SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
Instruction 1
svadhESikasya kainkaryE kainkaryE vaishNavasya cha | prathipaththim samAm kruthvA kainkaryam kArayEth sadhA||
Simple explanation: When one performs kainkaryam to SrIvaishNavas/bhAgavathas who are devotees of bhagavAn, SrIman nArAyaNa, one should do it in the same way as one would serve one’s AchArya. Here kainkaryam means loving service. AchArya means one who gives artha panchaka jnAnam completely and one who reforms the disciples. Usually, the one who gives pancha samskAram is suppose to teach the essential knowledge and also subsequently one will have gyAnAchAryas who teach these principles with total dedication. Towards such AchAryas, one will naturally have some affiliation and devotion and so, one would serve such AchArya with great eagerness, love and affection. But when one sees other bhAgavathas/SrIvaishNavas, who are well established in the principles such as a) bhagavAn is the upAyam and bhagavAn is the upEyam, b) completely avoiding other dhEvathAs, c) completing avoiding materialistic desires, they must be treated at par with one’s own AchArya. They must be given equal respect, and they must be served with the same amount of love and devotion. They are known as AchArya thulyas. AchArya thulya means one who is equivalent to one’s own AchArya. So, when such bhAgavathas/SrIvaishNavas are seen they must be served in the same manner as one serves their AchArya because in our sampradhAyam, AchArya kainkaryam and bhAgavatha kainkaryam both are greatly emphasised, even more than bhagavath kainkaryam. More than serving bhagavAn, serving one’s own AchArya and serving bhAgavathas are greatly emphasised. So, while doing such kainkaryam one must have equal vision towards AchArya and all the uththama bhAgavathas. Ofcourse one will have greater affiliation towards AchArya but still other bhAgavathas should also be given similar respect.
Video link: https://youtube.com/shorts/lOi0VeTaji4?si=b153QMZ50WWnlKIa
Instruction 2
pUrvAchAryOktha vAkyEshu viSvAsEnaiva varthayEth
Simple explanation: We must have total faith in the divine words given by pUrvAchAryas. pUrvAchAryas are the AchAryas of our sampradhAyam starting from periya perumAL continuing up to maNavALa mAmunigaL and subsequent AchAryas who came and propagated our sampradhAyam in a grand manner. We must have total faith in their words. nampiLLai, in one of the commentaries for thiruvAimozhi pAsurams, explains that we all are followers of AzhwArs. We are walking the path shown by AzhwArs. So, that is our identity. Whatever philosophy, conduct, bhAvam (mood), that is shown by AzhwArs, those were followed by AchAryas. SrIman nAthamunigaL, ALavandhAr (yAmunAchArya), bhagavath rAmAnuja and all the subsequent AchAryas, they all followed the same principles shown by the AzhwArs. AzhwArs explained everything based on vEdham. AzhwArs gave the essence of vEdham in simple thamizh pAsurams and AchAryas elaborated the meanings of those pAsurams and gave us clear cut directions on how to live in this world as a SaraNAgatha. So, we must follow the instructions of our pUrvAchAryas which are available in many granthams. If we can live our life whatever way we want, then our AchAryas could have told that just surrender to bhagavAn and live your life in whichever way you want. But that is not what AchAryas did. They have laid out how we should live our life, in many granthams.
We must study those granthams with deep devotion, faith and we have to completely understand that they are well-wishers for all of us. They have given us the best knowledge in the easiest manner. So, it is best for us to take these instructions of pUrvAchAryas and follow that. An example is given by nampiLLai in thiruvAimozhi vyAkyAnam (commentaries). In “sUzh visumbaNi mugil”, which is the last but one penultimate decad (padhigam) of thiruvAimozhi, AzhwAr explains how an AthmA travels from the samsAra up to paramapadham. The whole journey is beautifully narrated. This is as shown by bhagavAn to AzhwAr. He is showing us that same journey. Now, one may wonder how we can believe this, and how we can travel through so many different planets, beyond the universe, going out of it, crossing virajA river and reaching bhagavAn. Also question may arise that, how nammAzhwAr who has not stepped out of the shade of the divine tamarind tree, can say all of this and how can we believe all of this. For that nampiLLai explains, in other places nammAzhwAr without stepping out of that divine tamarind tree, explains how this world behaves, how materialistic activities are happening, how people are running behind name, fame and wealth. All of these were explained by nammAzhwAr sitting right beneath that divine tamarind tree and they are exactly matching for what is happening in the world even today. So, when he is speaking the truth in that matter, we have to accept his other words too, because nammAzhwAr is a pure well-wisher of all jIvAthmAs. So, when he is like that, he will not cheat us, he will not lie to us and he will not try to get fame for himself. Rather he is looking out for our well-being only. So whatever instructions he has given is truth only, explains nampiLLai in his commentary. So, in this manner we have to develop total faith towards the divine instructions given by pUrvAchAryas.
Video link: https://youtu.be/dbCG_rFQDKE?si=foWUII-z0hhLrX9O
Instruction 3
na varthayEth indhriyANAm kinkaraScha dhivAniSam
Simple explanation: Day and night one should not be bound by sense enjoyment. In this particular passage, bhagavath rAmAnuja is explaining the importance of transcending sense enjoyment. Eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin – these are the five gyAnEndhriyams (organs of knowledge). Through these, we perceive different types of enjoyment. With the eyes one may see something beautiful and enjoy. With the nose one may smell something nice and fragrant and enjoy through that. With the tongue one may taste something sweet and enjoy that. With the ears one may hear something melodious, pleasant and acquire enjoyment from that. With the skin one may touch some object which is soft and may acquire enjoyment through that. So, these sense organs, they are there to extract, acquire enjoyment for the jIvAthmA. But, a wise man, a prapanna, a mumukshu, one who is surrendered and one who is desiring eternal kainkaryam to bhagavAn, should not be bound by these sense enjoyment, different types of sense enjoyment. The more one gets into sense enjoyment, the more one will acquire rajO guNam (passiion), thamO guNam (ignorance), pApam (sin), and one has to face the consequences of those aspects. So, to avoid that, to eliminate further entanglement in this samsAra, one should control one’s senses. If we keep fire and butter together, it will burn. So, it is better to keep fire and butter separated. Similarly, senses should be pulled in, just as krishNa says in SrI bhagavath gIthA 2.58 – when a tortoise sees danger, it pulls all its limbs inside its shell. Similarly, when we see opportunities for enjoyment, we should pull our sense organs inside and control the desire for sense enjoyment.
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/heRHEHScnC0
adiyEn vidhyA rAmAnuja dhAsi
Proofreading done by – vEnkatESa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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