SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
Instruction 16
vishNOr gurOr vaishNavasya gruhANAm cha dhiSam prathi | pAdhau prasArya nidhrAm cha kadhAchinnaiva kArayEth ||
Simple explanation: One should not stretch one’s feet, or sleep or rest towards the direction of bhagavAn’s temple or AchArya’s abode or a SrIvaishNava’s abode. One should neither do that nor where bhagavAn or AchArya or SrIvaishNava are present. The intent here is, one should not show disrespect towards bhagavAn, bhAgavathas and AchArya. Stretching the feet towards someone is generally seen as an insult in our vaidhika tradition. So, one should not do that. If one is living in a place, in a house where it is surrounded by bhagavAn’s temple on one side, AchArya’s mutt on other side and SrIvaishNavas residences on other side and so on, then it becomes tricky. One should try to lie down, rest, having the feet facing in the direction in between. For example, if in the eastern direction there is bhagavAn’s temple, in the northern direction there is AchArya’s mutt, then in such cases we can stretch our feet in between, such as the north-eastern direction. So, we have to think practically and try to avoid stretching our feet towards bhagavAn, bhAgavathas and AchArya, and their abodes. Generally, we have to try to keep our feet away from their directions. If there is no way we can do it, then we just have to seek forgiveness and stretch our feet with least opportunity to have it towards the direction of bhagavAn, bhAgavatha and AchArya.
Video link: https://youtube.com/shorts/m0AYa3EDwhA?si=EnuiEqX1wwNzbXOb
Instruction 17:
krutha nidhra: samuththAya vadhEth guruparamparAm ||
Simple explanation: As soon as one wakes up, one has to meditate and recite upon guru paramapara. Usually when we wake up, SAsthram says that we have to recite “hari hari hari”. That is general injunction, general order for every AthmA who is inclined towards bhagavAn. Specifically, in our SrIvaishNava sampradhAyam, we always approach bhagavAn through the guru parampara (AchArya parampara). We never go to bhagavAn directly. It is said that if we try to go to bhagavAn directly without approaching the AchAryas, then it is as good as worshipping other dhEvathAs, because bhagavAn always prefers that he is approached through AchAryas and bhAgavathas. Hence it is very important for SrIvaishNavas to always first think about guru parampara and then think about bhagavAn. Here guru paramparA means guru paramaparA manthram or vAkya guru paramparA. That is, “asmath gurubhyO nama:, asmath parama gurubhyO nama:, asmath sarva sarva gurubhyO nama:, SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama:, SrI parAnkuSa dhAsAya nama:, SrImadh yAmanunamunayE nama:, SrI rAma miSrAya nama:, SrI puNdarikAkshAya nama:, SrIman nAthamunayE nama:, SrImathE SatakOpAya nama:, SrImathE vishvaksEnAya nama:, Sriyai nama:, SrIdharAya nama:”. This is the guru paramaparA manthram. We always have to meditate upon this manthram when we first wake up. After that we can recite ‘hari’. Similarly, even while doing dhvayAnusandhAnam that is dhvaya mahAmanthra anusandhAnam, even at that time we have to first recite guru paramparA and only then dhvaya mahA manthram. piLLai lOkAchArya says “japthavyam guruparamparaiyum dhvayamum”. So, we always recite guru paramaparA, meditate upon guru paramparA and only then bhagavAn and manthrams related to him.
Video link: https://youtu.be/lKSuWUOGknM?si=rCzcju3aihV-5dGP
Instruction 18:
mahAbhAgavathAn dhrushtvA nishaNNAn vishNu sannidhau | kurvan dhvayAnusandhAnam praNamEth dhaNdavath bhuvi ||
Simple explanation: When we see bhAgavathOthamas, that is best among the bhAgavathas in bhagavAn’s sannidhi, that is in the presence of bhagavAn in temple or in some maNdapam, we have to meditate upon dhvaya mahA manthram and fall down flat and offer obeisances to them like a stick falling down. That is known as dhandavath praNAmam. This is a very important instruction. There are some practical difficulties today because in most places when we see our AchAryas or uththama bhAgavathas in temples and we try to offer obeisances to them, but people around there will stop us from doing that saying in temple we have to worship only bhagavAn. But in fact, it is clearly mentioned by bhagavath rAmAnuja himself that even in temples if we see bhAgavathOththamas, we have to offer them our praNAmas that too dhandavath praNAmam. But if there is some social concern or restriction that this may lead to people offering obeisance to common people too, then we may have to show some restraint. But certainly, when there is an opportunity and when there is a possibility even inside the temples, we must offer our obeisances to uththama bhAgavathas. In south of the bhAratha dhESam, in some of the dhivyadhESams, this is commonly observed that when AchAryas or uththama bhAgavathas are seen in the temple, other bhAgavathas offer obeisances but in other places this is not so common. So, we have to see the situation and act accordingly. But there is nothing wrong in offering obeisances to uththama bhAgavathas inside the temple.
Video link: https://youtube.com/shorts/BhqGlvL8Yos
adiyEn vidhyA rAmAnuja dhAsi
Proofreading done by – vEnkatESa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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