Oct 31: The Lord’s Compassion
The Satsang on October 31st started off with Nama Kirtan by Sri Ramani Rajaraman and his family. This was followed by Ms. Chitra’s beautiful speech on the compassion of the Lord.
All of us know that the Lord is an embodiment of Compassion. All of us are the children of that one Supreme Lord. The Lord treats everyone of us equally. Although all of us are His kids, he favors some of them. A mom has 10 kids. Although she loves every one of them, she showers more love to the one who obeys it and does as per her bidding.
This is the Age of Kali. Everything is corrupted. The minds are evil. However, it is in this Age that the Lord can be pleased by Nama Kirtan.
Innumerable sages and saints have shown us this path. We have been led by these great Mahans and a great Guru. And they have taught us this easy path of Nama Kirtan.Human mind always looks for shortcuts. If that is the case, then what is the easiest way to receive the Lord’s grace? Nama Kirtan is the shortcut. We have heard about Shyamantaka Mani, Kamadenu and the Kalpaka Vruksha which can grant us anything. Similarly, Nama is that precious thing that can give us anything both spiritually and materially. We read in Nama Dwaar, so many devotees whose wishes have come true because of Nama Kirtan.
Today, let us see the life of one such great devotee:
In Pandharpur there lived a devotee called Senanayi. He was a barber by profession. He constantly performed Nama Kirtan. He was very honest.
It was a royal practice that the king’s hair had to be dressed before he came to the court everyday. He was searching for the right person to do the job. The citizens unanimously proposed Senanayi’s name owing to his devotion to God, calmness and guileless disposition. The king gave Senanayi the job.
There was a rule that someone who does royal service cannot work elsewhere. So the king provided him with all the necessities for life. Senanayi would spend sometime in hair-dressing for the king and the rest of the time in Nama Kirtan.
One day, when Senanayi got ready to go for his work, a group of Sadhus passed by singing “Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare” He saw that there was still time to go to the palace. He joined them and lost himself in the Nama Kirtan.
Those who were envious of him went to the palace and told the already restless king that Senanayi would not come. The king asked for the reason.
They said, “Senanayi has joined with ten other people singing the glory of the Lord. When we reminded him of his duties, he said that he did not care!’The king was red with fury. He decided that he will have his hair dressed some other day and rushed to the well to get a quick bath.”
There was Senanayi standing humbly with the kit in his hand. The king was pleasantly surprised as he had just heard that Senanayi was performing Bhajan elsewhere. Senanayi gently said that he had been waiting there for a long time.
‘Anyway’, the king said, ‘Quick! Make my hair up. It is getting late.’
Senanayi took water in his hand and applied it on the king’s head. Immediately, the king’s body had a shiver. He had a wonderful experience.
He asked, ‘Senanayi. What is happening? I am having a divine experience today.’ Saying so, the king continued to take Senanayi’s hand and repeatedly place it on his own head.
Suddenly the king saw a divine sight. The astonishingly beautiful form of Sri Krishna, cross-legged, adorned with peacock feathers in the head and garland on the neck, playing the flute, (just like we sing ‘murali manditha kara kamalam munijana mohanam, vyatyasta padam vanamala dharniam’) came in front of him for an instant and disappeared.
Back in the court, he kept recounting the beautiful divine form he saw and talking to himself about it The ministers suspected that the king had become lunatic and decided that he had to be treated. Just then, the actual Senanayi arrived.
Immediately, the king requested him to show him the divine form again. Senanayi was confused. He admitted he had not turned up that morning as he was in the Bhajan.
The king said, “No! You came this morning! You touched me and I experienced that wonderful bliss!”.
It was then that Senanayi realized that the Lord Himself had come and done his job that morning.
The Almighty will do anything for us when we perform Nama Kirtan.
Ramana Paatti (who was mentioned about in the “Satsang wired! Week-1” article) was present in the satsang! Sri Ramaniji introduced Ramana Patti and shared a few incidents about Ramana Maharshi that she had shared with them on Sri Swamiji’s Jayanti day.
Bhagavan Ramana: What belongs to me?
Bhagavan Ramana: Kavyakanta Ganapati Muni
Bhagavan Ramana: Bhagavan’s culinary
This was followed by announcements about Poornimaji’s satsang programs.
