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Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:
Man or God?The world today is full of Godmen. While many are genuine and truly guide their followers through the minefield of SamsAra without any expectation of quid pro quo, there are many others, who are but pseudo-gurus, adopting Spirituality as an occupation, like any other commercial activity. They profess to teach you anything from mere deep breathing exercises to how to realise God. While the Upanishads prescribe a mere 32 paths for God-realisation, it would appear from the statements of these Godmen, that the paths to Liberation can be tailored to suit individual tastes, predilections and fancies. While rigorous discipline is prescribed by the Scripture for climbing even the very first step on the lofty mountain of MOksha, these mystics tell us that it is just a lap ahead, reassuring us that we need give up none of our creature comforts for achieving this exalted goal. They have too new-fangled notions of Liberation, vis a vis those prescribed by the Scriputure. Funnily, many of them have quite a rigid fee structure for their "Professional Services", indicating how altruistic their efforts are. If it is a ten-day course of PrANAyAma (which is a part of our daily Sandhyavandanam, if only we care to do it properly), the compensation expected is around Rs.1000 per head. For the comprehensive course on the "Art of Living", much more is charged. How wonderful! To think that at a cost of a mere thousand or two, we are able to acquire wisdom which would stand us well in this world and also provide us a passport to Paradise! It would appear that the essential qualifications for becoming a modern Guru are-sufficient anonymity of background, a flowing beard (preferably white), saffron robes (silky and shiny), a smattering of Sanskrit but facility in English, with ability to quote long and unintelligible scriptural (?) passages at the drop of a hat, in and out of context and an endless repertoire of funny stories with a "message". And, in all humility, these "Guru"s don't call themselves divine, but simply do not protest when their followers ascribe divinity to them.
This is not intended to be a tirade against Godmen, but to emphasise that while mere Men with feet of clay are trying to act as Gods, there was a God, in fact the God of all Gods, who insisted that He was a mere mortal and refused all attempts to glorify His divinity. He protested vehemently that He was a man, the son of another man, with absolutely nothing special about Him. And He prayed to Gods much inferior to Him, for attaining something, which He Himself could have achieved in a trice effortlessly, to establish His humanity.
After Sri Janaki enters the fire to prove Her chastity, all the exalted deities including BrahmA, RudrA, Indra et al assemble at the site, to request Sri Rama to accept the unblemished Sita. On the occasion, the Devatas sing the praise of Sri Rama in unison, extolling Him as the Supreme Power, the Ultimate. "You are indeed the Creator of all the worlds, the most exalted among all deities. You are indeed the repository of all wisdom and virtue and it is You who are seen constant and unchanging, at the beginning and end of all creation." Here are the sweet words of praise from the Devas-
"KartA sarvasya lOkasya shrEshttO gnAnavatAm vara:"
"trayANAm hi lOkAnAm Adi karta svayam Prabhu:"
"antE cha Adou cha lOkAnAm drisyasE tvam Parantapa!"
Unmoved by all this adulation by one exalted deity after another, Sri Rama stands on the ground, His palms folded in supplication, and tells the celestials that He considers Himself to be a mere man, the son of Dasaratha-
"AtmAnam mAnusham manyE, RAmam DasarathAtmajam"
It is this attitude of Sri Raghava that endears Him to us all the more. Being the Parabrahmam, He could very well have accomplished the avowed mission of eliminating Rakshasas, through His mere Will, without having to be born to Kousalya after a twelve-month imprisonment in the human womb, trekking all the jungle trails behind the heartless VisvAmitra who made the Paramapurusha walk mile after mile in dense and inhospitable forests, accepting uncomplainingly a fourteen-year exile in the terrifying jungle in lieu of a princely life at Ayodhya, cohorting with all manner of people including monkeys and bears, stoically bearing the unbearable pain of separation from the Lokamata whom He had pledged never to be parted from, having to wage a virulent war against the most terrible of Rakshasas for reclaiming His innocent and suffering Consort. All these could have been accomplished merely by the Lord deciding that it be so-"TatthAstu"-but, instead, He chose to be born among us mortals, to share our pain and pleasure, enthralling us with His soulabhyam, souseelyam, and innumerable other auspicious attributes.
