject will not be complete and meaningful if we do not mention and praise with our full heart the glorious services of Sri Ramakrishna Math. Not only in Tamil, but in very many languages across India and all over the world, RK Math makes available in easy and accessible style the great scriptures of Hinduism. Accessible mainly to the lay public and common readers everywhere. In Tamil in the recent years a great feat has been accomplished by a monk of the Ramakrishna Order, viz., Swami Asutoshananda.

The main books basic and referential in Hinduism in a broad sense can be listed as the following three books - Upanishads, Sri Brahma Sutras, Srimad Bhagavat Gita. These three books have been termed as 'Three systems of books'. In Sanskrit it is termed as 'Prasthana Traya'. Ten Upanishads form the most referenced and universal out of a vast collection. Sri Brahma Sutras otherwise known as Vedanta Sutras, a systematic presentation of the core concepts of Upanishads. Again Sri Bhagavat Gita is a summary in poetic form of all important ideas of the Upanishads. All these three sets of books have been engaging great minds of our Hindu society belonging to different schools of conviction and as a result we have in our heritage many libraries of commentaries and meta-commentaries down the millennia. But in Tamil for the common people and lay public good and readable translations have been a recurring necessity. There have been excellent attempts to satisfy this need many times in premodern and modern days. (Sri Anna of R K Math Chennai, Sri Kuppuswamy Raju of Thanjavur) But now we can be satisfied that a solid attempt has been made by Swami Asutoshananda. Care for the common reader is so very evident in each and every page of the monk's efforts. 


Of course each and every book deserves praise from an eager reader. But what he has achieved in Brahma Sutras is so brilliant by way of communication and easy putting forth. It is not to say that there are not points to differ and argue between scholars but when viewed from what a common reader will be getting for the meagre price, it is wonderful. And the duty of a common reader of Hindu society, if not of any serious minded reader, begins with investing in such rare sets of the three books of reference.
Srirangam Mohanarangan

***

Holy Company

What is Satsanga?

It is just the narrow aisle behind the door in Tirukkovalur.
Just a space for one spanning for two accommodating standing for three and all together with the transcendent thrust as the four. All four in good unison consciousness. Such is good company.

The first entrance of spirituality is Satsang. And holy company is very precious and immeasurable. Is it for nothing that Sri Adisankara says 'by holy contact all wrong contacts wither away. Bad contacts gone make the intellect strong. When the intellect is strong and unshaken it is verily freedom in life.'

Holy company has the capacity to bring the Transcendent above alive on earth. Our Ego is the multiheaded snake Kaaliyan. To quell it we need the feet of Sri Krishna to dance on its heads. Holy company is verily those divine feet of Krishna. Sages are the sacred feet of the Supreme Soul. Sri Krishna Premi used to say in a talk. 'why do you bother that you are not having company? Resort to holy books. Great sages will meet you there in those pages. When you open Bhagavata the great Suka himself will come and talk to you. If you open Bharata the great Vyasa will give you company. You will never be alone.' Premi has a point in saying that.

In those times of old to meet holy company you have to travel physically, time-consuming and very exerting. But in our days how facile and helpful is technology! Kaliyuga is not all that bad. It has its benign aspects also. In Kali, the Divine Name and the Holy Company are very powerful. Whether we travel in person or we make virtual contacts modern science and technology have made things much more easier and joyful. It is up to us to put things in proper use. Take for instance Puri Jagannath ! How holy the land is! What association of Holy Personages! The great Chaitanya with his singing HariBol! Sri Ramakrishna brought some sand from the land of Brindavan to be laid in his Dakshineswar sadhana cottage. When he went there he saw divine visions. But when we visit we see only carts and trains, monkeys and birds only. Yea we have willfully closed our inner eyes and introvert ears. We have forgotten how to open them also. No problem. When the right time comes the buds will blossom! When the tunes from His flute reach our souls, the drooping shriveled hearts will light up and aflame again the journey will be resumed! Till that time perhaps we can play with pebbles.
Srirangam Mohanarangan

