Aakaashaat Pateetam Toyam Yatha Gacchati Saagaram

Discussion in 'Pujas Prayers & Slokas' started by satchitananda, Feb 14, 2013.

  1. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

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    [JUSTIFY]आकाशात् पतितं तोयं यथा गच्छति सागरम्
    सर्व देव नमस्कारः केशवं प्रतिगच्छति

    AkAshAt patitam tOyam yathA gacchati sAgaram
    sarva dEva namaskArah kEshavam pratigacchati

    Today I am reminded very strongly of this shloka which I had heard repeated again and again in a Sanskrit film (this was the first Sanskrit feature film ever made and got many awards) on the life of Adi Shankaracharya. For some reason this mantra got very strongly imprinted in my mind when I heard it, especially the first line. I remember the first line being recited time and again right from the beginning in a scene where Adi Shankaracharya's father passes on right to the time where they show him walking off into eternity.

    My mil's mother passed on at the beginning of this month at the ripe old age of 93. She was weary of life, her body was worn out and not seldom did I think that she needed a new one. She had outlived her relevance, given her age and her difficulty in accepting the changes that have taken place in this world in these past few decades. She lived in the world of her youth when she got married as a 16 year old and arrived in her mil's house.

    As the body was laid out at home for people to pay their last respects, her face looked so much at peace. None of the aches and pains she complained of 2 days before could not touch her any more.

    Contrary to established practice, all of us went for the cremation - mil, her sister, I, an aunt of mil ..... It was with a feeling of unreality that I watched the body being pushed into the electric crematorium. The fact that this was not the first time I was seeing this - I had performed my dad's last rites - nor the fact that I have been listening to discourses on Vedanta over the years could rid me of that sense of disbelief. That was all it was. A body. It was no longer a member of the family whom people would take care of or try to protect. It was with the same feeling of disbelief(?), unreality(?) that I watched her ashes as they floated off next day on the rippling waters of the Cauvery into eternity.

    As I stood there, the shloka came back to mind as it did this morning again - on the 13th day. The soul has carried on on its eternal journey. It has been liberated - at least temporarily - from the limitations of a physical body. Who knows what next or when or where?

    Is this all that our existence counts for? One minute here, gone the next? Totally wiped out, non-existent? Yes, perhaps if we identify ourselves with our bodies. If not, then we are the souls, a spark of the Eternal Consciousness, The Divine Consciousness, whatever we choose to call it and hence immortal. So just as the drops of rainwater which fall into the streams flow into the river, thence into the river, sea and finally merge into the oceans, so too we, the individuals souls - Atma - (drops of rainwater) eventually merge with the Paramatama (The Eternal Consciousness) once we are liberated from the bondage of this physical body.

    Now there is a different context to this shloka too. It is a very beautiful comparison between the drops of water which fall as rain and make their way into the mighty oceans. Similarly, the prayers offered to the different deities we worship eventually make their way to the ONE and only God. This is a shloka which makes a very strong case for universal brotherhood and the Unity of God, no matter what route we take to reach HIM/HER. All Gods are one. So all religions, all rituals, all forms of prayers eventually lead to that one, single God. Therefore all religions are only different means to the ONE end.

    As I set out to write this today, I could not resist the temptation to search for the film on Google and was delighted to find it on Youtube. It was wonderful to watch it once again after nearly 29 years. There I found yet another interpretation for this shloka:

    Just as the rivers discard their individual names to merge with the sea
    So too the wise ones discard their egos to merge with the Infinite

    None of this is new to any of us. We are brought up in this culture, we are exposed to these teachings time and again. But how many times do we forget all this to be carried away by our petty concerns, fights, unhappiness with each other etc.? How many times will we need to be reminded of this before it becomes an integral part of ourselves - consciously as well as subconsciously- such that we never need to be reminded again????? Well, I guess till such time as we do, we will have to come back again and again. So the sooner we try to learn, the better for ourselves.[/JUSTIFY]
     
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  2. Kamalji

    Kamalji IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Satchi,

    Yes when one dies, all aches go away. And the body cease to acknowledge, even if u kick it, for now there is no pain at all.The soul has seperated from it.At the time of death, a few have seen the sould coming out , they can see it literally, my wife saw of her father, etc. There was a sound like whoosh, and everyone in the room felt it, as wife told me.

    These are subjects too deep for me, about where the sould goes, etc. What i agree with u is, about the ego, how much of it we have, and how when we die we have none of it.

    We leave everything behind, all that we have worked for, never to come back , at least to the same house and family, we are gone forever.

    i guess what we should do is something kind to others, so that at least people have a kind word to say about us, rahter than saying, let us not speak ill of the dead, mea nin g there is a lot of bad things to talk about but since the person is dead, let us leave it.

    i dont know who will talk what about me, when i am no more. But i dont care, for i will be beyond caring really after i die.But i will go with a happy frame of mind, that i did not harm anyone, even if i did not help anyone.

    Regards

    kamal
     
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  3. periamma

    periamma IL Hall of Fame

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    Satchi i like these lines " But how many times do we forget all this to be carried away by our petty concerns, fights, unhappiness with each other" This is a good message for me.

    Creation,Preservation and Destructionare three phases of ceaseless activity going on in nature.Beings perish in their old bodies prior to their reincarnation in new ones.The interval between a CREATION AND A DESTRUCTION IS CALLED PRESERVATION. When i read your post the above said lines from BHAVADGITA flashed in mind
     
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