From Dec 1st to 7th Sri Hari Anna delivered lectures on Ekadasa skandam at Singapore Geylang Sivan temple.
The essence of the lecture has been given below by Sri Prabhakar Rao.
Sri Hariji
started with Premai which is the natural affection one has for others. And when
that Premai is
kept on God it becomes Bhakthi. Narada Maharishi is the Acharyan for
Bhakthi. Sri
Hariji highlighted that Narada Bhakthi Sutra is a treatise on Bhakthi.
The Upanyasakar
informed the audience that in this year’s discourse series in Singapore
he will be
focusing on the Ekadasa Skandam (11th Canto) of Srimad Bhagavatham. It was
very apt since
Smt.Vishakaji had covered the Dasasma Skandam (10th Canto) in her
Sangeetha
Upanyasam the previous day (Sunday), as a curtain riser for Sri Hariji’s
upanyasam series
this week. Sri Hariji pointed out that Ekadasa Skandam was full of
upadesams. And
that it is Sage Vyasa’s method to build bhakthi in the devotee of
Bhagavatham by
giving a series of Bhakthi Charithrams upto Dasamasma Skandam and
then in the 11th
canto to start giving upadesams on Gnanam. In the same way, after giving
discourses on
Bhakthi through Bhagavatha Sapthaham, and then many years of detailed
lectures on
Bhagavatham and a couple of years of Bhaktha Charithrams, this year he is
lifting the
audience to Gnana Upadesam through a detailed journey through Ekadasa
Skandam. Even
there in view of the subject being philosophical, he mentioned that in
order to avoid
any dryness he would be giving bhaktha charithrams as examples.
Then he went into
Upadesams and how they should be tuned to the audience. He took
the best example
of Lord Krishna. He pointed out the vast difference in Krishna’s
upadesam to
Arjuna (Bhagavad Gita) and His upadesam to Uddavan (Uddava Gita). Even
though he
discussed about Gnana Yogam and Bhakthi Yogam at length in Bhagavad Gita
still his
upadesam for Arjuna was tilted towards Karma Yoga. That was because Krishna
recognised that
Karma Yoga was the need of the hour for Arjuna at that moment in time.
On the other hand
His upadesam to Uddava was to get detached from the world and go
off. Hence A Guru
has to give his Upadesam as per the ‘adhikara’ (qualification) of the
audience. And a
good Guru can give Upadesam anywhere and even in a short time.
Bhagavad Gita was
taught in the middle of the battle field and it just lasted between the
time Arjuna let
his bow “Gandeepam” slip from his hands to the time he picked it up
again.
Bhakthi and Karma
Yogam will lead to chittha shuddhi and chittha shuddhi will lead to
Gnanam. What is
Gnanam? Gnanam is realising the difference between the Self
(permanent) and
the physical body (impermanent). And to detach oneself from the body
and to stay in
the knowledge of Brahman.
Sri Hariji took
the above sloka (very second sloka from the first chapter of Srimad
Bhagavatham) and
stated that teaching Bhagavatha Dharma is the very purpose of Srimad
Bhagavatham. What
is Bhagavatha Dharma? He highlighted Samanya Dharma (Satyam,
ahimsa, vinayam,
etc) which are the key prescriptions for a righteous way of life and
Visesha Dharma
(Bhakthi, Gnana and Vairagya) which are a higher level of dharma for
taking one to
God. And that Bhagavatha Dharma is nothing but teaching of this Visesha
Dharma ie..,
Bhakthi, Gnana and Vairagya.
Sri Hariji
explained Vairagya as being detached even from things/pleasures one likes. Not
giving up what
one does not like. But giving up what one does like. He took the example
of Sri Rama.
Valmiki clearly says Rama is “ ” (Ayodhya Kandam
Sarga 33 Sloka 7)
meaning, he knows the taste of wealth. But to keep up his father’s word
he gave up the
kingdom very easily, without any ripple inside Him.
Sri Hariji spent
some time extolling the greatness of Narada Maharishi. How Lord wanted
Narada not to
settle down in one place but to keep moving around and bring Bhakthi and
solace to people
wherever he went.
In this context
he quoted the above beautiful sloka from Bhagavatham which says that
while Devathas
will bless as well as punish when it is required, Mahans only bless but not
punish. Hence
people flock to Mahans. And the greatess of Narada can be gauged from
the greatness of
his disciples viz., Dhruva, Prahlada and Valmiki.
This Sage Narada
comes to Vasudevar (Krishna’s father) at a time when Vasudevar is
feeing in need of
Upadesam. Vasudevar requests Narada for Upadesam of the Bhagavatha
Dharma (Gnana
Bhakthi Vairagyam). Narada starts about Nava Yogis (Kavi, Havir,
Antarik.a,
Prabuddha, Pippalayana, Avirhotra, Drumila, Camasa and Karabhajana)
suddenly
appearing in Videha Maharaja’s court. And giving him upadesam one after
another.
The first Yogi,
Sri Kavi gives an upadesam about Karma Yogam.
All fears of
family life hurts pone only if one identifies oneself with the body and the
temporary
material world. If one sees Brahman in everything he does not fear anything.
