Verse-2
Counting all the countable
One after another, when
Everything is reckoned and finished with
They disappear and continue
To exist in the seeing mind
In like manner, let this mind
Attain rest pulsationless in you.
(When all the known things have been counted and measured exhaustively the Knower or ‘Druk’ who is well aware that he is in the process, will remain still. Just as the entire universe thus subjected to counting and measuring confines within the Knower, as it were there must emerge a state in which the ego of the Knower disappears and a feeling of serenity arises)
The true nature of God is wisdom. Guru presents a philosophy which upholds the idea that such a wisdom encompasses the whole universe including myself who knows it thoroughly. The prayer in this verse seeks the experience of realization that God contains everything and there is nothing apart from God.
The Upanishads prescribes two ways of attaining the ‘Atma’ (The universal soul) after having made a scrutiny of the universe and in both all the objects is subjected to exhaustive examination.
1. Saprapanchaganana. The first is all inclusive approach which calls for a thorough examination of all the experiences in life. Thus the Knower finds out that the ultimate truth of everything is the same soul and then subsequently identifies himself with it. 2. Nishprapanchaganana. The second is the all exclusive approach by which after the examination of everything negates them (Neti, Neti). Thus a thorough study of all the external things susceptible to the senses one by one are made. Then through the method of elimination one comes to the realization that the Soul (word alone) is the truth. As a result the Knower ceases to exist.
Sree Sankaracharya calls this method of attaining spiritual gain through a thorough examination of the visible things so as to find out the true nature of Knower (‘Druk’) ‘Druk-Drisya Vivekam’.
Verse-3
Food and clothes and such other daily needs
Providing us ever with no lapse
You make our lives generously blessed
You alone are our sole master.
(O God, we have no other lord other than you who provide us with an unfailing supply of food, clothes and all other necessaries of life, thus making us happy and content.)
Man has two indispensable requirements in life. The first one is to be provided with an opportunity to enjoy and experience the all-round free nature of his soul. The other one is the provision for his physical
sustenance and nourishment. Neither of these can be sacrificed for the sake of the other. However enlightened a person may be if he is denied of food and clothing, his sense of well-being will be adversely affected.
It is stated in the Brahdaranyakopanishad that food without life and life without food are equally futile. ‘Living organisms take birth from food and are nourished by it. Food is the diet of living organisms
and consumes them too. Food gets its name from its two fold functions,’ so says Taithiriyopanishad. If a new dimension to this verse is given, a purely human dimension, Farmers and Laborers who produce food, clothing etc… may be regarded as Gods. From the perspective of the universal nature we can say that the earth has been given the ability to produce and man has been given the wisdom to help in the process. Man and nature are part and parcel of the same system.
The prayer of the followers of all religions carries a plea for food. This prayer of Guru makes a difference as it Gratefully salutes the food giver.
Verse-4
Like ocean, waves, wind and depth,
Are ourselves, maya, your glory and you
Let me inwardly have
Such an awareness of this scheme.
(We are like the sea; the waves resembles maya; the wind represents God’s greatness and the depth of the ocean stand for the inscrutable nature of God. May we be blessed by the Adwaitha thought generated there from)
The comparison between the Sea and the Waves, most suited for Vedanta Philosophy. Here the Sea, the Waves, the Depth and the Wind depicted as a homogenous unit. It helps bring out principle of the abiding unity of individual and the universe. Here the Waves are parallel to Maya through which the world including the individual appears, and the Sea represents the universe. The wisdom that there is nothing other than oneself causes the concept ‘We’. The divisive thought created by Maya is as individualistic as the Wave. All these tend to produce a way of thought rooted in ‘I’, instead of ‘We’. There is a fundamental truth equally applicable to the individual and the universe: That is the Depth. From all these we can safely conclude that God is like the Depth and it is present everywhere and in everything in an inextricable manner.
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Don’t believe that there is cast division
-Sree Narayana Guru
The belief that there are high castes and low castes is a myth cooked up by the selfish. Never admit it. Do not succumb to it in thought word or deed.
The reasons are: 1. it is sheer foolishness to think as real what is in fact, unreal.
2. The thought that there are high castes impedes the freedom of the soul, curtails progress and makes life miserly and futile. The feeling that there are low castes generates arrogance and veingloriousness and degenerate life to a dismal point.
Sree Narayana Guru Vaikhari.
-Dr. T. Bhaskaran.
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