Sri VaishNavam-4

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SRI:

 

SRIMATHE RAMANUJAYA NAMAH:

 

SRIMATHE NIGAMANTHA MAHADESIKAYA NAMAH:

 

SRIMATHE GOPALA DESIKA MAHA DESIKAYA NAMAH:

 

SRIMATHE RANGANAYIKA SAMETHA SRI RANGANATHA PARABHRAHMANE NAMAH:

 

Dearest Sisters and Brothers, the bhakthAs of Sriman NarayaNA!

 

Ennuyir thandhu aLitthavaraich charNampukki/ yaanadaivE avargurukkaL

niRai vaNanghi/

PinnaruLaal perumpudhUr vandha vaLLal/ periya nambi Alavandhaar

maNakkal nambi/

NanneRiyai avarkku uRaittha uyyakkoNdaar/ nathamuni sadagOpan

sEnainAthan/

Innamudhath ThirumagaLenRu ivarai munnittu/ Emperumaan ThiruvadigaLai

adaiginREnE!

 

ManthrAs:

 

1. AshtAksharam: With complete purity, (with no "theetu"), this shall

be carried out daily, (even in the evening also, if one can take bath

and recite this japam with a pure heart and mind/body, it is still

fine.)

2. Dwayam: one can recite this any number of times, anywhere wherever

possible;

3. saramaslOkam- sarva dharmaan...maa su cha:- this Bhagawadh gItA

slokam (from 18 th chapter) is called sarama slOkam which gives leverage

to us for performing prapatti (saranAgathy).

 

The Meanings of these three ManthrAs: ( only the meanings are going to

be detailed; not the manthrAs)

 

1. AshtAksharam: Sriman NarAyaNan has got the limitless, unbounded,

most auspicious (kalYANa guNAs). He is always with Periya Pairaatti Sri

MahAlakshmi. He protects all. He is the essence of everything. He is the

AthmA of chEthanAs and achEthnAs. For chEthanAs, He himself is the

upaayam (means) and upEyam (end). He Himself is the Fruit for chEthanAs.

JIvAthmA is the atom. He s also a jnAnaswarUpi. He is always the

servant, by his nature, of Sriya: Pathi Sriman NarayaNan and Sri

MahAlakshmi. Such a jIvAthmA, the servant, I(adiyEn), will always render

service to PerumAL and Pratti for ever and ever.

 

2. Dwayam: I am surrendering at the Feet of Sriman NarayaNan, who is

always with Periya Piraatti, Sri MahAlakshmi. This jIvAthmA is not mine;

It is Sriman NarayaNan’s property. Its benefits that the jIvAthmA reaps

also belong to Him. Always, I will keep rendering service to Emperumaan

Sriman NarayaNan. For rendering that kaimkaryam- whatever bad thoughts,

ill desires, hurdles or anything that precludes me to perform such

kaimkaryam for Emperumaan will also get alleviated and destroyed by His

grace.

 

3. Sarama slOkam: Lord KrishNA Himself says to ArjunA in Bhagavadh gItA

: "Due to your inability to follow other yOgAs for attaining mOksham,

you have abandoned the other means to attain mOksham and considered only

prapatti (surrendering to me). Do not worry. Surrender unto Me once with

complete faith. I will gladly bless you and destroy all your sins and

karmAs; Even if you try to remove these karmAs and sins accumulated over

the ages, you just can not succeed in removing them completely. I will

save you from all that. JUST SURRENDER UNTO "ME ALONE" COMPLTELY. I will

grant you mOksham and Parama bhAghyam of rendering eternal service to Me

at Srivaikuntam along with eternal absolute enjoyment. Do Not lament at

all for any thing hereafter."

 

(Note that God's assurances to humanity, particularly that given to His

ardent devotees, which are interspersed in sacred literature, will never

go in vain. Many are His declarations but one among them brings cheer

and hope to those who may at times get demoralised on account of

continuous suffering.

 

``Listen to My oath. The heavens may fall from their height. The snowy

peaks of the Himalayas may slip and come down. The seas may dry up. The

earth may shiver into a million pieces. But the statements of Krishna

will never be empty words.'' This promise was extended directly by Lord

Krishna.)

 

The exact explanations and commentaries (as well as the upadEsams of

these manthrAs) will have to be learnt at the Feet of AchAryA by doing

kaalakshEpam. Everyday, one should recite these three manthrAs (as far

as possible).

