Courtesy: Sri.K.Muralidharan Iyengar
Dear All,
Greetings and Namaste. Tomorrow (Wed, 14-May-2014), Chitra Pournami, is a day of immense religious/spiritual significance typically two-fold. First, it is an important day for worshipping Lord Shiva. Second, it is an yearly day devoted to Chitra Gupta - who is said to assist Lord Yama and keep an account of all our deeds, good and bad - for seeking his benevolence in expunging our bad karmas and deeds and tilting the balance to the good.
Either way, it is an occasion to seek God's forgiveness for our sins. The attached prayer is a rare hymn titled Vyapohana Stavam which prayers for nullification of all our sins. From the brief Phalashruti one can understand this perhaps one of the most sacred and potent. It says that you can multiply all Punya you can accrue such as bathing in the holiest of waters, performing choicest Yajnas, make choicest Donations (danas), observing the choicest of Vrats (penances), etc - by crores of times. Do we need to elaborate any further?
Though it is predominantly a prayer on Lord Shiva, all forms of the Almighty are invoked in this long prayer - e.g. Nandi, Veerabhadra, Garuda, Lakshmi, Sarasvati, Ganga, Durga, Sapta Rishis, 12 Rashis, 27 Nakshatras, 7 Matru Ganas, etc. etc. - again underlining the basic tenet of Sanatana Dharma that the Almighty is one regardless of the plethora of forms - which are basically for our convenience based on our Gunas/leanings - and definitely not for dividing ourselves and wasting our lives in frivolous religious disputes on supposed superiority/inferiority of on over the other.
In Varaha Purana (considered a Vaishnavite Manual of Worship), Chapter 25, Verse 27, the Devas pray to Lord Rudra - nAryaNas tvaM jagatAM samudbhavas tathAbhavAneva caturmukho bhavAn | (Meaning : You are Narayana, the source of the universe, Similarly, you are the great Brahma )
In the same Varaha Purana, Chapter 70 (Rudra Gita), Lord Rudra declares as thus:
na tasmAt parato devo bhavitA na bhaviShyati | yo viShNuH sa svayaM brahma yo brahma.asau maheshvaraH || 26 ||
veda traye ca yaGYesmin paNDiteShveva nishcitaH | yo bhedaM kurute .asmAkaM trayANAM dvija-sattamaH|
sa pApakArI duShTAtmA durgatiM sampavApnuyAt || 27 ||
mAM viShNor vyatiriktaM ye brahmaNash ca dvijottama | bhajante pApa-karmANas te yAnti narakaM narAH || 40 ||
(Meaning : There is no God above Him (Narayana) in the past, present or future. He who is Vishnu is Brahma and he who is Brahma is Maheshvara too. Men who are learned in the three Vedas and adept in sacrifices have declared that he who draws a distinction among us three is sinful and wicked and faces downfall || 26-27 || Those who consider me (Rudra) as different from Vishnu or Brahma are driven to sinful deeds and reach hell || 40 ||).
In the next chapter 71, Lord Rudra continues :
yaGYesmin yadRRitaM havyaM mAmuddhishya maharShayaH | te trayo.api vayaM bhAgaM gRRihNImaH kavi sattamAH || 6 ||
nA.asmAkaM trividho vividho bhAvo varttate muni sattamAH | samyag dRRishaH prapshyanti viparIteShvanekashaH || 7 ||
(Meaning : O Learned Men! whatever is offered in the sacrifice for me, is shared by all the three of us. There is no diversity among us and discerning people do not find any such thing.)
The same message is given in Chapter 72 in verses 4, 14-16 by Lord Rudra that he is Vishnu and Brahma and the three gods are one. To cap it all, one must dwell deep into sayings of Lord Vishnu in Chapter 125 titled mAyAchakra. He declares that everything apparent in this universe is due to his mAya and He Himself appears so. For example, "people say that Garuda is the vehicle of Lord Vishnu, Really I become Garuda and bear myself. Different Gods are made to be pleased by the offering in sacrifices. Really it is I that please them by my mAyA ..."
Religious institutions and Mutts have a great role to play to educate people of our own scriptures and truths given in our scriptures without resorting to selective absorption and prejudices. If we have to divide ourselves and fight, why take false and non-prescribed routes? it will be easier to find thousands of reasons (including the shape of your nose - I don't like it, so I want to fight with you!!!) to fight, if that is what we want. At the end of the day, is being belligerent a Sattva guna? Is it not exactly orthogonal to what the religion is supposed to be and lead us to?
The following real-life incidence may be an eye-opener. This happened in the 1970s, if I remember correctly. A pan-Hindu organization endeavoured to bring the all the various mutts/faiths in Hinduism for a conference to find ways of mitigating the mass conversions that started occurring at that time in South India and uniting the various faiths facing different directions. When they invited the various mutts/heads, they were bewildered by the demands made by many of the mutt heads. Some demanded that they did not want to be seated next to so-and-so and some demanded that the height of their seats should be equal or more than the height of the seats of so-and-so, etc.
See the contrast - these very mutts are there to elevate the ordinary souls and show the path of righteousness. But they were preoccupied with the elevation of their chairs in "compare and despair" mode. Instead of they occupying a chair, the chair seems to have occupied them. Pathetic as well as frightening. If people whom we turn to for leading us in the right path are not incapable of doing so, where do we go to?
May We Pray to The Parabrahman, who takes all forms, to wipe out our sins and show/lead us to light! May We Use This Sacred Prayer to make a clean slate of our karma!
With pranams
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