Dec 24: Bhakti in modern times
24 Dec 2010 Leave a Comment
Ramyaji fromSan Jose talked about bhakti in modern times. It is very important to discuss it as friends because in this the age where questioning has taken over faith, skepticism has taken over devotion and it is the age where intellect has taken over the heart. So we are in this age where these three elements have taken over the three classical elements of the earlier three. There is a general thought among the youth that our scriptures are not of any reference to this day and that the path of bhakti may not be applicable in the age of Kali. People are interested towards the intellectual portion of Vedanta even when they are in a spiritual path. But the important precept to note is that faith is the backbone of Vedanta itself. When someone is expounding on the path of self-enquiry which is rationale and radical, we first need to repose our faith on the person who is expounding the path and hear him out before one poses questions before the lecturer. Even though questioning is greatly encouraged in our faith, questioning and reasoning has its own limit. It has to start with faith and when we make progress in a path, we find that what we had assumed as truth is indeed true. Even in the cold logic of hypothesis testing, the logicians have a null hypothesis and alternate hypothesis. We need to have a hypothesis and must work on it to finally prove if it right or wrong. But if we don’t even assume on a hypothesis to go on a particular path, then we are not doing any experiment. It is verily why all mahatmas who have decorated the holy land of Bharat have given us hypothesis and they never asked us to believe. Believing is a concept. Religion is for those bold few who dare to walk the path and just not to talk. When we read our scriptures there are things that are very predominant. All our scriptures are in the form of Question and Answers. Right from all puranas, the crown of the Puranas being Srimad Bhagavatham starts with six questions. People who expound on the scriptures encourage the listeners to question. Upanishads are also about a disciple going to a guru and requesting him to delineate about truth, which the guru in turns explicates the concepts to his disciple. The spirit of learning is an experience. When a pupil questions his guru and the guru does not give him an answer it shows the precept that answering the question is a means of stopping the quest and hence the guru does not answer.
There was this person who had a vital question about purport of life. He went around the world seeking answer to his question. Finally he went to an enlightened Master and earnestly desired to seek his darshan. The master did not give him any darshan and this person waited patiently. One day he became very impatient and so he barged in and posed his vital question to the master. He received a resounding slap. He then talked to a devotee nearby and he clarified to him that every action of the master is loaded with meaning. A true shishya will learn from all these things and since this person was new to this master he failed to realize this. The other devotee continued to explain that the master gave him a slap to make you understand that one should not trade a good question for an answer outside. Spirituality ends when the question is answered and when the answer comes from outside, then our spiritual quest also ends. That is verily why all Mahans do not reply to devotee’s questions immediately. They strongly encourage the devotees to find the answers so that the devotees can be light to themselves. This knowledge which is our own nature cannot come from outside. The Mahatmas make the devotees probe deeper and deeper into the truth so that we will uncover the truth and when we unfold the truth ourselves, we will not have any doubts anymore. In the above example, if the master had answered his devotee’s question, that the purpose of life is Self Realization, then everyone will come out with different versions of the answer and the truth is already lost. The master gave him a slap so that he does not pose this to question to anyone else and rather start to ask the question within himself. He slapped him to answer the fact that “question is verily spirituality” and that the answer to the question is not spirituality. The answer to the question is an experience.
All our true mahans and Gurus never disclosed the answers and that they encourage to find the answers ourselves and they provide a path to find the answers. So when we try to decipher the answers, we have to define the purpose of life in our own light and get the Mahans help to define it the right way.
