Sree
Narayana Guru Series - 1
In last US Presidential
election, a twelve paged book, circulated in all prominent states had an
unusual title – “The Wit & Wisdom of Donald Trump”. Well, if you open the
tiny book-like brochure, it had only blank pages inside! Absolutely blank, that
is!
The poll managers of Joe Biden
could have thought of some less expensive ideas to get across the fact. They
should have filled in the blank pages with quotes of great men like Abraham
Lincoln to promote responsible governance.
I’m compiling some gems here
from Sree Narayana Guru which you can devour one by one and contemplate over it
for a life-time. Prior to that let us get the basics right.
Sree Narayana Guru gave us the
roadmap to bring Vedanta home. He demystified it from the intellectual plane
and brought it down to ground zero. Spiritually and materiality cannot be
separated, he said. Both are interwoven
in such a way that one cannot differentiate between them. In fact, he deviates
from Adi Sankara on this count. Jagat Guru leaned on his brain mainly to
formulate the ‘Adwaita’ philosophy whereas Narayana Guru employed his heart
too. According to Sankara, ‘Jnana’ is
the only escape-route and the person who practices it shuns ‘karma’. In
contrast Narayana Guru upholds karma.
The senior Guru, Adi Sankara
discounts the physical world. He sees it as a manifestation of Maya which is
unreal. One should not give any importance to the illusionary. However, Narayana
Guru who came more than a millennium later urges us not to run away from the
realities of daily life.
അല്ലെങ്കിലന്ത്യം വരെയും
കർമം ചെയ്തിങ്ങസ്സംഗനായ്
ഇരിക്കുകയല്ലാതി
ല്ലൊന്നും നരനു ചെയ്തീടാൻ
Go ahead and do your “pravirthi”
(karma) without any “aaru” (fastener). Till the end.
He further says one should be
free while doing karma. The obstacle to freedom is fear. It originates from
“the other”, the entity which is separate from you. One becomes two. The
root-cause of fear stems from duality. If one cuts across this double vision
everything becomes one. Fear gets dissolved.
Now, the ground is cleared for
doing karma. Guru gives an important
guide line here.
അവനവനാത്മ സുഖത്തിന്നാചരിക്കു -
ന്നവയപരന്നു സുഖത്തിനായ് വരേണം
This is the secret of
happiness. Anything sought for private enjoyment should ultimately lead to
enjoyment for others. That which makes me happy should make others happy as
well.
It should be a win-win
situation always.
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