***

Sunday, February 16, 2020

Sri Parasara Bhattar and Thirunedunthandakam

An episode from the life of Sri Ramanuja. In his ripe old age Sri Ramanuja who was called Emberumaanaar asked somebody to go and fetch Sri Parasara Bhattar. Sri Parasara Bhattar was young then and so full of erudition and wisdom even in that young age. Seeing Sri Bhattar with eyes full of affection and kindness, Sri Ramanuja told everyone around to hold Sri Bhattar in high respect equal to himself. Sri Ramanuja then in a very affectionate tone told Sri Bhattar, "My child! I have become very old and there is a task yet to be finished. My age will not allow me to take that up. I am leaving that task to you. When time becomes ripe you must finish that task without fail. That task is nothing but bringing Sri Madhava Vedanti of Mysore to our Visishtadvaita Darsana. He is now busy and deep in Mayavada and he is an adept in all six systems. This is what I am leaving with you to finish and I believe you will do it.

Sri Parasara Bhattar was firm and he was waiting for an opportune time to initiate the task. Once an itinerant brahmin came to Sri Bhattar's residence and began to narrate his various experiences in different parts of the country. He began to talk about Sri Madhava Vedanti of Mysore and Sri Parasara Bhattar's attention grew keen. The itinerant person was saying that while conversing with Sri Madhava Vedanti, he dropped a reference about Sri Parasara Bhattar himself and the said Vedanti became very much interested to know more about Sri Bhattar. As a consequence, the itinerant person seemed to have briefed the Vedanti about the voracious studies and erudition of Sri Bhattar in all known subjects. When Sri Bhattar heard this he just smiled and observed, 'why Sir? you have just narrated about me only those details which are ordinary and not of much significance. You are a person of great civility having visited very many cities and towns. A person of culture and exposure like you should be able to specify the most extraordinary qualifications of a person, while introducing him to another reputed scholar. Whereas you have left out what is extraordinary in my acquisitions and just described about me only the ordinary things which are common everywhere in the scholarly world.'

The itinerant person was taken aback and said that he would be doing amends the next time. But first he must know for himself what is that extraordinary thing about Sri Bhattar's erudition. Sri Bhattar told him about his deep involvement and knowledge in a particular work of Sri Thirumangai Alwar, viz., 'Thirunedunthandakam'. It was a poetical work of deep theological import containing some thirty verses in all. But the meanings of the work when elucidated are really deep and vast. The next time when the itinerant person met Sri Madhava Vedanti in Mysore, he unfailingly remembered to mention this fact about Sri Bhattar to him. Sri Vedanti was very much intrigued and he began to wonder 'what is this scholar in Srirangam! He is so thorough and deep in such a work, even the name of which is unheard of by me! My God!'

And in his round of holy visits to temples and towns the itinerant person came to Srirangam again and updated Sri Bhattar about the dismay and wondering of Sri Vedanti. Sri Parasara Bhattar after some days set out to Mysore with the aim of meeting Sri Vedanti and holding discussions with him. People who knew about Sri Vedanti told Sri Bhattar that he could not just like that go and visit Sri Vedanti, for, the disciples of Sri Vedanti will never allow him to go past themselves and approach the main Scholar. They would engage him in endless arguments and circles of debates and vex him even for months together. So how then to approach him? The only way seemed to be going incognito as if for alms, in the beggars' queue. This queue will not be inspected by anybody and what more, the said Vedanti himself used to attend doling out alms personally.

So Sri Bhattar went like an ordinary person-in-need in that queue and when he was nearing where the great Pandit was standing, Sri Bhattar broke the queue and went straight towards the Pandit. Everybody was crying at him. 'Hey this way this way, go for alms there!'. But Sri Bhattar was intent at his target. Sri Madhava Vedanti was also perplexed at the very strange behaviour of this man of alms. He asked him, 'What bhiksha do you want?' Sri Bhattar replied, "Traka bhiksha. It is the alms of debate which I want and not of any food.'

