Naanmugan Thiruvandhaadhi-7 "I SHALL NEVER EVER STOP UTTERING HIS DIVINE NAMES

[Guest guest]

Passage from Sri MadhavakkaNNan's posting

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The 69th paasuram of Naanmugan ThiruvandhAthi tanslated by

Sri MadhavakkaNNan is another beautiful paasuram

that is thought provoking .

 

Hence , I will share my thoughts on the insightful

anubhavam of a great AchAryA . Come to think of it ,

as the AzhwAr states in introspection , the power of

the Lord's names, guNAs and soundharyam are nothing but

the very essence of the Sanskritic VedAs and Upanishads .

Our Azhwar casts these Sanskrit Vedic thoughts in Tamil Vedas .

The 69th paasuram and its meaning is as follows

(excerpts from Sri MadhavakkaNNan 's posting):

>69. "sevikku inbham aavadhuvum sengaNmaal naamam/

>puvikkum puviyadhuvE kaNdeer*- kavikkum/

>niRaiporuLaay ninRaanai nErpattEn* paarkkil/

>maRai poruLum atthanaiyE thaan."

>

>It is not just to avoid the punishment from yama, one needs to utter the

>Divine names of Sriman Narayanan. The Divine names of Red Lotus eyed

>Lord are also so pleasing to the ears; Not only for me, for the whole

>earth, His name can offer shadow to the scorching heat of samsaara

>saagaram. With no reason, He has blessed me mercifully to sing in praise

>of Him, who Himself is the epitome of all Great admirable and adorable

>GuNAs and Beauty, which can never be described to the full extent in

>words. Coming to think of further,

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>this is nothing but the very essence of Vedas too.

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I will attempt to elaborate on the above

underlined section of the AzhwAr's anubhavam .

 

The central points of this pasuram are :

 

1)The recitation of the auspicious names of the Lord

is not only for warding off the punishmnet of DharmarAjA ,

but also such a recitation is delectable and removes

the sufferings from Taapa thrayam experienced by the Jeevans .

 

2) It is His abundant and nirhEthuka krupA that

has energized me to sing about Him and His anantha

kalyANa guNAs that create , sustain and support the

Universe and its beings. These guNAs are limitless .

 

3) Such eulogy of Him constitute the heart(essence)

of the VedAs .

 

Let us recall a few echoing thoughts from the VedAs

and upanishads as PramANams for the AzhwAr's anubhavam :

 

1. His all encompassing Nature : sarvE asmin dEvA

yEkavruthO bhavanthi --Atharva Vedam :XIII.4.21)

(Meaning ): All the nature's creations and bounties

emerge out of Him and reach layam in Him .He is

the Sarva Seshi .

 

2. His sustenance of His creations as avyAja KaruNA mUrthy ,

His Rakshakathvam :

 

sam bAhubhyAm dhamathi sam pathathrai:

dhyAvA BhumI janayan dEva yEka: --Rg Vedam X.81.3

 

(Meaning ): Out of His magnanimity , He alone is

sustaining (nourishing ) the uiverse and its beings

fanning (to banish the taapa thrayams)and inspiring

(blessing them to aspire towards Him thru sadAchArya

sambhandham ) as if by His two gigantic wings spanning

the entire cosmos ( the analogy is to the Mother bird

watching over the newly-hatched chicks comforting them

from the pangs of suffering and encouraging them to take

the first few steps ).

 

3. Yajur Vedam : XL. 8

 

Gist of this mahA manthram : Our Lord , radiant

without the body of the prAkruthic kind (suddha sattvam )

that we are used to , is forever pure and circumscribes us

from all the sides of us. As the exalted poet with

penetrating wisdom and embodied intelligence extends

in all directions and time measures .He is SvayambhU

(self-manifest); out of His avyAja dayA , He creates

knowledge and wealth (arthAn) for the benefit

of the eternal Jeevans (saasvatheebhya samaabhya:).

