Friday, September 01, 2017
Sri Dasbodh (1.8) सभा स्तवन
Sri Dasbodh (1.8) सभा स्तवन Praise unto Assemblies
It is not pertinent to reiterate importance of an assembly, at least to a city dweller. Education, politics, trade, religion, music and arts, sport etc require people coming together. However, it is more so in spiritual matters. An Assembly may be defined as a limited group of individuals coming together for a specific purpose at a pre-planned place and time.
This particular discourse from Sri Samartha deals with spiritual Assemblies that include keertan, discourses etc, which the audience keenly listen. Such an assembly consists of God-loving men and women ; those are contemplative and disciplined. They are not impatient while responding to the orator. It would be interesting to note that while listening, the audience gives weightage to faith rather than logic and therefore even if the orator does not speak anything new, the listener does not tire of it and listens intently. Such Assemblies heartily invoke benevolent emotions of love, friendship, compassion, fondness, forgiveness, co-operation, sympathy etc.
The audience benefits from such noble ambience, which is conducive to their spiritual progress.
Sri Samartha begins his discourse thus :-
1. I make obeisance unto all forms of Spiritual Assemblies . Such Assemblies make ‘deliverance’ quite easy. Lord Himself awaits there lovingly on His own.
2. (Sri Samartha refers to a stanza from the Padma Purana 6/94/25) thus-
“Naaham vassami vaikunthe yoginam hridaye ravou ! Madbhaktaa yatra gayanti tatra tishthami naarada !!
(The Lord says, “ O Narada ; I do not reside in heaven, heart of Yogies or the Sun; I keep waiting wherever My Devotees are singing !”)
I cannot be found in heaven nor in the conscience of Yogins; however, wherever My Devotees are singing praise unto the Lord, I keep standing there Narada !
3. Therefore Assembly should be regarded as great. Where devotees sing glories of the Lord, it is verily Heaven. Thunder of the Lord’s Name and cheers unto the Lord keep reverberating.
4. A spiritual assembly incessantly undertakes activities such as Singing the Lord’s Glories by loving devotees, Stories of the Lord , Hari-Keertan, Discourses and recitations of Mythologies.
5. In addition, the Lord is eulogised (extolled, praised); discussions take place over various aspects of spirituality along with question-answer sessions. Thus, many discriminations inherent in Atma-Jnyana are debated, leading to some brain-storming.
6. Good many misgivings are set right leading to making the person contented and happy. Wonderful speeches made there establish coveted deities into minds of the audience.
7. Sri Samartha now enumerates ‘list’ of members attending the Assembly. Those are – devotees, the affectionate, pious (devout), deeply knowledgeable, benevolent, charming and melodious singers, loyal.
8. The action-prone, righteous, charitable, religious, sacred, virtuous, compassionate having pure conscience,
9. Yogi, detached, indifferent, law-abiding, sense controlled, ascetics, selfless, usually jungle-dwellers,
10. Staff-holders (दंडधारी), matted-haired (जटाधारी), Naath-panthi (followers of the Naath sect), Vaishnava (devotees of Lord Vishnu) who smear foreheads with sandal paste, celibate since childhood, great Yogi,
11. Ascetics undertaking repetitive recitals (of Mantra or scriptures), permanent dwellers of pilgrim places, those having full control over mind, those detached from masses in spite of being in peoples,
12. Siddha (the ‘realised’), Sadhu, aspirants (Sadhak), those indulging in Mantra and Tantra, faithful worshippers, connoisseur
13. Saints, noble ones, erudite, Vedajnya (knowers of Veda), masters of Shastra, great souls, adults, omniscient , dispellers of doubts,
14. Yogi, erudite , great Sages, shrewd , logical, great poets, great Muni, nude,
15. Brahma-Jnyani, Atma-Jnyani, Tatva-Jnyani (philosophers), Pinda-Jnyani or Shareer-Jnyani (Anatomists ) ; Yogabhyasi (students of Yoga Shastra), Yoga-Jnyani , indifferent .
16. Pundit, Puranik, Vedic, Bhat, Yajurvedi Pathak.
17. Too good beings, Veda-Vid, Yajnic, Agnihotri, Vaidya (Doctors), Panchhakshari (fortune tellers), philanthropists,
18. The omniscient, egoless, much-heard-of, selfless.
19. Peace, Pardon, compassion embodied, holy, benevolent knowledgeable having pure conscience as if one is witnessing God Himself.
20. Thus, many best and capable persons are present in a spiritual assembly. Such Assemblies deliberate over the permanent and ephemeral all the time and its greatness is unique. It is impossible to describe that in detail.
21. Only the spiritually oriented persons attend such assembly. They are able to listen true spirituality, which naturally leads to their uplift.
22. Indeed, ever new Bliss of the Self can be experienced, where extremely courageous, benevolent, virtuous and god-loving people congregate.
23. Highly educated, talented, especially skilled and brimming with God’s love are present.
24. Similarly the action-prone as well as detached, the worldly, spiritual and house-holders, the recluse and sanyasi.
25. The young and old, children, men and women attend the assembly and contemplate upon God.
26. All those may be considered as loved by God. Their company grants instant contentment. I prostrate unto them.
I make repeated obeisance unto the assembly where incessant Keertan of the Lord as well as the Lord’s Name keeps reverberating .
27. Great people have exhorted emphatically through various scriptures that beings attain the best results where the Lord’s idol is continuously worshipped.
28. Keertan is supposed to be the best means in the present ‘Kali-Yuga’ and it is the greatest assembly where Keertan takes place. Listening to Lord’s stories and Keertan dispel all sorts of bad notions and doubts.