The program then ended with a 5-minute Nama Kirtan by Ramaniji and Aparnaji.
Oct 24: Guru Bhakti
The Satsang on 24th October saw about 25 devotees on the telecon. Nrithi, Priya and Lalithaji from Seattle led the first 10 minutes of Nama. The Nama Kirtan was followed by a discourse by Sri Narayanaswamyji of Seattle. In his discourse, he underlined the importance of a Gruu in everyone’s life. He spoke about the glory of the Sadguru.
He said that when the Lord decides to shower compassion to the jivas, he takes the form of a Sadguru. Krishna is verily the form of a sadguru – ‘Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum’. Similarly, Lord Shiva, comes in the form of a Sadguru as Lord Dakshinamurthy. Every other deity in our religion is worshipped as a Satguru. Aruna Giri Nathar, a great poet and devotee of Lord Muruga requests Lord Muruga to come in the form of a Sadguru – ‘guruvaai varuvaai arulvaai guhane’.
What does a Guru do? The grace of a Guru can transform even the dumbest of the brains into most knowledgeable one. All of us know of the story of Sri Giri – Giri was the disciple of Sri Adi Sankara who did all the ‘kainkarya’ for his Guru. Once a class was supposed to start and Adi Sankara, for some reason kept waiting. When the other disciples questioned, Adi Sankara mentioned that he was waiting for Giri to come. Hearing this, the other disciples chuckled, for they thought that Giri would not, anyway, not understand a bit of the lesson. Witnessing this, a deluge of grace poured forth from the heart of Adi Shankara. He felt pity for Giri, who was then washing his Guru’s saffron clothes in the riverbed. This very grace, blessed Giri with abundant knowledge. In a fit of ecstasy, Giri started chanting the ‘Thotakashtakam’ in praise of his Guru. All of us know that this particular piece of poetry is one of the masterpieces of literary excellence. Thus, by merely thinking of a disciple, a Guru can illuminate him with Supreme Knowledge.
Some might question – when the Lord is so personal, why should there be someone between the devotee and the Lord. What is the need for a middleman, called Guru? When the Jiva is not able to distinguish the difference between the ‘sat’ and the ‘asat’. The Truth and the untruth, dharma and adharma, divine and the non-divine, it is the Guru who shows the right way to the Jiva.
Is every other person in a saffron garb a Guru? In tamil, a beautiful distinction exists, between a true Guru and a quack – ‘Pizhaikka Vandavan’ (the one who comes to earn his living) is a quack – who recommends different kinds of atonement, extorts money and feeds himself. The true Guru is ‘Pizhaikka vaikka vandavan’ – The one who has come to rescue others! (From the pangs of Samsara).
A true Guru is selfless. He does not expect anything for himself, and at any cost follow swadharma. Once the divine sage of Kanchi His Holiness Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswati Swamiji (Sri Paramacharya) turned down the offering of a huge sum of money by some devotee, who donated it for the sake of the Mutt. There are very few selfless true Gurus.
We are in fact blessed with a rare opportunity to be living as contemporaries to a number of such divine souls. Being the eve of the Jayanti of Sri Sadguru Maharaj, let us pray to the Almighty to bless us with more and more satsang, Guru Bhakti and Bhagavat Bhakti.’
The Satsang also bade farewell to Sri Narayanaswamyji who was traveling back to India.
This was followed by Sri Narayan Daveji of Houston inviting the devotees for the Bhagavata Saptaham that is planned to be held at Houston between the 22nd and 28th of November, 2008.
Sri Sri Swamiji’s Jayanti celebrations were also announced.
The satsang ended with Mahamantra Kirtan and prayers for two devotees.
The Divine Name and its Owner care for us
‘This is something concerning my work. We were executing a software project for a customer which happened to be the US government. As a part of the project we were supposed to fill in a few empty columns with data and send it across. There were 5 columns (fields) to fill in. But somehow, I had ignored the last one, and I just filled in four of them and sent it across. It was only later that I discovered I had missed out the last one. I did not make a big deal out of it, nevertheless, felt guilty for my oversight.
The project was executed. To my pleasant surprise, recently, the government announced that they no more required the fifth column data and they would not consider it for their use! When I heard this announcement from them, I was overjoyed! It seemed as if the announcement was very much tailor-made to cover up my flaw! And this happened even without my praying and requesting for it.
