satyanārāyaNā demystified…

gaNéśā, navagrahās, satyanārāyaNā, nāradā, védavyāsā, sūta maharśī, śuka, śaunaka, the poor brahmin <viprā>, the 🪵 woodcutter🧑‍🚒, the merchant ⛴ <sādhu>, his wife 🧕🏽<līlāvati>, their daughter 👨‍👩‍👧 <kalāvati>, son-in-law 🤵, the mendicant 🧙‍♂️, the 3 kings 🤴🤴🤴 <ulkha-mukhā, chandra-kétu & anga-dvajā>, the 🐄cowherds 🐮 & of course the most-important, delicious 😋 & 🤤 yummy 🍌🥥 prasādam🥭🍠🫕🥜🍇🍚🍯🌽🍋🍉🥒🥑🍒🍍🍓🍎🍊🍑🧆🥗.

asatō-mā-sat-gamaya isn’t a one-way trip! satyā & asatyā aren’t binary true or false in sanātana dharmā, an eternal way of life, tradition & culture, far predating & fully liberated from the religions & commandments of God, nay God Himself!

satyā is a ladder 🪜 neither upward nor downward. But a ladder 🪜 inward. Inward into a being that’s here & now, yet everywhere & forever! Jīnā yahān, marnā yahān. Iské sivāy, jānā kahān⁉️

satyā is a ladder of infinite ♾ rungs 🪜 that we’ve already climbed 🧗‍♀️, perhaps while stuttering & stammering, but will continue to do so 🧗‍♂️ in our unquenchable eternal quest 🧗🏿for the ultimate as the very way of our life, even if it’s seemingly on a never-ending ♾ Möbius strip.

During the ongoing month 🗓 of śrāvanā, many perform the satya-nārāyaNā pujā on either one of its two 🌒 ékā-daśis 🌖, the 🌝 pournamī 🌕, one of its 🪐 Saturdays <śrāvanā śani-vārā>, or any day & time ⌚️ of mutual convenience for the hosts & attendees throughout the year, usually coinciding with mundane events such as 🤵‍♂️👰marriage, 🏡 house-warming, 👶🏻 naming, incorporating a new business 🗃, reminding us that everyone of these kinds of events are but mere milestones in the overall journey of life towards its ultimate, paramount & consummate 🎯 goal 🥅 : self-realization/ liberation/ mukti/ mōkśā/ nirvānā 🆓.

There’s no doubt that the designer process ofsatya-nārāyaNā pujā, if implemented reasonably appropriately, is quite powerful. No wonder then that it has withstood the vagaries of time & cultural invasions galore.

However, many such wonderful ancient techniques galore of immense possibilities have lamentably been lost in literal translations, materialistic rituals, unintentional misinterpretations & rudimentary oversimplifications.

The more the popularity of a technique, the more the mess! The soul, heart & core message are lost in the exaggerated details, including of course a long list of things to buy, redesigned by enterprising ‘pundits’ for the shopping addicts amongst us.

Perhaps the most evident classical example of this outright degradation of well-meaning spiritual processes therefore has been the popular satya-nār-āyaNā vrat kathā. We will now delve into its sanskrit & philosophical roots to decipher its ♾ly powerful & noble intent <san-kalpā>, as purely perceived & thus unsullied by our own thought processes.

Originally sourced from the great seer or rather our own majestic perception <maha-rśi> of 🌬universal mother nature’s ultimate wisdom library <véda-vyāsā>’s valorous renewal <skanda purāNā>, the concept of satyanārāyaNā actually refers to the lasting/real <satya> human life <nara> direction/target 🎯 <ayaNā> & a procedural methodology or set of time-tested processes <vrat>, suggested to reach this target 🎯 or access this goal 🥅, deeply embedded in an attractive story <kathā> format, as a handy long-term mnemonic.

Though mostly attributed to the dynamic branch <revā khaṇḍa> of the renewal of our valour <skanda purāNā>, some consider it to be a part of the renewal of our life energy <vāyu purāNā> or the renewal of our future <bhaviśya purāNā>. In any case, if one of the above is renewed, the others automatically happen as collaterals. So, it’s a needless & meaningless aspect of no concern to us.

Far more significant is the notion of honesty that the prefix satya in satya-nārāyaNā seems to imply. In fact, truth or reality here actually refers to permanence or, at the very least, long-lasting attributes. Considering this long-term implication, being truthful to oneSelf is thus of far more significance than sticking to the spoken word or keeping up promises made to others.

In this context, satya connotes our primordial, current, consummate &, in fact, eternal reality as brahman = ātmā, rather than the BMI toolkit 🧰 or our various temporary roles (professional, social & familial etc.), that we’ve falsely identified with due to our myopic vision.

Moving forward from this short-sightedness to perceiving reality as-it-is (unfiltered/unedited) happens to be the actual intent of the satyanārāyaNā vratā. It isn’t to impose on anyone any belief system as it is regrettably being showcased these days in an unintended competition with western religions.