Then and there they sat for discussion and the debate went on for days, both sides silently appreciating in their hearts the extraordinary erudition of each other. At last, as the great Bhagavan willed it, things became suddenly so very clear in his dreams for Sri Vedanti and after that he became just a silent admirer and enthusiast of Sri Bhattar. Sri Vedanti wanted to follow his new found Master back to Srirangam. But Sri Bhattar desisted and told Sri Vedanti to take all his time in absorbing the changed perspective in full. And in more composed times and confirmed moods to take proper decisions.

When Sri Parasara Bhattar reached back Srirangam, he went straight to the shrine of Sri Ranganatha and began to narrate everything that happened to the Lord. It was his custom always to do so, after visiting any place and coming back, to go and report to the Lord personally. And it was the day prior to the start of Pagalpatthu - Day Ten festival of Sri Vaikunta Ekadasi. Sri Ranganatha asked him how he won over the Pandit. 'It was by the merit of explicating Thirunedunthandakam my Lord!' was Sri Bhattar's reply. Hence the hoary custom of Thirunedunthandakam chanting being held before the start of Pagalpatthu even to this day.
Srirangam Mohanarangan

***

Sunday, February 09, 2020

Sri Ramana Maharishi - some thoughts on

Sri Ramana Maharishi, I came to know when I was a boy through the book of Sri Ramana Vijayam, written by Yogi Suddhanandha Bharathi in Tamil. Excellent photos of Bhagavan and the Arunachala Hills and caves were enchanting to the eyes and engaging the mind. In the front even Yogi's photo was such an aura.

Invariably, all spiritual personages were given those days in books, a circular-light background to the head. So in the school days, the natural idea was spirituality means something fantastic, suffusing with brilliance, light and rays. It was more optical and luminary. After reading epic-like narrations of Yogi about Maharishi it added all the more to the irradiance. Even now Yogi's 'language' is unforgettable.

And that too, appendixed by my father's memory of meeting Bhagavan, added still more to the depth of the event of my getting introduced to the Ramana's loka. My father Mr R Venugopal, used to have a photo of himself acting the part of Prince of Morocco from Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, , where the still portrays the moment of the dialogue -- "Hey pluck the young sucking-cubs from the she-bear"- when he was showing the action of gripped right fist across his chest, along his left eye.

I asked him one day, 'why do you keep this photo always in your purse?' Then he was telling it carries a story, associated with Sri Ramana Maharishi. I was all eager and babbled out - 'have you seen him? did you talk to him? what did he say? what did you ask?'

My father was saying, "cool boy cool. There was no talk and questions. Once I went to the Hills to have his Darshan. First day it didn't click. Second day I tried, thinking, if not that time then to return back home, visiting temples. Fortunately I found entry among the devotees sitting in front. It was uniquely calm to watch him and just sit there. For some purpose, I took out my purse to take or place something there. Perhaps Bhagavan was seeing that, I do not know. This photo, a still of the just-staged play, I was keeping it there. He asked for the photo and stared at it for a moment. Then doing the same action in the photo by folding his fist and looking at me, he returned it. I consider this as his blessing and am keeping it as the sacred memory."

*

A Thiruppugazh on Thirumal

A rare song of the genre 'thiruppugazh' on Thirumaal. This is my translation of the piece -

You created this world
you recovered this world
you saved this world
you measured this world
you swallowed this world
not only that
you brought this world out again
you have been born in this world
and you have taken form
similar to the beings of this world
and you have become the goal
of all the religions sixfold as a sport
to suit the tastes and understandings
of all the worlds triune
sustaining ever
is it possible for me, a slave
to extol and praise your grace
and narrate the great acts
of your incarnations
done for our protection?
when the cows and oxen hedged in their yards
were driven asunder by the fiery rains,
seeing their plight you rushed
and took a mountain aloft as a shelter
for the pining kine
are you not one tall form of Love, my Lord!
You were born in Madura
famous for swans beautifully asleep in ponds
and the musician-bees ringing
lisps of sweet ragas while exploring
the buds of lotuses in the morn"