And after doing all this, He meekly tells BrahmA and Rudra, "I consider myself a mere man, the son of Dasaratha". In this world of people who are forever projecting themselves in a larger-than-life mode, here is an entity who was the Supreme Lord, the incomparable and immaculate being beyond contemplation, who refuses to put on airs and chooses to adhere absolutely to the character He has adopted as a mortal.
BrahmA is so moved by the sight of the Parabhrahmam standing on the ground with palms folded in supplication, that he bursts into a lengthy adulation, a compilation sweet to the ear and the tongue, which is to be found in the 120th Sarga of the Yuddha Kandam.
However clear Sri Rama might have been about His role as a man, there appear to be contradictions in how He perceived Himself and how others viewed Him. Further, some of His acts during the Ramavatara too cast a doubt as to His real nature and His insistence on being a human being.
In the introductory chapter of Srimad Ramayana, Sri Valmiki's question to Sri Narada, which forms the genesis for the great Epic, is worth analysis. Sri Valmiki lists sixteen glorious guNAs and seeks to know from Narada as to which human being is endowed with all of them. And Sri Valmiki is very specific about a Man-"tvam samartthOsi gyAtum Evam vidham naram"-not a God or even a demigod. And in reply, Sri Narada too, after deep consideration, indeed finds such a human being and tells Valmiki to listen carefully-"MunE! VakshyAmi aham buddhvA tai: yuktam shrayatAm narai:" It is thus very clear from the prologue itself that Sri Rama was considered a Man and not a deity, both by the author and his interlocutor.
We move next to the arrival of VisvAmitra to demand the services of Sri Rama for protection of his yagyam. When Sri Dasarata, concerned at the capability of the boy (still in His teens) to confront deadly Rakshasas, is reluctant to send the darling of his eye along with the Maharshi, Visvamitra tells the Emperor that Sri Rama is no mere human infant and that His true prowess and glory are known only to those immersed in penance and austerity like VisvAmitra himself and VasishttA-
"aham vEdmi mahAtmAnam RAmam satya parAkramam
VasishttOpi mahA tEjA: yE chEmE tapasi shritA:"
It is clear here that VisvAmitra has full realisation of Sri Rama's true nature as the Supreme Being, capable of annihilating the entire clan of Rakshasas singly.
Puzzlingly, however, the very same Visvamitra calls Sri Rama a man-a tiger among men-when waking him up one morning in the jungle, for the performance of adulatory rituals addressed to deities-
"KousalyA suprajA Rama! poorvA sandhyA pravartatE
uttishtta nara sArdoola! Kartavyam daivam Ahnikam"
Was He only a Model Man, a Model Monarch and a Magnificent specimen of humanity, or was He the Parabrahmam personified, we keep asking ourselves while perusing the various key events of the Epic. And we find that we are not alone in trying to resolve this incongruity, as a senior Acharya, Sri Koorattazhwan, devotes quite a few verses to this puzzle, in his "atimAnushtvam".
"I ask You, my Lord and do give a straight answer. You said you were a man and displayed all the limited wisdom of a Man, in going after the golden deer that was MArIchA and later exhibited all the grief and sorrow of an average Man separated from His beloved wife, not knowing the whereabouts of Sri Sita and beside Yourself with grief at Her loss. I do agree that all these were indeed in tune with your assumed role as a man. However, can You explain, being after all a human being, how you were able to promise the paradise to JatAyu? You told the devoted bird plainly, "gaccha lOkAn anuttamAn" (You will reach the coveted worlds above)-how was this possible if You were a mere man?" enquires Azhwan of the Lord-
"PricchAmi kinchana yathA kila RAhavatvE
MAyA mrigasya vasagO manujatva mougdyAt
SItA viyOga vivasO na cha tat gatigya:
PrAdA: tathA para gatim hi katham khagAya?"
"If you were capable of awarding JatAyu's selfless services with a berth in the highest of worlds, why then did you roam about the DandakAraNyam, in tears and torment, searching for the lost Sita who was hundreds of miles away?" enquires Sri Azhwan, posing inconvenient questions to the Paramapurusha. In sum, the query is," If you have power enough to promise paradise to a bird, how come you didn't know where your own wife was?"
Continues Sri Azhwan-"You showed your matchless prowess by riddling seven tall trees, not even in a straight line, with a single potent arrow, let off almost playfully from your magnificent bow. When you had such boundless strength, courage and prowess, why at all did you seek the assistance of mere monkeys in the search for Sita?"
