Iraamaanusa Noorandhaadhi Upanyaasam - (Translated in English by VEDICS Team)

[Guest guest]

Foreword :-

------------

 

We from VEDICS Iraamaanusa Noorandhaadhi Team would first like to

seek the blessings of all bhaagvathaas before proceeding in this

small kaimkaryam of translating Iraamaanusa Nootrandhaadhi in English

according to the upanyaasam rendered by U.Ve. Velukkudi Krishnan

Swamy. We also request all bhaagavathhas, mahaanubhaavaas and other

learned scholars to pardon us if we have scribbled something that may

be incorrect. If we have done so, it is purely because of our

ignorance, and lack of sampradaic knowledge. We further submit the

forthcoming postings of Iraamaanusa Nootrandhaadhi to the lotus feet

of Bhoomi, Neela, Lakshmi Devi sametha, Sriya: pathi Sriman

Naraayanan and our beloved Emperumaanar and all Aazhwaars and

Poorvaachaaryaas to accept this kainkaryam for themselves and guide

us through the entire journey of this kainkaryam. We will not add,

delete or modify any of the lines or anubhavams that U.Ve. Velukkudi

Krishnam Swamy has given in his upanyaasam. We also seeks the

anughrahams of U.Ve. Velukkudi Krishnan Swamy in fullfilling this

kainkaryam without any hindrance.

 

 

"RAAMAANUJASYA CHARANAU SHARAM PRAPADYE, SRIMATHE RAAMAANUJAAYA NAMA:"

 

 

 

THIRUVARANGATHAMUDANAAR'S IRAAMNUSA NOOTRANDHAADHI - THE PRAPANNA

GAAYATHRI

--

 

 

Avathaarikai :-

----------------

 

Our beloved Lord, Bhoomi Neelaa Sri sametha Sriya: Pathi Sriman

Narayanan, out of his extraordinary kaarunyam and love for us, has

given us this birth as a jeevaathma with its full knowledge and

brilliance, according to our karma in our previous births. We the

jeevaathmaas are born on this earth as a result of our paapams or

punyams we did in our previous births. We are born as a maanusha

janma in the first place, because of the punyams we did in the

previous births.

 

Even in this janmaa, we are born as a Srivaishnavaa because of the

bhakthi and love that we would have shown to Emperumaan in our

previous births. We need to understand that we are born as a

Srivaishanavaa, in order to perform bhagavan nama sankeerthanam, and

earnest service to bhaagavthaas; we also have to perform service to

other living beings on this earth and show the same love and

affection towards all living beings, the same way as our beloved Lord

showers his love and affection on us.

 

Our emperumaan wants us to eradicate all our karma by doing

saranagathi to His lotus feet and attain His feet at paramapadam, so

that we never return to this ocean of samsaara. We the jeevathmaas

waste our time in materialistic pursuits instead, without realizing

this fact. Perumaal on the other hand, showers his mercy even through

the jeevathma's state of ignorance and yearns for the jeevathma to

attain paramapadham.

 

Even if we utter His name once, with sincere devotion, He becomes

delighted and runs to our side at once. This states that His

affection for us is multifold than the affection we have for Him.

But we forget to realize ourselves, and our true state, along with

the extreme kaarunyam that emperumaan has towards us. We continue to

experience and enjoy various temporary pleasures, without realizing

that they are only for the body and not for the aathmaa.

 

The aathmaa is unaffected by impurities. The aathmaa has enormous

brilliance and knowledge about its true state. But because of

emperumaan's maayai, all the brilliance and knowledge about aathmaa,

is hidden to our mind. This barrier can be easily crossed by chanting

bhagavan naamaa; doing earnest services to bhaagavthaas and

emperumaan who will also help us in understanding our true self. Once

we understand our Aathmaa then, we will never go behind earthly

pleasures. But we fail to do so; hence emperumaan started thinking of

a way to bring all of us (Jeevaathmaas) towards him. He gave all of

us the great gift of Four Vedas, Smruthis and Suthraas, Shaastraas

and Puraanaas. The jeevaathmaa however, fails to understand the

meaning of these scriptures and misinterprets them in unwanted ways.

Hence bhagavaan thinks that he failed in his attempt. As a next step,

he thinks that, unless he is born on this earth, he cannot achieve

his goal. So he takes his vibhavaavathaaram as said in the

following verse :-

 

"Meenodu Aamai kezhal ari, kuralaai, muunum iraamanaai, thaanaai,

pinnum iraamanaai dhaamodharanaai karkiyum aanaan "

 

Meenodu - (Mathsya), Aamai - (Koorma), Kezhal - (Varaaham), Ari -

(Narasimham), Kuralaai (Vaamanam), Munnum Iraamanaai (Parasu Raman),

Thaanaai (Rama), Pinnum Iramanaai (Bala Raman), Dhaamodharanaai

(Krishnan), Karkiyum Aanaan (Kalki)

 

Here "Thaanaai" denotes Lord Rama. Even though the Lord was born as a

normal manushyaa, He still manifested all the divine qualities of the

supreme being. Hence aazhwaar considers him as the supreme being

itself and uses the word "Thaanaai". U.Ve. Velukkudi Swamy in his

Upanyasam under the title "Aazhwaargalum Chakravarthi Thirumaganum"

explained this quote during his recent visit to the United States.