Truly speaking, the satyanārāyaNā kathā is actually unfolding within each of us every moment, if only we care to intuitively open up ourselves inside out. For want of space & time, we will just explore the tip of the iceberg today through a conformal mapping of the main characters in the 7️⃣ chapters = preamble + 5️⃣ stories <kathā> + takeaway 🍌 🥡 🍉 <phala-śruti> of the satyanārāyaNā vratā & a sample interpretation of a few characters & a couple of terms in its opening ślōkās:

नारद उवाच

नमो वांगमनसातीतरूपाय अनंतशक्तये ।

आदिमध्यांतहीनाय निर्गुणाय गुणात्मने ॥8॥

सर्वेषाम् आदिभूताय भक्तानाम् आर्तिनाशिने ।

श्रुत्वा स्तोत्रं ततो विष्णुः नारदं प्रत्यभाषत ॥9॥

श्रीभगवानुवाच

किमर्थम् आगतोऽसि त्वं किं ते मनसि वर्तते ।

कथयस्व महाभाग तत्सर्वं कथयामि ते ॥10॥

नारद उवाच

मर्त्यलोके जनाः सर्वे नानाक्लेश समन्विताः ।

ननायोनि समुत्पन्नाः पच्यन्ते पापकर्मभिः ॥11॥

Let’s start with the protagonists of the preamble: We first invoke in a freshly-prepared turmeric sculpture our own trouble-shooting capability <gaNéśā>. Then we set up a silver/brass/copper vessel 🏺<pūrna kumbha kalasam>, threading 🧵 it in a pattern symbolic of our own subtle nervous system.

Placing the kalasam on raw rice spread over a plantain leaf, we then fill it up with consecrated fluids & lime, topping up with fresh mango leaves 🍃 , 🌴 full coconut 🥥 sanctified with turmeric & flower 🌸 garlands to invoke all the divine powers that we ourselves have been endowed with. The final preparatory step involves accessing the 9️⃣ types of consumption <nava-grahās> patterns of our own lifestyle in 9️⃣ kinds of grains:

In addition, we invoke 2️⃣ more of our own attributes in the Northeast, namely our divinity manifested in ಬಟ್ಟಲು ಅಡಿಕೆ <baTTalu adiké> or betel leaves with arecanut; & our immortality <mrityun-jayā> induced in ಬೆಲ್ಲದ ಅಚ್ಚು <bellada accu> or jaggery block/mould.

Moving on to Story # 1️⃣: Being driven inwards by our own storytelling skillset <sūta paurānik> appeals to our ability to reflect, memorise & repeat/parrot 🦜 <śuka> as well as share, teach etc. <śaunak-ādi> whatever we’ve learnt & imbibed practically.

Nonetheless, our human ability to contribute <nāra-dā> towards the primordial tendency of human life <satya-nāra-ayaNā> in the limit as t ➡️ ♾, namely our continually & consciously cultivated character in the ☘️clover🍀 <śrī bhagavān श्री भगवान>, as a virtue of our painstakingly long evolution, is sadly viewed by others in their short-sightedness as our luck/fortune/blessing. No, we earned it; Goddamnit!

Every lifetime that we arrive in a freshly refurbished BMI toolkit on the earthly plane as a human avatār, accompanying us is our capacity to contribute <nāra-dā>. Wandering across the various dimensions of existence strictly in accordance with the law of karmā, this ability of ours to share/give <nāra-dā> tends to frequent this particular planet 🌍 earth, as a part of our physical/subtle/causal sojourn.

This capability to deliver <nāra-dā> is inherent within us & keenly observes our inevitable pain & optional suffering <klišyamānān किल्ष्यमानान्> in a multitude of silly & stupid ways... But the key here is our unbounded responsibility, based on our own past actions <sva-karma-bhih स्वकर्मभिः>.

These past actions of ours were, in turn, based on the then execution of our freewill, which has accumulated over time as what seems to be “our destiny!” And thus a derogatory reference to “our karmā!” Mathematically stated, destiny = a definite integral of our freewill over the independent variable of time, from -♾  (times immemorial) to 0 (the current instant)!

In Story #  2️⃣, the ‘poor brahmin’ symbolises & personifies our own purity <sāttvic guNās> which, despite being the most refined of the 3️⃣ categories of characteristics <guNās>, are rendered benign & helpless, unless reminded of our ultimate goal 🥅 <satyanārāyaNā> & the process <vratā> to achieve it.

The 🪵 woodcutter🧑‍🚒, on the other hand, represents our 😓 ‘hard work’ 🪓, which is rendered useless donkey work, unless & until it’s smartly <vipra> enhanced through efficient processes <vratā>, which ensure that we love our work, being devoted to it. Henceforth, it isn’t hard!

Stories #  3️⃣ & 4️⃣ embody our innocent 😇common sense as a merchant⛴ <sādhu>; our playful 😈 nature as his wife 🧕🏽<līlā-vati>; our artistic talents as their daughter 👨‍👩‍👧 <kalā-vati>; our scientific acumen as their son-in-law 🤵; our conscience as the disguised 🥸 & testing mendicant 🧙‍♂️; and the 2 kings 🤴🤴 representing our meteorically lustrous visage <ulkha-mukhā> & our focussed mind <chandra-kétu>.

Story #  5️⃣ introduces our overtly body-conscious identity <anga-dvajā> a third king 🤴, looking down condescendingly upon our fellow living beings (including but not restricted to humanity), figuratively represented in the story by the 🐄 cowherds 🐮.

And of course the most-important, delicious 😋& 🤤 yummy 🍌🥥 prasādam 🥭🍠🫕🥜🍇🍚🍯🌽🍋🍉🥒🥑🍒🍍🍓🍎🍊🍑🧆🥗, delivered/couriered 🚚 by our fellow living beings (the cowherds) are obviously symbolic of the kārmic fruits of our own accumulated action/speech/thought, currently fructifying.

Irrespective of whether we’re willing to accept them or not, they will be unfailingly delivered to us by one postman/woman or the other (family, friends, colleagues, outright strangers etc.)! There’s no choice to escape!