[Advaita-l] Raja Mudra

[Sunil Bhattacharjya]

DeraVenkataji,

Thank you for telling us about the Raja Mudra. I have not read the short treatise by Sankara called "chatusutri". Will  you let us know how to get that.

As regards the Vedas there is a belief that Brahma, Visnu and Shiva represent the three Vedas and the Divine Mother represents the fourth Veda. As if in line with this we find that Saundaryalahari-25 tells us that the worship of the Divine satisfies  Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Upanishads further tell us that Purana and Itihasa together constitute the fifth Veda. Purana tells us that before separating the four Vedas and the fifth Veda all of them were together called as one Veda under the name of Yajur Veda. 

It is believed that Adi Sankaracharya wanted to write the bhashya of the Lalita Trishati first but someone fetched him the Bhagavad Gita in place of the Laita Trishati. It was only at the ens of his life he could write the bhashya an Lalita Trishati and that also appears to be an  indication that Adi Sankaracharya could have retired to Kanchi to be at the feet of the Mother, though he did not formally establish any fifth Mutt there. It could be the Adi Sankaracharya expected the Sringeri Mathadhipati to look after the Kanchipuram establishment after his demise.

I have visited the Sringeri Mutt, the Dwarka Mutt as well the Kudali Sringeri Mutt but could not visit so far the Puri Mutt and the Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt. All these Mutts are our treasures and I think that there cannot be any lingering dispute, which cannot be sorted out across the table provided there is earnest  will to do so.

Regards,

Sunil KBhattacharjya.

--- On Mon, 4/18/11, Venkata sriram P <venkatasriramp at yahoo.in> wrote:

From: Venkata sriram P <venkatasriramp at yahoo.in>
Subject: [Advaita-l] Raja Mudra
To: advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
Date: Monday, April 18, 2011, 12:05 AM

Dear Sunil,
 
//
Why don't you tell us more about the details of observing the "rAja mudrA" 
of srImukha patra of the amnaya pitha ?
//
 
The raja mudra of all the 4 amnaya mutts is "hamsa".  Though there are
several explanations to this mudra that depict the paramahamsa tattva of
muttadhipatis and their viveka & vairagya tattvas in analogous to the
neera-kshira nyaya of hamsa, it is not an ordinary logo / emblem that
people generally think.  
 
The 4 amnayas represent 4 vedas, 4 mahavakyas of veda, 4 adhyayas of
Brahma Sutra.  It is also interesting to note that for Brahmasutra, 
there is also a short treatise by Sankara called "chatusutri" which
is a short commentary on 4 Sutras of BS.
 
Keeping in view of the above 4 aspects, Sankara established 4 mutts at 
Sringeri, Puri, Badarinath & Dwaraka. 
 
The rAjamudra of amnaya pitha is the symbolic representation of "apara-brahma"
in the form of praNava and also the form of Brahma Sutra.  
 
Nilakanta Dikshitar extols Divine Mother as 
"chatur-adhyAyi rUpaM apara-brahma-mayaM kalahaMsa-vyanjanaM".  
 
The "kala-hamsa" is of the form of chatur-adhyAyi rUpa (4 adhyayas of
brahmasutra) & apara-brahma-mayaM (praNava rUpa) that reiterates the 
sutra "anAvritti sabdAt".
 
Keeping the above upAsana rahasya, the rAja mudra of Sringeri, Puri, Badari &
Dwaraka are designed in the form of "kala-hamsa".  
 
So, we can't image a 5th veda, 5th mahAvAkya, 5th adhyAya of Brahma Sutra. 
 
BTW, in Vyasa Puja Paddhati, a maNDala is drawn by Yatis of Dasanami Sampradaya
during Chaturmasya and Bhagavan Krishna Dvaipayana is worshipped at the centre.
 
In the maNDala, krishna panchaka, vyAsa panchaka, sankara panchaka, dravida panchaka & guru panchaka are worshipped.  
 
There is no mention of sarvajnAtma (the 1st head of Kanchi Mutt as per their records
in Sankara Panchaka of Vyasa Mandala during Chaturmasya Vrata. 
 
A lot more discrepencies are found and as per the valid pramANAs, Kanchi is
not a pitha.  However, Kumbakonam Mutt was the upapitha of Sringeri and they
acted as per the directions of Sringeri Acharyas.  But due to some internal 
conflicts, this upapitha declared independant and drafted it's own Anusasana. 
 
The traditional priets of Kamakoti Pitha ie., who perform the Navavarana Archana
in the Kamakshi Temple have reservations against this sampradaya even though
they respect Paramacharya.  
 
I don't want to delve too deep into the controversies now as i have lost interest
in vAda & prativAda.   Currently my only passion involved is study of 
Ramayana seriously.
 
regs,
Sriram

 
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