Such incidents may seem very trivial in our daily life. But it gives us more and more insight to the fact that the Divine Name and its Owner will automatically take care of us every single moment of our life.’
- Sriram, Texas.
Oct 17: Narada’s gift for us
The satsang on October 17th saw about 25 participants.
The preliminary Nama Kirtan was led by Mrs. and Sri Ramani Rajaraman from Los Angeles. After about 10 minutes of Nama Kirtan and introductions, we started off with the satsang.
The following is the gist of the Satsang provided by Narayanan:
‘ It is said that the Vedas is the rulebook of the Lord and the Lord executes His activities according to the prescription of the Vedas. Based on one’s sins and merits, He gives one the share of his happiness and sorrow. Everything happens according to this. But we have seen so many Mahatmas singing the Lord as the most compassionate One! Does someone who does His own work be called as compassionate? Can a judge who pronounces a verdict based on his code of law be called compassionate?The reason He is being called compassionate, is that he wishes to take all the Jivas unto Himself. And this compassion is manifested in two forms – in the form of Sadhus and our satsang with the Sadhus.
Sadhus are not only selfless, they are also generous. They go to any heights to take the inflicted pains, to glorify a true devotee (Bhagavata) or to glorify the Lord. They suffer insult from different people, defaming their own name, towards glorifying others. Our Puranas have shown many such Sadhus – The Jaya-Vijaya – Sanatkumara Samvadha is well known. We know how Sage Durvasa was called the ‘angry man’ to highlight the Bhagavata Ambarisha. Similarly, Sage Narada, as a great Sadhu / Guru faced such a mockery, to give us something priceless. Let us see the story behind that.
Once Narada sat down for meditation on the foot hills of beautiful mountains with beautiful flowers blossomed. The entire environ was a gorgeous sight. He closed his eyes in meditation and hours and days and months flew by. Then when he woke up, he overheard two Gandharvas who passed by, speaking to each other, ‘look at this great Sage! He has been so much in control of his senses that he did not realize anything happening around him. How great is his concentration!’ Hearing this, Narada realized that truly he had done a great feat! He wanted to mention about this to everyone. He approached his father Lord Brahma, and excitedly told him, ‘Oh dad! I was able to gain so much concentration and meditated amidst numerous disturbances’. Brahma did not give any pleasant feedback. Narada was disappointed and walked to Kailash where he narrated his story of pride to Lord Shiva. Shiva said, ‘Fine son! Indeed a great task! But you are not supposed to talk about your Sadhana to anyone. You are supposed to keep it a secret!’. Narada was furious. He felt, there was no one that could appreciate his accomplishment. He then went to Vaikunta and narrated to Lord Sriman Narayana about his meditation. The Lord sounded extremely pleased and congratulated Narada on his efforts. Narada’s ego grew even more.
Haughty as he was, he thought he would tour the earth and came down. He came across a palace which bore a festive look. Grand arrangements were happening and Narada was curious to know what was up. He caught hold of the minister and asked for the reason behind the festivities. The minister told Narada that the princess of the kingdom was supposed to be given in wedding and the ‘swayamvara’ was supposed to be taking place the next day. Narada also took a glimpse of the princess.
He was taken aback by the stunning beauty of the young lady and wanted to himself take her hand in marriage! Narada knew that he would be chosen in the current ‘vesha’ (form) of his, as there were so many other handsome princes who he would be competing with. So he immediately rushed to Vaikunta.
He spoke to the Lord, ‘Oh Lord! I have accomplished quite a bit in my life. I have done a good deal of Sadhana. Now I am planning to lead the life of a householder. There is a beautiful princess whose svayamvara is going to be held tomorrow. And I would want to be transformed into the most handsome person on earth so that the princess may choose me. And you are the only one capable of transforming me.’ Reclining on the serpent bed, the Lord, with a smiling countenance replied, ‘So it be Narada! Worry not! You will be the most handsome person on earth tomorrow!’
Narada was happy. The next morning, Narada rushed to the palace. He seated himself in the front row, so as to attract the attention of the princess. When the princes walked down the hallway with the garland, she happened to see Narada’s countenance. That very moment, the princess was terrified. She threw the garland away and ran into the harem. All the other princes chuckled looking at Narada. Bemused, Narada did not know what was wrong. It was only when he checked out the mirror that he found his face was transformed to one of a monkey!