This is my translation of one old Tamil Thiruppugazh song sung by one Kuravai Iraamaanuja Dasar written about 1850 and published in 1857 and again in 1897. This forms part of his work which is called Noorriyettutthiruppathi thiruppugazh - a composition on 108 temples of Thirumaal. The original of this verse is as follows -

உலகுப டைத்திடந்திவ் வுலகமெ டுத்தளந்திவ்
வுலகம டுத்தருந்தி
யொழியாதே
யுலகம றித்துமிழ்ந்திவ் வுலகுத னிற்பிறந்திவ்
வுலகுயி ரொத்து நின்று
நிலையாகும்
அலகில்ச கத்ரயங்க ளவரவ ருக்கிணங்கி
யறுசம யத்தினின்று
விளையாடி
யருள்புரி ரட்சகங்க ளுனதுச ரித்திரங்க
ளடியனெ டுத்தியம்ப
வசமாமோ
பலகிடை யிற்கிடந்த பசுநிறை தட்டழிந்து
பதறவி டுத்திடுங்கன்
மழைமாரி
படுமொரு விர்த்திகண்டு மலைகுடை யிட்டுநின்று
பரிபவ ரட்சைதந்த
நெடுமாலே
மலர்வன சத்தரும்பும் முகையவி ழக்குடைந்து
மழலைவ ரிச்சுரும்ப
ரிசைபாட
மடவெகி னக்குலங்கள் விழிதுயில் பொற்பிலங்கு
வடமது ரைப்பிறந்த
பெருமாளே !

My homage to Thiru Kuravai Iraamaanuja Dasar! (and Thiru S E Arangasamy Mudaliyar who brought this out in 1897)

***

Four kinds of knowers as Thirumoolar says

How many ways of knowing are there! The great mystic of Siva, Thirumoolar speaks about many types of knowers.

Some knowers are like rainy water. They are always reductive. They reduce everything to mundane level and interpret accordingly. Some are like pearl-divers. They dive in one place and go on exploring in one square. Some are like winds. When knowing they go about vast areas, without staying-put anywhere. They like to spread and spread always. May be their grasp of anything is shallow. Some are really knowers with clarity. They are precise and clear in their understanding.

So as per Thirumoolar we can classify knowers into four types. Rainy-knowers, Diving-knowers, Windy-knowers and Clear-knowers. Shall we say the formula is RDWC? 

Rainy-knowers - thaLi arivaaLar
Diving-knowers - kuLi aRivaaLar
Windy-knowers - vaLi aRivaaLar
Clear-knowers - theLi aRivaaLar

Sri Thirumoolar says Rainy-knowers (thaLi aRivaaLar) are like rain-water which always flow towards low levels. For them the Ultimate Truth looks always banal and materialistic.

Diving-knowers (kuLi aRivaaLar) concentrate always in one point and one angle and they lose sight of the whole.

Windy-knowers (vaLi aRivaaLar) always go about roaming and blowing here and there, around. So they may by chance get at the Truth, perhaps. May be they may not hold on to that.

Clear-knowers (theLi aRivaaLar) are those who are in grasp of the Ultimate Truth. The Truth resides in their thought.

First I will give my attempt in translating the verse and then the original.

For the Rainy-knowers It appears as if mundane and reductive
For the Diving-knowers the Whole Truth evades their grasp
For the Windy-knowers perhaps by chance they may come across
For the Clear-knowers He the Ultimate Truth resides in their thought.
(Thirumanthiram, 51 Theertham, 510, pp 74, Saiva Siddhanta Mahasamajam, 1940)

தளியறி வாளர்க்குத் தண்ணிதாய்த் தோன்றும்
குளியறி வாளர்க்குக் கூடவும் ஒண்ணான்
வளியறி வாளர்க்கு வாய்க்கிலும் வாய்க்கும்
தெளியறி வாளர்தம் சிந்தையு ளானே.

(This is just my attempt in understanding the verse. Great scholars can kindly excuse.)