“Hari Om Tat Sat”
It is not pertinent to reiterate importance of an assembly, at least to a city dweller. Education, politics, trade, religion, music and arts, sport etc require people coming together. However, it is more so in spiritual matters. An Assembly may be defined as a limited group of individuals coming together for a specific purpose at a pre-planned place and time.
This particular discourse from Sri Samartha deals with spiritual Assemblies that include keertan, discourses etc, which the audience keenly listen. Such an assembly consists of God-loving men and women ; those are contemplative and disciplined. They are not impatient while responding to the orator. It would be interesting to note that while listening, the audience gives weightage to faith rather than logic and therefore even if the orator does not speak anything new, the listener does not tire of it and listens intently. Such Assemblies heartily invoke benevolent emotions of love, friendship, compassion, fondness, forgiveness, co-operation, sympathy etc.
The audience benefits from such noble ambience, which is conducive to their spiritual progress.
Sri Samartha begins his discourse thus :-
1. I make obeisance unto all forms of Spiritual Assemblies . Such Assemblies make ‘deliverance’ quite easy. Lord Himself awaits there lovingly on His own.
2. (Sri Samartha refers to a stanza from the Padma Purana 6/94/25) thus-
“Naaham vassami vaikunthe yoginam hridaye ravou ! Madbhaktaa yatra gayanti tatra tishthami naarada !!
(The Lord says, “ O Narada ; I do not reside in heaven, heart of Yogies or the Sun; I keep waiting wherever My Devotees are singing !”)
I cannot be found in heaven nor in the conscience of Yogins; however, wherever My Devotees are singing praise unto the Lord, I keep standing there Narada !
3. Therefore Assembly should be regarded as great. Where devotees sing glories of the Lord, it is verily Heaven. Thunder of the Lord’s Name and cheers unto the Lord keep reverberating.
4. A spiritual assembly incessantly undertakes activities such as Singing the Lord’s Glories by loving devotees, Stories of the Lord , Hari-Keertan, Discourses and recitations of Mythologies.
5. In addition, the Lord is eulogised (extolled, praised); discussions take place over various aspects of spirituality along with question-answer sessions. Thus, many discriminations inherent in Atma-Jnyana are debated, leading to some brain-storming.
6. Good many misgivings are set right leading to making the person contented and happy. Wonderful speeches made there establish coveted deities into minds of the audience.
7. Sri Samartha now enumerates ‘list’ of members attending the Assembly. Those are – devotees, the affectionate, pious (devout), deeply knowledgeable, benevolent, charming and melodious singers, loyal.
8. The action-prone, righteous, charitable, religious, sacred, virtuous, compassionate having pure conscience,
9. Yogi, detached, indifferent, law-abiding, sense controlled, ascetics, selfless, usually jungle-dwellers,
10. Staff-holders (दंडधारी), matted-haired (जटाधारी), Naath-panthi (followers of the Naath sect), Vaishnava (devotees of Lord Vishnu) who smear foreheads with sandal paste, celibate since childhood, great Yogi,
11. Ascetics undertaking repetitive recitals (of Mantra or scriptures), permanent dwellers of pilgrim places, those having full control over mind, those detached from masses in spite of being in peoples,
12. Siddha (the ‘realised’), Sadhu, aspirants (Sadhak), those indulging in Mantra and Tantra, faithful worshippers, connoisseur
13. Saints, noble ones, erudite, Vedajnya (knowers of Veda), masters of Shastra, great souls, adults, omniscient , dispellers of doubts,
14. Yogi, erudite , great Sages, shrewd , logical, great poets, great Muni, nude,
15. Brahma-Jnyani, Atma-Jnyani, Tatva-Jnyani (philosophers), Pinda-Jnyani or Shareer-Jnyani (Anatomists ) ; Yogabhyasi (students of Yoga Shastra), Yoga-Jnyani , indifferent .
16. Pundit, Puranik, Vedic, Bhat, Yajurvedi Pathak.
17. Too good beings, Veda-Vid, Yajnic, Agnihotri, Vaidya (Doctors), Panchhakshari (fortune tellers), philanthropists,
18. The omniscient, egoless, much-heard-of, selfless.
19. Peace, Pardon, compassion embodied, holy, benevolent knowledgeable having pure conscience as if one is witnessing God Himself.
20. Thus, many best and capable persons are present in a spiritual assembly. Such Assemblies deliberate over the permanent and ephemeral all the time and its greatness is unique. It is impossible to describe that in detail.
21. Only the spiritually oriented persons attend such assembly. They are able to listen true spirituality, which naturally leads to their uplift.
22. Indeed, ever new Bliss of the Self can be experienced, where extremely courageous, benevolent, virtuous and god-loving people congregate.
23. Highly educated, talented, especially skilled and brimming with God’s love are present.
24. Similarly the action-prone as well as detached, the worldly, spiritual and house-holders, the recluse and sanyasi.
25. The young and old, children, men and women attend the assembly and contemplate upon God.
26. All those may be considered as loved by God. Their company grants instant contentment. I prostrate unto them.
I make repeated obeisance unto the assembly where incessant Keertan of the Lord as well as the Lord’s Name keeps reverberating .
27. Great people have exhorted emphatically through various scriptures that beings attain the best results where the Lord’s idol is continuously worshipped.
28. Keertan is supposed to be the best means in the present ‘Kali-Yuga’ and it is the greatest assembly where Keertan takes place. Listening to Lord’s stories and Keertan dispel all sorts of bad notions and doubts.
“Hari Om Tat Sat”
