Yaksha Prashnam Questions 1-4

 Continued From: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/02/yaksha-prashnam-introduction.html

The Yakshan bombarded Yudhishtirar with many tricky questions. In spite of being affected by tragedy, having lost his dear brothers all at once, Yudhishtirar stood firm with resolve and answered every single question asked by the Yakshan. The mental strength and courage of Yudhishtirar has to be appreciated and it is this strength which makes him the hero of Mahabharata.

The Yakshan asked the first 4 questions all at once.

Kin svidadithyam munnayathi? Ke cha tasyabhitascharaha? Kounamastham nayathi? Kasmincha prathitishtathi?

Who makes the Sun rise? Who keeps him company? Who causes him to set? In whom is he established and stands steady?

In Sanskrit there are many names for Sun. The Yakshan specifically used the name “Adithya” in the above question. The first four questions are trick questions with hidden meaning. Outwardly it looks like the Yakshan is questioning Yudhishtirar about the Sun but the hidden meaning is about the jeevatma. Yudhishtirar answered in such a way that the answer satisfies both the superficial meaning of the question as well as it provides the perfect answer to the hidden esoteric meaning.

Brahmadithya munnayathi. Devastasyaabhitascharaha. Dharmaschstham nayathi cha sathye cha prathitishtati.

Yudhishtirar answered that Brahmaditya munnayathi to the first question.

By using the sandhi rule the word Brahmaditya could be split as Brahma + Adithya or Brahmam + Adithya.

Brahma refers to the creator Lord Brahma; it can also refer to the Brahmin community.

Brahmam refers to our Supreme Lord Narayana as well as to the Vedas.

To examine the answers further we need to understand the origin of performing the Sandhya Vandhanam rite.

Once, the Asuras performed a penance meditating upon Lord Brahma. Pleased with their devotion Lord Brahma agreed to confer a boon on them. The Asuras sought the boon to continuously fight with the Sun.  Lord Brahma conferred this boon on them. The Asuras started to fight with the Sun and as the Sun had to defend himself, he couldn’t rise. As the activities in this world depend on the solar journey, the people requested Lord Brahma to help the world by making the Sun rise. Lord Brahma agreed to help them and asked the Brahmins to perform Sandhya Vandhanam rite. As part of this rite, the Brahmins have to chant the Gayathri Manthram and sprinkle few drops of water towards the path of the Sun. The water droplets fall on the Asuras making them very weak. The Asuras are pushed away from the Sun thus making the Sun rise without any delay. The Sandhya Vandhanam rite has to be performed again the next morning as the Asuras regain their power and come to fight with the Sun.

By using the first split Brahma + Adithya, we can derive the answer as; the Brahmin community makes the Sun rise by performing Sandhya Vandhanam.

From the second split Brahmam + Adithya, Lord Narayana makes the Sun to rise. All the heavenly bodies function properly out of fear of Para Brahmam. Brahmam in Sanskrit is neuter gender and hence can refer to the Vedas/ Gayathri Manthram as well. This brings us back to Sandhya Vandhanam.

Thus the complete answer is Para Brahmam makes the Sun rise through the Brahmin community when the Brahmins chant Gayathri Manthram while performing Sandhya Vandhanam.

This answer is true for places inhabited by the Brahmins but what happens to other places and countries where there are no Brahmin inhabitants? The Japanese never perform Sandhya Vandhanam but the rising Sun is first seen by them. Similarly the Europeans, Americans, Africans or Australians do not perform Sandhya Vandhanam but yet the Sun rises in all these places. How can we then justify the statement that it is the Brahmins who make the Sun rise?

Tarpanam is a ritual performed for a person’s deceased ancestors. The ritual aims at uplifting the departed souls to a good position. What would happen to the souls who do not have progeny on Earth to do this ritual? There are people belonging to other religions and communities; what would happen to their souls?

Each Brahmin performs the Tarpanam for the benefit of all souls. The manthram “Yesham napitha nabrahtha ananya gothrina…” is chanted for the benefit of every deceased person who does not have anyone on this Earth to perform this rite.

Like the Tarpanam rite, the Brahmins perform Sandhya Vandhanam for the sake of every community. They pray for the Sun to rise in all places including Japan, America, Europe or Australia. Thus even if the citizens of other countries do not perform any of the Vedic rites they are not affected since they are protected by the rites performed by the Brahmins.

Lord Narayana Himself regularly performs the Sandhya Vandhanam. Even if the Brahmins stop performing or do not perform the rite properly, the world is protected as our Lord performs the rite regularly for our benefit.

  So far we have only examined the answer provided by Yudhishtirar to the superficial meaning. The same answer “Brahmadhithya munnayathi” also answers the hidden esoteric question asked by Yakshan.

The word “Adityan” in Sanskrit refers to Sun, a horse as well as a jeevatma. Adityan means the “one who takes”. Sun is called Adityan because he draws up water by evaporating liquid water. A soul is called Adityan because the jeevatma takes many births.

Yudhishtirar’s answer, “Brahmadhithya munnayathi” in this context means that Paramatma helps us to rise by lifting us to a higher spiritual plane.

The Yakshan’s second question is, “who travels with Adityan?”

Yudhishtirar answered that the Devas accompany the Adityan in his travel. If we take Adityan to be the Sun then the Devas are as follows.

There are in total 12 Suns known as the 12 Adithyas one Adithya for every month.

The Sun is accompanied by 1 rishi every month. The rishi keeps the Sun company by chanting Vedas. There is also a Gandharva who plays music to entertain the Sun. The Sun’s chariot is drawn by 7 horses. A Yakshan travels with the Sun to control the horses. To protect the Sun, a Rakshasha (this Rakshasha is a good Rakshasha who works to protect the Sun from the other bad Rakshashas. The bad Rakshashas constantly fight with the Sun while the good Rakshasha protects the Sun. Not all Rakshashas are bad; Vibhishnazhwan is an example of a good Rakshasha) travels with the Sun. The Sun is also accompanied by a Naga. Apsaras entertain the Sun by dancing. Lord Vishnu has twelve forms. The Lord accompanies the Sun every month in one of His twelve forms. The months are also known by the names of the Lord which are Madhava, Govinda, Vishno, Madhusudhana, Trivikrama, Vamana, Sridhara, Hrishikesha, Padmanabha and Damodara.

When Yudhishtirar mentioned that the Devas accompany the Sun, he was referring to the rishi, Gandharva, Yakshan, Rakshasha, Naga, Apsara, and Lord Vishnu. The Devas accompanying the Sun are known as “Saptha Ganangal”. The Lord is the supreme Deva who gives strength to the Sun to carry out his duties. This is why during Tarpanam, manthrams are chanted to thank the Lord. Depending on the month in which the Tarpanam is performed, the name of the Lord’s form accompanying the Sun during that month is mentioned.

Esoterically, if we take Adityam to mean jeevatma, Yudhishtirar’s answer shows that our sense organs accompany us. The sense organs are called as Devas. We need them in our journey to attain the divine feet of our Lord. We need ears to listen to His story, tongue to chant His names, eyes to see His beautiful form, and so on. The sense-organs never leave us. They accompany us even after death in a micro form till we cross the Viraja River to reach Sri Vaikuntham.

Continued On: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/02/v-behaviorurldefaultvmlo.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.