Sri:

Nava Rathina MAlai

English Translation by Sri Vanamamalai Padmanabhan (Chennai) Vedics Foundation: http://www.vedics.net

Swami Sri Pillai Lockacharyas

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Achaarya Lineage
1 Sridhara (SrimanNarayana) 2 Sri (Maha Lakshmi) 3 Vishvaksena 4 Sattakopaya 5 Nathamuni 6 Pundarikaksha 7 RamaMisra 8 Yamunacharya 9 MahaPurna 10 Sri Ramanuja 9 Embar 8 ParasaraBhattar 7 NanJeeyar 6 Nampillai 5 VadakkuThiruvidhiPillai 4 PillaiLokacharya 3 ThiruvaiymozhiPillai 2 Manavala Mamuni 1 Sridhara (SrimanNarayana)

Sri: Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha: Srimath Varavara Munaye Namaha:

THE RAMANUJA @YAHOOGROUPS HAS PROVIDED ME WITH IMMENSE OPPORTUNITY TO INTERACT WITH SREVAISHNAVITES, CORRESPOND WITH THEM, LEARN AND STUDY A LOTS AND LOTS IN OUR SUBJECT. THIS IS NOT JUST FOR ME BUT APPLIES TO ALL THE SREVAISHNAVITES. IN THIS FAST WORLD WHEN SREVAISHNAVITES ARE SPREAD ACROSS THE GLOBE, THE UPANYASAM STYLE OF LEARNING HAS NOT BEEN POSSIBLE. THE YAHOOGROUPS AND THE EFFORTS OF VEDHICS FOUNDATION IN BRINGING ABOUT PUBLICATIONS ARE INDEED GREAT. THE TELE-BRDGE UPANYASAM-S THOUGH NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR A DIRECT UPANYASAM-S, NARROWS TO A GREAT EXTENT THE GAP ONE FEELS. THE REGULAR POSTINGS IN THE YAHOOGROUPS DISCUSSION ALSO HELPS IN FULFILLING THE REQUIREMENT OF KNOWLEDGE TO A CONSIDERABLE EXTENT. THE IDEA OF DEVELOPING A WEBSITE ON THE EVENT OF 800 THE THIRUNAKSHATHRAM OF SWAMI PILLAI LOKACHARYA IS WONDERFUL. THAT IS WILL HOUSE HIS WORKS AND THE VYAKYANAM-S AND TEXTS IN ENGLISH WILL GO A LONG WAY IN SATISFYING THE HUNGER OF THE FUTURE GENERATIONS TO COME WHILE PRESERVING THE TREASURE OF OUR BELOVED SRI PILLAI LOKACHARYAR. THE INFORMATION ON SWAMI PILLAI LOKACHARYAR AND HIS WORKS AND THE MEANINGS WILL ALSO BE DISSEMINATED THROUGH THIS WEBSITE. THIS SHOULD INDEED BE A BOON FOR ALL ESPECIALLY WHO CANNOT GRASP TAMIL AND MANIPRAVALAM AND ALSO FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO UNDERSTAND THE NUANCES OF THESE WORKS. WITH THESE FEW WORDS, BOWING UNTO THE FEET OF SWAMI, LET US IMMERSE INTO THE DIVINE CONTENTS. Adiyen Ramanuja Dasan VA-na-mAmalai padmanabhan Chennai

azhwar Emberumanar Jeeyar Thiruvadigale Saranam

NAVA RATHINA MALAI

INTRODUCTION THE SELF THE PHYSICAL BODY RELATIVES -BANDHUKAL SAMSARI-S DHEVATHANTRHAM-OTHER DEITIES SREVAISHNAVITES ACHARYAN PIRATTI EMPERUMAN CONCLUSION 5 6 7 8 8 9 9 10 11 12 12