"SAlAn hi sapta sagirIn sa rasAtalAnyAn
EkEshu manda javatO nirapatraya: tvam
TEshu Eka vivyathana kinna bibhraNunnam
ShAkA mrigam mrigayasEsma katham sahAyam?"
"Oh Lord! You set out in Sri Ramavatara to enact the role of an ideal Man and to establish the standards of behaviour for human beings, by your own impeccable conduct. This being so, why did You perform superhuman acts like building a bridge across the ocean, with the aid of rocks and mountains playfully thrown on the water by monkeys?"
"MAnushyakam charitam Acharitum pravritta:
dEvAdhikam charitam anga! Kim angyakArshI:
yat sAgarE batha babandhita nAtha! sEthum
shailai: plavangama samingita sampraNunnai:"
"When Vibhishana fell at your feet at your camp on the opposite shore of Lanka, how did you declare him to be the King of Lanka and perform an impromptu coronation, without even ascertaining the strength of enemy forces, with no strategy on hand for crossing the waters to Lanka, without any intelligence on the relative strengths of the armies? If you were indeed a man, how was it possible for you to display such supreme confidence in crowning Vibhishana the king of Lanka, with the war being a wide-open affair, with not a single arrow fired yet and the battle yet to be won?" enquires Azhwan further-
"abdhim na tErita, na jigyatha rAkshsEndram
naivAsya jagyitha yathA cha balAbalam tvam
nissamsaya: sapadi tasya padE abhyashincha:
tasyAnujam katham idam hi VibhIshanamcha?"
Sri Rama might have considered Himself to be a man, but we do not agree, nor does Azhwan, in view of the numerous "atimAnusha" (superhuman) acts, which He adopts during this avatara. He might hide His Paratvam or supremacy behind a human façade, but His wisdom, prowess, etc. give Him away every time, whether it be the infructuous sharanagati to Samudra rAjA, the transformation of a wayside stone into the RishipatnI ahalyA, the single-handed annihilation of fourteen thousand rAkshasAs at JanasthAnam, the dispatch of JatAyu and Sabhari to exalted worlds and so on.
However, to us devotees, it matters little whether Sri Raghava was a Man or God. Each and every act, every little gesture of His, speaks volumes about how we should live, speak, act and think. He has endeared Himself to each one of us through His glorious conduct and the ideal relationships He forged with not only those near and dear, but with absolute strangers too. God or Man, He has pervaded every little nook and corner of our hearts, towering head and shoulders above Men and Gods alike.
Srimate Sri LakshmINrisimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSAtakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:
dasan, sadagopan
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Subject: Arms and the Lord From: sadagopaniyengar <
sadagopaniyengar@xxxx> Date: Sat, 31 May 2003 08:19:15 +0530 Cc: sadagopaniyengar <
sadagopaniyengar@xxxx>
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Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:
Arms and the Lord
How many hands does the Lord have? We come across several scriptural texts ascribing to Him four beautiful arms, holding the Discus, Conch, the Mace and the Lotus. The prelude to Sri Vishnu Sahasranama Stotram unambiguously says that He has four arms-"Vishnum sasivarNam chatur bhujam". Sri Nammazhwar confirms this many a time-"tOLu nAngudai surikuzhal kamala kaN senkanivAi KALamEgam" nAl tOL endAi" nAngu tOLum pAviyEn pakkattavE" etc. The reason the Lord sports four arms instead of two is perhaps to ensure speedy and adequate response in His principal occupation of providing succour to the distressed-SharaNAgata rakshaNam". He doesn't ever lay down His arms, for fear that even a second's delay could make the difference in a soul being saved and shattered, says Swami Desikan-
PAtu praNata rakshAyAm viLambam asahan iva
sadA panchAyudhI bibhrat sa na: Sriranga nAyaka:"
These arms are compatible in size, proportion, beauty and strength to the rest of His glorious form and appear to be glorious branches of a magnificent tree, growing upwards and down. The TaittirIyOpanishad talks of the Lord having a hundred arms in the Varahavatara, when He battled with Hiranyaksha and rescued Mother Earth-"uddhrutAsi VarAhENa krishNEna shata bAhunA".These arms symbolise superlative Strength, protectiveness and might, all of which are indispensable qualities in the Paramapurusha, providing the rationale for devotees to pay obeisance. It is no wonder therefore that these divine arms are said to be the origin of the Ruling Class, the KshatriyAs- "bAhoo rAjanya: krita:". The beauty of these arms is such that anyone casting even a stray glance at these stupendous specimens of virility is captivated totally, and doesn't like to prise his or her eyes away from the mighty arms, says KambanAttAzhwan-"tOL kandAr tOLE kandAr".
