GITA 10.22

GITA 10.22

TIRUNARAYANAPURAM TEMPLE

We are at Tirunarayanapuram, known in Srivaishnava sampradhaya as Gyana mandapam. Today's [27th August 2008] lecture is f rom the sannidhi of Sri Selva Narayana. The Lord here has many names -Sri Selvanarayana, Sri Tirunarayanan, Sri Ramapriya and Sri Chellapillai. Tall Raja gopuram welcomes us.

SRI THIRUNARAYANAN, Moolavar.

The Lord is gracing with the right hand in abhaya mudra and the left hand holding the mace. We can worship Sri Nachiyar seated between His feet. The Lord is enchanting in every respect and every organ of Him is attractive. Still, Nammalwar had a special liking for His Divine feet. Earlier it was told that Swami Ramanuja had dedicated the pasuram 4.1.1 of Tiruvaimozhi to the Lord here. In that pasuram, Nammalwar says that there could have been great emperors in this world. They all lived with great pride of their property and empire. But while life itself is like the water bubbles in rainwater, their so called properties also were very transient. Alwar says an emperor of the world once ruled. Once he lost his empire and wealth. To satisfy his hunger he used to go for begging, only in the night so that he would not be identified by others. In the darkness, such an emperor goes for begging with a begging mud bowl; and, he trips on a black dog, which bites him and he drops the bowl with the food in that. This is not the story of one king, but of all emperors and other rich people. Do we need this situation? Asks Alwar and advises that instead of wasting our efforts on amassing wealth, seek the Divine feet of the Lord and get redeemed. Without wasting or postponing, we should surrender unto the Lord.
 We saw the Moolavar was handed over to Sanathkumara by lord Brahma and was established here. Lord Brahma donated the Utsavar Sri Ramapriya [ஸ்ரீ ராம ப்ரியா], for daily pooja. We know that Lord Sri Rama was worshiping Sri Ranganatha in Ayodhya. After the Coronation, Sri Rama donated the Lord to Vibheeshana. After doing that Sri Rama did not have a Murthy [idol] of the Lord to perform pooja and so He again requested lord Brahma, who got the Utsavar of this Kshetram made and gave to Sri Rama. Since that Idol was worshipped by Sri Rama, He was called Sri Ramapriya. Sri Rama's sons, Lava and Kucha also worshipped. Kucha had a daughter Kanakamalini. She was married to King Yadusekhara. As is the custom, which is followed even now, this Idol of Sri Ramapriya was given as stree dhanam along with the bride. That King was performing daily pooja to Sri Ramapriya. The King was a Yadava and Sri Krishna and Sri Balarama also were born in that community. Once Sri Ramapriya was handed over to Sri Krishna and Sri Balarama. Once Sri Balarama came on a pilgrimage to this place and came to this temple, where only Moolavar was there. He thought that this Moolavar was resembling Sri Ramapriya, He was worshiping. On return, He informed this to Sri Krishna. Thereafter, they all decided to visit this place. carrying with them Sri Ramapriya. Here, Sri Krishna and Sri Balarama could connect the history of both Moolavar and Utsavar and realised that both had come from Satya lok and once They might have been together. They decided to donate Sri Ramapriya as the Utsavar for this temple and from that time both were here.

SRI RAMAPRIYA, Utsavar

Utsavar also is posing the same way as the Moolavar. Here also between His feet, Sri Thayar is seated.
 Now proceeding to Gita, Sri Krishna cites so many, as important manifestation of Him, in the slokas 21 to 39. Instead of telling all His wealth, the Lord lists a few He considered as more important. As told earlier the Lord describes Him and the 'property', grammatically, in the same case. Sloka 21:

adityanam aham vishnur
jyotisam ravir amsuman
maricir marutam asmi
nakshatranam aham sasi

"Of the Adityas I am Vishnu, of lights I am the radiant sun, of the Maruts I am Marici, and among the stars I am the moon."

He cites many groups. Adityana = among the Adityas, aham = I [Sri Krishna] am, vishnu = Vishnu. Kashyapa had two wives Dhiti and Adhiti. Adhiti gave birth to Tweleve Adityas, in which Vishnu was the youngest. This Vishnu should not be mistaken as Lord Vishnu. Each one of these Twelve Adityas, go round our Earth one month in a year. It starts in the month of Margazhi and ends in Karthigai. The Lord says to Arjuna that among the Adityas, He is the youngest and most important, Vishnu. Here, Sri Krishna mentions Himself [Aham] and Vishnu in the same nominative case. In both sarira-atman bhavam and karana-karya bhavem, both can be mentioned in the same nominative case, as in the example mud pot. Here, therefore, it means that He is the soul of Vishnu or He is the creator of Vishnu. In fact, all Adityas are the body of the Lord and all of them were created by the Lord. Jyotisam = among the luminous objects, ravi = the Sun, amsuman = with rays. We regard Sun as the most radiant among luminous objects, and the Lord says He is the Sun. Marutham = among the Maruths, marici = [the Lord is] Marichi. Dhiti and Adhti were the wives of Kashyapa. Dhitis children were all Asuras and so are called Dhaiteyas. Adhiti's children were Devas. When Dhiti was pregnant, Indra, the leader of Devas, wanted to destroy the child in her womb so that there would not be more Asuras. But in doing so, the foetus got split into Seven. Indra again tried to destroy all the Seven fetuses, but they became Seven times and 49 children were born to Dhiti. They are called Maruths, which literally mean air. Of the group of 49 Maruths, the Lord is Marichi. Nakshatranam = among Stars, sasi = Moon. According to Sanskrit grammar, the instrumental case [Sixth case] two relationships are possible. One is nirdharanesakti and the other is sambandha samanysakti. All previous objects were in the first relationship. But in this, that relationship can not be applied and we have to apply the second category. Among Adityas, the Lord is Vishnu, as Vishnu is also an Aditya. But Moon is not a star and is different. Here, Moon is the leader and stars are deputies. This relationship is to be considered here. Depending on the context we have to carefully apply these relationships. The Lord dwells in Moon as the atman, and the Lord is the Cause for Moon; so the Lord is Moon. All are His property or all are at His command. He is going to list more in the ensuing slokas. 

                                                                                       (continued)