Upadesham-II

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Dear Friends,

 

It was a rare treat to read the Upadesham of the 45th Jeeyar Swamigal of

Ahobila Matham and his exposition of the meanings of the Ashtakshara

Mantram from Sriman Dileepan's post. Sri Dileepan brought out the Jeeyar's

message with consummate effect, i.e., the Ashtakshara Mantram provides

Tatva, Hita and Purushartha. Thanks Sri Dileepan. Sri KrishNa KalaLe is

uniquely previleged and extremely blessed to perform Gayathri Japam in front

of Malolan in the company of Jeeyar Swamigal at Rishikesh. My praNamams to

Srimans Dileepan and KalaLe.

 

The structure of the Ashtakshara Mantram is

brilliantly described in the NarayaNa Upanishad salutation "OmithyEkAksharam

Nama iti Dvae AksharE NarayaNayEti PanchAksharaNi" . Pilgrimage to the

Kshetram of Salagramam is very difficult due to the ice covered paths.

Tirumangai Azhwar successfully overcame the icy paths by constantly

uttering the Ashtakshara Mantram. In the Krithi "Narayana Ninna Namada

SmaraNeya" Purandara Dasa refers to the Ashtakshara Mantram in the line

"Ashtakshara Maha Mantrava Namada"

 

Lord Narayana explains the significance of Ashtakshara Kshetram

(Tirukannapuram) in his Upadesham to Garuda through the following Shlokam:

 

Srirangam Venkatadrischa SrimushNam Totaparvatam

Salagramam Pushkarancha Nara-NarayaNAshramam

Naimithim Cheti Meh SthanAnyasow Mukti Pradanivai

YetusvashtaksharaikAka: VarNamurthir VasAmyaham

Tishtami KrishNa KshetrE PuNya Sapthako gatha:

Ashtaksharasya Mantrasya Sarvaksharamaya Sada

 

(The Kshetrams of Srirangam, Tirupati, SrimushNam, Vanamamalai, Salagramam,

Badrikashramam and NaimisharaNayam are Mukti granting places. I reside as

one Aksharam of my Ashtaksharam in the form of the Murthis at these Kshetrams.

I reside as my entire Ashtakshara at TirukaNNapuram). The Archa Murthy at

TirukaNNapuram is Sowriraja Perumal. This Kshetram is considered to be

very special for those seeking Ashtakshara Mantra Siddhi. In fact, Sri

Tirumangai Azhwar was blessed with Upadesham of the Ashtakshara Mantram by

the Lord himself, who appeared before the Azhwar along with his consort

in the form of a newly wed couple. In previous postings, Srimans Sadagopan and

Sampath Rengarajan have referred to the Pasurams of Tirumangai Mannan in

praise of the Lord of this Kshetram. Their informative posts beautifully

describe the connections between Garuda and this Kshetram. It is my request

to them that they consider translating the Pasurams from Tirumangai Mannan

at their convenience.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Muralidhar Rangaswamy