not re-enter, the body becomes dead. Isn't it!"...read on...
If one says the nAmam, the roopam of the bhagavan will come automatically to the mind. AzhwAr tells this in the first pAsuram and in the second pAsuram describes the archAvatAra tirumEni - "pachai mAmalai pOl mEni pavazhavaI kamala chengan", these words are so beautiful to say and so sweet to the tongue. In the archAvataram the perumal in srirangam is so beautiful and the uthsavams are also as beautiful to behold. During Navarathri there is the elephant in the temple and daily for the thiruvArAdhana to the perumal it is the elephant which brings theertham to the temple during the aipasi mAsam.
In the tula mAsam with a gold vessel, gold fan the elephant comes for the thiruvArAdhanam of the perumal, this has already been told in the previous episodes. Navarathri is an uthsavam that is celebrated in all places. The significance of the navarathri is this - in olden days the kings on Vijayadasami day will go to war, send arrows and obtain victory, there will be a darbar on that day, the lower kings will tie the kappam to the victorious king on the throne. The tattvam of the navarathri can be described akin to the nava dwaar (door) of the human. Two eyes, two ears, one mouth, one nose as well as areas for passing daily waste below the navel, we can find various doors out of the body.
In the tula mAsam with a gold vessel, gold fan the elephant comes for the thiruvArAdhanam of the perumal, this has already been told in the previous episodes. Navarathri is an uthsavam that is celebrated in all places. The significance of the navarathri is this - in olden days the kings on Vijayadasami day will go to war, send arrows and obtain victory, there will be a darbar on that day, the lower kings will tie the kappam to the victorious king on the throne. The tattvam of the navarathri can be described akin to the nava dwaar (door) of the human. Two eyes, two ears, one mouth, one nose as well as areas for passing daily waste below the navel, we can find various doors out of the body.
"The greatest of all wonders is that if the air that goes out of the body does not re-enter, the body becomes dead. Isn't it! Its the air which keeps going in and out of the body. How is it going? In vishnusahasranama there is a "vAyuvAhanAyaI namaHa”. " Lets say a man on a horse comes down to a village and sees a house. Thinking he wants to spend some time in
this house and enjoy the greenery of the village, he will allow the horse to graze in the morning and tie it to the house in the evening and repeat this daily. He will stay like this until the day comes when he is ready to leave the house and go back the way he came. He will go the same way as he came. by mounting himself on the horse. Likewise the prAna is sitting on the body. Keeping the prAna as the vehicle the jeevan is living inside - vAyu vAhanan. Just as long as he decides to stay in this body, this prAna (like the horse mentioned in the above example) goes out to graze and comes back, goes out and comes back. When it thinks its sufficient, the vAyu goes out but does not come in but instead goes up and we then say the air has gone out from him.
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The body having so many exits, can not the prAna come out the mouth, or the eyes, or ears but the swAsam only comes out through the nose. We see so many wonders but the greatest wonder is that the swAsam goes out only through the nose even though we have so many exits. Eyes, ears and nose are close to each other, in any of these if there is a defect we normally go to a single doctor called ENT. But if we keep a lotus flower to the eyes, the eyes cannot smell it. If we take a phone and try to speak with our eyes its not possible as the sound is heard only with the ears, seeing is possible only with the eyes and breathing is possible only with the nose. But the fact is all these three organs are close to each other, all these are great wonders of the body. If we talk about the tatwam of the navarathri, out of the 9 dwaaras in the body, the swasam called rEtus goes out of the top of the head that is called vijayadasami. It leaves out on the 10th day. That is why control of the 9 doors is navaratanam and the leaving by the 10th door is Vijayadasami. In the temples navarathri is celebrated in various ways. They will decorate the lord is different types of dresses. In Srirangam, Navarathri is celebrated in the sannadhi of the mother. They will bring Nacchiar around in a procession and they will place in the 4 pillar mantapam. After performing the thiruvArAdhanam for Nacchiar, outside there will be a nadaswara concert being performed. During the navarathri uthsavam, the elephant will dance and come close to the authorities of the temple and bless them. They will also give a mouth organ to the elephant and the elephant will play it very nicely. On the 8 days in this temple, the elephant will perform the fanning, dance and play, this type of uthsavam cannot be found in any other temple but only in srirangam. Whilst the thiruvArAdhanam for nacchiar is under progress there will be a lot of celebration with fireworks for about 1 hour after which, nacchiar procession will begin accompanied by chanting of vedas. This is a very beautiful uthsavam that happens in srirangam during navarathri. Many azhwars have said this, 'vAnalum avvarasum ivvarasum yAn vendEn. meenai pirappEnE kurugaI pirappEnE stambagamai nirpEne padiyAi kidappEnE ethEnum AvEnE! sings kulasekaraazhwar. Can I not be a pillar in this temple, a fish in the pushkarani here, tree or a plant here saying so he ends saying "ethEnum AvEnE" - Keep me as something atleast. As the azhwar sang "padiyaI kadanthu un pavalavaI kanbEnO", since he sang as "pavalavaI kanbEnO, we find now that if we go to any divyadesham, the step after the perumal is always named after kulasekaraazhwar as "kulasekara padi".
