mangalacarana- its purpose?

1.      mangalacarana- its purpose?

Ans. Mangalacaram is a tradition,. Whenever a text begins the author starts with an invocatory verse called mangalacarana. Literally it means an auspicious observance. Sage patanjali while commenting his Mahabhashyam on Panini’s Stotras explains mangalacaranam as “a noble author starts his discourse with an invocation and has even an invocation for the middle. His words alone shall stand the test of time and surely the readers would be fulfilled.

Mmagalam is of three types.

“Aa seerna maskriya vasthhu nirdeso vapi tanmukham”.

1.      Namaskaram

2.      Aseevvadam and

3.      Vasthu nirdesam

In Mangalacaranam the invocation is usually offered to

1.      Ista devata- deity of one’s personal worship.

2.      Guru- Teacher

3.      Both the Ista- devata and Guru.

Sometimes one single word is used to denote both the Ista devata and Guru in invocation. Sankara Bhagavat pada advocated this tradition of mangalacaram in the Viveka chadamani text.

In viveka chudamani sankaracharya invokes the mangalacarana as follows.

My salutations to Sri sadguru Govinda Bhagavatpada who is of the nature of absolute bliss, who can be known through the essence of doctrines of Vedanta and who is beyond the reach of the sensory perceptions.

In this verse sankara bhagavat pada is offering salutations to Govinda. Govinda here gives two meanings. One is the Govinda the most popular names of lord Krishna and the second meaning is Sankara carya’s guru’s name also Govinda Bhagavad- Pada.

With one word that is govinda, Sankaracarya has offered salutations to both the lord Govinda and His guru. This shows no difference of Guru and God both are one and the same. He expresses non duel idea of Govinda, the Almighty and Govinda bhagavad pada, his Guru.

The purpose of Mangalacarana.

The purpose of mangalacarana is as follows

.Before starting any endeavour especially spiritual accomplishment, one’s heart must be filled with humility devotion, purity and strength for discharging that work. One can get these pious essentialities from the blessings of the Almighty as well as sad guru. So at the outset the author invokes the Almighty and Guru to bless these. With the help of these blessings the work will be finished in a smooth manner without any obstacles. The text will be completed successfully without any hindrances.

Secondly when the author offers prayers to God and guru his or her ego vanishes. When ego is by passed the author heart gets purified.  Such a purified person creates perfect work. He will become as an instrument for the Lord to work with.  Such work is alone blessed with perfection. One cannot expect utmost perfection in egoistic and self cantered works.

So mangalacarana helps the author to complete the work with devotion and perfection.
Dr A. Tara Lakshmi,

Srikalakasti