 

Thus the lord came down to the earth as ten different manifestations

to save us from this ocean of samsaaram, but he still felt that he

couldn't attain his objective.

 

Bhagavaan says in bhagavadh gita "Hey Arjunaa! Even after trying

innumerable methods to save the jeevaathmaas, they fail to realize

that I came all the way to the earth from the heavenly abode to save

them and I am the Supreme Being. They see me as that specific

avataaram but not the actual Supreme Being who came down to earth as

these vibhava avataarams. If I am born as krishnaa they neglect me by

saying, "after all this is krishnaa who is born one amongst the

people in gokulam"; if I show my power and brilliance from my

heavenly abode, they say that I am unreachable. Hence I am neither

able to show my supreme form nor the easiest form as a

vibhavaavatharam. Since I showed only these two forms, I failed in

this attempt. I'm still thinking of a method to save these

jeevaathmaas."

 

Hence bhagavaan thinks that he cannot save these jeevaathmaas if he

manifests himself as paramaathaa, because both are unequal in their

qualities and characteristics. One cannot use the lion to catch the

elephant, because the lion will eat the elephant. Hence the

jeevaathmaa can be corrected only by another jeevaathmaa. So

bhagavaan sends aazhwaars to this earth to save the jeevaathmaas.

First comes the avataaram of perumaal's divya amsams as mudal

aazhwaars: Poigai, Bootham, Peyaazhwaar and then pugazh mazhisai

iyyan, arul maaran, seralar kon, thuyya bhatta nadhan, anbargaal

thooli, narpaanan, and narkaliyan who gave us the essence of vedas.

They did their duty in translating the vedaas as the Naalaayira Divya

Prabandham in Tamil. But they never educated the jeevaathmaas by

their guidance and upadesams except through their prabandhams.

Instead they were immersed in their extreme love towards emperumaan

themselves. They experienced emperumaan within themselves by singing

his praise; they cried for liberation from this world, but none of

them made an attempt to guide a normal jeevathmaa to make the

jeevaathma realize emperumaan. Aazhwaar saw the state of the

jeevathmaas and decided that they cannot guide these jeevaathmaas and

instead, sought liberation from this world. They cried with love to

emperumaan to take them away from this earth and they sang the sacred

4000 and attained the lord's feet at paramapadam. So we had only the

Prabandhams that they sung. This made bhagavaan think that he failed

in this attempt also. Hence bhagavaan wanted someone to guide the

jeevaathmaas throughout their life in understanding the inner

meanings and intentions of vedaas, shaastraas, puraanaas and

prabandhams. This will make them realize the Supreme Being.

Hence bhagavaan thought of sending aachaaryaas who are like

aazhwaars, since they were geared towards guiding the jeevaathmaa

rather than experiencing the Supreme Being themselves, like the

aazhwaars.

 

Hence emperumaan sent Sriman Naathamunigal to the earth first;

Naathamunigal was born in Kaatu Mannaargudi. He obtained all the

prabandhaams of aazhwaars from Swamy Nammaazhwaar, and along with

this, Nammazhwar gave us the gift of our life to Sri Nathamunigal.

Swamy Nammaazhwaar gave a Bhavisyadaachaaryar Vigraham of Bhagavadh

Ramanuja to Sri Nathamunigal which can be still seen in the

Thirukurugoor opposite to the Nammaazhwaar Sannidhi. So Nammaazhwaar

already told nathamunigal that Bhagavad Ramanuja will be born in kali

yuga to save the jeevaathmaas. Bhagavad Ramanuja will be the

lokaachaarya who will correct all jeevaathmaas and destroy the kali.

 

The vigraham mentioned above was created by Sri Madurakavi Aazhwaar

at the banks of the river Thaamraparani. When he actually wanted a

vigraham of Nammaazhwaar, he got the vigraham of emperumaanaar

instead. When asked, Nammazhwar replied that the vigraham appeared

out of his own grace and anugraham and he also gave a Nammaazhwaar

vigraham to Sri Madurakavi Aazhwaar. This vigraham has been

maintained, and worshipped by the aachaaryaas in our lineage in

Thirukkurugoor and is still being worshipped today.

