Saturday, April 25, 2009

Maneesha Panchakam - Part 2 out of 8

మనీషా పంచకమ్

Dear Friends and Relatives,

Last week we started the new topic "Maneesha Panchakam" by Sri Adi Sankaracharya. We have seen the introduction and the first slokam. This week I am presenting the second and third slokams with word meaning and substance. Also, the video narration is appended just as in the previous post. Please go through them and write back your views.

Just to recall from where we left, I give here the substance of the first slokam which we have seen in the previous post: "Once, a great holy man is on a stroll in the famous, heavenly place –the Varanaasi. During his walk after his ritualistic, sacred and purified bath he came juxtaposed to two people – a man and his consort walking opposite to him almost bumping into his way. The strange couple were none other than The LORD SIVA and PARVATHI."

The next slokam is as follows


అన్త్య వేషధరం దృష్ట్వా గచ్ఛ గచ్ఛేతి చాబ్రవీత్,

శంకరశ్యోపి చండాలః తమ్ పునః ప్రాహ శంకరమ్


Antya vaeshadharam drushtwaa gachcha gachchaeti cha abraveet

Sankarah so api chandaalah tam punah praaha Sankaram

अंत्य वेषधरम् दृष्ट्वा गच्छ गच्छेति चा ब्रवीत्

शंकरस्योपि चंडालः तम् पुनः प्राह शंकरम्

The word meaning is as follows
Drustwa = On seeing
Vaesha dharam = the couple in the attire of
Antya = a downtrodden family,
Abraveet = uttered (the learned man)
Gachcha = Get away.. You….
Cha = also ….(scornfully)
Gachchaeti = Get away.. etc.,
Sankarah so api = Even though he is Lord Siva
Chandaalah = in the disguise of a downtrodden man
Tam = to that learned man
Sankaram = The Lord Sankara
Punah praaha = In reply said as follows….

The purport
The couple is in the disguise of a lowly placed and unkempt downtrodden family. This learned and holy man, though theoretically very well versed in the Atma Jnaana, not recognizing the true nature of the persons coming into him, uttered the words, you…. Go away, Go away, Go aloof - in some form of scorn and hatred. Then, Parama Siva in the chandaala roopam replied to the learned man as follows…

The next slokam is as follows

అన్నమాయాదన్నమయమ్ అథవా చైతన్యమేవ చైతన్యాత్

యతివర దూరీ కర్తుం వాంఛసి కిమ్ బ్రూహి గచ్ఛ గచ్ఛేతి ?

Annamaayaad annamayam athavaa chaitanyam yaeva chaitanyaat

yativara dooree kartum vaanchasi kim broohi gachcha gachchaeti ?

अन्नमयाद् अन्नमयम् अथवा चैतन्यमेव चैतन्यात्

यतिवर दूरीकर्तुम् वांछसि किम् ब्रूहि गच्छ गच्छेति

The word meaning is as follows
Yati vara = O! Best among the learned!
Broohi = You shout (scornfully) to
Gachcha = Get away
Gachchaeti = Get away etc….
Kim = Whom (out of hatred)
Vaanchasi = You strongly desire to
Dooree kartum = keep at a distance, keep aloof ?
Annamayaad = Is it my body made from food, it is
Annamayam = same as yours nourished by food
Atha vaa = if not, perhaps if it is
Chaitanyam = the inner sentient energy in me
Yaeva = it is also the
Chaitanyaat = same as your inner sentient energy

The purport
Lord Parama Siva spoke as follows: Oh ! The perfect man of Self realization - Sir, I wish to know, whom are you addressing to get away from your esteemed presence out of hatred ? Do you mean the physical body of us – it’s one and the same for all!! Or, perhaps, if you mean the internal cosmic energy within us, it’s all the more same in all! .....

The dialogue continues in the next verses. Let us see them in our next post. You may view the video by clicking the 'play' button in the player below and waiting until the video is buffered to your computer.

See you next week and bye till then,

Regards,

Dr Sarma

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Maneesha Panchakam - Part 1 out of 8

మనీషా పంచకమ్

Dear Friends and Relatives,

It is a very long time since I last met you on this blog of mine. My son's wedding function, pressure of work and many other excuses kept me away in communicating with you on this platform, though I really enjoy doing this. Many well wishers of mine have given me gentle reminders to restart the posts on this blog and urged me to do this as soon as possible.

Now, we will have every week one post as usual, coming to you. I am starting afresh with a master piece from Jagad guru Sri Adi Sankaracharya. It is called 'Maneesha Panchakam'. After a brief introduction, we will go slokam by slokam to try and assimilate the meaning of each. If all of us follow the central meaning of this great preaching, the whole world will become a much better place to live than what it is today.

Maneesha Panchakam has total 10 slokaas - 5 slokaas to build up the scenario and then five more important slokaas of instruction on the fivefold understanding of our inner sentient energy or chaitanya. These last five are succinct, instructive verses by Lord Sankara himself. I shall give here the first slokam (the scenario part) and explain it using word to word meaning of the Sanskrit words interpreted in English. This will be followed by the substance in English text. However, a detailed narration of these can be seen as a short video provided at the end of this post.

The Slokam
సత్యాచార్యస్య గమనే కదాచిన్ ముక్తి దాయకమ్,
కాశీ క్షేత్రమ్ ప్రతి సహ గౌర్యా మార్గే తు శంకరమ్

Satyaachaary asya gamanae kadaachin mukti daayakam,
Kaasee kshaetram prati saha gouryaa maargae tu Sankaram,

सत्याचार्यस्य गमने कदाचिन् मुक्ति दायकम्,

काशी क्षेत्रम् प्रति सह गौर्या मार्गे तु शंकरम्,

Interpretation
Asya = In that
Mukti daayakam = Sacred and fulfilling
Kaasee Kshaetram = pious city of Varanasi,
Kadaachin = once upon a time
Satyaacharya = a sacred & learned man
Gamane = was on a stroll.
Prati = opposite to (the man)
Maargae = on that very street
Saha Gourya = along with Gouri devi
Sankaram = Lord Sankara (had come)
tu = but (continued in next slokam)

Purport or Substance

Once, a great godly man is on a stroll in the famous, heavenly place – the Varanaasi. During his walk after his ritualistic, sacred and purified bath he came juxtaposed to two people – a man and his consort walking opposite to him almost bumping into his way. The strange couple were none other than The LORD SIVA and PARVATHI. But .... (continued in next verse)

I urge all of you to try and see the video as it is a lucid audio visual presentation of the topic, in which you will be able to view and listen by clicking the 'play' button of the media player given below. It will take a few minutes (depending on the speed of your Internet connection) for the video stream to be buffered. Please click 'play' and after a few seconds click 'pause'. Once it is completely buffered, you can play it as you like. Please give your feedback. Those of you, who are more computer savvy, can even save this video on your computer hard drive by using special software. Pl write to me in case you need this.

Bye till next week,

With Regards

Dr Sarma