He was red in anger. After all, Lord Vishnu had cheated on him. He walked straight into Sri Vaikunta. Addressing the Lord, he said, ‘You have betrayed me! How would you, who has Goddess Lakshmi always by your feet, understand the cravings of a loner who wants to settled into a householder’s life? Here I curse you that you may descend to the Earth, take the life of a married man and be separated from your beloved. It is only then that you will understand my feelings!’
The Lord pleasantly listened to Narada’s fiery words. ‘So it be’, the Lord said. After all, he is the one who makes true, the words of a true devotee! He was unmoved. He kept smiling, waiting for Narada to regain his senses! Soon, Narada eventually realized His mistake. He felt miserable that he had cursed the Lord Himself! He begged for pardon and requested that his curse be retracted! Boon once given is given! So nothing could be done about it. Then Narada said, ‘Oh Lord! I am going to be ill-famed as the one who cursed the Lord, for ages and ages to come. I seek another boon from you, to wipe off this blemish off my name. I seek that your divine life-story and Name in that incarnation of yours be so holy that anyone who listens to it or chants it attains your feet immediately. While you fulfilled my earlier curse, pray fulfill this boon of mine too.’
And the Lord did fulfill this boon of Narada too. He did come down to earth as Rama and suffered hardship as per Narada’s curse. And the Lord also certified to Narada that the very Divine Name ‘Rama’ will grant liberation to one who chants it.
Thus Narada is that great Guru for all of us, who gave the Divine Rama Nama to all of us, showing us a path to liberation.
After the story, Poornimaji’s Bay area programs were discussed. This was followed by an Anubhava from Sriram, Texas.
Read the Anubhava here.
This was followed by Sri Narayan Dave’s announcement about the availability of accommodations for the Houston Saptaham and extending another invite to everyone.
Then the satsang ended with 5 minutes of Mahamantra Kirtan.
Oct 10: Bharata Pradakshina
The Friday tele-satsang on 10th October started with Nama Kirtan led by Ms. Chandra Balakrishnan. When the Nama Kirtan ended in 10 minutes, it was time for introductions.
All of us introduced ourselves. There were more than 30 devotees on the call. Then it was time for Satsangam. Sri Aravind of Orlando Florida gave a beautiful Satsang.
Someone asked our Swamiji, when there are so many countries in the world, why do so many Mahans take birth in India alone. Sri Swamiji replied that if you consider the whole world as a house, then the Bharata Bhoomi is like the Puja room. The Lord resides there. No wonder great Saints and Jnaanis are born here. All the saints have shown the path of Bhakti and Nama Kirtanam. While a home can have a puja room, the Prasad that is received from the Puja room can be consumed any where. Can’t it? The BhagavanNama is such a prasadam. It can be chanted anywhere without any constraints of time place or person.
I hail from the southern part of India. When someone asks who is my Guru, I say that He is Sri Muralidhara Swamiji. Where does He hail from? South India. Oh! ‘That is the reason’, people think. But the message being carried by my Guru is indeed the message being echoed across the country.
When my brothers do Nama Prachara in Hyderabad, they talk about the Bharata Pradakshina. This is essentially a tour of India to see how the Mahans in different parts of the country echo the same message of Nama.Let us, in the next few minutes, try to do a Bharata Pradakshina, to see what the Mahans from different parts of the country have taught:
Let me start with Tamil Nadu, my home town:
Tirumangai Azhwar is one of the great Azhwars. (the saints who were totally immersed in Bhakti). He has sung:
“Kulam tharum, selvam thandidum, adiyãr paduthuyar ãyinavellãm
Nilantharam seiyyum, neellvisumbarullum, arulodu perunilam allikkum
Valantharum matrum thandidum pertra thãyinum ãyina seyyum
Nalam tharum sollai nãn kandukonden ‘Nãrãyana’ enum Nãmam!’
What will you get by chanting the Lord’s Name (Nãmam) ? ALL!
You will be blessed with everything.
The Lord’s Name will bestow you with good family, wealth; solve all your
problems, take you to great heights, bestow you with heaven and confer on
you all other good things. It will take care of you more than a mother.