So what is purpose of life? It is very simple and we need not go and refer the shastras for it. Everybody in this world is seeking happiness right from a thief to saint chase happiness. But the path they take to find happiness is different. Some attain it while some are still searching. So let’s try to find out that happiness and the source of happiness. Let’s define happiness from our daily lives. We generally love things because we derive happiness by enjoying those things. Here Mahatmas give a beautiful interpretation that the dearest to one is one’s self. For everybody their self is what they love more than anything else. Since we love ourselves and we derive happiness through it, mahatmas say that happiness in our own self and nothing else. Spiritual journey is not towards north or south, but it a journey towards the self which is verily the innermost. So we need to find that happiness within us and that is verily the reason why all the Vedas and Puranas finally take us to the where we originated from which is our self, which is our happiness and which is our nature. So we are now mistaken by the precept that by my accruing more and more possessions one’s happiness is bound to increase. So why are we intrinsically greedy right from a sinner to saint. A saint wants to attain the higher levels of happiness and a sinner wants more possessions and so he pillages. So why are we greedy? It is truly because people are under the notion that happiness can be multiplied to infinity. Happiness has no bounds. We go through pain in the process of deriving happiness which according to the normal mortals is infinite. Seeking is desire and that is what is forcing us into desire and we know intrinsically that we can get connected to the infinite happiness and that is why we strive hard. We think happiness is outside and hence we are avaricious. Greed arises from the fact that we can get to higher happiness and that the mistaken notion of more possessions results in more happiness. We see people dying around us but we cannot imagine our death because intuitively we know that we are immortal. We know that we are beyond time. People need to realize that they are the embodiment of happiness.
In the state of deep sleep, we enjoy the bliss beyond all the extraneous things. Happiness is derived from deep sleep. SO what do we possess in deep state? Nothing! But we love that deep sleep which goes us to show that adding possessions is not going to increase our happiness. In deep sleep when there are zero assets we derive maximum happiness. So from our experience, more possessions leads to more happiness is disproved and that is verily why all scriptures say “Sanyasae sarvatha sukam”. The path of sanyasa is not to renounce anything but to leave the notion of owning possessions. When possessions have to come it will come but when it has to go, it will go and the take away point is that one should go not cling to these worldly assets. One just keeps watching what is coming and going. Sanyasa means mental acceptance of what is coming and going and to be a witness to all these with a faith that somebody above is taking care of all the mortals. When the lord can take care of all big phenomena’s like sun rise, to take care of the lives of Jivas is a small thing for the lord. When there is somebody who is ready to take care of all our burdens, let us just leave it to him and let us do our job efficiently. This means that we need to take all the physical efforts and let us mentally leave all burdens to the lord. By doing this we enjoy the present moment to the fullest. Once we start to enjoy the present moment then we do not tend to worry about past and future. When we perform the path of bhakti intrinsically, all the bhaktas do not worry and it is to be said that the path of bhakti is not escapism and that only worrying is escapism from the purpose of life. The purpose of life is to lead a happy life and attain the lord’s feet. We need to remember that we have to go back to the source.
The satsang ended with prayers and Namasankirtan.
Dec 17: Tirumaalai
17 Dec 2010 Leave a Comment
in Telecon Satsangs Tags: thondaradipodi azhwar, tirumaalai, vaikunta ekadasi
We all know that Ekadasi is one of the auspicious days in our Hindu calendar and we observe Ekadasi since it makes the Lord happy. One Ekadasi that is indeed very important in the Vaishnava tradition is the Vaikunta Ekadasi. All the Vaishnava temples celebrate this day in a very grand manner. One temple in Booloka Vaikuntam which is verily Srirangam where Lord Ranganatha resides celebrates a twenty day utsav commemorating this blessed day. It is on this day that the entrance to Vaikunta [Paramapadavasal] opens and the Lord Sri Hari is the first one to enter along with his devotees. There are no Bhagavathas, devotees or Vaishnavas who have not been enticed by the beauty of Lord Ranganatha, who is sleeping on the snake couch. The Utsav Murthy who comes out daily during the utsav is known to be more adorable than anyone else in this world. Mahatmas proclaimed him as “Azhagiya Manavalan”, the most beautiful person and he is an eternal bridegroom. Mahatmas have enjoyed the beauty of Lord Ranganatha and have perceived him to be Parabrahmam since he is the “Ulagam Unda Peruvaaya” since the entire world is contained in his stomach and he is reclining on the snake couch. There are two well-known Lord Ranganatha in the holy land of Bharat. One is the Lord in Srirangam and the other one is Lord PadmanabhaSwamy in Tiruvanthapuram. Both these Lords are reclining on their couches but there is one difference between them. The Lord in Srirangam after the dissolution of the earth [pralaya] has taken all the three worlds unto himself. In him is everything in this world. The Lord in Thiruvanthapuram is the one to remain after all the creations. All the creations happen around him and is depicted the same in the snapshots of Lord Padmanabhaswamy.
