21MAHARUDRAM 2012

Sri Rudram Sri Ananth Krishnan

vedas form the foundation of our hindu reliGion and root of our hindu culture. KnowledGe and wisdom are en-shrined in vedas. vedas are: 1) anadI, i.e. without a beGin-

ning in terms of time; 2) apouruSheya, i�e� no human au-thorship; and 3) root of all creation� The Vedas constitute both the essential and sustaining knowledge, as vital as the breath of life� Our AcharyAs have also been encourag-ing us to ensure that Veda mantras are propagated and sustained over generations�

With this in mind, Sringeri Acharya Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati Swamigal described perseverance in prayers to God as a panacea to counteract the ill effects in one’s life [excerpted from the book on His Golden Words]� These ill effects manifest themselves as obstacles caused by ones’ past and present actions (“karma”)� Thus, to overcome these obstacles that one faces in life, we consistently seek the blessings of the Lord by repeatedly reciting (perse-vere) His mantras� Sri Rudram is such a mantra and as the name implies it mitigates the obstacles one faces� These obstacles can be material, physical or spiritual� The word Rudram is derived from “ru” - to sound, “rud” - to shed tears as caused by obstacles in one’s life, and “dru” to flow - rum dravayati iti rudraH� If one understands the oneness with God, then that individual is responsible for all his actions and consequently also his bad actions� God as a chastiser corrects the person - that is symbolically represented by Him making us “cry”� Also, Rudram etymologically has sev-eral meanings - it is interpreted as: one who removes all sins and melts in compassion; one who leads us to self-knowledge, one who removes all the miseries as caused by the obstacles of Samsara leading us towards liberation etc�

In Yajur Veda, Sri Rudram is considered as the most impor-tant, as it is right in the middle of the Veda like the core of a fruit - it appears in the fourth KAnDa within the seven KAnDas of Yajur Veda Samhita� In the “heart “(center) of Sri Rudram is the powerful mantra known as “panchAkShari” - the core essence describing the eternal truth in Godhood (“paramAtma swarUpam”)�

vidyAni shRutirutkriShTa rudraikAdashini shRutau, tatra pan-

chaakShari tasyam siva ityakShara divyam - “Among the sources of learning, the Vedas are supreme; in the Vedas Sri Rudram is supreme; in the Sri Rudram “PanchAkshari” (five letters) mantra “namashivAya” is supreme; in the pan-chAkShari mantra the two letters “shiva” is supreme”� Be-cause of this Sri Rudram is used in daily prayers and spe-cial religious functions (pUjAs and homas)� If nothing else it should be recited as often as you can (possible daily) and is given a special place by our learned Seers�

swashAkhaopanishad gItA vishNornAma sahasrakam, ru-dram cha pourusham sUktam nityam Avartayet bhudaH - “One should repeatedly recite the Upanishads from one’s own Veda shAkha, gItA, viShNu sahasranAmam, Sri Rudram and purSha sUktam”.

Sri Rudram is also called “rudropaniShad” and “shatarudrI-yam”� It is considered as one of the primary instruments for attaining “ - liberation from this mundane cycle of births and deaths - samsAra and hence touted as an upaniShad� Because Sri Rudra appears in hundreds of places and in hundreds of forms within “yajur veda shAKa”, it is also called shatarudrIyam� Each mantra is replete with deep spiritual significance and is a great help for meditation� Be-cause of the mental and spiritual significance our ancient Acharyas - Adi Shankara, Bhatta Bhaskara, Vishnu Suri, to name a few - have written elaborate commentaries on Sri Rudram� It is also said that all the Gods are pleased when one recites Sri Rudram and several repetitions will tanta-mount to a prAyaschittam -penance against various sins committed by us� vRukShasya mUlasekena hakhaha pushy-anthi vai sadA, shiva rudrajapat prIta, prIta evasya devataH “Just like watering the roots of a tree helps the growth of the branches (of the tree), (similarly) praying to Sri Rudra pleases all Gods”�sarvopaniShadam sAraH rudrAdhyayaH-“Sri Rudram contains the essential meanings of all upani-Shads”�

All things in this world, that one visualizes, are nothing but a manifestation of His majestic form (“rUpam”)� Sri Ru-dra (shiva - the Auspicious One) appears in various forms, shapes, and poses within Sri Rudram - to cite a few: as a runner, sleeping, awake, as an old person, as a young per-

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Sri Rudram

MAHARUDRAM 2012

son, as a tree, as grass, as a thief, as a tall person, as a dwarf etc� etc�; nay, all things in the world are nothing but his various representations�

Veda mantras are to be understood properly and the im-plied meaning is more important than the literary mean-ing� The recitation of Sri Rudram, while understanding its meaning and significance, leads one to experience Ish-wara bhAvam “to perceive God in everything and in every-one”� The Veda mantras have to be recited with the proper phonetic intonations - swarams� It is shown by our seers that with proper intonations, the sounds synchronize and tune up with the body’s nervous system to the benefit of the physical, mental and intellectual aspirations of the devotee� Several scriptures expound these benefits of Sri Rudram and shatarudrIyam� yaha shatarudriyamatEte saH) Atma pUta bhavati, brahmahatya pUta bhavati ���(Kaivalyo-panishad) - “By performing shatarudrIyam one gets rid of all the sins”� tannamaH ityuapsIta, namyantehsmai kAmAH –(bhrigu valli, taittirya upanishad) – “Whatever one wishes, these wishes are fulfilled (by repetition of Sri Rudram”�

This Vedic homage to Sri Rudra (Sri shiva) through recita-tion of Sri Rudram, is remarkable not only for it’s phonetic grandeur but also for its universality of approach to the Divine� Sri Rudra to whom these prayers are addressed is the Supreme Being who is omnipresent -AmIevatkebyaha and manifests himself in myriads of forms for the diverse spiritual aspirants� Sri Rudram is also known as “namakam” because of the mantras carry the word “namaH” or “namo namaH” appear in front of them (- appears 183 times in the Sri Rudram text)� The word “namaha” construes a total surrender to the Lord and thus saluting the Lord with the obeisance “namaH” fulfills all of one’s aspirations� Sri Ru-dram is followed by chamakam and is so referred because of the appearance of the words “cha me” (and for me)� The namakam and chamakam are recited together to accrue various benefits and go by the name “rudra adhyAya”� sar-vadA sakRutva japed anena gjnyAnamapnoti–( Kaivalyo-panishad) - “reciting this constantly one always attains the enlightment”�

Having thus expounded the benefits of Sri Rudram , we can now revert to Acharya’s advice on repetition and per-severance� As Lord Krishna describes in Srimad bhagavad gItA, if one performs continuous and unattached “Karma” it

leads to “Jnyana”� Similarly, if one perceives recitation of Sri Rudram as “Karma”, the process of repetition of the same leads to “Jnana” - thus repetition of Sri Rudram helps one to improve the mental alacrity towards ‘Atma vichAram” (in-quiry of the Self )� To ease the question of how many rep-etitions, the “sUtrakAras” (sages who standardize the way the mantras are to be recited) such as bodhAyana, Apast-hamba, and others have prescribed a five-fold methodol-ogy or path called panchAnga rudrIya for the performance of “japa, homa and archana”� They are called (1) rUpam, (2) Ekadasha rudram, (3) rudrIyam, (4) mahArudram and (5) athi rudram� The recitation of Sri Rudram and Chamakam together once is called “rupam” (or “swarupam” - shape) of “Sri Rudra adhyAya” (Reading Sri Rudram)� The recitation of Sri Rudram with one “anuvAkam (paragraph)” of chamak-am, and thus repeating eleven times to correspond to the eleven “anuvAkas” of the chamakam is called “rudra EkA-dashini” or “EkAdasha rudram”� Repeating this eleven times is called ‘”laghu rudram” or “rudrIyam”� Eleven times of this is “maha rudram” and eleven times the last one is called “ati rudram”�

NameNumber of Repetitions of Sri Rudram

Sri Rudra rUpam Once

EkAdasha rudram Eleven Times

laghu rudram 121 Times

mahA rudram 1331 Times

ati rudram 14641 Times

In writing this article I have borrowed unabashedly from the teachings and sayings of our Gurus and Acharyas� Therefore I claim no original authorship to this article - ex-cept where there are omissions and errors they are entirely mine - and I dedicate this to the lotus feet of our Acharyas� Finally, the essential message of the Vedas is to remind the human beings of their divinity and help them realize their true nature� With that in mind let us participate in this wonderful event (Maha Rudram) and seek the blessings of the Lord�

vedaischa sarvaiH ahameva vedyaH - “i am known through all the vedas” says Krishna in bhagavad gita.

23MAHARUDRAM 2012

Chamakam: desires for Fulfillment in LifeDr. M. G. Prasad (www.taranga.us)

introduction

Many of us ask questions like, what is the driving force of human beings; what is the purpose or objective of human life etc� Our scriptures say that it is the desires that drive the lives of human beings; the objective of human beings is to achieve happiness� So the driving desire culminating in happiness becomes the means and the objective of the life in human beings� Here the words ‘desire’ and ‘happi-ness’ are used in the widest application of their meanings encompassing both the material and spiritual aspects of life�

It is to be noted that a human being is an integration of body, mind and spirit� It is to be expected that different people have different types of desires and also differ in their concept of happiness� Vedic scriptures advise that happiness at physical, mental and spiritual levels have to be in harmony with in each person� The happiness derived (through fulfillment of desires) at the body and mind lev-els (‘material’ level) is transient happiness, whereas the happiness or bliss at the spiritual level is eternal in nature� So, one must manage his material desires tuned to seek advancement towards eternal bliss rather than being con-tent with short term pleasures�

the Fourfold objective of Life

The Vedas and Vedic literature clearly provide vision and guidance for a human being to manage his desires through the fourfold objective that are interdependent called pu-ruShArtha – goals to pursue� The sages of sanatana dharma enumerate purushArtha as consisting of these four objec-tives, namely dharma, artha, kAma and mokSha� dharma is the principle that holds us all together, and practice of which protects us here and hereafter� artha is the earning of material wealth� kAma is the pursuit of desires ranging from basic needs to material abundance� mokSha is free-dom from the bondage of life� Yogi-Seer Sriranga Sadguru says ”the order of enumeration of four objectives of life, - dharma, artha, kAma and mokSha is proper and should not be interchanged� This is because artha and kAma should be pursued within the bounds of dharma and mokSha”� Thus leading our lives by pursuing purushArtha ensures

both worldly happiness (short term happiness) and ulti-mately spiritual Bliss (eternal happiness)�

It is to be noted that when a desire is within the confines of dharma as an element of purushArtha, then that desire could form the building block towards eternal happiness� Lord Krishna says in bhagavad gIitA that, “In all beings, I am the desire that does not confront the dharma” (7-11)� Whereas, when a desire does not follow dharma in the pur-suit of short term body/mind happiness, then that desire becomes adhArmic – towards the path of regression.�� The chain of emotions –desire (kAma), anger (krodha), greed ( lobha), delusion (moha), arrogance (mada) and jealousy (mAtsarya) – leading to the destruction of the individual is documented in the bhagavad gItA (2-62,63)� Thus it is to be noted that a person experiencing any of five states of mind namely anger, greed, delusion, arrogance and jeal-ousy, is due to the pursuit of this adharmic desire�

Thus given that human life is driven by various desires, one is faced with the question of what desires to pursue for ful-fillment in life� Fortunately, Chamakam (TaittirIya Samhita) provides a long list of coveted desires, the pursuit of which can advance one towards mokSha through the pursuit of purushArtha.

Chamakam

Chamakam comprises the Veda mantras traditionally chanted after Namakam� Namakam and Chamakam to-gether are generally referred as Sri Rudram, Sri RudrAdhy-Aya, ShatarudrIya or RudropaniShat� Namakam is the fifth and Chamakam is the seventh chapter of the fourth book of TaittirIya (Samhita) rescension of Krishna Yajur Veda� Na-makam and Chamakam get their names because the word ‘NamaH’ (salutation) repeats 183 times and the words ‘Cha me’ (and to me) repeat 358 times respectively� Chamakam - its pArAyaNa and / or usage in worship bestows on the devotee, the various material needs and inner virtues that he seeks in the life’s journey through the practices of dhar-ma, artha and kAma towards moksha (fulfillment in life) �

There are two available commentaries on Chamkam - by sAyana and vishNusUri� The commentary by sAyana

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Chamakam: Desires for Fulfillment in Life

MAHARUDRAM 2012

emphasizes the approach of karma kanda (for carrying out Yajnya), whereas the commentary by vishNusUri emphasizes the approach of jnyAna (spiritual practice)� It is important to note that both the karma (ritualistic) and jnyAna (spiritual) approaches are like two sides of a coin – karma is a pre-requisite for jnyAna� Towards the end of a homa ritual, the Chamakam is chanted in its entirety during the VasordhAra� – causing a continuous stream of clarified butter to flow into the sacred fire through a long wooden ladle made of special wood (Oudumbara).

Chamakam provides a detailed list of needs that a devotee desires or asks for, both for worldly living and spiritual ful-fillment� It is generally observed that one would not know what things to seek or pray, which would bring long term happiness in physical, mental and spiritual domains� It is for this reason, it is said that the Vedas are like mother (Ve-damAta) who bestows impartially what is truly good for us for both worldly and spiritual happiness� A brief over-view of the 11 anuvakAs (paragraphs) of Chamkam is given below with references to the first few words of respective

anuvakAs:

A detailed study of Chamakam reveals that the hundreds of things listed are legitimate desires for a spiritual aspi-rant� It is interesting to note that some things listed in Cha-makam are simple, yet rarely prayed for by the devotees� Some examples of such simple yet very important desires are: May Lord Rudra grant me (1) pleasant and good mind, (2) truthful speech, (3) anger about my negative tenden-cies, (4) intellect to take right decisions (5) desires which are beneficial to me, (6) relatives who are in harmony with me (7) courage in times of difficulties (8) good bed (for good sleep), (9) a good morning associated with taking bath and sandhyAvandana (10) knowledge in Vedas and ShAstras and (11) knowledge of Brahman (Brahma Vidya)� The list of desires that are desirable to be prayed for, in-clude the seeking of final realization of the Supreme Be-ing� The devoted study and the contemplation along with the chanting of Namakam and Chamakam in the ritualistic homa will bestow on the devotee, the blessings of Lord Rudra who is Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient�

anuvAka # desires objects of desires included in the prayer1 36 Nourishment of Body and Mind to help in Divine worship (vAjash cha me…),2 38 Personality Development to motivate worship of Rudra (jyeShTham cha me,