*’Nalam tharum’ – You will be blessed with only what is good for you. *
‘Nalam tharum sollai nãn kandukonden Nãrãyana enum Nãmam’- I have realized
the word that will bestow me auspiciousness and that is the Nãma (The Lord’s
Name)!”Then let us move on to Kerala.
Poondhanam was a great devotee of Lord Guruvayurappa. He used to write in Malayalam and there have been incidents where the Lord upheld his works, even when they were ridiculed by the ‘so called’ erudite scholars who wrote in Deva-Bhasha – Sanskrit.
Sri Poonthanam’s Jnanapana (Song of Wisdom) in Malayalam reads….
Guru Nathan thuna cheiga sanththam,Thiru namangal navin mel eppozhum,Piriyathe irikkanam nammude,Nara janmam saphala makkeduvan.
Request I, for the grace from my Guru without fail,
So that Lord’s holy names are always on my tongue,And continue to be there forever without change,So that this our, human birth becomes most fruitful.Let us move on to the neighboring state – Karnataka:
You know who I am going to talk about – Saint Purandaradasa – the Pitamah of Carnatic Music, who composed more than 4.75 lakh kirtans. Born in a wealthy family, he renounced the world for the sake of the Lord and chanted His Divine Names all through his life. His kirtans brim with the glory of the Nama.Then moving on to the neighboring state of Maharashtra. This can be called the Puja room inside Pooja rooms! There have been so many Mahans – Pandarpur Bhaktas from this state. Let us take Sage Gnaneswar.
Thriguna asara nirguna he(m) sara l Sarasara vichara HARIPATA ll
Saguna nirguna gunache(m) aguna l Hariveena mana vyartha jaya ll
Avyaktha nirakara nahee(m) thya akara l Jethoni charachara Harisee bhaje ll
Gnanadeva dhyanee(m) Ramakrishna manee(m) l Anantha janmonee punya hoya ll
Mavuli Gnaneshwar Maharaj says, “That (means the world) which is made-up of
three attributes (Sathva, Raja & Thamaas) which is known as Saguna is
sapless. That (means Brahman, the Absolute) which has no attribute and
called Nirguna is the sum and substance. This HARIPATA analyzes both of
them. To know the nature of saguna and nirguna, one need to know Hari, the
pure (aguna). Any knowledge not pertaining to Him is a waste. His form is
not an unmanifested blank, but the whole universe. Let us chant Hari’s name.
As the fruit of the good deeds done in the previous births, now I am able to
meditate on the name ‘Ramakrishna’.
Vedasasthra pramana sruthichem vachana l Eka Narayana sara japa ll
Japa thapa karma Hariveena dharma l Vavukachi srama vyaththa jaya ll
HARIPATee(m) kele the nivanthachee tele l Bhramara gunthale sumana kalike ll
Gnanadevee(m) manthra Harinamache(m) sasthra l Yamakula gothra varjiyele(m)
ll
Mavuli Gnaneshwar Maharaj says, “Recite Narayana’s name. It is the gist of
the injunctions of Vedas and the scriptures connected with it. The efforts
of any mantra’s Japa (recitation), thapas (penance), rituals and other
dharmas go waste, if done without invoking Hari’ name. Those who repeat
HARIPATA get arrested in it as a bee inside a flower (the bee entering into
the lotus to savor the nectar stays inside and gets arrested when the petels
close in the evening). Yama (the god of death) and his retinue avoid the
clan of those holding the weapon of Harinama manthra”, which is Gyandeva’s
mantra too!Then we go to the state of Gujarat, where the saint Narasimha Mehta is very popular:
In his “Vaishnav Janatho” song, he says…
Who is a Vaishnav?
He is ever engaged in the chanting of Rama’s name, and all pilgrimage
centres are in his body. He has no greed and no deceit. He has overcome lust
and anger.
Narsi says – Just seeing such a person sanctifies the entire family
lineage.
He is called a devout person, who worships the feet of Govinda. This is
called the essence of human existence.
Chant Krishna’s name again and again, with humility and devotion. Chanting
Krishna’s name leads to bliss.
To serve Krishna should be the undying desire! But foolish men do not know
this.
