About Guru ji Shri Bhashyam Appalacharyulu

Sriman Sribhashyam Appalacharyulu (Telugu: శ్రీభాష్యం అప్పలాచార్యులు) (April 6, 1922 - June 7, 2003) was a Vedic scholar, commentator and a great teacher.

Early Life:
 He was born to Srinivasacharyulu and Thiruvengalamma on April 6, 1922 on the auspicious day of Sri Ramanavami in Padmanabham, Visakhapatnam district, Andhra Pradesh. His birth name was Anantha Appalacharyulu. His ancestors to the nearest forefathers had been the honourable clan of students tutored in `Sribhashyam' (commentary on the Badarayana Sutras known as `Brahma Sutras') under the able guidance of the descendants of the direct disciples of Sri Ramanuja. By teaching `Sribhashyam' since time immemorial, his ancestors had earned that title. His father had performed the uphill task of circumambulating the hill many times praying for a son and he begot him. He was equally devoted to the deity of Simhachalam known as "Appanna" and thus named his son Appalacharya.

Commentaries:
His commentary on the Ramayana is called `Tatva Deepika'. He is inspired by the benedictional verse, Ma Nishada of Valmiki and sees Srinivasa in between the lines of that couplet. Underneath the Seven Hills he sees the `divine idea' in the seven kandas of the Ramayana. (playing on the sonic similarity of `ko' and `ka' in Telugu) He has titled his lectures as Yedukondalu-Yedukandalu. He has proved that Rama was never conscious of his divine identity unto six kandas of the epic and he had emerged as `Narayana' in the seventh kanda only - this 'Narayana Tatva' he calls the `divine idea'. The seventh hill, Narayanadri, shrouds Lord Venkateswara from behind. The booklet of his lectures reveals his ingenious interpretative skill.
He was celebrated the 1000 Purnimas (Sahasra Chandra Darsanotsavam) by Visakha people in 2003. His biography titled `Pravachana Siromani' was written by renowned litterateur Chitrakavi Aathreya and released during the celebrations.^[2] He reached the abode of Vishnu shortly after the celebrations on June 7, 2003.^[3]
His discourses on Bagavadgeeta, bhagavatam, Ramayanam can be downloaded from the following link: http://www.pravachanam.com/



Discourses in Telugu:
Some of his valuable discourses on Ramayanam and Bhagavtham can be found in www.pravachanam.com under Ramanyanam and Bhagavatham sections

Bala Kanda - hidden upanishad insights

Following are some points from guruji Sree Bhasyam Appalacharya's pravachanams on Ramayanam- Bala Kanda:

1. To begin with, we see many people saying that Rama was just a good king, but not God. They do not believe that he is god.

Guruji explains this as follows:

Suppose a person has fallen into a well by mistake and seeking help from someone. A person who knows swimming jumps into the well to get him out of it. Now the first person should not say to the 2 nd person that 'Hey! You are also like me..we both of us are in well'. Here the first person has fallen in the well by his own mistake and the second person jumped into the well to rescue the first person. This is analogous to : We commit sins and take birth again and again to experience the fruits of our karma (papa and punya) (i.e., we are in karma bandhanam). This is the reason for our birth. So we fell into this deep bottomless pit, and never coming out of it.

Where as Lord's incarnations come to get us out of this birth & death cycle. Avataram means God coming down from his exalted position to rescue us. He does not have karma, he is just coming down with his causeless mercy to rescue us from this samsara sagaram. This is analogous to the person who knows swimming jumps into the water to rescue. So we should not think that he is also like us. Only great devotees like Akrura, Bhisma, Vidura and Udhava etc., recognize the divinity of god.

2. Balakanda and Sundarakanda have some similarities. Rishi Vishvamitra and Lord Hanuman unite the  Mother Sita with Lord Rama in balakanda and sundarakanda respectively. 

3. If we read bala kanda of valmiki ramayanam, we will come to know that Rama janana sarga begins with Rama jananam and ends with sage Vishvamitra coming to meet Dasharadha in Ayodhya (i.e., Rama's entire balyam is covered in just one sarga. Rama was 13 year old when VishvAmitra comes to ayodhya. There is no description of his  childhood activities though the name of the kanda is bala kanda).  Guruji says that Rishi Valmeeki has embedded hidden meaning in it. The meaning of baaludu (i.e., boy) is as follows from the upanishads definition: a) He who wants to get protected only by God and withdraws all his efforts to protect himself (i.e., sharanaagathi). b) Whose thought and deed are same unlike common man who deceives, lies, talks outwardly something, but has something else in his mind. 

