Sri U. Ve. Velukkudi Krishnan Swami in USA(April 29 to June 6)--TeleUpanyasam details inside..

[Guest guest]

Dear bhAgavathas,Vedics Foundation (www.vedics.net) is pleased to

announce a rare treat for us to listen to divine nectar for about 35

days together starting April 29th 2004 through June 6, 2004.

We are having Sri U. Ve. Velukkudi Krishnan swami amongst us visiting

many cities in USA starting April 29. Please visit www.vedics.net to

get the complete itenary for swami for various cities in USA. Please

also take a moment to take a look at the teleupanyasam schedule at :

http://www.vedics.net/tours/vk2004tour/tus.html

We have two tele-upanyasam series in Tamil during swami's trip here.

All the lectures will be available in Telebridge at 7AM Local time

(wherever swami is). When swami is in west coast, arrangements have

been made to make the lecture available again in the evening for the

devotees in central and east coast. Please to these

lectures and also spread the word to everyone. The registration page

for the upanyasams is at:

http://ramanuja.cc.uic.edu/cgi-bin/vksvami.pl . We have a nominal

subscription fee of $108 for all the lecuters during this period. All

the d devotees will get all the lectures in mp3 format mailed

to them after swami's tour is complete. Please provide us your correct

mailing address when you register.

Subscribed devotees will be sent the dialing information in email. So

please register soon. If you have not received your dialing

information, please send email to vedic_discourse

azhvAr emberumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigalE saranam,jeeyar thiruvadigalE saranam,

irAmAnusan adiyaragal,

==============================================================

ramanuja, Chitra Madhavan <csmadhavan@s...>

wrote:Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha It is our privilage and great

pleasure to bring you live Upanyasams starting fromApril 29th to

May9th PST 7:00am to 8:30am on Kanninun Siruththambhu, by none other

than SRI.VELUKKUDI KRISHNAN SWAMI, with whom we all are very familiar

with.This topic is chosen to coincide with the celebration of Swami

Madhurakavi Azhvar andThirumalai Ananthan Pillai who were born on the

same month same star Chithirail Chithirai. This year the day falls on

May 3rd, and we are blessed to have live lectureon the most important

link in DivyaPrabhandam. As most of us are familiar with knowledge

laden upanyasams of Sri VKrishnan Swami, adiyen cannot justify an

introduction. Below is a small introduction on this subject.

 

Kanninun Chiruththambhu

 

“Vaiththa Thirumanthirathin maththimamaam padam pol

Seertha Madhurakavi seikalaiyai – aartha pugazh

AAriyargal thaangal arulich cheyal naduve

Serviththar thathparriyam therndhu”

 

Lord Sriman Narayana took incarnation as Nara and Narayana, and gave

us the most holy of the mantras – thirumantram. The middle part of

thirumantram – nama: is very special and important. It shows us the

path to salvation, and also teaches us servitude to the Lord and His

devotees. Just as how the nama: word is very special in the

thirumantram, kaNNinun siruththAmbu is also special in the divya

prabhandham – especially as it teaches the epitome of a jIvA’s

svaroopa – servitude to the devotees to the Lord. Svami maNavALa

mAmuni, in the above paasuram teaches us that learned elders made

kaNNinun siruththaambu a part of the divya prabhandham.

 

Madhurakaviazhvar (the composer of kaNNi nun siruththaambu) was a

disciple of svami Nammazhvar. His composition occupies a very

important part of everyday, and festival rituals in all the temples.

In Thirumala during daily Nithyanusandhanam, and adyayana uthsavam,

this is chanted daily in the end. This practice was established by

Sri Alawandar, Peria Thirumalai Nambi, and Swami Ramanuja. Swami

Ananthazhvan confirmed this by being born on the same day as

Madhurakavi that is CHITHIRAIL CHITHIRAI (to show Acharya Bhakthi,

like Madhurakavi). Even today in Azhvar Thirunagari kaNNinun

siruththaambu is chanted as Thaniyan in front of Bhavishyadacharya

sannidhi. For Thiruvoimozhi this also is chanted as part of Thaniyan.

In Thirunarayanapuram (Gnana Mandapam), in front of Selvappillai this

is chanted prior to Sevakalam.

 

Now let us see why this is held in such high esteem as “Namaha”. Ohm

denotes “Akaram,Ukaram,and Makaram. Akara’s meaning is given in

Thiruppalandu,and Periazhvar Thirumozhi. Ukara’s meaning is given in

Thiruppavai, Nachiyar Thirumozhi, and Perumal Thirumozhi. Makaram is

explained in Thiruchchandaviruththam, Thirumalai,Thiruppalliezhchchi

and Amalan Adhipiran. Namaha is glorified by Kanninun

Chiruththambhu.. Narayana’s greatness is provided in Peria

Thirumozhi. Thus in Divya Prabhandam we see how Namaha is set.