The name of Krishna is etched on the hearts of those who are enlightened and
are blessed by Him!
When sages and savants wander in forests, Vittal comes singing all the way.
Narsi says, “Those who remember Krishna daya and night are clever persons”Going over to Rajasthan, we have Meera:
‘Govind Gav. Man Govinda Gav…ram krishna bhajvaano aavyo che daav’
’durlab nar dehi tame tatpar bhaav…bhavsaagar tarvaane besava ne naav’
O!mind, Sing the name of Govinda, Sing the name of Govinda | Sing the names of Ram and Krishna with love ||
This human birth is not easy to get and we are caught in this samsara of the mind. It is the boat for you to cross this ocean|| (Sing the name of Govinda) !Moving over to Punjab / Haryana, where our brother-religion of Sikhism lays so much emphasis on Nama Kirtan:
Sri GuruNanak Dev’s Japji Sahib, which appears at start of Sri Guru Granth
Sahib says: Ek Onkar | Sat naam – One Universal Creator | The Name is truth
True Master, True is His Name – Meditate it with deep love. They(men) ask and beg,(God) “Give, give” – The Giver gives in abundance. What can we place before Him, by which the Darbaar can be seen? What words can we utter, listening to which His Love is gained? In the Ambrosial period, dwell upon His True Name and praises.In Uttar Pradesh, we have the famous saint Kabir das who was also an illustrious Guru Bhakta. In spite of being born in an Islamic religion, his love for Ram Nam was unfathomable. He says:
Gur Dhobi Sikh Kapda, Saboo Sirjan Har
Surti Sila Pur Dhoiye, Nikse Jyoti Apaar
Guru the washer man, disciple is the cloth
The name of God liken to the soap
Wash the mind on foundation firm
To realize the glow of Truth
Jab Mein Tha Tab Hari Nahin, Jab Hari Hai Mein Nahin
Sab Andhiyara Mit Gaya, Jab Deepak Dekhya Mahin
When “I” was then Hari was not, Now Hari “is” and “I” am not
All the darkness (illusions) mitigated, When I saw the light (illumination)
within.Then we go over to Gaya in Bihar. Here we see Sri Ramakrirshna Paramahamsa speaking on the compassion of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu:
Why & how to make everyone chant the holy name!
‘Worldly people will never listen to you if you ask them to renounce
everything and devote themselves whole-heartedly to God. Therefore Chaitanya
and Nitai, after some deliberation, made an arrangement to attract the
worldly. They would say to such persons, ‘Come, repeat the name of Hari, and
you shall have a delicious soup of magur fish and the embrace of a young
woman.’ Many people, attracted by the fish and the woman, would chant the
name of God. After tasting a little of the nectar of God’s hallowed name,
they would soon realize that the ‘fish soup’ really meant the tears they
shed for love of God, while the ‘young woman’ signified the earth. The
embrace of the woman meant rolling on the ground in the rapture of divine
love.
“Nitai would employ any means to make people repeat Hari’s name. Chaitanya
said: ‘The name of God has very great sanctity. It may not produce an
immediate result, but one day it must bear fruit. It is like a seed that has
been left on the cornice of a building. After many days the house crumbles,
and the seed falls on the earth, germinates, and at last bears fruit.’Then in West Bengal, we have our own great Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who inspite of being a great scholar renounced everything and took to Nama. In the very first verse of his Shikshashtakam, he says,
Glory to the Sri Krishna Sankirtana, which cleanses the heart and extinguishes the fire of repeated birth and death. Sankirtana is that can save any person and give him realization. It spreads the rays of the coolness of moon. It is the essence of all knowledge and ever increases the great bliss, and enables us to fully taste the nectar for which we are always anxious.Moving over to the north east, Nitai Maharaj (Nithyananda Prabhu) again glorifies the Divine Name.
Then we end with the state of Andhra Pradesh, where our very own Saint Bhadrachala Ramadas who fell in love with Ram Nam and has extolled the Ram Nam in all his kirtans.
Thus when we take a tour of India we see that it is the Divine Name of the Lord that has been advocated by everyone. And the same is being advocated by our Guru Maharaj too. All we need to do is just keep chanting His Names.
Indeed all of us were taken on a mental tour across our Homeland, relishing the words of these great Mahans.
