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From the Bhakti List Archives
• November 9, 1999
Fm: Velukkudi Krishnan 9th Nov. 99. Arangan tirumuttrathu adiyargale, Let us continue on the Srisailesa mantra prabhavam. Adiyen earlier wrote that this sloka of Ranganatha is said to be a mantra by Pillai lokam jeer swamy. The word mantra means : 1. " mantAram trAyata iti mantra: " - 'that which protects one who chants or thinks about it.' i.e. we keep tirumandiram in our nitya anusandhanam and it protects us. Even the Lord himself is called as Mantra: . Tirumangai alwar in his tirunedunthandakam : "andanar mattu andi vaitha mandirathai mandirathal maravadu enrum vazhdiyel vazhalam mada nenjame." andanar - brahmin, madu - wealth (vedas are the wealth of brahmins-brahmanAnAm dhanam veda:) andi - vedantam. andi vaitha mandiram - bhagavan. mandirathal - tirumandirathal vazhthavendum. In this song both bhagavan and tirumandiram are called as mantram by alwar - as both of them protect anyone who thinks about them. In sahasranama also we come across "mantra: candrAmsu: bhaskaradyuti:" 2. Mantra also means "matri guptabhashaNe" - that which is a rahashya. Of course we know, tirumandiram is the first of the rahasya. Now, Pillai lokam jeer and other poorvacharyas establish that Srisailesa mantram qualifies/excels in both these meanings. The similarities are : 1. Tirumantram and Srisailesa mantram are both told by Srimannarayana himself. 2. Both would protect one who chants them. The Lord protects us. Everyone prostrate before the Lord. If he in turn says "ramyajamataram munim vande", it is clear that he shows us the feet of MM for our protection. Lord's upadesa is to salute Himself in tirumantram. But his anushtana is not so in Srisailesa mantram. He salutes MM. Will the world give weightage to upadesa or anushtAna ? (preaching or conduct). Obviously anushtana. Thus, Srisailesa mantram protects even the protector himself. 3. Pranavam, the first word of tirumantram is recited before and after vedas -it is also said omkara prabhava veda:. Srisailesa mantram is recited before and after the tamil vedas. 4. Om connotes seshatvam of the jIva i.e. jIvAtmA's servitude towards the Lord. akArArthO vishnu: ... makArArthO jIva:. Om says that jIvAtma who is said by 'ma' is the servant to the paramAtma who is said by 'a'. In each phrase of Srisailesa mantra this meaning (seshatvam) is found. Let us see how it is: SrisailEsa dayapatram - SrisailEsa = Lord Srinivasa = 'a'. dayApAtram - one who is bestowed with His kripa = jIva = 'ma'. So 'ma' is the servant of 'a'. SrisailEsa would actually mean tiruvoimozhi pillai. Even in this case acharya is none other the Lord himself "sAkshAt nArAyanO deva:...". So he can also be denoted by 'a' dhIbhaktyAdi gunArnavam - wisdom and devotion. In our sampradAya - jnAna would in fact mean seshatva jnAna only. Devotion would also come to a servant only. So both these denote seshatvam. yatIndra pravanam - Who is a yatIndra ? one who unites the jIvatma with the paramAtma with his upadesa = a bhagavata or an acharya. pravanam - servitude to a bhagavata or an acharya. A person is acclaimed as a servant to the Lord only if he is a servant to a bhagavata. bhagavatseshatvam is fulfilled only if he is a bhAgavata sesha. This is the inner meaning of om. So this also connotes seshatvam. ramyajAmAtaram munim - ramyajAmAta = azhagiya manavalan = ranganatha = 'a'. muni = one who meditates (mananam karoti iti muni:)= jIva = 'ma'. So one who always thinks about ranganatha as his Lord is His sesha. This phrase also denotes seshatvam. Since all the four parts of SrisailEsa mantram explains the meaning of Om , this is praised as a mantram. SrisailEsa mantram is not only equal to tirumantram. In fact it excels. tirumantram is a rahasya. But since it is a part of veda - any one who has the right to chant veda can chant tirumantram. He may be a karma or jnAna or bhakti yogi. Hence in the true sense it is not a rahasya. But is that the case with SrisailEsa mantra ? No. Only prapannAs chant this. So this truly is the rahasya. Moreover the Lord first propounded tirumantram. Realising its limitations, later on brought out SrisailEsa mantram in his anushtanam. After all these, will anyone have a doubt that SrisailEsa dayapatram is THE MANTRAM. Let us all chant on Ippasi moolam the greatness of MM - acharya of the prathamacharya. SrisailEsa dayApatram dhIbhaktyAdi gunArnavam yatIndra pravanam vandE ramyajAmAtaram munim. Manavala mamunigal tiruvadigale saranam. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com