Mama Upattha onwards –SV Series contd
Our traditions/rituals which our faith makes us believe that they are ordained by spiritual texts, have however been brought down to majority of us thru centuries, more by the word of mouth, thru individual family trees, rather than a direct access to these scripts. The demands of a decent living in these secular times have had such a serious impact, that it has led most of us virtually to a stage today where the rituals associated with such traditions, have become merely mechanical regimen/indulgences without any interest to either know the purport, or the time to reflect on the beauty of its wonderful texts.
While these may be a general rule for every religion, it is particularly harsh on our Hindu- especially the brahminic- clan, is my fear. The original texts are in samskrit, which is not understood by a vast majority. The few, who know, are either unwilling or too busy to make it easy for every one to have ready access, and make it interesting.
It will be too presumptuous for me to assume that I can even attempt to get some of these on the blog for the future generation of our kaushika clan, for (a) my samskrit knowledge is almost non-existent, and (b) in this age when everything from noodles to nirvana has to be of the “instant” variety to be relevant, my labored translations may just prove very inadequate to elicit a sustained interest.
Which brings me to another lament; the essence of our spiritual heritage seems better captured by western authors and they are able to pass it on to us in our preferred language namely English, which makes it fascinatingly more appealing. But I do often nurture an illogical fear that the deepest meanings of many of the original texts can be grasped only thru His grace, and by a dedicated study of these texts under guidance of a Guru, and these appealing pieces in English, may just miss out on some of the finer nuances without the “pramanam” of original texts.
Alas, our spiritual Gurus are, as I had said earlier, either too busy to render an universal “gyan” ( in the absence of both easy discourses, and appealing publications due inadequate English-language facility) or we do not have His Grace to be able to have a one-to-one dialogue with such Gurus. The sad result, methinks is that we miss out on a huge lot of profound wisdom. So whenever I find a piece which to me appears attractive, I feel the need to share. Sandhya series is one such attempt, without any pretense of having acquired any depth in understanding the mysteries of our life cycles.
The last piece ended with “pranayama” expo. In almost every prescribed anushtanam , it is customary to list out an “intent” right at the beginning. This is the “mama upattha samastha” part. This simply translates “to wash away all my sins expeditiously and for the pleasure of the Lord”. The dedicating of all our Karma to the Lord, merely goes to confirm that there is no attachment, and conforms to “nishkama karma” commandment.
Thence comes “aapo hishta” part. Another meaning for marjanam is sprinkling of water along with invocation of mantras as purification. There are over 30 billion devatas ( Gods) in the Hindu tradition. Here we invoke the deities of water (jala devathas) and pray for (a) a glimpse of the Lord who provides us grains (b) giving us the most desirous essence of happiness as a mother would provide her children (c) washing away all our sins as a saranagathin and (d) giving us the virility to procreate and extend the lineage.
After sprinkling the water over us we do an atma pradakshinam by pouring water around us -affirming that all three lokas Buhu, Buvaha, Suvaha are just His manifestation. (this is termed Atma parishechanam)
After this comes “praasanam” meaning an intake of food. We pray to “surya and other devathas” with a few drops of water in our palms, and after invocation partake this water (praasanam). Like water devathas, there are devathas who represent or are controllers of “anger”. We pray to Sun Lord and these Lords of “anger to forgive all our acts of sins due anger, either by day or by night, consciously or unconsciously, by hand or feet or by other parts, done/caused to be done by us, and having purified the water by invoking these mantras, we partake this water as an offering to the self-effulgent paramathma residing in us.
I will continue with the rest in my next part……..
Love
Vichu
Our traditions/rituals which our faith makes us believe that they are ordained by spiritual texts, have however been brought down to majority of us thru centuries, more by the word of mouth, thru individual family trees, rather than a direct access to these scripts. The demands of a decent living in these secular times have had such a serious impact, that it has led most of us virtually to a stage today where the rituals associated with such traditions, have become merely mechanical regimen/indulgences without any interest to either know the purport, or the time to reflect on the beauty of its wonderful texts.
While these may be a general rule for every religion, it is particularly harsh on our Hindu- especially the brahminic- clan, is my fear. The original texts are in samskrit, which is not understood by a vast majority. The few, who know, are either unwilling or too busy to make it easy for every one to have ready access, and make it interesting.
It will be too presumptuous for me to assume that I can even attempt to get some of these on the blog for the future generation of our kaushika clan, for (a) my samskrit knowledge is almost non-existent, and (b) in this age when everything from noodles to nirvana has to be of the “instant” variety to be relevant, my labored translations may just prove very inadequate to elicit a sustained interest.
