In my last piece I had touched on two aspects which struck me most while reading the translations on Rudram. One was about deeper meanings -- "the insights"-- in normal routine anushtanams, and the other about the inescapable return to that truism of "All is Thy will" paradigm. I will try & do justice to both in this piece.
The Rurda prasnah has twp parts; the first part is known as Namakam, & other Chamakam....There are 11 parts of each. The first 11 parts as the title suggests are namaskarams or salutations or "bowing down" to every conceivable attribute of Lord Rudra, starting with"His Anger".....(Namaste Rudra manyava....)
The Eighth part of this Namakam which is in that "middle portion", has the pancha akshara mantra "Namah Shivaaya" and hence considered the most auspicious & important. It's a faith that chanting this part alone is adequate enough if one is unable to chant the entire portion. In daily poojas this is a kind of standard procedure having regard to our pressing secular duties.
In this piece I am largely concentrating on the attributes which find mention in this part,as it will be a huge task to go into the full Rudram text. Even here I am restricting myself to only those that appeal to me. I have already mentioned about two of these namely Shiva & Shiva tharaaya, the latter offering an altogether different & more profound "making every one who goes to Him for succor a Shiva" kind of a meaning than a possible "more auspicious than Shiva" kind of quite unsatisfying if not illogical one.
Let me now turn to others:
Shankaraaya......The meaning goes like this :" He who assumes the form of our Pitrus and gives material benefits"
Followed by Mayaskaraaya cha : "One who assumes the form of a Guru to give Moksha Sukha". Cha means "also". To both I bow down is the full import.
That I have been lax in my Shraaddha karma is my lament & subject of concern of friends & relatives. If I trust that Rudra hears my daily prayers & accepts my namaskaram to His Roopa of that of my pitrus, I feel comforted enormously. There will be skeptics though.
Similarly, I have another lament about not being too devoted to our "gurus" . Again my bowing down to Rudra in my prayers who in the form of my Guru is guiding me in my spiritual quest towards that ultimate release -- "moksha",-- gives me comfort.
Aathaarya : One who impels the jeevaathmaa's involvement in samsaaram, in performances of karma anushtanams....
Aalaadhyaaya : One who similarly as that jeevaathmaa impels it to reap the results of its karma.....
Shambhave .... One who is the personification of "material sukham"
Mayo bhave ...... One who is "me" & who personifies the "Moksha sukham"
Shanghaaya ..... one who represents the "Collective happiness" (of both ?)
The first two namely shankaraaya cha mayaskaraaya cha....are very clearly comforting "insights". The rest leave no doubt about "everything being His Will" paradigm. .
If there are lingering doubts, let me add from another part "Sabhaabya, Sabhaapathibyascha..... Meaning He is both the Actor & the Audience......
Having said these I am also fascinated by the fact that at no place, He /Texts ever proclaim that the secular/gross/manifested world is "false" or has no existence or can be ignored, thus trying & shunning performance of duties. This Rutham is an empirical truth as much as the Advaitha truth.... and both are "brahmn" And many texts emphasize that the creation is His leela & is termed "su kritham" or well done. How can it be then ignored till that most profound stage of absolution?
And why do I say that ? Every nithya karma, or a eulogy like rudram, or the most quoted "geetha", after first revealing the ultimate truth, immediately get back to this empirical reality.....Let me elaborate: .
In our sandhya, the first part ends with that profound "brahmaiva Aham Asmi" I am verily the Brahmn....
But it does not end there, I then go on to invoke Gayathri, meditate on Her & invoke blessing to inspire me to realize that ultimate reality, and the give her a warm send off with eulogies and finally pray that all noble thought envelop me with all others being banished etc etc.... ( Leaving no doubt that you are in a dual stage & karma anushtanams are part of that regime.)
In Geetha, Lord asks Arjuna to totally surrender unto Him & He will rid the latter of all sins & take him abode.....
What does Arjuna do?, Though he "remembers" and is delivered, he says to Krishna that all his doubts are cleared & will do exactly as he is told.... and goes about to vanquish the Kaurav army.......( back to duality....)