Though the normal number is four, during His avataras as human beings, as in the Rama, Parasurama, Balarama and Krishna avataras, the Lord has sported only two hands. This is in tune with His wish that He should be born as one among the proletariat and reform them through His own ideal conduct, rather than come across as a Super Man who can be ogled at with wonder, but not emulated or identified with. The Lord confirms this Himself-"AtmAnam mAnusham manyE, Ramam DasaratAtmajam". He tells us that He is indeed one of us, a mere mortal, the son of Dasarata, and not a divine being to be kept at a distance. In tune with this averment, the Lord sports only two arms in the aforesaid avataras.
However, there are occasions even in the Rama and Krishna avataras, where He resumes His normal form with Four arms, instead of the two assumed for the purpose of His sojourn on this earth. As these are rare occasions where the Lord, having adopted a human demeanour, chooses to display His Paratvam or Supremacy, these are worth a study.
Joyfully recording Emperuman's divine birth, Sri Valmiki hints that the Lord was indeed born with four beautiful arms-
"prOdyamAnE JagannAtham sarva lOka namaskritam
KousalyA ajanayat Ramam sarva lakshaNa samyutam"
The divine mother Kousalya gave birth to Rama, who is the object of worship of all. Even at birth, Sri Rama was endowed with all auspicious characteristics ("sarva lakshaNa samyutam"). Here, the words "sarva lakshaNa", on a casual perusal, would indicate that the Lord possessed all aspects, all SAmudrikA lakshaNAs, like broadness of chest, proportion of limbs to the torso, latent strength etc., as behoved a scion of the famed IkshvAku dynasty. He looked at birth as would a child belonging to a lineage of distinguished Emperors. Even at birth, it was evident that the divine child would be the cynosure of all eyes, due to His bewitching beauty. It was this that prompted Kulaguru Vasishta to name the child "Rama" (one who captivates everybody).
However, going beyond the mere etymological purport, our Poorvacharyas have uncovered a wealth of meaning in the words "sarva lakshaNa samyutam". They say that though the Lord was born in this mundane world assuming a mortal form and demeanour, none of the innumerable characteristics of the Supreme Being deserted Him due to His coming down to the earth. All His auspicious attributes as the Parama Purusha were intact in the form He assumed as Dasaratha's son.
These characteristics would fall under two broad categories, viz., form and attributes. Taking the latter first, we find that throughout Ramavatara, the Lord exhibited in abundant measure all the qualities of the Paramatma, viz., GnAnam(all-encompassing wisdom), balam ( the capacity to support everything with little effort), Isvaryam (the ownership of the whole lot of universes and all the sentient and non-sentient beings therein), Veeryam ( effortless performance of all supernatural functions like being the inner controller of everybody and everything, shoring up everything and everybody as their SharIri ), Shakti ( the capability to control and direct all and being their material cause), TEjas (the capacity to perform all functions independently, without the need for aid and assistance from any other source).
The second category of characteristics comprise of the physical features, the various incomparable components of the Paramatma's fabulous form-His broad lotus eyes, bewitching and boundless beauty, perfectly proportioned limbs, the various symbols (lotus, flag, chariot, etc.) adorning His palms and the soles of His feet, the long and broad chest which is the inalienable and constant place of residence of Piratti, etc. Also inseparable parts of the Supreme Being's form are the four arms, two upraised and two horizontal or pointing downwards. The upraised arms hold the Divine Discus SudarasanAzhwan and the Cosmic Conch PanchajanyAzhwan, while the other two arms hold the Mace and Lotus or are held in various mudrAs as the occasion warrants.
Sri Valmiki, though not in so many words, avers that Sri Rama was born with all the aforesaid divine characteristics and did sport four arms, carrying the aforesaid items. The word "JagannAtham" in the aforesaid sloka (Lord and Master of all the worlds) indicates that Emperuman was indeed resplendent with all His unique features, principal of which is the four-armed posture. It was as if the Lord wanted to bless His mortal mother with the glorious spectacle of His Supreme Form, before assuming the normal limbs of a human being that He professed to be.