Which brings me to another lament; the essence of our spiritual heritage seems better captured by western authors and they are able to pass it on to us in our preferred language namely English, which makes it fascinatingly more appealing. But I do often nurture an illogical fear that the deepest meanings of many of the original texts can be grasped only thru His grace, and by a dedicated study of these texts under guidance of a Guru, and these appealing pieces in English, may just miss out on some of the finer nuances without the “pramanam” of original texts.
Alas, our spiritual Gurus are, as I had said earlier, either too busy to render an universal “gyan” ( in the absence of both easy discourses, and appealing publications due inadequate English-language facility) or we do not have His Grace to be able to have a one-to-one dialogue with such Gurus. The sad result, methinks is that we miss out on a huge lot of profound wisdom. So whenever I find a piece which to me appears attractive, I feel the need to share. Sandhya series is one such attempt, without any pretense of having acquired any depth in understanding the mysteries of our life cycles.
The last piece ended with “pranayama” expo. In almost every prescribed anushtanam , it is customary to list out an “intent” right at the beginning. This is the “mama upattha samastha” part. This simply translates “to wash away all my sins expeditiously and for the pleasure of the Lord”. The dedicating of all our Karma to the Lord, merely goes to confirm that there is no attachment, and conforms to “nishkama karma” commandment.
Thence comes “aapo hishta” part. Another meaning for marjanam is sprinkling of water along with invocation of mantras as purification. There are over 30 billion devatas ( Gods) in the Hindu tradition. Here we invoke the deities of water (jala devathas) and pray for (a) a glimpse of the Lord who provides us grains (b) giving us the most desirous essence of happiness as a mother would provide her children (c) washing away all our sins as a saranagathin and (d) giving us the virility to procreate and extend the lineage.
After sprinkling the water over us we do an atma pradakshinam by pouring water around us -affirming that all three lokas Buhu, Buvaha, Suvaha are just His manifestation. (this is termed Atma parishechanam)
After this comes “praasanam” meaning an intake of food. We pray to “surya and other devathas” with a few drops of water in our palms, and after invocation partake this water (praasanam). Like water devathas, there are devathas who represent or are controllers of “anger”. We pray to Sun Lord and these Lords of “anger to forgive all our acts of sins due anger, either by day or by night, consciously or unconsciously, by hand or feet or by other parts, done/caused to be done by us, and having purified the water by invoking these mantras, we partake this water as an offering to the self-effulgent paramathma residing in us.
I will continue with the rest in my next part……..
Love
Vichu
Sankalpa or a resolution is key to the sucess of of any action (or karma).
ReplyDeleteBy laws of nature (also as ratified by Newton) every action brings a reaction (and here I may differ with Newton in that the reaction for action need not necessarily be in that same time and space when such law is 'generalised')
This apparent (even in physics, apparent means 'observed' and not necessarily the 'real')contradiction between an act and the outcome (fruit)of the act (shall we say 'reaction')requires a 'balance' or an 'equal to' sign.
The 'undefinable entity' , in this case the 'parameshvara' is called upon to mitigate the 'undesirable'(in that given time and space) outcome(s), that may spring forth from the causal links associated with every act.
This is the purpose of the sankalpa or resolution before every act - a prayer for favourable outcomes, out of the immense possibilities that exist in the envelop of the causal
The Bhagavad Gita on the other hand asks for a renunciation of the desire for the fruit an act - something that you should cover towards the end of this series on the sandhyavandanam in terms of "kayen vaacha....."
An interesting point that occurs in the reference to newton is that, his first name is "Isaac" and if I am not mistaken the relationship of Isaac to Abraham would corespond closely with the relationship of Brahma to Manu.
The various meanings of the word "sankalpa" are
ReplyDelete(a)will, volition, mental resolve (b) purpose, aim, Intention, determination (c) wish, desire (d) thought, idea, fancy,reflection, imagination (e) the mind, heart (f) a solemn vow to perform an observance (g) expectation of advantage from a holy voluntary act. etc.
Take the last one. for instance. By performing sandhya I may nurture an expectation as indicated. Even this is probably sought to be avoided by declaring an unequivocal intent at the very beginning of "sandhya worship" that this is a part of His commandment, and is being done for "his" pleasure, (and not mine) and hence avoiding any trace of an attachment to the either the act or the results or cause/effect of Newton et al.
Hence I see no conflict with Gita prescription of "karma without attachment or nishkama karma".In fact this re affirms this.
In sync with your drawing parallels let me add a few; Brahma is actually Abraham and Sarah is saraswati. Our scriptures have therefore just borrowed from others. Isavasya upanishad. The terms Isa denotes ( you guessed it right boy) Jesus.
Probably you can discern a logic in my fear of the western authors which I had expressed in my piece, and is not as illogical as I had said.
May God bless us all.
Love
Vichu