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Yaksha Prashnam : The Secret Code of The Yakshan For A Successful Life Swetha Sundaram
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Page 1: Yaksha Prashnam : The Secret Code of The Yakshan For A Successful Lifephoto.goodreads.com/documents/1393386441books/20922382.pdf · Yaksha Prashnam : The Secret Code of The Yakshan

Yaksha Prashnam : The Secret

Code of The Yakshan For A

Successful Life

Swetha Sundaram

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Swetha Sundaram

ii

Copyright © 2012 Swetha Sundaram

All rights reserved.

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Acknowldegement

This book is based on my lecture notes taken from Yaksha

Prashnam - A discourse in Tamil by Sri U.Ve. Karunakarachariar

Swamy (Any errors or inconsistencies in the following book is due

to the mistakes I made while stydying. )

Copies of the CDs can be obtained from Sri U.Ve.

Karunakarachariar Swami’s website http://www.nadadoor.org/

There are many people interested in the Vishishtadwaita Philosophy

but who do not understand Tamil; this book is for the benefit of

such people.

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Swetha Sundaram

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v

Table of Contents

Yaksha Prashnam : The Secret Code of The Yakshan For A Successful Life ............................................................... i

Acknowldegement .................................................................. iii

Prologue: ...................................................................................... i

The Toxic Pond ......................................................................... 2

Yaksha Prashnam .................................................................... 9

Phalashruthi: ......................................................................... 139

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i

Prologue:

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2

The Toxic Pond

The five Pandavas sat outside their Ashram engrossed in

discussion. They had to start Agnantha Vasam soon and remain

incognito so that the men of Duryodana cannot find them for a

year. They had to disguise themselves suitably so that no one will be

able to identify them as the Pandavas. They had successfully

completed living in the forest for twelve years and compared to the

upcoming year, the twelve years passed by with ease as it was the

easier part of the challenge.

‘Could you please help me?’

The brothers turned to look at a poor Brahmin standing at their

door step.

‘How can we help you?’ asked Yudhishtirar.

‘As you can see I am a poor Brahmin. My only property was my

arani wood used to churn the sacred fire. I have lost my arani wood.

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I had hung the wood from a tree branch to keep it safe but alas it

got caught on the antlers of a deer that was grazing under the tree.

The deer got spooked when I approached it and ran away into the

woods with my arani. I seek your help to recover my arani from the

deer!’

The brothers immediately left in the direction pointed by the

Brahmin in search of the deer. They carried their bow and arrows.

They soon came upon the deer and the arani wood was caught

between the deer’s antlers. As they neared the deer, it started to run.

The brothers chased the deer through the forest. The weather was

oppressive and the heat unbearable. They soon felt very tired and

lost their quarry. They felt very thirsty.

‘Nakula, please climb that tree and see if you can spot a water body

near by,’ said Yudhishtirar.

Nakulan obliged and climbed a tall tree.

‘I can see some aquatic birds younder!’ he exclaimed as he shimmied

down the tree.

‘Take our quiver bag and fetch us water in our bags,’ requested

Yudhishtirar.

In the mean time Duryodanan had sought the help of Kalamamuni

and had asked him to use black magic to kill the Pandavas. The

muni had created a demon from the fire and sent the demon in

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search of Nakulan so as to kill Nakulan first. Lord Krishna had

arranged for the Brahman’s arani to be stolen by the deer knowing

very well that the Pandavas would definitely help the Brahmin. The

following events were all part of Lord Krishna’s plan to protect the

Pandavas.

Nakulan soon reached a beautiful pond. The water looked inviting.

It was refreshing to look at the beautiful oasis. Nakulan walked

towards the pond and was about to enter the water when he heard a

voice commanding him to stop.

‘Halt! Do not drink the water without answering my questions!’

Nakulan searched for the source of the voice. As he did not find

anyone, he ignored the warning and drank the water. As soon as he

took a sip, he fell down dead on the bank. At this exact moment the

demon sent by Kalamamnui ccame to the pond looking for

Nakulan. As it neared Nakulan it noticed that he was already dead.

The demon felt angry that the muni had sent him on a wild goose

chase to kill a man who was already dead. The demon went back to

the muni but the muni consoled it and asked it to go after

Sahadevan.

The brothers waited for a long time but Nakulan did not return.

‘Sahadeva, why don’t you go in search of Nakulan? Please make sure

that he is okay and is not in need of any assistance,’ said

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Yudhishtirar.

Sahadevan went in search of Nakulan and he too arrived at the

oasis. He saw Nakulan lying dead on the shore. As his throat was

parched he wanted to have a drink of water before attending to

Sahadevan. As he went near the water, he too heard the voice

warning him to not drink the water without answering some

questions. The tired Sahadevan ignored the command and fell dead

after drinking the water. As per Lord Krishna’s plan, the demon

arrived after Sahadevan fell dead. The demon felt enraged and

rushed back to the muni who pacified the demon to go after Arjuna.

‘I feel very worried that the twins have not returned! Arjuna, please

go in search of them,’ said Yudhishtirar.

The same sequence of events happened and Arjuna too fell dead on

the bank next to his brothers and Kalamamuni convinced the

demon to get Bhima.

‘Something is not right!’ exclaimed Yudhishtirar.’Bhima please make

sure our brothers are all right.’

Bhima too reached the pond and heard the warning. He too ignored

the warning and drank the water. As he fell down, just before

passing out he wrote a warning on the sandy shores for Yudhishtirar

informing him that the water was toxic. Meanwhile Kalamamuni

convinced the demon to go in search of Yudhishtirar.

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Yudhishtirar felt very worried and started to search for his brothers.

He soon came upon his dead brothers. Griefstricken, he knelt down

beside his brothers and chanted the Dwaya manthram in their ears

so that they would reach good worlds. The demon arrived at this

moment and was terrified to see Yudhishtirar chanting Dwayam. It

rushed backed to Kalamamuni.

‘Are you trying to destroy me! You know very well that Bagawathas

cannot be approached by me!’ yelled the demon and in blind rage it

killed the muni with one blow.

Yudhishtirar tried to console himself as it was his duty to go back to

the Ashramam to inform Draupadi. He went near the water body to

quench his thirst when he too heard the warning.

He stopped and looked around. ‘Please reveal yourself so that I

know with whom I am speaking,’ said Yudhishtirar.

A white crane appeared amongst the lotus blooms in the water.

‘This pond is in my possession,’ said the Crane. ‘Your brothers fell

dead because they drank the water without my permission. You may

drink water as well as carry it in your quiver bags if you answer my

questions.’

'I don’t think that you are just a bird,’ said Yudhishtirar, ‘are you the

foremost of the Rudras, or of the Vasus, or of the Marutas? My

brothers could not have been defeated by just a bird. Neither devas ,

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nor asuras or gandharvas could defeat my brothers in battle.You are

definitely a strong being for my brothers were like the four

mountains the Himavat, the Paripatra, the Vindhya, and the Malaya;

a mere bird could not have overthrown them. Please reveal your

true self to me.’

The bird vanished from Yudhishtirar’s view and to his amazement

he found a tall Yakshan standing next to a palm tree. The Yakshan

was as tall as the palm tree with a formidable appearance.

Yudhishtirar was not shaken to see the Yakshan.

‘I am a Yakshan. If you answer my questions I will grant you

permission to drink the water.’

‘I will not take that which is in your possession without your

permission,’ said Yudhishtirar, ‘therefore, proceed with your

questions and I will answer them to the best of my knowledge.’

The hero of Mahabharatam is Yudhishtirar. He is the only one who

remained alive dyuring this episode. He is called Yudhishtirar

because he stays steady in battle. The battle referred to is the day to

day battle when we have to choose between dharmam and our day

to day living. Yudhishtirar never strayed away from the dharmic

path. Despite being shaken up by the tragic death of his four

brothers, he faced the Yakshan with courage and answered the

Yakshan’s questions. Lord Krishna was very fond of Yudhishtirar.

Per the ancient laws a person has to pay obesiance to anyone who is

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older than him/her by three years. Thus Lord Krishna waited for

three years after the birth of Yudhishtirar so that He can pay His

obesiance to Yudhishtirar!

The Yakshan was none other than Lord Yama the deity of

Dharmam sent by Lord Krishna to the pond to protect the

brothers. Yudhishtirar answered the Yakshan’s questions without

realizing that the uestions were being asked by his own father!

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Yaksha Prashnam

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The Yakshan asked the first 4 questions all at once.

Kin svidadithyam munnayathi? Ke cha tasyabhitascharaha?

Kounamastham nayathi? Kasmincha prathitishtathi?

Who makes the Sun rise? Who keeps him company? Who causes

him to set? In whom is he established and stands steady?

In Sanskrit there are many names for Sun. The Yakshan specifically

uses the name “Adithya” in the above question. The first four

questions are trick questions with hidden meaning. Outwardly it

looks like the Yakshan is questioning Yudhishtirar about the Sun

but the hidden meaning is about the jeevatma. Yudhishtirar answers

in such a way that the answer satisfies both the supercficial meaning

of the question as well as it provides the perfect answer to the

hidden esoteric meaning.

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Brahmadithya munnayathi. Devastasyaabhitascharaha.

Dharmaschstham nayathi cha sathye cha prathitishtati.

Yudhishtirar answered that Brahmaditya munnayathi to the first

question.

By using the sandhi rule the word Brahmaditya could be split as

Brahma + Adithya or Brahmam + Adithya.

Brahma refers to the creator Lord Brahma, it can also refer to the

Brahmin community.

Brahmam refers to our Supreme Lord Narayana as well as to the

Vedas.

To examine the answers further we need to understand the origin of

performing the Sandhya Vandhanam rite.

Once, the Asuras performed a penance meditating upon Lord

Brahma. Pleased with their devotion Lord Brahma agreed to confer

a boon upon them. The Asuras sought the boon that they should be

able to continuously fight with the Sun. Lord Brahma conferred

this boon on them. The Asuras started to fight with the Sun and as

the Sun had to defend himself, he couldn’t rise. As the activities in

this world depend on the solar journey, the people requested Lord

Brahma to help the world by making the Sun rise. Lord Brahma

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agreed to help them and asked the Brahmins to perform Sandhya

Vandhanam rite. As part of this rite, the Brahmins have to chant the

Gayathri Manthram and sprinkle few drops of water towards the

path of the Sun. The water droplets fall on the Asuras making them

very weak. The Asuras are pushed away from the Sun thus making

the Sun rise without any delay. The Sandhya Vandhanam rite has to

be performed again the next morning as the Asuras regain their

power and come to fight with the Sun.

By using the first split Brahma + Adithya, we can derive the answer

as the Brahmin community makes the Sun rise by performing

Sandhya Vandhanam.

The word can also be split as Brahmam + Adithya i.e., Lord

Narayana makes the Sun to rise. All the heavenly bodies function

properly out of fear of Parabrahmam. Brahmam in Sanskrit is neuter

gender and hence can refer to the Vedas/ Gayathri Manthram as

well. This then brings us back to Sandhya Vandhanam.

Thus, the complete answer is Parabrhmam makes the Sun rise

through the Brahmin community when the Brahmins chant

Gayathri Manthram while performing Sandhya Vandhanam.

This answer is true for places inhabited by the Brahmins but what

happens to other places and countries where there are no Brahmin

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inhabitants? The Japanese never perform Sandhya Vandhanam but

the rising Sun is first seen by them. Similarly the Europeans,

Americans, Africans or Australians do not perform Sandhya

Vandhanam but yet the Sun rises in all these places. How can we

then justify the statement that it is the Brahmins who make the Sun

rise?

Tarpanam is a ritual performed for a person’s deceased ancestors.

The ritual aims at uplifiting the departed souls to a good position.

What would happen to the souls who do not have progeny on Earth

to do this ritual? There are people belonging to other religions and

communities; what would happen to their souls?

Each Brahmin performs the Tarpanam for the benefit of all souls.

The manthram “Yesham napitha nabrahtha ananya gothrina…” is

chanted for the benefit of every deceased person who do not have

anyone on this Earth to perform this rite.

Like the Tarpanam rite, the Brahmins perform Sandhya Vandhanam

for the sake of every community. They pray for the Sun to rise in all

places including Japan, America, Europe or Australia. Thus even if

the citizens of other countries do not perform any of the Vedic rites

they are not affected since they are protected by the rites performed

by the Brahmins.

Lord Narayana Himself regularly performs the Sandhya Vandhana.

Even if the Brahmins stop performing or do not perform the rite

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properly, the world is protected as our Lord performs the rite

regularly for our benefit.

So far we have only examined the answer provided by Yudhishtira

to the superficial meaning. The same answer “Brahmadhithya

munnayathi” also answers the hidden esoteric question asked by

Yakshan.

The word “Adityan” in Sanskrit refers to Sun, a horse as well as a

jeevatma. Adityan means the “one who takes”. Sun is called Adityan

because he draws up water by evaporating liquid water. A soul is

called Adityan because the jeevatma takes many birth.

Yudhishtira’s answer, “Brahmadithya munnayathi” in this context

means that Paramatma helps us to rise by lifting us to a higher

spiritual plane.

The Yakshna’s second question is , “who travels with Adityan?”

Yudhistar answered that the Devas accompany the Adityan in his

travel. If we take Adityan to be the Sun then the Devas are as

follows.

There are in total 12 Suns known as the 12 Adithyas; one Adithya

for every month.

The Sun is accompanied by 1 rishi every month . The rishi keeps the

Sun commpany by chanting Vedas. There is also a Gandharva who

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palys music to entertain the Sun. The Sun’s chariot is drawn by 7

horses. A Yakshan travels with the Sun to control the horses. To

protect the Sun, a Rakshasha travels with the Sun. The Sun is also

accompanied by a Naga. Apsaras entertain the Sun by dancing. Lord

Vishnu has twelve forms. The Lord accompanies the Sun every

month in one of His twelve forms.

N

o Ruling Month

Peruma

l

Sun-

god Sage

Yaksh

a

Gand

harva Apsara

Raksha

sha Naga

1

No

v -

De

c

Margas

hirsha Keśava

Amsh

uman

Kasya

pa

Tarks

ya

Rtase

na Urvasi

Vidyuc

chatru

Mahas

ankha

2

De

c -

Jan Pausha

Nārāya

ṇa Bhaga Ayur Uma

Arista

nemi

Purvac

itti

Sphurj

a

Karkot

aka

3

Jan

-

Fe

b Magha

Mādha

va

Pushy

a

Gauta

ma Suruci

Susen

a

Ghrtac

i Vata

Dhana

njaya

4

Fe

b -

Ma

rch

Phalgu

na

Govind

a

Parja

nya

Bhara

dvaja Ritu Visva Senajit Varca

Airava

ta

5

Ma

rch

-

Apr

il Chaitra Viṣṇu Dhata

Pulas

tya

Ratha

krt

Tumb

uru

Krtast

hali Heti Vasuki

6

Apr

il -

Ma

y

Vaisha

kha

Madhu

sūdana

Arya

ma

Pulah

a

Athau

ja

Narad

a

Punjik

asthali Praheti

Kaccha

nira

7

Ma

y-

Jun

Jyeshth

a

Trivikra

ma Mitra Atri

Ratha

svana Haha

Menak

a

Paurus

eya

Taksak

a

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Swetha Sundaram

16

e

8

Jun

e -

Jul

y

Ashadh

a

Vāman

a

Varun

a

Vasist

ha

Citras

vana Huhu

Ramb

ha

Sahaja

nya Sukra

9

Jul

y -

Au

g

Shrava

na

Śrīdhar

a Indra

Angir

a Srota

Visva

vasu

Praml

oca Varya

Elapat

ra

1

0

Au

g-

Se

p

Bhadra

pada

Hṛṣīkeś

a

Vivas

van Bhrgu

Asara

na

Ugras

ena

Anuml

oca

Vyaghr

a

Sankh

apala

1

1

Se

p -

Oct

Ashvin

a

Padma

nābha

Tvash

tha

Jama

dagni Satajit

Dhrta

rastra

Tilotta

ma

Brahm

apeta

Kamba

lasva

1

2

Oct

-

No

v Kartika

Dāmod

ara

Vishn

u

Visva

mitra

Satyaj

it

Surya

varca

Ramb

ha

Makha

peta

Asvata

ra

The following are the names for the 12 forms of the Lord.

1. Keśava

2. Nārāyaṇa

3. Mādhava

4. Govinda

5. Viṣṇu

6. Madhusūdana

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7. Trivikrama

8. Vāmana

9. Śrīdhara

10. Hṛṣīkeśa

11. Padmanābha

12. Dāmodara

When Yudhishtira mentioned that the Devas accompany the Sun,

he was referring to the rishi, Gandharva, Yakshan, Rakshasha, Naga,

Apsara, and Lord Vishnu. The Devas accompanying the Sun are

known as “Saptha Ganangal”.