In balakanda, Valmiki is referring to Maharshi viswamitra in this context. VishvAmitra comes to Dasharatha and says the following: "I am planning to do one yAgam for SIDDHI and some demons are disturbing the yAgam and in this context, I need lord RAma's help". Though VishvAmitra knows entire asthrAs and shastrAs, he did not protect by himslef. Instead, he gave entire dhanurvidya upadesam to Rama and got protected by him. This way, he has dedicated everything Rama to obtain SIDDHI..Hence he is referred to as baludu..

Guru ji explains this nicely as follows: Sea contains lot of pearl shells. During summer, the sea water evaporates. Later, in rainy season, pearls will be formed when the rain droplets fall into the pearl shells specifically on days when Sun comes in Swathi nakshatra. This is how we get pearls from sea. If suppose, the sea starts thinking that why should I give water to the sun (i.e., water evaporation) and why all this process of rain water falling back into the pearl shells. Instead, I can make pearls since I have pearl shells and lot of water. But pearls will never be formed that way... So this is similar to VishvAmitra dedicating all is astras and shastras to Lord Rama and get protection or siddhi from Rama.

Also, if we see, VishvAmitra splits to Vishva + amitra meaning he who is not friendly to vishvam. However, this samAsam is not true in this context. If a common people like us keep that name, then it means he who is not friendly to vishvam. PAnini has mentioned in his vyAkaranam that, for sages, there comes extra deergham when we split the sandhi (i.e., Only for sages, rishis, vishva + mitra = vishvAmita is true). Suppose if we keep the name as vishvAmitra, it splits to vishva + amitra, where as for sages, rishis, vishva+mitra=vishvAmitra). Why is he mitra to vishvam ? It is because, he united Rama with his consort Sita and established the pathway for the Ramayanam.


If we observe sage vishvAmitra's life, he had experienced kAma, krOdha, mada, matsaryas and finally conquered his inner enemies (i.e., indriyas and manas) and became brahmarshi. In our life also, we experience all these feelings and he has setup an example on how to achieve perfection in spite of committing many mistakes in life.

 

Aranya Kanda (part2) - hidden upanishad insights

Following is the Aranya Kanda essense that I tried summarizing from Guruji Sree Bhashyam Appalacharya swamiji's Ramayana pravachanam.

Aranya kanda is considered to be the moksha kanda. It begins and ends with two rakshasa characters namely, Viradha and Kabandha. In between Lord Rama kills 14000 rakshasas and also three people get mokham namely, 1) Sharabhanga Maharshi 2) Jatayu 3) Shabari.

Viradha sanskrit meanings is some opposite meaning to aradhana. When Rama, Lakshmana and Sita are walking in the jungle, this Viradha comes and pulls and takes control of Sita devi and says: "She is my wife". This is what all we say that this body and atma is mine and identify it with the 'I' (Mother Sita is analogous to Jeevatma which belongs only to Paramatma). But Jeevathma belongs to paramatma and we out of ignorance we claim that as ours and commit all sorts of sins in our life to give pleasures to this ephemeral body. When Rama and Lakshmana try to kill him, Viradha says, he can not be killed by arrows, but only have to buried. This is analogous to ours materialistic desires never end. Then Rama and laksmana dig a pit and bury him in that and press hard with their legs on the pit so that he will not come back. This is analogous to our materialistic desires can only be conquered by pushing/pressing hard with Rama paadam which is full of thorns and turned reddish (because of his journey in aranya without wearing padukas). Only that reddish, Rama padam with full of thorns can only eliminate our materialistic desires and give us bhakthi, Gnaanam and Vairagyams. Hence we should seek Rama's anugraham to conquer our indriya vyamohas by doing sharanaagathi.