CONTENTS

Nava-Rathina MAlai
Navarathinamalai is one of the eighteen works of sWami PiLLai lOkAchAryAs AsthAdhasa rahasyam. This work describes how one should perceive and change the mindset towards nine aspects and therefore these are nine gems given to us and titled as nava rathina mAlai. These nine aspects are i. Self ii. Physical body iii. Relatives iv. Common folk; v. Demi-Gods; vi. SrEvaishNavites; vii. AchAryan; viii. PirATTi and ix. The Supreme Lord. Accordingly, 1 The self is perceived as different from physical form, atomic, embodiment of knowledge and happiness, ever thinking of the Almighty subservient to the Supreme. 2 The physical body is the one which is the tangible obstruction in relaising the nature of the AtmA, the bundle of 24thathvam-s, temporary, subject to transformation, and seed for all unhappiness. 3 The realtives are to be perceived as those who do inhibit in induliging in bhagavath knowledge and activities and also harbour ahankAram and mama-kAram. 4 The samsAri-s are the hurdle to bhagavath anubhavam and kainkaryam. 5 DhevathAnthram are those who think high of themselves but are totally dependant on the Supreme, those who have opposed the Lord Almighty and failed and have made the common folk believe that they are powerful and accordingly do unpermitted acts-anarthangaLai paNNubavargaL. 6 SrEvaishNavites: are those who have received the grace of the Lord and their association encourages bhagavath bakthi and are the ultimate even in the final end prApyathukku ellai nilam. 7 AchAryan: is the one who has brought rectified and corrected me and placed me in the right path, moulded to an extent of receiving the grace of the Almighty, and out of Grace disseminated the real knowledge and therefore is is perceived with great gratitude mahOpakAran. 8 PirATTi : Condoning all our sins and blunders , making the independence of the Lord to become subtle and precipitating the auspicious qualities of the Lord and therefore, is the advocate for us, the mother mercy for us and also the one unto whom we will perform kainkaryam. 9 EmPerumAn: At the time of Creation He bequeathed us with physique and sensory organs, thinking always of our welfare by being in innermost of our hearts, creating attitudes which are in tandem which encourage marching towards His ultimate abode, condoning all our blunders and relieve us eternally from the samsAram leading us through archirAdhi mArgam and blessing us with GunAnubhavam and granting us nithya-kainkaryam.

I. THE SELF SwAmi PiLLai LokAchAryar explains the Self with the follwing five features i.Different from the physical body; ii. Permanent; iii. Not subject to transformation; iv. Atomic; v. Seat of knowledge and happiness; vi. Owned by EmperumAn and is paranthanthran to Him. i. Different from that of the body: AtmA is different from that of the body. (adiyEan vuLLAn vudAl vuLLanthiruvAi mozhi 8-8 The Lord is in the AtmAn and also the body which means that the Atman and body are different.)

ii Permanent : Not subject to either creation nor death. Then what is birth and death? Birth is the Atman being settling in the body and death is release from the body. (AtmA cannot be burnt by fire not doused by water or tortured by weapons Srimadh Bhagavath GethA) iii.Not subject to Transformation: The soul neither grows not depletes or deteriorates. Iv Atomic: The AtmA is atomic. v. The Atman is seat of knowledge and happiness. vi.The Atman is EmperumAns : As mentioned by Thirumangai AzhwAr in Periya Thriumozhi ..madai Ar nElam vayal sUzh ThriukkaNNapuram vudaiyAnukku, adiyEan oruvaRku vuriyEanOA? Periya Thriumozhi 8-9-3; vii.Parathanthran: The AtmA acts to the liking and desire of the Lord and for the Lord.Therefore, AthmA does not do acts as per its wish. -The word adiyEan in the pAsuram adiyEan vuLLAn refers to the soul as adiyEan ThriuvAimozhi 8-8- 2 and GuruparampArA prabhAvam ThriukkOshtiyUr nimbi-s explanation and Edu aptly explains this.The AtmA is subservient to the Lord though knowledge and anandham are its basic nature.