Another evidence we have of the Lord having occasionally sported four arms during Ramavatara is from MandOdari's statement-"tamasa: paramO dhAtA shankha chakra gadAdhara:" Paying rich tribute to the Lord, Ravana's good wife says that Sri Rama is verily that Mahavishnu, who is beyond the pale of all darkness and despair, armed with the Discus, the Conch and the Mace. It is obvious that the Lord must have blessed her with the wonderful vision of a radiant Supreme Being who is the embodiment of wisdom and brilliance and endowed with four arms for protecting poor sinners like us.
One more instance where Chakravartthi Tirumagan sported four arms is in the context of His saranagati to Samudra Raja, to facilitate the vAnara sainya to cross over to Lanka. Describing Rama's supine posture on a bed of dharbham, Sri Valmiki says that He had His arms folded in supplication ("anjali"). Simultaneously, one of His arms was placed behind His head as pillow with another stretched out. Here is the relative sloka-
"tata: sAgara vElAyAm dharbhAn Asteerya Raghava:
anjalim prang mukha: kritvA pratisisyE mahOdadhE:
"bAhum bhujaga bhOgAbham upadAya ari soodana:"
Thus two of the arms were engaged in a gesture of supplication, with folded palms beseeching the Samudra Raja to permit access, while another arm was placed as a pillow behind the head. This definitely presupposes the existence of four arms, since once cannot use two arms to perform the function of three. It is thus clear that in this instance, Sri Rama must have displayed His paratvam with the four-armed posture.
It would therefore appear that despite His averment that He was indeed a mortal, the humble son of Dasarata, Sri Rama had, on several occasions during His sojourn on this earth, furnished proof positive of His supremacy. Some of these superhuman acts like bridging the ocean, granting of liberation to Jatayu and Sabari, etc. are chronicled by Sri Koorattazhwan in his "atimAnusha Stavam". Similar demonstration of His paratvam appears to have been enacted through the occasional sporting of the four-armed posture.
In Sri Krishnavatara too, the Lord appears to have assumed four arms instead of the normal two His mundane birth entitled Him to. Right at birth, Devaki is blessed with the magnificent sight of the Lord with the Discus, Conch, Mace and four beautiful arms and prays to Him to hide His glorious form, lest cruel Kamsa's minions cause Him harm. Sri Periyazhwar too hints at this Chaturbhuja tirukkOlam in the following pasuram, where he describes the infant Krishna as holding the inimitable bow Sarngam, Chakram and GadA-
"tandodu chakkaram sArngam Endum tadakkaiyan
kaN tuyil koLLa karudi kottAvi koLgindrAn
uNda mulai pAl arA kaNdAi urangAvidil
viN tanil manniya mAmadI viraindu Odi vA"
Azhwar tells the Moon to come running to entertain kutti Krishnan, as the glorious Lord, with His bow, discus and gadA, is yawning and is about to fall asleep. The mention of three items being held in His hands is proof enough of His having more than just two arms.
One may wonder and scoff at this lengthy harangue about whether the Lord sports two arms or four: however, with a four-armed Lord, we have that much more of Him to enchant and entertain us. One may also find the discussion futile, because however many arms Emperuman might have, we are unable to pass beyond even one of them ("tOL kaNdAr tOLE kaNdAr") for each individual physical characteristic and body part of the Lord captivates our attention so much as to prevent proceeding further. Due to the indescribable beauty our eyes encounter, they are forced to stay riveted on the first avayava our eyes fall on. When Sri TiruppANAzhwar's devoted eyes feast themselves on the red silk cloth adorning the Lord's midriff, he finds himself quite incapable of proceeding further to any other part of the Lord's tirumEni, his whole intellect captivated, mesmerised and immobilised by the beauty of the cloth and that of its wearer-"aria sivanda Adaiyin mEl chendradAm en sindayE". We thus have a dilemma- Our eyes, unused to such a spectacle of brilliance and beauty, find themselves unable to take in the Lord's magnificence all at once, for there is so much of it. And if we try to drink in His splendour part by part, such an attempt too is futile, as each part monopolises our attention and prevents us from going on to the other angAs.
This is from:
Subject: [SriRangaSri] Man or God?
From: sadagopaniyengar <
sadagopaniyengar@xxxxxxxx> Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 06:25:17 +0530
Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:
Dasan, sadagopan