 

Recap: AshtAksharam: only after a bath-with pure body/mind and clothing.

Dwayam: anywhere, anytime, any place- this can be recited. Always think

and recite the sarama slOkam in order to remind ourselves the truthful,

correct statement of the Lord. Always think of these meanings while

reciting in order to enable you to more mind onto reciting them. (Even

if you don’t know the meaning, Lord will still be pleased!- since they

are rahasya manthrams, they are not published here; however, should some

one be interested to know, read and recite and are in a position away

from their AchAryAs, please let me know so that I can send them the

private e-mail- In fact when I asked Srimad Poundareekpuram Andavan

Swami, whether it is proper to send swami’s upadEsam on these meanings

in English to Bhakti Group, Swami smiled and said they should not be

sent to wrong persons. If some vaishNavites are interested to know, you

can always send them- How compassionate and merciful Swami is! ).

 

GranthAs:

 

After Pancha samskaaram, SrivaishNavan is to do kaalakshEpam at the

sannidhi of AchAryA at least one of the following granthAs:

 

1. Sri BhAshyam - Sri RamanujA’s vyAkhyaanam (purport) of bhramha

sUthram of BhOdhaayanar (refer to first post).

2. Bhagavadh gItA BhAshyam of Sri RamanujA

3. Thiruvaaimozhi vyAkhyaanam of Thirukkurugaippiraan PiLLaan (Sri

RamanujA’s sishya)

4. Sri Vedanta Desikar’s Srimadh Rahsyatraya saaram (RTS) (thraya-

means three- these rahasya manthrAs have been explained in these RTS.

Just learning this will enable us to know about our traditions) .

 

AchArya Mahimai (Greatness of AchAryA)

 

The AchArya who showed such a Grand route for us to attain mOksham and

the eternal Bliss is to be greatly revered and respected. He is to be

considered by us equal to the Lord or rather more than the Lord. We

should always pay respects to him and always think of him (at least

while praying to The Lord in the morning). If we are able to donate for

his duties as AchAryA or render any sort of kaimkaryam to AchAryA, we

SHOULD NEVER THINK THAT we are doing some help for him; or we have done

our duty paying back for what he has done to us. What he has done to us

can never be repaid. (even if we give the three worlds to him, it will

not equal an iota of grace and mercy he has showered on us by his

upadEsam and kataaksham- Maathru dEvO bhavA! Pithru dEvO bhavA! AchArya

dEvO bhavA! Athithi dEvO bhavA! - Even our own parents are considered

equal to AchAryA and God as well. Hence, SrivaishNavan should EQUALLY

pay respects to the Parents and take care of them in their old age as

much as we take care of our children. Any other prayer to Lord will not

please Him if we forget the parents or AchAryA) We should have the same

Bhakti with the AchAryA as we have on Bhagawaan (and none less on our

parents, too).

 

One should always talk in praise of him; think of his mercy and

qualities. Always at the back of our minds, we should think that there

is no possibility of repaying him back for all that he has done to us.

It is a fact, too. One should celebrate his birthday (thirunakshthram)

in a grand manner and thank him for this spiritual life.

 

One should perform prapatti at AchAryA’s Feet after doing kaalakshEpams

(as explained earlier). The prapatti ceremony is NOT GRANTING us

mOksham. It is the enjoyment that Lord gets by getting pleased with our

act of surrender unto His Feet through His bhAgawathA, our AchAryA, is

what that enables us attain mOksham. Hence, the cause for mOskahm is NOT

prapatti, but the Lord who gets pleased! It is our preethi for

Emperumaan that pleases Him; By performing Prapatti, He is definitely

greatly pleased! So, He is SiddhOpaayam. Whereas the Prapatti is called

saadhyOpaayam.

 

Naama sangheerthanam:

 

Only Bhakti yOgham or Prapatti (surrender) can enable or facilitate us

to attain mOksham- as vouched by saastrAs to a great extent. But, same

saastrAs, at some places say that just by uttering the Lord’s name will

enable us attain mOksham or by taking bath in GangA or CauvEri or any

other puNya sthalam will also facilitate to attain mOksham. Bhagawan

Naama sangeerthanam is just adequate for attaining mOksham is also

another school of thought. Staying at places like Srirangam is all that

is required as told by few others. All that implies from the above is:

Bhagawan Naama sangheerthanam, Punya nadhIs, puNya kshEthra vaasam- will

all lead one a clearer mind, a purer atmosphere and will enable one to

approach the AchArya for getting to know more; It will facilitate him to

do good deeds, and do all that a sri vaishNava is required to do (as

described above) and will perform sharaNAgathy. In the end, he attains

mOksham. Thus, these DO YIELD mOksham; (like now we can add- one gets

mOksham by joining in Bhakti Group- the saastrAs can be amended- because

that facilitates us to now approach AchAryA- IT DEFINITELY DID

FACILITATE ME! all posts of Bhakti group alone made me go on the faster

track to my AchAryA. (uNmai- uNmai!)

