In the previous two blogs we saw Adi Sankaracharya bringing out the locational significance about the place Thiruchendur, a panchayat town located at the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal, in the Thoothukudi (Tuticorin) district of Tamil Nadu and then moving over to the description of the principal deity Lord Subramanya, focusing on harnessing the organs with the power of God.
In the blogs to follow, Sri Sankara starts his Prayers of the deity. First he focuses on the Lord, then submits his personal difficulties and issues and finally seeks His grace and compassion.
Let us go through the first set of his prayers that focuses on the Lord.
Verse 17
स्फुरद्रत्नकेयूरहाराभिरामः
चलत्कुण्डलश्रीलसद्गण्डभागः ।
कटौ पीतवास करे चारुशक्ति
पुरस्तान्ममास्तां पुरारेस्तनूज ॥१७॥
Sphurad-Ratna-Keyuura-Haara-Abhiraamah
Calat-Kunnddala-Shrii-Lasad-Ganndda-Bhaagah |
Kattau Piita-Vaasa Kare Caaru-Shakti
Purastaan-Mamaas-Taam Puraares-Tanuuja ||
ஒளி மிகு ரத்தினக் காப்பணிந்து எழில் மிகு முத்து மாலையுடன்
Verses 8-16 provides the description of the Lord Subramanya’s beautiful form “Paadaadikesam” (from his feet to his crown). Very often, as a novice I wonder as to why in most of the Slokas (Verses) about the Hindu Gods, a section is devoted to describe the form of the God in His/Her full splendor. Perhaps it signifies that the five action and five sense organs of human beings are directly related to the five elements of Nature and it is the bounden duty of the human being to identify & tune his senses and actions with Nature. But one common thread that I see in these Slokas is the unequivocal “affectionate mental disposition and purity of thoughts, a “sine qua non” for Devotion. Here is Sankara’ description of Karthikeya.
Verse 8
लसत्स्वर्णगेहे नृणां कामदोहे
सुमस्तोमसंछत्रमाणिक्यमञ्चे ।
समुद्यत्सहस्रार्कतुल्यप्रकाशं
सदा भावये कार्तिकेयं सुरेशम् ॥८॥
Lasat-Svarnna-Gehe Nrnnaam Kaama-Dohe
Suma-Stoma-Samchatra-Maannikya-Man.ce |
Sam-Udyat-Sahasra-Arka-Tulya-Prakaasham
Sadaa Bhaavaye Kaartikeyam Sure[a-Ii]sham ||8||
பொலிக்கும் தங்க உறைவினிலே நிறையும் அன்பர்க்கருள்புரியோனே
Aadi Sankaracharya the proponent of the Advaitha (Advaitha – not two in the literal meaning) philosophy, encouraged people to follow the route of Devotion (Bhakti) to the Lord for salvation by writing several Slokas about Hindu Gods.
In his work “ Sivananda Lahari”, Adi Sankara defines Devotion (Bhakti) in several Verses quoting examples of both Advaitha and Dwaitha philosophy (bhava). Pl ref Verse 61 in my earlier blog wherein Sri Sankara brings out the relationship between the Ankola tree & its seeds, the Magnet & iron particles as the “Dwaitha Bhava” approach and the example of river & sea as the “Advaitha Bhava” approach to Devotion (Bhakti). He also reiterated that ““Affectionate mental disposition and the purity of the devotion is the key” to salvation by quoting example of the actions of a hunter as an ardent devotee in Verse 63 of Sivananda Lahari
Sri Subramanya Bhujangam is a classic example of that affectionate mental disposition and purity wherein Sri Sankara was drawn to the abode of Lord Subramanya in the coastal village of Tiruchendur in Tamil Nadu & comes out with brilliant smooth flowing verses like the serpentine moves.
Let us examine the Verses
Verse 2
न जानामि शब्दं न जानामि चार्थं
न जानामि पद्यं न जानामि गद्यम् ।
चिदेका षडास्या हृदि द्योतते मे
मुखान्निःसरन्ते गिरश्चापि चित्रम् ॥२॥
Na Jaanaami Shabdam Na Jaanaami Ca-Artham
Na Jaanaami Padyam Na Jaanaami Gadyam |
Cid-Ekaa Ssaddaasyaa Hrdi Dyota-Te Me
Mukhaan-Nihsarante Girash-Ca-Api Citram ||
சொல் அறியேன் உட்பொருள் அறியேன்
கவி அறியேன் உரைநடையறியேன் – என்
உள்ளமுறை இதயத்தில் ஆறுமுகம் கண்டேனாதலால்
சொற்பல உதிர்த்திட்டேன் வாய்வழியாய் !
