SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
Instruction 58
rahasya thraya sAragyai: thathva thraya viSAradhai: |
mahAbhAgavathaissArdham sahavAsam cha kArayEth ||
Simple explanation: SrIvaishNavas should stay together with those who have a clear understanding about the essence of rahasya thrayam and those who have very clear knowledge about thathva thrayam. This is similar to some of the previous instructions where bhagavadh rAmAnuja instructed us to always stay with those who are firm in dhvaya mahA manthram and those who are firm in SaraNAgathi dharmam. rahasya thrayam means thirumanthram (ashtAksharam), dhvaya mahA manthram and charama SlOkam (SrI gIthA charama SlOkam). These three are very essential for a SrIvaishNava to understand and put it in practice. thirumanthram speaks about artha panchakam. artha panchakam includes jIvAthmA svarUpam, paramAthmA svarUpam, upAya svarUpam (that is the means for jIvAthmA to attain paramAthmA), upEya svarUpam (what is the end goal after reaching paramAthmA) and virOdhi svarUpam (what is stopping the jIvAthmA from attaining paramAthmA). artha panchakam gyAnam is available in rahasya thrayam. Hence it is very Important to understand the essence of artha panchakam. The essence of artha panchakam is that we should be totally dependent on AchArya, bhAgavathas and we should be totally serving AchArya and bhAgavathas. That is the essence of rahasya thrayam. Superficially we say that it is to be totally dependent on bhagavAn and it is to totally serve bhagavAn. That is the first level of understanding. Ultimate level of understanding is to be totally dependent on bhAgavathas and AchArya and totally serving bhAgavathas and AchArya.
thathva thrayam speaks about chith, achith and ISvaran. chith is jIvAthmA. achith is all the achEthana (insentient) objects. ISvara is bhagavAn SrIman nArAyaNa who controls all the AthmAs and all the achith. There should be clear knowledge about thathva thrayam. So, as SrIvaishNavas / bhAgavathas we should only stay together to serve those who are well versed in rahasya thrayam and thathva thrayam.
Video link: https://youtube.com/shorts/x4hNPidRPIE?si=Mu2TUFcY6EOVXsYW
Instruction 59
arthakAmaparaissArdham kadhAchin na vasEth sadhA ||
Simple explanation: We, as prapannas, should not ever remain together with those who are engaged in just earning money and enjoying sensual pleasures, comforts, luxuries, and so on. This has been mentioned previously many times. For us SrIvaishNavas, there are favourable aspects and unfavourable aspects.
Favourable aspects are those which are related to bhagavAn and bhAgavathas. Remaining together with bhagavAn, bhAgavathas, performing kainkaryam to bhagavAn and bhAgavathas are favourable aspects. We should try to engage in these favorable aspects.
Unfavourable aspects are engagement with materialistic people. Materialistic people are those who are always engaged in earning money, enjoying comforts, luxuries, buying more and more things, going out etc. These kinds of people are unfavourable for us because when we engage with them, we also develop such attitudes and such desires.
It is a common understanding that when we engage with people who are having a certain lifestyle and attitude, the more we engage with them, the more we also develop the same lifestyle, attitude and desires. So, as SrIvaishNava prapannas who only seek eternal kainkaryam to bhagavAn, we have to be together with those who have the same mindset.
We should remain together more with those who are advanced in that mindset and who put the principles into practice. As SrIvaishNavas, we must target being with those who are practicing the sampradhAyam properly, those who are engaged in kainkaryams, and always engaged in bhagavadh vishayam. We have to aim to remain together with them as much as possible, learn from them, serve them, get their association as much as possible. All other engagement with worldly people must be completely avoided.
Video link: https://youtube.com/shorts/SKqH9VDZfmE?si=GW-S1xSAocOw_ymN
Instruction 60
bhagavadhbhakthi nishtaiScha sallApam kArayEth sadhA ||
Simple explanation: We should only converse with those who are deeply engaged in bhagavadh bhakthi (devotion towards bhagavAn). If we consider ourselves to be a SrIvaishNava then we should engage and discuss only with other SrIvaishNavas who are deeply devoted to bhagavAn. Often, we are told that we should engage only with those who have devotion towards bhagavAn. If a person has the physical appearance of a SrIvaishNava but does not have devotion towards bhagavAn and bhAgavathas then we should refrain from discussing with them. If we converse with those who don’t have devotion towards bhagavAn and bhAgavathas then we will be conversing only about worldly topics. Often even in temples we see people talk about politics, sports, movies and worldly affairs and don’t talk about bhagavAn.
When we talk to people we should ensure that we are talking about bhagavAn. Talking about worldly subjects will degrade us. Engaging in such conversations will minimize our position as a SrIvaishNava. So we should avoid discussing worldly things and only discuss with devotees of bhagavAn on the subject matters of bhagavAn only. The more we discuss about bhagavath vishayam, our devotion will increase and we will grow and our faults and impurities will be purified over time by such discussions about bhagavAn and bhAgavathas.
Video link: https://youtube.com/shorts/1SyC1n2MEmk?si=9mtqjZS0Mep5QkAE
adiyEn vidhyA rAmAnuja dhAsi
Proofreading done by – vEnkatESa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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