Adhipatyam cha..)3 36 Materialistic and spiritual Happiness (Sam cha me, mayas cha…)4 38 Grains and food for himself and for worship (Urkcha me, soonruthaa cha..)5 31 Materials for Home construction and yajnya (ashmaa cha me mruththikaa

cha…)6 20 Vedic Deities, Supreme Being, the indweller in them (Agnischa me indras

cha…)7 29 Vessels for holding juices for sacrifice; denotes levels of Spiritual knowledge

(agumshus cha me raShmish cha…)8 22 Accessories to perform yajnya; individual Self merging in to Supreme Being

(idhmas cha me barhis cha…)9 21 Success – Fruits of yajnya including spiritual knowledge (agnis cha me ghar-

mash cha…)10 31 Merging of Faculties in him and Supreme Being - Bliss (garbhaash cha me vath-

saash cha…)11 41 A Benediction - odd and even number together signifies many faculties and

things in the universe (ekaa cha me thisrash cha…)

Concluding remarks

Even a brief study of Chamakam reveals that it describes the needs that a devotee seeks to nourish his body, mind

and the spirit resulting in his internal and external devel-opment spanning physical, mental and spiritual domains� Chamakam and Namakam articulate manifestations of

25MAHARUDRAM 2012

Guru Panchakam

Lord Rudra as the Omnipotent Supreme Being� The pur-pose of doing the yajnya such as EkAdaSha-rudra, mahA-rudra and atirudram is for material well-being and spiritual development of devotees through the worship of Lord Ru-dra as Supreme Being�

references

1. Sri Rudradhyaaya. Sri Sri Ranga Priya Swami, Arya Sam-skriti, Mysore, India , 1995

2. Sasvara Mahanyasadi Mantraaha, Vidwan Sheshachala Sharma, Sharada Vidya Pratishtana, Bangalore, India 2010

3. Sri. Rudram and Chamakam, T.R. Rajagopala Aiyar, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mubai, India 1991

4. Sri Rudram and Purusha suktam, Swami Amritananda, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, India, 1997

5. Laghunyasa, Sri Rudra Chamakam, Purusha Suktam, P.R. Ramachander, M B. Publishers, Chennai, India, 2006

Guru PanchakamShashank Davanagere

Poem in SanskritaÉÑÂ mÉÇcÉMüqÉç ||

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transliterationguru pamchakam ||

bhAratI-priyanandanamdakShiNAmnAya-nandivardhanam |abhinavavidyA-prANa-tIrthambhAratI-tIrthamASraye&ham ||

ravi-sahasra-tulya-prakASampUrNaSaSi-divyaprabhAvam |bhaktyAm Ipsita-pradambhAratI-tIrthamASraye&ham ||

tIrthaM SrIcharaNaprasAdamSatakoTi-janma-pApaharaNam |AdhyAtmahRtkamalavikAsambhAratI-tIrthamASraye&ham ||

tIraM gurusparSapavitramkShetraM SAradAchandramauLinilayam |SrIsannidAnaM bhaktannidhimbhAratI-tIrthamASraye&ham ||

(a)rthaM SAstrANAM bhodhakamjanmarAhitya-sAdhanam |sAkShAt SaMkara-deSikambhAratI-tIrthamASraye&ham ||

meaning

O bhaarathi’s beloved sonThe treasure of dakshinaamnaayam The prana teertham of Sri Abhinava Vidya Teertha MahaswamiO Bharati Teertha, You are my saviour!

Though Your prakasam is like a thousand sunsIt feels like the gentle moonlight of a full moon The granter of the desires of bhaktas,O Bharati Teertha, You are my saviour!

Teertham, given by You, is our prasadamIt removes the paapams of our koti janmasAnd makes the lotus of adhyatmam sprout in our heartsO Bharati Teertha, You are my saviour!

The banks (teeram) that You live has been made pavitram with Gurus SparsaThe place You live is the Nilayam of Sarada and ChandramouliSri Sannidhanam (His Holiness) You are the Nidhi (treasure) for us bhaktas

O Bharati Teertha, You are my saviour!

You teach the meanings of SastrasWhich helps us break this cycle of janmas You are verily the Adi ShankaraO Bharati Teertha, You are my saviour!