***

A Tamil translation of Bhana

More than 500 years ago, a Tamil scholar and poet decided to translate in Tamil Bana Bhatta's Kadhambari in honeyed verses. In the intro-verses he himself says that in the Kali year 4562 he composed his Tamil verse translation. But why it didn't come out and become famous among scholars, no body knows. It has all the qualities to become a fond work of deep readers. Tamil is so excellent and resonating in its inherent elements. You begin to forget that the work is a translation.

The great scholar-poet was one Vaazhavandha Perumal. But even time could not stop the work seeing the light of day in 1912. A rare manuscript was with one Vakkil at Srirangam. He was Sri J Krishnayyangar. He asked the Tamil Pandit Sri P R Krishnamachariyar and Srirangam High School Tamil Pandit Guru Subbiramaniya Iyer to do a prose rendering of the same Tamil work. and got both the verses and the prose published in 1912 through The Wednesday Review Press at 'Trichinopoly' as Thiruchirappalli was so called at that time. My humble respects to J Krishnaiyangar of Srirangam. But for him perhaps we would not have come to know of such a work. He has really pleaded in the court of Time.

Even the verses indited as prayers in the beginning bespeak the fertile Tamil of Sri Vazhavandha Perumal.

பொன்கொண்ட நேமிப் புயல் பூமகள் புல்லிவாழும்
மின்கொண்ட மார்பன் எழுபார் சதுவேதனோடு
முன்கண்ட நாபி முதன்மூவகை மூர்த்தியான
என்கண்ட கோமான் இருபாதம் இறைஞ்சலுற்றேன்.

சொல்லும் பொருளும் கனியும் சுவையும் சுடரும்
எல்லும் சசியும் நிசியும் இயலும் இசையும்
ஒல்லும் உடலும் உயிரும் எனநாளும் ஒன்றிச்
செல்லும் பரசத்தி சிவன்றனைச் சிந்தை செய்வாம்.

முன்னான் முகனாவில் இருந்து மொழிந்த வேதம்
தன்னால் உலகம் தழைப்பித்தருள் தையல் துய்ய
நன்னாமம் என்னாளும் நவின்று நவின்று வாழும்
என்னா உளதாக எனக்கரி தாய துண்டே.

செங்கோல மேனிச் சிவனார் திருமைந்தன் எங்கள்
பங்கோன் முராரி மருகன்கடம் பற்கு முன்னோன்
வெங்கோப வேழ முகவன்வினை வேர றுக்கும்
எங்கோனடி சேர்பவர் இந்திரன் என்ன வாழ்வோர்.

மஞ்சுண்ட கோல மயிலுண்டு அயில் வேலும் உண்டு
துஞ்சுண்டு இனிநான் மறலிக்கு உயிர் தோற்பதுண்டோ
நஞ்சுண்டநாதர் மகனார் திருநாமம் உண்டு
நெஞ்சுண்டு பாட நினைவுண்டு அதி நேயமுண்டே.

So the mellifluous Tamil goes on and on. What better sweets can we add on this day, except to think of such poets and readers and literary enthusiasts of the old!

***

A book on 'seven appropriates'

A good book is more beautiful than any beauty so called. Two such books written in Sanskrit make the beauty limitless. The two books are Sapta Saamanjasi prakaranam by Araiyar SriRama Sarma and Thrisankhu, a book of modern poetry in Sanskrit by the poet Sri D D Bahulikar. The second I will write about later. Now the first -

Sri Araiyar SriRama Sarma of Melkote has written Sapta SaamanjasI Prakaranam. It deals with a theme related to Sri Bhashya of Sri Ramanuja.

In Visishtadvaitic philosophy or even in Vedantic parlance in general there is a way of expressing the ultimate import of theology as such in terms of Five Major Themes called Artha Panchaka. Those five themes are the Transcendent Ultimate Reality, the Soul, the Way that should be trodden by the Soul to reach the Ultimate Goal, the Final Goal to be realised by the Soul and the Impediments that block the attainment of the Soul. In short we can say Brahman, Jivan, Upaya, Upeya and Virodhi are the five topics of Theology. The whole Sri Bhashya, which is the commentary of Sri Ramanuja on the Brahma Sutras of Veda Vyasa explicates in various ways how the Five Topics are sufficiently and precisely explained by the Sastras be it Upanishads or the Brahma Sutras.

