Sundarakanda Prasasthi

Sundarakanda:
Valmiki has named chapters(kandas) in Ramayana so as to depict the content clearly.
Bala Kanda -- tells abt Rama's childhood
Ayodya Kanda -- Life in Ayodhya
Aranya Kanda -- Rama's life in Aranya
Kishkinda Kanda -- Life in Kishkinda
Yudda Kanda -- Rama's war with Ravana
But Sundara Kanda -- ??? Doesnot clearly tell what it contains.

Sundara Kanda is one such chapter that does not clearly tell what is there in the chapter by looking at the name. In fact it appears to be a cryptic name with some rahasya in it. Sundara Kanda is terated as one of the powerful chapters and is read by devotees. It has so many slokas which are treated as mantras themselves. Mantra is a sloka which generates power by recital.

Hanuma
Hero of the chapter is Hanuman. Scene at the beginning of the chapter is
Sita -- in sad state in asoka vana
Rama -- in sad state in kishkinda
Vanaras -- in sad state near beach unable to cross the sea.
Ravana -- in happy state with possession of Sita

At the end of chapter
Sita -- in happy state anticipating Rama's arrival
Rama -- in happy state knowing whereabouts of Sita
Vanaras -- in happy state for discovering sita
Ravana -- in sad state with lanka half destroyed and death of Son Akshaya

Hanuma is the responsible for this transformation. Even today he is considered as the one who brings prosperity to good people and trouble to bad.

Viswanatha started his sundara kanda in Ramayana Kalpavriksha as

Entavadu kavalenippudu yatpratibha vishistudi
Antavadini nenagugunippudu tatpratibha vishistudani

It shows the confidence and the confidence that is given by a medicine called Rama Bhakti. So whats Sundaram in Sundara Kanda?

sundare sundaro ramah sundare sundari katha
sundare sundari sita sundare sundaram vanam,
sundare sundaram kavyam sundare sundarah kapih
sundare sundaram mantram sundare kim na sundaram.

1) Rama is sundara. Pumsam Mohana Rupaya --> meaning even men would fall in love with him.
2) Katha is Sundara. Ramayana is still being received with awe for its beauty of story. It is dharma shastra illustrated
3) Sita is sundari. It is the reason why Ravan kidnapped her away.
4) Vanam is Sundaram. Asoka vanam has become resourceful once sorrow of Sita is taken away by Hanuma
5) Kavyam is sundaram. Ramayana is still being received with awe for its beauty of narration. For example Ayodhya Kanda starts with word Gachchatam --> meaning move. It is a symbolism Valmiki uses to depict something is going to move. By the end of Ayodhya Kanda, Rama/Sita/Lakshmana move to forest. Dasaradha moves to swarga loka. Bharata movs to Nandigrama. Even throne of Ayodhya moves to Nadigrama. This is the skill of valmiki illustrated in Ramayana
6) Kapih is Sundara. Most temples show hanuman as red colour idol but in reality Hanuma is yellowish colour and very sundara. He is Navavyakarana Pandita and is an illustration how and when to speak.
7) Mantram is Sundaram. Rama nama is mantra that is althrough in Lanka. You may be surprised but every rakshasha wants to get reward by killing Rama.Even through hate they are reciting Rama mantra. Everytime there is a crisis Hanuma recites Rama nama and gets rid of problem in sundara kanda. So what is not sundaram in Sundara kanda??

Varna Ashrama Dharmas

Started by a friend (Nanda Kishore)

There are many concepts in BHAGAVAD-GITA and let us try to have some information/discussion on one of them - "varnashrama dharma"

In GITA, two definitions or explanations are given for "varnashrama dharma"

Social divisions:
1) The Brahmanas - The intelligent class directing society by giving guidance and advice to the king or government
2) The ksatriyas - The ksatriyas take the positions of king or politicians and the military
3) The vaisyas - The vaisyas are responsible principally for the production food and the protection of the cows
4) The sudras - The sudras have little intelligence and must therefore be engaged in the service of one of the other three classes

The social body should work as a coordinated unit with different members of the society acting in their respective positions as brahmanas, ksatriyas, vaisyas and sudras according to their qualities (Please note that the divisions are made as per qualities and not based on caste)

There are also four spiritual divisions

1) brahmacary - student life
2) grhastha - married life
3) vanaprasta - retired life and
4) sunnyasa - renounced life

Shark(Saarth's nick name) , You can take this forward.