II. THE PHYSICAL BODY: The features of the body is described as follows a. That one which obstructs the realisaton of the true nature of the soul; b. That which generates vibharEtha gnAnam; c.Bundle of 24 thathvam-s; d. Temporay ; e. The one which induces into materialistic pursuits and pushes into samsAram eternally. a. Since, the sensory organs are restricted by the body which is of 24 thathvam-w, the body does not allow realizing the true nature of the soul (aLavudai aim-pulangaL aRiyA vagaiThiruvAi Mozhi 3-10-11. b. The body makes one think that it is Atman. It also makes one assume what is not ones as ones.Similarly, results in the thoughts of Supremacy where it is not attributable and purshArtham where it is not ought to be.Therefore, the body results in vibharEtha gnAnam or misunderstanding of true knowledge. c. Bundle of 24 thathvam-s: The physical body is a mass of twenty four thathvam-s. SwAmi Nam AzhwAr has explained this in the ThriuvAiMozhi pong aim-pulanum, poRi aindhum, karumEandhriyam aim-bhUdham, ingiv vuyirEa prakruthi, mAnAhnkAra manangaLEa ThiruvAi-Mozhi 10-7-10; These are Five senses: smell, vision, touch,sound and taste. Five sensory organs: nostrils,eyes, skin, ears and tongue. Five action organs-karama-indhriyam mouth,hands,feet, kudham and kuRi. Pancha-bhUdham-s:akAsam-vAyu-agni-appu-prithvi i.e The sky, wind, fire,water and the earth. The aforesaid fives add up to twenty.

21st : prakruthi 22nd is mahAn 23rd is ahankAram and 24th is mind. Therefore, the body is a mass of these 24 elements. d. The one which induces into materialistic pursuits and pushes into samsAram eternally.

III Blood relatives: The blood relatives are related to us through the physi. dhEha BandhukkaL cal body and hence dhEha bandhukkaL. They are not our natural relatives in the sense that their relationshiop terminates once this body falls. Further, since their assocition only aggravates the samsAric immersion, this is not a desired connexion. This is what Sri Nam-AzhwAr mentions koNda peNdir makkaL vuRRAr suRRathavar piRarum, kaNdadhOdu pattadhallAl, kAdhal maRRi yAdhum illai 9-1-1 of ThiruvAiMohzi and ..iruL koL thunbathu inmai kANil ennEa enbArum illai 9-1-3 of ThriuvAiMozhi. These relatives spurn us when one is in distress. The question then comes up, Who is the real relative The relative with whom the relationshiop is natural and never terminates.Sri AndAL clearly underlines this fact in ThriuppAvai 28 ..vunnOAdu vuRavEal ingu vozhikka vozhiyAdhu That mother has failed is seen in the instance of kaikEyai, that brother is not so is observed in case of vAli, that sons have also disappointed is seen in the case of rudhran and kamsan, that the husband has deserted is clear from dhraupadhi-s episode and naLan-s. Therefore, all these relationship is Him which is made clear by Sri ParAnkusan sEAlEai kaNNiyarum, perum selvamum, nan-makkaLum, mEAlAi thAi thandhaiyum avarEa ini AvAREA 5-1-8 of ThiruvAi Mozhi;

IV SamsAri-s: SamsAri-s are hindrances to bhagavath anubhavam and bhagavath kainkaryam. How? Since, they are full of ahankAram and mama-kAram they are submerged in the materialistic pursuit and happiness. Therefore, they do not realize the supremacy of the Almighty resulting in the similar attitude to those who are with them. Therefore, this field effect should be feared as this will directly lead to obstacle for bhagavath anubhavam (as against materialistic pursuits) and bhagavath kainkaryam ( as against materialistic addiction) Sri Nam AzhwAr clearly mentions this aspect also nATTArOdu iyalvozhindhu nAraNanai nanninamEa 10-6-2 of ThiruvAiMozhi.

V.DhEvathAnthram- Demi Gods: The demigods or other deities inherit their nominal powers from EmprumAn.They are subject to His will and wish. It is magnanimity that He has conferred such powers to them keeping in mind various factors dhisayum,dhisayUruth theivamum, theivath isaiyum karumangaL ellAm kAroDha vaNNan padaitha mayakku Mudhal ThrivandhAdhi. The fact that the deities have been installed in several directions and for different actions are all the illusion EmperumAn has created. Adding to this the rajas and thamas nature of these deities make thim think themselves as supreme and act accordingly. Sri Nam AzhwAr clears this illusion in several pAsuram-s. Here is one instance, nAdi nEr vaNangum theivamum vummaiyum mun padiathAn, kabala nan mOKKathuk kaNdu koN min ThiruvAi Mohzi 410-2; AzhwAr addresses the samsAri-s who presume that these deities are the prime These deities whom you approach and worship and you are all created by EmperumAn. Thus, one should realize that these deities are subservient to the Lord, these act as if they are supreme and are devoid of knowledge and look upon EmperumAn during their distress.