—————————————————
Verse 3
मयूराधिरूढं महावाक्यगूढं
मनोहारिदेहं महच्चित्तगेहम् ।
महीदेवदेवं महावेदभावं
महादेवबालं भजे लोकपालम् ॥३॥
Mayuura-Adhiruuddham Mahaa-Vaakya-Guuddham
Manohaari-Deham Mahac-Citta-Geham |
Mahii-Deva-Devam Mahaa-Veda-Bhaavam
Mahaa-Deva-Baalam Bhaje Loka-Paalam ||
மயில் வாகனமேறி உயர்வாக்கின் உட்பொருளாகி
அழகுடல் கொண்டு அடியோரின் உளம் உறைந்து
அமரர்தம் தலையாகி ஆதிநூட்களின் உணர்வாகி
உமையோனின் மகனாகி உலகோரைக் காப்போனே
———————————————————
Verse 4
यदा संनिधानं गता मानवा मे
भवाम्भोधिपारं गतास्ते तदैव ।
इति व्यञ्जयन्सिन्धुतीरे य आस्ते
तमीडे पवित्रं पराशक्तिपुत्रम् ॥४॥
Yadaa Samnidhaanam Gataa Maanavaa Me
Bhava-Ambhodhi-Paaram Gataas-Te Tadai[a-E]va |
Iti Vyan.jayan-Sindhu-Tiire Ya Aaste
Tam-Iidde Pavitram Paraashakti-Putram ||
உன்னடி பணிந்தோர் கடந்தனர் பிறவிப் பெருங்கடல் எனும் உண்மையை
Recently I was going through a series of “challenges” in life. Quite naturally I was forced to think as to how on earth others manage when they face challenges in life.
As my focus prior to the “challenges” was Srimad Bhagwadpada Adi Sankaracharya, I was wondering as to what he would have done. The answer was there right for me in the origin of his yet another legendary flow of Bhakti in Sanskrit language this time on Lord Kartikeya, the son of Lord Siva – “Subramanya Bhujangam”
Tamil Scholars such as Sri. A.V.R. Krishnaswamy have already written in Tamil all the Verses. Yet as a novice I wanted to venture and seek the Blessings of Lord Subramanya.
I have started studying the Slokas and will post my blogs as and when I am confident of my work.
At one side of the spectrum, we see in the Social Media, incidents/news about son/daughter engaged in legal battles, eviction notices, physical fights and in odd cases murder/killing of their own parent/parents.
At the other side, we also see/read “success” stories about senior and old citizens doing actions that are normally performed at the younger ages just to get “mental satisfaction”/”happiness”/”ticking off the bucket list” etc.
Quite often I introspect on these events and search for answers for questions that arises in my mind. Why are we doing this? What are we getting out of it ? I haven’t got perfect answers to my questions; yet I did get to understand certain important “dos & don’ts”. These learning are absolutely individualistic and one can only express these learning as an experience.
These events are not new to this 21st century alone. Around the eighth Century at the holy city of Kashi (Varanasi), an young saint named Sankara observing a very elderly gentleman trying to learn the grammar of Sanskrit language, wrote 30 odd verses starting with Bhaja Govindam. The Verses are so profound that several centuries later they provide a deep insight of the human nature and behavior and advises the way forward.
Picking a few Verses from these, the legendary MS Subbulakshmi (MS) in her Divine voice rendered the ” Bhaja Govindam “.
I now realize that these Verses by Adi Sankaracharya are perhaps the treasures where we can contemplate to find answers to our searching questions.
In that process of contemplation, here is my attempt (out of ignorance) to provide an interpretation in Tamil for these Verses from the famous MS song.
Link to the Song
—————————————————————
அரங்கத்து அரசனை அனுதினமும் உறைத்திடு – பெரும்
உறக்கமதன் நேரம் வந்தால் உதவாது உன் ஏட்டறிவு.
