Rahasya Padavi, Sri Rahasya Navaneetam and Sri Rahasya Sandesam?
A. The author of the three Rahasyas is Sri Vedanta Desika. He is one of the important Preceptors of Sri Vaishnavism. He has authored more than 120 works. His works can be broadly classified into five major groups. 1. Sahitya Granthas 2. Vedanta granthas 3. Stotras.4.Rahasya granthas 5. Tamil Prabandams.
The Rahasya granthas are in maniparvala style (Sanskrit and tamil fused together in a simple but fine rhythum) These are classified into three groups as Amrutharanjani Rahasyam, Amrutha swadhini rahasya and tani rahasyas.
The above three rahasya namely rahasya padavi, rahasya navanneta and rahasya Sandesam fall into amrutha ranjani group. Which have 17 rahasyas in it. Falling under sampradaya parisuddhi:-
Rahasya Padavi consists of three rahasya mantras. 1. Astaksara, @. Dwaya mantra and 3. Charma sloka.
Rahasya Navneetam:- A brief explanation of the three rahasya mantra, a quotation from Brahma sutras of Badrayana and Srimad Valmiki Ramayana, are the features delt with in this rahasya.
Rahasya Sandesa:- Here we find a brief description of the tirumantra of astaksara and an analysis of pranava, Nama sabdha and Narayana.i.e. Chit Achit and the Lord.
Thus the three are interlinked to form a beautiful garland.
The Single act of the performance of Prapathi is to be preceded by the four thoughts:-
1. The giving up of the thought that I am the doer.
2. The giving up of the thought of mine.
3. The giving up of the fruit of action.
4. The giving up of the thought that what one does is the means of the attainment of the fruit.
So the three secrets have three parts each connected to each other and again the three are interlinked.
The three Secrets:
1. The first and the most important is called Ashtaksara and this consists of 8 syllables and is the form of three words. The first word is a single syllable OM the second word is NAMAHA the third word is NARAYANAYA. So the astaksara is OM NAMO NARAYANAYA. This means salutations to NARAYANA but they have a deeper meaning to it.
2. The second secret is called DVYA. This is in two parts the first part is “ Sriman Narayana charanau saranam prapadye.” This means I seek refuge at the feet of sriman Narayana. The second part is “Srimate Narayanaya Namaha.” This means salutations to sriman Narayanaya. This too has a deeper meaning.
3. The third secret is Charma sloka which occurs in the last chapter of Bhagvad gita. The sloka says Having already given up dharmas as a means to attain moksa, surrender yourself fully to me. I will free you from all the sins, do not grieve.”
“OM Sarva Dharman Parityajya Mamekam sharanam vraja. I
OM Aham Tvam Sarva Papebhyo Om Moksa Isyami Masucha.”
This too has a deeper meaning.
1A. Astaksara OM NAMO NARAYANAYA
The Om has three letters A U and M.
A means Narayana or Vishnu. A is the beginning of all letters similarly Vishnu is the origin of all beings, hence A denotes Vishnu. The letter A is the shortened form of the verb “AVA” which means to protect. Since Vishnu is the protector of all the worlds the letter a menas Vishnu who is the protector. The letter U means Lakshmi it also means only. The letter M means the Soul or Jivatma. Secondly the letter M is derived from the verb which means to know it also means limit or measure.
Namo or Namaha has two meanings if it is taken as one word it means salutations or worshipping. The second meaning is got by splitting namaha. Na and Maha which then means not mine.
By adding jivatma to the context it explains
1. I am not mine. I am subservient to the Lord. I belong to the Lord.
2. Nothing is mine everything belongs to the Lord.
3. I am not independent. I am depending on the Lord.
4. Mastership is not mine, I am not master of myself including myself. Narayana is master of everybody.
Ra means to perish so ra denotes achetana which is perishable.
Nara means that which does not perish hence nara means chetana or Jivatma. Nara means the Lord also. So Nara means those belonging to Nara the Lord. If you take the meaning of ayana as upaya or means for attaining salvation then the word Narayana (NARA – AYANA) will mean that he the Lord VISHNU is the upaya or the means of attaining salvation for all jivatmas. Or if you take ayana to mean fruit. One that is to be obtained. It will mean He is the fruit or the end to be attained by all Jivatmas.
By the various combinations 10 meanings are possible.
1. Salutations and Pranams to Narayana.
2. I surrender myself to the lord as my existence is only for the pleasure of the lord. I surrender the protection of myself to the lord. I surrender the fruit of Purushartha to the Lord.
3. I am the servant only to the lord and lakshmi. I am not subservient to anybody else. I am not subservient to myself also. I do not have any independence. I am completely depended on the lord.
4. I Surrender myself to the lord even this surrender is by the grace of the lord. The lord alone is the protector. There is nobody else that can protect me. I cannot protect myself.
5. I will do service only to the Lord and Lakshmi. I will not do anything for my pleasure. What ever I do is for the pleasure of the Lord.