VI. SrEvaishNavites: How are the fellow SrEvaishNavites

to be considred?

Those whose association is the seed for sprining knowledge in bhagavath vishayam and also indifferenct towards other matters. They also help in achieving the kainkarya prApthi and are to be most desired ones. Therefore, they also are the ultimate goal. SwAmi PiLLai LokAchAryar has categorically spelt this out in SrEvachana BhUshaNamivvartham- idhihAsa-purANangaLilum,payilum sudar oliyilum, nedumARkadimaiyulum, thEATTarum thiralilum, naNNAdha vALavuNar, kaN sOra venkurudhiyilum,mEmporul mEaliR pATTukkaLilum visadhamAgak kANalAm227; That devotion to devotees is ultimate has been demonstrated by AzhwAr-s and These pAsuram-s are a. b. c. d. e. f. payilum sudar oli ThiruvAiMozhi 3-7; NedumARkadimai ----ThiruvAiMozhi 8-10; NaNNAdha vAL avunar-Periya ThiruMozhi 3-6; KaN sOra venkurudhi Periya ThiruMozhi 7-4; TheAttarum Thiral PerumAL ThriuMozhi 2. The pAsuram-s following mEAmporuL pogavittu in

ThirumAlai.

These have been quoted to highlight the importance of SrevaishNavites and the good it casues to the self. Therefore, one should consider the srEvaishNavites and their association as the most desirable. The stages of kainkaryam is set as three. The first is Acharya Kainkaryam, the next is Kainkaryam to EmperumAn and the final is dhAthEya kainkaryam.

VII AchAryan: AchAryan is one out of immense grace imparts true knowledge to the SishyA-educates him with the secrets of Thriumandhram with the specific intent of removing Sishyan from samSAram and makes him apt to receive the grace of The Almighty. Does not Madhurakavi AzhwAr mention ..payan anRAgilum-pAngallanAgilum-seyal nanRAgath thiruthip paNi koLvAn He also declares in this prabhandham kaNNInun SiruthAmbu ..dhEAvu mathARiyEan kurugUr nimbi proclaiming the faith one has to have in ones AchAryan and demonstrates this by practice. While other AzhwAr-s talk of the Lord when He is appearing and fear the samsAram at other times. Sri Madhurakavi is always stable and steady due to his steadfast devotion towards his AchAryan. This is clearly mentioned in SrEvachana BhUshaNam 408: vuNda pOdhu oru vArthayum, vuNNAdha pOdhu oru vArthaiyum solluvAr pathu pear vuNdiRea; avargaLaik koNdanRu ivvartham aRudhiyiduvahdu; The real philosophy has to be determined not based on the fluctuating words of ten AzhwAr-s who talk in a happy tone when the Lord appears and talks grief when He is away. 409-avargaLaich SirithiruppAr oruvar vuNdiREa; avar pAsuram koNdu ivvartham aRudhiyidak kadavOam The real truth to be followed is to be determined from the one who is steadfast and steady in his words.The one who followed swAmy Nam-AzhwAr as his AchAryan and declared that he has got no other Lord than his Acharyan.

By his immense causeless mercy, the AchAryan has showered his blessings on me; Put me in the right path. Imparted me The real truth. Taught me the Thirumandhiram and removed me from the SamsAram. Led me to the divine feet of the Lord Almighty and put me into the domain of eternal kainkaryam.What a mammoth upakAram. MaHOpakAram should be our thoughts regarding AchAryan.

VIII.

PIRATTI:

