Shri Rudram 1.2

[Anand Hudli]

    || AUM namo bhagavate rudrAya ||

 The Rishi of this mantra is Atreya, the devatA shaMbhu, and the meter
 anuShTubh.

 BhaTTa bhAskara gives the dhyAna shloka for this mantra as follows,
 by which one should meditate on the warrior form of Shiva.

 dhyAyeddevaM susmitaM syandanasthaM devyA sArdhaM tejasA
                                                      dIpyamAnam.h |

 ishhvishhvAsAlaMkR^itAbhyAM karAbhyAM shUrAkAraM stUyamAnaM
                                                           surAdyaiH |

 One should meditate on the warrior form of the God (Shiva) who
 bears a pleasant smile, who is blazing with brightness and is in a
 war-chariot along with the Goddess (devI), who  is adorned with a
 bow and arrow in two of His hands, and who is being extolled (by
 prayers) from the gods and others.



 yA ta ishhuH shivatamA shivaM babhUva te dhanuH |
 shivA sharavyA yA tava tayA no rudra mR^iDaya   ||

 (Krishna Yajur Veda, Rudram: anuvAka 1, Rik 2)

 yA - which
 te ishhuH - Your arrow
 shivatamA - most auspicious
 shivam.h - auspicious
 babhUva - has become or become (see Note 1 below)
 te - Your
 dhanuH - bow
 shivA - auspicious
 sharavyA - quiver (of arrows)
 yA - which
 tava - Your
 tayA - by that
 naH - us
 rudra - O Rudra
 mR^iDaya - make  happy

 Simple Sanskrit interpretation:

 he rudra! tava yA ishhuH sA shivatamA babhUva | tava yat.h dhanuH
 tat.h shivaM babhUva | tathA tava yA sharavyA sA shivA babhUva |
 taiH ishhvAdibhiH asmAn.h mR^iDaya |

 O Rudra! (By Your grace), Your arrow has become  most auspicious
 or bestows happiness. Your bow has become  auspicious.  Your
 quiver of arrows has become  auspicious. By these, the arrow,
 bow, and the quiver (which have turned auspicious and peaceful),
 do You make us happy.

 sAyaNAchAryabhAshhyam.h:

 he rudra te tvadIyA yeyamishhuH shivatamA shAntatamA babhUva |
 tathA te tvadIyaM yaddhanuH shivaM shAntaM babhUva | tathA yA cha
 tava sharavyA taveshhudhistayA shAnteshhvA tena cha shAntena dhanuShA
 tayA cha shAntayA sharavyA no.asmAnmR^iDaya sukhaya | bhakteshhu
 pravR^ittyabhAvAtteshhAM shAntatvam.h |

 O Rudra! Your arrow has become most peaceful/pacified. Also Your bow
 has become peaceful. And also Your quiver became peaceful. By that
 peaceful arrow, bow, and quiver make us happy. Since these are not
 engaged in (destroying) devotees, they have become peaceful (for
 us who are Your devotees).

 The devotee is  praying here for happiness from Rudra, after the
 withdrawal of the ferocious and destructive capacity His weapons.
 Having made salutations to Rudra's anger, arrow, bow, and His hands
 which hold the weapons, (1.1), the devotee now says these weapons
 have been rendered peaceful due to His grace. These weapons have now
 become like ornaments, in the presence of devotees. Additionally,
 they are a source of happiness for the devotees.

 Notes based on the commentary of BhaTTa BhAskara:

 1) According to the (PANini) sUtra "chhaMdasi luN^.hlaN^.hliTaH",
    the word "babhUva" which is perfect tense (liT.h) must be
    interpreted in this Vedic mantra as the present tense (or present
    perfect) tense. So "babhUva" here means "becomes" (bhavati) or
    "has become" (present perfect).

 2) he rudra taveshhuH shivatamA .atishayena bhaktAnAM sukhakarI |
    na kevalaM hastAlaMkAramAtrabhUtA babhUveti vaxyamANamanushha-
    jyate | bhavatItyarthaH |

   O Rudra! Your arrow gives the utmost joy to the devotees. It is
   not merely an ornament in Your hand. "babhUva" is added to mean
   this. It means "becomes."

 3) In the presence of devotees, these - the arrow, bow, and quiver -
    surely enhance the beauty of the Lord, but then, they are not
    merely ornaments. They are potent in themselves to bestow
    happiness to the devotees.


   || AUM namo bhagavate rudrAya ||

 Anand










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>From  Mon Aug 24 18:06:38 1998
Message-Id: <MON.24.AUG.1998.180638.0700.>
Date: Mon, 24 Aug 1998 18:06:38 -0700
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To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
        <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
From: Ram Chandran <chandran at TIDALWAVE.NET>
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Subject: Re: case for a nameless jeeva
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Gummuluru Murthy <gmurthy at morgan.ucs.mun.ca>

> ..............
> Thus, as I see it, this individuality, this pride we feel when we put
> our name to a document, is the biggest impediment in our quest for
> Self-realization. It is the root for this ahaMkAra vyAghra vyathitam.

Greetings Murthy Garu:

You have made some interesting observations and let me add some
additional comments.

A good starting point for our discussion is to understand the
distinction between Saguna and Nirguna Brahman within the framework of
Sankara's Advaita School. If we view Brahman through our sensory and
intellectual appearance, the original unity of the presentation is
broken into subject and object and we become conscious of Brahman with
attributes (Saguna Brahman). At this stage what we have is the
consciousness of the ABSOLUTE rather than the ABSOLUTE CONSCIOUSNESS. It
is the former consciousness which, while associated with the Jeeva is
tainted by egoism; it is this which carries the vaasanaas through
successive rebirths by virtue of its association with the Jeeva. The
consciousness of the Absolute is a witness to the three states of
consciouness, namely, waking, dreaming and sleeping.  It is no longer
pure spirit but spirit in association with insentient matter. The
difference between Saguna Brahman and Jeeva is only in respect of the
adjuncts. So far as the spiritual elment is concerned, there is no
difference between them. Whe we think of the limitations as a subjective
factor, it is called avidyaa or ignorance. When we think of thme as a
cosmic factor, it is cosmic ignorance, technically called Maaya. By
whatever name we call it, it does not affect Brahman in the least.

In conclusion, all that we discuss and delibrate are notions and all
such notions do not affect Brahman in the least!