My Response:

Varna:
As rightly pointed out divisions are made as per qualities and not basesd on castes. Later they were made into castes. In Gita Lord Krishna says "Janmana Jayate Sudra Samskarena Jayate Dwijah" -- Every one is Sudra by birth and by quality he displays he may become a dwija. Also he clearly says "Chaturvarna maya srustam" -- I have created only four varnas but it is humans who have created other subcastes and panchama caste.

With in this castes they have made enough subdivisions so that men have sufficient reason rto fight and kill each other. I was just listening to Lyrics of Dashavataram "Raayini Maatram" Song where hero is a Srivaishnava and says he will not bow his head to Lord Shiva. And Veera Shaivites kill him. In Vedas, upanishads and other scriptures it is clearly said that there is only one God. But people divided him and found one another reason to kill each other.

It is a customary argument since ages that only upper castes are allowed to read vedas. This is false and falsity established by humans. Vedas are Swara pradhanas. Every mantra of vedas has a swara attached to it and it has its impact only when swara is followed. Incorrect swara is like insulting Gods and thats the reason why people who cannot correctly pronounce were denied access to vedas. There is a story in Upanishad where a boy named Jaabali who does not know who his father is approaches Gautama Maharshi for learning veda. Gautama asks hm abt his Gotra and Jabali replies that he does not know it as he does not know who his father is. Appreciating his quality of speaking truth despite knowing that speaking truth may not get him admission, Gautama grants him admission and teaches him Veda.

What is it Veda that only some people are denied access to it? Vedas are libraries of knowledge and giving access to knowledge to one who does not deserve it can lead to danger. For example: Ekalvya has learnt Archery on his own. One day when he is practising a dog came barking along the way and this lead to concentration lapse for him. He uses his skill on the poor animal and seals its mouth. Any one learning Archery would be told that his skill should be used only for attaining peace and protecting the state. Ekalavya does not have fundamental qualities of archer and has every chance of misusing his skill. So Drona asks him for his thumb so that he cannot practice archery. It is a different story that we see lots of movies where Drona/Arjuna are made Villians. Drona has done Dharma but it is now interpreted as attrocity of a brahmin on a tribal.

Regrading Ashrama Dharma's I can write only after reading relevant portion in Manu Smriti and Parasara Smriti. Parasara Smriti is more applicable to Kali yuga.

Vaikunta Ekadasi

Today is the auspicious day of Vaikunta Ekadasi. This is the day on which most temple including Tirupati and Bhadrachalam would crowded for getting vaikunta Dwara darshan.
It is also called Mukkoti Ekadasi ie., the day on which 3crore Devatas come to visit Lord Vishnu through uttara vaikunta dwara. Devotees observe fast on this day and spend time reciting Lord's Keerthans.

The significance of Vaikunta Ekadasi can be traced back to the Padma Purana. The Purana indicates that Lord Vishnu took the form of ‘Ekadasi’ female energy to kill demon Muran. Impressed by ‘Ekadasi,’ Lord Vishnu told her that whoever worships him on this day will reach ‘Vaikunta’. Rice is avoided during ekadashi days as it is believed that the demon Mura finds a dwelling in the rice eaten on Ekadasi day.