Take Rudra prasnah: After bowing down (namakam part) to a huge list of Rudra attributes, one finally ends this portion with offering of prostrations with all ten fingers joined & lifted upwards, from every possible direction along with that fervent prayer that all those we hate and all those who hate us are being offered into that huge open mouth of "Rudra" . (Clear duality). Once rid of this hatred, we pray to that Shiva to deliver us from the bondage like that fruit which gets released the moment it ripens...........
Once there, the Chamakam part starts & lists all those wants desires, attributes etc in perfect realization that every one of them are innate in me (No duality) but again ends with saying with the Grace of the Lord having rid of all my faults/sins, I will only speak good, think good, will converse with those who are good, and that "me" be protected from all faults/sins by not only the Gods but "pitrus". (back to dual state of secular/gross/manifested/ world......)
It's almost as if the texts are clearly saying that while the ultimate truth is that "Non-dual ONE", IT's created world is very much thrivingly alive & we have our duties to perform without ever losing track of this ultimate Truth. He is karanam, kaaranam, kartha, ..... cause, effect, the actor, the audience, and there is no second.
Still skeptical? .... take the preamble part of RP..... There is something called "Nyaasam" which actually identifies /allots every one/thing to its place. The gist of one of these goes like this...... ...
Vayu is subsumed in Prana, Prana in my heart, Heart in my self, Self in Paramaathmaa, & Paramaathma in that Brahmn etc etc... The Rudra prasna chant is started after this invocation..... Is there then any doubt about that ultimate truth/Brahmn? And Its the Brahmn which has created the empirical universe called "leela". It is indeed real. One cannot however be obsessed with this and get lost as that's not the purpose of His Leela. You enjoy this without attachment, but also constantly pray that you are not caught in this thinking its the ultimate destination. Liberation in realization & in awareness, will come when you ripen just as that ripened fruit which gets relieved from its base but at His Will.....
Hope I make sense..... This has been long. I am unable to pour out all that is flooding my thoughts into something shorter......
Love
Ekalavya alias Vichu
The Rurda prasnah has twp parts; the first part is known as Namakam, & other Chamakam....There are 11 parts of each. The first 11 parts as the title suggests are namaskarams or salutations or "bowing down" to every conceivable attribute of Lord Rudra, starting with"His Anger".....(Namaste Rudra manyava....)
The Eighth part of this Namakam which is in that "middle portion", has the pancha akshara mantra "Namah Shivaaya" and hence considered the most auspicious & important. It's a faith that chanting this part alone is adequate enough if one is unable to chant the entire portion. In daily poojas this is a kind of standard procedure having regard to our pressing secular duties.
In this piece I am largely concentrating on the attributes which find mention in this part,as it will be a huge task to go into the full Rudram text. Even here I am restricting myself to only those that appeal to me. I have already mentioned about two of these namely Shiva & Shiva tharaaya, the latter offering an altogether different & more profound "making every one who goes to Him for succor a Shiva" kind of a meaning than a possible "more auspicious than Shiva" kind of quite unsatisfying if not illogical one.
Let me now turn to others:
Shankaraaya......The meaning goes like this :" He who assumes the form of our Pitrus and gives material benefits"
Followed by Mayaskaraaya cha : "One who assumes the form of a Guru to give Moksha Sukha". Cha means "also". To both I bow down is the full import.
That I have been lax in my Shraaddha karma is my lament & subject of concern of friends & relatives. If I trust that Rudra hears my daily prayers & accepts my namaskaram to His Roopa of that of my pitrus, I feel comforted enormously. There will be skeptics though.
Similarly, I have another lament about not being too devoted to our "gurus" . Again my bowing down to Rudra in my prayers who in the form of my Guru is guiding me in my spiritual quest towards that ultimate release -- "moksha",-- gives me comfort.
Aathaarya : One who impels the jeevaathmaa's involvement in samsaaram, in performances of karma anushtanams....