The Lord Almighty is not only swathanthran but also the one who maintains the Sasthric rules. He cannot therefore overlook any such determined factors and grant salvation or relief to anybody.This is a great constraint He has got in contrast to AchAryan and PirATTi. Notwithstanding this fact, He is full of auspicious qualities which include motherly love vAtsalyam, Saulabyam-Easy accessibility; sAuselyam Affable nature and so on. When the Supreme nature is predominant these qualities take a subtle role. PirATTi advoacetes for our cause. She argues Oh! Lord, who do not make mistakes. If one always harp on these rules, then what will happen to these auspicious qualities She thus precipitates these qualities and makes the swAthanthryam to a subtle state. These qualities shower mercy on the souls and elevate them, despite their accumulated sins. This is clearly stated in MumUkshuppadi purushakAra balathAlEa swAthanthriyam thalai sAindhAl thalai edukkum guNangaLaich sollugiRAdhu nArAyaNa sabthArtham 136. That pirATTi argued for the sake of rAkshashi-s who tortured Her is the outstanding example of Her efficacious advocacy. Therefore, one should consider PirATTi as our well wisher who argues for our sake with the Almighty, one who suppresses the swAthantrhiyam of the Lord and brings up His auspicious qualities. Thus She is our mother looking always for our welfare. One should realize that it is with Her that we are to perform Kainkaryam unto EmperumAn. akala-killEAn iRaiyum enRu alar-mEal mangai vuRai mArbAnigaril pugazhAi, vulagam mUnRudaiyAi, ennai AlvAnEa.. ThiruvAiMozhi 610-10; vEAri mARADha pU meal iruppAL vinai thErkkumEa 4-5-11 of ThiruvAi Mozhi.

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IX.EMPERUMAN: The Lord at the time of creation blesses us with physique, endows us with sensory organs and senses. He dwells in our innermost of our minds and always essays for our welfare vuL ninRu vuyirgaLukku vuthanavEa seidhu.. irAmAnusa nURRandhAdhi. He removes our determination not to be interested in Him. Over and above removing such indifference and apathy, He also directs us towards AchAryan, who imparts immense knowledge. Finally, He condones all our mistakes and graces us with the divine path towards His divine abode the archirAdhi pOm vazhiyaith tharum.. declares swAmy Nam-AzhwAr in the divine work ThriuvAiMozhi 3-9 ; He is also the Lord who escorts in the final journey. kALa mEagathai gadhiyAkki is the ThriuvAiMozhi NURRandhAdhip pAsuram in this regard. Granting the opportunity to cross the vrajA, EmperumAn grants parama-padham YEARRArum vaikunthathai aruLum namakku and bequeaths us with GunAnubhavam and blesses with eternal kainkaryam-nithya kainkaryam.

That is how one should consider EmperumAn. Conclusion: Thus SwAmy PiLLai vulagAsiriyar, focuses the limelight on the nine aspects and pereception one should have towards these. Though there is no vyAkyAnam for this treatise, the refrences are drawn from aruLich-cheyal, SwAmys other grantham-s like MumUkshuppadi, SrEvachana-bhUshaNam and so on. For instance, the attitude towards srEvaishNavites is clearly spelt out in the introduction to dhvyap prakaraNam by Sri MaNavALa mAmunikaL. As regards treating the AchAryan it is clearly spelt out in SrEvachaNa bhUshaNam. That pirATti is advocate for our cause and welfare is clear from a reading of MumUkshuppadi.That dhEvathAnthram-s are subservient to EmperumAn is frequently mentioned in aruLich cheyal. The same is the fact for the thoughts on samsAri-s, bandhukkaL. The fact regarding AthmA can also be understood from aruLich cheyal , thathvathrayam and artha-panchakam. Though this is not a translation of the work, this is an attempt to bring the spirit and essence of the work, in this language. I bow at the feet of Sri kAnchi swAmy, Sri VEAlukkudi VaradhAchari sWamy, Sri SriRangam NarasimhachAry swAmy, PuthUr swAmy and other srEvaishNavites, who imparted me knowledge to understand this grantham. Sri LokA GuravEA nam: AzhwAr-EmperumAnAr jEyar ThriuvadigaLEA charaNam