Araiyar SriRama Sarma concentrating mainly on these five topics and their relevant places of conclusive elucidations signified by the use of the phrase 'Saamanjasam' (i. e. a traditional way of denoting that the said point has been sufficiently and precisely dealt with hereby). In addition to these five places there are two other places in Sri Bhashya where Sri Ramanuja explicitly uses the expression Saamanjasam denoting that the point explained has been sufficiently dealt with. Araiyar Ji has taken care to formalise his whole exposition and narration of all these seven places, where the Great Commentator has expressed openly about the sufficiency of elucidation. And it is really a feast for any serious student of theology in general and Visishtadvaitic Theology in particular.

'atra sarIraka mImAmsa samAkyE brahmasUtrE, arthapanchakam pramEyam kutra katam nirUpitam asti iti srI bhAshyasUktibhi: Eva nirUpaNam saptasaAmanjasI prabandhasya uddEsyam'

'here the intent of this treatise is to provide proof of how the Five Topics of Theology (Arthapanchakam) have been proved to be the subject matter of the whole Sariraka Mimamsa called by the name Brahma Sutras' (translation mine)

This forms the intent and purpose of Araiyar SriRama Sarma Ji. And I was so much gladdened by the simple and beautiful style of Araiyar Ji, the Sailee as it is called in Sanskrit circles.

He is not exposed to modern book presentation formats or styles of presentation. He has been a traditional right from his own boyhood days of learning at the feet of Guru. But the way he has presented his treatise so much matches the modern style. He states specifically what he intends and in what way he is going to present his matter, everything at the outset and prepares the reader for what follows. And he is very much awake to his initial promise right through out.

Academy of Sanskrit Research, Melkote has done a wonderful thing by bringing out this valuable book. And for all that the price is a mere Rs forty four. Sapta SaamanjasI Prakaranam, by Araiyar SriRama Sarma, Academy of Sanskrit Research, Melkote, 571431,

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Knowledge of Sastras and mental peace

What is learning if the learning does not lead a person towards the supreme reality of existence? What is knowledge if it is not liberating human beings from illusion and bondage?

saa vidya: yaa vimuktayE - that is knowledge which makes one free.

kaRRadanAl Aya payan enkol?
vAlaRivan naRRAL tozhAr enin? (Tirukkural)

- what is the purpose or use of study? if one does not worship the naRRaaL - Good Feet, of Absolute Knower?

DarsanOdaya is a great book written in Sanskrit on the subject of Darsanas in general. It raises a valid and pertinent question - why do persons learn Darsanas or Sastras? What is the result of such a study? How can we identify a person who has learnt multivarious studies, Darsanas or Sastras?

The one identification of such a person will be 'calmness' 'being quiet' Saanthi.

No anger, no rancour, no mental agitation will you find in such a person who has devoted his time towards the study of Saastras or Darsanas.

DarsanOdayA quotes the following verse from Mahabharata -

samArtham sarva sAstrANi vihitAni manIshibhi: |
sa Eva sarvasAstrajna: yasya sAntam manassadA ||
yat srutam na virAgAya na dharmAya na sAntayE |
subaddhamapi sabdEna kAkavAsitam Eva tat ||

'The meaning of all Sastras is verily calmness and being content - so deem persons intelligent.

That person is called 'knower of all sastras' whose mind is always calm and quiet.

What is learnt, if it has not led one towards detachment, towards ethical living, towards mental peace, then such a learning is just a cry of crows, however beautiful the words and sentences are constructed in that learning'.
(trans mine)

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Resonance of meditations

Resonance of meditations -

"To invoke God as a blanket explanation of the unexplained is to make God the friend of ignorance. If God is to be found, it must surely be through what we discover about the world, not what we fail to discover." - Paul Davies, Physicist.

"God is realised through Knowledge attaining the form of passionate devotion." - Sri Ramanuja.

