From Kamakoti.

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Value of Prayer
In this life we are faced with various kinds of difficulties, afflictions and
sorrows. We go to a doctor to get relief for our bodily ailments. We approach
numerous authorities for obtaining solution for our worldly problems. We also
pray to God. Our great men have given guidance as to how to pray and what
to pray for. There is one school of thought which says that we should pray to
God only for our spiritual salvation. But there are others who think that we
owe a duty to the members of the family, and, in the discharge of that duty,
we have perforce to invoke the blessings of God by prayer. This is a proper
approach and, therefore, even when we have to go to human agencies to get
relief, we should first submit our difficulties and troubles to God.
Lord Sri Krishna says in the Gita :
Chaturvidhaa bhajante-maam janaah sukritinorjuna;
Aarto jijnaasur-arthaarthee jnaanee cha bharatarshabha.
Bhagavan mentions four categories of persons who pray to God. The first
category is denoted by the term Aartah, i.e., those who are suffering
physically and mentally, afflicted by diseases, pain, poverty, troubles,
difficulties, etc. They pray to God to lighten their burden and make their
existence tolerable. The second category of persons is denoted by the term
Jijnaasu those, who are thirsting for knowledge and are eager to get at the
truth of things. The expression Arthaarthee denotes the class of people who
are fairly well off in the world, but desire to be blessed with more of the good
things of life, so that they can live free from troubles and sorrow and also
serve others. The last category of persons is denoted by the term Jnaani,
those who have acquired Jnaana or wisdom and realised the Supreme Truth.
They are people who have realised that there is nothing outside God and
that all is God. Yet they too pray. Their prayer is described in the Gita as
prayer with the realisation that Vaasudeva is all (Vaasudeva sarvamiti).
A person may have everything that contributes to happiness, and yet, if he
has not developed the proper frame of mind, he cannot be happy and
contented. When his mind is a slave to discontent, anger and envy, he
cannot have peace and happiness. Like water kept in a leaky pot, everything
he has will prove useless to him. Therefore, we should first of all seek God's
help to cleanse our minds of all passions and impurities. Sri Adi Sankara has

given us proper guidance in the matter of prayer in his Shatpadee Stotram,
the opening verse of which is :
Avinayam apanaya vishno
Damaya manah samaya vishaya mriga-trishnaam;
Boota dayaam vistaaraya
Taaraya samsaara saagaratah
Vinaya is a quality which is associated with a cultured gentleman.
Gentleness, humility, consideration for others, freedom from egoism- these
are some of the virtues we associate with Vinaya. In fact, the purpose of
education is to make one acquire Vinaya (Vidyaa vinaya sampannah).
According to our Sastraas, a Guru's (teacher's) duty is to inculcate Vinaya in
his pupils. So also, the primary duty of the king is to see that his subjects are
people endowed with the virtue of Vinaya. Then his second duty is to protect
his subjects, i.e., to see that they get education, and are gainfully employed
and are free from wants. Governing and protecting his subjects from external
aggression and internal disorders come last-Vinayaa daana, rakshana and
bharana.
Because of the emphasis on Vinaya, the expression Vineya is used to
denote a disciple. The meaning of the word Vineya is one who is to be
equipped with Vineya. Sri Padmapaada Acharya in a verse in praise of Sri
Adi Sankara, says :
Yadvaktra maanasa sarah pratilabdha janma
Bhashyaaravinda makarandarasam pibanti;
Pratyaasa-munmukha vineeta vineya bhringaah,
Taan bhaashya-vittaka-guroon pranatosmi moordhnaa.
This verse described the disciples of Sri Bhagavatpaada as "bees (Bhringah)
drinking the nectar of Bhashya flowing from the lotus face of Sankara". The
expression used to indicate the disciples is "Vineetavineya bringaah". The
special significance of this expression is that these Vineyas (pupils coming to
be equipped with Vinaya) have become Vineeta (persons possessing the
virtue of Vinaya). by the mere presence of the Guru. A student is called
Sishya in Sanskrit, because he has to undergo training or Siksha under a
Guru. In the present day, the term Siksha is applied either for training in
music or for punishment. Probably the term Sikh must have been derived
from Sikshaka or Guru. The religious head of the Sikhs is known as Guru.
The followers being his Sishyas or those who had undergone Siksha under
him, the term Sikh probably came to be used to denote the followers.
Therefore, in the Shatpadee Stotra, Sri Adi Sankara prays to God to remove
Avinaya, evils like arrogance, which are opposite qualities to Vinaya. Vinaya
is an accretion that comes to be attached to persons, and if that is removed,
Vinaya will express itself naturally. Then Sri Adi Sankara prays to God to
keep his mind under control (Damaya manah). When the mind is brought
under control, it will cease to race after transient pleasures, and will remain
steady in the thought of God. The next prayer is to eradicate the desires
prompted by the senses. (Samaya vishaya mrigatrishnaam) when we no
longer hanker after worldly pleasures. Our heart begins to beat in harmony
with the rest of the world, and we acquire a broad and sympathetic outlook.