 

Two Important Don’ts of SrivaishNavA:

 

1. BhAgawatha apachaaram. BhAgawathAs- are Emperumaan’s devotees,

bhakthAs- we should never commit any apachaaram to them in any fashion.

Whatever may be their caste, colour, creed, sex, or form, whether they

are beautiful or ugly, tall or short, learned or illiterate, we should

pay respects to all bhakthAs of Lord Sriman Narayanan. Emperumaan will

be totally pissed off displeased with the apacharams done to them; He

can even forgive apachaarams to Him; but will never forgive our

apachaarams to His bhakthAs. If we serve the bhakthAs full heartedly and

help them in any fashion, that DEFINITELY pleases Emperumaan. It is the

kaimkaryam done to Him actually. He accepts as the antharyaami in their

hearts.

2. We should never consider other deities equal to Him. (here please

remember the first don’t- if you consider the other deity as the

bhAgawathA of Sriman NarayaNA- please go right ahead and prostrate at

the deity’s feet; means we accept Sriman NarayNa is the Supreme head;

this deity is His bhAgawathA and in this deity (or bhakthA of Narayana)

stays Lord Sriman Narayanan as the antharyaami. BUT PLEASE DON’T EQUATE

ANY OTHER jIvAthmA to SRIMAN NARAYANA)

 

kaimkaryam- three types: Bhagawadh kaimkaryam, BhAgawatha kaimkaryam and

AchArya kaimkaryam. AchArya kaimkaryam is the Greatest and foremost

among them. We should try to do all these three kaimkaryams to please

the Lord. (Posting to bhakti group any subject on Sriman Narayanan like

Sri Sadagopan’s is bhAgawatha kaimkaryam; Posting a request for

Sillarai rahasyangal project (by Srimad Pondareekapuram Andavan

Ashramam) is AchArya kaimkaryam done by Sri Ramesh. Posting a request

for MaNickka koNdai for bhUmi piraati is bhagawadh kaimkaryam; by

contributing to all these, we also render the respective kaimkaryams; SO

IT IS CERTAIN THAT WE ARE GOING TO MEET AT THE LORD’S FEET!- Perhaps it

will be He who will introduce each one of us to others of our Group-

because we have not seen each other! But He is in all of us!)

 

BhagawathAs- three types:

1. Those who do not worship other demi-gods as equal to Lord; but pray

to Sriman NarayNan for material benefits and other desires. - they are

called Ekaanthis.

2. Those who do not pray to Lord Sriman Naraynan for any material

pursuits except mOksham are called Paramaikaanthis.

3. Those Paramaikaanthis, who after performing prapatti, do not even

ask for mOkshaanubhavam; all that they ask for is for rendering eternal

kaimkaryam to Divya Dampati and do such kaimkaryams (to other bhakthAs,

AchAryA and to archAvathArams and antharyaami with ArAdhanams) are the

Greatest BhAgawathAs.

 

Some BhAgawathAs may have to earn money by working in the office and

live in lowkika life/ environment to carry out their family welfare and

to make both ends meet; We should not look down at such bhAgawathAs;

they may even have vices; they may even have some wrong or bad habits;

we should not hurt their feelings by looking down at us and commit

apachaarams to them- (if they are His bhakthAs- even EkAnthis!) Since

they are His bhakthAs, they will come on the right track soonest - not

to worry.

 

SrivaishNavan- How he should be!

 

Yes. We have done Panch samskaaram- we have surrendered to the Lord

through our AchAryA. We have become His bhakthAs. Now what & how we

should be? (BhAgawatha apachaaram- idhara dEvathA- we have already

talked about)- The other do’s and don’ts - we will see in the next post

along with greatness of Prapatti.

 

 

Ram Ram

 

With Best Regards

 

NarayaNa dAsan madhavakkannan

 

 

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