"Only through Knowledge comes emancipation" - Dictum of Shastras.

Just pondering over the resonance between different words !

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Efforts on epics by uncle and nephew

Sometimes the uncle and nephew combination works in a great way in history. One person, who is the uncle is a great poet. He has sung the great epic Ramayana in a shortened form as 'Sangraha Ramayanam'. His name is Narayanaswamy Iyer. It was in, say, before 1908. In about 1000 stanzas in Tamil Mr Narayanasswami Iyer has wrought a miracle. The diction is chaste and the flow is streaming and the imagination is cool. One example is when Hanuman returns back to Sri Rama after seeing Seetha Devi. The famous line in Kambar starts with 'Kanadanan' 'Have seen'. So also here in Sangraha Ramayanam

கண்டனன் சனகன் குலமானைக்
கடுவா யரவங் கலைமதியை
யுண்டா லனைய முகத்தாளை
உணவுன் உணர்வாய் உடையாளை
வண்டார் பொழில்சூழ் இலங்கைநகர்
வனத்தோர் மரத்தின் வடமுகமாய்த்
தண்டா மரையா லுலகேழுந்
தந்தா யெந்தாய்த் தவநிலையை.

Seen the dearest girl of Janaka
with face sorrow-engulfed
like the moon swallowed by the nodes
Her only food is awareness of Thee
seated in the grove under a tree
of Lanka facing the direction north
seven-fold world begotten by Thee
through a Lotus yea I have seen
austerity itself as a form. (Tr mine)

Mr Narayanaswamy Iyer's nephew was one Govindaswamy Iyer. The nephew has written a beautiful life history of the great teacher of Advaita, Sri Sankara. His work is Sankara Vijayam in 767 verses in Tamil. How both are competing each other in diction style and rhythmic flow of poetic fibre! This book came in 1909. One example is when Govinda Yogi teaches Sri Sankara -

நான்கு மாமறை முடிப்பொருள் நான்கையும் நவின்று
வான்க ருப்பொரு ளொன்றிட உத்திகள் வழங்கித்
தான்கு றிப்பொடு பிரணவப் பொருளினைச் சாற்றி
ஊன்க ழித்திடு யோகமுந் தெளிவுற உரைத்தார்.

Teaching the great four Mahavakyas of the four Vedas and instructing on the methods of gaining the nondual identity and giving the secret special teachings about Pranavam and clarifying the salient steps of non-bodiness in Yogic practice Govinda Yogi taught the Great Teacher. (tr mine)

Such an uncle and such a nephew... sometimes it happens so. Is it not?

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Management theory some thoughts

The Management Science has been dealing so far with the question leadership vs management. Who is a leader? who is a manager? and like that. Now at last it seems management studies have striken paydirt by taking up the question of Followership.

The old adage goes - who knows how to obey knows how to lead. The art of intelligent obedience and following and definitely not the blind toeing. Good followership must be able to intuit the mind of leader. Not only that good followership knows how to park the ego with no loss to dignity in the dynamic flow towards efficient and effectual process. (Perhaps Sri Ramanuja can make you think not only as a manager, not simply as a leader but more so as an efficient follower when he says - Seshatva is having its pratikodi in Seshitva) That means a good and intelligent follower implies and presumes a true leader.

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But 'followership' vis a vis 'Leadership', if it should not become reductive in understanding towards cultish behaviour and if really scientific understanding should happen in the context of organisations and business, another aspect equally important is that of 'Dissenting' or 'Deviant perception' or 'differing in view'. How a leader relates to this equally creative voice as that of intelligent follower matters not less. The art of intelligent followership is a great task. And equally tough and crucial is the task of 'meaningful dissent'. Being passionate towards impersonal vision and being intelligent and aware in personal relationships, motivated and defined by the vision and energised by the goal and results calls for great personal and group intuitive empathy and order which results from such intuitiveness.

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Reading Ayn Rand again

Do we understand deeply when we are unto something thick with emotional? Or do we need some distance to go deep into anything? Emotions make one feel intense and intimate. But to go deep and map the contours I think a free mind unbiased helps much more. 'Biased' need not be always against but can be also 'attuned'.

After a long gap of time and interest I saw the opening lines of Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. What a sheer poetry! But why did I lose it before in those days when I was emotionally so intimate with the book? When the whole passages used to chime in memory at the drop of any excuse.. Does passionate holding on to anything blinds us to the facts facing us? Mind in its working is always a mystery.

'Howard Roark laughed.
He stood naked at the edge of a cliff.
The lake lay far below him.
A frozen explosion of granite burst in flight to the sky over motionless water.
The water seemed immovable, the stone flowing. The stone had the stillness of one brief moment in battle when thrust meets thrust and the currents are held in a pause more dynamic than motion.
The stone glowed, wet with sunrays.
The lake below was only a thin steel ring that cut the rocks in half.
The rocks went on into the depth, unchanged. They began and ended in the sky. So that the world seemed suspended in space, an island floating on nothing, anchored to the feet of the man on the cliff.
His body leaned back against the sky.
It was a body of long straight lines and angles, each curve broken into planes.
He stood, rigid, his hands hanging at his sides, palms out.
He felt his shoulder blades drawn tight together, the curve of his neck, and the weight of the blood in his hands.
He felt the wind behind him, in the hollow of his spine.
The wind waved his hair against the sky.
His hair was neither blond nor red, but the exact color of ripe orange rind.
He laughed at the thing which had happened to him that morning and at the things which now lay ahead.'
(Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead, Opening lines)

How controlled and puissant are the lines flowing like the molten steel before becoming ingots jolting the index of industry!

The unusual juxtapositions of the stream vs the stone and the granite and the human presence firmly footing - suggesting the axial change of perspective going to come out in the novel.

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The language and the twist

Do you think along with Cleanth Brooks that the language of paradox is the very soul of poetry? Poetry includes all angles but eludes any straight-jacket, it seems. When you read T S Eliot's lines

"And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street
Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;.."

Sheer incongruity made so beautiful! Yellow smoke rubbing its back upon the window-panes! Or again

"Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question…"

We have felt the streets and the questions separately. But when the poetry makes a connection, a paradox...mm yea...one is tempted to half agree.

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The real person

Suppose you are meeting a person and the person is sitting right in front of you. Suddenly you begin to say that that person is gone and asking, exclaiming with people around 'where has he gone? He is no more here...' like that. People will laugh at you. They will say, 'Hey man, are you blind? or out of mind? He is there just in front as he was before when he began to talk and you are saying he has gone... what..!

It is totally meaningless, totally out of place. It doesn't fit in. You begin to seem instantly quixotic.

But why when a person is lying dead, when you say 'he has gone... he is no more....he just gone...' nobody is mocking at you saying, 'hey man are you mad? he is just here, just in front of you, just lying on the floor... why do you say he has gone... he is very much here... this is the person with whom you were seeing talking sitting....don't you see..

Yeah... this is his body... but he has gone...

Why baba... we have been talking only to this body... only with this form we have been doing business. And that person is very much here lying.

But his soul is not there.....

Soul ...? who is that? we have not seen him so far, not talked with that soul, what form we have been transacting with is very much available right here now. Why do you posit an unseen, unrelated thing as 'Soul' anew now in this instant and claim that the person was that soul?

A person whom we have seen with our very eyes we say 'has gone' -

A person whom we have never met or seen or talked we say that person was along with us transacting till now.

Lie after lie belying the lying down. 

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A good researcher

A good researcher is one who allows his subject of study to become eloquent by itself, by his adroit handling of documents and reference-materials. But hasty ones are too impatient and thereby become themselves eloquent about their subjects, in the meanwhile their subjects of study becoming all too dull and dumb. Gilles Deleuze, a famous philosopher, expressed his opinion about Michel Foucault in this manner --

"You were the first to teach us something absolutely fundamental: the indignity of speaking for others."

Brilliant! But perhaps there is another side. How many are able to talk for themselves?. Altruism is bad when imposed but a help is timely in need also. Yea there are many shades of course.

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