TAATTRIYA UPANISHAD: SHANTI PAATA: CONTD. SHANTI: SHANTI: SHANTI: [शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः]

2018  0128 04  Taittriya Upanishad: Shanti Paata Contd.: Shanti: Shant i: Shanti:

ॐ शं नो मित्रः शं वरुणः  |   शं नो भवतु  अर्यमा  | 

शं न इन्द्रो बृहस्पतिः  | शं नो विष्णु रुरुक्रमः  |    

नमो ब्रह्मणे  |  नमस्ते  वायो  |  त्वमेव प्रत्यक्षं ब्रह्मासि  |  

त्वामेव प्रत्यक्षं ब्रह्म वदिष्यामि  |

ऋतं  वदिष्यामि |  सत्यं  वदिष्यामि |  

तन्मामवतु  |  तद्वक्तारमवतु  |  अवतु माम्  |  अवतु  वक्तारम्  |

ॐ शान्तिः  शान्तिः शान्तिः ||    थै 1 .1

Om Shanti: Shanti: Shanti:   T 1.1

Adi Sankara's Commentary:

The repetition thrice of the word Shanti: is for resolution of all the three types of obstructions standing in the way of my gaining knowledge viz those centred on myself, those centred on surrounding environment and those coming from the domain of the devatas.

Repetition of the Shanti three times is for the purpose of resolution of three-fold obstructions in the way of my gaing brahma-vidya. What are the three-fold obstructions? They are 1] adhyatmika, 2] adihbhautika and 3] adhidaivika.

Adhyatmika-ashanti is centred on your body and mind [like ill-health or constantly wandering mind]. Therefore there is a prayer for adhyatmika shanti.

Adhibautika-ashanti is due to environmental situations [like a sleeping neighbour or a flying wasp]. Therefore there is a prayer for adhibautika shanti.

Adhidaivika-ashanti means disturbances centred on devatas. It is daivadhinam. It is not within the domain of people or creatures around. You have no control over that.

For the purpose of resolving all of them, three times shanti is repeated. While chanting this shanti-mantra,see the meaning, then it is effective.

Source: Swami Dayananda Saraswati: Taittriya Upanishad Vol1 [pp 83-85]

                             

TAITRIYA UPANISHAD: SHANTI PAATA CONTD: RUTAM VADISHYAMI SATYAM VADISHYAMI [ऋतं वदिष्यामि सत्यं वदिष्यामि]

2018  0121 03  Taittriya Upanishad: Shanti Paata Contd.: Rutam Vadishyami, Satyam Vadishyami

ॐ शं नो मित्रः शं वरुणः  |   शं नो भवतु  अर्यमा  | 

शं न इन्द्रो बृहस्पतिः  | शं नो विष्णु रुरुक्रमः  |    

नमो ब्रह्मणे  |  नमस्ते  वायो  |  त्वमेव प्रत्यक्षं ब्रह्मासि  |  

त्वामेव प्रत्यक्षं ब्रह्म वदिष्यामि  |

ऋतं  वदिष्यामि |  सत्यं  वदिष्यामि |  

तन्मामवतु  |  तद्वक्तारमवतु  |  अवतु माम्  |  अवतु  वक्तारम्  |

ॐ शान्तिः  शान्तिः शान्तिः ||    थै 1 .1

Rutam Vadishyami; Satyam Vadishyami;

Tanmamavatu; Tadvaksharamavatu; Avatu mam; Avatu Vaksharam;  T 1.1

Adi Sankara's Commentary:

Rutam [ऋतं] means what has to be done in keeping with the sastra and which has been very well ascertained in the intellect. I declare you to be that rutam because it is in your domain.

That Rutam when it is expressed through speech and body is called Satyam [सत्यं]. That also is accomplished with Your grace and so I declare you to be that Satyam.

Any human end is purushartha. What is desired by people is purushartha. What you want to accomplish in life is purushartha. We have two words rutam and satyam.

One has checked one's understanding to see if it is in keeping with sastra, in keeping with what is right and wrong. That is rutam. In one's buddhi it is very well ascertained as to how a thing has to be done. That kind of clarity is rutam. And that is what Bhagavan is.

The student addresses Bhagavan: I declare you to be in the form of rutam.

Once I have done this, afterwards when I express it, it is called satyam. If what you think is not well-ascertained and you speak what you think, it is not satya-vadanam.

O Bhagavan! You are Satyam in the form of Vayu, Sutratma in everyone. Satyam is the same Bhagavan who is Rutam, who is now accomplished, manifest in the form of words and physical deeds.What is spoken is followed by action, and that is also Satyam.

Without Your grace I cannot maintain Satyam, it is within your domain. And without Your grace I cannot understand Rutam. For both I require Your grace.This support system is Bhagavan.

Even to  understand dharma, follow dharma and live up to that dharma, I require the support of Bhagavan's grace. Prayers become the support system. Bhagavan is the only permanet factor in the support system.

Let that Brahman protect me, the seeker of knowledge, by blessing me with knowledge. Let the same Brahman protect the teacherby blessing him with the capacity to teach. The repetition of the words avatu mam, avatu vaktaram is for emphasis.

Source: Swami Dayananda Saraswati: Taittriya Upanishad Vol1 [pp 77-83]

                             

TAITTRIYA UPANISHAD: SHANTI PAATA CONTD.: NAMO BRAHMANE NAMASTE VAYO [नमो ब्रह्मणे | नमस्ते वायो | ]

2018  0114 02  Taittriya Upanishad: Shanti Paata Contd: Namo Brahmane; Namaste Vayo

ॐ शं नो मित्रः शं वरुणः  |   शं नो भवतु  अर्यमा  | 

शं न इन्द्रो बृहस्पतिः  | शं नो विष्णु रुरुक्रमः  |    

नमो ब्रह्मणे  |  नमस्ते  वायो  |  त्वमेव प्रत्यक्षं ब्रह्मासि  |  

त्वामेव प्रत्यक्षं ब्रह्म वदिष्यामि  |

ऋतं  वदिष्यामि |  सत्यं  वदिष्यामि |  

तन्मामवतु  |  तद्वक्तारमवतु  |  अवतु माम्  |  अवतु  वक्तारम्  |

ॐ शान्तिः  शान्तिः शान्तिः ||    थै 1 .1

Namo BrahmaNE; NamastE Vaayo; TvamEva prayaksham BrahmAsi;

TvamEva prayaksham Brahma vadishyaami    T 1.1

Adi Sankara's Commentary:

The acts of salutations to and praise of Brahman are done for the resolution of all possible obstructions in gaining the knowledge of Brahman, by the one who is desirous of knowing it, since the results of all actions are dependent on Brahman. Brahman is Vayu. I offer my salutations, I bend down to that Brahman.

Namo Brahmane, Salutations to Brahman; Namaste Vayo, Salutations to you, O Vayu -- in these two places, Vayu alone is addressed. In the first instance, the word Brahma is used for Vayu and in the second, Vayu is addressed directly.  You visualize Vayu and do namaskara.

Again, 'You are pratyaksha-Brahma because, at the adhyatmika, physical level, which is pratyaksha, you are keeping my body alive and I see that directly. When I think of you as Sutratma, samashti, you become paroksha'. 

Further, since you are perceptible Brahman outside me with reference to eyes, etc and not away from me, I shall declare you to be perceptible Brahman. 

Without you in the form of Vayu, no living being can exist. Any living being needs you to breathe life. Therefore, O Vayu, I call you Brahman that is directly experienced by me.  Thus, Vayu, the Sutratma, is invoked as pratyaksha-Brahma.

Source: Swami Dayananda Saraswati: Taittriya Upanishad Vol1 [pp 74-77]

                             

TAITTRIYA UPANISHAD: SHANTI PAATA: OM SAM NO MITRA SAM VARUNAH [ॐ शं नो मित्र शं वरुणः ]

2018 0107 01  Taittriya Upanishad: Shanti Paata: Om sam no Mitra sam Varunah

This is the Shanti Paata of Taittriya Upanishad [T 1.1]

May Mitra be a source of blessing to us. May Varuna [be] a source of blessing [to us]. May Aryamaa be a source of blessing to us. May Indra and Bruhaspati [be] a source of blessing [to us].  May Vishnu, the Lord of long stride, [be] a source of blessing t[o us]. 

Salutations to Brahman [Hiranyagarbha]. O Vayu! Salutations to you. You alone are the perceptible Brahman.  I shall declare you to be the perceptible Brahman. I shall declare [you to be] Right Understanding.  I shall declare [you to be] Truthfulness.

May He protect me.  May He protect the teacher.  May He protect me.  May He protect the teacher.  Om. Let there be Peace, Peace, Peace!


                                


Adi Sankara's commentary on the above Shanti Mantra:

Sam means blessing. May Lord Mitra who is the presiding deity of prana [the function of respiration] and day be a source of blessing to us during the day. Similarly, Lord Varuna who is the presiding deity of apana [the function of evacuation] and night  be a source of blessing to us during the night [for good sleep and a clear morning].

Isvara, when looked at from the standpoint of the day becomes a devata and is called Mitra. It is another name for the Sun, as the adishtana devata of the day.  He is not only adhishthana-devata of the day from the standpoint of samashti adhibhuta , from the standpoint of vyashti-adyaatma, with reference to  one's own body-mind-sense complex, He is the adhishtana devata  of prana-vrutti, function of respiration. Let him bless us.

So too, may Varuna, who is the adishtana devata for the night and also for apana-vrutti, function of evacuation, bless us. With reference to eyes, the same Sun is called Aryamaaand he is the adishtana devata for eyes and the solar system. Indra is adishtana-devata of balam, strength. So may He bless us with strength.

Indra's Guru is Bruhaspati, who is the presiding deity of vak, speech and buddhi, intellect. For speech to be clear and truthful , Bruhaspathi's blessing must be there. May the Lord bless us with learning and clarity in understanding.

Similarly, all-pervasive Vishnu, the presiding deity of legs and feet, be a source of blessing to us.May all these presiding deities, and others not said here, bless us. Thus, we are seeking blessing at all levels in this mantra.

