God is Omnipresent!!- Chinna Katha 27

Remember, He is Omnipresent!

Thiruppandar was a great devotee of lord Shiva. Once he happened to visit a famous pilgrim center dedicated to his favorite Lord. After the darshan of Siva, he felt that he was too exhausted and weak to walk further, and therefore rested for the night in the temple itself.

Early in the morning, the priest entered the temple with a potful of water to perform abhishek to the Lingam. To his utter consternation, he found an aged man sleeping right in front of the shrine with legs stretched towards the sanctum sanctorum. He got wild at the sight and, in indignation, he sprinkled some water on the face of the old man. But, there was no sign of any movement. So, he bent down and tried to lift the old man's legs. Immediately the old man opened his eyes and said in an appealing tone, "My dear Son! Why are you pulling my legs?" The priest shouted "Oh! For your age, is it not shameful on your part to indulge in such a sacrilegious act of stretching your legs towards God?" The old man said calmly, "My dear son, I feel a cramp in my legs and cannot get up. Will you place my two feet in a direction you like, where God is not? I shall certainly get up after a while." The priest did not want to waste time in arguing with the man. So, he held the two feet of the man, lifted them up and placed them in the opposite direction. Suddenly, there sprang out a lingam from underneath the feet! The priest tried to place the old man's feet in another position, but there again sprang up another lingam! In a minute, the place was full of lingams! The priest fell at the feet of the old man and said "Oh revered one! You must be a realised soul. Pardon me for my insulting words and actions." The old man got up and said "My dear son, have you not read in the scriptures that God is omnipresent? Can you limit God to a place and to an image or a picture or in a frame? Of course we have temples with idols and pictures of worship; but they only help devotees to direct their faith and devotion to God as embodiments of the various Divine shaktis in this vast boundless universe. The Supreme Creator, the Almighty God is only one, and remember, He is Omnipresent."

SAI in Chinna Katha.

Mathematics in Chamakam

The Chamakam mentions completely the ideal of human happiness and defines in the highest degree the desires to be fulfilled without delimiting those to be asked for or to be granted.

In the Chamakam, in anuvakas or sections 1 to10, the devotee prays for almost everything needed for human happiness and specifies each item. But in the 11th anuvaka or 11th section of Chamakam, the devotee prays for the desired things not specifically but in terms of numbers, first in terms of odd numbers from 1 to 33 and later in multiples of 4 from 4 to 48, as follows:

“Eka cha me, thisrascha may, pancha cha may, sapta cha may, Ekadasa cha may, trayodasa cha may, panchadasa cha may, saptadasa cha may, Navadasa cha may, ek trimshatis cha may, trayovimshatis cha may, Panchavimshatis cha may, saptavimshatis cha may, navavimshatis cha may, Ekatrimshatis cha may, trayatrimshatis cha may, panchatrimshatis cha may, Chatasras cha may, ashtou cha may, dwadasa cha may, shodasa cha may, Vimsatis cha may, chaturvimshatis cha may, ashtavimshatis cha may, Dwathrimashatis cha may, shatstrimshas cha may, chatvarimshas cha may, Chatuschatvarimshas cha may, ashtachatvarimshas cha may”

which means:
“Let these be granted to me. One, three, five, seven, nine, eleven, thirteen, seventeen, nineteen, twenty one, twenty three, twenty five, twenty seven, twenty nine, thirty one and thirty three as also four, eight, twelve, sixteen, twenty, twenty four, twenty eight, thirty two, thirty six, forty, forty four and forty eight”.

One great scholar says these numbers represent a polymer chain of molecules that form apa or water that enables evolution of life and intelligence, and apa is nothing but the nitrogenous base pairs of the DNA. The numbers 1 to 33 represent the 33000 base pairs of mitochondrial base pairs of DNA. The numbers 4 to 48 represent the 48 million nuclear bases of DNA. The two sets of DNA bases combine to provide sustenance of human wellbeing and onward evolution of human life. When the devotee prays for the blessing of these numbers, actually he is praying for bestowing on him all these DNA bases which conduce to sustenance of human well being and happiness.

Krishnamachari Santhanam

Pleasure is an interval between two pains.

Pleasure is an interval between two pains- it is a koan for life.

I will tell you my personal experience- swami called us for an interview, There was the chairman of bahrain- shivaraman by my side. as swami started talking to us shivaraman fainted and fell. there were three doctors in our group. they felt no pulse and panicked. I was just close to him and thought he was dead. Swami smiled and said not to worry, low pressure and he went himself and brought some water and sprinkled on him, and gave command for him to rise with his finger 3 times. what i saw was amazing. with each finger command, his rigid body got up by stages and then he opened his eyes. To sidetrack before this swami had been intently looking at the ring I was wearing for 5 minutes as he was talking , to such an intensity that I was feeling queasy about it. Now when Brother Shivaraman opened his eyes Swami smiled sweetly at him and waved his hands and created a beautiful diamond ring with 3 diamonds in a boat shape an exact replica of mine - a little larger perhaps. all of us were so happy and swami said, " Pleasure is an interval between two pains".

Now I have a habit, whatever swami says I always think about it- do not accept it as it is and leave it. As experience has taught me that when He says something, it is a mahavakya- hidden truths are in it. So I was expecting another pain in the offering. Later i went to Shivaraman and asked him if he heard what Swami said, to which he replied that he could not hear anything through the interview. I told him verbatim what Swami had told as he created the ring, without any elobaration. Shivaraman a long time devotee of Bhagvan understood the message immediately and said Swami give will give him the courage to see it through.

All of us returned to the gulf after the visit. When Shivaraman returned to Bahrain, and was alone in his house some robbers entered and tied him up and looted everything they could lay their hands on. Two things they could not see as Swami possibly hid their eyes- the diamond ring and a gold chain adorning Swami's life size photograph!!

Then I understood what Swami meant about pleasure being an interval.

Now as a spiritual equation pain opens door to spitual awareness much more than pleasure, as we find more fair weather friends around us and a few suporting ones at times of need. So my personal experience is that though pleasure is what motivates you to live, pain is what creates lessons which we carry through births.

Krishnamachari Santhanam