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A Note about the author Sri VA-na-mAmalai Padmanabhan Sri VA-namA-malai Padmanabhan was born on kArthikai pUrathAdhi (14th December 1961) at Chennai. His father hails from vAnamAmalai and mother from PaLLikaraNai. His father belongs to the ancestral lineage of vAnamAmalai mutt and mother from Sri MudhaliANdAn swAmigaL. His grandfather who migrated to Bombay several years back, was pioneer in bringing up aruLicheyal gOshti and imparting knowledge there. He was a srEbAshyam adhikAri and was an exponent in rahasya granthangaL. The books and the knowledge was a big asset which he left for Sri Padmanabhan. Sri Padmanabhan emotionally recalls his grandfather regularly performing kainkaryam at various divya-dEsam-s but cannot forget the fact that on the panguni uthiram day after kainkaryam at the lotus feet of dheiva nAyakam of Sri vA-na-mAmalai, his grandfather attained the feet of the Lord at the same divine place. Sri VeaLukkuDi VaradhAchAri swAmy, out of voluntary grace took him to amalanAdhip pirAn upanyAsam which proved to be the turning point in his life. This nirhEAthuhap kripai led to further learning of vyAkyAnam and aruLich cheyal and he started lessons on our philosophy from Sri VeaLukkuDi VaradhAchari SwAmy. Sri Padmanabhan is Chartered Accountant by profession and had to leave to New Delhi from Chenni with melancholy as he had to leave the upanyAsam-s and Sri vEALukkuDi swAmy. However, the association with Sri Ram Mandhir and the devotees there in Delhi, was again a turning point. It was in Sri Ram Mandhir in Delhi, he learnt Thiru-Vai-Mozhi sandhai from Sri SoundarRaja Iyengar who hailed from VaN-PurudOthamam Sannidhi of ThiruNAngUr. Sri Padmanabhan treasures the years of stay in Delhi and remembers his interactions with sRevaihsNavites like Tirumanjanam SundraRajan and Sri V.P.Srinivasa Varadhan, which went a long long way in sharpening his knowledge on the nuances of our tentes. The interaction with PuthUr swAmy directly and through correspondence, added to his source of knowledge to a great extent. He always recollects Sri Kanchi P.B.Annagarachar swAmy who imparts knowledge throughout,through his books? In 1990, he returned to Chennai and completed the aruLich cheyal sandhai and also went on to learn further rahashya granthangaL from Sri VEALukkuDi VaradhAchAri swAmy and Koil vidhwAn SriRangam NarasimhAchAri swAmy. He had his samAsryaNam from Sri PattarpirAn swAmy The 29th Pontiff of Sri vAnamAmalai mutt. He got married in 1997 January to Smt Shanthi who hails from one of the pancha-grAmam-s mEala namman-kuRichi. They are SwAmy MudhaliANdAn sishyAs. Incidentally, Sri Dheiva nAyakap perumAL is the prime deity at mEAla nammankuRichi. They got blessed with a daughter in 1998 whom they named as Thiru-mA-magaL one of kaliyans favourite terms. He attributes his value sysytem to Sri Madhurai ArangarRajan swAmy, Tirumanjanam Kannan swAmy and Rajam Mami who imbibed then in his life.

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The opporutunity to proof read Thriuvirutham vyAkyAnam being published by SrEvaishNasri KrishNamAchAri led to him to the world of publication and the minute details therein. The regular aruLich chyal gOshti at ThiruvallikkEANi made him participate there regularly and it virtually became a resident for him. The VandhArai vAzha vaikkum perumAL Partha-sArathy, gave him srEvaishNavic association and also the aruLich cheyal anubhavam day in and day out which still continues.Indeed, it is a golden period there in ThiruvallikkEANi where arulich cheyal gOshti sparkles with rendition of Divya-Prabhndham which is at prime. This also gave opportunities for him to participate in several samprOkshaNam gOshti-s. Sri Padmanabhan is thus regularly entwined with Sri Parthasarathy of ThiruvallikkEANi and at the same time emotionally attached towards Sri DheivanAyakap perumAL of Sri vA-na-mAmalai and Sri ThriukkuRunkuDi nambi. He cherishes the association with the sRevaishNvites in the gOshti there and is grateful to EmperumAn for having blessed with such divine satsangam. Having visited all the divya-dhESam-s possible except salagrAmam, he prides in having association with yahoogroups which continues the learning process on a realtime basis and also has given him lots of associations with sRevaishNvas. Writing thus in yahoogroups is not a pastime but also a serious process of study. He is contributing regulary in the ramanuja-yahoogroups which includes several articles, English version of AchArya Hrhdayam, Periya Thirumozhi and so on. He has also taken up photography and is very happy to share the divine anubhavam-s through yahoogroups and websites. He find it his honor and blessing to be associated with SrEvaishNavas. He plans to write as much as possible and spread the SreVaishNava sampradayam as far as possible. One of his unique attributes is he writes based on purvacharyas vyakhyanams as IS. This makes his contributions authentic and will stay with us for generations to come. We are fortunate to have such a devoted SrEvaishNava among us, who writes in english, true to our purvacharyas works. Thus helping spread the messages to non-tamil audiences. We pray to the LORD for giving him strength to continue his likhitha kainkariyams. Poliga! Poliga! Poliga! He can be contacted at aazhwar@vsnl.com and via telephone at 91-44-2264-2405 or 91-98406-19456. His address: No. 7, Sarathy Street, Pallavaram, Chennai 600 043, INDIA