The Lord is the supreme Deva who gives strength to the Sun to

carry out his duties. This is why during Tarpanam, manthrams are

chanted to thank the Lord. Depending on the month in which the

Tarpanam is performed, the name of the Lord’s form accompanying

the Sun during that month is mentioned.

Esoterically, if we take Adityam to mean jeevatma, Yudhishtira’s

answer shows that our sense organs accompany us. The sense

organs are called as Devas. We need them in our journey to attain

the divine feet of our Lord. We need ears to listen to His story,

toungue to chant His names, eyes to see His beautiful form, and so

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on. The sense-organs never leave us. They accompany us after death

in a micro form till we cross the Viraja river to reach Sri

Vaikuntham.

The Yakshan asked the following questions. How can a person

become Shrothriyan (learned)? How can a person attain that which

is great? When and how can a person always have good company?

How will a person become intelligent?

Yudhishtira answered that by listening to an Acharyan teach the

Vedic scriptures one can become learned.

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Hardwork makes a person reach that which is great. In

Yudhishtira’s answer, “tapas” refers to hardwork. The word “tapas”

is derived from “tapa alochanai”. It is also known as “lateral

thinking” in English. It is not enough to just learn a subject; a

person must also be able to apply the knowledge he/she has learnt

in real life situations. A person must think about the required criteria

and constraints before doing any task. A person must not

mechanically perform tasks without thinking about it. The following

anecdote explains Yudhishtira’s answer.

In the year 1976 to 77 a state of emergency was declared in India. In

the year 1978 a new government was formed under Prime Minister

Moraji Desai and the country came out of emergency. During

emergency all government offices were ordered to fill out a form

stating that they comply with the rules of emergency. The

government employees were mechanically filling out these forms

without reading the forms. They continued to sign and file these

forms upto the year 1979 even after the country had come out of

emergency. They only stopped signing these forms when this was

noticed by a new officer. This is an example of people performing a

task without applying their mind. If they had applied their mind and

had read the form they would have known that they need not sign

these forms after the new government was formed in 1978. As they

only performed their task mechanically like a ritual, they continued

to file unnecessary paper work for over a year thus wasting time as

well as money. People who perform tasks mechanically are people

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without tapas; they will never achieve that which is great.

A person with courage and determination always has good

company.

A person becomes intelligent by obtaining training from an

experienced person. By Vridha sevaya Yudhishtira did not mean an

aged person; he meant an experienced individual. Any person trying

to learn a new skill must be trained by a person who has experience.

In his book “Adventures in Two Worlds”, A.J. Cronin narrates his

life experiences. A.J.Cronin was a physician and after graduating

from medical school he worked under the guidance of a senior

physician. Once, the senior physician had to step out of the clinic

and Cronin was left in charge. A woman rushed in with her child.

The child was wheezing. Cronin noticed that the child was unable to

breath and the childs breathing sounded like a whistle. Cronin

diagonosed that the child was suffering from pneumonia. To ease

the child’s breathing, Cronin started to make preparations to

perform tracheotomy. At this moment the senior physician walked

in. He re-examined the child. The senior physician then held the

child upside down and slapped the child’s back. To everyone’s

surprise a whistle fell out of the child’s mouth. The child was not

suffering from pneumonia but had only swallowed a whistle. When

Cronin picked-up the whistle to dispose it in the garbage, his

mentor told him to retain the whistle as a souvenir so that everytime

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Cronin looked at the whistle he could recall this event and learn

from his mistakes. Cronin studied hard in medical school but just

the medical knowledge alone was not sufficient. He had to pick-up

diagnostic skills from an experienced senior.

The following anecdote is an example of experience which cannot

be obtained by just attending university.

Dr Rangachari was once called in to treat a pregnant woman who

had been gored by a bull. The baby’s finger was poking out of the

hole in the mother’s stomach. It was still too early for the baby to

be delivered and the proper procedure was to sew the hole in the

mother’s stomach to allow the baby to develop further. The main

concern was the baby’s finger which was poking out of the mother’s

stomach. Other physicians could not figure out a way to push the

finger back into the womb. Dr Rangachari purchased a cigarrette.

After lighting the cigarette, he touched the baby’s finger with it and

immediately the baby pulled its finger inside allowing the doctor to

close the wound.

Yudhishtira’s answers contain hidden esoteric meaning as well. They

are as follows.

The Yakshan asked , ‘How can a person become Shrothriyan?’

Shrothriyan means both learned as well as liberated soul in Sanskrit.

Yudhishtira answered that by listening to the good teachings of a

Acharya a person will become Shrothriyan. A person must first

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listen about the qualities of Bagawan. This is per the pasuram “Nee

en sevi vazhiye pugundu..” of Sri Namazhwar as well. Sri

Nammazhwar asked Perumaal to enter Azhwar’s mind through

Azhwar’s ears. Only by listening about the divine past times of the

Lord we will be able to develop love for Him. Once we feel the

divine love kindled in our hearts, we will perform the necessary

things required to reach Him.

To the second part of the question, Yudhishtira answered that by

doing tapas a person can achieve that which is great. The word

“Mahat” is used to represent “great” by the Yakshan. Here, mahat

refers to attaining Vishnu Padam. Tapas is working hard to follow

even the hard to follow rules as prescribed by the Acharya according

to the Shastras.

Once, a restaurant owner attended a discourse rendered by HH

Srimad Mukkur Azhagiya Singar (44th Jeer). Jeer mentioned during

the discourse that anyone who invites a person to consume food on

Ekadashi will go to a special type of hell. The restaurant owner met

with Jeer the following day and requested him to mark all the 24

Ekadashis on the calendar so that the restaurant could stay closed

on Ekadashi.

Every single day a restaurant remains open is business for the

owner. Ekadashis would also fall during different days of the week

making it difficult for the owner to announce ahead of time the days

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when the restaurant would be closed. Despite these difficulties, the

owner wished to follow the instructions of his Acharyan. This is an

example of the “tapas” mentioned by Yudhishtira to attain

Moksham; i.e, working hard to follow even the hard to follow rules

as prescribed by the Acharya according to the Shastras.

By listening about the past times of the Lord and by following the

instructions prescribed by the Acharyan, a person develops strong

belief that Lord Sriman Narayana is the only Supreme Being who

can uplift the jeevatmas to Moksham. This belief gives courage and

determination to a person seeking Moksham. The courage that the

Lord is ready to save a jeevatma from all kinds of danger because of

the strong belief in the Lord’s supremity and capacity is the good

company a person must seek.

In the last question Yudhishtira answered that a person becomes

intelligent by working under the guidance of a person with

experience. This can be taken as, a person remains steadfast in his

devotion towards Lord Vishnu by performing service to other

devotees of the Lord. It is very essential for a mumukshu (person

seeking moksham) to serve his/her Acharyan.

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The Yaksha asked, ‘What is the “divine nature” present in

Brahmanas? What is their dharma ? Describe

the character present in them which shows them as mere humans.

What is their negative quality?

Yudhishtira answered that Svadhyaya gives them divine nature.

Svadhyaya is the act of learning Vedas.

When we worship devas we make offerings to them but we cannot

see if they accept our offerings.

There are devas on earth who are fit to be worshipped; we can also

see them accept our offerings.

These devas are the Brahmins well versed in the Vedas. In the

Puranas we learn about the powers of the

ancient seers. For example the Rishi Jamadagni used to practice

shooting with a bow and arrow. As soon as he shot the arrow, his

wife would help him by fetching the arrow. Once on a hot summer

day his wife

couldn’t bear the scorching heat of the Sun; seeing his wife suffer,

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the rishi was ready to curse the Sun

to protect his wife. The Sun immediately appeared before the rishi

to apologize. As, the Sun could not stop shining; the Sun offered an

umbrella and a pair of sandals to the rishi’s wife. This incident

shows us that even the Sun was afraid of the powers possessed by

the rishi. The source of the rishis powers was his Vedic training.

During the ancient times the Brahmins had the capacity to learn the

entire Vedas. With passage of time

the future generation did not possess the same capability. To protect

the Vedas and to help the younger generations learn Vedas easily,

Sage Veda Vyasa divided the Vedas into four branches called Rig,

Yajur, Sama and Atharvana. Each family was given a branch they

were responsible for. The Brahmins belonging to a particular branch

were obligated to learn the Vedic verses of their branch. If a

Brahmin belonged to a family responsible for learning the Rig Veda

then he had to learn the Rig Vedic verses. If a Brahmin wished to

learn verses from other branches, he had to complete his training in

the branch of Vedas assigned to his family first before proceeding to

learn verses from the other branches. Failure to do so results in the

accumulation of sin. Thus the Brahmin society through their efforts

is responsible for safe guarding the Vedic learning. This gives them

their divine nature. The present generation faces many challenges in

life due to lack of time to practice even the branch of Vedic studies

assigned to their family. The ancients have made it easier for our

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generation by reducing the syllabus so that it is sufficient to just

chant one chapter from the Vedas. Those who are unable to do

even this could comply with the rules by chanting the Purusha

Suktam Manthram. The Purusha Suktam is present in all four

branches of the Vedas and it is sufficient for Brahmins to just chant

this when they are faced with time constraints. To retain the “divine

qualities” present in them, Brahmins have to chant at least one

chapter from the Vedic branch assigned to their family or chant the

Purusha Suktam without fail every day.

The above is the law assigned to Brahmin men. Women are not

allowed to chant Vedic verses. What is the dharmam assigned to

Brahmin women? The women are responsible for taking care of

their families and to ensure that the men can chant the Vedas

without any obstruction. For helping the men practice their Vedic

dharmam regularly, the women obtain 50% of the fruit obtained by

their husbands while chanting Vedas. For example if a Brahmin

chants the Gayathri Manthram for 108 times, his wife automatically

gets the fruit of chanting the manthram for 54 times and the man

will be left with the fruit of chanting the manthram for the

remaining 54 times alone. The women get good merit easily without

putting in rigorous efforts. A wife is asked to nag her husband to

make sure he follows the laws prescribed in the Vedas. For nagging

her husband to perform his Vedic rites she automatically gets 50%

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of her husband’s merit for performing the rite.

Women are assigned the task of nurturing their families because

they are naturally caring. The Vedas also say that a husband is

forced to share 50% of his wife’s sins. If a wife performs a good

deed then she is entitled to enjoy all the merit and her husband has

no share in the merit she earned. Similarly the wife does not share

her husband’s sins. If a man commits a misdeed then he has to bear

all the bad fruits which resulted from committing the sin. Thus

women come out on the top as they get to keep 100% of the merits

they had earned plus they get 50% of any merit their husbands

earned. Fifty percent of a woman’s demerit points are automatically

transferred to her husband thus easing her burden. Men have to

work harder since they lose half of the merits they earn to their

wives and their wives do not share in their demerit points.

Thus a Brahmin man retains his divinity by practicing the Vedas and

a Brahmin woman retains her divinity by helping her husband to

practice the Vedas.

The following story illustrates how the Vedic manthrams protect a

Brahmin.

Once, the Devas decided to perform a sacrifice but the fire would

not burn properly as it was afflicted by sin. It is prohibited to

perform sacrifices if the fire smolders. The devas went to get ghee

to make the fire burn properly but the ghee solidified as it was

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affected by sin. It is not allowed to pour solid ghee into the fire.

They were then instructed by Lord Brahma to give dakshina

(donations) to people to transfer the sin to other people. No one

wanted to receive the dakshina as they did not want to get the sins.

Lord Brahma then asked the Brahmins to take the dakshina but they

too refused. Lord Brahma then asked them to get the dakshina by

wearing protective gloves so that the sin will not stick to them. This

protective glove is the recitation of the Vedic mantras.

The Vedic mantras are never affected by sin as it is the nature of the

Vedic mantra to repel sin. When we eat greasy food with our hand,

the grease sticks to our hand. We scrub our hand to remove the

grease but it is not necessary to scrub our tongue. Even though our

tongue comes in contact with the greasy food, the grease does not

stick to the tongue as it is the nature of the tongue to repel grease.

The rituals performed by the Brahmins on a daily basis, is their

penance. It is their duty to follow the dharma prescribed to their

community.

What makes them human? They too die.

What is their negative quality?

A Brahmin’s negative quality is gossiping. A Brahmin loves to

spread rumours and scandals. Once, a Brahmin was chased by a

bull. To escape from the bull he ran into the hut of a rowdy called

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Rangayan.

Rowdy Rangayan was drinking alcohol when the Brahmin enter.

The rowdy wished to help the Brahmin.

He asked the Brahmin to hold his liquor bottle while he went

outside to subdue the bull. The Brahmin stood outside the rowdy’s

hut with the rowdy’s liquor bottle watching the rowdy control the

bull. This Brahmin was noticed bottle in hand by his colleague. The

colleague spread rumours in the Brahmin community that the other

Brahmin was an alcoholic whose drinking partner was Rowdy

Rangayan.

Spreading such untruths and rumours are the negative qualities of a

Brahmin. A Brahmin must control the urge to gossip.

Esoteric Meaning of Yudhishtira’s Answers:

A Brahmin is a person who embarks on a spiritual journey to realize

God. By chanting the praise of God and singing His holy names

(Nama sankeerthanam) divinity is kindled in a Brahmin.

The tapas prescribed for them is to keep meditating upon the Lord.

They become mortal when they fear death. Only a person who does

not realize that he is the soul and not the body fears death. A person

who knows that he/she is the eternal soul will never fear death.

Thus fear of death makes a Brahmin mortal. This fear must be

overcome by anyone who is trying to realize God. They must refrain

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from doing the negative deed of hurting the Lord’s other devotees.

They should not even think ill about the Lord’s other devotees.

Bagawatha Apacharam is the negative quality which must be

controlled by a person trying to realize God.

The Yakshan then asked Yudhishtira the reason divinity is present

in a Kshatriya? The Dharmam (duties) prescribed for a Kshatriya?

What makes the Kshatriyas mere humans and the weakness a

Kshatriya must overcome.

The Kshatriyas use weapons to wage wars. The weapons of a

Kshatriya gives them their divinity. The Dharma prescribed for the

Kshatriya class is the performance of Yagnam. Only Kshatriyas can

perform Yagnams like Ashwamedha Yagam or Rajasuya yagam;

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Brahmins can only assist a Kshatriya to perform the Yagam.

Brahmins are not eligible to perform these yagams. Lack of courage

makes a Kshatriya human. Fear must be overcome by a Kshatriya as

it is their duty to protect their nation. A Kshatriya must offer

protection to anyone who surrenders to them. They must overcome

their weakness to abandon the people under their protection. They

must follow in the foot step of Lord rama and King Dilipan. Lord

Rama never abandons anyone who surrenders to Him. Similarly

King Dilipan was asked by his guru Sage Vashishta to graze the cow

Nandhini. The king personally looked after Nandhini. He followed

her everywhere with a bow and arrow in hand to protect her from

danger. One day while grazing in the foothills of the Himalayas, a

lion pounced on the cow. As the lion was about to kill the cow, the

king lifted his bow to shoot the lion. The lion immediately started to

converse with the king. The king was surprised to hear the lion

speak. The lion introduced itself to be a servant of Lord Shiva and

Parvati. Goddess Parvati was growing a special tree in that area. She

was very fond of the tree and had given permission to the lion to

kill anyone who tresspasses in that area. The king realised that he

had not paid any attention to the warning signs. As a result of his

negligence, Nandhini was in danger. He immediately made a deal

with the lion and asked the lion to eat him instead of the cow. The

lion was surprised. The lion asked the king the reason why he was

keen on protecting Nandhini. Dilipan said that as he had promised

his guru, he had to make sure that Nandhini was safe. The lion then

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asked the king to forget about Nandhini, go back to his kingdom

and compensate sage Vashishtha with thousands of cows. The king

replied that his life wouldn’t be worth living as he would have failed

to protect Nandhini.

The esoteric interpretation of Yudhishtira’s answer is as follows.

Perumaal (Tamil word meaning Lord Vishnu) exists in the Archa

(idol) form at various temples to protect us. He never fails a person

who surrenders to Him. Human nature is revealed when out of

devotion we fear for His safety. It is our duty to protect the

Temples in our neighbourhood. We must not fail to take care of the

needs of the local temple or the needs of Perumaal in our home. It

is futile to donate funds to Thirumala if we neglect the Perumaal in

our house as well as in our neighbourhood temples. This behaviour

must be avoided by us.

The Yakshan asked yudhishtira to name the Sama most suitable for

a Yagnam, the Yajus most suitable for a Yagnam. Name that which

keeps the Yagnam steady and that which cannot be crossed by the

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Yagnam.