The Moolavar in Srirangam is very manifestation of Parabrahmam. One can make out this by his countenance [Gambhiram]. When the Lord comes out of the temple, he is very amiable [soulabhya]. He comes out almost daily from the day only to bestow his divine grace on the people. Even if a normal mortal doesn’t go and seek his darshan, the Lord will make sure that he bestows him with his darshan. Such is the compassion of Lord Ranganatha.
After reminiscing Lord Ranganatha commemorating the auspicious day of Vaikunta Ekadasi, Sri Narayananji fromBostondelivered the satsang lecture.
A great Vaishnavite Saint, Parasara Bhattar, in his Sri Ranganatha Strotram sings -
“Saptha Praakara Madhyae Sarasija Mukulodh Bhaasa Manae Vimanae”
“Cauvery Madhya Desae Mruduthara phaniraad boga paryanga bagae” |
“Nidra Mudrabiraamam katini katashiraha paarshva vinyastha hastham”
“Padma Daaththri karaabhyam parichitha charanam ranga rajam bhajeham”|| [Sloka No 1 of Sri Ranganatha Strotram ]
In the above hymn, he meditates on Lord Ranganatha who is housed in a seven storied mansion and the Gopuram [vimana] is unique and is in the form of a lotus bud [Sarasija Mukulodh Bhaasa Manae Vimanae]. This Vimana was the one that was brought and installed in Srirangam by Vibishana. One can perceive ParaVasudeva by standing in a particular position in the vehicle. By verily having the darshan of Vimana, [the tall Gopuram] of Srirangam, one does not even need to come inside the temple to have the darshan of Lord Ranganatha.
“Cauvery Madhya Desae Mruduthara phaniraad boga paryanga bagae” |
In Srirangam which is situated amidst two Cauvery rivers is verily where Lord Ranganatha is happily resting in a snake [Adisesha] couch.
Paarasara Bhattar then continues to extol the beautiful countenance of the Lord.
“Nidra Mudrabiraamam katini katashiraha paarshva vinyastha hastham”
He starts admiring from head to toe. Descriptions are generally from head-to-toe [kesha di padam] or toe-to-head [paada di kesam]. The first thing that Paarasara Bhat perceives is the Lord’ right hand [hastham].He uses his right-hand as a pillow and the other hand on his body. He then enjoys the Lord’s Divya mangala Vigraham. He sees Goddess Mahalakshmi Devi at the feet of the Lord, gently caressing his feet -Padma Daaththri karaabhyam parichitha charanam ranga rajam bhajeham.
Many Azhwars have sung praises on Lord Ranganatha of Srirangam. It is said that Naalaira divya prabandam is known as “Tamil Vedam”. It has the essence of all Vedas. In spite of Lord’s ten incarnations on this earth, he was unable to liberate all the souls and so he decided to send Sadhus. Sage Sukha is of the opinion that Srimad Bhagavatham might not be an elixir to all since not everyone will possess this great scripture. Hence he sings –
“Kalau Kalau Bhavishyanti Narayana Parayanaha”
“Thamraparni nadhi yatra KruthaMala Payasvini”
Kauveri Cha mahapunya pratichi cha mahanadhi”
“Ye Pibanti jalam thaasaam manujha manujaeshwara”
Akin to how a Lord incarnated as ten avatars, there were ten Azhwars and our Andal and Madhurakvi Azhwar.
The only purport of the Azhwars was to bestow satsangs to everyone and they gave us the beautiful Nalaira Divya Prabandham, which is a beautiful collection of 4000 verses. It gives us the essence of all the four Vedas. The six Angaas of the Vedas [Vedaangas] are contained in Thirumangai Azhwar’s divine verses [Pasurams]. The great epic Ramayana is explained in ten verses in Kulasekara Azhwar’s Pasurams, where he exemplifies the entire Ramayana and eventually makes Lord Rama to sleep. If we delve into the works of Periyazhwar, we can see Periya Tirumozhi which is verily Srimad Bhagavatham itself. Vishnu Puranam in also elucidated in the pasurams of Periyazhwar. All the shastras are contained in the 4000 verses of Nalaira Divya Prabandham.
