Tribute to the mother of muses

Courtesy: Sri.KV.Ananthanarayanan

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*मेधा देवी जुषमाणा न आगाद्विश्वाची भद्रा सुमनस्यमाना **I*
*त्वया जुष्टा जुषमाणा दुरुक्तान्बृहद्वदेम विदथे सुवीराः **II*
*महानारयणोपनिषत्** **४१** **१*
*medhā devī juṣamāṇā na āgādviśvācī bhadrā sumanasyamānā*
*tvayā juṣṭā juṣamāṇā duruktānbṛhadvadema vidathe suvīrāḥ*
*mahānārayaṇopaniṣat 41 1*

*മേധാ ദേവി ജുഷമാണാ ന ആഗാദ്‌ വിശ്വാചി ഭദ്രാ സുമനസ്യമാനാ*
*ത്വയാ ജുഷ്ടാ ജുഷ്ടമാണാ ദുരുക്താന്ബ്രുഹദ്വദേമ വിദധെ സുവീരാ**:*
*മഹാനാരായനോപനിഷത്*

*May the all embracing goddess of intellect who is always showering benefits
on us, who is always pleased with us and who is delighted by us her
children, be with us. Oh Goddess of muse and supreme intellect, may we the
silly humans who spend our days recklessly in worthless talk till you visit
us and kindle our intellect, as a result of your affection and compassion to
us which is manifested by your visit to our mind, become enlightened and
also capable of expressing and sharing the Supreme Truth along with our
heroic sons and disciples.*

*This is a prayer every guru makes to the goddess of intellect to kindle his
intellect so that he is weaned away from meaningless harangue and is visited
with Supreme Wisdom... He wants to share the wisdom with his disciples and
sons. *
*The most important aspect we have to notice is that the learned guru is
well aware that his wisdom is flowing from the sweet grace of the Goddess of
Knowledge and that he will be worthy of only empty speech if the Goddess is
not in his company.*
*The vedas (this mantra will be found in rgveda and atharvaveda also) have
recognized the goddess, a woman, as the embodiment of all knowledge, even
though we worship Krishna , Dakshinaamoorthi and Sankara as the preceptors
of the world. The personification of Mother Gayatri as a woman is another
tribute to their lofty thoughts. The woman embodies the knowledge and the
man disseminates the knowledge through the blessing of that great mother.
The idea that prakruti the woman and purusha (male) the doer compliment each
other to turn the wheel of universe is delightfully acknowledged by our
ancestors. No male chauvinism.*
*For the preceptor his own son and his disciple are on equal footing. He
prays for the acquisition of knowledge so that he can impart the same to his
own sons and his disciples. The gurus eagerness to attain brilliant
disciples is also a glorious feature of our ancient traditions. Vide
taittareeyopanishad...**आमायन्तु ब्रह्मचारिणः स्वाहाः...*
*āmāyantu brahmacāriṇaḥ svāhāḥ .... etc.,*
*Finally one can notice with awe the complete lack of arrogance on the part
of the Guru... he simply attributes all that is great to the bounty of the
Goddess of Muse.*
*This manthra along with one more mantra following it is worshipfully
chanted like the Holy Gayatri by the devotees of Knowledge*
[my learned friends must forgive me if I have skirted the terse
interpretation of the greats like Sayana because a manthra from vedas (the
Mahanarayanopanishad is for all practical purposes a part of Yajurveda..) if
translated verbatim may carry little meaning to the non-pedantic readers of
our generation.. but the essence is not lost, I hope]

 

knr

--
If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.
Happy moments, praise God.
Difficult moments, seek God.
Quiet moments, worship God.
Painful moments, trust God.

  Every moment, thank God