Sharabhanga Maharshi is a great sage. Just before Lord Rama, Sita Devi and Lakshmana arrive to his ashram, Indra deva comes to sharabhanga maharshi's ashrama and welcomes him to swargam (becoz of sharabhanga maharshi's great tapas). But sharabhanga says I will come only after seeing Lord Rama, Sita Devi and Lakshmana. When they arrive, Sharabhanga dedicates all his tapas, yagnas, yagna phalams to Lord Rama and leaves his body and attains moksham. This is the Karma Yoga. What ever tapas, yagnas, yagna phalas he got , he dedicated all those to Rama (In vishnu sahasra namas, meaning of one of the names of Lord is: He is the one who is doing yagnam, he is the one who gives Yagna phalam and He himself is the very process of Yagnam). Maharshi sharabhanga realized this and attained moksham.

Jataayu injures his body severly fighting with Ravana for rescuing mother Sita who is so dear to Rama till his last breath and in that process Rama gives him Moksham.

Shabhari is a desciple of Matanga Maharshi's desciples. She has great Guru bhakthi and she has great vishwasam(trust) in guru vaakyam. Her gurus told her to wait till Lord Rama comes to meet her. They did not tell when will he come and she also did not ask how long she has to wait. She simply followed what her gurus said. For 13 years she waited for Rama without giving a second thought on their guru's words. This way, all 13 years, she was thinking about Rama expecting him to come to her ashram. Finally he came and she gave aathithyam and left her material body and attained moksham. She does not have great tapas or yoga shakthi etc. But she has vishwasam on her guru's words and because of that great quality, she attained moksham. Her guru bhakthi is her major strength.

What we can learn from these three incidents is: 1) We should do all our deeds thinking that it is god's will and dedicate all our karma phalams to the Lord without expecting benefits from it and that can lead us to moksham 2) We should use our body for spiritual enlightment and serving god related activities. 3) We should have trust and devotion on our Gurus (Unquestionable trust on our gurus)

Aranya Kanda - hidden upanishad insights

Following are some interpretations on Ramayana by Guruji SriBhashyam Appalacharya Swamy
1. Valmiki named Ramayanam as Polasthya vadha, seethayaah scharitam mahat, but not as Ramayana. The reason can be interpreted as follows:
   Poulasthya vadha is getting rid of rajo guna and sensual desires/ignorance of manas aka ravana. Seethayahscharitham mahath means mother sitha's great story. This is nothing but the story of jeevathma ( which belongs only to Paramathma ) attaing paramaathma by conquering ignorance. So this is the story of every human. So this highlights the prime goal of maanava janma. May be he wanted to highlight this great ideal.



Guruji explains nicely about the three gunas  as follows:

In a lake, we find mud, dust particles in the water and thus due to this, we can not see the floor (i.e., bottom surface of the lake). Here mud water is analogous to tamo guna. Even if we get rid of tamo guna, the rajo guna's influence (i.e., dust particles in water) never allow you to see the bottom surface of the lake. Only when the dust particles, and mud water gets eliminated (i.e., pure water : shuddha sattva guna), we see the clear bottom surface. Similarly only when our rajo and thamo gunas get eliminated, then only with the shudha sattvam, we can see/experience the divinity within us.

2. When mother Sita expresses her desire about Maaya mrugam to Rama, before leaving for that animal, Rama instructs her to be under the protection of Lakshmana. But she scolds him and sends him out ignoring Rama's instruction and this results in her abduction by Raavana. This is analogous to : Our jeevatma is always together with paramatma and experiences the bliss. However, we show interest in materialistic vishaya sukhas instead of showing interest in Paramatma. This is like: Mother sita was always with Sugunabhi Rama and experiencing the eternal bliss. However, when she saw the maya mrugam, she was interested more in that shining golden mayamrugam skin than Rama. This is the cause of separation from the lord Rama and she was under the clutches of manas aka Ravana... Similarly the main reason for our struggles in life is: we show interest in materialistic, ephemeral vishaya sukhas instead of showing interest in attaining Paramatma. Our Jeevatma 

is always together with paramatma, but we are under the shackles of Manas and indriyas due to our attachments

to vishaya sukhas.

Also one point: As soon as Sita got abducted by Ravana, she realized her mistake and always chanting RAma's name seeking his reunion. This is what we also need to conquer our senses and manas (i.e., mind). We should get that desire to seek Rama and nothing else. This is the only solution to attain Paramatma..

 Also another point is:  God instructed us to follow certain life style. If we do not obey his instructions like (like Sita ignoring bhagavad rakshana (i.e., protection ) in the form of lakshmana protecting her, she was abducted), we will also be under the bandhanam of Manasu and senses. If we ignore the God's instructions and commit sins, we will be under the bandhanam of Manasu and senses (this is similar mother Sita was immediately under the bandhanam of ravana as soon as she said NO to the bhagavad rakshana ).