Even though all Azhwars are revered by one and all, one Azhwar is celebrated very much. He is none other than our NamAzhwar. He has given the essence of Vedas and was a realized soul [Jeevan Mukta] himself. All the other Azhwars went to Divya Desams to sing praises on the Lord. If we take the life-history of Thirumangai Azhwar he went to more than eighty Divaydesams to extol the greatness of the Lord, whereas in the case of NamAzhwar, he did not travel to any Divya Desam and sat in a hole in a tamarind tree and all the deities from the Divya Desams approached Nammazhwar to sing praises on them. He being a realized soul, enticed all the Devas and even the Lord and they came in front of him to give him darshan. There is one Azhwar who has a unique specialty. He did not want to be named and wanted to be called as “Dust in the feet of all Sri Vaishnavas”. He is none other than our Thondaradipodi Azhwar. He can be proclaimed as one of the greatest Azhwars. All the Azhwars had deep devotion to Lord Sri Hari and did not look at other deities whereas Thondaradipodi Azhwar considered only Sri Ranaganatha as the ultimate Lord and sang praises on Lord Ranganatha. He composed about forty Pasurams called Thirumalai. In addition to the forty pasurams, he has composes ten Pasurams for waking the Lord. He has given the essence of the Vedas and the greatness of devotion and bhakti in a lucid manner in these ten verses and it is with these ten pasurams that the Lord of Tirupati, Balaji wakes up every morning. Each of the verse in Tirumalai has an inner equivalent Sanskrit Shastras as well. Thirumalai is a representation of a scripture called “Vishnu Dharmam” that came out before Vishnu Puranam. Vishnu Dharmam extols on the greatness of chanting the Divine Names of the Lord. The Pasurams being composed in lucid manner is to enable people to comprehend the verses. That being said, it is also a fact that the normal mortals are not capable enough to interpret these Pasurams and hence Mahans come down to give the exposition of these verses. There once lived a great Mahatma, Periyavachanpillai who has given the dissertation for all the four thousand verses and from his treatise we see the greatness of Tirumalai which had forty pasurams glorifying the greatness of chanting the Divine Names of the Lord.
We all know that there is one person [strotha] expounding the purana and another person [vakthra] listening to the exposition. Vishnu Dharmam is being narrated by Sage Saunaka to King Sataneeka. In Tirumalai, it is ThoNdaradippodiAzhwAr who narrates the verses and it is verily Lord Ranaganatha who listens to these hymns. The verses –
“Patchai Ma Malai Pol Meni”
“Pavala vai kamala sen kan”
“Achuta amar erare”
“Ayar tam Kozhunthay ennum”
“Acchuvai tavira yaan poy”
“Indira logam aalum”
“Acchuvai Perinum vendane”
“Aranga Ma Naguralane”
The pasurams in Tirumalai commences in the same way as Srimad Bhagavatham. The first sloka in Srimad Bhagavatham starts by meditating on the Lord and that meditation is verily “Satyam param deemahi”. It is on a plural and Tirumalai is also plural – ‘kaavalil pulanai…’
“Let us all chant the Divine Names of the Lord and meditate on the divine form” – sings Thondaradipodi Azhwar in his first verse in Tirumalai. Srimad Bhagavatham refers to meditating on the divine truth of the Lord whereas Tirumalai refers to meditating on the divine form and on the Divine Names of the Lord.
The second sloka in Srimad Bhagavatham refers to Dharma – “Dharma Projitha “ and in Thirumalai after the first few verses, he establishes Sanatana Dharma. He tramples on all other less merited Dharmas and established the greatness of Sanatana Dharma and then goes on to acclaim the greatness of Bhagavan Nama, which is verily the essence of all Vedas.
He enjoys the beautiful countenance of the Lord and describes it as a green mountain – “Pacchai ma malai pol meni”, enjoys resplendent red lips of the Lord – “Pavala vai kamala sen kan” and the lotus like eyes of the Lord, “achuta amarar are” the moment one meditates on the form of the Lord, he is bestowed with his Divine Names on his lips. The moment one thinks on the Divine Names of the Lord, he is blessed with the Lord’s Divine Form in our heart. The term ‘achyuta’ connotes to Him who does not make Himself slide away from our hearts. He takes Lord Ranaganatha to the greatest of all heights and considers him as the epitome of all Devas. He does not want to envision Lord Ranganatha as Devas since Devas remain only in heaven and not desire to come down to earth and so he Ranaganatha as Lord Krishna “Ayar tam Kozhunthay ennum”. He only rejoices the taste of the Lord’s divine form and his Divine Names and even considers Indra Loka as inferior and sings that Vaikunta and Srirangam are one and the same.