Of the four Vedas, the Rig Veda is in the form of poetry. The Yajur

Veda is in the form of prose and the Sama Veda is poetry with

musical notes. By the word “Sama” music is implied by the

Yakshan. Yagnam means worship and does not refer to just sacrifice

in the above question. The word yagnam is derived from “yaja deva

poojanam” and refers to the proper way to worship the devas. The

Upanishads also state that “Yagnovai Vishnuhu”. Lord Vishnu is

called as Yagna. Yudhishtira’s answers become clear if we keep the

meaning of Yagnam as Lord Vishnu.

The Yakshan wanted to know the Lord’s favourite music which is

unique in nature and prose suitable to worship the Lord in the first

two question. Yudhishtira answered that “prana” is the Lord’s

favourite music. By Prana he is referring to the sound made when

we breathe. Our Lord likes to know that His devotees are alive and

well by listening to their breathing.

Prose can have any number of sentences. It is thus unlimited in

nature. Thus the best prose suitable to worship the Lord is our

mind. Our mind has no limitation. Even if we cannot afford to buy

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gold vessels to worship the Lord with, we can imagine that we have

gold vessels when we worship the Lord.

In the next question the Yakshan wanted to know which poetry

attracts Yagnam? Again this can be rephrased as the poem which

attracts Lord Narayna. Yudhishtira answered this question by saying

that the unique poem attracts the Lord. He said that Rig eka runuthe

yagnam. That is “one rig attracts Yagnam”. The number “one” is

used to indicate uniqness. The Vedas when stating about God say

that He is “Ekameva advitiyam”. This statement does not mean that

He is the only one in the Universe; the statement means that He is

unique.

In the Tamil anthology called Thirupavai, the pasuram (poem)

“Oruthi maganai pirandhu oriravil oruthi maganai olinthu valara”,

both Devaki and Yashoda are called as “one lady”. The literal

translation of the pasuram is that, “the Lord incarnated as one lady’s

son on one night and was raised by one lady”. According to the

rules of grammar, if Devaki as the first lady in the pasuram is

indicated as “one lady” then Yashoda should be called as “another

lady”. That is the Pasuram should be , “the Lord incarnated as one

lady’s son on one night and was raised by another lady”; instead,

both Devaki and Yashoda are called as “one lady” to show us that

they are “unique”. The night is also called as “one night” because it

was a unique night because the Lord incarnated on that night.

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Thus the number one is used to show uniquness. According to

Yudhishtira, a unique poem attracts Lord. This unique poem is the

Gayathri Manthram which is called as Savithri Rig. The clue to the

fact that this poem is Gayathri Manthram is provided when the

Yudhishtira /Yakshan say that the poem “attracts” our Lord.

To examine why the gayathri manthram attracts our Lord, let us

first take a look at the following.

The Vedic verse describes brilliant rays emanating from our Lord

which blind us. We are unable to see Him as we are blinded by His

effulgence. He shines brilliantly like a Sun and is hence unseen by

us. We request Him to appear like the moon so that we can easily

see His auspicious appearance. We can meditate upon our Lord only

if the Lord reveals His form to us.

The following table shows a comparison between our body, our

soul, the Lord’s soul and the Lord’s divine form in helping us to

reach Him. It is very easy to meditate on our body but the result

obtained from this meditation is very ordinary and does not grant us

liberation. It is very difficult to meditate upon our soul and the

result obtained by performing this difficult exercise is also very poor

and will not give us liberation. The Lord’s soul is difficult to

meditate upon but the result obtained is supreme and can liberate us

from this material world. The Lord’s divine form is very easy to

meditate upon and the result of this meditation will grant us

liberation. In the following table a point is awarded for ease of

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meditation and if the result obtained is supreme. From the table we

can see that the best option is to meditate upon the Lord’s divine

form which is very easy to do and yields the highest result of

Moksham.

Our Body Our Soul Lord’s

Soul

Lord’s

divine

form

Easy to

meditate

1 0 0 1

Provides

Moksham

0 0 1 1

In the above table 1 = Yes and 0 = No.

The Purusha Suktham describes the Lord as having Adithya varnam

i.e. He appears beautiful like the rising Sun. The Purusha Suktham

begins by presenting the Universal Form of our Lord and gradually

builds up to present His beautiful Thirumeni (form).

Through the above verse we pray to Him to reveal His beautiful

form to us so that we can meditate upon His divine form. Through

the Gayathri manthram we medidate upon the effulgent attractive

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form of Lord Narayana. This poem attracts the form of Lord in our

minds.

Gayathri manthram should not be heard at the same time by more

than 3 pairs of ears. This is why Yudhishtira did not provide further

explanation.

The Gayathri Manthram begins with the word “Tat”. Ths word

“tat” used here does not mean “that”; “Tat” is a name of Lord

Narayana. The name “Tat” menas multiplier or magnifier. If we

chant the Gayathri Manthram once, then He multiplies our good

efforts by hundred folds. This is true for all devotional activities. If

we take one step towards Him, He takes ten steps towards us to

reduce the gap between Him and Us.

In the Vishnu Sahasranama Stothram in the following slokam

Bagawan says, “

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“Yomam namasahasrena sthothumichathi Pandava

Sohamevena shlokena sthuva yeva na samchayaha

Sthuva yeva na samchaya om nama ithi”

The meaning of the above slokam is that there is no need to chant

all one thousand names; it is enough to chant just one name with

devotion. If we chant one name with devotion, He will multiply our

efforts and give us the fruit of chanting all one thousand names.

A person who chants Gayathri Manthram properly and medidates

upon His Divya Mangala Vigraham will always make intelligent

decision.

The above applies to people who are given the privilege to chant the

Gayathri Manthram. Women do not have this privilege as they are

not allowed to chant Gayathri Manthram. How are women

benefitted if they cannot chant Gayathri Manthram? The Vedas

have given the women the task of making sure their men folk follow

the prescribed duties for their Varna (caste). It is the duty of a

Brahmin lady to make sure her men folk (husband, son et al) chant

the Gayathri Manthram properly without fail every day. For just

nagging her husband to chant the Manthram, she reaps fifty percent

of the benefit of chanting the Manthram; i.e, if her husband chanted

the Gayathri Manthram 108 times then the wife automatically gets

the benefit of chanting the Manthram for 54 times and the husband

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is left with only the benefit of chanting the Manthram for the

remaining 54 times. The wife automatically gets 50% of the good

fruits earned by her husband.

The family in which the men chant Gayathri Manthram regularly,

the Manthram attracts Lord Vishnu to reside in the mind of

everyone.

The Yakshan’s next question in this series is “name that that which

cannot be crossed by the Yagnam.” Yudhishtira answered that

“Yagnam will not cross that person who chants the Gayathri

manthram regularly with devotion.”

Yudhishtira’s answer means that Lord Vishnu who is also called as

“Yagnam” will not abandon anyone who chants the Gayathri

Manthram regularly with devotion.

After seeing that Yudhishtira is able to answer all the questions

satisfactorily, the Yakshan decided to ask a riddle to test

Yudhishtira’s intelligence. To see if Yudhishtira is able to apply his

knowledge to solve problems.

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“When will everyone be happy to see someone or something fall

down? Which item is best when burried? What property must a

person definitely possess to grow and become successful?Which

when it takes birth makes human beings very happy?”

Yudhishtira answered that everyone is happy to see rain waters fall

down. Rain makes the land on which it falls prosperous. Saint

Nammazhwar used to be very happy to see rain as it reminded him

of Perumal’s compassion. Lord Vishnu is compared to a cloud

which rains “karuna kataksham” compassionate blessings upon His

devotees.

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In the above Thirupavai Pasuram, Andal Nachiar prays for rain to

make Thiruayarpadi prosperous. The above pasuram also compares

and Acharyan to a rain bearing cloud. Like the rain waters which

come from the clouds, an Acharyan causes rain of wisdom and truth

about Perumal to fall on us. This rain gives us the wealth of attaing

the Lord’s divine feet.

To the second question in this series Yudhishtira answered that a

seed is the best among things which are burried. If we take the

example of a mango fruit, there is one seed in a mango but when

that seed is burried we get infinity mango fruits. This answer also

means that we must not bury other things which do not yield us

benefit when burried. To illustrate this point the following story is

narrated.

A master had three servants. The master planned to leave on a long

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vacation. Before leaving he gave money to each of his three

servants. The first servant spent the amount wining and dining. The

second servant invested the money and lived off of the interest. The

third servant burried the money in his back yard. After the master

returned home he enquired his servants on how they had spent the

money. He was happy that the first servant had atleast enjoyed the

money and that the second servant had invested it wisely. He was

very unhappy to learn that the third servant had burried it; as, the

burried money was of no use to anyone. He asked the servant to dig

up the money but unfortunately the servant had forgotten the

location where the money was burried. Thus the money was lost

forever.

The answer also warns us about keeping secrets especially if the

secret would benefit the general public. Only spiritual secrets should

be gaurded and passed on to the right person.

The esoteric meaning of Yudhishtira’s answer also refers to the

Lord as “seed”.

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In the above Thirupavai pasuram, Andal Nachiar refers to Perumal

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as “ Vithu” i.e “seed”. She says that bury “vithu” in your hearts. The

pasuram tells us to bury the thoughts about the Lord in our mind

and to medidate upon Him.

The third question asked by the Yakshan was, ‘ What property must

a person definitely possess to grow and become successful?’ To this

Yudhishtira answered that anyone who has a cow will always remain

wealthy. Nammazhwar sang , ‘marapinnai nam vendum maadu’.

Yudhishtira said that by establishing ‘gavaha’ a person remains

wealthy. The word ‘gavaha’ is derived from ‘go’ in Sanskrit. ‘Go’ is a

homonymn for cow as well as good words. If we take the answer to

mean ‘cow’ we can easily see that anyone who owns a cow will be

prosperous. A cow gives milk from which other dairy products like

butter can be obtained. The excess of dairy products could be sold

to obtain other things. The cow dung is also a good source of fuel .

Thus a cow is a very valuable commodity.

If we examine Yudhishtira’s answer to mean ‘good words’ then

Yudhishtira instructs us to always speak the truth. Refrain from

gossiping and passing slanderous remarks.

The esoteric meaning of this answer is as shown below.

To reach Moksham one must follow the words of an Acharyan.

Even if an Acharyan made a light passing remarks it must be

accepted by the disciple. The following anecdote from the Sri

Vaishnava Guru Paramparai illustrates this.

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Sri Nathamuni used to say the following words to his disciples.

‘Kulapadiyil mazhai peithal kuruvi kudithu pom

Veeranathil mazhai peithal nadellam vilayum’.

The meaning of the above verse is, ‘ If it rains in the impression

made on the ground by horse shoe only a sparrow can quench its

thirst but if it rains in Lake Veeranam, the entire country will

flourish.”

The disciples did not understand the purport of the above verse but

they gaurded the saying carefully and passed it on to their disciples.

Nathamuni’s disciple Uyyakondar memorized the verse and passed

it to his disciple Manakal Nambi who in turn passed it to Alavandar.

Peria Nambi learnt the verse from Alavandar and he taught it to

Swami Ramanujar. Swami Ramanujar felt that the verse must have a

deeper meaning. He decided to visit Lake Veeranam. He found that

there were 74 canals which fed the surrounding fields with water

from the lake. Hence, if it rained in the Veeranam catchment area all

the surrounding area are fed by the rain waters making the region

prosperous. Swami Ramanujar immediately understood that he must

spread the Sri Vaishnava Sampradayam in such a way that maximum

number of people are benefitted. He established 74

Simhasanathipadis to spread the teachings of his Acharyans.

The meaning can also be interepreted as follows. By protecting

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cows we can obtain the wealth of Lord Vishnu’s grace. The Lord

always goes after cows. Nammazhwar in his pasuram sings,

“komalavan kannai pulgi Govindan meitha na ennu Pomila nagathin

pin poi avan kiddaka idu enum”.

The azhwar in the above pasuram says that he hugs calves because

they remind him of the calves reared by the Lord during

Krishnavataram. If the Azhwar spots a snake, he hugs even the

snake because it reminds him of AdiSesha the snake bed of Lord

Vishnu.

We must be absorbed in thought about the Lord like Nammazhwar.

We must protect cows as a quick way to please the Lord and obtain

His Supreme Grace.

The last question asked by the Yakshan in this series was , ‘Which

when it takes birth makes human beings very happy?’Yudhishtira

answered that, human beings are happy when a child is born to

them. He used the word “puthram” to answer the Yakshan’s

question. “Puthram “ means “child” and does not refer to male

children alone.

Once, a man’s father passed away. His mother asked him to

perform the last Vedic rites. The son refused stating that he had to

go back to work. He declared that his father had done nothing for

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him. His father had not even started a trust account for him. The

son did not feel obligated to do the last rites for his father. That day

at work one of his colleagues offered him sweets. The colleague

looked extremely happy as he had just become a father. The son

immediately left work and went home to perform the last rites for

his father. He thought that even if his father had not saved any

funds for him, he must have felt as happy as his colleague when he

(son) had been born.

The Yakshan asked Yudhishtira to name that person who in spite of

living well, enjoying life to the full extent, having a beautiful wife by

his side and being respected by everyone is considered to be a

lifeless corpse.

Yudhishtira asked the Yakshan to provide more information about

this person. The Yakshan added that this person does not offer

anything to Gods, servants, pitris, or to Lord Narayana.

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Yudhishtira answered that a person who does not do Salagrama

Aradhanai and worship Lord Narayana, a person who does not

honour his guests, who does not treat his servants well or enquire

about their welfare, who does not perform shradham but pays

money to a Brahmin to perform shradham on his behalf is a living

and breathing corpse.

Guests are very sensitive to the words of the host. They must be

welcomed with a happy attitude. One should never make them feel

unwelcome. Similarly a person must treat his/her servants properly.

We should not give servants spoilt food or useless items. Hired help

should be encouraged by giving them bonus and other incentives as

a token of appreciation. One should not haggle with vendors who

provide door to door service but we must appreciate their efforts in

providing door to door service for our convenience.

After performing shradham a person should obtain the permission

of the priest to eat the food items. Food preparred for a shradham

must not be shared before offering it in the shradham. Pithris are

very sensitive and shy. They expect cleanliness and will not accept

items which have been consumed by others prior to offering in the

shradham. Everyone must medidate upon Lord Narayana as the

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Antaratma; they must atleast chant 1slokam everyday.

Mahabharatam is often called as the fifth Veda. The Mahabharata

mentions 4 types of debts every person has to pay off. The first

debt is to the great Rishis who blessed us with great works like

Divya Prabhandham and epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana. To

show our gratitude we must learn these epics or atleast chant 1

slokam or pasuram from their work regularly.

We are indebted to the Devas who work for our benefit. The Sun

gives us light and warmth , they cause rain to fall on Earth and

perform many such tasks for our benefit. To thank them we must

perform Yagams. A Brahmin must perform agniohothram regularly.

If it is not possible to perform agnihothram then he must perform

aupasanam or atleast chant the aupasanam manthram regularly.

Lord Agni is also considered to be a guest. He has to be welcomed

properly in our homes. Every Brahmin who is married must

perform agnihothram or aupasanam along with his wife to worship

Lord Agni as their guest.

All of us are indebted to our ancestors. The fact that we are here is a

proof of their existence. In order to thank them Shradhams are

performed. By performing shradhams we fulfill the debt we owe to

the pitris.

The fourt debt is our debt to society. We must help people. We

must not encourage social problems; for example by donating to

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pan handlers we increase the nuisance value. We make them lazy as

they can earn money without working for it.

Any person who does not pay off the above debts is considered to

be dead.

The Yakshan asked Yudhishtira to name that which is heavier than

Earth? Which is higher than sky? Which is faster than wind? Which

is lower in value (status) than grass or that which grows

uncontrollably like grass?

Yudhishtira answered that a person’s mother is heavier than

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Earth. The word guruthara is used in Sanskrit for heaviness. This

word also refers to respect. Hence, Yudhishtira answers that a

person’s mother is greater than Earth. She has to be worshiped in

the same manner in which a person worships the Devas. Sage

Apasthamba mentioned that mothers are greater then fathers. The

Vedas give permission to people to abandon their father if their

father is immoral, gambles, is an alcoholic and is a nuisance to the

family. The same Vedas however mention that even if a person’s

mother does not have good character, she must be protected and

worshipped. During the Gaya Shradham, 1 pindam is offered to a

father whereas 16 Pindams are offered to a mother praising every

sacrifice she made to raise her children. A mother readily forgives

her children. Like the Earth, she is very patient and tolerates the

mistakes of her children. Hence a mother is greater than Earth.

Yudhishtira answered that a father is higher than sky. A father looks

to be an ordinary human being but he is a child’s first Acharyan. A

father performs Brahmopadesam to his son and teaches him about

everything the child needs to know to live in this world.

Yudhishtira said that our mind travels faster than wind. The

following story depicts the swiftness of mind.

There was a rich land lord who managed the local temple. He

provided a bowl of rice to everyone who worked in the temple.

