Interpreting Mother Lalleshwari's Sayings in Modern Times |
|
|
My hand folded Namaskar to all readers of Shehjar Web Magazine. Our lives these days have become so fast and modern. We hardly get any time to reflect and pause. Just try to go back in your thoughts a few hundred years and the present age of super computers, smartphones and Netflix would have looked like purely magical to the people of that era.
Now instead of a few hundred years, try to think and go back to 1300 A.D those are the times when Mother Lalleshwari roamed our ancestral land of Kashmir. Be-aware that we are talking about times when there is no electricity, no factories, no locomotives. This is the time when Columbus has not yet discovered America and Vasco-Da-Gama has not yet sailed towards India. Akbar is not yet born and Newton has not yet revealed his laws of motion to the world. Isn't it really amazing! Mother Lalla however has revealed these saying as Vaakhs to our ancestors during those times and that is the journey we will be going through in the next fourteen Vaakhs. In this youtube series we will take the journey of some of those simple and old sayings or Vaakhs by our beloved Mother Lalleshwari fondly known by Maej Lall Daed to all of us. For your reference I have kept the audio link of the Vaakhs for pronunciation in case some of you may want. Audio Link at
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIT1RDJczO3c4jsWqNflwC1b1gFR8ym-q Vaakh 1 - This consists on three Verses. All other 13 Vaakhs will have two verses only. To Start the series of fourteen Vaakhs we start with Gratitude. We pay our salutations to Shree Ganesh, Lord Shiva and Maa Saraswati. Verse 1 Ponyua Chaavna Saet Tann No Shrochaiy Khyann Travna Saet Dai No Tothey Ponyua: Water Chavvna Saet: Splashing vigourously. Tann: Body Shrochaiy: to be cleansed fully. So here in this Vaakh Mother Lalla says that O Proud Pandit just by splashing the waters of the holy rivers on your body do not think that you will be purified. Additionally, do not make the mistake of thinking that if you perform the holy fasts during the festive season that will chastise you of your sins. Fasts and Rituals are all just procedural and do not matter in the long run. So the question then arises that what matters if all this does not? So Lalla Mother moves on to say the following..... Verse 2 Mann Karr Safa Zaeri Aki Maeli Yimav Shaal Tungav Neri Na Kenh Mann: Inner Self, Safa: To clean, Zaeri Aki: very soon and very fast, Maeli : to find something Yimav Shaal Tungav: to howl like a jackal. Neri Na Kenh: that it is all worthless. Just like a Jackal howls at the top of his voice for other Jackals to hear in the same way if we start screaming on top of of voice and start singing hymns of the Lord then it is all worthless until and unless we are pure in our hearts and actions. So Mother says that you must cleanse your inner self which means that one needs to have pure and sattvic thoughts in your self and God Realization will be yours in a jiffy. Verse 3 Wadna Saet Gaash Ho Mari Wadna Madan Meli Na Zanh Wadna Saet: by crying Gaash Ho mari: to be blind Madan: Beloved. In Bhakti Yoga God is sometimes referred to as Beloved as well So here Mother Lalla warns a seeker of God that by crying alone you will not achieve your goal. Crying will only make you blind and nothing else is going to be achieved. You will never be able to find God just by inaction. Hence here Mother hints about the futility of just being at the mercy of fate. You can never achieve your goal if you do not work towards it. So in Summary in Vaakh 1 Lalla Ishwari is talking about the worthlessness of following the traditional ways of worship. Fasting and Bathing and outward cleanliness is all of no value if your inner self is not pure. So Lalla advises the disciples to make sure you are pure and sanitized from within and treat all living beings equally as a reflection of that ONE supreme and rest everything else will follow. That oneness is true Kashmiri Vedic Religion. 13 More Vaakhs To be continued..... |
|
|
Amit Kak | |