It is said that Indra Loka is no different from Srirangam, in a sense! In Srirangam people are forever immersed in chanting the Divine form of the Lord, sing and glorify the beautiful form of the Lord and once in a year they follow a tradition called “Angapradhakshanam”, which is rolling over the streets [Chitravidhi, Uthravidhi], after drinking the nectar of the Lord’s beauty. It is said in the world of Indra, people consume “Somapana” and they become intoxicated and roll on the floors. ThondaradipodiAzhwar prefers rolling on the streets of Srirangam by rejoicing the beauty of the Lord.
Periyavachanpillai gives a beautiful interpretation to this. He says that the Azhwar does not refer Indra Loka but only compares Vaikunta to Srirangam. He uses the example of Hanuman to substantiate this fact. It is said in Ramayana, that when Lord Rama was about to depart to Vaikunta, he was very compassionate to take all his devotees along with him and entered the Sarayu river. He did not spare a small worm too but did not take Lord Hanuman with him. It is verily because Lord Hanuman did not desire any other form of the Lord other than Lord Rama. He said to Lord Rama that the very moment he started to read Ramayana, he is blessed with the divine form of Lord Rama and Hanumanji yearns for that form of Lord Rama only. Akin to Hanumanji, our Azhwar also does not desire to have the form of the Lord who is always “sadA pashyanthi suraiyah”. The Mahatmas in Vaikuntam can only see the darshan but the Lord does not talk to anybody.
The Azhwar in his first pasurams sings –
kAvalil pulanai vaiththu kali thannai kadakka pAyndhu
nAvalittu uzhi tharuginrom naman thamar thalaigaL mIdhe
mUvulaguNdu umizhndha mudhalva! nin nAmam katra
Avalippu udaimai kaNdAy arangkamA nagaruLAne! [Pasuram 1 from Thirumalai]
The above pasuram has a beautiful meaning. Our Periyavachanpillai lucidly delivered three interpretations for the verse – ‘kAvalil pulanai vaiththu’. The term “kaval” connotes “in control”. But the term ‘ il’ means not and hence kaval il’ signifies ‘not in control’. So for those who do not have their senses [pulanai] in control [kAvalil pulanai vaiththu], the chanting of Divine Names of the Lord is the only path for attaining the holy feet of the Lord in the age of Kali. Secondly he says that by chanting the Divine Names of the Lord, the Lord will slowly absolve all the worldly desires from our and cleanse our heart and transform each one of us into a noble soul. Thirdly he says that the Lord slowly takes complete control of our senses when we chant his Divine Name and he finally controls our senses, thereby all the senses will be under control and our mind and heart will focus completely on chanting the Divine Names.
Let’s see the meaning of the next segment of the verse…
“”kali thannai kadakkappaiyindu” –In Ramayana, there is an eagle known as Sampathi and tells Jadayu that crossing hundred miles to reach SriLanka is not so difficult when we compare it crossing the ocean of samsara since no one can comprehend the length and breadth of this ocean.
Here our Azhawr says that when we chant the Divine Names of the Lord, one will be able to jump the ocean of samsara seamlessly.
“nAvalittu uzhi tharuginROm1 naman thamar thalaigaL mIdhE ” – Naval in tamil connotes victory. Here our Azhwar who has realized the greatness of Nama sings in ecstasy and his happiness is clearly seen in this verse NAvalittu vuzhitarukindrom. He claims victory over death. When a devotee of the highest order who has chanted the Divine Names of the Lord all his life, gives up his mortal coil it is said that King Yama will bow down and that this devotee will walk over Yama to enter into the gates of Vaikunta since all the sins have been absolved by his incessant chanting of the Divine Names of the Lord.
“Sri Harayae ityuchae muthyuchae sarva papakath” Says Srimad Bhagavatham.
“Dhruvasya vaikunta padAdirohanah” – In the life-history of Dhruva, we see that Dhruva entered into Vaikunta by stepping on the head of King Yama.