There was an old man who did nothing. He sat inside the temple

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gate all day. The landlord out of compassion also provided a bowl

of rice to this old man. One day the land lord’s son took over the

management. He had graduated from the top business school. He

wanted to minimise waste and carry out “lean execution”. He did an

audit and found out that the old man was receiving a bowl of rice

without performing any task. The new landlord stopped everyone

from providing rice to the old man unless he helped out with the

temple work. After a week the new landlord enquired if the old man

had started working. He was shocked to learn that the old man

didn’t do any work and continued to sit in his usual spot. The new

landlord visited the old man and was amazed to see that the old

man looked happy. The old man did not feel bad for losing his bowl

of rice. The new landlord felt sorry for the old man and asked him

to do atleast a small task. The old man replied that he did not need

rice. The landlord asked why the old man sat doing nothing all day.

The old man mentioned that it is not easy to remain static all day.

The landlord challenged the old man that he can sit like the old man

without doing anything. The old man accepted the challenge and

asked the landlord to remain static for just five minutes. After five

minutes the landlord replied that it was very easy to remain static.

To this the old mentioned that the landlord had only remained static

physically while his mind had been wandering musing about his

upcoming court case and then mentally visiting his sister. The

landlord was astonished by the old man’s reply. The landlord

accepted defeat and continued to provide a bowl of rice to the old

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man.

To the Yakshan’s last question in this series, Yudhishtira answered

that our worries grow uncontrollably like grass. Worries don’t have

any value like grass and they also grow like grass. To control worries

a person must remember that, only that which can happen will

happen anything else is impossible.

The esoteric meaning contained in Yudhishtira’s answers is as

follows.

Goddess Sridevi is our mother. She is greater than Earth because

she is ready to liberate us from Samsara. Lord Vishnu as our father

and is higher than sky since He resides at Paramapadam which is

higher than the entire Universe. We must try to attain Lord Vishnu

in our mind. We shouldn’t worry if it would be possible for us to

attain His divine feet. If we worry, we will never be able to attain

His divine feet.

The Yakshan asked Yudhishtira to name that which sleeps without

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closing its eyes. Which even when it is ‘still born’ makes its parents

very happy. Which is heartless and which grows big because of its

own speed?

Yudhishtira replied that fish sleeps without closing its eyes. He used

the word “matsya” while he could have also used “Meenaha” to

refer to fish. This is because the word “matsya” is also used for a

“brown nose”. Once, Lord Agni when he was a child hid

underwater because he had heard that the earlier Agnis passed away

by following their occupation of transferring offerings made in the

Yagam to the Devas. The Devas went searching for child Agni. A

fish (matsya) noticed child Agni hiding under water and immediately

reported to the Devas. Agni in turn cursed the fish that from that

moment people will start to catch fish by casting their net.

The meaning of Yudhishtira’s answer is that, like a fish we ignore

our mistakes and pretend to sleep. We are wide awake when other’s

make mistake. We look forward to an opportunity to complain

about other people’s mistakes. We must overcome this bad habit.

Yudhishtira said that an egg is still born but it makes its parents

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happy. The birds have to wait patiently for the egg to hatch. He

said that a stone is heartless. He used the word “ashmana” for stone

to indicate that it is present everywhere. There is a Vedic manthram

“ashma bhavathu nasthambhuhu” which when chanted properly

renders the body of the person who chants the manthram hard like

stone yet keeping the person’s heart soft (full of compassion) like

cotton. A river grows because of its own speed; i.e, our Lord’s grace

will sweep us off our feet.

The Yakshan asked Yudhishtira to name a traveller’s best friend, the

best friend of a house holder, best friend of a person suffering from

disease and the best friend of a person who is dying.

Knowledge and education is the best friend of a traveller. A person

is respected because of the knowledge he/she possesses. True

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knowledge called Brahma Vidhya will guide us in our travels to

reach Sri Vaikuntham. A wife is the best friend of a householder. A

husband is expected to respect his wife. A Brahmin who performs

agnihotram regularly has to perform a yagam called Ishti on full

moon as well as on new moon days. Agnihotram should always be

performed when accompanied by one’s wife. It is very crucial to

complete the Ishti yagam on the specified date. If a Brahmin’s wife

is unable to participate due to health reasons, the Brahmin must

seek her permission to complete the Ishti yagam without her

presence. If he completes the Ishti yagam without obtaining

permission from his wife, then he must seek her pardon and try to

please her. She may impose any fine upon him including the most

expensive jwellery for not obtaining her permission. The husband is

bound by the Vedic rule to pay the fine imposed her. If he is not

able to fulfill this, he has to re-do the Ishti yagam when she is able

to participate.

The Vedic wedding manthram declares a husband and wife to be

best friends; hence, a householder’s best friend is his wife.

This answer can also be taken as a disciple is the best friend of an .

A disciple is an Acharyan’s welwisher as well as customer.

The best friend of a patient is his/her doctor. Best friend of a

person who is dying is charity. A person must donate thinking that

they may die at any moment but while learning they must think that

they will live forever and hence continue to learn even when they

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are very old. Donation must be given only to the deserving people.

Once a saint went to a pilgrim house in varnasi to have his meal. He

requested the pilgrim house’s manager to show him the kitchen as

the saint did not want to eat if the kitchen was untidy. The manager

took him to the kitchen which was in pristine condition. The

counters and floors were well scrubbed and food was cooked

hygeinically. Upon looking at the kitchen the saint screamed stating

that there was a corpse hanging above the stove. The manager

thought the saint was a lunatic and turned him away. The following

year the saint again came to the same pilgrim house and requested

to see the kitchen. The manager took him inside just to humour

him. This time the saint refused to eat at the pilgrim house because

there was a skeleton hanging above the stove. The next year the

saint returned and as per his routine was shown the kitchen. This

year the saint exclaimed that the kitchen was very clean. The saint

then asked to speak with the owner of the pilgrim house. He asked

the owner how he had obtained the pilgrim house. The owner

admitted that he had murdered the previous owner to steal the

pilgrim house but as his consiounce was bothering him, he had

given away free food to all the pilgrims who travelled to Varanasi.

The said told the owner that the pilgrims had slowly eaten away the

owner’s sins and it had taken three long years of feeding thousands

of pilgrims each day to destroy the sins. Thus by donating we are

freed of our sins. Earning wealth incurrs sins. We can destroy these

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sins by donating money.

Who is the guest of everyone? What is Sanathana Dharmam? Which

is amrutham (elixir)? What is this earth (jagat) made off?

Lord Agni is also considered to be a guest. He has to be welcomed

properly in our homes. Every Brahmin who is married must

perform agnihothram (shroutham according to shruthi Vedas) or

aupasanam (smartham according to smruthi) along with his wife to

worship Lord Agni as their guest. If he is unable to perform neither

agnihotram nor aupasanam he must atleast chant the manthram for

aupasanam as a minimum requirement. When a couple get married

they request Lord Agni to come as their guest and release the lady’s

children from the grasp of death.

Agni is also the name of a person who leads us forward. An

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Acharyan is called as Agni since our Acharyan leads us along the

spiritual path. Performing Acharya kaimkaryam is very essential.

Yudhishtira answered the third question in this series before

answering the question about Sanatana Dharmam. This is because

Amrutham should take the place immediately after fire. Cow’s milk

is called as amrutham as it is offered in fire sacrifice. A cow gives us

milk without expecting anything in return.

To the last question Yudhishtira answered that Amrutham is

Sanatana Dharmama. Lord Vishnu is called as Amrutham. He is

known as Aparyapthamrutham or insatiable elixir. By consuming

Aparyapthamrtham we will never get tired of consuming this nectar.

He is Sanathana Dharmam because He is eternal and He is also

Dharmam. The Vedas tell us that the good deeds performed to

obtain good fruit are called as dharmam. The best fruit is obtaining

the divine feet of Lord Narayana. The means to attain this fruit is

through bakthi yoga and saranagathi. According to the laws of

Saranagathi He is the means as well as the end. Even if we surrender

to Him, He has to accept our surrender making Him the means as

well as the end. Hence He is Sanathana Dharmam. Amrutham is

tonic. He is the tasty tonic which will deliver us from Samsara.

This world is made up of Vayu. Jagat means that which changes in

Sanskrit. The world as we see is constantly undergoing changes.

Vayu means that which is in motion. Hence the answer implies that

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this world is always moving.

What is that which that travels alone? What is that which is reborn

after its birth? What is the remedy for frost (fog)? And what is the

Earth’s limit?

The Yakshan copied the above set off questions from the Vedas as

the Yakshan wanted Yudhishtira to have a short break in order to

refresh himself.

The Yakshan’s questions are part of a debate held during the

Ashwamedha Yagam. Any yagam is conducted by a team of 16

members. The names of the position held by these 16 members are

Brahma, Udgatha, Hota, Advaryu, Brahmanachamsi, Proshthota,

Mitra-Varuna, Prathiprashtatha, Protha, Prathihartha, Akshavahan,

Neshta, Agnidriyum, Subramanyan, Unnetha and Grhavasthu.

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The post of Brahma is very important as he make sure that the

Yagam is performed properly. If mistakes are made then it is the

duty of Brahma to rectify the mistakes. For example if ghee and

sakaraipongal are to be offered in the fire, sakaraipongal must be

offered completely before procedding to offer ghee. They cannot be

offered alternatively with 1 spoon of sakaraipongal followed by 1

spoon of ghee followed again by 1 spoon of sakaraipongal. This is

because Lord Agni consumes sakaraipongal in the seated position

and ghee in a reclined position. Alternating between spoons of

sakaraipongal and ghee is very inconvenient for Lord Agni. It is the

duty of the Brahma to make sure that mistakes like this are not

made. The Brahma has to be the most learned person in the team

but does not have much to do except to watch out for mistakes.

The procedure for Ashwamedha Yagam is complicated. The king

becomes tired while performing this Yagam. To rejunavate the king

a short break is incorporated in to the Yagam in the form of a

debate between the Hota and Brahma. The same set of questions

are also chanted as manthram by Brahmins during the Shradham

ritual. The Yakshan only copied four questions from this set; but we

will see the answers to all questions.

Question 1: Kigiswid dasit poorvachitihi? What is essential for

everyone?

Answer 1: The sky is essential for everyone as it carries the rain

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bearing clouds to shower rain to make the Earth prosperous.

Any one who listens to this question will not affected by famine in

the region they live.

Question 2: Kigiswid dasit brhatdwayaha? Who is very old?

Answer 2: Ashwa vai brhatdwayaha. Ashwa is very old. The word

Ashwa is normally used to refer to a horse in Sanskrit but it is also a

name for Lord Narayana. The word Ashwa means that which

spreads everywhere. As the horse travels with great speed it looks to

spread everywhere. Hence a horse was called as Ashwa but it is the

name of Lord Narayana to indicate His omnipresence. As He is

eternal with neither beginning nor end He is the most aged person

in this Universe.

Anyone who listens to this question will develop the thirst to attain

the Lord’s divine feet.

Question 3: Kigiswid dasit pishangila? Who is pishangila?

Answer 3: Ratri is pishangila. Pishangila means that which hides

defective form. Ratri is the name of night. At night defects are

hidden and not visible to our eye. Ratri means that which gives us

pleasure.

Anyone wholistens to this question will always be happy.

Question 4: Kigiswid dasit pilipila? Who is pilipila? Pilipila means

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that which makes things shine.

Answer 4: Money is pilipila. Money helps us to afford good food

and other products to rejunavate our body thus making it shine with

good health.

Anyone who listens to this question will be able to enjoy food

without their health being affected.

The next four questions are the questions asked by the Yakshan.

Question 5: What is that which that travels alone?

Answer 5: The Sun travels alone. Earlier the The Yakshna had asked

, “who travels with Adityan (Sun)?” to which Yudhistar answered

that the Devas accompany the Adityan in his travel. If we take

Adityan to be the Sun then the Devas are as follows.

There are in total 12 Suns known as the 12 Adithyas; one Adithya

for every month.

The Sun is accompanied by 1 rishi every month . The rishi keeps the

Sun commpany by chanting Vedas. There is also a gandharva who

palys music to entertain the Sun. The Sun’s chariot is drawn by 7

horses. A Yakshan travels with the Sun to control the horses. To

protect the Sun, a rakshasha travels with the Sun. The Sun is also

accompanied by a Naga. Apsaras entertain the Sun by dancing. Lord

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Vishnu has twelve forms. The Lord accompanies the Sun

everymonth in one of His twelve months.

Yudhishtira now answered that Surya (Sun) travels alone. It seems

that he contradicted his earlier answer; but here by Surya,

Yudhishtira refers to Lord Vishnu. Even when amongst the

company of others, Lord Vishnu shines brilliantly appearing to be

alone. When Lord Vishnu is present, even the Sun disappears in His

brilliance.

Anyone who listens to this question will become brilliant and shine

amongst other people.

Question 6: What is that which is reborn after its birth?

Answer 6: The moon is reborn after its birth. This answer refers to

the different phases of the moon. The moon takes birth as the

Fullmoon and slowly decays till it appears to disappear on

Newmoon day only to appear the following day as a crescent which

grows slowly till it is re-born as the Fullmoon. We find the lunar

phase interesting. We see the same Sun every single day but the

moon changes everyday. Change is interesting and prevents

boredom.

Anyone who listens to this question will make other people find

their company to be interesting.

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Question 7: What is the remedy for frost (fog)?

Answer 7: Agni (fire) is the remedy for frost (fog). Frost as well as

fog hides everything from our view but the fog referred to in this

question is ignorance. As we are covered by the cold grasp of

ignorance we do not realise our true self. An Acharyan is called as

agni since he leads us along the spiritual path. Agni is used to refer

to people who lead others along a path. An Acharyan through his

teachings melts away the frosty ignorance clouding our knowledge.

Anyone who listens to this question will lead a good life in this

world and enjoy the bliss enjoyed in Sri Vaikuntham in this world

itself.

Question 8: What is the Earth’s limit or which is the largest field?

Answer 8: the place where Lord Vishnu is worshiped is the largest

field.

Anyone who listens to this question will become good orators.

People will raise them on pedestal and listen to their words.

Question 9: Which is the hub for Earth? Central point are hub is

that location from which all the different types of wealth is

obtained.

Answer 9: Yagnam is the hub of Earth.

Anyone who listens to this question will obtain the Yagnam, Lord

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Narayana.

Question 10: Which is that horse which rains? What is its veeryam?

Answer 10: Yagam or Lord Narayan is the horse that rains blessings

on us. The veeryam is the soma juice used in Yagnam which is

nothing but the holy water with tulasi leaves offered to the Yagnam

called Lord Vishnu.

Question 11: What do all the words in this world refer to?

Answer 11: All the words refer ultimately to Lord Narayana who is

the Parabrahmam.

Anyone who listens to all these questions will obtain the fruit

received by perfoming the Ashwamedha Yagam as well as

Shradham.

It is very difficult to perform Shradham which is typically performed

only after the Earth has warmed up. This is usually around 11:25 am

in India. Traditionally the Brahmins chant the above question and

answer as soon as they enter their host’s home for perfoming

Shradham. It could also be chanted by them prior to eating the

offerings from the Shradham. If these questions are chanted by

them properly then the sportsmen born in that country will always

win the gold medal, the soldiers will be brave and victorious, cows

will give pleanty of milk, the oxen will be very strong and bear load

efficiently, vehicles will perform without accidents, horses will

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always travel with great speed, all girls born in that country will be

very beautiful like a “dream girl”, the host performing the Shradham

will get a good son who will be intelligent, brave, youthful ,

courteous and this son will keep only good company, It will rain

only when the people of the country wish for rain thus preventing

crop damage from heavy as well as scanty rainfall. Overall world

peace and prosperity will be attained.

What is the highest refuge of dharmam, fame, heaven and

happiness?

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Talent is the higest refuge of dharmam. It is not easy to follow the

prescribed dharmam as there are many grey areas. It requires special

talent to follow ones dharmam without hurting the feelings of other

people. Lord Rama faced this situation in Yudha Kandam of

Valmiki Ramayana.

Vibhishana approached Lord Rama to surrender but he did not

approach the Lord directly but pleaded with the Vanaras and asked

them to represent his intentions to the Lord. As Vibhishana had

approached the Lord through the Vanaras, the Lord wanted to grant

refuge through them as well; therefore, He asked the opinion of the

Vanara warriors. All of them refused to accept Vibhishana in their

fold. Maharaj Sugreevan further added that as Vibhishana had

abandoned his brother Ravana during times of need, he was a bad

brother and hence cannot be trusted to be a good friend. Lord

Rama wanted to convey that Sugreevan had raised to the position of

a king only after he had requested Lord Rama to kill his brother

Vali. But the Lord could not mention this bluntly as it would hurt

Sugreevan’s feelings. The Lord always grants refuge to anyone who

approaches Him and He never abandons the people who sought

His help. If He hurt Sugreevan’s feelings and Sugreevan left the

company of the Lord then the Lord would have failed in His duty to

never abandon the company of Sugreevan. If He followed the

advice of Sugreevan then He would be unable to accept Vibhishana

and thus fail in His solemn vow to grant protection to anyone who

approached Him. To overcome this situation the Lord told

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Sugreevan that not all brothers will be a good brother like His

brother Bharathan, not all sons will be a good son like Himself as

He had followed His father’s words and went to the forest in exile.