Fasting and indulging in Lord's Japa on Ekadasi is called Ekadasi Vrata. Noted devotee King Ambareesha observed this Vrata and his story of lesson given by Lord Vishnu to Sage Durvasa is known to every one. (if not I will write in a separate mail) Here is a sloka that tells significance of Ekadasi Vrata

"na GaayathryA para manthra: na Maathu para dhaivatham
na KaasyA: paramam theertham na EkAdasyA : samam vratham"

Meaning:
There is no manthram that is superior to Gaayathri manthram ; there is no dhaivam superior to one's mother;
there is no sanctifying theertham better the Kaasi and there is no vratham that is more sacred than EkAdasi Vratham .

Tit-Bit:
Devatas are said to be mukkoti (3crores)। Will there not be any growth in their population? (if possible explain)

Some Queries of friend

1) All these things must have be formulated to move man closer to GOD. i.e. make him a better human being. But in Kaliyuga, it is not happening.
These things are surely formulated to move man closer to GOD perfect. In Kaliyuga it may not be seen happening and that is exactly the characteristic of Kaliyuga.
In Kruta Yuga (Satya Yuga) people did not know what bad is.
In Treta Yuga people knew what bad is and but never did it.
In Dwapara Yuga people did bad deeds but there are good fellows who constrained them
In Kali Yuga bad becomes norm and good becomes exception. It is surely a rarity to find a perfect man here.

2) Do you really think that a person who commits 10 murders and then performs Ekadasi vratham will reach Vaikunta?
I think so but I cannot show any tangible proof. But there is a clarification demanded here. If a person does 10 murders, he will not attain Vaikunta until he pays for those murders. There are swarga and Naraka defined that give punishments to sins. There will be series of rebirths that might happen giving him scope for undergoing fruit of his papa and there will be cases when papa will be experienced in same life itself.

In a book called Panduranga Mahatyam, Tenali Rama Krishna portrays a character called Nigama Sharma. Brahmin by birth but chandala by nature. He makes his wife and parents suffer. Never takes care of offspring. Also he molests daughter-in-law of a kapu family and starts having illicit affair with her. So in essence he brings down every one attached with him. He pays for the sisn when he loses every one including his wife and kid who are burnt alive infront of his eyes. He then pays for the sins he has done when he is left all alone in a state where there is no food, no senses working. In the end he gets Vaikunta after he reaches holy presence of Lord Pandu Ranga.

Net - Net what I can say is one has to pay for his sins there is no exception. It can be in same birth or series of rebirths. But as we do not have longevity of life that can clearly show whether people are paying for sins, we might think they are leading happy life.

Friend's Response:
>> Net - Net what I can say is one has to pay for his sins there is no exception. It can be in same birth or series of rebirths. But as we do not have longevity of life that can clearly show whether people are paying for sins, we might think they are leading happy life.

This is where my point lies. We just don't seem to understand this. From morning to evening we commit so many sins (physical and mental) and just a customary visit to temple on a particular day will not help. (Today morning I saw around 50 vehicles parked at lord venkatesware temple near my house)

I am not losing faith in these customs. I am losing faith in the concept that these customs will move man closer to GOD in kaliyuga. (Most of us visit temple out of fear and not because of Bhakti)

My Response:

I am not losing faith in these customs. I am losing faith in the concept that these customs will move man closer to GOD in kaliyuga.
Customs can help in big way if they are practiced in right spirit by understanding the rationale behind. But we cannot deny that a portion of blind followers can get some benefit out of it.

My personal opinion is to try and understand heart of the customs and practicing them is a wise gesture. It is unwise to ignore them by stating that they do not add value. It is karma (duty) yoga as first step before going to bhakti/gnana yoga. There will surely be some blessed who might reach gnana directly but for rest of us it falls into same route of Karma --> Gnana --> Bhakti.

(Most of us visit temple out of fear and not because of Bhakti)
We are not (sofar) Paramahamsa to help all those who are not getting benefit out of customs, I can claim to have surpassed my ability if I help myself. If my ability gets extended to help some more people in future I would volunteer to help them. But for now I visit temple only for two reasons.
1. To get some tranquility in my mind and heart and ease any tensions of my mind.
2. I have made a rule to give dakshina of 11 Rs to every priest in my near by temples every week. I was moved by the fact that most of them (especially priests of surrounding Gods in temple) are living in utter poverty. I cannot say that my paltry sum can relieve them of poverty but it is some Aatma samtrupti on my behalf. I took this resolve after my recent visit to Tiruttrini where I have seen priests who are requesting devotees to visit surrounding temples so that they can earn Rs2 as Dakshina.

What is Daivam and what is Karma

Hinduism's foundation is based on karma siddanta (principle). Almost every scripture of religious importance starting from Vedas to Bhagavad-Gita talks about the Karma siddanta. It is a simple principle how ever it is widely misunderstood.

Karma siddanta says you reap what you sow. If you plant a mango seed you would enjoy mango fruit but not apple fruit. Simple isn't it? In a practical scenario, it says your action(karma) today determines what you face tomorrow. A student who has an exam tomorrow and works hard today, gets good marks tomorrow. A student who does do it, gets less marks. Means day in day out you keep doing karma and enjoy/suffer the karmaphala. (fruit of karma). Heck! what is confusion in it?

Lets try to extend this principle a little further:
Hinduism says the living being keeps encountering series of rebirth's in a circular fashion. Well proof? Here is what Lord Krishna Says in Bhagavad-Gita

vasamsi jirnani yatha vihaya navani grhnati naro ’parani tatha sarirani vihaya jirnany anyani samyati navani dehi "As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones." How ever it is not always true that we get human birth. Last birth may be a cockroach or tiger or any thing else. The current life is determined by karma we have done in earlier lives. meaning the karma phala does not end after death, instead it carries forward to next lives. Earlier illustrations are easy to believe as there is a concrete proof we can see with our own eyes, this illustration is a little difficult as the proof cant be seen with senses. (I somehow cant understand why even people who understood mathematical induction principle cant apply same here :-)) Now that we have got the principle lets see a small illustration here. Two students attend same classes, study same time but one is able absorb the gist of education where as the other does not. Here the visible Karma is identically done by the students. What's is the reason why one succeeds and other does not? It is because the previous karma has taken over (from previous life or same life) and the negative karma show impact. Negative karma could be lack of strong foundation of basics. Given this background lets inspect the question. When some one says "daivam karunichindi", it essentially means his earlier karma has started showing its positive impact in his current life. When some one repents stating "Idanta na karma", it simply means his bad karma is taking over his current karma. As opposed to many religious beliefs GOD is not some body who sits and observes each and every person day in day out and try to reward/punish for actions manually. We can say it is an automated program written GOD himself so that his intervention is not required. He merely does the production support. :-) So if every things is determined by the prarabda karma, what is need to work(karma) now? For future lifes as first reason. Secondly previous karma is taking over only if you current karma is not strong enough to nullify. So we need to work even now.

Source: Yoga Vasistam -- A lesson taught by Vasista to Lord Rama. Considered a seminal book on philosophy even before Bhagavad-Gita. (I used my interpretation here though)

VeyiPadagalu -- A review

VeyiPadagalu a Review:
Veyipadagalau can be viewed as another Dharma Sastra. I cannot call it abridged Dharma Sastra as it is a huge volume and is larger in size. It may be a practical guide to Dharma Sastra.
Characters:
It is impossible to list down all the characters in Veyi padagalu. I will list down few.
Dharma Rao:
He is the key character around whom story revolves. He is a Brahmin and son Rama Sastry (who acted as minister to Jamindar family). Dharma Rao is an embodiment of Dharma. He is a scholar and follows dharma in it spirit. He loses his father when he is young and studies with assistance of old Jamindar Krishnama Naidu. After Naidu’s death his studies were sponsored by Naidu’s Wife. Naidu’s Son Ranga Rao assumes imaginary rivalry with Dharma Rao and defies tradition by not appointing Dharma Rao as his minister. Dharma Rao studies well and works as lecturer in local college. He enlightens many of his students like Harappa Naidu, Girika, Mangamma and Kumara Swamy. He fights with many like Radhapathi by upholding traditional values.
Arundhati:
She is wife of Dharma Rao. She learns some knowledge from Dharma Rao. Dharma Rao and Arundhati pair show by practice how wife and husband should be with each other. She supports Dharma Rao in his times of trouble and provides him a friend, mother, guide and a wife in a single body.
Ranga Rao:
He is the Jamindar heir who defies the authority of the Brahmin family who laid foundation for their history. He assumes rivalry with Dharma Rao and does not help him in his problems. Evne though he did not create any problems for Dharma Rao he by ignoring his duties of King hurts Dharma Rao. He appoints all unfit people in his court and thus ruins him self as well the Zameen. He remarries two English ladies after wife’s death and when he falls ill all those around his betray him. He realizes in the end about greatness of Dharma Rao. Only good deed he does that helps in his transformation is to let his son Harappa Naidu taught by Dharma Rao. He quotes "Harappa is Rama and Dharma Rao is Apara Vasista"
Harappa Naidu:
He is is son of Ranga Rao. If Dharma Rao is Krishna then Harappa is Arjuna. Harappa lives for a short duration he takes over the responsibility when Ranga Rao falls ill and does revival of old glory. His main ambition was to revive the tradition by performing marriage of Lord Venugopala and he dies soon after he achieves it. Ranga Rao quotes about his son after his death that "I am not his father, he is my father"
He helps in transformation of Ranga Rao by impeaching all evil fellows those surround his father. Dharma Rao’s aim of revival of traditions is achieved through Harappa Naidu.
Girika:
Dharma Rao’s sister. Even though not born to same mother; father is same for her, Dharma Rao, Rama Raju and Pasirika. Dharma Rao has great affection for her and used to teach her glories of Lord even though she belongs to devadasi caste. It is through her he achieves the second aim ie., development of Bhakti and she attains Moksha by devoting herself to Lord Venugopala.
Rameswaram:
Evil fellow who develops hatred towards Dharma Rao and tries to ruin him. The evil deeds of him were unlimited. He is primarily responsible for depletion of Dharma during Ranga Rao’s regime. He develops sexual feelings towards Girika and when Dharma Rao protects her he develops rivalry with him. He ruins wife of a school teacher named Mangamma by bribing her for money and taking her innocence to his advantage.
He is also responsible for death of innocent husband of Mangamma. He creates all sorts of problems to Dharma Rao including Financial problems. Ultimately he gets deserved punishment when he was caught for unlawful printing of currency notes and betrayal from Mangamma. Writer portrays here that evil may enjoy success for sometime but it gets deserved punishment in the end.
Mangamma:
An innocent Brahmin wife who falls for money and ruins life herself. She snatches all wealth from Ramanatham and betrays him in the end. She then stays with another evil fellow named Radhapathi. She tranforms herself in the end by the learnings she had from Dharma Rao. She gives all her wealth to Kumara Swamy. She meets a tragic Manghamma’s story depicts the karma philosophy of Hinduism. Karma Philosophy states that you will get the fruits of your actions sooner or later. Mangamma cheated her husband and is indirectly responsible for his death. Even though she transforms herself into a good human being after her association with kumara swamy and Dharma Rao, she still had to face a miserable death as a fruit of bad deeds she has done.
The Snake:
The snake is one key character in the novel. It is a snake with thousand heads and novel gets its name from the same. With disruption of each and every dharma snakes loses all its heads and finally has only two heads. Only Dharma Rao was able to see the real snake. Once Ranga Rao sees the snake in a dream in furious mood and bites him. Most part of novel snake remains with two heads each representing Dharma Rao and Arundhati. In the end Dharma Rao says inviting his new wife Arundhati into his life "This is the strength of my nation/race" Here he alludes to marriage is the only institution that has remained in the end even after all the other dharma’s are tarnished. I guess Writer has the intention to portray that despite all these transformations in the society at least marriage is remaining in full strength.
Kumara Swamy:
He is a student of Dharma Rao and who imbibes all traits of his teacher. He is a pet child of Magamma and inherits her property as well after her death. His wife Syamala is a good partner and the pair supplies good humor to the novel.
Jr. Rama Satry and Jr. Harappa:
Jr Rama Sastry is son of Dharma Rao and has same name a s his Grand Father। He is a smart kid and impresses Ranga Rao better than his father. Ranga Rao quotes "I don’t know about Dharma Rao but I know about his son. His son will grow up to become a better man than his father." Ranga Rao after transformation adopts a kid and names him as a Harappa (name of his deceased son) and get them education by having Kumara Swamy as teacher.