“ninnAmam kattra Avalippudaimai” – The phrase “Avalippu” meand pride. The Azhwar goes and stands in front of Lord Ranganatha and tells the Lord, “Oh Lord, You ate mud and sand when in your childhood “ and then says that his mouth is more fragrant the Lord’s since he incessantly chants the Divine Names of the Lord. Our Periyavachanpillai gives a beautiful interpretation to this.
There once lived a boy who was very obstinate and his actions really provoked his mother. Once his mother severely reprimanded him for his actions and the boy had a feud with his mother and left his home without eating. At the end of the street there was a choultry and he took shelter there. His mother meanwhile was terribly sorry for her son and was worried that he will soon start to feel hungry. She sleuthed her son and went to the choultry and gave some food to the manager of choultry requesting him to give it to her son and he promptly delivered it to him. The boy after consuming the food said with pomp, “My mother thinks that only she can feed me”. But he did not realize the fact that it was only his mother who still fed him. The Azhwars are akin to the boy. It is verily the Lord who gave us all the scriptures and shastras. But we bickered with the Lord and did not follow it. He was still compassionate with us akin to this mother, who bestowed the Divine Names on our lips through these great Mahatmas. The Azhwars reactions with the Lord are akin to the boy’s behavior with his mother. The Azhwar says that he only desires to have the Divine Names of the Lord and not the Lord himself. But it is verily the Lord who bestowed the Divine Names on our lips.
The moment we chant the Divine Names of the Lord, the Lord will forever be looking at us. ThondaradipodiAzhwar also extols the greatness of the names Govinda and Gopala in addition to Lord Ranaganatha’s names and he glorifies the greatness of chanting the Divine Names in all his Tirumalai pasurams.
The satsang ended with Namasankirtan and prayers.
Dec 10: Tukkaram and Samarth Ramadas
10 Dec 2010 Leave a Comment
Our Guru Maharaj says that there is a constant battle between the Lord and the Jivas. The Lord keeps following the Jivas to take us unto him. But we, being who we are do not desire to be caught in the clutches of the Lord and hence keep running away from the Lord. The Lord being astute and sagacious than the normal mortals devised an easy way to catch these normal mortals. He placed traps very frequently in such a way that one cannot escape them. The traps are none other than the Sadhus themselves. The Lord has caught the Jivas through these Mahans and their divine satsangs. We are in this trap finally and now being a recipient of the sadhu’s grace and thanks to the Lord’s compassion for leading us unto the sadhus. Sadhus are verily the extended hands of the Lord to catch the jivas unto them.
Our Guru Maharaj says that there is one difference between the Lord and the Sadguru. If one goes to a Sadhu’s sanctum and puts forth his desire to talk about the Sadhu to everyone, the Sadhu would deny his request and instead request him to talk about the Lord to everyone. On the other hand the Lord would not be interested to hear about him and ask his devotee to sing praises of the Mahans and to extol their divine glories. It is a fact that it is easy to comprehend the Lord but very difficult to fathom the Mahan. The glories of the Lord can be told by Mahatmas only since they keep reveling in the bliss of bhakti and devotion to the Lord all the time through their divine hymns and divine experiences and expositions. It is verily the Lord who can understand the Mahatmas. The Lord unfortunately is tight-lipped and hence it is impossible to perceive the Mahatmas. Our Guru Maharaj preaches the precept to everyone that one should not try to interpret a Mahatma by one’s intellect and instead believe his actions are for the welfare of the normal mortals.
Sant Ekanath extols the greatness of a Guru by saying that a Guru is verily a mother and a father.
“Guru Maatha Guru Pitha Guru Amuchi Kuladevatha
Gora Patatha Sankatae Guru Rakshim Makemputae
Kaaya Vacha Aani Mana Guru Charanim Arpana
Ekajanarjanim charana Guru Eka Janardhana
I offer all my actions through my words, body and mind to the holy feet of my Sadguru, sings Sant Ekanath in his above Abhang. He says that he fails to see any difference between the Lord Janardhana and his Sadguru.
