Four Types of Devotees

Caturvidhah bhajante mam janah sukrtinah, the people, given to good actions who worship me are four-fold (BG 7-16). Among those sukrtinah, who recognize and worship Isvara, there are four types. Caturvidhah. Vidhah means variety so there are four varieties of devotees. All of them have sufficient recognition of Isvara to be devotees but among them there is a gradation. The degree of recognition, their attitude, approach, prayers, etc., all determine the four types. And they are, he says, artah, jijnasuh, artharthi, jnani.

Artaha :
Arti means any sorrow or grief. Sadness, distress, discomfort, trouble are all called Arti. Artaha is one who is seized by a distress, caused by a thief, tiger, or disease. Tigers were common in those days when India was full of forests, so Sri Shankara commonly uses the tiger as an example. When a person is seized by some distress, whom he will call as a last resort? If he has some punya karma, there is Ishvara in his life and he will call upon Him. But only when he is in distress. Till then he does not think of Him. But at least during that spell of distress he does think of Him – because he does not see anyone else who can help him. This kind of devotee is called artaha, a devotee in distress.
 
Artharthi :

Artha means what is desired. In this context it means wealth and things similar to it – power, progeny and so on. One wants all these and to get them, the artharthi invokes the grace of Bhagavan. He thinks he cannot live happily without these things and so he makes use of various means to get them. He uses local influence, money etc. – plus Bhagavan, because he recognizes that there is always a factor over which he has no control. As a devotee, he is mature enough to recognize the chance element. That he recognizes as daivam. And there is no way of having any control over it without some grace. So whenever he wants to accomplish something, he invokes the grace of Isvara to control certain factors that he cannot control or even know. He will perform rituals in order to invoke Isvara's grace to help him gain whatever he wants. This is Kamya-Karma, a karma done with a desire to accomplish a given end within Samsaara. The one who does Kamya-Karma is artharthi. But he is also an arta devotee. When he is in trouble he will, of course, invoke the Lord. An artah, however, is not an artharthi because only in distress can he think of God.
 

Jijnasu :

The third one is jijnasu. The order in the verse arta, jijnasu, artharthi is for the sake of meter. But in order of their understanding arta and artharthi are one group, Jijnasu and jnani, another. Jijnasu is the one who desires to know. What does he wants to know? That is also important because even the one who does wrong actions, duskrtinah, wants to know a lot of things – like how to open locks. But here, the subject matter is Isvara , the truth of Isvara, bhagavat-tattvam. He is not invoking Isvara’s grace for simple accomplishments. He wants to know the truth of Isvara, the ultimate cause of everything. And this Jijnasu is a great devotee. He does not use Bhagavan as an accomplice for his small little pursuits; he wants to know who is Isvara. As a bhakta he invokes Isvara’s grace for this. He also offers his prayers; he also performs his daily and occasional duties, nitya-naimittika karma. But he does all this to gain a clear mind, antah-karana shuddhi, and the knowledge of Isvara.

Knowledge of Isvara is nothing but knowledge of Atma. Isvara, the cause of everything happens to be the essence, oneself. If Isvara were other than atma he would be anatma, and therefore inert. The only conscious being is atma, and Isvara is not separate from it. This seeming difference between Isvara and the individual is due to upadhi. There is only one reality and that the jijnasu wants to know. He is a devotee because he seeks the help of Isvara and performs prayerful actions to earn this help. But his actions are not for limited ends within samsara, kamya-karmas. The arta and artharthi are kamis because theirs are kamya-karmas. The jijnasu, however, is a karma-yogi so his is a different type of devotion. Because of his extra punya, he has discrimination, viveka, and because of that he is a jijnasu.


Jnani :
And then there is a fourth bhakta. All four recognize me and to the degree they recognize me they are in union with me. The fourth one’s recognition is complete so his identification is total. When you are a jijnasu you necessarily become a jnani, one who knows the truth of Lord Visnu, Paramesvara, as himself. He is a real bhakta.

~ Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswati 

Ishvara

Who is Ishvara ?