6. I will do service to the Lord and Lakshmi at all times. I will also do service to Bhagvatas.
7. I do not belong to myself I do not have anything as mine. Nothing is mine I belong to the Lord. Every thing that I have also belongs to the lord.
8. I am not able to do any upaya. The lord alone is upaya. He should bless me with salvation and permit me to do service to the lord.
9. My protection is the responsibility of the lord. The lord will free me from all sins the lord will bless me with eternal service to him.
10. I belong only to the lord I do prapati to him I will do eternal service to him.
When one reaches realization one simply believes in the above. He then does not need to explain or derive that everything is gods maya and he has to do deeds only to please god. SESHA SESHI bhava taken also proves the above. The lord is the only one capable of giving so we automatically approach him.
The Dvaya Mantra.
The word Sri has six meanings.
She is attained by chetanas.
She attains Narayana and pleads on behalf of chetanas.
She hears the prayers of chetanas.
She makes Narayana hear the prayers of chetanas
She destroys the karmas of chetanas which stand in the way of attaining salvation.
She makes ripe the qualities of chetanas so that they desire only moksha and nothing else.
One way is addressing Him as Sriman Narayana and then saying I seek refuge in the feet of sriman Narayana.
The feet are the most important of the lords form. We only fall at the feet of the lord for obtaining salvation.
The first part means seeking refuge at the Divine feet of Sriman Narayana. So it indicates upaya or means of attaining salvation. The second part denotes the fruit to be achieved namely service to the lord.
The second part of the dvaya reads Srimate Narayanaya Namaha.. Salutations to sriman Narayana.
The deeper meaning reads.
May I be for the service of sriman narayana. I am not for myself. Nothing is mine. Every thing belongs to the lord. I am the servant of the Lord. I do not do anything for myself. The lord only gets things done through me. What ever I do is for the pleasure of the lord only. The first part thus indicates upaya and the second upeya the means and the fruit to be attained.
The Charma Sloka.
The Charmasloka by itself is not a secret. It becomes a secret because of the hidden meaning of the various words in the sloka which are highly important. They have to be understood properly. Under a proper acharya. Hence it is called or reffered to as secret.
Different people belonging to different philosophies have given various interpretations depending on the different contexts. Ramanuja himself gives two alternative meanings for the sloka. The first meaning given by Ramanuja A person who takes up the karma yoga or jnana yoga bhakti yoga should perform it with immense affection to god. At the same time he should give up the thought that he is actually doing the karma yoga. He should give up the fact that the fruit actually also belongs to him. He should give up the fact that he is the doer and that he is also reeping the benefit of the fruit. He must consider and understand that every thing is being done by god only and that it is for the pleasure of the lord.. The second meaning given by ramanuja is suppose while doing the bhakti yoga a person has committed several sins or papa. These act as hindrance in the proper performance of the bhakti yoga. So these things have to be properly attoned for before continuing the bhakti yoga. For the attonment of sins the shastras have laid down several prayaschittas a few examples like krichra, Chandrayana and kusumendrahoma etc. These expiation ceremonies take a long time and are difficult to perform. Krishna says give up the various prayaschitta ceremonies that are prescribed in the shastras. Seek refuge in me I will stand in the place of various expiation ceremonies so that the hindrances to the bhakti yoga are got rid off. So also says Ramanujacharya.
The meaning derived by treating the sloka as a secret is how the greatness of prapati is explained.
Dharman here means various kinds of vidyas mentioned in the Upanishads. Like sad vidyadoharavidya etc. Because of incompetence and because of the inability to do the same a person in the present world has already given up doing the vidyas, which come under bhakti yoga. Hence bhakti yoga has already been given up.
So having already given up the bhakti yoga due to sheer inability you seek refuge in god and do prapati.
Sri Vedanta desika says you have already given up bhakti yoga knowing that you are unable to do it. So do prapati to attain salvation. It is clear that prapati does not require any other accessories other than the five prerequisites. So give up the idea that the other dharmas namely rites and duties are required to be performed as accessories to prapati. It is well realized in the present day that bhakti yoga cannot be performed, as laid down in the shastras. So our efforts should not be wasted in something which is not possible. Even the desire to do bhakti yoga should be abandoned.
Prapati is complete by itself and does not require bhakti yoga.
The vedas and shastras cannot prescribe things that should be done and then ask us to give them up. The shastras prescribe the duties that various classes of people have to do. The various type of yagas a person has to perform and so on. It is not correct to say that after prescribing these at length the vedas and shastras ask us to give up every thing. If the idea is to give up all the karmas and duties then there was no need to prescribe them in detail earlier.
The gita says this is tamasatyaga. If a person gives up doing compulsory karmas like sandyavandana, due to wrong notion it is tamasatyaga. So these compulsory karmas should not be given up on any account.
It is also true that these duties are not required for prapati. But these duties have been prescribed by the vedas and shastras so these duties have to be performed till the end of life by everybody including one who has done prapati.
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