Azhwar says 'Echsuvai thavira yAn poi indiranlOgam Alum Achuvai perinum vendean'. When Sri Rama takes everyone with him to vaikunta he calls Hanumar but Hanumar asks,'Will anyone in vaikuntam tell the Ramayanam, will there be a rama bhajanam, thirumanjanam, procession?'. Then he asks Rama what Hanumar will be doing there, Rama replies that he himself will be in the form of paravasudevan and all will be seeing him. Hanumar replies that he wont come. "bhAvo nAn yatra gacchathi". In this rama avatar after seeing you in the form of kodandapani, no other form is liked by me! I will stay as a chiranjeevi in this world, give me a blessing that wherever there is rama namam being said, story of rama is being told, uthsavam of rama is being celebrated there I will stay. All bhakthars are similarly saying they do not want vaikuntam - ' indiranlOgam Alum Achuvai perinum vendean arangA mA nagarulAne' - as for all these bhakthars the desire to see the bhagavan in the archAvatAram is greater than that in vaikuntam.
'vEdam nooru prAyam nooru manidhar tham puguvarAElum' - when the elders give their blessings, they will say sataAyush - live for a 100 years, in the same way vedam also says that everyone should be blessed likewise. Can one live like that, yes if he is a jitEndriyan, one who has controlled his indriyas, knows how to live his life, daily taking bath early morning as ordained in the sastras, eat and sleep as ordained by the sastras - satayuHu purushaHa! There is a quote, a man can meet his death even in 6 years or even in 100 years. What is so special about 6 or 100 and why not in 3? Lord Krishna does some things for preventing the war, his saulabyam and sauseelyam. The lord goes to the house of Duryodhana for the sake of pandavas, goes even to the door of a dustan. He goes as an ambassador and tries to pacify him in an effort to stop the war. Then he begs for 5 villages using dhAnam as the means. Duryodhana however says that he wont give 5 paper nail size of land to the pandavas. Then the lord tries to convince Karna to join the pandavas but Karna says that even if he stays with the 100 Kauravas he is going to die, even if he joins as the 6th among the 5 pandavas he is still going to die that is why there is mention of death in 6 as well as in 100. A person can know everything except one thing, when death will strike him. The beauty of Maya is such that even if we see someone dying in front of us younger than us, yet we will not have the worry that we will also be faced with death, the curtain of Maya thrown by the bhagavan is such!
Well, even if one lived a 100 years, how is it going to be - 'pAdhiyum urangi pOgum' - some eat to live and some live to eat isnt it! In the 100 years we have sleep because we will go mad otherwise. Thoughts are surfacing always. Something or the other is his worry. Worry about office, home, himself, disease, about others, world, society etc., what does not work for him or not, just as the heart beats, lungs work, liver works likewise the mind is also constantly working. If the mind keeps on working, then if it does not have rest it will go mad. The first indication of one who is going to go mad is the when one does not get sleep. Why one is not getting sleep, it is because the person is worrying about something always. Sleep is for one to become fresh again. The thoughts having subsided, we get a freshness again.
Azhwar counts life as "pAthiyum urangi pOgum", out of 100 years 50 of which has gone in sleep in the night. So 50 percent of what you have lived is gone in sleep, but note that Azhwar tells this for those who only sleep in the night :-) If azhwar counted those who sleep in the daytime as well then he would have to say "mukazhum urangi pOgum":-)
Therefore, "vEdam nooru prAyam nooru manidhar tham puguvarAElum, pAdhiyum urangi pOgum ninradhil padhinaiAndu pAEdhai pAlagan adhAgum
We have slept for 50 years, among the rest for about 15 years right from childhood. A child when he is born learns himself about how to drink the mothers milk, then he knows how to kick himself, then suddenly he is able to turn on his back, then knows how to swim with his hands and legs, then he tries to stand on his knees, then tries to stand up and falls down thus leading him up to 15 years. Then there is confusion due to lack of maturity for him. He goes to study, does this and that "ninradhil padhinaiAndu pAEdhai pAlagan adhAgum". So out of the 50 gone in sleep, you do not have maturity of mind in these 15 years and do not know what to do and what not to do. What about the remaining years then?
"piNi pasi mooppu thunbam" - When you go to a doctor, he says you are a diabetic, you have BP, you have joint pain, not able to hear, eyes are cloudy, cataract operation to be done all diseases will come. Then he will get a fear as well, what fear? fear thinking about death, fear about the pain with the treatment for the disease, fear about the trouble you may cause for the others as even when we were good in health nobody helps us, who will keep us when we are with disease?
"piNi pasi mooppu thunbam AdhalAl piravi vAEndAEn arangamAnagarullanAE." - again and again the way azhwar calls out to Sri Ranaganathar is a beautiful thing in itself. So out of the 100 years that is dictated by the vedam itself for a man, 50% of it is lost in sleep and what can be done in sleep, remaining 15 years what happened is "pAEdhai pAlagan adhAgu" - as a small child goes to the school, plays with his friends, plays football, cricket, goes to cinema, drama, listens to songs, stands in front of the mirror enjoying his own beauty, decorates himself, dresses in a modern fashion, runs here and there in the avastha of the young age! and he has not got the experience of what is right and wrong. Then with the left over 35 years what happens is "piNi pasi mooppu thunbam its all about worry and disease, worry about his body and his disease. He gets hungry and wants to eat but having eaten it does not get digested properly or there is no hunger itself that is "piNi pasi mooppu", difficulties arising out of disease and hunger.
Therefore azhwar looks at the Lord Sri Ranganathar and says "AdhalAl piravi vAEndAEn arangamAnagarullanAE" - we should not think azhwar is telling himself, he is in fact telling us!!! If we are born, we should do namakeerthanam, serve the lord but not just sleeping, making jokes or thinking about his disease. Then what is the use of being born? If such a life then its not worth having it. Thus in our life during the younger days, middle age and in the old age, much of time is gone in sleep and azhwar tells us to be wary of it.
Read more translations of the other episodes at: http://aranganinarumai.blogspot.com/
