Azhagiyasingar Amudha MozhigaL--SaraNAgathi (Part 2)

[Guest guest]

Dear Memebers of the prapatthi Group :

 

I will cover in this posting an incident described

by the PurANam about an enemy of the Lord , who

received His blessings , when he surrendered finally to

the Lord due to a fortutious combination of circumstances .

 

H.H . the Azhagiya singar uses this incident to

illustrate how it is not too late even for a sworn enemy

of the Lord to receive His protection and blessings .

 

The incident of GhantA karNan

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Once upona time , there was a man with asura svabhAvam

with the name of GhantA karNan . He hated Sriman NaarAyaNA

steadfastly. He will not even look in the direction of

Sriman NaarAyaNA or His bhakthAs . He cherished his enimity.

He will not even let Sriman NaarAyaNA's name fall in his ear .

To ensure that , he had tied big bronze bells on the top portion

of each of his ears . If he sensed that anyone is going to utter

the nAmAs of the Lord such as " NaarAyaNA , GovindhA " , he

would shake his head violently so that the bells will ring and

drown out the sound of the naamAs of the Lord . Even when he

sensed the approach of the bhakthAs of the Lord , he will cause

his bells over the ears to ring to avoid hearing the Lord's names .

 

He was however a great Siva Bhakthan . He will not eat without

performing Siva PujA every day . He ate human flesh as well .

He used to offer that and other flesh to Lord Siva . People used to

run away from him for fear of being killed and eaten up . He

roamed mostly in the forests and caves. The greatest joy for

him was to perform pujA for his ishta daivam , Lord SivA . He received

a lot of blessings from his steadfast devotion to KailaasAdhipathi .

 

Lord SivA can bless one with long life as for MarkandEyan and kick

Yama dharman with His feet . He can also bless His bhakthAs

with KailAsa PrApthi . He can also make His devotees to develop

bhakthi for Sriman NaarAyaNA . There is no doubt about that . That

is why the sAsthrAs state that one can realize bhakthi for Sriman

NaarAyaNA ultimately , when one has bhakthi for Lord SivA

untinged by bhagavadh dvEsham ( hatred ) .

 

GhantA karNan however performed PujA for Lord Siva while

maintaining utter hatred for Sriman NaarAyaNan .

 

One day , a great sage by the name of Sankhu karNar

crossed GhantA karNan's path in the forest . The sage

uttered the name of NaarAyaNA . When he heard the name

of BhagavAn , GhantA karNan went into a rage and started to

shake his head violently that activated the bells . The sage

misintrepretted the ringing of the bells to mean that

GhantA karNan(GK) was a bhakthA of BhagavAn , who was

ecstatic about hearing the name of the Lord .

 

The sage approached GK to have "sathsangam" .

GK chased the sage away and answerd the question of

the sage and stated that he was a Siva Bhakthan .

The sage asked GK the reasons why he was

a Siva Bhakthan . GK did not answer him , but

shouted back a question at the sage . He asked what sage

Sankhu karNar was holding in his ears . The sage answered

that he was holding the conches in his ears to realize moksham .

GK asked what is moksham . The sage explained that it is

the most blissful state , which cuts the cycles of births and

deathsforever for the humans . GK asked the sage whether Lord

SivA can confer that boon of moksham on him as his parama

bhakthan . The sage said that he does not know and

recommended that GK should take that question

directly with Lord SivA .

 

GK rushed to KailAsam and requested that Lord

SivA bless him with moksham . Lord SivA asked His bhakthan

about the kind of moksham that GK desired . Gk answered :

" I want to get rid of all my difficulties on this earth , reach

after my death the world of bliss from which there is no return

to this earth " . Lord SivA , who is parama dhayALu

answered that Sriman NaarAyanA alone can confer such

a moksham on any one , who seek His protection

through saraNAgathi .

 

GK was enraged at Lord SivA 's answer .

He tore the bells from his ears and tied them

on his hands ( GhantA hasthan ) and returned to the side

of the waiting sage shouting " NaarAyaNA , NaarAyaNA " .

He described what happened at KailAsam and begged

the sage to show him the place , where he can find

Sriman NaarAyaNan .

