Welcome back, co-passengers!
We hope that you had an enjoyable summer break.
This week, we will gather again for our weekly Jivana Meeting and continue to immerse ourselves in the sweet and poetic words of the Subhāṣitas stanzas communicated through Ācārya.
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“Subhāṣitas are stanzas written in Saṁskṛta, communicating a yogic lifestyle or ideal lifestyle, presented in poetic form. The great poets are Realized artists able to communicate succinctly through sweet words. Let us sip a little honey collected from different flowers of this divine earth by humble bees.” ~ Ācārya
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Śrī Annapūrṇa-stotra
अन्नपूर्णे सदा पूर्णे शङ्करप्राणवल्लभे ।
ज्ञानवैराग्यसिध्यर्थं भिक्षां देहि च पार्वति ॥
annapūrṇe sadā pūrṇe śaṅkaraprāṇavallabhe |
jñānavairāgyasidhyarthaṁ bhikṣāṁ dehi ca pārvati ||
Oh Pārvati, the beloved of Śaṅkara, you are endowed with food, and you are the whole. Offer me alms to procure right knowledge and detachment.
Annapūrṇe – anna = food, pūrṇe = fulfil
Her feature is to fulfil through food. She is like food for all humans, the vidya she possesses is food, her features are food. She herself, and as a representation of all foods of this universe.
sadāpūrṇe – She is always complete, not lacking in anything, with no defects. Whole. If all tastes are there in a dish, it is complete.
Śaṅkara – Lord Śiva. Śiva = auspicious, Śaṅkara = who is providing that auspiciousness to the whole society. Śaṅkara (Śiva) destroys, if we surrender ourselves to him he will destroy what needs to be destroyed.
prāṇa-vallabhe – She is the dearest to Śiva, like his prāṇa. As much as he loves his breath, that much love is there for her. The dearest for each of us is prāṇa. When we are loving God more than prāṇa, then we will be able to experience the Eternal Truth. vallabhe = her noble features are enunciated here with devotion.
jnāña – knowledge
vairāgya – detachment
sidhyarthaṃ – to attain, gain, these two – knowledge and detachment. Oh Pārvati, to attain these two give me food.
bhikṣāṃ – alms, offering.
dehi – give me. Give me alms to gain knowledge and detachment.
Pārvati – Śiva’s wife, invoking, inviting, calling on Pārvati’s attention.
jnāña and vairāgya is all we should gain through food. Unless we gain detachment we will not gain real knowledge. Step by step we detach – we come home and detach from the office, then we detach from family members as we go to bed, then we detach from the bed and our body as we fall asleep, then what is left? prāṇa. If we start providing food to our system with this intention, the mind will gradually be built in this way.
~ Ādarśa Ārya, 2016
Let us remember to pause and acknowledge the source of our food. May it provide us with a supporting wind to sail towards the experience of Inner Contentment and Yogic Success.
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In India, a short prayer recited before eating is “Oh, goddess Annapūrṇa, you are all-pervading. You are the escort of Śiva. I beg alms from you with an intention to realize Truth and to become detached. Please offer me alms.” Only after we say one or more of these prayers will we eat the food.
~ The Sacred Tradition of Yoga, Dr Shankaranarayana Jois
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