பொருள் தவிர்த்து உணர்ந்திடுவாய் பேர் உண்மைதனை – முன்
வீ(ஈ)ட்டிய பலன் கொண்டு சமநிலைத்திடுவாய் உன் எண்ணமதை
உறவுகளின் உள்ளன்பு உன் உடல் சக்தி உள்ளவரை – அவர்
உறுதியற்ற உன்னுடல் நோக்கின் தவர்த்திடுவர் ஒரு வார்த்தைதனை
பொன் கண்ட உறவுடனே உன் இளமைதனின் பெருமை
கண் இமைக்கும் நேரமதில் காலம் செய்யும் வெறுமை
மாயமெனும் உலகம்தனை உணர்ந்திட்டு
மாதவனின் பாதம்தனை வணங்கிடு
ஆலயத்து அடியார் போல் மர உரி முனியோரென – உலகத்து
பொருள் தவிர்த்தால் பேரின்பம் அடையாப்பெரியோரும் உளரோ!
இறையருள் வாக்குதனை சிறிதேனுமறிந்து, துளியேனும் கங்கை நீர் பருகிட்டு
மறைகூறும் மாதவனைப் பணிந்தால், வாதம் ஒன்றுமில்லை எமனிடத்தில் என்றும்
கருவாகி உறங்கிப் பிறந்து மடியும் யாம் பிறவிப்பெருங்கடலை நீந்துதல் கடினம்
அசுர முராவை வென்ற இறையொன்றே கரை ஏற்றும், தன் கருணை கொன்டு
On the occasion of Guru Purnima, here is my dedication to my Guru.
Born in the year 1906, in his 100 years of existence in this planet Earth, he was a Guru for 100s of students who today are all over this planet. For them He was their teacher.
For me, He was not only my teacher; I was blessed to be His child. Yes here is my salutations to my Father Sri. Meenakshi Sundaram Ponnuswamy alias Sankara Narayanan.
When we were kids, we were given a simple technique for memorising complicated long paragraphs. Identify key letter in each para by understanding the link between the contents of the para and the letter; then try and form a word using the key letters and memorise the word. Later on when have to reproduce those complicated paragraphs verbatim in an exam, all you have to recall is that one word with key letters and the flow will start immediately as you start inking the answer paper.
The child in me tells that perhaps this technique may be the logic that ancestors adopted when they described the life and qualities of the Divine by forming short Aksharams (letter/alphabet)
Here is one such immortal Sloka by Srimad Adi Sankaracharya.
In my attempt to learn Sanskrit, I ventured into my hobby – provide Tamil meaning as understood by me as a dedication to my Guru.
நமசிவாய – ஐந்தெழுத்து முதல்வோனே
அரவரச மாலை அணி முக்கண்ணனே,
எரிசாம்பல் வண்ணமேனியுடை பேரிறையே,
அழியாத்தூய்மையென நாற்றிசைஉடை அணியோனே,
“ந” வடிவில் நலம் தருவாய் ஐந்தெழுத்து முதல்வோனே!
புனிதநீர் பூசைபெறும் சந்தனக்காப்புடையோனே,
நந்தியெனும் விடையோனே, பூதகண நாதனே பேறிறையே,
மந்தார மலருடனே நறுமலர்பல தூவி வழிபடும் நாயகனே,
“ம” வடிவில் மனம் கவரும் ஐந்தெழுத்து முதல்வோனே!
உமையவளின் தாமரைமுகமலர ஒளிக்கதிரான ஆதவனே,
யாகம்புரி தக்ஷனவன் செறுக்கழித்த பெருமறுமகனே,
ஆலமுண்டநீலவனே, விடைகொண்ட கொடிஉடையோனே,
“சி” வடிவில் எம் சிந்தைநிறை ஐந்தெழுத்து முதல்வோனே!
வசிஷ்ட குருமுனி கௌத்தமன் மாமுனிவர் பலரும்,
இந்திரன் உலகத்து தேவ பூதகணங்களும் வணங்கும்,
கதிரவ சந்திர நெருப்படங்கும் கண்ணுடையோனே,
“வா”வடிவில் எம் வல்வினை தீர்க்கும் ஐந்தெழுத்து முதல்வோனே!
தவவடிவான சடைமுடி தரித்தோனே,
கரமதனில் சூலம்தரி எங்கும் நிறை நாயகனே,
தெய்வீக தேவனே, நாற்றிசைஉடை அணியோனே,
“ய” வடிவில் யாண்டும் எமைகாக்கும் ஐந்தெழுத்து முதல்வோனே!
On March 14th I commenced my small journey. Over these last 100 odd days, every Friday I made a Pit stop to coney to you my status and my GPS Coordinates; GPS ? Yes.
G – how Gullible I am in being taken for a ride by my Mind in this world of desires.