Then Yaminiji gave a quick update on the programs they had with Poornimaji at Chicago and Iowa. Sri Sankarji gave an update of the forthcoming Bhakta Vijayam discourses in the Bay Area.
The telecom Bhagavatam classes were also announced.
The program ended with a Nama Kirtan led by Ms. Ramya of CA, with special prayers for Mrs. Ravi Kolli who was expected to deliver her baby during that time.
Oct 3: An infallible path of the Scriptures
The Satsang on October 3rd started off with Mahamnatra Kirtan led by Dr. Sriramji of Redding, CA. After the 10 minutes of Nama Kirtan, we had a round of introductions. This was followed by a satsang tallk by Sri Narayanan of Boston. The following is the gist of the speech:
The Vedas are verily the voice of the Lord. When the Lord speaks to us, He does not speak directly. Instead He speaks in the form of the Vedas. The Vedas have a variety of messages to us, right from instructions for basic living, all the way to the Supreme Truth. Sri Sri Swamiji would say, ‘If one follows the Path shown by the Vedas to lead his life, he is a ‘Nara’ (a human), failing which, he is only a ‘Vaanara’ (monkey).The Vedas are ‘anantha’ (limitless). The beauty of the Sanathana Dharma is that we do not have one specific text as the religious text. The entire gamut of the Vedas are considered to be the religious text of our Dharma.
How can the Scriptures be categorized? One way of categorizing the scriptures is as follows:
Raja Samhita:
‘Samhita’ means a piece of literature.What does a king do? A king lays down some instructions for the citizens to follow. It is the duty of the citizens to abide by the rules and regulations laid out by the king. The citizens are bound in subservience to the king. Similarly, there is a category of our scriptures which lays down instructions. These are the ‘Sruthis’ and the ‘Smrithis’. ‘Satyam Vada’, ‘Dharmam Chara’… ‘Matru Devo Bhava’, ‘Pitru Devo Bhava’ — these are all ‘Samanya Dharmas’ (common Dharmas) that everyone who adheres to Sanathana Dharma ought to follow. There is no reprieve.
In addition, it prescribes ‘Smartha Karmas’ like ‘Perform Sandhyavandhanam 3 times a day’, ‘Perform Pitru Karyam every year’, ‘Give oblations to your ancestors every such and such day of the month’ and so on.The ‘Raja Samhita’ portion of the Scriptures order us to do.
There are another class of scriptures which are called as ‘Suhrut Samhita’. ‘Suhrut’ means a friend or a well-wisher. These scriptures advice, not order, as a friend would.
The Vedas don’t talk about the fruits directly.
For example, a king orders you to pay taxes. You only see it as a stress/burden. You don’t see it as a means to generate revenue which will go into welfare of the public (like good roads, good transport, more tanks and ponds to store water and so on). In fact you are not even expected to see it that way. [You don't need to understand how the tax from the citizens gets transformed to facilities for them]
When a well-wisher advises us, he speaks from his experience, for the good of us. ‘Hey don’t drink alcohol. You know what happened? My uncle was an alcoholic. And he suffered so many problems. And his life doomed so and so.. etc.’ ‘I know of the Father of my Nation.. who spoke only the truth and by the very virtue of truth he won over so many hearts.’ to mundane things like ‘Invest in these shares. In the way the market is going, they are going to yield the best dividends.’ ‘Go to this amusement park. You will find a lot of entertainment. There is so much of fun for your kids. You can spend your day well’ and so on.
The Itihasas and Puranas form the ‘Suhrut Samhita’. They advice us, for our well-being, in amicable terms.