The Lord is called Ishvara . Ishvara is the one who protects , sustains and the one who is a source of blessing . This Ishvara , who we say is the cause of this scheme of things called jagat , is to be discovered not believed . The world (jagat) is not only put together , but it is intelligently put together . Anything put together intelligently to serve a purpose , is preceded by knowledge . Whatever is intelligently put together is called creation and intelligence can only rest in a conscious being .

This intelligent conscious being , to account for the creation of its world , should have the knowledge of creation and that knowledge should be total knowledge , because we are talking of the total world . The one who has samagram jñānam (total knowledge) and samagram vīryam (total skill) to create is called Bhagavan or Ishvara . Ishvara is both the maker and the material and hence , the jagat is a manifestation of Ishvara . Manifestation means it is not separate from the material . It is an intelligent manifestation .

Lord Vigneshvara

LORD VIGHNESHVARA

ओं शुक्लाम्बरधरं विष्णुं शसिवर्णं चतुर्भुजम् ।
प्रसन्नवदनं ध्यायेत् सर्वविघ्नोपशान्तये ॥

oṃ śuklāmbaradharaṃ viṣṇuṃ śasivarṇaṃ caturbhujam |
prasannavadanaṃ dhyāyet sarvavighnopaśāntaye ||

"May one meditate on Lord Vighneśvara, who wears a white dress, viṣṇuṃ means who is all pervasive, who is of the color of the moon, who has four arms, who has a pleasant face for the cessation of obstacle ."

This is a prayer we recite at the beginning of any endevour we undertake to invoke the grace of Lord Ganeśa. So the recitation of viṣṇu sahasranāma is begun with this prayer .

Lord Ganesha is also known by many names. Lord Vighneśvara has the dual function of creating as well as removing obstacles. So He is invoked as Vighnarāja, Vighnahara. There may be several obstacles in the endeavours we undertake. As the one who presides over obstacles He is Vighnarāja .  As the one who removes the obstacles He is Vighnahara. But the best way to achieve success is to overcome them by seeking a solution through prayer which is helpful to others and peaceful to the world .

How did Lord Vighneśvara get his name Vighneśvara vighnavināyaka?

There is a reference in Lailatasahasranama .

कामेश्वर मुखालोका कल्पित श्री गणेश्वर I 30
महा गणेश निर्भिन्न विघ्नयंत्र प्रहर्षिता II 31
kāmeśvara mukhālokā kalpita śrī gaṇeśvara I
mahā gaṇeśa nirbhinna vighnayaṃtra praharṣitā II

When there was a war between Godess Lalita and Bhandasura, the celestials could not overpower the asuras as the asura Vishukra had set a jayavighna yantra which would stop all the obstacles that would befall on them .

Goddess Lalita trying to find a solution for this thought that only Lord Ganesha, who was a master of ashtama siddhis would be able to destroy this yantra. So she invited him and asked him to destroy the power of this yantra. Lord Ganesha happily broke the yantra to pieces and Bhandasura was killed. Hence the name Vighneshwara .

As Lord Vighnahara, He is the destroyer of the eight obstacles(rāga, dvesha, kaama, krodha, lobha, moha,mada, maatsarya) and keeps our body and mind alert always . Lord Ganesha is the ruler of all the Ganas, the innumerable helpers who are accountable to maintain the order in the Universe make them protect us hence called Ganesha.

om vighnavināyaka pāda namaste

ŚIVARĀTRI MUSINGS – 3

Lord Śiva is depicted with a third eye on His forehead . This third eye is the eye of wisdom . Therefore , another name for Lord Śiva is Tryambaka meaning the three-eyed one . The puranas narrate many different stories about Lord Śiva’s third eye .