 

The sage took pity on the suffering GhantA hasthan (GH )

and pointed a yonder mountain and revealed that

Sriman NaarAyaNan is there inside a cave

of that mountain near a pond , where He was discussing

with His consort , RukmiNi , about him (GH) . The sage

counselled GH to go to that cave and fall at the feet of Sri KrishNan

and declere loudly that he was a helpless one (akinchanan )

and he has no other recourse for protection (ananyagathi )

and that he is falling at the BhagavAn's sacred feet seeking

His protction and moksham . The sage siad that BhagavAn

will grant him the boon of Moksham , if he followed his instruction .

 

GH asked the sage as to what Sriman NaarAyaNan would

look like so that he can recognize Him . The sage revealed

that Sriman NaarAyaNA will be adorned with Sudarsanam ,

Paanchajanyam and His mace and will be seen in the company

of Sri RukmANI .

 

GH got now more worried and queried the sage about the Lord

avoiding him and not conferring the boon of Moksham

because of his past enimity towards Him . The sage assured GH

that the Lord does not bear grudges and will respond immediately ,

when He hears the " SaraNa " sabdham and asked GH to approach

the Lord with good thoughts and with MahA VisvAsam in Him

as a grantor of Moksham .

 

GH took off to the entrance to the caves with some offerings

of flesh in his hands , rang the bells in his hands and

cried out with great longing " NaarAyaNA , NaarAyaNA " .

The Lord ran from inside the cave and GH fell at His feet

and held on firmly to the lotus feet of the Lord and begged

for forgivance and protection . The Lord wanted to shake

his grip and run away from him . Sri RukmiNi dEvi interceded

on behalf of GH and told Her Lord that it is not fair to abandon

the SaraNAgathan . The Lord agreed and asked GH as to

when he wanted Moksham . GH cried out and said that he

wanted Moksham right away . The Lord granted his wish

and mentioned that He is conferring Moksham to the younger

brother of GH as well . At that moment , the jeevAthmA inside GH

rose up from his falling body and ascended to Srivaikuntam

via the archirAdhi maargam .

 

The sage SankhukarNar saw that uplifting sight and ran to

the side of the Lord and begged for his own Moksham .

Lord KrishNA responded and told him that he was not ready

for Moksham , since he had not fully turned himself away

from the pleasures of samsAram and therefore he had to wait .

 

This story from purANam suggests that even long term enimity

to Sriman NaarAyaNA will not stand in one's way to gaining

the boon of Moksham from Him , once we perform SaraNAgathi

to Him in the saastraic manner and beg for

His merciful intervention .

 

Those who cry out for His protection like GjEndrA without

knowing who exactly was the supreme Lord and yet shouted

for protection with the prayer: " O AdhimUlam , Lord of Gods !

I am unable to protect myself . I am at the end of my life. Please

save me " . Sriman NaarAyaNA immediately ran to the side of

Gajendran and rescued the king of elephants from the hold of

the jaws of the crocodoyle . When Gajendra shouted out in fear

and addressed " the AdhimUlam " , Indran , BrahmA , Pasupathi

and other dEvAs knew that the appeal is not for them since they

were not the supreme of supremes . They understood the message

as being addressed to the one that has the qualifications to be

known and saluted as Parabrahmam . Sriman NaarAyaNA

responded to the animal king's cry . He responded similarly

to the jeevAthmA inside the pot of curd ( dadhi paandan ) via

AchArya nishtai and blessed that jeevan with Moksham .

 

Therefore , even if men or women or brahmin or otherwise ,

or from other creeds inside or outside India or sinners or puNyasAlees

or bhakthimAns or earlier sathrUs of the Lord , once they perform

SaraNAgathi to LakshmIkAnthan , He will not worry whether we

are His mitrAs or chathrUs and will bless us all with Moksham

in the spirit of His statements : " sarva PaapEyO mokshyishyAmi "

and " VibhishaNO vaa yathi RavaNO vaa" . He is dedicated to

come to our rescue and as the ocean of mercy abandons His anger

and disgust over our paapams and crowns us with the kireetam of

Moksha saamrAjyam . This is the essence of SaraNAgathi

as taught to us by the Lord Himself and His AzhwArs and

AchAryAs .

 

Subhamasthu .

 

Sri LakshmI Nrusimha ParabrahmaNE Nama :

Sri Vedaantha Desika Yatheendhra VaryAa namO nama:

Sri NaarAyaNa Yatheendhra Mahaa DesikAya namO nama:

 

SeelamillA SiRiyOn , Oppilappan Sannidhi Sadagopan