He then added that not all friends will be a good friend like

Sugreevan thus indicating to Sugreevan that Sugreevan was a bad

brother but a good friend. Similarly Vibhishana might be a bad brother

but he could be a good friend. After hearing the Lord’s words

Sugreevan immediately changed his opinion and agreed to accept

Vibhishana in their fold.

Fame is attained by donating as the people who receive donation

will always praise the donors.

Heavenly pleassures can be experienced on this world itself by

speaking truth. Heaven is a place where people experience only

happiness. Hell is a place where people experience only sorrow.

Earth is a place where we experience both happiness as well as

sorrows and hence we are called “ubhyar”. By uttering truth we can

experience constant happiness. Consider the following example. An

employee spent time in the morning solving the crossword puzzle at

home. He arrived past his start time at work. His boss asked him the

reason for his delay and the employee lied that his car tire had been

punctured. The following day his car tire was actually punctured but

as he had used this excuse the previous day he spent hours in

needless worry trying to come up with a good excuse.

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Only truth which is beneficial to others and does not fuel our

selfiish motives should be spoken.

A man travelled to a distant city. He went to visit his friend and

found that his friend’s home was decorated. It was evident that the

friend was celebating a happy occasion like a wedding. The man had

learnt during his travel that the friend’s distant relative had passed

away but it became eveident that the friend was not aware of this

news. In this situation the man should not inform his friend about

the bad news and stop the celebration. Instead, he should just leave

the place thus avoiding having to say anything at all.

Good conduct makes us happy. This means that we should abandon

superiority complex and unwanted ego. When we feel superior we

have great expectations on how other people should treat us. When

other people fail to treat us according to our expectations we feel

sad.

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What is the soul of a man? Who is that friend bestowed on man by

the gods? What do men seek to obtain to enhance their livelihood?

What is the route that takes humans to a good place?

A man’s son is his soul. The word atma means that which attains

everything it wishes for in Sanskrit. A man’s child is his soul as the

father expects his children to achieve the things which he never

achieved. The gestation period of human beings is considered to be

12 months by the Vedas. This is because the child resides in the

heart of its father for 2 months before residing in its mother’s

womb for ten months. A wife is called as “jaaya” in Sanskrit which

means that the husband takes birth through her as their son.

Immediately after a child is born the wife should be treated with

respect as a mother by the husband.

This answer also reveals that Lord Vishnu’s soul is His bagawathas.

Wife is the friend bestowed upon a man by the Gods. The word

“saka” is used to refer to a friend who shares in our happiness as

well as sorrow equally. Hence, a wife is called as a “saka” as she

stays by her husband during good as well as bad times. “saka” is

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masculine gender; the feminine gender “saki” is not used to refer to

a wife. The word “saka” is used to represent a wife to show that she

is equal in everyway to her husband as only equals could be best

friends.

By chanting the vedic wedding manthram during saptha pathi the

husband requests his wife to be his best friend.

“saka saptha patha bava

Sakayam saptha patha babuva”

The husband says that by taking the seven steps around the sacred

fire they have become friends. He promises never to abandon their

friendship and requests his wife to abide by their friendship as well.

This is why it is a grave sin to cheat one’s wife or to insult her as the

sin obtined by back stabbing one’s friend is unforgivable.

Men seek rain as the rain waters bring prosperity. Even if a man

earns a high salary but due to a famine if the commodities prieces

sky rocket, he would be unable to save any money.

DhAnam takes humans to a good place. By donating we get rid of

the numerous sins which we have accumulated. We should give

donation with interest (shradha) and without any attachments to the

object donated (ashradha). A man went to attend a religious

discourse. He noticed that at the end of the lecture people donated

funds to the collection plate. He wanted to donate money to the

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collection plate as well as a token of appreciation to the lecturer but

he did not have any cash with him. The following day he took a

dollar with him. At the lecture he kept feeling the dollar and he felt

that a dollar was too much to donate. He felt that fifty cents would

be sufficient. As he did not have any change he thought that he

could drop a dollar in the collection plate and take back fifty cents

from the plate. As the man with the collection plate approached

him, he felt that it will look very bad if he took back fifty cents in

change. He decided not to donate any money at all. As the man had

been attached to the dollar, his attachment had prevented him from

making the donation.

Human beings are by nature misers. They do not like to make

donation.

Once, Devendra, an asura and a man went to Lord Brahma to

learn. As the lectuure was very lengthy they asked Lord Brahma to

summarize. Lord Braham said the word “dha” to each of them.

Devendra understoon “dha” to mean “dhamayatha” which meant

“don’t be arrogant”. The devas tend to feel superior and hence

exhibit arrogance. As a result of this they indulge in sensual

pleassures and they are unable to control their senses. Devendra

thus took the word “dha” to mean exhibiting proper self control

and abandoning arrogance.

The asura took “dha” to mean “dayathvam”. The asuras are cruel by

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nature and they do not show compassion. Thus the asura took

“dha” to mean avoid cruelty to other beings.

The man took “dha” to mean “ dhatta” or “give”. Men never

donate to the needy thus he took “dha” to mean donate to the

needy.

By donating we can rid ourself of the numerous sins which we have

accumulated.

What is the best method to earn money? Which is the best property

or investment? Which is the best profit? Which is the best item to

be enjoyed?

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Skill is the best method to earn money. A skillful person will always

be able to provide for themselves and their families by applying

their skills. In the story of Nala Damayanthi, King Nala lost his

kingdom along with everything he owned to his brother . The king

wandered in the forest with his wife. Wishing for his wife to live

comfortably he abandoned her knowing that she will find her way

to her parent’s home where she will be comfortable. The king heard

a cry for help. Upon following the voice he noticed that the serpent

Karkotan was surrounded by forest fire. He stepped inside the ring

of fire and saved the serpent. Karkotan then asked the king to walk

ten steps along with him while counting the steps in Sanskrit.

Accordingly the king walked counting his steps. The moment the

king took the tenth step counting “dasha” the snake bit him.

Alarmed at the snake’s behaviour the king enquired why the snake

had bitten him. Karkotan replied he only did what the king had

asked him to do as in Sanskrit “dasha” menas “ten” as well as

“bite”. The snake added that he bit the king only to help him. In the

meantime the king’s apperance changed. The once handsome king

now became short and stout. The snake told him that now the king

could pass his exile incognito and the moment the king feels it is

safe to re-surface he would get back his original handsome figure.

The king went to the country of King Rituparna seeking

employment. As Nala looked very ugly the people were not

impressed. He went to Rituparna’s court seeking employment. As

Nala showed-off his skill as a charioteer, the king immediately hired

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him eventhough his at first he didn’t have a very good opinion

about Nala .

Thus, a person possessing skills will always be able to find a

livelihood.

The best property is listening to Upanyasams (religious discourses).

The Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar stated in Thirukural that “selvathul

selvam sevi selvam” i.e the best wealth is the wealth of listening.

We cannot learn everything by just reading books. Most of us have

read the Valmiki Ramayana. We know that Lord Rama concealed

Himself from Vali while shooting Vali with His arrow. Sugreevan

approached Vali and challenged him to a wrestling match. Vali beat

up Sugreevan while Lord Rama watched them fight. Sugreevan

asked the Lord why he hadn’t interfered. Lord Rama lied that He

was unable to distinguish between Vali and Sugreevan as they

looked identical. The following day Lord Rama asked a flower

garland to be preparred and insisted that Lakshmana should garland

Sugreevan before the match. That day the Lord shot and killed Vali.

Books will tell us that the Lord had asked Sugreevan to wear the

garland inorder to be able to identify him from Vali. In reality the

Lord is the Supreme Being and can differentiate between the two

without the help of a garland. Then, did Lord Rama lie? The Lord

did not lie as He referred to the arrogant behaviour of both

Sugreevan as well as Vali. Both the brothers displayed arrogance.

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They thought that “they were fighting”. They felt that victory would

be because of their effort. They did not acknowledge the Lord as

the inner controller. Hence Lord Rama found their attitudes to be

identical and witnessed the match without intefering.

Sugreevan never treated Lord Lakshmana with respect. He felt that

he respected only to Lord Rama as Lord Rama was a king like

himself. Lord Rama never protects anyone who did not pay their

respect to Lakshmana. Hence He insisted that Lakshmana should

garland Sugreevan. In order to wear the garland Sugreevan had to

bow his head before Lakshmana thus pleasing Lord Rama.

Above commentary is not available from any books on Ramayanam.

It can only be learned by listening to the discourses rendered by

Acharyas.

The best profit a person can earn is good health. Even if a person is

very rich but is suffering from illness, the person will not be able to

enjoy the pleasures money can provide.

Contentment is the best pleasure a person can have. If a person is

not contented no matter what he/she possesses they will never be

happy.

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Which is the best dharmam? Which dharmam gives good fruit at all

times? Who if controlled is happy? Which kind of alliance can

never be broken or digested?

Yudhishtira recollected the words of Sita Piratti from Valmiki

Ramayana and answered that compassion is the best dharmam.

In the Ramayana after Lord Rama defeated Ravana, Lord Hanuman

approached Sita Devi and requested her permission to kill all the

Rakshashis who had tortured Sita Devi. Sita Devi refused to give

her permission. She explained to Lord Hanuman that the best virtue

a person can have is to pardon the sins committed by others.

She then narrated the following story to Lord Hanuman. A man was

chased by a tiger. He climbed a tree to escape the tiger and found a

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gorilla sitting on the top most tree branch. The gorilla promised to

protect the man since he had come seeking refuge by entering the

gorilla’s home. The gorilla protected the man while he slept. The

tiger tried to convince the gorilla to push the man down but the

gorilla refused. After the man awoke he asked the gorilla to sleep

while he kept watch. The tiger promised to allow the man to escape

if he pushed the gorilla from the tree. The man immediately agreed

and pushed the gorilla. The gorilla fell down the tree. The tiger told

the gorilla that he had asked the man to push the gorilla to reveal

the man’s nature. He was interested only to eat the man. The tiger

asked the gorilla to go up and push the man. The gorilla agreed and

climbed up the tree. As soon as it approached the trembling man, it

hugged him and promised to protect him from the tiger. The gorilla

said that even when people make mistake it is our duty to forgive

them.

Which dharmam gives good fruit at all times?

Treta dharmam gives fruit at all times. Treta dharmam could refer to

the three forms of agni worshipped by a householder while

performing either aupasanam or agnihothram regularly. It could also

refer to the dharmam which incarnated in the Treta yuga thus

referring to the Lord as the means as well as the end. The Lord is

enjoined with Thathvam, Hitham and Purushartham. He is the

supreme Thatthvam. He provides hitham (benefits) to us when He

accepts our saranagathi, He is the purushartham we seek.

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What is the one thing to be controlled to lead a life free from

remorse?

Our mind should be controlled. We must not try to controll other

people by bending them to our will. We must control our mind to

stop it from dwelling on the mistakes committed by other people.

When we exhibit self-control, we will not make fun of other’s faults

or yell at their errors; thus, we need not feel remorse for our bad

behaviour.

Which kind of alliance can never be broken or digested? The

alliance made with good people is called “Sat-Sangam”; this alliance

can never be broken. Sat is the name given to a person who has

realised God. Sat is not a person who just believes in God but the

name Sat is conferred upon those who realise God as the only

saviour who is full of compassion and is the means as well as the

end. The friendship developed with Sat people will extend even to

Sri Vaikuntham.

The five Pandavas along with Draupadi decided to go away on

Mahaprasthanam. They had to keep travelling in a northernly

direction without consuming food while waiting for death. They

were soon joined by a stray dog which followed them. After

sometime, Draupadi fell down and died. Yudhishtirar explained that

as she had always been slightly partial towards Arjuna she had fallen

first. She was followed by Sahadevan. Bheema asked Yudhishtirar

why Sahadevan had fallen. Yudhishtirar replied that Sahadevan had

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been proud of his intelligence and hence had fallen next. Sahadevan

was followed by Nakulan . Bhima wanted to know the reason for

Nakulan’s fall, Yudhishtirar replied that Nakulan had been proud of

his apperance and as a result of this fault he had fallen. Soon Arjuna

fell down and died. Bhima wanted to know about Arjuna’s fault.

Yudhishtirar mentioned that Arjuna had been proud of his prowess

and he always thought that he was the saviour of the Pandavas.

Next Bhima himself fell down but just before he passed away he

wanted Yudhishtirar to explain the reason for his fall. Yudhishtirar

explained that Bhima had coveted food too much and as a result he

was falling. In the end Yudhishtirar just had the company of the

dog. Soon they were met by a heavenly chariot sent from heaven.

As Yudhishtirar was about to embark on the chariot, the driver

informed him that he cannot bring the dog inside the chariot.

Yudhishtirar told the driver that if the dog was not allowed he

wouldn’t step inside as well. He informed the driver that he would

rather walk with the dog than abandon it to travel by chariot. The

dog then revealed himself to be Dharma Devathai ( Yudhishtirar’s

father ) and praised Yudhishtirar’s integrity.

In the above story Yudhishtirar is sat and as he had walked more

than seven steps with the dog, he considered the dog to be his

friend and refused the abandon the dog. Hence friendships

cultivated with sat people like Yudhishtirar can never be broken.

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What should be abandoned by a person to become beloved by all?

After abandoning which we can lead a worry free life? How can a

person become rich? How can a person lead a happy and

comfortable life?

What should be abandoned by a person to become beloved by all?

Everyone adores a person who has abandoned ego. A person who

has abandoned self-ego will be humble; thus, he or she will be loved

by all. No one likes to keep the company of a know-it-all or a self-

trumpeter.

After abandoning which we can lead a worry free life?

By abandoning krodham we can lead a worry free life. In Sanskrit,

there are two words used for anger. One is “kopam” and the other

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is “krodham”. There is a big difference between “kopam” and

“krodham”. Kopam is normal anger. We feel this when we see

injustice done. Our anger is directed toeards the perpetuator of the

injustice. This kind of anger is rightful anger.

Krodham is an emotion we feel when we desire something but feel

angry when we do not get the object of our desire. We direct our

anger towards innocent people who had nothing to do with us not

getting the object of our desire. For example, an employee desired

to be promoted but his colleague was selected for promotion as the

colleague was better suited. The employee started to feel angry as he

had not been selected. He went home and rang the door bell. His

wife was in the kitchen using the blender and as a result she did not

hear the door bell. It took a few extra minutes for her to realise that

there was someone at the door. As soon she opened the door, the

employee yelled at her stating that she had brought nothing but bad

luck because of which he had not been promoted. This kind of mis-

placed anger is called as krodham.

This should be controlled to lead a worry free life. We will only get

those things in life which we are destined to get. There is no use

worrying about attaining our desires and feeling angry when our

heart’s desire is not met.

How can a person become rich?

We can become rich by not spending money to procure unnecessary

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items. By controlling greed and lust we can become wealthy.

Benjamin Franklin mentioned that, ‘if a person keeps on buying

unnecessary things then that person will end up selling necessary

things.’

How can a person lead a happy and comfortable life?

We can lead a happy comfortable life if we learn to be contented

with what we have.

The answers of Yudhishtirar could also be considered from the

following spiritual angle.

In order to attain the love of Lord Narayana we must abandon false

pride. It is said that the Lord reveals Himself to the people He loves

the most. The Lord loves those people who have abandoned ego.

During the Mahabharata war, Ashwatama used the Narayana

weapon against the Pandavas. Lord Krishna announced to the

Pandavas that the only way to remain unharmed by the weapon is to

cast away their weapons and their pride by surrendering to the

weapon. Everyone except Bhima followed Lord Krishna’s advice.

The weapon’s intensity increased as Bhima had not surrendered.

The weapon vanished only when Lord Krishna forced Bhima to

surrender. Our false pride and ego keeps us from attaining Lord

Krishna. As long as we lust after unnecessary material things and

give place to greed in our heart we will never achieve the Supreme

Wealth called Lord Narayana. We must realise that everything in this

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Universe including ourselves belong to the Lord. He is the only

proprietor. We can lead a happy worry free life once we come to the

above realisation.

Why do people donate to Brahmins? Why are donations made to

artists, servants and royalty (modern day Government officials)?

Why do people donate to Brahmins?

People donate to learned Brahmins to attain higher worlds.

Donations made to people who are not Brahmins should be called a

“gift” and not a “donation”.

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Why are donations made to artists?

In order to attain fame people gift large sum of money to artists.