The well-known story would be the one of Kamadeva or Manmatha . After the death of Sati , Lord Śiva entered into a deep meditation . At this time , the asuras grew in power and started terrorizing the three worlds . All the devas sought Brahmaji’s help who in turn told them that Sati has taken rebirth as Goddess Parvati and that the marriage of Lord Śiva and Goddess Parvati alone can remedy the problem . Now , the devas had to make Lord Śiva abandon his meditation to get Him married . So , Kamadeva ( the lord of desires ) was instructed to seduce Lord Śiva out of his meditation . As Kamadeva’s arrow hits Lord Śiva , the Lord opened his third eye and burned Kamadeva into ashes . 

From the Vedic standpoint , Kamadeva represents all forms of desires . From desires , all other problems such as anger , delusion , pride and etc. are born . Burning the desires here refers to discerning of the desires . It is not merely giving up all desires because that defeats the goal of human life . Living is growing from the experiences gained in the process of fulfilling desires . In fact , the Lord himself says -“ I am the desires that conform to dharma .”

Only with knowledge , one can decide which desire is to be pursued and which not to . Therefore , we pray to Lord Śiva to be given wisdom to discern our desires well . Eventually , an individual reduces his worldly desires and his affinity towards the spiritual pursuit increases . It is the sign of a matured person living a meaningful life .

In the Vedic tradition , all forms of worship and spiritual disciplines is meant to bring the individual to acknowledge the divine’s presence in his or her life . Nothing is devoid of the Lord’s grace . As the person ventures further in their journey , he or she comes to appreciate the fact that nothing that is separate from Ishvara , the Lord . All that is here is only Ishvara .

Om Tat Sat .

ŚIVARĀTRI MUSINGS – 2

Lord Śiva is glorified as Mṛtyuñjaya or the conqueror of death . It is said that Lord Yama ( the lord of death ) trembles in fear at the mere mention of Lord Śiva’s name . The story of Markandeya illustrates this . When Markandeya was born , he was fated to die at the age of sixteen . Even his parents lost hope that their son could be saved . Markandeya became an ardent devotee of Lord Śiva and dedicated his entire life to the worship of the Lord . When Markandeya turned sixteen , Lord Yama came to take his life . Markandeya ran to the temple and embraced the śivalinga . Yama’s noose (paasa-kairu) caught both Markandeya and the linga . Lord Śiva furiously emerged from the śivalinga , kicked off Lord Yama and freed Markandeya from death .

Lord Yama or Mṛtyuḥ represents our innate fear . Death is our greatest fear because we do not want to lose things that are dear to us (family , material wealth , etc.) . The whole problem is that we are look at ourselves as lacking and incomplete which creates a sense of insecurity . Thus , we seek security by going after worldly pursuits – dharma , artha and kama .

Lord Śiva is the giver of atma-jñana (self-knowledge) . The Lord removes the ignorance that blindfolds us from the fact that we are already complete . There is nothing to become or search for outside myself . All worldly pleasures are of temporary nature and losing them is inevitable since anything that begins will have to come to an end . So , why grieve and feel sorrow about it ? Understanding this , one grows out of the fear of death and the freedom from this fear is immortality .

The blessings of Lord Śiva as Mṛtyuñjaya is invoked by chanting the Maha Mṛtyuñjaya Mantra . It is a highly efficacious prayer found in the Sri Rudram . Traditionally , the mantra is chanted for longevity and also for those in deathbed or suffering from illness . The mantra is also a prayer of a mumukṣu who seeks the Lord’s grace to become a mature person , able to see the fact that “ I am purnaḥ (complete) . ”

ŚIVARĀTRI MUSINGS – 1

Lord Śiva is called Nīlakaṇṭhā , meaning the one with a blue neck . In the Bhagavata Purana , it is said that in the quest for the nectar of immortality (amrutham) , the devas and asuras made truce and started churning the Milky Ocean . Mount Mandara was used as the rod and the serpent Vasuki as the cord . Unable to tolerate the pressure during churning , the serpent Vasuki spilled out poison . The alarmed devas and asuras ran towards Lord Śiva , pleading for His help . Lord Śiva saved them by consuming the poison and contained it in His neck .