Sant Ekanath spent all his lifetime doing service to his sadguru Janardhana Swami. The Sadguru was very compassionate to him and decided to bestow the darshan of his Lord Dattareya. One day Janardhanaswami felt guilty for not having given anything to this attendant devotee of his. He was wonderstruck that this young fellow had nothing to ask of him. So, he himself decided to bestow darshan of his Upasana Murti, Lord Dattatreya, on the selfless Ekanath. He asked Lord Dattatreya to give darshan to Ekanath when the latter returned from his morning bath in the river. The next day when Ekanath stepped out of the river Godavari he found Lord Dattatreya under the nearby tree. Since one should not be disrespectful to God he prostrated before this Lord and circumambulated the Lord. Lord Dattatreya blessed him by placing His Feet on Ekanath’s head. Ekanath then returned home.
Here, at home Janardhanaswami was restless. He walked up and down awaiting Ekanath’s return. He kept rehearsing as to how he should handle the stunned Ekanath. It was not going to be darshan in a dream but a real one, just as one person sees another. Janardhanaswami thought, “Anyone who has darshan of the Lord would swoon. Ekanath would be in bliss. Full of joy he would come running and narrate the darshan breathlessly. I must calm him down.” But Ekanath returned home and carried on with his work as usual! The Guru waited for Ekanath to come and describe the darshan in an excited tone. But Ekanath did not! The surprised Janardhanaswami called his upasana devata and asked him, “Did you not give darshan to Ekanath?” Lord Dattatreya said, “I did! Just you had asked me I gave him darshan as he returned from his bath in the river”. The astounded Guru called the devotee. “How can you be so calm? Have you not had darshan of Lord Dattatreya this morning?” Ekanath simply replied, “I never desired this! Only if I considered someone other than you as God should I feel ecstatic! Since I consider you as God there is no new darshan of God to be had anywhere else. I never desired for it nor does this surprise me. I desire only you!” “Ekajanarjanim charana Guru Eka Janardhana” – Sant Ekanath said that his Guru is verily his is Lord. There is no difference between the Lord and the sadguru. It is verily the Lord who sends the Mahans to rule the Jivas and liberate them eventually akin to how in a democratic country people elect their leader.
It is verily a Sadguru who grants liberation to the Jivas. Samartha Ramadas in one of his Abhangs sings that a Sadguru brings Lord Rama in front of his eyes. The life-history of Sabari is a classic example to substantiate this precept, where her Sadguru said that the person representing the Rama Naam will one day come in front of her and it is true that Sabari experienced it. Rama was indeed “Sabari Moksha Sakshibhuta”, which connotes that Lord Rama witnessed the Sabari’s liberation and the Moksha was bestowed on her by her Guru, Mathanga Maharishi. Such is the glory of a Sadguru and it is verily he who can bestow liberation to the Jivas.
After the wonderful exposition on the greatness of a Sadguru by Sri Narayananji fromBoston, Sri Zivanji fromChicagolectured on the greatness of a Mahan with excerpts from life-history of Samartha Ramadas and Sant Tukkaram.
It is only a mother who goes through all trials and tribulations to bring up a child. When the child grows up, the father proudly acknowledges his son to the world. A guru is akin to a mother since he absolves all the ignorance and makes him pure and pristine to reach the holy feet of the Lord.
How can a normal mortal identify a Jeevan Mukta? It is not possible for him to identify a Jeevan Mukta. Even the shastras, which is our reference to everything, fails to give a specific criteria or indications for identifying a Mahan. The way the Mahans conducted themselves is totally different from one another. We cannot call someone as a Mahan if he proclaims that he has seen god. One can only experience the god and not perceive him directly. No one can actually mark the date as to when they experienced the Lord because the Lord resides in each one of the mortals and it only due to sheer ignorance of the normal mortals that one is unable to experience the Lord. Mahans on the other hand have torn apart their personal traits and merged with the Lord directly.
Once upon a time, there lived a king called Chatrapati Shivaji who was the ruler of what is now known as the state ofMaharashtra. One of his main objectives was to establish Hinduism across the state. He was given blessed with the power of Tapas by his Guru Samartha Ramadas and he was trying to establish the Hindu religion in the state ofMaharashtrausing this benediction in his reign. It is interesting to see how Shivaji met his Guru, Samartha Ramadas.