 

Swamy Vedantha Desikan in Yathiraja Sapthathi says

 

"Amunaa tapanaathishaayi bhoomnaa

yathiraajena nibadhdha naayakasri:

mahathi guru pankthi haara yashti:

vibhudhaanaam hridyamgamaa vibhaathi:"

 

In the garland of our Guru Parampara, one side is decorated with the

rathnaams which starts from emperumaan lakshmi nathan and other

mudalaachaaryaas like Nathamuni, Sadagopan, Senai Nathan and on

the other side we have the rathnams like nanjeeyar, nampillai etc.

Out of all these rathnams our emperumaanaar is like a naayaka rathnam

who is in the middle of these rathnams. This is the condensed meaning

of the verse above.

 

Swaamy Raamaanujar had a disciple called Sri Koorathaazhwaan.

Koorathaazhwaan had a disciple named Thiruvarangathamudhanaar who

composed a work called "Iraamaanusa Nootrandhaadhi" on

Emperumanaar. This work was heard by our beloved emperumaanaar when

it was composed, and was accepted. One can do trikaala

sandhyaavandhanam, one can keep performing brahma yagnyam, one can

recite vedams but all this will only ensure that one is a true

Braahmanaa. But to capture the mind of our beloved lord and become a

Sri Vaishnavan, one has to recite the 108 verses of Iraamanusa

Nootrandhaadhi every day. This is also called "The Prapanna

Gaayathri". If not everyday, we must recite it at least once a week,

once a month, once a year or at least once in a lifetime. If one does

not recite this at least once in one's lifetime, emperumaan will not

give Sri Vaikuntam to the jeevathma as we will not get Raamaanuja

Sambandham. This ensures that we become emperumaan's adiyaar, as this

has Sri Emperumaanaar's sambandham in it.

 

It has the word "Iraamaanusa" in each verse that establishes our

relationship or sambandham with emperumaanaar. As we recite this

every time with love and affection towards emperumaanaar, it

establishes our sambhandam with emperumaan.

 

Thiruvarangathamudhanaar was born in "Moongirkudi". He was the main

kainkaryaparar in the Sri Rangam temple. He used to maintain the

temple keys with him and used to read the puraanam for perumaal. But

the temple organization was not satisfactory, as witnessed by

emperumaanaar. Hence emperumanaar wanted to change the responsibility

from Amudhanaar. Emperumaanar was waiting for the right time for this

to happen. On the same night, emperumaanaar had a swapnam(dream)

where emperumaan Sri Ranganatha came and told that "Amudanaar is

entirely dependent on me and does kainkaryam. Hence I leave this

issue to you". Emperumaan did not say anything else other than the

above sentence. Hence Raamaanuja assumed that emperumaan doesn't want

Amudanaar to be removed from the kainkaryam.

 

So emperumaanaar decided to leave Sri Rangam and go to Kancheepuram

along with Koorathaazhwaan. But koorathazhwaan thought for a while

and said "Emperumaan's wish might not be what devareer thinks. He

wanted devareer to correct amudanaar and make him devareer's

disciple." Hence emperumaanaar thought that what aazhwaan suggested

might be right. So Raamaanujar handed over the responsibility of

correcting Amudanaar to Aazhwaan. Slowly aazhwaan corrected Amudanaar

and brought him towards the kainkaryam of emperumaanaar. But still

Amudanaar had the temple responsibility. Emperumaanaar thought that

Amudanaar has to be involved in some other kainkaryam which

emperumaanaar had in mind. If he still continued to take the

responsibility of temple, he wouldn't be able to fulfill

emperumaanaar's wish. In the mean time, Thiruvarangathamudhanaar's

mother attained paramapadam. For the 11th day after her death,

Amudanaar wanted someone to come to his gruham and participate in the

event. On those days, if one goes for the 11th day to any house, they

cannot participate in any koil kainkaryam or any festivals for

another one year. To be precise they are not eligible to do anything

for one year. Hence no one was ready to accept this offer. Amudaanaar

approached emperumaanaar for a suitable person to come to his gruham.

Emperumaanaar thought of this as the right time and sent

Koorathazhwaan, reminding him of his plans to shift the temple

responsibility from Amudanaar and correcting him at the same time.

Accepting this as a command from his aachaaryan, azhwaan went to

Amudanaar's griham for the 11th day kainkaryam.

 

After having food at Amudanaar's house, Amudanaar asked whether

Aazhwaan was satisfied with the food and other upachaarams. But

Aazhwaan said that he was not satisfied. Amudannar asked aazhwaan as

to what would satisfy Aazhwaan. Aazhwaan then asked for the temple

keys from Amudanaar and that he should not recite puraanam for

perumaal. He obtained both these kainkaryams and handed it over to

emperumaanaar. Then emperumaanaar handed over the puraana patanam

kainkaryam to koorathaazhwaan and handed over the temple key

responsibility to mudaliyaandaan. Amudanaar was totally dejected and

was not his normal self, which was witnessed by emperumaanaar.