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SERVE OUR TEMPLES ( ANCIENT VAISHNAVA SHRINES - DIVYA DESAMS) Maintaining an ancient temple is better than building a hundred new ones. That is the reason why Yashoda who brought up Sri Krishna, attained greater eminence compared to Devaki who gave birth to Him. When the temple is a Divyadesam, the service is all the more significant. Serve our Temples is an intiative to help our temples by restoring basic services, food, shelter, education, financial independence Dream a little. Do a little "What we can do, we must" - As He allows us to use His resources for Him via devotees like us. Back home in India, there are so many temples deprived of their basic needs and services, primarily due to lack of funds. With galloping prices, temple assets stripped, no government support, the temples have never found it as difficult to sustain as they have now. Most of the temples are deprived of basic necessities for the unhindered performance of minimum daily prayers. 1. One priest to offer prayers and keep the premises clean and open for devotees (Rs: 2500 per month) 2. Food (Prasadam), Oil, Flowers (Rs 2500 per month) With just $100 per month (Rs 5000 per month) we have a divine opportunity to preserve a temple. It is the solemn duty to preserve the temple not only for current day devotees to have a divine Darshan but also for our future generations. From the U.S, far away from India, yet you can still make a difference. Allow His Grace to flow, and spend His money for His causes. Vedics Foundation volunteers to serve as a bridge between those willing devotees who have resources and the temples in need. Vedics has already reached out to a few temples. Please visit www.vedics.net/projects vedics@yahoogroups.com for helping an ancient temple. For further details, send mail to:

Details : www.vedics.net/activities/
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Many of our purvacaharyas books are on the verge of being lost forever. Many more vyakhyana books as preserved in 1700s are already extinct. We have to preserve the existing books, especially books on Mulam

(sources) and their explanations (vyakhyanams). Mulam preservation: The 4000 Dhivya prabhandam. Every year we see changes being introduced into the 4000 sacred verses. We have to print the originals as preserved in 1800s. This needs to be distributed as is in the original form and also be translated in to other languages. Once the originals are preserved, their vyakhyanams should be preserved. Periya Vacchan Pillai has given us the vyakhyanams for the 4000. Our Acharya lineage has expounded on this and given us vyakhyanmas in varying depth. All this needs to be made available to the public. Vedic_Books has started work in this progress. Please join this service. We have started this work with intial focus on Sri PB Annangarachar Swami. Swami preserved hundreds of ancient works and tried to print as many of them in 1930s. Most of his books are not available anymore. The orginals that he preserved for future generations are about to be lost forever.We need your time and your charitibale contributions towards this effort. Vedic_Books has started services in this area. Please join this service. E-mail: vedic_books@yahoogroups.com

Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:

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Sri:

Basic Tenets of VEDICS: www.vedics.net

FALL IN LOVE WITH GOD Pray with sincerity, humility and gratitude for atleast 15 minutes a day. RESTRICT FOOD CONSUMPTION Eat anything only after offering it to God. MEDITATION Meditate on the LORD, atleast thrice a day, a minimum of 3 minutes each time. Chant Sri Vishnu Sahasranamam (the 1000 Holy Names of Lord Vishnu) once a day. RESPECT FOR ALL THAT IS HIS Strive to lead a life in which you will never hurt a fellow living being for any reason. MONEY Earn to live, educate, support and serve and not for the sake of pursuing materialistic desires. CHARITY Donate however little it may be to noble causes. Feeding the needy is the highest form of charity. CONTENTMENT Be happy and content that you are His property. Thank your preceptors at least once a day for blessing you with this awareness. ABSOLUTE FAITH Place complete trust in the supreme LORD. Do not go against His way. SELF CONTROL Strive to live a life free from selfish desires and anger.

Always adorn a peaceful smile; it will work on others and on you too Always keep dwayam in your heart.
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