Aalaadhyaaya : One who similarly as that jeevaathmaa impels it to reap the results of its karma.....
Shambhave .... One who is the personification of "material sukham"
Mayo bhave ...... One who is "me" & who personifies the "Moksha sukham"
Shanghaaya ..... one who represents the "Collective happiness" (of both ?)
The first two namely shankaraaya cha mayaskaraaya cha....are very clearly comforting "insights". The rest leave no doubt about "everything being His Will" paradigm. .
If there are lingering doubts, let me add from another part "Sabhaabya, Sabhaapathibyascha..... Meaning He is both the Actor & the Audience......
Having said these I am also fascinated by the fact that at no place, He /Texts ever proclaim that the secular/gross/manifested world is "false" or has no existence or can be ignored, thus trying & shunning performance of duties. This Rutham is an empirical truth as much as the Advaitha truth.... and both are "brahmn" And many texts emphasize that the creation is His leela & is termed "su kritham" or well done. How can it be then ignored till that most profound stage of absolution?
And why do I say that ? Every nithya karma, or a eulogy like rudram, or the most quoted "geetha", after first revealing the ultimate truth, immediately get back to this empirical reality.....Let me elaborate: .
In our sandhya, the first part ends with that profound "brahmaiva Aham Asmi" I am verily the Brahmn....
But it does not end there, I then go on to invoke Gayathri, meditate on Her & invoke blessing to inspire me to realize that ultimate reality, and the give her a warm send off with eulogies and finally pray that all noble thought envelop me with all others being banished etc etc.... ( Leaving no doubt that you are in a dual stage & karma anushtanams are part of that regime.)
In Geetha, Lord asks Arjuna to totally surrender unto Him & He will rid the latter of all sins & take him abode.....
What does Arjuna do?, Though he "remembers" and is delivered, he says to Krishna that all his doubts are cleared & will do exactly as he is told.... and goes about to vanquish the Kaurav army.......( back to duality....)
Take Rudra prasnah: After bowing down (namakam part) to a huge list of Rudra attributes, one finally ends this portion with offering of prostrations with all ten fingers joined & lifted upwards, from every possible direction along with that fervent prayer that all those we hate and all those who hate us are being offered into that huge open mouth of "Rudra" . (Clear duality). Once rid of this hatred, we pray to that Shiva to deliver us from the bondage like that fruit which gets released the moment it ripens...........
Once there, the Chamakam part starts & lists all those wants desires, attributes etc in perfect realization that every one of them are innate in me (No duality) but again ends with saying with the Grace of the Lord having rid of all my faults/sins, I will only speak good, think good, will converse with those who are good, and that "me" be protected from all faults/sins by not only the Gods but "pitrus". (back to dual state of secular/gross/manifested/ world......)
It's almost as if the texts are clearly saying that while the ultimate truth is that "Non-dual ONE", IT's created world is very much thrivingly alive & we have our duties to perform without ever losing track of this ultimate Truth. He is karanam, kaaranam, kartha, ..... cause, effect, the actor, the audience, and there is no second.
Still skeptical? .... take the preamble part of RP..... There is something called "Nyaasam" which actually identifies /allots every one/thing to its place. The gist of one of these goes like this...... ...
Vayu is subsumed in Prana, Prana in my heart, Heart in my self, Self in Paramaathmaa, & Paramaathma in that Brahmn etc etc... The Rudra prasna chant is started after this invocation..... Is there then any doubt about that ultimate truth/Brahmn? And Its the Brahmn which has created the empirical universe called "leela". It is indeed real. One cannot however be obsessed with this and get lost as that's not the purpose of His Leela. You enjoy this without attachment, but also constantly pray that you are not caught in this thinking its the ultimate destination. Liberation in realization & in awareness, will come when you ripen just as that ripened fruit which gets relieved from its base but at His Will.....
Hope I make sense..... This has been long. I am unable to pour out all that is flooding my thoughts into something shorter......
Love
Ekalavya alias Vichu
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