SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
Instruction 7
sarvAn SabhdhAdhi vishayAn samAnEva vilOkayEth |
Simple explanation: Here it is explained that all types of worldly pleasures must be equally seen and ultimately abandoned. SabhdhAdhi vishayam means the pleasure which is derived by seeing, pleasure which is derived by hearing, pleasure which is derived by touching, pleasure which is derived by smelling and pleasure which is derived by tasting. So, these five sense organs – eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin – all of these have different enjoyments. We must see all of them equally unfavourable towards our progress in sampradhAyam, in spirituality. It is not correct to think that “we can see and enjoy through our eyes but tasting something which is unfavourable is not good but just seeing is fine” – some people think like that. Also, some people think “we can listen to music, entertainment, that’s ok, it’s not going to disturb us too much but if we see something it will be more disturbing for our spiritual progress”. But the point here is, we cannot discriminate. Any sense enjoyment will pull us down in samsAra. So, we have to be very careful to treat all the different types of enjoyment in the same manner. We have to consider all of them to be given up – abandoned, ultimately. We may not be able to give up everything immediately. But our goal should be to give up all materialistic, worldly pleasures, enjoyments because all of them are taking us away from bhagavAn. Hence, that is very important to see them all equally and give up attachment towards all of them equally.
Video link: https://youtube.com/shorts/Z_jV6T_WTTw?si=rleVLStWV_2ym23n
Instruction 8
pushpa chandhana thAmbUla dhravyAdhishu sugandhishu | vAsanA ruchi kAryANi kadhAchinnaiva kArayeth ||
Simple explanation: The flowers, sandalwood paste, betel leaves and nuts – all of these give very little happiness for a very small period of time. One should not have desire towards these enjoyable aspects. In general, a prapanna should be focused on bhagavAn, bhAgavathas, AchAryas, AzhwArs’ dhivya prabandhams, AchAryas’ sthOthrams, vyAkyAnams, and rahasya granthams. For such persons, while being in this world itself, they are getting great enjoyment in matters related to bhagavAn and bhAgavathas. They are always thinking about noble aspects. They are always thinking about the great qualities of bhagavAn, his divine forms, his leelAs, all his devotees, their greatness, their compassionate activities etc. All of these are in the mind of a prapanna. For such a person, just engaging in worldly pleasures, especially in those enjoyable aspects like flowers, sandalwood paste, betel leaves and nuts (In those days these were the aspects of enjoyment) is unfavourable. When someone was very happy, he would get betel leaves and nuts and would chew on them. He would engage in getting lots of flowers and decorating himself with them or giving that to his favourite persons. Similarly for sandalwood paste. These were aspects of enjoyment in the past. But nowadays, we have lots of new types of enjoyment, all of these are included. Sandalwood, flowers, betel leaves and nuts – these are all examples only. This applies for all the worldly enjoyments which we try to get and be joyful and be satisfied. But they all give limited satisfaction and limited enjoyment only. For ultimate enjoyment we have to engage in bhagavAn and matters related to him.
Video link: https://youtube.com/shorts/SYeD8cDrpaE?si=LwkbFE5q1KU4Oiwa
Instruction 9
yA prIthirAsIth sathatham bhagavannAma kIrthanE | sA syAth prIthir hi thadhbhaktha nAma sankIrthanE cha va: ||
Simple explanation: Whatever desire, eagerness one has towards bhagavannAma sankIrthanam, i.e. glorifying the divine names of bhagavAn, one should have the same amount of desire and eagerness towards singing the glories of adiyArs, bhAgavathas, his devotees. It is understandable that when one becomes knowledgeable about bhagavAn, and understand his true greatness, that he is SrIman nArAyaNa, he has nithya vibhUthi, leelA vibhUthi, he has divine consorts, nithyasUris, mukthAthmAs who are serving him eternally and that we also have an opportunity to reach SrIvaikuNtam, paramapadham, one will start singing the divine names of bhagavAn and glorifying bhagavAn through that. But one should also have the same amount of love and affection towards bhAgavathas who great devotees of are bhagavAn.
In many places, both in SAsthrams and sampradhAya granthams like AzhwAr’s pAsurams, pUrvAchArya’s sthOthrams, vyAkyAnams, in all of these places the greatness of bhAgavathas is very beautifully explained. bhAgavathas are to be understood as the lotus feet of bhagavAn. Naturally a devotee will be focused on the lotus feet of bhagavAn. bhAgavathas being the lotus feet of bhagavAn, they should also be the focus of devotees, bhAgAvathas. So, we have to think about bhAgavathas and glorify their divine names. The topmost bhAgavathas are nithyasUris, AzhwArs, AchAryas, mukthAthmAs – they are all uththama bhAgavathas, great devotees of bhagavAn. Similarly, our present day AchAryas who are totally dedicated towards bhagavAn/bhAgavathas, are great bhAgavathas too. We have to glorify their divine names too. We must give bhAgavathss the same respect, if not more respect, than bhagavAn.
Video link: https://youtu.be/p1Ggcp741Mo?si=CQmOk1RkIOzdXLyQ
adiyEn vidhyA rAmAnuja dhAsi
Proofreading done by – vEnkatESa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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