Sankaranti Wishes

The 12 mantras for surya namaskara:

1. ॐ मित्राय नमः aum mitrāya namah
2. ॐ रवये नमः aum ravayé namah
3. ॐ सूर्याय नमः aum sūryāya namah
4. ॐ भानवे नमः aum bhānavé namah
5. ॐ खगाय नमः aum khagāya namah
6. ॐ पुष्णे नमः aum pushné namah
7. ॐ हिरण्यगर्भाय नमः aum hiranyagarbhāya namah
8. ॐ मारिचाये नमः aum mārichāyé namah
9. ॐ आदित्याय नमः aum ādityāya namah
10. ॐ सावित्रे नमः aum sāvitré namah
11. ॐ अर्काय नमः aum ārkāya namah
12. ॐ भास्कराय नमः aum bhāskarāya namah

The mantra frequently recited to praise the Surya comes from the Rig Veda, Book 1 Hymn 35:

आ कृष्णेन् रजसा वर्तमानो निवेशयन्न अमृतं मर्त्यं च ।

हिरण्ययेन सविता रथेना देवो याति भुवनानि पश्यन ॥

 

Atma is different from Mind

P.Natarajan.

Atma(n) is different from Mind.

Atma(n) as well as Mind have no physical forms. It becomes therefore an intriguing subject to make a show cause how they differ.

Let us first look at what life is. As we live, we carry on a plethora of activities like eating, learning, earning, travelling, reading, watching  TV and so on. We also search for a life partner, marry and beget children. We call the sigma of all these day to day activities as life or as our engagements during the life-time.

It needs to be stressed here that unless there exists a thought, it can not be carried out or culminate in an action. Having understood that the backbone of action arises from thought process, the question where from the thoughts get generated can be easily answered by the following illustrations:-

We are shaped by our thoughts, we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves. Therefore think twice before we speak. The purpose of education is to replace an empty mind with an open one.  It is the mark of an educated mind to entertain a thought without accepting it. The mind is in its own place and in itself can make a Heaven a Hell or a Hell a Heaven. Age is an issue of mind over matter. It is imperative that the greatest thing in life is to keep our mind young.

The mind is instrumental for provocative actions. The parts of our physical body are able to carry out the actions in line with the plan of the mind. The activities of living beings are all centered by the thoughts of the mind. Life rolls on.

Living calls for actions of the mind where as the Atma(n) is devoid of thoughts and actions. It becomes crystal clear that life or living has no focus over Atma(n). In other words the life or living entirely rests with the mind which thinks and enable actions to follow for carrying on life. Atma(n) is not the mind nor in it.

Atma(n) is the true self of an individual beyond identification. a human being should acquire knowledge about the self  (atma jnana ) to realize that one's  true self is identical with the transcendent self Brahman. It can be argued that if atman is Brahman in a pot (body), then one need to break the pot to fully realize the unity of atma(n) with the brahman.

To explain further, atma(n) consists of 5 sheaths, consisting of the essence of food (annamaya kosha), the vital breath (pranamaya kosha), the will (manomaya kosha), the intellect (vigyanamaya kosha) and the bliss 9anandamaya kosha).

In the words of Paramacharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, Atma stands as different from the mind.

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What do we understand from the word ' SWAMI '

P.Natarajan.

                            

When a question 'Where Swami Exists' or 'What meaning the expression Swami conveys'  is thrown open, we may have to ponder for a while for an answer.

Swami exists in Vaikunta. He lives in our 'hirudaya or heart'. He also lives in the Temple. That is why, we travel long distances to visit famous and sacred shrines as we believe they are the birth places of  Swami or connected with some notable 'sthalapuranams'. We get a relief that we have fulfilled the commitments made long ago by worshiping Swami in those places.

As Swami exists in the heart, may be the reason for calling him 'hirudayakamalavasa', we think of him by feeling his existence there and then do 'avahanam' in an idol or Murthy by means of a simple 'sankalpa'.

It is also believed that Swami exists in Kailash also as in Vaikunta - another name for Vaikunta is 'Paramapadam'. To quote Veda " Tat Vishno ;  Paramam  Padam ". Vaishnavites refer when a person dies that he ascends to Vaikunta.

A title is given to Swami as 'Purushothma' with reference to his place of living in Vaikunta. The meaning of Purushothama becomes clear when we split it as Purusha + Uthama. In Tamil Purushothaman gets the meaning as "PERUM + Al", that is "PERUMAL". 'Uth' in Uthama means in Tamil as 'Periyavar'. Uthamar is used as a qualifying term to refer a person as respectable or adorable. By fixing the prefix Purusha before Uthama, the resulting word is 'Purushothama' which symbolically refer to Narayana who is undoubtedly the 'Uthama-Purusha'.

The word swami has 'swam' in it. 'Swam' in Sanskrit means 'possession' or 'property'. Swami signifies the one who possesses. What or which property Swami owns? Jagat Guru Kanchi Kamakoti Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswati Sankaracharya Swamigal had explained that whenever we refer to our family deity, it means the deity who owns us or we who belong to him.

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