Organizers of events pride themselves when famous artists

participate in their event. The organisers shower expensive gifts

upon these artists as a free advertisement to show-off their event’s

success to everyone. The people who attend the event also praise

the organisers for making it possible for them to spend some time

with the artists. Thus the organisers obtain fame.

Why are donations made to servants?

We give small incentives to servants to make them happy so that

they stay loyal to us and do not leave our employment.

Why are donations made to royalty (modern day Government

officials)?

We give gifts to authority figures out of fear. We are afraid that

authority figures may misuse their powers to persecute us. To avoid

their persecution we give gifts to them.

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What is this world surrounded by? Why isn’t light emitted by this

world? Why do people who reside in this world abandon their

friends? Why do the residents of this world go to hell instead of

heaven?

The world is engulfed by the darkness of ignorance called as

“agnanam”. It is impossible for anyone to know everything. If we

have expertise in one area it means that we do not have knowledge

in other areas. A learned Pundit was approached by a common man.

The man had been given a piece of paper by his master and

instructed to deliver items to the address on the paper.

Unfortunately the man was an illiterate. He requested the Pundit to

read the address for him.. The Pundit made fun of the man because

he couldn’t even read a simple address. A few minutes later the

Pundit was a witness to a car accident. The police asked the Pundit

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if he had information about the car’s number plate. The Pundit

answered that the license plate was in a language he did not

understand and hence he was unable to provide this information.

The common man who had earlier asked the Pundit to read the

address was also present near by. He in turn pointed out the

Pundit’s inability to read the car license plate.

We can never obtain complete knowledge in this world. Swami

Vedanta desikan suggested that we should try to gain only essential

knowledge in this world, we should realise that the purpose of our

birth is to strive to attain the Lord’s feet, we must abandon negative

feelings of anger, lust and greed, we must do what we think and

preach. By following Swami Desikan’s advice we can attain Sri

vaikuntham. Only after reaching Sri Vaikuntham we will be freed

from the dark fog of ignorance.

Why isn’t light emitted by this world?

The world does not emit light due to laziness. The world’s light is

the self-illuminated knowledge of its residents. Our laziness

prevents us from attaining knowledge. The wrong type of food we

consume make as more lazy. Thus it is essential to eat only the

prescribed food. It is said that anyone who consumes food before

taking a shower in the morning is considered to be eating feaces. A

person who eats without meditating upon the Lord is eating blood

and the person who eats without offering the food to God is

consuming dung of animals like horses and elephants.

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Why do people who reside in this world abandon their friends?

We abandon friends because we desire the things they posess. This

leads to anger and jealousy which in turn makes us abandon our

friendship.

Why do the residents of this world go to hell instead of heaven?

The people in this world go to hell instead of heaven because they

keep wrong company. There are five major sins as listed below.

1. Lieing

2. Coveting the other’s spouse

3. Using drugs and alcohol which numb our senses

4. Hating someone without reason

5. The fifth sin is remaining the friend of a person who does

all of the above sins.

Thus by abandoning Asat-Sangam we can attain heaven. By heaven

the Yakshan is reffering to Sri Vaikuntham which could only be

attained by developing Sat-Sangam.

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When is a person alive but dead? When is an entire nation dead, a

shradham dead and an yagnam dead?

When is a person alive but dead?

A person suffering from poverty is considered to be dead. No one

likes to go near a corpse similarly everyone avoids a homeless

person.

When is an entire nation dead?

A country without a proper leader is considered to be dead. Lack of

strong leadership destroys the morals of a nation and leads to

looting and pillaging.

When is a shradham dead?

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A shradham is dead if it is not performed properly. If we pay money

to have it performed in a common hall because we don’t want our

home to be dirtied by the smoke from the fire the Shradham

becomes dead. . Pithris are very sensitive and shy. They expect

cleanliness and will not accept items which have been consumed by

others prior to offering in the shradham.

The procedure for Ashwamedha Yagam is complicated. The king

becomes tired while performing this Yagam. To rejunavate the king

a short break is incorporated in to the Yagam in the form of a

debate between the Hota and Brahma. The same set of questions

are also chanted as manthram by Brahmins during the Shradham

ritual. Typically the manthram should be chanted as soon as the

Brahmins enter the home but now a days it is chanted before they

consume the offerings from the Shradham. By chanting the

manthram the Brahmins confer blessings on the general public as

well as the host. The manthram is in the form of question and

answers. The answers are the blessings conferred upon the

public. If the offerings are consumed by the Brahmins

without chanting the manthram then the Shradham is dead. The

following are the questions & answers which are part of the

manthram.

Question 1: Kigiswid dasit poorvachitihi? What is essential for

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everyone?

Answer 1: The sky is essential for everyone as it carries the rain

bearing clouds to shower rain to make the Earth prosperous.

Any one who listens to this question will not be affected by famine

in the region they live.

Question 2: Kigiswid dasit brhatdwayaha? Who is very old?

Answer 2: Ashwa vai brhatdwayaha. Ashwa is very old. The word

Ashwa is normally used to refer to a horse in Sanskrit but it is also a

name for Lord Narayana. The word Ashwa means that which

spreads everywhere. As the horse travels with great speed it looks to

spread everywhere. Hence a horse was called as Ashwa but it is the

name of Lord Narayana to indicate his omnipresence. As He is

eternal with neither beginning nor end He is the most aged person

in this Universe.

Anyone who listens to this question will develop the thirst to attain

the Lord’s divine feet.

Question 3: Kigiswid dasit pishangila? Who is pishangila?

Answer 3: Ratri is pishangila. Pishangila means that which hides

defective form. Ratri is the name of night. At night defects are

hidden and not visible to our eye. Ratri means that which gives us

pleasure.

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Anyone who listens to this question will always be happy.

Question 4: Kigiswid dasit pilipila? Who is pilipila? Pilipila means

that which makes things shine.

Answer 4: Money is pilipila. Money helps us to afford good food

and other products to rejunavate our body thus making it shine with

good health.

Anyone who listens to this question will be able to enjoy food

without any negative impact on their health .

Question 5: What is that which that travels alone?

Answer 5: The Sun travels alone. Earlier the The Yakshna had

asked , “who travels with Adityan (Sun)?” to which Yudhistar

answered that the Devas accompany the Adityan in his travel. If we

take Adityan to be the Sun then the Devas are as follows.

There are in total 12 Suns known as the 12 Adithyas one Adithya

for every month.

The Sun is accompanied by 1 rishi every month . The rishi keeps the

Sun commpany by chanting Vedas. There is also a gandharva who

palys music to entertain the Sun. The Sun’s chariot is drawn by 7

horses. A Yakshan travels with the Sun to control the horses. To

protect the Sun, a rakshasha travels with the Sun. The Sun is also

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accompanied by a Naga. Apsaras entertain the Sun by dancing. Lord

Vishnu has twelve forms. The Lord accompanies the Sun

everymonth in one of His twelve months.

It seems that Yudhistra’s answer contradicts this answer but here by

Surya, Lord Vishnu is referred. Even when amongst the company of

others, Lord Vishnu shines brilliantly appearing to be alone. When

Lord Vishnu is present, even the Sun disappears in His brilliance.

Anyone wholistens to this question will become brilliant and shine

amongst other people.

Question 6: What is that which is reborn after its birth?

Answer 6: The moon is reborn after its birth. This answer refers to

the different phases of the moon. The moon takes birth as the

Fullmoon and slowly decays till it appears to disappear on

Newmoon day only to appear the following day as a crescent which

grows slowly till it is re-born as the Fullmoon. We find the lunar

phase interesting. We see the same Sun every single day but the

moon changes everyday. Change is interesting and prevents

boredom.

Anyone who listens to this question will make other people find

their company to be interesting.

Question 7: What is the remedy for frost (fog)?

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Answer 7: Agni (fire) is the remedy for frost (fog). Frost as well as

fog hides everything from our view but the fog referred to in this

question is ignorance. As we are covered by the cold grasp of

ignorance we do not realise our true self. An Acharyan is called as

agni since he leads us along the spiritual path. Agni is used to refer

to people who lead others along a path. An Acharyan through his

teachings melts away the frosty ignorance clouding our knowledge.

Anyone who listens to this question will lead a good life in this

world and enjoy the bliss enjoyed in Sri Vaikuntham in this world

itself.

Question 8: What is the Earth’s limit or which is the largest field?

Answer 8: the place where Lord Vishnu is worshiped is the largest

field.

Anyone who listens to this question will become good orators.

People will raise them on a pedestal and listen to their words.

Question 9: Which is the hub for Earth? Central point are hub is

that location from which all the different types of wealth is

obtained.

Answer 9: Yagnam is the hub of Earth.

Anyone who listens to this question will obtain the Yagnam, Lord

Narayana.

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Question 10: Which is that horse which rains? What is its veeryam?

Answer 10: Yagam or Lord Narayan is the horse that rains blessings

on us. The veeryam is the soma juice used in Yagnam which is

nothing but the holy water with tulasi leaves offered to the Yagnam

called Lord Vishnu.

Question 11: What do all the words in this world refer to?

Answer 11: All the words refer ultimately to Lord Narayana who is

the Parabrahmam.

Anyone who listens to all the above questions will obtain the fruit

received by perfoming the Ashwamedha Yagam as well as

Shradham.

It is very difficult to perform Shradham which is typically performed

only after the Earth has warmed up. This is usually around 11:25 am

in India. Traditionally the Brahmins chant the above question and

answer as soon as they enter their host’s home for perfoming

Shradham. It could also be chanted by them prior to eating the

offerings from the Shradham. If these questions are chanted by

them properly then the sportsmen born in that country will always

win the gold medal, the soldiers will be brave and victorious, cows

will give pleanty of milk, the oxen will be very strong and bear load

efficiently, vehicles will perform without accidents, horses will

always travel with great speed, all girls born in that country will be

very beautiful like a “dream girl”, the host performing the Shradham

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will get a good son who will be intelligent, brave, youthful ,

courteous and this son will keep only good company, It will rain

only when the people of the country wish for rain thus preventing

crop damage from heavy as well as scanty rainfall. They finally

confer Yoga Shemam on the public. Yogam is the accumulation

of new items. Shemam is the proper functioning of the purchased

item. A couple used their bonus to buy a brand new refrigerator.

The following year they again spent their bonus on a brand new

refrigerator because the refrigerator purchased during the previous

year stopped working. If the couple had Yoga Shemam then the

refrigerator from the previous year would function properly

enabling them to spend their bonus on purchasing some other item.

Overall world peace and prosperity will be attained.

When is an yagnam dead?

A Yagam is considered to be dead if dakshina (donation) are not

offered according to the laws of the Yagnam. The sins affecting the

Yagam are disposed off safely by giving Dakshina to

Brahmins. There are certain hazards associated with every

occupation. Similar to a doctor running the risk of catching

infectious diseases from the patients they treat, a Brahmin runs the

risk of catching the sins of their hosts when they receive dakshina.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) like gloves are used by

medical practitioner to protect themselves against infectious

diseases. The regular practice of Vedic Manthrams and the Vedic

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Manthrams themselves are the PPE used by a Brahmin to protect

themselves from the sins contained in a dakshina.

The following story illustrates how the Vedic manthras protect a

Brahmin.

Once, the Devas decided to perform a sacrifice but the fire would

not burn properly as it was afflicted by sin. It is prohibited to

perform sacrifices if the fire smoulders. The devas went to get ghee

to make the fire burn properly but the ghee solidified as it was

affected by sin. As it is not allowed to pour solid ghee into the fire,

they were instructed by Lord Brahma to give dakshina (donations)

to people to transfer the sin to other people. No one wanted to

receive the dakshina as they did not want to get the sins. Lord

Brahma then asked the Brahmins to take the dakshina but they too

refused. Lord Brahma then asked them to get the dakshina by

weraing protective gloves so that the sin will not stick to them. This

protective gloves is the recitation of the Vedic mantras.

The Vedic mantras are never affected by sin as it is the nature of the

Vedic mantra to repel sin. When we eat greasy food with our hand,

the grease sticks to our hand. We scrub our hand to remove the

grease but it is not necessary to scrub our tongue. Even though our

tongue comes in contact with the greasy food, the grease does not

stick to the tongue as it is the nature of the tongue to repel grease.

Similarly by practicing at least one chapter from the Vedas, sins

from the dakshina do not affect the Brahmins. If it is not possible to

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practice one chapter everyday, the Brahmins must atleast chant

Purusha Suktham or at least chant the Gayathri Manthram ten times

everyday. A Brahmin who does not do any of the above (chant 1

chapter from Vedas or Purusha Suktham or Gayathri

manthram for 10 times) which are known as Brahma Yagnam

for more than three days, is no longer considered to be a

Brahmin.

The host who requested the Brahmins to perform the yagnam

should not haggle over the dakshina. The host must offer as much

as possible to the Brahmins. The host should make sure that all the

Brahmins who participated in the performance of the Yagnam

receive dakshina. If the dakshina is given to only one Brahmin then

too the Yagam is considered to be dead.

What is considered to be direction? What is water? What is food,

poison? When is the best time to perform Shraddham?

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What is considered to be direction?

The way indicated by Sat is known as direction. Whereever a Sat

person is found, that direction is considered to be good direction.

Sat is the name given to aperson who has realised God. Sat is not a

person who just believes in God but the name Sat is conferred upon

those who realise God as the only saviour, full of compassion and as

the means as well as the end. Usually Acharyans are considered to

be sat since they show us the way to reach God. While prostrating

before them to offer our obeisance we need not check to see if the

direction they are facing is good/bad. Any direction they face is

considered to be good. The prayer room in our homes can be

located facing any direction since Lord Vishnu will face all direction;

but, while bathing in a river a person must face the water flow but in

stagnat water bodies, a person must either face North or East

direction. A person can eat facing any of the four cardinal

directions.but a person must not eat while facing the intercardinal

directions (NE, NW, SE, SW).

A person who has the thirst to reach Lord Vishnu suffers like a

person who has been blindfolded and left alone in a forest. If a

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person was blindfolded and their hands tied by some kidnappers

that person is incapable of effecting escape. If the kidnappers

abandon the person in the middle of a dense forest the person will

cry for help hoping that someone will come to his/her aid.

Eventually a passerby might notice the abandoned prisoner and

remove the blind fold and untie the bonds. The passerby will then

show the prisoner the path to exit the forest. The prisoner will not

be able to grasp the complete direction but will remember only the

initial path. The prisoner will then traverse this initial path and at

every village will verify by asking the villagers if he/she is on the

right path. Eventually the path will lead to a major city the prisoner

wanted to reach. Similarly we are lost in this forest of samsara. If we

cry for help, we might attract the attention of an acharya who will

shows us the right path to exit the forest. Once on the right path,

we must keep checking that we are on the right path by listening to

religious discourses to ensure that we do not stray away from it. If

we follow this procedure we will eventually reach Parama Padam.

Hence, the way shown by a sadacharyan is the correct direction.

What is water?

Yudhishtirar answered that the sky is water. The Yakshan asked

Yudhishtirar , ‘what is udagam?’ Udagam refers to the water offered

as oblation to Pitris. Yudhishtirar’s answer could be explained as,

‘Udagam is water’ or as ‘water is water’. Tarpanam is performed by

adding black sesame seeds to water offered as oblation. If black

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sesame seeds are not available, tarpanam could be performed with

plain water. Keeping this in mind, Yudhishtirar answered that water

is water.

His original answer that sky is water indicates the sky as the best

source of water. A gardener looks forward for rainy weather. Plants

do well when it rains. Even if we pour the same amount of water

using a garden hose, plants spring to life only when it rains. Hence,

the sky is considered to be the best source of water as it carries the

rain bearing clouds.

The Vedic manthram recited by a groom during wedding declares

that if he the groom is the sky then the bride is the Earth. The

purport of this manthram is to show that the Earth is very happy

when rain waters fall on her. The sky is perceived to shower love

and affection in the form of rain on the Earth. Similarly the groom

promises to showere love and affection on his bride.

What is food?

Yudhishtirar answered that a cow is the best food. By cow he did

not mean beef. Only the food items which is the source of all

essential nutrients is considered to be good food. A cow gives us

milk which supplies us with all the essential nutrients and replaces

mother’s milk. Thus, a cow is the best food. The Yakshan asked ,

‘which is the best annam?’. Annam in Sanskrit means that which is

qualified to be eaten. Only food which is offered to Lord Vishnu is

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qualified to be eaten. The sanskrit word “Gau” means cow as well

as good word. Only food which is offered with love without any

expectations in return from the eater is considered to be good food.

Food must be served with maternal affection; only food served with

affection after offering to Lord Vishnu is considered to be good

food.

Which is poison?