So Sri Adi Sankara next prays to enlarge his compassion for all creation
(Bhoota dayaam vistraaraya). When the mind is so elevated spiritually step
by step, the inevitable result will be the end of birth and death or the crossing
of the ocean of Samsaara. So he prays, Taaraya samsara saagaratah.
There is an aptness in the use of the term Mriga trishna in connection with
pleasures of the senses. The meaning of Mriga is deer. When there is
drought and deer are wandering in quest of drinking water, they drift towards
the desert. They mistake the mirage in the desert for drinking water and run
in pursuit of it and ultimately collapse and die. Similarly Kaama, Krodha and
other passions, generated in us by our senses, are like mirage which drives
us ultimately to our destruction.
When speaking the desert, another interesting thought occurs. Probably due
to certain geological causes, deserts have come to be formed in places
which were once an expanse of the sea. Sahara is a desert and the name
might have been derived from Saagara, the Sanskrit term for the sea. By
reason of these expanses being landlocked, and the absence of rivers
flowing into them and on account of continuos process of evaporation by the
sun's heat through the ages, the "Saagara" became "Sahara". In India, there
are deserts in Rajasthan and in Sanskrit, a desert is called Maruvaatika. The
terms Marwar and Marwadi are likely to have been derived from
Maruvaatika.
The Shatpadee Stotra is a beautiful composition. In one of the verses, Sri Adi
Sankara has employed the poetical technique known as Antaadi, the word
with which one verse ends being used as the opening word of the next verse.
The verse in question is :
Uddhritanaga nagabhidanuja danuja-kula-mitra mitrasasidrishte
Drishte bhavati prabhavati na bhavati kim bhavatiraskaarah.
It will be noticed that Sri Bhagavatpada has employed the last word in a
phrase, as the first word for the next phrase in the same Sloka. After the six
verses of the Shatpadee Stotra, the seventh and concluding verse is :
Naaraayana karunaamaya saranam karavaani taavakau charanaau
Iti shatpadi madeeye vadana-saroje sadaa vasatu.
The beauty of this verse is that expression Iti Shatpadi (foregoing shatpadi or
six verses) is applicable not only to six verses that have preceded, but also
to the six words, Naaraayana, Karunaamaya, Saranam, Karavaani,
Taavakau, and Charanau, occurring at the beginning of this verse itself.
Bhagavatpada says, "Let these six verses (and also the six words of the last
verse) reside always in my mouth", meaning, bless me to constantly repeat
them, even as the Shatpadi (bee) resides in a lotus (Saroje).
The sixth verse in this Stotra is :
Damodara gunamandira sundara vadanaaravinda govinda
Bhavajaladhi mathana-mandara paramam daramapanaya tvam me
The Lord, addressed in this verse as Damodra, one who bears the marks of
the rope with which he was tied up by His mother, Yasoda, is described as
Gunamandira, the abode of all qualities. Here is a beautiful synthesis of the
conception of God as both Saguna(possessing attributes) and Nirguna
(Attributeless). It is only when all the colours in the light mix together that we
get the colourless rays of the sun. Similarly, by virtue of being the abode of
attributes, God becomes Nirguna, attribute-less. In the like manner, the term
"Sundaravadanaaravinda", in this sloka, brings to our mind the idea that
even people God like to contemplate on God. Even when they have
experienced the bliss flowing from the realisation of the identity of the
Jivatma and the Paramatma, and also have realised that God is in everything
and everything is in God , they prefer to put aside, for a little while, the
experience of this oneness with God, and to contemplate on Him as One
slightly different from themselves, like the apparent difference between
waves and the ocean, and to enjoy the darling divine form of Krishna. Sri
Madhusoodhana Saraswati, that great apostle of advaita, in one of his
verses, finds indescribable beauty even in the yawning of the child, Krishna,
as He gets up in the morning. The expression "Bhavajaladhimandira", brings
home to us that fact that we have to find salvation only by going through the
trials and tribulations of this life. The taste of the thousands of leaves and
barks of a tree may be disagreeable. Yet it blossoms and yields sweet fruits.
The trials and tribulations of family life are but necessary steps leading to the
sweetness of salvation. The only condition required is that we should not
lose our hold of God, who is the churning stick ( mandara) to churn the
amrita of salvation from the ocean of births and deaths.
It is significant to note that while the teaching of the Lord in the Gita begins
with the words, Asochyaan anva sochastvam--( you grieve over persons unfit
to be grieved for), and ends with ma suchah --(don't grieve). The Shatpadee
Stotra of Sri Adi Sankara begins with Avinayam apanaya and ends with
Apanaya Tvam Me.
The prayer of Sri Adi Sankara to bless him to recite the Shatpadee stotra
constantly is meant for us. Let these verses and the prayers contained
therein be constantly on our lips, so that we can safely cross the ocean of
samsaara, and find refuge in Him.
February 25 1958.
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