We read Ajamila Charitra from Bhagavatam about how a person from an orthodox Brahmin family fell into evil hands because of social misbehavior. We listen to Sri Rama’s truthfulness from Ramayan. When we recite Vishnu Sahasranamam from Mahabharatam for health reasons or Adi Shankara’s Kanakadhara Stotram for wealth, these scriptures indeed advice us. We will certainly get the benefits, and yes, the same benefits that can be got by doing what the ‘Raja Samhita’ says, because these are all conforming to the Sruti and Smritis.An interesting comparison here…
A king orders us to pay taxes. We only see it as a stress/burden. We don’t see it as a means to generate revenue which will go into welfare of the public (like good roads, good transport, more tanks and ponds to store water and so on). In fact you are not even expected to see it that way. [You don't need to understand how the tax from the citizens gets transformed to facilities for them]
Similarly, in the case of the ‘Raja Samhita’, one just does. We need not understand why we do so, how does that benefit us, and so on. Do it without asking questions. That is the rule of the game. Results will follow and you will get the greatest benefit [which is the Veda-anta or the Jnana in due course]
Whereas, in the case of a friend’s advice, as it comes from experience, you can empathize with it. You have an option to adhere to their advice or reject it. You can take the advice, ask questions, reason out for yourselves. So ‘Suhrut Samhita’ may be best suited for those so-called ‘rational’ people who need a logical reasoning behind every act.
But what are we ‘Adhikaris’ for? We are in a state, where we don’t wish to follow any rules laid down by the king. We are so adamant that we don’t want to heed to any friend’s advice, however good the friend might be.
So what is the way out?
Luckily for us, there is a third category of the Scriptures which is called ‘Kaantha Samhita’ – a ‘Kaantha’ refers to the beloved. It is like the words of the lover to the beloved.
When a husband says something to the wife, he says it out of true love. Anything that the husband asks the wife to do is only out of pure love. Does he protect his spouse only in return for her following his words? No! The moment he takes her hand in marriage, the husband vows to protect the wife, no matter what. She may be learned or illiterate; smart or stupid, beautiful or ugly, wise or foolish, skilled or unskilled. Irrespective of the qualifications of the wife, he protects her.
Unlike the relationship with the king (which is of subservience) or with the well-wisher (which is of friendship), the relationship that a lover has to the beloved is one of ‘prema’ (pure love).When it comes to the Vedas, sometimes this refers to the poems and dramas (‘kaavya’) in our literature, which brims with emotions. But that is not what it is truly meant to be. The true ‘Kaantha Samhita’ is nothing but the words of a Sadguru.
Irrespective of the qualities of the devotee, the Sadguru protects him and gives him the Supreme Good – exactly what could be offered by sincerely following all the injunctions of the Srutis / Smritis or the pointers shown by the Itihasas / Puranas.
The relationship between a Guru and the disciple is one of true love. Then what is the disciple expected to do in return? Be faithful and show gratitude! That is by adhering to the words of the Guru and serving Him.
The beauty here is that it is rare to find a true ‘Kaantha Samhita’.
In that aspect, all of us here are extremely lucky. Not only because we have a rare and precious jewel, the Guru, but because He has kept us in a position where we can be faithful to Him and show our gratitude. How?
His instructions are simple! Chant the Divine Name!
He says, ‘The best service you can do to me is chant the Names and spread it to one and all’.
And we are trying to do just that!
We can now rest assured that we can rightfully be called ‘Naraas’ and above all, we are assured of the Supreme.
This was followed by a series of announcements. Poornimaji’s earlier week’s programs in Chicago were summarized and the programs in the subsequent week at Seattle were also outlined.
Sri Sankaranarayanan from St. Louis who was visiting his children in the US said he was happy to join the satsang. Sri Narayanaswamyji of Seattle suggested that we maintain an online address book of contact-addresses and phone numbers of devotees in the US as a quick reference.
All of us wished Sri Narayanaswamyji on his 60th birthday that fell on that very day and we performed the closing Nama Kirtan with prayers for happiness and long life of Sri Narayanaswamyji and his family.
‘Special Person’
Kishori from Chicago started going to Kindergarten school this year. She spelled out her experience of how she became a ’special person’ in her class.
‘In my class, the teacher selects one person as a ’special person’ everyday. As a special person, we are really made special that day. They ask us about what we like to do, what we like to play….. Every other person draws for me… It really feels great to be a special person. It was the last day of the curriculum. I very badly wanted to become the special person, but I was not selected.
I asked my mother what I should do to become a special person. Mummy told me to chant Mahamantra in front of Sri Guruji’s picture and sincerely pray before going to school.
I chanted in front of the life-size portrait of Guruji and prayed as mummy instructed. And guess what! You would not believe! That day, I was selected as the ’special person’. I was so happy. As soon as I got down from the bus, I told mummy, ‘Mummy! Guruji made me the special person today! Mahamantra made me a special person today!’
