Wednesday, July 15, 2015

smitApurvABhiBhAShi

Hare Srinivasa !!!

In Ramayana when Dasharatha tells his citizens his decision to make SriRama the Yuvraja of Ayodhya; all of them in one voice hail the decision; they are overjoyed, jubiliant and ecstatic.

Dasharatha seeing their enthusiasm is both happy and sad; he thought they would say atleast once that ... Dasharatha please continue; seeing their eagerness in "getting rid of him" he asks them why are they so eager for SriRama.
Then the citizens apologize and say we have nothing against you O Dasharatha; but in our lifetime we want to be under SriRama's rule; atleast once we want to be called SriRama's subjects. In our eagerness we didn't even care about your feelings.

Then Dasharatha asks them; why are you so eager? what qualities does SriRama have? Then the citizens enumerate SriRama's qualities one by one.

Many people when reading these sacred texts just gloss over samvaada's or conversations like these and focus on the events. A true scholar however knows these conversations provide a huge huge wealth of information. Unless you know the nuances about these conversations + events you don't know even 1% of the text you think you know.

SriRama is maryada purushotamma; it is sadhana because it is SriRama guna chintane; bringing out SriRama's guna is huge sadhane and it is beneficial because it is a social lesson.
We will take each quality one by one and analyse it and bring it into practice.

First Guna that we shall take up is  - स्मितपूर्वाभिभाषी smitApurvABhiBhAShi

SriRama is purvABhiBhAShi means he is the first to talk; even if the other person shows no indication of talking; walking upto the person and striking a conversation.

Why is this such a great guna in the first place?

Let us take case by case basis
1. Person has forgotten

Let us assume the person has forgotten us; in this case we develop an ego I remember him how can he forget me and this slowly develops into distance.

purvABhiBhAShi - Go to the person; hey don't you remember we met last time. How are you doing?
This ice breaker will melt away barriers for sure :)

2. You have fought with a person

When you have had a fight with someone; the next you meet time your ego will come in the way of speaking to that person first. If both nurse the same feeling slowly distance will grow and grow.

Still purvABhiBhAShi - approach them and be first to speak to them. I have been on both sides i.e. been approached as well as approach proactively and I can personally vouch that this works wonders. This proactive approach will reduce the anger and tension to a good degree.

3. You talk to a person not immideately but after some time.

Even if you have had a hearty conversation; the fact that it was not immideate will still sting. Oh the person didn't want to talk to me initially but later on due to some pressure or realization they started talking to me.

Even a brief unintentional delay can cause misunderstanding. Therefore "purvABhiBhAShi" !!!

It is not just purvABhiBhAShi  it is "smitApurvABhiBhAShi" i.e. purvABhiBhAShi  with a smile.
It means no matter how you feel inside; you put up a smile and be proactive in approaching others.

When I look back all people who are popular and successful; all of have this trait of being very methodical in this aspect; greeting everyone they met with a warm welcome.

In softskills training you are taught to take control whether it is time management or project management. Unless you put yourself in charge and have that attitude to control; you will always be driven. You will always be in passive or reactive mode. Once you realize that you want to be in the drivers seat then you will get a grip on emotions; take the bull by the horns and take control.

Unless you are in control; you cannot even attempt this simple exercise. Because you have no control over what people will say or do to you. But you have full control on how you choose to react.

SriRama is maryada purushottam; imbibing even one character (no matter how limited) itself is huge sadhana. Keeping SriRama as adarsha and trying to emulate it is the very purpose of the avataara.

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For some people this aspect comes naturally for others they have to inculcate it. It is requires discipline, which takes even years to develop but if you put efforts, results are guaranteed. SriKrishna himself guarantees that one who practices again and again will get perfection.

असंशयं महाबाहो मनो दुर्निग्रहं चलम।
अभ्यासेन तु कौन्तेय वैरग्येण च गृह्यते ॥  BG 6.35

this is very popular shloka "aBhyAsena tu kaunteya ...."

अभ्यासयोगयुक्तेन चेतसा नान्यगामिना ।
परमं पुरुषं दिव्यं याति पार्थानुचिन्तयन ॥ BG 8.08
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Again do it as a Sadhane; keeping SriRama as adarsh. SriRama who is master of entire universe !!! SriRama who is eternal who is full of happiness and full of auspicious qualities !
Brahma, Rudra are posts; they keep changing but SriRama is eternal the one and only .. uniquest of the unique !!!

SriRama nama itself gnyanis are unable to elaborate the greatness. So fill your heart with a dazzling bright image of SriRama; mind contemplating on HIS auspicious attributes and lips chanting his name and bear witness yourself to the miracles that will unfold !!!

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One live example of entire community being "purvABhiBhAShi" is USA... everyone say hello to each other even to strangers; on the street, in the elevator. If they see someone in need they rush to their help. If they see a woman depressed they will immideately enquire her wellbeing and if she needs any help. Even in government offices; as soon as you step up to a counter; you will find a smiling assitant "Hi How are you doing? What can I do for you?"

India had this culture even better actually even about 50-60 years back; as we have got detached from Ramayana we have got detached from it's values. It is astonishing to see how far we have slipped in just 50-60 years.

I have not talked anything special; if your kid says that some kid didn't talk to me. First reaction of parent would be why did you not talk first?
But that is disorganized and just a random thought; Shastra gives proper framework and discipline to life.

Just one word has this much explaination and we have not even scratched the surface. Imagine the treasure house that Ramayana is.

Let us get back to our roots; Ramayana has so much valuable lessons to teach us;

JAI SRI RAM !!!!


GuruSarvabhouman Mantralya Prabhu Sri Sri 1008 Raghanvendra antargata Bedi Anjenaya antargata Sriman MoolaRamachandra supreeto varado bhavantu !!!!

BharatiRamanaMukhyaPrana antargata SriKrishnarpanamastu !!!

Learned readers should point out any mistakes for which I'm solely responsible.