Yaksha Prashnam Questions 5-8

Continued From: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/02/yaksha-prashnam-question-1.html’

The Yakshan asked the following set of questions. How can a person become Shrothriyan (learned)? How can a person attain that which is great? When and how can a person always have good company? How will a person become intelligent?

How can a person become Shrothriyan (learned)?

Yudhishtirar answered that by listening to an Acharyan teach the Vedic scriptures one can become learned.

How can a person attain that which is great?

Hard work makes a person reach that which is great. In Yudhishtirar’s answer, “tapas” refers to hard work. The word “tapas” is derived from “tapa alochanai”. It is also known as “lateral thinking” in English. It is not enough to just learn a subject; a person must also be able to apply the knowledge he/she has learnt in real life situations. A person must think about the required criteria and constraints before doing any task. A person must not mechanically perform tasks without thinking about it. The following anecdote explains Yudhishtirar’s answer.

In the year 1976 to 77 a state of emergency was declared in India. In the year 1978 a new government was formed under Prime Minister Moraji Desai and the country came out of emergency. During emergency all government offices were ordered to fill out a form stating that they comply with the rules of emergency. The government employees were mechanically filling out these forms without reading the forms. They continued to sign and file these forms up to the year 1979 even after the country had come out of emergency. They only stopped signing these forms when this was noticed by a new officer. This is an example of people performing a task without applying their mind. If they had applied their mind and had read the form they would have known that they need not sign these forms after the new government was formed in 1978. As they only performed their task mechanically like a ritual, they continued to file unnecessary paper work for over a year thus wasting time as well as money. People who perform tasks mechanically are people without tapas; they will never achieve that which is great.

When and how can a person always have good company?

A person with courage and determination always has good company.

How will a person become intelligent?

A person becomes intelligent by obtaining training from an experienced person. By “Vridha sevaya” Yudhishtirar did not mean an aged person; he meant an experienced individual. Any person trying to learn a new skill must be trained by a person who has experience.

In his book “Adventures in Two Worlds”, A.J. Cronin narrates his life experiences. A.J.Cronin was a physician and after graduating from medical school he worked under the guidance of a senior physician. Once the senior physician had to step out of the clinic and Cronin was left in charge. A woman rushed in with her child. The child was wheezing. Cronin noticed that the child was unable to breath and the child’s breathing sounded like a whistle. Cronin diagnosed that the child was suffering from pneumonia. To ease the child’s breathing, Cronin started to make preparations to perform tracheotomy. At this moment the senior physician walked in. The senior physician examined the child; he held the child upside down and slapped the child’s back. To everyone’s surprise a whistle fell out of the child’s mouth. The child was not suffering from pneumonia but had only swallowed a whistle! When Cronin picked-up the whistle to dispose it in the garbage, his mentor told him to retain the whistle as a souvenir so that every time Cronin looked at the whistle he could recall this event and learn from his mistake. Cronin studied hard in medical school but just the medical knowledge alone was not sufficient. He had to pick-up diagnostic skills from an experienced senior.

The following anecdote is an example of experience which cannot be obtained by just attending university.

Dr Rangachari (my ancestor) was once called in to treat a pregnant woman who had been gored by a bull. The baby’s finger was poking out of the hole in the mother’s stomach. It was still too early for the baby to be delivered and the proper procedure was to sew the hole in the mother’s stomach to allow the baby to develop further. The main concern was the baby’s finger which was poking out of the mother’s stomach. Other physicians could not figure out a way to push the finger back into the womb. Dr Rangachari purchased a cigarette. After lighting the cigarette, he touched the baby’s finger with it and immediately the baby pulled its finger inside allowing the doctor to close the wound. 

Esoteric Interpretation:

Yudhishtirar’s answers contain hidden esoteric meaning as well. They are as follows.

The Yakshan asked, ‘How can a person become Shrothriyan?’

Shrothriyan means both learned as well as liberated soul in Sanskrit. Yudhishtirar answered that by listening to the good teachings of an Acharyan, a person will become Shrothriyan. A person must first listen about the qualities of Bagawan. This is per the pasuram “Nee en sevi vazhiye pugundu..” of Sri Nammazhwar as well. Sri Nammazhwar asked Perumal to enter Azhwar’s mind through Azhwar’s ears. Only by listening about the divine past times of the Lord, we will be able to develop love for Him. Once we feel the divine love kindled in our hearts, we will perform the necessary things required to reach Him.

How can a person attain that which is great?

To the second part of the question, Yudhishtirar answered that by doing tapas a person can achieve that which is great. The word “Mahat” is used to represent “great” by the Yakshan. Here, Mahat refers to attaining Vishnu Padam. Tapas is working hard to follow even the hard to follow rules as prescribed by the Acharyan according to the Shastras.

Once a restaurant owner attended a discourse rendered by HH Srimadh Mukkur Azhagiya Singar (44^th Jeer). Jeer mentioned during the discourse that anyone who invites a person to consume food on Ekadashi will go to a special type of hell. The restaurant owner met with Jeer the following day and requested him to mark all the 24 Ekadashis on the calendar so that the restaurant could stay closed on Ekadashi.

Every single day a restaurant remains open is business for the owner. Ekadashis would also fall during different days of the week making it difficult for the owner to announce ahead of time the days when the restaurant would be closed. Despite these difficulties, the owner wished to follow the instructions of his Acharyan. This is an example of the “tapas” mentioned by Yudhishtirar to attain Moksham; i.e., working hard to follow even the hard to follow rules as prescribed by the Acharya according to the Shastras.

When and how can a person always have good company?

By listening about the past times of the Lord and by following the instructions prescribed by the Acharyan, a person develops strong belief that Lord Sriman Narayana is the only Supreme Being who can uplift the jeevatmas to Moksham. This belief gives courage and determination to a person seeking Moksham. The courage that the Lord is ready to save a jeevatma from all kinds of danger because of the strong belief in the Lord’s supremacy and capacity is the good company a person must seek.

How will a person become intelligent?

In the last question Yudhishtirar answered that a person becomes intelligent by working under the guidance of a person with experience. This can be taken as; a person remains steadfast in his devotion towards Lord Vishnu by performing service to other devotees of the Lord. It is very essential for a mumukshu (person seeking moksham) to serve his/her Acharyan.

Continued On: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/02/yaksha-prashnam-question-3.html

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Based on, Yaksha Prashnam - A discourse in Tamil by Sri U.Ve. Karunakaran Swamy
(Any errors or inconsistencies in the following series are due to the mistakes I made while taking notes. ) 

Copies of the CDs can be obtained from Sri Karunakaran Swami’s website http://www.nadadoor.org/ . This series is for the benefit of people who do not understand Tamil. Those of you who understand Tamil very well must definitely obtain a copy of Swami’s Upanyasam. You can do so by contacting Nadadoor.org. Swami also renders discourses in English but I am not sure if Yaksha Prashnam discourse is available in English.  The experience of listening to Swami’s upanyasams could never be obtained by reading the following series. I have done my best to take notes with due diligence. I apologize for any errors that I have made while writing this series.