The poison here represents the impurities that the mind picks up . In day-to-day life , one encounters guilt and hurt . Dwelling upon them gives rise to anger and frustration , making the mind impure . An impure mind is not fit for managing one's thoughts and life becomes a total mess . Not only is the individual rendered helpless in dealing with worldly matters , but he or she also becomes unfit for spiritual undertakings .

Therefore , we worship Lord Śiva by chanting His names and glories through which the mind is purified . There is nothing more healing than the Lord’s name . It is a balm for all the daily hurt , for all the aches and pains of life . On Śivarātri night particularly , the chanting of the Sri Rudram , Panchakshara-mantra japa and Maha Mrityunjaya mantra japa are considered highly efficacious . Ultimately , one realises that the Lord alone is one’s saviour from a life of becoming (samsara) .

SHIVARATHRI

A human being is called purusha – meaning one who is purnaḥ ( complete ) . Thus , one should live his life in a manner to discover this fullness . The Vedas mention of the four purushārtha (human goals) – dharma , artha , kāma and moksha . Moksha is the ultimate end and realising the limitations of the first three pursuits , one eventually resorts to the pursuit of moksha .

Moksha is the spiritual goal unique to the Hindu Dharma alone . It is discovering the fact “ I am the whole” . This means I am already a complete person , free from defects and lacking . Our day to day encounters with worldly matters gives the mind a tendency to sway away from the spiritual goal . So , we take vratams (resolves) to withdraw our mind from worldly pursuits and remind ourselves of the spiritual goal . Vratams emphasizes two forms of practices : upavasa (fasting) and śravanam (listening to the scriptures) . Śivarātri is an ideal occasion for taking up both the forms of vratam .

On this night , it is said that Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu were both arguing on who is superior . To resolve the dispute , they went to Lord Śiva who then said the one who can find Lord Śiva’s limits is the superior one . Brahma took the form of a Hamsa (swan) and ascended upwards searching for the Lord’s head while Vishnu took the form of a Varaha (boar) and went into the earth to find the Lord’s feet . Both eventually failed and Lord Śiva appears in the form of a jyotirlinga before them .
In the Vedic tradition , Lord Śiva is the presiding deity of destruction . Lord Śiva destroys ignorance (ajñana) which is the cause of bondage by giving atma-jñana (self-knowledge) . The word “Śiva” itself means “ the auspicious one” . From the standpoint of Vedanta , bondage is deemed as inauspicious because it gives rise to sorrow , pain and sufferings to the individual . In life , letting go is always the toughest part because one sees himself as lacking or incomplete when he lets go of things that are dear to him . In reality , a human being is already complete and all he needs is to see this fact .

The form of Lord Śiva beautifully unfolds the true nature of oneself . Lord Śiva is depicted as wearing garland of snakes and skulls , dancing in the crematorium and etc. which are considered as impure and inauspicious . In spite of all these inauspiciousness , Lord Śiva remains ever-pure and auspicious , untainted by the inauspiciousness that surround Him . This is the nature of the ātmā (Self) which in spite of all the bondage imposed on the individual , the ātmā (Self) is ever-pure and auspicious , free from any associations . This is the truth that the Vedas expound . On Śivarātri , we worship Lord Śiva , seeking His grace to bless and guide us to see this fact .

Traditionally , spiritual seekers observe fasting and keep vigil all night during Śivarātri , chanting the pancaksara-manta , “ Om Namah Shivaya ” with great fervour . In Śiva temples , abhiṣeka is offered to the śivalinga during each yāma( three hour period ) of the night and arcana is performed using bilva leaves . Maha-Mrityunjaya mantra japa and chanting of the Sri Rudram are highly efficacious on this day . Religious satsangs and puranic stories of Lord Śiva are narrated on this day . Since Lord Śiva is also yogaswami ( Lord of Renunciation ) , gurus give sannyāsa-dīkṣā to committed spiritual seekers .

As Sri Śankara says , “ Don’t postpone . We grow older daily yet we are still waiting to begin the spiritual pursuit as though we are going to live for a hundred years . Start now .”

Hara Hara Mahadeva !