3. Also if you see Lakshmana, he is daasa of Rama and if you observe its not just brotherly relationship. Whatever Laksmana does is for Rama's sake. He is always in Bhagavad Sannidhyam. This is called Paraartham.  Similarly Bharatha does all his duties like ruling kingdom, etc, but he always feels that he is ruling Rama's kingdom as per his instructions when he was in aranyam. This is Parathanthram (i.e, depending on Rama's will). He does not accompany Rama always, but wherever he is, he always does his duty thinking that it is rama's instruction to rule kingdom through his Paadukas. Similarly Shatrugna is always doing kainkaryam to bharatha. This is similar to one doing kainkaryam to parama bhaktha's of lord rama.
 
But if you see Rama's role, he shows the baahya dharma of humans, like how one should behave with every one.
 
Now you observe the following : Laksmana role's message to us: Do everything for the sake of God (i.e Paraartham), but nothing for our sake. This is similar to sanyasa or always to be with God (i.e., always in Bhagavad Sannidhyam). Where as  Bharatha's role is true karma yoga (Even though you are not always with God, do lead you life as per his instructions always thinking that I am working for him as per his instruction like an instrument his hands). This is karma yoga of bhagavadgita.

Shatrugna's role: Always do seva to bhagavad bhakthas. Always do sathjana saangathyam...
Rama's role: Baahya dharma of every human how one should behave with everyone, how to lead good life.

Mother Sita's role teaches how a woman should lead her life..Also she shows how we all should do sadhana ignoring indriya vyamohas to reach Paramaatma.

4. The roles of Rama, Lakshmana, Bharatha, Shatrugna can be interpreted as Dharma, Artha, Moksha and Kama. Artha and Kaama should never stay together since they can lead to chaos if they take unrighteous path. Hence Artha should be tied together with Dharma and Kaama should be tied with Moksha (i.e., all our kaamyams (desires) should be in such a way that they lead to moksham).
This is analogous to Lakshmana accompanying Rama and Shatrugna accompanying Bharatha always.

Sundara Kanda (part2)- Hidden upanishad insights contd..

I tried summarizing some of the Guru ji Sri Bhasyham Appalacharya swami's Ramayana pravachanams: 

1. The roles of Rama, Lakshmana, Bharatha, Shatrugna can be interpreted as Dharma, Artha, Moksha and Kama. Artha and Kaama should never stay together since they can lead to chaos if they take unrighteous path. Hence Artha should be tied together with Dharma and Kaama should be tied with Moksha (i.e., all our kaamyams (desires) should be in such a way that they lead to moksham).
This is analogous to Lakshmana accompanying Rama and Shatrugna accompanying Bharatha always.

2. Lord Hanuman flying across the sea is interpreted as follows:

Lord Hanuman crossing the sea to reach lanka teaches few things:

1. His Dhruthi (i.e., perseverance) to cross the ocean and meet mother Sita. This is analogous to: Dhruthi is the main quality a sadhaka who wants to realize the athma tattvam/divinity. Here ocean corresponds to samsara. A sadhaka should cross the this samsara to attain mokskam.

2. Lord Hanuman did not swim in the ocean to reach Lanka. He flew over it. It is not that he is not capable of swimming the huge ocean. But he flew over it. This is analogous to: one can not swim in this samsara to attain moksha. He will simply be drowned in it. Swiming in samsara means having sangam with samsara (i.e., attachment with wife, children etc.,). One has to cross over it. That means, he may be living in samsara, but without having sangam (attachment) to it. It is like sailing in a boat in a river. But water should not come into the boat, otherwise, the boat will sink. Hence Lord Hanuman did not swim, he flew over the sea.

3. While he was going across the sea, Meru mountain with its golden shikharas came up in the sea. The mountain is full of greenery, with many fruits and honey everywhere. Such a nice forest on the mountain is very tempting for a typical vanara to stop, stay there and have fruits/honey etc.,. But Lord Hanuman did not feel like that. He felt that it might be a vignam (obstacle) to his lakhsyam (aim) and he just ignored and went ahead. This is analogous to: a sadhaka will see many tempting materialistic things in his life. But he should not deviate from his pursuit of attaining moksham. He should win over his indriya vyamohas and feel that they are obstacle to attain god.

