गुरुःगुरुतमो धामः सत्यः सत्य-पराक्रमः ।
निमिषो-अ-निमिषः स्रग्वी
वाचस्पति: उदार-धीः ।।
209. Guruḥ; 210. Gurutamaḥ:
Guru means teacher. He is the one who imparts knowledge. Guruttama means
the best among teachers.
Chaturmukha Brahma with four heads symbolising four Vedas is an epitome
of knowledge. The Lord is the guru to Brahma and imparted the Vedas to Him. He
is the one who is the teacher of all forms of knowledge.
211. Dhāma:
Dhama means ashraya, meaning final abode, or that which we also call
vaikunta.
We can also split it as,
Dha (dharana – sustains us) + ama (no limitations)
He sustains us without any limitations.
Also, during laya, he is our final abode.
He gives ashraya to the
prakrutika shakti
Another meaning is that, He is Vishnu in whom Lakshmi always resides
(dhama).
He is also the Supreme Light or intelligence.
‘dhama shabdho jyotir vachana’
The light signifies the vibhooti roopas of the Lord.
In India, we have the Char Dhama – Badrinath, Rameshwaram, Dwaraka, and
Puri Jagannath. Visiting these holy dhamas is said to help achieve moksha.
212. Satyaḥ:
Satasya satyam – The truth behind all the truths.
One who is embodied as a virtue of truth.
It is said that during the creation of the universe, there was udgeetha kampana, followed by Shukra sfota, spiltting the seed into two – the manifested ‘sat’ and the unmanifested –‘tat’
Sat is the Stree tattva or feminine potential and has the vibhootis or
forms of shakti
213. Satyaparākamaḥ:
He is the shakti who gives us the courage to learn the truth.
214. Nimiṣaḥ:
He is the one whose eye-lids are closed in Yoga-nidra and is observing
everything. He does not need external eyes to observe.
Nimilite yato netre yoganidra rathasya atho nimishah
All qualities are submerged in him, though they are not manifested.
Na ikshate iti nimishah
Closed eyes signify laya stithi , closed like a bud, after the creation
is over.
215. Animiṣaḥ:
It is the opposite of the above and thus it means the one who is ever
awake.
Animisha signifies creation.
In the bhakti roopa it also signifies the Matsya avatar. Just like the fish
doesn’t close its eyes in water, He is also always awake.
He is also ‘atma swaroopa’ and the atma never sleeps. It is always in
chetana or wisdom.
216. Sragvī:
The Lord wears a garland made of tulsi or the holy basil, hence he is
Sragvi.
Also,
He is the one who wears a necklace called the Vaijayanti mala, made of 5
precious stones - Pearl, diamond, ruby, emerald and sapphire. These 5 precious stones signifies the five tanmatras
which forms the 5 elements or pancha maha bhootas.
‘Bhoota tanmatra roopaam’
We experience the five tanmatras through the five jnanendriyas or sense
organs -Sparsha (touch), gandha (smell), rasa, roopa (sight), shabdha (sound).
He keeps the tanmatras in his control. In order to attain Him, we must
also learn to keep our senses in our control.
217. Vācaspatir
Vacha is derived from vak meaning speech.
Hence He is the Lord of speech.
Vak also signifies jnana
Vacho vidyapatih vachaspatih
Being the master of Vak or word i.e. knowledge, and His intellect
perceives everything He is called Vachaspatih.
Vak is also one of the shakti during the creation process because it is
equivalent to knowledge.
Vak or what we speak, or do not speak, what we should or should not
speak, everything adds to our karma.
Have you wondered how did the speech originate and how did it come out
of our mouth?w
Well, the Vedas tell us Vak or communication is a process by itself.
There are 4 stages of speech / communication
Para, pashyanti, madhyama, vaikhari
Para is highest form of communication. It begins in the nabhi or navel.
What starts as vibration in our nabhi , then travels to the heart.
Here in the heart it is called pashyanti.
Then it travels to the throat and is called Madhyama.
Then we speak through words. That is vaikhari.
Vaikhari is lowest form of communication because it needs words in order
to be processed.
Para means on the other side, or other extreme of communication. What we
want to speak first originates in our mind, by thinking about it. The thought reflects
in our nabhi. It creates a perceptible vibrations in the nabhi and is called
para.
Is it possible to communicate using para?
Birds represent the highest form of jnana. They communicate through
para. We might have seen birds flying in a pattern. How do they communicate even
as they fly so fast? They use Para communication.
Effective communication
Communication can be effective when we can communicate perefctly what is
there in the mind. What is there in the mind comes from individual experience.
To directly transfer that to someone without words such that the listener gets
the same experience is the basis of effective communication.
We may wonder if it is possible to communicate in such a manner.
But, it might be surprising to know that Vedas have been passed through
oral communication, for generations, by the guru-shishya parampara. And para
level of communication was being used to transfer the knowledge. Nothing was
ever written down.
It is said that after the time of sage Parashara who was the father of Acharya
Vedavyasa, the para communication ceased to exist. That is why Vedavyasa wrote
it down so that this knowledge would continue to be passed on.
Pashyanti – the vibrations happen in the heart. Communication happens
through the heart.
Madhyama and vaikhari – the thoughts get a physical form. Get
transformed to words. We can hear the thoughts.
To understand it better, let’s look at the composition of Omkara. The
word Om is composed of three letter AUM, better known as ‘A’kara, ‘U’kara and
‘Ma’kara. It would be interesting to know that these very letters correspond to
the three process that the universe goes through- creation, sustenance, and destruction.
If one were to chant AUM, they would realise that -
Akara starts from nabhi. And we feel vibrations in the navel.
Ukara starts from the heart. Vibrations are felt in the heart.
Makara starts from the throat and ends up in the cheeks. And vibrations
are felt in the throat and mouth.
That is why it is called Pranava or Omkara Swaroopa.
This makes it easier to correlate the types of speech, their origin and their
significance.
218. Udāradhīḥ:
Dhi means buddhi
Udar means generous
He is Udaradhih.
Both these name together constitute one name as jnana and buddhi are inseparable.
Jai Shri Krishna!
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