Emperumaanaar's intention was not to steal the kainkaryam from

Amudanaar but to correct as per namperumaal's wish.

 

One day when the Sapthaavaranam utsavam was being held where Pillai

Thiruvaraga Perumaal araiyar, of Azwaar thiruvaranga Perumaal's

lineage, was reciting prabandham in the arayar sevai. Emperumaanar

went towards him and asked him for bhikshai. Immediately surprised

by this, arayar asked what he can do. Emperumaanar requested that the

first 3000 should be recited by people of araiyar tradition as

araiyar sevai, and the rest 1000 (Iyarpaa) along with Iraamaanusa

Nootrandhaadhi will be recited by the kainkaryaparars from the

Amudanaar's lineage. Even now, because of the lack of people in

Amudanaar's tradition, the Iyarpaa is recited by normal adhyaapaka

ghoshti and the rest 3000 by Araiyars. As requested, the araiyar

accepted this offer and emperumaanaar handed over this kainkaryam to

Amudanaar immediately.

 

Thinking of this mahopakaaram that emperumaanaar has done for him,

Amudanaar became extremly happy and wanted to compose a prabandham on

emprumaanaar. He composed a prabandham on emperumaanar which says

that emperumaanar is the supreme being, emperumaanaar is

ranganaathar, emperumaanar himself is devaathi rajan.

 

After composing this, amudanaar showed it to emperumaanaar, but

seeing the way the prabandham was composed; emperumaanaar rejected

the prabandham saying that he doesn't want a prabandham composed in

this manner. Dejected by this, amudanaar thought of composing a

prabandham on emperumaanaar somehow. He took a oath to compose a

prabandham in andhaadhi style, having the name "iraamaanusa" in each

verse. The first half will have the name of a mahaanubhaavar who was

worshipped by emperumaanar, and the second half will contain verses

that says the mahaanubhaavar's thiruvadi is emperumaanaar, so that

emperumaanar can accept this prabandham. Amudanaar chose a place near

the adaiyavalanthaan veedhi, which is a coconut farm where he sat and

wrote the nooranthathi. At the time of completion even without

Amudanaar's knowledge, emperumaanar along with empaar, aazhwaan and

mudaliyaandaan appeared and saw amudanaar composing this prabandham.

At that time amudanaar had composed 105 verses and was about to start

the famous saatru paasuram "Iruppidam, Inbutra, and Angayal paai"

verses. Seeing this emperumaanaar felt that somehow amudanaar had

established his wish of composing a prabandham on emperumaanar, which

was also up to Emperumaanar's expectations.

 

Hence amudanaar with the kataaksham of emperumaanaar composed the

last three paasurams. To mark this occasion, unlike the traditional

way where only last 2 paasurams will be recited during satrumurai,

here the last three passurams were considered to be

saatruppaasurangal with emperumaanaars anugraham.

 

One day, namperumaal decided that this prabandham should be

propogated and asked emperumaanaar in his swapnam not to attend

ghoshti on the sapthaavaranam day. The next day Iraamaanusa

Nootrandhaadhi was recited in the absence of emperumaanaar with

namperumaal's command. Even the naadhaswaram was stopped. From that

day onward, on the Sapthaavaranam festival, only the Iraamaanusa

Nootrandhaadhi will be recited as per namperumaal's command by normal

adhyaabhaaga ghoshti rather than araiyar sevai.

 

Thus amudanaar's prabhandam was very happily accepted by namperumaal

since it was compsed on emperumaanaar. Even though initially

amudanaar was the disciple of koorathaazhwaan, gradually by the

brilliance and kaarunyam of emperumaanaar, he became his disciple and

offered this great "Prapanna Gaayathri" at the lotus feet of his

Aachaaryan; this work was accepted and blessed so that it is

propogated for the entire people of later generations and be the best

amongst all prabandhams.

 

This journey of Iraamaanusa Nootrandhaadhi will continue and let us

take an oath that we will do a japam of this "Prapanna Gaayathri"

everyday, if not once in a month, or once in a year

or at least once in a each one of our lifetimes by reciting it with

love and affection towards our beloved emperumaanaar and obtain

raamaanuja sambandham.

 

 

"RAAMAANUJASYA CHARANAU SHARAM PRAPADYE, SRIMATHE RAAMAANUJAAYA NAMA:"

 

(Thodarum.. Will Continue..)

 

 

VEDICS

Iraamaanusa Nootrandhaadhi Team

Bhaagyaa Murali Thirumalai, Narayanan K. Veeraraghavan & Mukundan

Pattangi

http://www.radioramanuja.com/talks/velukkudi/rnoot/