Taking items which belong to a Brahmin is poison. In the story of

Lord Garuda, as soon as Lord Garuda incarnated as Vinata’s son he

was feeling very hungry. He requested his mother to direct him

towards his natural food source. After consulting with his father

Sage kashyapa, Vinata directed Garudan to feed on a tribe of

hunters who resorted to immoral activities. She instructed him that

at anytime if he felt a burning sensation in his throat upon

swallowing anyone, he must recognise that person as a Brahmin and

must release the Brahmin. According to his mother’s instruction,

Garudan started to consume the tribe members. All of a sudden he

felt a strong burning sensation in his throat. Recalling his mother’s

words, he realised that he had swallowed a Brahmin. He called out

to the Brahmin and asked him to come out. The brahmin replied

that he would come out only if Garudan permitted the Brahmin’s

wife who belonged to the tribe of huntsmen was also granted

freedom as she had wedded the Brahmin. Garudan agreed to the

Brahmin’s request and freed the couple. Thus, taking the things that

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belongs to a Brahmin is poison. During Yagams and Shraddhams

the dakshina set aside for a Brahmin must be given to them. A part

of the dakshina must not be skimmed by the host as it is a poison

which will destroy the host’s entire clan.

When is the best time to perform Shraddham?

Shraddham should be performed only after the land is warmed up

by the Sun. This is usally in the afternoon. This is the only time

when the pitris feel hungry and will accept food offered as oblation.

They also like hot food hence food should not have gone cold

because it was cooked very early. Hence, rites like tarpanam,

shradham etc which are done for the pitris should not be performed

in the morning. Afternoon is called as “kuthapa kalam” in Sanskrit

but Yudhishtira answered the Yakshan as Brahmana

kalaha. Brahmana kalam refers to a special shradham performed

when the host of the shradham meets a learned Brahmin. The host

on seeing a learned Brahmin should wish to perform shraddham

eventhough it is not the tithi to perform Shraddham for his

ancestors. To indicate this Special shraddham as the best

Shraddham Yudhishtira answered Brahma Kalaha.

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What is tapas? What is dhamam, patience and shyness?

What is tapas? What is dhamam, patience and shyness?

Yudhishtira said that, ‘following ones duty properly is tapas.’ As

women are assigned the duty of caring for their families, they are

exempt from fasting during Ekadashi. Their duty is to take care of

their husband and to make sure he is able to fast on Ekadashis.

Similarly students are exempt from fasting as their primary duty is to

study. Abadoning the primary duty inorder to take part in religious

activities like Ekadashi fast is not acceptable.

What dhamam?

Dhamam refers to controlling the mind. Mind is the captain among

the senses. Proper sense control could be achieved only if the mind

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is controlled.

There was a rich land lord who managed the local temple. He

provided a bowl of rice to everyone who worked in the temple.

There was an old man who did nothing. He sat inside the temple

gate all day. The landlord out of compassion also provided a bowl

of rice to this old man. One day, the land lord’s son took over the

management. He had graduated from the top business school. He

wanted to minimise waste and carry out “lean execution”. He did an

audit and found out that the old man was receiving a bowl of rice

without performing any task. The new landlord stopped everyone

from providing rice to the old man unless he helped out with the

temple work. After a week the new landlord enquired if the old man

had started working. He was shocked to learn that the old man

didn’t do any work and continued to sit in his usual spot. The new

landlord visited the old man and was amazed to see the old man

look happy. The old man did not feel bad that he no longer received

his bowl of rice. The new landlord felt sorry for the old man and

asked him to do atleast a small task. The old man replied that he

did not need rice. The landlord asked why the old man sat doing

nothing all day. The old man mentioned that it is not easy to remain

static all day. The landlord challenged the old man that he can sit

like the old man without doing anything. The old man accepted the

challenge and asked the landlord to remain static for just five

minutes. After five minutes the landlord replied that it was very easy

to remain static. To this the old mentioned that the landlord had

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only remained static physically while his mind had been wandering

musing about his upcoming court case and then mentally visiting his

sister. The landlord was astonished by the old man’s reply. He

wanted to know how the old man had been able to read his mind.

The old man replied that he had complete control over his mind

because of which he could read the landlord’s mind.The landlord

accepted defeat and continued to provide a bowl of rice to the old

man.

What is patience?

True patience is exhibited when a person forgives even his/her

enemies.

What should one be shy off?

A person should feel shy off worldly acts and hence try to withdraw

from this materialistic world.

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The Yakshan asked Yudhishtira to ponder over the following

questions carefully before answering.Does one become Brahmin by

birth? Or by the study of Vedas? Or by contemplating on the

meanings of the Vedas? Or by leading a life as prescribed by the

Vedas by controlling their senses i.e a person with good character?

One does not become a Brahmin just by taking birth in the Brahmin

community; but, such a birth opens up the oppportunity to learn the

Vedas. By reciting the Vedas regularly everyday, the thirst to know

the meaning of the Vedic verses is born in the learner’s mind. The

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learner then approaches a good Acharyan and studies the meaning

of the verses. To become a true Brahmin, the learner must apply the

knowledge obtained from the Vedas in real life situation. The

learner must lead a life as prescribed by the Vedas. Above all the

Brahmin must be of good character with complete control over his

senses.If the first three points are lost, the learner could go back to

the Vedic school and start the learning process all over again but if

character is lost, everything is lost.

We can see the example of a good Brahman in the story of Garuda

Bagawan.

In the story of Lord Garuda, as soon as Lord Garuda incarnated as

Vinata’s son he was feeling very hungry. He requested his mother to

direct him towards his natural food source. After consulting with his

father Sage Kashyapa, Vinata directed Garudan to feed on a tribe of

hunters who resorted to immoral activities. She instructed him that

at anytime if he felt a burning sensation in his throat upon

swallowing anyone, he must recognise that person as a Brahmin and

must release the Brahmin. According to his mother’s instruction,

Garudan started to consume the tribe members. All of a sudden he

felt a strong burning sensation in his throat. Recalling his mother’s

words, he realised that he had swallowed a Brahmin. He called out

to the Brahmin and asked him to come out. The brahmin replied

that he would come out only if Garudan permitted the Brahmin’s

wife who belonged to the tribe of huntsmen to come out as well.

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Garudan agreed to the Brahmin’s request and freed the couple.

After Garudan finished eating the entire tribe, he still felt hungry.

He approached his father Sage Kashyapa and asked him to point

out to more food choices. The sage asked Garudan to eat an

elephant and a tortoise who had been fighting with each other at a

nearby river bank. They were Brahmins in their previous birth

named as Suprathikan and Vibhavasu respectively. They fought with

each other trying to get complete control over their property. They

cursed each other to turn into an elephant and a tortoise

respectively. Even though they became an elephant and a tortoise

they followed all the duties prescribed by the Vedas. They would

start fighting with each other every day only after completing their

daily duties like sandhyavandhanam. Lord Garudan swooped down

on the fighting duo and ate them without any difficulty.

Why was Garudan not able to eat the Brahmin who had married a

tribeswoman but could eat the two brothers who practised the

Vedas everyday?

The first Brahmin had good character. Eventhough he married a

tribeswoman, he considered her to be his wife for life. He protected

her and never abandoned her. He requested Garudan to free her

along with him. He also continued practising the Vedas. He

followed all the duties prescribed by the Vedas and hence was a true

Brahmin.

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The two Brahmin brothers lusted after property and hence their

character was tarnished.Eventhough they practiced the Vedas and

performed their Vedic duties regularly, they were not true Brahmins

because they lacked good character. Thus Lord Garudan could eat

them.

What does a person obtain by speaking only agreeable words? By

acting with good judgement after analysing the situation? What does

a friend with many friends get? What does a person who always

follows proper dharma get?

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What does a person obtain by speaking only agreeable words?

A person who always speak agreeable words will be loved by all but

a person should speak for the benefit of the listener.If agreeable

words will not bring benefit to the listener, then the person must try

to sugar coat his/her words or speak unagreeable words even if it

means losing the favour of the listener.

Ravana gathered a meeting to discuss about the impending war. He

wanted ideas on saving his kingdom while retaining Sita Piratti. As

the criteria of the meeting had been set as “retaining Sita & yet win

the war”, his advisers tried to encourage him by commenting on his

prowess.Vibhishana was the only person who advised with the

intention to save Ravana. Vibhishana asked Ravana to return Sita as

this was the only alternative left in order to save the kingdom. As

Vibhishana’s words were not accepted by Ravana, Ravana cast

Vibhishana out of his kingdom.Inspite of knowing that he would

have to lose his position in the kingdom, Vibhishana spoke words

for the benefit of Ravana.

What does a person obtain by acting with good judgement after

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analysing the situation?

A person who acts with good judgement after analysing the

situation will always be successful.There was once a poet called

Bharavi. He was very famous. The people appreciated his poems

but Bharavi’s fathaer always spoke harshly to him and mocked his

poetry. Bharavi’s anger against his father slowly built up till one day

when Bharavi decided to murder his father. The poet climbed onto

the roof and removed the tiles over his parents bedroom. After

making an opening the poet was about to drop a boulder on his

father when he heard is mother speak. His mother asked Bharavi’s

father why he always made fun of Bharavi. Bharavi immediately

stood still and waited to hear his father’s answer. Bharavi’s father

stated that he was very proud of Bharavi. He was afraid that if

everyone praised Bharavi it may cause Bharavi to suffer from the

influence of evil eye (dhrishti). He also wanted to make sure that

Bharavi did not become arrogant. Once Bharavi heard his father’s

words, he felt sorry that he had wanted to kill his father. The next

day he confessed to his father and asked for a suitable punishment.

His father asked him to go live with his in-laws till the day when his

mother in law served him salt using her left hand. According to his

father’s orders Bharavi went to live with his in-laws. The first day

Bharavi’s in-laws held a feast in his honour. The very next day his

brother-in-law wanted to know how long he intented to stay with

them. When they found out that he won’t be returning to his

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parents home in the near future, they started making ordinary meals

for him. After a month his mother in law asked him to graze their

cattle so that they could save the salary paid to the cowherds.

Bharavi grazed the cattle everyday and he would write poems while

looking after the cattle. His in-laws’ neighbour was a lady whose

husband was a rich travelling business man. The lady collected

Bharavi’s poems and kept them inside an iron pipe in her home.

Bharavi’s mother-in-law would wait for him to return home before

having her meals but soon she started to have her meals before

Bharavi returned home. One day Bharavi returned early while his

mother in law was having her meal. As he sat down next to her to

have his meal, she gave him very sour curd. Bharavi asked for some

salt to neutralize the sour taste. As his mother in law was eating, she

grabbed some salt with her left hand and passed it to him. Happy

that he had full filled his father’s order, Bharavi left his in-laws

home immediately.

The lady who had collected Bharavi’s poem was living alone with

her son. Her husband had gone to a foreign country just before the

birth of their son and he hadn’t come home for a visit yet. After

twenty long years the husband returned home. He knocked on the

door but as there was no answer he let himself in. As he went into

the bedroom he found his wife sleeping next to a twenty year old

man. Jumping to conclusion that his wife was involved in

inappropriate behaviour with the stranger, the man grabbed a iron

pipe from the cupboard to smash his wife’s brains. As he swung the

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pipe, a few scrolls fell down. Curious to see the content of the

scrolls, the man picked them up. The scrolls contained the poems

written by Bharavi. The first poem advised people to act only after

they have all the facts. Taking this to be a sign the man dropped the

pipe and awakened his wife. She was happy to see him and roused

their son who had never met his father. The man felt relieved that

he had not acted rashly.

Thus a person who acts after analysing all the facts will always be

happy and successful

What does a person with many friends get?

A person with many friends will always be happy. Yudhishtirar

answered this question based on his personal experience. Previously

when the five Pandavas escaped the attempt made by the

Duryodanas to assasinate them, they went to live in Ekachakra

Puram pretending to be Brahmins. They soon came to know about

Draupadi’s Swayamvaram. Durupadan the father of Draupadi had

performed a yagnam in order to obtain a daughter who would marry

Arjuna. As he had heard the news that the Pandavas had been killed

in a fire, he decided to hold a shooting contest so that he can give

his daughter’s hand in marriage to the best warrior. The Brahmins

from Ekachakra Puram decided to go to Panchala the country of

Durupadan to witness this contest as they felt that the king might

shower dakshina on all Brahmins once the wedding of princess

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Draupadi takes place. The Pandavas in the guise of Brahmins

accompanied the Brahmins from Ekachakra Puram. They wanted

Arjuna to participate in the contest so that he can win the hand of

princess Draupadi. Enroute the other Brahmins kept quizzing them

on the rules & regulations to be followed by Brahmins. The

Pandavas were tired of answering the incessant questions. They

decided to slip away at night fall and cross the River Ganges when

the Brahmins were asleep. As per their plan at midnight, they started

to cross Ganges on a boat when they were waylaid by a Gandharvan

called Chitrarathan. He asked them to return back to the bank as

human beings were prohibited to cross the river after 9 PM. 9 PM

to midnight was the time alloted for Gandharvas and midnight to 4

AM the time alloted to Pichasas. Human beings could cross the

river only after 4 AM. When the Pandavas refused to return, he

challenged them by shooting arrows but to his utter amazement

Arjuna was able to resist his onslaught by shooting arrows to

destroy the arrows shot by Chitrarathan. (Arjuna’s arrows were

similar to Patriot missile used to sink skud missile in Gulf war)

Chitrarathan immediately realised that Arjuna was a great warrior.

He wanted to befriend Arjuna as well as all the Pandavas.

Yudhishtirar gracefully accepted Chitrarathan’s friendship. The

Panadavas were directed by Chitrarathan to seek Dhaumya

Maharishi to be their Acharyan. He also gave 360 high quality

horses as a gift to them which they asked him to keep in reserve till

the day when they needed these horses.

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Many years later the Pandavas went to live in the forest after losing

their kingdom to Duryodana. The evil minded Duryodana wanted

to see the Pandavas suffer in person. He decided to set up a camp

near the Pandavas residence and wanted to mock their modest

living. He sent his men to set up a lavish camp near the very modest

residence of the Pandavas. As they were setting up camp,

Chitrarathan’s men arrived and ordered them to leave the area as it

had been reserved for the personal use of Chitrarathan. Duryodana

and his men refused to leave. Immediately Chitrarathan and his men

started to wage war. Duryodana and his men were unable to defend

themselves. Karna forgot the lessons on warfare due to the curse of

sage Parasurama; he therefore abandoned Duryodana and ran away

from the battle field. Chitraratha’s men captured Duryodana and his

brothers. The Gandharvas dragged the Duryodanas away.

Duryodana’s wife rushed to the residence of the Panadavas and

sought the help of Yudhishtirar. Yudhishtirar was in the middle of a

Yagnam. He convinced Arjuna and Bhima to get the release of the

Duryodanas from Chitraratha. As soon as the two Pandava brothers

requested the release of the Duryodanas, Chitrarathan immediately

obliged. Duryodana felt humiliated. He couldn’t digest the fact that

he had been rescued from the Gandharvas by the Panadavas.

Chitrarathan had planned this event as soon as he had come to

know about the plans of Duryodana. Chitrarathan wanted to protect

the Pandavas from Duryodana’s insults and had thus dragged

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Duryodana away as his prisoner only to release Duryodana when his

release was requested by the Pandavas.

Thus a person with many good friends like Chitrarathan will always

be happy.

Friendship is an important relationship. The reason why the shastras

prescribe asoucham when someone we know dies or if there is a

birth in the family is to give us permission to excuse ourselves from

daily duties like visiting the temples so that we can concentrate all

our time on helping our friends and family members in their time of

need. The only vedic duties allowed to be performed on such days

are the Sandhyavandhanam and Grahana Tarpanam. All other Vedic

duties are put on hold in order to help family and friends.

What does a person who always follows proper dharma get?

Yudhishtirar answered that he best dharmam is the performance of

kaimkaryam to Perumaal.Once, there existed a devotee called

Narayanaswamy who did not have any progeny. Narayanaswamy

spent his entire life doing kaimkaryams to Lord Aramudhan of

Thirukudanthai Divya Desam. He spent his earnings on building the

temple’s Raja Gopuram. After Narayanaswamy passed away, the

people were worried about who will perform his last rites. When the

bhatachariar entered the sanctum of Lord Aramudhan he noticed

that Perumaal was wearing the yagnopavithram in the direction

worn while performing last rites. The bhatachariar thought that he

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had made a mistake while decorating Perumaal on the previous day.

Therefore he corrected the direction of the yagnopavithram but to

his utter amazement he found that the yagnopavithram switched

direction again. The bhatachariar realized that it was Perumaal’s way

of saying that He was going to perform the last rite for

Narayanaswamy. Perumaal performed the last rite for Jatayu during

Rama Avataram and as Aramudhan performed the rites for

Narayanaswamy. To this day the rites are continued to be

performed for Narayanaswamy at Thirukudanthai.

The above incident illustrates that the best dharmam/duty is to

perform Bagawath/Bagawatha kaimkaryam.