 

4. Overcoming the punishment of DahramarAjA through

the sole intervention of Our merciful Lord:

 

Yajur Vedam VIII.13 (devakruthasyai--) and

Yajur Vedam I.5 (agnE vrathapAsthE ---)

Yajur Vedam VII.20 ( upayAmagruhIthoagrayaNOsi

svAgrayaNa:I Paahi Yaj~nam , paahi Yaj~na pathim )

 

The meanings of these Veda manthrams are:

 

Our Lord is the atonement for the sins committed

by the Devaas as enlightened jeevans ; He is indeed

the atonement for the sins accumulated by ordinary

men (manushya krutham ) ; and also , He is the one

and only atonement for the sins committed by our

elders in society (pithru krutham ) .He is the

atonement for sins committed consciously or

unknowingly , for the sins that are small or huge.

These sins will not be banished until He comes

to our rescue . We with His blessings have to

fight against ignorance , viparItha Jn~Anam ,

evils and weaknesses . He will come to our rescue

as the strong rescuer .He is indeed our Vrathapathi

(the sustainer in our determined efforts energized

by MahA VisvAsam in Him ) .

 

Our Lord for this reason is our ULTIMATE SHELTER

(REFUGE) AND THE FINAL RESORT (upayAmagr*uhIthOsi)

and IS our FINAL ATONEMENT (avyAjanaamaasi).

 

Our Lord adored by Thirumazhisai AzhwAr and his fellow

AzhwArs is the synonym for lustre (Tejas) , vigour (Veeryam ),

energy and strength (Ojas and Bhalam )and other KalyANa

guNAs hailed by AchArya RaamAnuja in his SaraNAgathi

Gadhyam . He is the conquering might as He showed on

the battle field of KurukshEhtrA ; He is the anger

on the battle field of LankhA , where He destroyed

adharmam as Veera Raghavan . He is the universal deluge as

He devours all as a VisvarUpi at the time of PraLayam .

That is the reasoning behind the moving prayer

housed in the following Yajur Vedic manthram ( XIX. 9) :

 

thEjOsi thEjO mayi dEhi (Oh Lord , You are lustre : give me lustre)

 

veeryamasi veeryam mayi dEhi ( You are vigour: give me vigour)

 

Bhalamasi Bhaalm mayi dEhi ( Thou art strength : give me strength)

 

OjOasyOjO mayi dEhi( Thou art energy: give me energy)

 

manyurasi manyum mayi dEhi( You are anger: give me anger)

 

sahOsi sahO mayi dEhi( Thou art the conquering might ;

give me might ) .

 

All these blessings are sought from the treasure house

of the anantha kalyANa gunAs , Our Lord , the SarvAdharan

to do prapatthi to Him with its five angAs .That is the right

intention , the only emancipating intention of humans

as His blessed creation . Our Lord revealed the four VedAs

with that intention to address the welfare of the mankind .

That is His supreme gift to us.Our AzhwArs out of their

own limitless compassion as the Lord's messengers composed

paasurams in the vernacular for one and all to acces the

grand thoughts housed in the Veda manthrams .Our AchAryAs

intrepret it and serves as the links in the eternal

chain (aachArya paramparai ) reaching back to the divya-

dampathis .

 

I will conclude this posting with a magnificient

Yajur Veda manthram (XXXIV.5) , which is powerfully

integrative and vast in its scope of uniting the Lord ,

the Veda manthrams revealed by Him and the activities of

His beloved creations :

 

yasmin nrucha: Saama YajUgumshi yasmin prathishtithA

raTanAbhAvivArA : I

Yasmimschithagum sarvamOtham prajAnAm tanmE mana:

siva sankalpam asthu II

 

(Meaning ) : Wherein the Rks of Rg Vedam , Saamans

of Saama Vedam and Yajur vedic passages like spokes

within a chariot's nave are included, and wherein

ALL the thoughts of creatures are interwoven ,

May that my mind , be moved by right intention

(that is redeeming and fulfilling ).

 

Veda PurushAya nama:

AzhwAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Oppilliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan