Published:03 Jun 2019 8 PMUpdated:03 Jun 2019 8 PM Sakthi Vikatan
சேஷாத்ரிநாத சாஸ்திரிகள் Śēṣādrinātha Śāstrigaḷ
ஆதியும் அந்தமும் - 5 - மறை சொல்லும் மகிமைகள்
Ādhi & Andham – 5 – Vedas Great Sayings
ஓவியம்: மாருதி Image: Maruthi
1. The Vedas are timeless with no beginning or end to their glory. The Vedas elaborate on the means and ways of pursuing the Vedic lifestyle recommended for humans, and the man’s obligation to nurture and protect all God-created living things. Disappointment is our lot when we explore the premise of whether people lead a Dharmic and virtuous life today, as depicted in the Vedas.
2. Selfishness is a dominant feature in the lives of today’s people. That is why never-before-seen natural calamities like rainstorms, floods, extreme heat, drought, and other catastrophes happen in many parts of the world. Nature will return to its clemency and benignity of balance when the selfishness leaves from among the people, and all life forms receive loving protection. Nature’s fury will abate.
3. Let me bring to your attention a matter of point.
4. Right at this moment (July 2019), people in Tamil Nadu suffer from a severe drought. Besides, animals suffer from a shortage of water. We can put up with hunger. But we cannot tolerate thirst.
5. With the absence of rain showers, drought dances: Sanskrit call this dance ‘Avagrakam.’ Excess rain showers go by the name ‘Adhivṛtti.’ Likewise, Anāvṛtti means man’s hard struggle with drought. Avagrakam and Anāviruttiyam mean the same. Drought and Excess rain are both hardships. A ‘pluviophile’ is a lover of rain and finds joy and peace of mind during rainy days.
6. We don’t know the genesis of Nature’s fury and multiple and disparate hardships.
7. We don’t know when Nature afflicts us and when they will end. These are timeless events. No one can stop the onset of Nature’s fury. We can plan to protect ourselves from them.
8. This world needs both heat and cold to function. Both cause changes in this world and are responsible for the difference in the seasons. We suffer now from excess heat and drought. Can we find relief from them now? The Vedas have an answer. The timeless Vedas opine performance of Yāgam is the remedy.
. 9. We conduct the Yāgam with the Devas at the forefront. Once we satisfy the Devas, they will send rain to us. This fire sacrifice is known as ‘Kārīra Istti Vēḷvi.’ If we perform this Yāgam, drought afflicting man, beast and other living forms will end, the rains will pour down from the sky and cause ease and relief to the people.
10. Water is necessary to produce water. Science and its methods cannot create water. Evaporation of water from the seas by the heat of the sun, collection of water vapor in the clouds and rain showers from the rain clouds offer us the water.
11. Hereditary studying, reciting, and learning (Adhyayana) of the Vedas existed even before the teaching (Adhyāpana) by Tattva Achāryas belonging to Bauddham, Sārvākam, Jainam, Advaitam, Viśiṣṭādvaitam, and Dvaitam. Then, we were living. Those days, only Vedas showed the way for remediation from the hardships of Nature’s fulminant fury.
12. Instead of accepting these precepts and rituals, we take scientific research and its findings as the be-all and end-all and cheat ourselves. Scientific research is a recent modality by Johnny-come-lately. Tomorrow’s newly discovered antipodal Tattvas will supplant today’s Tattvas. Here today, gone tomorrow. But Vedas are forever.
13. Vedam recommends performing Vēḷvi when monsoon rains fail. The wind pulls the nimbostratus (water-logged cloud or rain cloud) to dash against the mountain and makes it rain: Vēdam says This. It also refers to many types of rain, thunder, and lightning: Rain and sleet (ஆலங்கட்டி மழை), ear-splitting thunder, eye-catching lightning with a downpour, and continuous rain (அடைமழை). The rain not only soaks the earth but also replenishes and raises the aquifer layer (groundwater). These help the flora to thrive. If hardship from drought (= அநாவிருத்தி =Anāvrutti) happens, it is the groundwater that helps us. Kārīra Isti Yāgam invokes and invites the useful rain.
14. There are a plethora of Yāga ritualists. There is no shortage for Vedic scholars and teachers of Kārīra Isti Mantras.
15. I like to say something here. The Mantra Meisters are responsible native-born people. Are they not the instructors to teach us the observances. Knowing the hardship from drought, they must get involved in this relief activities. That is proper for them. Mother and country are superior to heaven itself, realizing which they should stand in the forefront and perform Kārīra Isti Yāgam. They should come forward on their own volition with no formal invitation by others. If they do not initiate the Yāgam on their own accord, we should invite them with proper sacerdotal etiquette, perform the Yāgam and see the rainfall from the heavens.
16. For years, we talk about Varuṇa Japam, for which people must have credentials. No one should chant this Mantra as an obligation. Sacerdotal procedures must be in place. Sincerity is the centerpiece. One should have faith and determination to chant this Mantra. One should have the sincere stance of a Ṛṣi and then chant the Mantra. There should be no thoughts of monetary motives in the chanting of the Mantra. This Varuṇa Japam is for the weal of the world.
17. We struggle in a dire situation. We cannot do Varuṇa Japam and wait for the results. We need rain now, and so the right stratagem is to do the Kārīra Isti Yāgam right away. This Yāgam will bring rain. After doing the Kārīra Isti Yāgam, we should not wait to see whether it rains or not. This Yāgam must continue until the sky opens up and rains. It is like taking the medication until the cure of the disease happens.
18. In Tamil Nadu, October is the rainy season. We cannot wait until then. We should join together and invite qualified persons and perform the Yāgam. This is the only way to obtain relief from water shortage.
. 19. An interested person posed a question “Could not we take preventive measures, knowing that this drought is a recurrent event?” We don’t know the time and place of this unpredictable nature of the fury. There is no such thing as prevention for nature’s fury. But we can take precaution against its onslaught when it happens.
20. What are the causes of Nature’s furies? Why do they happen? This unpredictability is the spin of the wheel. We will look into it further.
- தொடரும்... Continued.
Mahagōpāthyāya Śēṣādrinātha Śāstrigaḷ