Yaksha Prashnam Questions 21-24

Continued From:  http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/02/yaksha-prashnam-question-5.html

“When will everyone be happy to see someone or something fall down? Which item is best when buried? What property must a person definitely possess to grow and become successful? Which when it takes birth makes human beings very happy?”

When will everyone be happy to see someone or something fall down?

Yudhishtirar answered that everyone is happy to see rain waters fall down. Rain makes the land on which it falls prosperous. Nammazhwar used to be very happy to see rain as it reminded him of Perumal’s compassion. Lord Vishnu is compared to a cloud which rains “karuna kataksham” compassionate blessings upon His devotees.

In the above Thirupavai Pasuram, Andal Nachiar prays for rain to make Thiruvayarpadi prosperous. The above pasuram also compares and Acharyan to a rain bearing cloud. Like the rain waters which come from the clouds, an Acharyan causes rain of wisdom and truth about Perumal to fall on us. This rain gives us the wealth of attaining the Lord’s divine feet.

Which item is best when buried?

To the second question in this series Yudhishtirar answered that a seed is the best among things which are buried. If we take the example of a mango fruit, there is one seed in a mango but when that seed is buried we get infinity number of mango fruits. This answer also means that we must not bury other things which do not yield us benefit when buried. To illustrate this point the following story is narrated.

A master had three servants. The master planned to leave on a long vacation. Before leaving he gave money to each of his three servants. The first servant spent the amount wining and dining. The second servant invested the money and lived off of the interest. The third servant buried the money in his back yard. After the master returned home he enquired his servants on how they had spent the money. He was happy that the first servant had at least enjoyed the money and that the second servant had invested it wisely. He was very unhappy to learn that the third servant had buried it as the buried money was of no use to anyone. He asked the servant to dig up the money but unfortunately the servant had forgotten the location where the money was buried. Thus the money was lost forever.

The answer also warns us about keeping secrets especially if the secret would reap benefit on the general public. Only spiritual secrets should be guarded and passed on to the right person.

The esoteric meaning of Yudhishtirar’s answer refers to the Lord as “seed”.

In the above Thirupavai pasuram, Andal Nachiar refers to Perumal as “Vithu” i.e. “seed”. She says that bury “vithu” in your hearts. The pasuram tells us to bury the thoughts about the Lord in our mind and to meditate upon Him.

The third question asked by the Yakshan was, ‘What property must a person definitely possess to grow and become successful?’ To this Yudhishtirar answered that anyone who has a cow will always remain wealthy.  Nammazhwar sang, ‘marapinnai nam vendum maadu’.

Yudhishtirar said that by establishing ‘gavaha’ a person remains wealthy. The word ‘gavaha’ is derived from ‘go’ in Sanskrit. ‘Go’ is a homonym for cow as well as good words. If we take the answer to mean ‘cow’ we can easily see that anyone who owns a cow will be prosperous. A cow gives milk from which other dairy products like butter can be obtained. The excess of dairy products could be sold to obtain other things. The cow dung is a good fuel source. Thus a cow is a very valuable commodity. If we examine Yudhishtirar’s answer to mean ‘good words’ then, Yudhishtirar instructs us to always speak the truth.  We should refrain from gossiping and passing slanderous remarks.

The esoteric meaning of this answer is as shown below.

To reach Moksham one must follow the words of an Acharyan. Even if an Acharyan made a passing remark it must be accepted by the disciple. The following anecdote from the Sri Vaishnava Guru Paramparai illustrates this.

Sri Nathamuni used to say the following words to his disciples.

‘Kulapadiyil mazhai peithal kuruvi kudithu pom

Veeranathil mazhai peithal nadellam vilayum’.

The meaning of the above verse is, ‘ If it rains in the impression made on the ground by horse shoe only a sparrow can quench its thirst but if it rains in Lake Veeranam, the entire country will flourish.”

The disciples did not understand the purport of the above verse but they guarded the saying carefully and passed it on to their disciples. Nathamuni’s disciple Uyyakondar memorized the verse and passed it to his disciple Manakal Nambi who in turn passed it to Alavandar. Peria Nambi learnt the verse from Alavandar and he taught it to Swami Ramanujar. Swami Ramanujar felt that the verse must have a deeper meaning. He decided to visit Lake Veeranam. He found that there were 74 canals which feed the surrounding fields with water from the lake. Hence, if it rained in the Veeranam catchment area all the surrounding area was fed by the rain waters making the region prosperous. Swami Ramanujar immediately understood that he must spread the Sri Vaishnava Sampradayam in such a way that maximum number of people is benefitted. He established 74 Simhasanadhipadis to spread the teachings of his Acharyans.

The meaning can also be interpreted as follows. By protecting cows we can obtain the wealth of Lord Vishnu’s grace. The Lord always goes after cows. Nammazhwar in his pasuram sings, “komalavan kannai pulgi Govindan meitha na ennu Pomila nagathin pin poi avan kiddaka idu enum”.

The Azhwar in the above pasuram says that he hugs calves because they remind him of the calves reared by the Lord as Lord Krishna. If the Azhwar spots a snake, he hugs the snake because it reminds him of AdiSesha the snake bed of Lord Vishnu.

We must be absorbed in thought about the Lord like Nammazhwar. We must protect cows as a quick way to please the Lord and obtain His Supreme Grace.

The last question asked by the Yakshan in this series was, ‘which when it takes birth makes human beings very happy? Yudhishtirar answered that human beings are happy when a child is born to them. He used the word “puthram” to answer the Yakshan’s question. “Puthram “means “child” and does not refer to male children alone.

Once, a man’s father passed away. His mother asked him to perform the last Vedic rites. The son refused stating that he had to go back to work. He declared that his father had done nothing for him. His father had not even started a trust account for him. The son did not feel obligated to do the last rites for his father. At work one of his colleagues offered him sweets. The colleague looked extremely happy as he had just become a father. The son immediately left work and went home to perform the last rites for his father. He thought that even if his father had not saved any funds for him, he must have felt as happy as his colleague when he (son) had been born.

Continued On: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/02/yaksha-prashnam-question-7.html

*****************************************************************************************

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.