Nara-NaarayaNa svarupam at BadrikAsramam

[Guest guest]

Recently , Sriman Ram Gopalaswamy had asked a question

about AshtAksharam , Dvyam and the avathaaram of

the Lord as Nara-NaarAyaNan at BadrikAsramam .

 

Sriman Mani Varadarajan has answered the first two

questions . I will attempt to answer the third one .

 

It just so happens that ANDAL in her NacchiyAr Thirumozhi

Paasuram 2.1 gives us the clue :

 

" Naamam aayiram yEttha NinRa NaarAyaNAnaranE ---"

 

in the first quater of the paasuram .

 

ANDAL , who should know the mysteries of Her Lord's

avathAra rahasyam identifies Him appropriately

under the collective name of " NaarAyaNAnaranE "

in one breath. She does not split His naamam

into NaarAyaNE and NaranE .

 

{ I want to digress to slaute the aasthika couple ,

Sriman and Srimathi KrishNamAchAri engaged in

commenting upon Sri VishNu Sahsara naamams

( naamam aayiram yEtthi nirkum Bhakthar Sri

KrishNamAchAri ) and his dharma pathnI ,

Srimathi KrishNamAchAri, who has been joyously

engaged in enjoying the Sri Sookthis of our

ANDAL . I must confess that her translations are

better than my original writing . She is going

to write about this particular Paasuram next .

Thanks to both of them for their valued Kaimkaryams } .

 

Now coming back to the Salutation ," NaarAyanAnaranE " ,

we have to transport ourselves on this Aani SravaNam

day morning to the sacred ground of BadrinAth , 10,350 feet

high on the banks of the sacred AlakanandhA river .

 

We offer our worship there to the Veda Purushan , GarudAzhwAr

first at " SimhadwArA " before entering the main

temple to offer our prostrations before the mUrhtys there .

 

Badri Vruksham is the Ilandai tree , which is

dear to MahA Lakshmi . Legend has it that the Lord

did tapas ( penance ) under that sacred tree , when

he incarnated as Sri BadrinArayanan to educate /iniitate

the people suffering from the terrors of SamsAram

through Sri AshTaakshara manthra UpadEsam to them .

That Ilandai tree is not visible according to legend

in Kali yugam .

 

Sriman NaarAyaNA incarnated as a Tapasvi with JatA , with conch

and chakrA in His upper hands and Yoga MudrAs in His lower hands

and sits in padmAsanam . On His right side are KubEran , Garudan

and on His left are Sage Naradhar , NaarayaNar and narar et al .

 

It was the Lord's intent to demonstrate that Tapas

is needed to secure the blessings of Athma Jn~Anam

and to demonstrate to His avathAra Purushaas ,

Nara and NaarAyaNaa , how to conduct the life of

a Tapasvi in a Aasramam observing Guru-Sishya Paramparai

( Gurukula Vaasam ) to secure the fruits of the pursuit of

Brahma VidhyA . DEvAs , Rishis and Common people (SamsAris )

were also the object of this demonstration .

 

NarA and NaarAyaNA incarnated as asampUrNa avatArams

in Satya YugA to Dharma DevA and Murthy Devi , the daughter

of Daksha PrajApathi . These two children performed Tapas

in NaimisAraNyam first and then in the hills known as

GandhamAdhanam and finally arrived at BadrikAsramam for

initiation by Sriman NaarAyaNA Himself. In the DwApara Yugam ,

they continued the Guru-sishya paramparai thru the PurNAvatharam

of Lord KrishNA and His sishyan, ArjunA .

 

Thus ," the NaarAyaNA naranE " vaakhyams of ANDAL

refer to the previuous avathArams of the Lord and

the AshtAkshara manthram that has reached us thru

AchArya Mukham .

 

It is interesting to observe that in this temple

of Sriman NaarAyaNA that moved Thirumangai so much

at the very beginning of his Periya Thirumozhi ,

there is a sannidhi for Sri Lakshmi Narasimhan at

the back of the main shrine and there are additional

sannidhhis for Sri VedAntha Desikan and Bhagavadh

RaamAnujA . The AchArya paramparai is well saluted

there in the context of the Guru-Sishya relationship .

 

Daasan , SadagOpan