Hereabout Sri
Hariji gave the examples of Jadabharathar and Sukha Muni who saw
Brahman in
everything. One who looks at his actions (karma) as a service to God will be
free from fears.
karoti yad yat
sakala. parasmai samarpayet tat
Sri Hariji dwelt
at length on the above Srimad Bhagavatham sloka, the words of Yogi Sri
Kavi. Yogi Kavi
says that whatever one does with his body, mind, manas, indriyas, intellect
or soul should be
offered to God as a service done for the pleasure of God. The
Upanyasakar
pointed out that this is nothing but Karma Yoga. When Karma is done for the
pleasure of God,
without any expectations of the result it becomes the Karma Yoga
preached so
beautifully by Krishna in Bhagavad Gita. The famous “Kayena vacha” sloka
chanted by us
usually at the end of puja or any divine activity of ours is derived from this
Srimad
Bhagavatham slokam. Sri Hariji pointed out that while we would say
“Samarpayami” to
indicate that we are offering them to The Lord, the Bhagavatham
slokam says
“samarpayet tat” as a command to tell us to do so.
Hereabout he gave
the example of the episode of Sri Sarabhanga Maharishi and Lord
Rama, from
Ramayana. Sri Sarabhanga Maharishi offers his entire Punya to Sri Rama
requesting Him to
accept it.
akShayaa nara
shaarduula jitaalokaa mayaa shubhaaH |
braahMyaaH ca
naaka pR^iShThyaaH ca pratigR^ihNiiShva maamakaan
And Lord Rama
keeping aside his cloak of human-ness, shows his Divinity by accepting the
offering by the
Maharishi. And Sri Sarabhanga Maharishi received his mukthi.
Day 2 Tuesday Dec
3rd
If Sri Hariji
started off yesterday with the beauty of Bhakthi (Premai), today he began by
extolling the
importance of Sathsangam. The importance of sathsangam, the benefits of
sathsangam and
the fact that one gains sathsangam only if ordained by Lord were all
brought out in a
very distinct manner by Sri Hariji.
Then he went into
the Upadesam of the second Yogeeswarar Sri Havir. This Yogi gave an
upadesam about
Bhagavatha Lakshanam. Hereabouts, Sri Hariji highlighted the difference
between
Bhagavatha and Bhagavathotthama. The former is one who is constantly
thinking of God
and the latter is the one about whom God is thinking of constantly.
To highlight the
Gnani who sees God in all, he gave examples of quite a few Maharashtra
Sants, remarking
that while there had been so many other Mahans too, these are only
examples.
The third Yogi
gave an upadesam about Maya (the Illusory Power of Brahman). Here Sri
Hariji took the
very complicated “RajjuSarpa Nyayam” (the real Rope and the illusion of
snake in
darkness) and constructed it in very uncomplicated terms to explain the Truth,
the Illusion
(Maya) due to avidya/agnanam and the dispelling of Maya through
Gnanam/Vidya.
This is a concept which is normally used by Advaitins. This part of the
discourse
highlighted that God uses Maya to perform Creation, Maintenance and
Destruction.
How does one get
over the destabilising effect of samsara? Detachment is the answer. But
if we keep
telling ourselves to detach ourselves from samsara it is very difficult. Sri
Hariji
took the example
of someone standing on a weak branch of a tree. If we tell him to leave
that branch, he
would not do so since it is the only thing that is giving him some kind of a
support. On the
other hand if we show him a stronger and higher branch above him and
ask him to hold
it and leave the weak lower branch he would confidently do so. This is
exactly what Lord
Krishna gives as a solution in Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 3). Holding on to
Him, keeping
one’s mind focused on Him, one can detach oneself from the samsara.
He took the
example of Parikshit. He was the sole heir for the entire Kingdom which at
one time was the
object of dispute between Pandavas and Kauravas. Now without any
dispute he was
the clear King of the Kingdom. He was also a very strong courageous
Kshatriya. A
blessed being who had darshan of God even while he was in his mother’s
womb. Still when
he was cursed to death in seven days’ time, he was not dejected and
depressed. It was
a “Parikshai” for Parikshit. Instead he just forgot all his wealth and
power and sought
the sangam of Sukha Muni and other Rishis. For seven days he totally
immersed himself
in listening to Srimad Bhagavatham from Sukha Muni. And attained
Mukthi. He sought
the association of a Brahma Gnani and through his upadesam he
attained the
highest level. The power of sathsangam is best demonstrated by Parikshit.
Days 3 & 4
Wednesday (Dec 4th) & Thursday (Dec 5th)
Yesterday (Dec
4th) Sri Hariji discussed in great depth about Guru Bhakthi and Karma -
Vikarma - Akarma.
And today the discourse discussed the power of Namasankeerthanam.
Both the days the
flow of the discourse was so touching, it was heart-melting. In fact I
have come back
from the upanyasam, just an hour ago, with moist eyes and a thrilled
mind. If I start
writing about these two days of lectures I would probably take the whole
night. Instead I
am going to send this edition out covering only the highlights of the first
two days’
pravachanam and would seek your patience for sending the next edition in a couple of days’
time. There I will only be too happy to share the Thotakacharya episode,
Guru Lakshanam,
Sishya lakshanam, the beautiful reference to “Tapaswadhyaya niratham
…” from
Ramayanam, Anjaneya’s vinayam, Bhagavath Guna, Lakshmana telling Anjaneya
who in reality he
(Lakshmana) is to Rama, the wonderful Bhagavatha slokam highlighting
the Thyaga Gunam
of Rama which made Sri Hariji virtually go into Ramayana in great
detail bringing
tears to us, the empathetic sloka in Sri Anna’s Raghava Shathakam, Sukha
Muni’s emotions
describing Rama Avatharam and two fantastic episodes wonderfully
highlighting
Krishna’s Vinayam …… my God …… I can go on and on …………. Such was the
mood and form of
Sri Hariji over the past two days after warming up over the first two
days! But, as I
had said, let me go into these details in the next edition.
V.Prabhakar Rao
Singapore
