We can pray. We should pray. Will we pray?
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Sri:

Dear Devotees,
Beautiful and powerful message from Sri U. Ve. Velukkudi Krishnan Swami.

USA 2004 Visit: http://www.vedics.net/tours/vk2004tour/index.html
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Dear Bhaktas,

"SrI nidhim nidhim apAram arthinAm arthithArtha paridAna dIkshitam
sarva bhUta suhrdam dayAnidhim dEvarAjam adhirAjam AsrayE"

(Let my salutations be to Lord Devaraja whose unparalleled wealth
is Perundevi thayar, who Himself is the wealth of all the begging
jivatmas, who has resolved to grant all the needs of His bhaktas,
who is the well wisher of one and all and who is a treasure of
mercy.)

Swamy Koorathazhwan's invocatory verse of Sri Varadaraja stavam has
a lot to convey to us. It is all the more important in these days of
unrest. We need to pray together and individually for the safety and
well being of all our fellow citizens on Mother Earth. Srivaishnavism
and all the vedas accept that the whole universe is the divine body
of Sriman Narayana. All the residents of this earth, cutting across
countries, language, sex, community, caste , religion and above all
whether they are humans or flora or fauna, belong to one group -
Servants to the Lord. One attribute that is common to all of us is
SEshatva - absolute unconditional servitude to our Lord. This
jivatma's first and foremost identification is this SEshatva. Swamy
Ramanuja in his work, defines SEshatvam as (paragata atisaya AdAna
iccha...) i.e., a servant who is always wanting to add glory to his
Master. So let us try to add glory to the Lord.

Alas ! Adding glory to Him is impossible. If He is short of glory
I could add. But He is proclaimed as "avikArAya suddhAya nityAya
paramAtmanE, sadaika rUpa rUpaya vishnavE sarva jishnavE" .. (one
whose inherent nature,attributes and divine body is unchanged). I
would fail in my attempt to add any glory to Him as He is already
full with it. This failure pushes me to another problem. If I do
not serve him by glorifying him, I lose my status to be a SEsha.
This leads to the destruction of jivatmas' inherent nature.

Our preceptors have showed us the way to wriggle out of this
problem and retain our SEshatvam. He - is the embodiment of all
the sentient and non-sentient beings in this Universe. So SERVICE
TO FELLOW CITIZENS WOULD BE ADDING GLORY TO HIM. Service to
humanity would ultimately retain our SEshatvam. Now let us try
to serve humanity. But how?

WE can monetarily or physically help them in days of need. It is
misconceived that Srivaishnavas should help Srivaishnavas alone.
Are we accepting that Sriman Narayana is the Master of only
Srivaishnavas? Are the others not the divine body of the Lord?
Let us pack up these ideas and focus on serving everyone who is
in dire need. I will find some road blocks while implementing
this. You have access to known people to help them. Go ahead and
do your might. But how do we serve humanity at large? Seek the
help of someone who is close to all of them. That unique
personality is none other than Sriman Narayana. Whether others
agree to His Lordship or not, we agree to their servanthood. So
let us look upon Sriman Narayana to help everyone. He is the
one who can and who should give a helping hand.

This is why Swamy Koorathalwan calls upon us to collectively pray
to Him as He is the "sarva bhUta suhrt" (common well wisher).
Prayer is nothing but a call, a representation, a plea - not only
for me but for Him, for His well being. His well being would mean
the well being of this universe. So bhaktas, let us resolve from
today to pray together for the well being of our Lord and
humanity. This fetches many fruits in one throw. I retain my
SEshatvam, I have prayed for Him, I have prayed for everyone.
Lastly this prayer is nothing but a form of "dyAnam."

Swamy Ramanuja says that the first step to salvation is gnAnam -
knowledge about self and the Lord. (jivatma paramatma gnAnam).
But mere knowledge would make you grope in the darkness of
samsara. We need to focus this gnAnam on Paramatma which
transforms to dyAnam - meditation. Meditation can be in the
form of mantra japa, vigraha pUja etc. Mere meditation would
make us rigid and egoistic. One needs to refine it with love
and affection (snEham). Ramanuja says "dyAna arcana
pranAmadibhi: atyartha priya: tat prApti phala:" (the Lord is
pleased with meditation, pUja and surrender - His pleasure is
the means to salvation). He also defines bhakti as "snEha
pUrvam anu dyAnam bhakti:" - (meditation with love is known
as bhakti).

Swamy Nammazhwar says "eNNilum varum .. "(first centum tenth
decade of tiruvoimozhi). The Lord is waiting in the aisle to
come to our rescue - expecting us to think about Him. A humble
thought has the power to invoke Him.

I am sure you would all now appreciate the importance of dyAnam.
Is it just closing our eyes and thinking about our Lord. We
need to do more. We must enjoy his attributes, recollect his
divine actions during incarnations for our well being, plead
for His well being (mangalasanam / pallandu pallandu un sevadi
sevvi tirukkappu) and in turn ensure the well being of everyone.
Perialwar pleaded for the safety of His lotus feet which is the
embodiment of all bhaktas.

So make it a daily practise to establish an undisturbed stream
of focussed thoughts on Sriman Narayana. Pray to Him. Do not
plead for any mean fruits. Request for the well being of
everyone. Once in a while, make this jointly in a satsang.

We can pray. We should pray. Will we pray?

SarvE janA: sukhinO bhavantu. Samasta san mangalAni santu.
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