P- how Poor I am in my knowledge about myself and my relationship with my “Self”.
S – how Sorry I am about my inadequacy to express the above due to my huge limitations in understanding Sanskrit & expressing in Tamil
At the end of these 100 verses, the efforts I made myopically covered the fact that I am back at where I was in my journey and need to start again my journey.
I will definitely start again my spiritual journey till I realise I have commenced my journey.
In the mean time, I am overwhelmed by the positive encouragement given to me by everyone. The first 21 blogs had over 400 visitors and 810 views. I consider these as my Blessings and will seek your best wishes for my journey.
From a practising manager’s perspective, at a very crude level, possibly one can with full limitations draw an analogy by comparing this state with the Ultimate State of Transcendence that Abraham Maslow advocated in his later years. In his later years, Abraham Maslow explored a further dimension of motivation, while criticizing his original vision of self-actualization.By this later theory, one finds the fullest realization in giving oneself to something beyond oneself—for example, in altruism or spirituality. He equated this with the desire to reach the infinite – Self-transcendence
Para Brahman (परब्रह्मन्) is the “Highest Brahma” that which is beyond all descriptions and conceptualisations. It is described in Hindu texts as the formless (in the sense that it is devoid of Mayaaa) spirit (soul) that eternally pervades everything, everywhere in the universe and whatever is beyond.
What is that “Ultimate Reality”? The Veda is very clear on the subject.
“Suparnam viprAh kavyo vachobhir ekam santam bahudhA kalpayanti”. The wise seers describe the one existence (ekam santam) in various words (bahudha vachobhih).
Rig Veda 1.114.5.
…………..
“Ekam sad viprA bahudhA vadanti agnim yamam mAtrishvAnam Ahuh” – The sages describethe one existence (ekam sat) in many ways.It is called as Agni, as Yama as Matarishvan.
Rig Veda 1.184.46.
Bliss is the state when a soul identifies itself completely with the “Ultimate Reality”. It is a phenomenon that can only be experienced and not explained.
Describing this state is only through explicits and with gross limitations in expressions. In the concluding ten verses, Bhagavad Padha Adi Sankara brings out this state through a series of expressions, which if read in isolation could be perplexing. However, if one has undertaken the journey of inward travel along with his earlier 90 verses, one can perhaps realize that the journey to seek Bliss has just begun.
———————————————
Verse 91
In this verse, one can realize that unless we clean the dust (ignorance – avidya) off the mirror, the soul can’t identify itself with the “Ultimate Reality”.
அம்முவர் திறன் என்றடைவேனோ யான் அன்று அடைந்திடுவேன் உன்
நாம் போற்றி உன் புகழ் பாடி உனைத்துதிக்கும் தகுதி உமையானே !
———————————————-
Verse 89
In this Verse, Adi Sankara refers to the conflict between Arjuna and Siva prior to the grant of “Paasupadhaastra” by the Lord to Arjuna.
नतिभिर्नुतिभिस्त्वमीशपूजा-
विधिभिर्ध्यानसमाधिभिर्न तुष्टः ।
धनुषा मुसलेन चाश्मभिर्वा
वद ते प्रीतिकरं तथा करोमि ॥ ८९॥
பார்த்திபன் வில் உலக்கை கல் அடிதனை களிப்புடனே ஏற்கும் விதம்போல்-உன்
பாதம்பணிந்து பாமாலைபாடி நியமம்நிறைபூசித்து புரி துதிதனை மகிழ்வதில்லை நீ
என்னவென்று உரைத்திடுவாய் உன் விருப்பம், புரிந்திடுவேன் பரிவுடன் அனுதினமும்
———————————————–
Verse 90
वचसा चरितं वदामि शम्भो-
रहमुद्योगविधासु तेऽप्रसक्तः ।
मनसा कृतिमीश्वरस्य सेवे
शिरसा चैव सदाशिवं नमामि ॥ ९०॥
உயர் யோகமுறை அறியேன் உலகோனே
உன் புகழ் பாடி, சிரம் தாழ்த்தி உனை வணங்கி
என்மனத்தால் உனைத் தொழுவேன் சதாசிவனே
When Adi Sankara writes about उद्योग विधासु – in the higher form of yoga ( 8 forms of yoga – Yama, Niyama, aasana, pranaayaama, pratyaahaara, dhaarana, dhyaana, samaadhi). Here is a sketch which outlines the eight levels of yoga.
Prabhu's Ponder 