Chatrapati Shivaji was once resting on the banks of a river on his way back from a hard-fought battle. He found peepul leaves with divine hymns on Lord Rama inscribed on them floating down the river. He read them and realized that the kirtans must have flowed out of a great Mahatma who has experience Lord Rama. One can realize if a kirtan or a sloka or a hymn has flowed out of a great Mahatma through the divine grace of the Lord or has been composed by a man by mere reading itself. Shivaji traced back the leaves that were floating down the river and reached
Sanjanghat where Samarta Ramdas resided. Shivaji shed off his attire and clad in simple clothing prostrated unto the holy feet of this Mahatma. The Mahatma welcomed Shivaji warmly as if he awaited his visit. He offered a seat to Shivaji and the Mahatma asked him to have his food with them. The king said that he was not by himself since he was returning from a battle. He had requested his battalion to stay away while he had the darshan of the Mahatma. Samarta Ramdas assured him that he was cognizant of the fact that the king would be accompanied by his entire army. He said that food will be served to all including the elephants and the horses. Shivaji humbly consented to the request. The Mahatma then instructed his disciple to remove the huge boulder that covered the cave nearby and the sight that caught his eyes astounded Shivaji. The cave contained huge amount of various kinds of dishes that was more than adequate to provide a sumptuous meal for the king and his battalion. The King and his huge army had a great food. We all know that one should never question a Guru, but the flabbergasted King politely said that it was not possible for him, in spite of being a King to prepare this amount of food for a large number of people and humbly asked the Mahatmas as to how has this been made possible by the him.
Samarta Ramdas replied to the King’s question by saying “a Mahatma by name Tukkaram dwells in Dehu Roadand asked him to go and place his question before him and that he will give you the explanation.” The king then left the divine abode of Samartha Ramadas after paying his reverence. Upon returning to his Kingdom, Shivaji forgot his meeting with Tukkaram, as he had to attend to various issues in his Kingdom. Many years passed by. One day while travelling with his army he found a signboard ‘Dehu Road’ inscribed in it. He immediately recollected his meeting with Samarta Ramdas and his words about Tukkaram. He proceeded staright to Dehu Roadand enquired Tukkaram. The people in Dehu Roadsaid, ” Tukkaram is a great Mahatma who is always immersed in singing the praises of Lord Hari and said that one can find him sitting on the mud pyol of a small hut which is his divine abode. “
Shivaji, stopping his army at a distance, walked all alone to the home of Sant Tukkaram who was poverty stricken. He was playing the ‘tamboora’, sitting on the mud pyol of his hut and was singing the glories of Lord Sri Hari. Shivaji bowed down to him and humbly introduced himself. Tukkaram said, ” Oh! You are the great Chatrapati Shivaji. I am glad to meet you have you here and offered him a seat and requested him to have his food with him.” Shivaji, said, ” Oh! Master! I have not come alone and I have left my battalion some miles away. “Tukkaram replied saying the he is very well aware that a king does not come alone and assured him that there is enough for all!” Shivaji was aghast. Tukkaram lived in a small hut made of mud walls and his children wore torn clothes. There were only a few mud pots inside the hut. The roof had lots of holes and hence the sun’s rays were streaming inside the hut through them. Tukkaram then went inside and brought some wheat flour. He gave a pinch of it to Shivaji and to his huge army, including the elephants and the horses. No sooner has every one of them consumed the small pinch of wheat flour than they felt satiated that it seemed as if they would not need any food for the next couple of days.
Shivaji thought to himself, ‘Samarta Ramdas being a single person, provided us all with a real sumptuous meal. But on the other hand Tukkaram being a householder living in utter poverty, gave just a pinch of wheat flour and it filled everyone providing nourishment for several days. Astounded by this miracle, he then hesitatingly and humbly asked Tukkaram as to how this has been possible by him. Tukkaram at once replied saying that there is a great Mahatma by name Samarta Ramdas and asked him to go to him and that he will provide an explanation for his question.
What does one need to decipher from this? It is not possible for a normal person to understand a Mahan. One needs to realize that only a Mahatma can understand another Mahatma. The way in which a Mahan is introduced to this world is only by another Mahan either in their lifetime or after their lifespan.
It is only by the ordinance of the Lord that one will have the divine association of a Mahatma.
The satsang ended with prayers and Namasankirtan.