A great work always differentiates itself from ordinary by the impression it makes on the reader. I left my writing vocation after reading Veyipadagalu as I felt any book that is not worth the same class as Veyi padagalu is a waste of reader’s time. On a second thought I felt like a book should not only convey entertainment but it should convey knowledge. The reader should become a better man after reading the book. In order to do this I need to learn lot of things before writing. A complete novel of class Veyipadagalu was dictated by Viswanatha while playing cards and in 28 days he completed 1000 full pages. (This is the only occasion I felt playing cards is not a bad vocation) Lectures given by Dharma Rao are doses of knowledge for the reader. I think Dharma Rao embodies Viswanatha himself. He is so called Kavi Samrat. (King of all poets)

Sarve Jana Sukhinobhavantu

Scene: A Gurukul in which Guru has occupied his seat and is ready for clarifying doubts of his students on the lessons taught on earlier day.
The brightest student rose and expressed his doubt.
Student: Master! Yesterday you taught us to always wish for universal peace "Sarve Jana Sukhinobhavantu"

But Sir! If we wish for that it would mean we are wishing that Chora (Thief), Durjana (Bad folks) and kaamis (one with bad desires) also to be happy। If they are happy it would mean they will make others unhappy. How can we wish for everyone's happiness? Please clarify us.

Guru is proud and happy that he raised this question। He clarified it as below।
"We should always wish for "Sarve Janah Sukhinobhavantu". But the catch here is what is "Sukha"? Is the theif who has stolen money really experiencing Sukah or happiness.
Day in day out he will be chased by police. Even during his sleep he will get nightmares of getting punishments for his bad deeds. He cannot eat his food properly, cannot sleep well and cannot live happily with his family out of fear of getting caught. Is this really Sukha? It is not not. He well really attain Sukah prastana only when he quits his bad deeds. When we are wishing we are in reality wishing for change in his profession and wishing that he gets real sukha by quitting burglery.
There is a Kaami who always is pained with desires. His desires are listless. He cannot be at ease with himself until he gets his desire gets fulfilled and once it is fulfrilled he is again troubled by another desire. He also is not very happy. He get some happiness when his desire is getting fulfilled but rest of the time he is suffering either from temptation or disappointment. So we are wishing that he gets relieved of his excessive desires and thus become happy.
Dear Students there are root causes of unhappiness defined in vedas and shastras. They are called Arishadvargas. They are Kama, Krotha, Lobha, Moha, Mada and Matsaras. A man who is really happy is the one with sattva guna and who distances himself from these arishadvargas. When we wish for Sarve Janah Sukhinobhavantu we are essentially wishing that every one in the world gets rid of these six bad traits and attain true happiness. "
Students are satisfied with the xplanation and made ti a point to shred these six enemies that stop men from getting true happiness.

Panchamaha patakas

We must have heard Panchamaha patakas – Five unforgivable sins. But what are they?

Brahma Hatya – Murder of a Brahmin
Stealing Gold
Sura Pana – consuming liquor
Guru Talpaka – Sleeping with Guru’s wife
Friendship with a person who committed one of the above.

These are described by Vyasa Maharshi in Devi Bhagavatam