Only if all the deities remain blessing us with pleasant situations, listening to this teaching, retaining it and sharing it with others, take place without any obstacle. Hence their favourable is prayed for, by saying 'sam no bhavatu'.

   Source: Swami Dayananda Saraswati: Taittriya Upanishad Vol1 [pp 67-70]


                                       

                                         

             

THE WAY OF A PILGRIM : SECRET OF SALVATION, UNCEASING PRAYER

2017 1231 53  The Way of a Pilgrim: Secret of Salvation, Unceasing Prayer

Jesus Prayer

"The Way of a Pilgrim"  is the English title of a 19th-century Russian work, recounting the narrator's journey as a mendicant pilgrim across Russia while practising the Jesus Prayer. It uses a pilgrim's journey as a vehicle to teach the practice of ceaseless inner prayer and communion with God. 

It has become in the West a classic of Russian Orthodox spirituality.  No book has inspired more people to set out to discover the inner springs that nurture the life of Orthodox Christians and to learn the practice of the Jesus Prayer. It has been for many, a revelation about the life of prayer.

This aim of union with God, is central to the Prayer in the Name of Jesus. Brief in form, it leads the soul to concentration and sets it face to face with God. Its tenor is such as will fix and bind into one all the forces of man, spiritual, mental, and corporal, in that single act of perfect devotion— loving adoration. It endows the being with absolute stability. At the same time it strips the soul of all subjectivity, all self-seeking, and sets it in the objectivity of the divine. It is both the path and the culmination of renunciation and self-denial.

The following excerpt is from the book “The Way of a Pilgrim”:

THE SECRET OF SALVATION,
REVEALED BY UNCEASING PRAYER: 

How is one saved?  


This godly question naturally arises in the mind of every Christian who realizes the injured and enfeebled nature of man, and what is left of its original urge towards truth and righteousness. Everyone who has even some degree of faith in immortality and recompense in the life to come is involuntarily faced by the thought, " How am I to be saved? " when he turns his eyes towards heaven. 

When he tries to find a solution of this problem, he enquires of the wise and learned. Then under their guidance he reads edifying books by spiritual writers on this subject, and sets himself unswervingly to follow out the truths and the rules he has heard and read. In all these instructions he finds constantly put before him as necessary conditions of salvation a devout life, and heroic struggles with himself which are to issue in decisive denial of self. This is to lead him on to the performance of good works, to the constant fulfilment of God's laws, and thus witness to the unshakableness and firmness of his faith. 

Ask God. Pray to God. Pray for His help.

The seeker comes across the book called Philokalia, in which twenty-five holy Fathers set forth in an understandable way the scientific knowledge of the truth and of the essence of prayer of the heart. He sees that truly to pray means to direct the thought and the memory, without relaxing, to the recollection of God, to walk in His divine Presence, to awaken oneself to His love by thinking about Him, and to link the Name of God with one's breathing and the beating of one's heart. He is guided in all this by the invocation with the lips of the most Holy Name of Jesus Christ, or by saying the Jesus Prayer at all times and in all places and during every occupation, unceasingly. These luminous truths, by enlightening the mind of the seeker and by opening up before him the way to the study and achievement of prayer, help him to go on at once to put these wise teachings into practice. 

                                


For the Full Text of "The Secret of Salvation: Unceasing Prayer": [Click Here]
http://www.holycrossyakima.org/orthodoxpdfs/unceasingprayer-wayofpilgrim.pdf

                               



For the Full Text of "The Way of a Pilgrim": [Click Here]
http://jbburnett.com/resources/french_way_of_a_pilgrim.pdf

                                           

NECTOR OF THIRUVAACHAKAM: 37.9 PIDITTHA PATTHU பால் நினைந்து

2017 1224 52  Nector of Thiruvaachakam:  37.9 Pidittha Patthu பால் நினைந்து

From The  "Pathway to God through the Thiruvaachakam" by G.Vanmikanathan

Oh my Treasure! Oh great Lord Sivan!
Oh You Who, very much more solicitous 
than a mother who mindfully suckles her child,
melting this sinner's flesh,
and increasing the inner light,
squirted the never-drying up honey [of bliss into my mouth]
and trailed after me from place to place!
I have [now] followed You
and have caught You firmly.
Henceforth, where will You, at Your pleasure, go? T37.9

பால் நினைந்து ஊட்டும் தாயினும் சாலப் 
பரிந்து நீ, பாவியேனுடைய 
ஊனினை உருக்கி, உள் ஒளி பெருக்கி,
உலப்பு இலா ஆனந்தம் ஆய 
தேனினைச் சொரிந்து, புறம்-புறம் திரிந்த 
செல்வமே ! சிவ பெருமானே !
யான் உனைத் தொடர்ந்து, சிக்கெனப் பிடித்தேன்;
எங்கு எழுந்து அருளுவது, இனியே ?   தி 37.9



                                         


YouTube Video: "Paal ninainthootum" sung by Lalgudi Swaminathan:  [Click Here]