Who is truly happy? What is most wonderful? What is the path?

And what is the news?

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Who is truly happy?

Yudhishtira answered that a person who lived a simple life will

always be happy. A person who is satisfied with whatever he/she

has and doesn’t seek material things will be very happy. Any person

who owns a home even if it is a small hut and uses the vegetables

growing in the vegetable patch will be happy. The person does not

have to worry about making rent payments nor about purchasing

food. A person should be happy with whatever is availbale in the

vegetable patch. If only spinach is available, such a person will cook

the leaves as a vegetable side and use the spinach stem in soup. The

person will also take food only after praying to God and have only

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one meal during the 5th or 6th period of the day. A day commences

at around 4:30 am. 90 min make one period. By this calculation, 5th

or 6th period is from noon to 1:30 PM. A person who hasn’t taken

any loans will be happy as he/she doesn’t have to worry about

repaying the loan. A person who lives in his native land is also very

happy as he/she does not have to adjust to the rules of a foreign

country.

What is most wonderful?

Yudhishtirar answered that the most amzing thing is the behaviour

of people. Even when people know that death cannot be avoided

and watch their family and friends make their way to the

netherworlds they think that they themselves will continue to live

forever.

What is the path?

To answer to the Yakshan’s question on which is the way,

Yudhishtirar used Purusha Suktham. Purusha Suktham is present in

all the four vedas. It mentions about the vedas twice.The word

“panthaha” is repeated twice in the Purusha suktham.Panthaha is

the way which leads away from samsaram to Moksham.

Yudhishtirar understood the Yakshan’s question as the right way to

reach Moksham. He answered that realising the concept (tatvam) of

dharmam is the right way. Dharmam refers to that activity which

leads to good destination. Our Lord is called Sanathana Dharmam

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because He is eternal and He is also Dharmam.The Vedas tell us

that the good deeds performed to obtain good fruit are called as

dharmam. The best fruit is obtaining the divine feet of Lord

Narayana. The means to attain this fruit is through bakthi yoga and

saranagathi.According to the laws of Saranagathi He is the means as

well as the end.Even if we surrender to Him, He has to accept our

surrender making Him the means as well as the end. Hence He is

Sanathana Dharmam. A person who realises that our Lord is the

means as well as the end and performs Prapatti at His divive feet

will experience moksham in this world itself. The divine feet of

Perumal could only be attained by bringing our mind as well as

senses under control. The person should follow the rules prescribed

by the shastras inorder to develop a healthy body so as to be able to

perform Bakthi Yoga.Yudhishtirar answered that the way used by

“mahajanangal” is the correct way. Mahajanagal are our Sages,

Azhwaars and Acharyans.The way followed by these people is

Saranagathi.In our Sampradayam, Swami Nammazhwar is called as

Mahajanam. Nammazhwar is fondly called as “Periyan” i. e

“greatest”.Swami Nammazhwar told Perumal that he is greater than

Perumal Himself. This is because while Perumal contains the entire

Universe in Him, Swami Nammazhwar is greater because he bears

the Lord in his heart.

The great Swami nammazhwar is the only one who told us about

the way to reach Sri Vaikuntham. Therefore the proper way is to

follow the way indicated by Swami Nammazhwar by performing

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Prapatti at the divine feet of Lord Narayana.

And what is the news?

Yudhishtirar then answered that the world we live in is a huge pan.

The sky acts as the lid and the Sun is the fire. Day and night are the

fire wood used as fuel. Time in the form of changing seasons acts as

the ladle used to stir food. We are the food being cooked. This is

the best news. We are under the control of this World and time.

Time slowly cooks us.Time changes our perspective and attitude. A

person who is very angry calms down after a period of time;

similarly, our hurts are healed by time. Anything can happen to

anyone at any time since we are all under the control of time. If we

know this piece of news we will never be dissappointed.

Ithihasas like Mahabharata are news. By listening to news we learn

to avoid the mistakes made by other people. Contradict to popular

belief, Mahabharata is not a book war. It teaches us to avoid

vendetta as vengence leads to ruin.

The shradha manthram during the pinda prathanam also states that

the earth is a vessel on which the offerings are placed and that the

vessel is covered by the sky itself. It is said that Shantanu came in

person to accept the offerings made in the shradham by

Bhishmacharya. He asked Bhishma to place the offerings on his

hand but Bhishmacharyar refused stating that for pitris (departed

ancestors) only the earth should be used as a vessel. He further

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added that he need not obey Shantanu as Shantanu’s request is

against the shastras.

Yudhishtirar’s answer starts with the phrase “ Earth is a vessel”.

This is similar to the

Poigai Azhwar pasuram which also starts with the phrase “Vaiyam

Thagaliya” i.e the earth is a vessel. From next post we will introduce

additional questions found only in the Tamil Mahabharatham

written by Villiputhur Azhwar.

Yudhishtirar answered the question with the phrase “ Earth is a

vessel”. This is similar to the

Poigai alwar pasuram shown below which also starts with the phrase

“Vaiyam Thagaliya” i.e the earth is a vessel we will introduce

additional questions found only in the Tamil Mahabharatham

written by Villiputhur Azhwar.

"Vaiyam Thagaliya, Var kadale Neiyaga,

Vaiyakkathiron Vilakagachheya,

Sudaraazhiyaan Adikke soodinen sonn malai,

Edarazhi Neengugave endru!!"

The following question is from tamil Mahabharatam.

The Yakshan asked, ‘which is the greatest book?’

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Yudhishtirar answered that theVedas are the greatest among all

books. The Vedas were not created by any human being. They were

discovered by Sages like Vishwamithra just like the way in which

America was discovered by Columbus. America existed prior to

Columbus’s discovery similarly the Vedas also existed prior to their

discovery by the sages.

The Vedas cannot be read. They are learned by listening as the

“swaram”, the musical scale/pitch is very important. For example

the word “ajanam” is Sanskrit for goats and refers to more than 2

goats. The word “janathi” means “he knows”. To say that “I came

to know” in sanskrit, the word used is “ajanam”. Therefore when a

person mentions just “ajanam”, is that person reffering to more

than two goats or is the person saying , ‘I came to know’? The

context in which the words are used cannot be determined easily

either in the Sanskrit Vedas. Therefore, the words said in high pitch

refer to noun and in low pitch to verbs. By listening to the

scale/pitch in which the words are utterred a person can determine

if the word is used as verb or as a noun.

Prathamam in Sanskrit means the first time, dwithiyam means the

secon time by extension then thrithiyam should mean the third time

but this word also means 1/3rd. Once again to identify if the word is

used to refer to the third time or to quantity as 1/3rd, pitch./scale is

used.

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It can be seen that the Vedas could not have been created by any

human being. The scale/pitch classification also varies from one

veda to the other. This classification based on the Veda is known as

“Pada Patham”.

Isavasopanishad is part of Shukla Yajur Veda and starts with

“Isavasyam mitham sarvam”. The Shaivites started to interpret

“Isavasyam” as “Isa + Avasyam” and misunderstood the meaning

as “lord Shiva is present in everything and therefore he is the

Supreme Being”. Shrutaprakasikachar used the commentary of Sri

Adi sankaracharyar to prove that the word “Isavasyam” should only

be split as “Isha + Vasyam” because the word is found in Shukla

Yajur Veda . According to the Pada Patham of Shukla Yajur Veda,

the word could only be split as “isha + vasyam”. The word “Isha”

refers to our inner controller known as “Iit” in sanskrit. Therefore

the statement refers only to our inner controller Lord Narayana as

Iit and not to lord Shiva popularly known as Isan.

The Vedas are too perfect to be manmade. Thus they are the best

knowledge or the best book.

What is required by a householder?

A householder requires the company of a mature and intelligent

wife. The wife should have mental maturity to be satisfied with what

is available for her and her family. She should not be jealous of

other women and feel that they have a better life. She should know

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that every family faces their own problems. Both the husband as

well as the wife should not keep secrets from each other.

Which is the fragrant flower in a garland?

Jathi, star jasmine is the best flower to be used in a garland as Lord

Vishnu is fond of this variety of jasmine.

Which is the best penance (tapas)?

The best tapas is to learn Vedas and Upanishad and then ponder

over their meaning. For example ,the Udagashanti Manthram has

the word “Evishta” in it. Evishta means the youngest person. Who

is reffered by the word “Evishta”? The word refers to “Lord

Vishnu” and in particular to Lord Opilliappan of Thiruvinnagara

Divya Desam. This is because the Lord’s father in law Markandeya

Maharishi is always present alongside the Lord thus making

Lord Opilliappan the youngest person in comparison. Peyazhwar

also refers to Lord Opilliappan as “illankumaran Vinnagar”.

Therefore, upon hearing the word “Evishta” a person with good

tapas will meditate upon the form of Lord opilliappan.

Name another best tapas.

Following the rules and regulations prescribed by shastras for ones

clan is another best tapas.

Who is the deity worshipped by Munikulam? By “munikulam” the

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Yakshan is referring to people with satvik tendencies. People with

satvik tendencies worship the deity with satvik qualities.

Once, a congretation of rishis gathered on the banks of river

Saraswati. They were planning to perform a yagnam. They had some

disagreement about to whom they should make the offerings. Brigu

Maharishi suggested that they must offer to the most satvik

devathai. He left to find out the most satvik devathai. He first went

to Lord Brahma’s Sathya Lokam. Brigu Maharishi was the mind

born son of Lord Brahma but he was very disappointed when Lord

Brahma did not even notice his arrival. From there Brighu

Maharishi left for Kailasham where he was told that Lord Shiva is

with Parvati Devi and hence he cannot obtain darshan. Brighu

Maharishi rushed past Lord Shiva’s guards but upon entering their

private chambers Lord Shiva started to chase him with his trident as

the rishi had disobeyed the rules and regulations of Kailasham.

From there the rishi went to Paarkadal. He recognized Sesha Sayee

Bhagawan as the Supreme Being. He wanted to show everyone the

satvik nature of Bhagawan. As a test the rishi kicked Perumaal’s

chest with his left feet. Perumaal’s chest is the abode of goddess

Mahalakshmi. In spite of the rishi’s behaviour, both Perumaal and

Thayar received the rishi with due honours. Perumaal massaged the

rishi’s feet afraid that the rishi’s foot might have been injured when

he kicked Perumaal.

The rishi returned to the bank of Saraswati River and proved to his

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colleagues that Lord Vishnu is the most satvik as well as the

Supreme Being.

Lord Vishnu is also known as Mukunthan. The syllable “Mu” shows

that he can grant us Moksham and the syllable “ku” shows that He

can also bless us to lead a very comfortable life on this world itself.

What is the important characteristic to be possessed by a good

woman?

Shyness.

Which is the best music?

Words uttered by a child learning to talk.

Which is always permanent in this world?Fame. We still continue to

talk about famous personalities like Yudhishtirar even though they

are not present amongst us.

What is best education?

That education which makes you confident.Goddess Parvati wanted

to find out who was more well versed whether Bhavabudhi or

Mahakavi Kalidas. Lord Shiva agreed to help her by testing them.

Both Bhavabudhi & Kalidas were employed in the King’s court.

There was an old well on the way to the court. Lord Shiva

pretended to be an old man who had fallen into the well.

Bhavabudhi was the first person to pass the well. Goddess Parvati

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in the guise of a young woman stopped him and requested him to

help her husband who had fallen into the well. She said that all he

had to do was to answer her husband’s question. If he gave the

correct answer, the husband would be able to rise out of the well.

Bhavabudhi agreed to this. The old man then said , ‘once, there was

a struggle between words and life on who should go out first. When

did this struggle take place?’ The old man asked the riddle in the

form of a poem with 16 characters. Bhavabudhi completed the

poem with 16 characters and answered that if a wealthy person lost

his/her wealth overnight and is forced to borrow money to buy

some food, the person will try to utter the words asking for a loan

while the person will also wish that he/she had been dead so that

they didn’t have to face the situation. Thus the person’s words as

well as life fight with each other on who should leave the body first.

Lord Shiva in the guise of the old man asked Bhavabudhi if this was

indeed the correct answer. Bhavabudhi replied that this was all he

could think off and cannot be sure if this was the correct answer.

After Bhavabudhi left Kalidas arrived near the well. He was asked to

help the old man by Parvati Devi and the old man asked Kalidas the

same question he had asked Bhavabudhi. Kalidas gave the exact

same answer given by Bhavabudhi but when asked by the old man if

this was the correct answer, Kalidas answered that he was 100%

confident that this answer was correct.

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After Kalidas left lord Shiva told Goddess Parvati that Kalidas was

better educated as he was more confidant.

Which is the lowest life on earth?

A person who exploits other people by constantly borrowing money

or who manipulates others to do their chores is the lowest person

on Earth.For example while travelling with a friend this person will

make the friend to buy tickets as he/she has only a $100 bill and

doesn’t want to use it as it is difficult to get change. The person will

use the same excuse everywhere they go. The friend will pay for all

the expenses for which he/she will never be reimbursed. This

person will exploit others by making them do unpleasant chores

such as driving them around at ungodly hour instead of hiring taxis

etc.

After the above question we return to the Sanskrit Yaksha

Prashnam.

Who is truly called a Purusha (a man)? Who posesses all kinds of

wealth? Who is so famous not notorious that his/her person’s name

is recogonized by the denizens of all worlds?

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Who is truly called a Purusha (a man)?

A person who gives equal importance to both failures and success

and relises that failures are also a part of life is a true purusha. This

person will never go to an astrologer asking them to predict his/her

future as theis person is aware that our future events are based on

past karmas. Hence, this person will always concentrate on doing

good deeds. Astrology should only be used to get the dates for

Ekadashi & festivals. Astrology should not be used to predict one’s

future.

Who posesses all kinds of wealth?

A person who treats everyone equally is the wealthiest

person.Prahaladan said that “samathvam aradhanam Achyutasya”

that is, only those people who treat everyone equally gets the grace

of Lord Vishnu. We should look at our mistakes with the same eye

used to look at the errors of others. We should offer the highest

quality goods in Temples. An example of prctising equality is, We

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shouldn’t offer low quality rice in temple while consuming high

quality rice at home. We should offer the same quality of goods that

we ourselves use or superior quality in temples.

Who is so famous not notorious that his/her person’s name is

recogonized by the denizens of all worlds?

A person who doesn’t chase after material wealth and realises that

the Lord is the true wealth is the richest person.

Swami Desikan mentioned that he did not need money as he has the

wealth left by his grandfather.

He explained that Lord Brahma is the grandfather of everyone.

When Lord Brahma performed the Ashwamedha Yagam, the Lord

appeared from the fire and agreed to stay as Lord Varadarajan at

Kanchipuram. ‘Lord Varadarajan is the wealth left to me by my

grandfather Lord Brahma,’ said Swami Desikan.

A person who lives with swami Desikan’s attitude is the wealthiest

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person.

Pleased that Yudhishtirar had answered all the questions correctly,

the Yakshan promised to revive one of the four Pandavas lying dead

on the bank. The Yakshan asked Yudhishtirar to choose one

brother.

Yudhishtirar chose Nakulan and asked the Yakshan to revive him.

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The Yakshan was surprised that Yudhishtirar had chosen Nakulan.

He asked why Yudhishtirar didn’t choose his favourite brother

Bheema who had rescued them from many difficulties or choose

Arjuna who is known for his valour and could help Yudhishtirar

win back his kingdom? Why did you choose your half brother?

I have been taught that compassion and emapthy are qualities which

everyone should possess. My father had two wives Kunti & Madri. I

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am Kunti’s older son. Madri needs her son so that he could perform

tarpanam for her as well. Therefore I choose her older son Nakulan.

I am really pleased that you give more importance to compassion

and treating both your mothers equally. Knowing very well that

Bheema or Arjuna could retrieve your lost kingdom singlehandedly,

you still decided to choose Nakulan in order to be fair. Therefore I

will revive all four Pandavas.

The Yakshan then promised to give a boon to Yudhishtirar.

Yudhishtirar asked yakshan to help them retrieve the arani stollen

from the Brahman by the deer. After the Yakshan gave them the

arani, the Yakshan asked Yudhishtirar to ask one more boon.

Yudhishtirar asked the Yakshan to bless them so that no one will be

able to recogonise them during their agnana vasam. The Yakshan

requested Yudhishtirar to ask one more boon. Yudhishtirar asked

the Yakshan to bless him so that he will always be able to win over

anger, greed and lust, he should always speak truth and be involved

in charitable acts.

To this the Yakshan replied that it was impossible to grant this boon

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as Yudhishtirar already has all these qualities.

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Phalashruthi:

Anyone who reads or listens this episode and understands the

inner meaning of all the questions and answers will obtain the ability

to control their senses, will learn to manage people, will live happily

with their progeny for 100 years, will always be truthful, will not

cause problems between two friends, will be brave, will not steal

someone else’s property or wife.


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