INDIA SHOWCASE YAKSHA PRASHNA
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INDIA SHOWCASE YAKSHA PRASHNA
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(The Questions of the Yaksha)
kimsvidgurutaram bhumeh kimsviduccataram ca khat kimsvidccheghrataram vayoh kimsvidbahutaram trnat mata gurutara bhumeh ktatpitoccatarastatha manahshighrataram vata ccinta bahutari trnat Commentary i) We call this earth Mother Earth - Bhumi Mata. We worship her as a mother. What can be more important? The mother who gave birth to us is more important. Our mother is verily our God. ii) For us humans our parents who gave us life in this world are like gods, the highest, the most important beings. This is consistent with the Upanishadic pronouncement "Matr devo bhava, pitr devo bhava" (May your mother and father be like gods to you). iii) In an instant the mind can travel anywhere, everywhere and back again. iv) What grows faster than grass? Thoughts grow faster. Waves and waves of thoughts arise in our minds constantly and move away. There is no end to it. They grow and grow and continue to grow with newer and newer layers of thoughts - faster than grass. Summary 1. We should respect our parents. 2. We should keep our mind under control. 3. We should trim our thoughts, weeding out unnecessary worries.
kimsvi tpravasato mi tram kimsvinmi tram grhesatah aturasya tu kim mitram kimsvinmi tram marishyatah sarthahpravasato mitram bharyamitram grhesatah aturasya bhisan mitram danam mitram marishyatah Commentary i) A traveller's best friend is the companion traveller. ii) A householder's true friend is his wife. A Hindu man takes a woman by the hand at the wedding ceremony and walks seven steps (sapta padi) with her around the fire as both pledge their eternal friendship to each other. He says: "With these seven steps you have become my life's companion. We are both friends. I shall never fail to be your friend. May you also never fail to be my friend . . . ." " This is the understanding, the promise, the commitment that binds a Hindu couple. iii) For a sick person the most desirable friend is a doctor. iv) For the dying person the charity done during a lifetime serves as a friend by providing a sense of fulfillment and preparation for the life to come. Summary This group of questions stresses the need for and the role of friends and the need to be involved with others in a mutual, healthy, giving and receiving of support. The first three friendships referred to in this stanza are with other persons but the last category, the friend at the end of one's life, is one's own lifetime of giving.
kim nu hitva priyo bhavati kim nu hitva na shocati kim nu hitvarthavanbhavati kim nu hitva sukhi bhavet manam hitva pri yo bhavati krodham hitva na shocati kamam hitvarthavanbhavati lobham hitva sukhi bhavet Commentary i) The question focuses on the need to be loved, to be free of sorrow, and on happiness and wealth. ii) The answers revolve around controlling the mind in such a way that we gradually rid ourselves of our enemies within: pride, anger, desire and greed. iii) When one succeeds in giving up desire, there is little need for material possessions and one's sense of well-being (original meaning of wealth) increases. Wealth is viewed here in the context of what one may have in relation to one's desire. Summary 1. Every action/inaction is controlled by the mind. Therefore we should practice control of our minds. 2. Renunciation is not mindless self-denial but a method of exerting control over ourselves.
dhanyanamut tamam kimsvid dhananam syatkimuttamam labhanamuttamam kimsyat sukhanam syatkimuttamam dhanyanamuttamam dakshyam dhananamuttamam shrutam labhanam shreya arogyam sukhanam tush ti rut tama Commentary i) To be skillful is to be fortunate and worthy of recognition. ii) To be an educated person is to be a wealthy person. iii) To be healthy is to possess the greatest gift. iv) To be contented is to be happy Summary 1. We should develop skills in areas which interest us most and continue to maintain those skills in order to excel. 2. The emphasis in our studies should be acquisition of knowledge, especially the higher knowledge. 3. A person who is not contented and is a slave to greed is a slave to everyone. A person who makes desire a slave rules the world. 4. These questions and answers provide a practical guide to mental, social and physical well-being.
kimsvidatma manushyasya kimsviddaiva kritahsakta upajivanam kimsvidasya kimsvidas ya para yanam putra atma manushyasya bharya daivakritahsakha upajivanam ca parjanyo danamasya parayanam Commentary i) A man's progeny represents the reflection and extension of his own self. ii) His wife is his best friend, as discussed in an earlier shloka. iii) Man's most basic need for food can be met only by adequate rainfall for crops. iv) Giving and sharing serve as the foundation upon which a person should base his or her life. Summary These questions and answers focus attention on those areas immediate to the individual self: children, spouse, the element essential to sustain life and the concept of sharing. Is there a person who enjoys all pleasures of the senses, who is intelligent, is respected by all creatures and worshipped by the world, who breathes and yet is not alive? The person who fails to satisfy Gods, guests, servants, pitrs(9) and his Atman(10), may breathe but is not alive.br> indriyarthananubhavan buddhimallokapujitah sammatah sarvabhutanam ucchvasanko na jivati devatatithibhrtyanam pitrnamatmanashcayah nanirvapati pancanam ucchvasanna sa jivati Commentary This question underscores the standard by which a person can be deemed to be a living being. To be alive in the world means to fulfill certain duties, discharge certain obligations. The reference to pitrs emphasizes the Hindu reverence for the past. The reference to Gods, guests and servants explains what must be given in return for the pleasure and respect received. The final requirement is self-respect. All these are to be viewed as components of a society that an individual must relate to. This relationship is stressed as the essential requirement to qualify a person as a human being. Summary 1. We should recognize and fulfiil our responsibilities in society. 2. In addition, the duties to one's own self are equally important and these include a constant effort to obtain knowledge of the self.
kimsvidadityamunnayati ke ca tasyabhitashcarah kashcainamastam nayati kasmimshca pratitishthati brahmadityamunnayati devastasyabhitashcarah dharmascastamnayati ca satye ca pratitishthati Commentary i) There are two interpretations to this riddle;(11) one sees the sun (aditya) as the natural wonder, the life-giving center of this world system and a principal creation of Brahma; the other interprets the sun to be the atma jyoti, the inner light. The sun rises into view each morning as ordained by the Creator, Brahma. At the same time, the supreme knowledge of the Vedas causes the illumination of the atma jyoti. ii) As Savitri said to Yama in an earlier section of the Mahabharata, "It is the truth of the good (people) that causes brilliance in the sun." Also, "By the power of the Rig Veda the sun rises in the morning; the same sun stays fixed at high noon by the power of the Yajur Veda; It is the power of the Sama Veda that causes his brilliance at setting."* iii) Gods keep the Atman company, just as the planets, named after the Gods, circle the sun. When the self is realized through knowledge, that inner illumination leads to the man-God relationship which is the quest of Hinduism. iv) The sun and the atma j yoti are firmly fixed in truth. The sun is held in space by physical laws of gravitation, energy and motion - by evident truths. The atma jyoti is sustained by eternal Truth, which exists beyond time. v) The end result of this knowledge is dharma or right conduct. Dharmic action performed under the guidelines of one's own faith is interpreted as the cause for the brilliance of the atma jyoti. *from the Taittiriya Brahmana. Summary The sun in all its phases, rising, setting or fixed in space, recalls the rising within us of the atma jyoti. The natural laws governing time and the heavenly bodies and the moral law, dharma, are equated here. |