4. Further, while traveling across the sea, Surasa came as an obstruction with a devilish appearance. She wanted to swallow him. He told the purpose of his travel and tried to convince her. She did not listen and wanted to swallow. She opened her mouth widely. Lord Hanuman also increased his body taller/wider than her widened mouth. Then she widened her mouth further greater than hanuman's body. Again Hanuman increased his body further. This continued few times. Then he immediately became thumb size and entered into her mouth and came back in few seconds and fulfilled her wish. She was pleased with his buddhi balam.

This is analogous to: Surasa signifies rasa, which is related to indriyas. So in our life, there is no end for our sensual/indriya desires. No matter how many u satisfy, indriyas  want lot more (i.e., Surasa enlarging her mouth further when Lord hanuman increased his body size). So the solution is, using our budhhi, we should control our desires (This is similar Hanuman thinking wisey and reducing himself to thumb size). We should not become slaves to senses and try satisfying the senses. This is the only way we can supress our indriya vyamohas.

So to summarize, a sadhaka should have the following qualities:

1. He should have the dhruthi (perseverance) to do sadhana to attain liberation.
2. He should not get tempted or should not become slave to many sensual gratification things in his life.
3. He should control his indriya vyamohas. Otherwise, there is no end for this sensual desires.
4. He should not keep sangam (i.e., deep attachment whithout which one can not live ) with samsara while he is in it.

Sundara Kanda- Hidden upanishad insights

I have summarized below sundara kanda interpretation which I have learnt from Guruji Sribhashyam applacharya swamy. Please read it when u have time.

Our body is Lanka and the three gunas of prakrithi namely sathva, rajas and thamas are VibhIshana, RAvana and Kumbha karna. Actually our body is supposed to be ruled by Rama who resides in every being, but because of our sense attachments, ignorance and dominant rajo guna, most of us are ruled by Rajas aka Ravana. Our aatma is mother Sita who belongs only to Rama, but Ravana abducted her and thus she got separated from Rama temporarily. This is analogous to our Rajo guna influnces Manas (i.e., mind) and Manas identifies our body as the real 'I' and thus aatma aka mother Sita got separated from the paramaatma. Thus because of our dominant Rajas and Thamas gunas, we go into ignorance and got separated from the Paramaatma. 

Mother Sita was surrounded by 500 rakshasa women and they tried threatening her to obey Ravana. But mother Sita always chanted Rama and filled Rama in her heart. Then Rama felt 1000 times more anxious to meet Sita and sent Hanuman with him Ramanaamaankita ring. This part is analogous to : Our aatma is surrounded by 500 indriya vyaamohas/desires corresponding to 5 senses. In ramayanam, maharshi Vaalmiki described that among the 500 rakhasas, some have big nose, some other having big eyes, big ears, big stomach etc., so on and so forth. Each of these correspond to us having some of us more attached one of the 5 senses (some like seeing bad things, some like eatig a lot, some like hearing bad things etc.,).  This is just like Sita maata is surrounded by 500 rakshasas. But Sita maata never showed any interest in them and always filled Rama in her heart and chanted his name. Then Rama felt more anxiousness to see her than Sita because of her sincere prayers and he had sent Lord Hanuman with his ring Rama nama imprinted on it. This is analogous to : If we chant Rama's name  with devotion ignoring our 500 indriya desires, he will send a Guru with a mantropdesa (this is similar to sending hanuman with his Ring which has Rama namam imprinted on it and that guru will make us unite with paramaatma just like hanuman made Sita re-unite with Rama.)

So this highlights the chanting of Lord's names to get rid of sensual desires and attain paramaatma.

There is one more interprtation on Swamy Hanuma. He is the shabda swaroopa. He is born from Vayu deva and Anjana devi. In vedanta, our Vaakku comes from muladhara chakra in the form of sound vibrartions and when it reaches our mouth, and when our tongue touches the appropriate portion of our mouth, the corresponding shabda swaroopa originates. The places where we touch our inside part of mouth with our tongue is called anjana (as per the sasnkrit meaning of anjana root word). So  the dwhani comes out when anjana and vayu comes in contact in our body (soud waves coming in contact with tongue and mouth at appropriate places). Thus, Hanuman is shabda swaroopam..That is gnaanam.