 

Sri Madhura Kavi realized that all the Divya Desam Perumals reside in

the Thirumaeni of Swami Nammazhvar, and thus He has surrendered onto

Him. In all the Divya Desams Sri Nammazhvar is residing as

SriSatari, and to get to wear SriSatari on His Head Madhura Kavi

travels to all the Divya Desams. For Him Azhvar is the nectar.

Perumal is secondary.

 

Sri Nathamuni got back the lost DivyaPrabhandam back from Nammazhvar

by chanting Kanninun Chiruththambhu 12000 times. When one prays to

the Lord directly what he wants may or may not happen. But if one

goes through the Acharya, whatever one desires happens. This is

proven by the very fact that we got Divya Prabhandam back only by

chanting Madhurakavi’s work.

 

>From May11th to June 6th we will have Stotra Ratna a great work of

Swami Alawandar, regarding the location and time schedule please

visit www.vedics.net. Here is a brief introduction below:

 

The simplest means by which we can attain to Him, in the present (Kali

Yuga) is by singing His glory (bajans, slokas of our Purvacharyars and

DivyaPrabhandams). Vedic rituals are for a few, but it is every

individual’s right to sing hymns in praise of the Lord. In reply to a

specific question from Yudhistira seeking out The name of Supreme

Deity Bhishma stated “one who sings with utter devotion about God

Vishnu the Lord of the whole universe, will be rid of ills, evils and

miseries and will attain a state of perfect bliss.

 

Our Purvacharyas with their intellect and intense religious devotion

should obviously be our unerring guide. IT WOULD CERTAINLY BE MOST

PLEASING TO GOD IF THEIR FOOTSTEPS ARE FOLLOWED AND SANG THE VERY

SONGS SUNG BY THEM, the soul stirring hymns of unparalleled sweetness

and excellence. The extraordinary greatness of the Sanskrit sloka is

brought out in the name given to it “ STOTRA RATNA “, a priceless

gem, like Purana Ratna, and Mantra Ratna.

 

First and foremost, the Stotra Ratna is very dear to us, if not for

any reason, for this reason – It was give to us by none other than

our dearest Swami AlavandAr (Yamunacharya), without whom Ramanuja

would not have been discovered and taught the great concepts of our

religion. Yamunacharya is also the grandson of Swami Nathamuni,

without whom we will not even have the AzhvAr aruLichayals now.

 

In SriVaishnava literature this occupies a unique position of

eminence, because it throws light on the “Rahasyas”, portraying the

true knowledge of one’s goal, in relation to one’s own self and the

manner of attaining it. It is a very valuable fountain-source of the

fund of knowledge, relating to Ubaya Vedantas, and expounding the

intricacies of SriVaishnavism, available to us now. The later

compositions of our Jagad Guru Swami Ramanuja, Parasara Bhattar, and

Vedanta Desika bear the stamp of Yamuna’s scintillating work. In fact

it was the recital of Stotra Ratna by Mahapurnar that cast the spell

on Swami Ramanuja, who wanted to find out who wrote such a beautiful

and clear stotra. From there on, Ramanuja became the disciple of

Yamunacharya.

 

In the gadya trayam of Ramanuja, the exact words used to describe the

qualities of our Lord are directly found in the Stotra Ratna. The

Stotra Ratna is even more special as it introduces the beautiful

concepts explained by our AzhvArs in the 4000 divya prabhandham to a

Sanskrit audience. The ideas contained in Stotra Ratna come not only

from the Vedic literature, but also directly from the AzhvAr works.

In fact, there are two slokas that are almost direct translations of

two pAsurams from the thiruvAymozhi.

 

In the first five Slokas Yamunacharya pours out His heart to the three

great ones Sri Nathamuni, Sage Parasara bhattar, and saint Nammalvar.

In the sixth sloka He starts singing about Sriman Narayana, and 7-9 He

states that not even the mighty Devas could comprehend the Lord.

Slokas 10-20 is highlighted with the infinite glory of Sriman

Narayana, the sovereign Master, who is the abode for all that is

auspicious.

Sloka 21 prepares the ground for surrender path.

Sloka 22-27 emphasizes absolute surrender to His Grace as the only course left to us.

Sloka 28-29 they reveal the benefits reaped by Lord’s spontaneous Grace.

Sloka 30-31 here He longs for the sight of the Divine Feet, and wants

to bear the Divine Feet on His head.

Sloka32-45 Here He longs for Lord Vishnu’s beautiful vision in His celestial settings.

Sloka46 He earns for constant service.

Sloka 47-48 alternate despair and Hope

Sloka 49-51 Mutual relationship between God and man

Sloka 52-53 says that we can’t offer Him anything since everything is His property.

Sloka54-56 Stress upon constant and ecstatic devotion to Lord Sriman Narayana.

Sloka 57 utter dedication

Sloka 58-60 on our countless imperfections and the need to invoke His Grace

Sloka61 About author’s birth in a noble family and still didn’t develop good qualities

Sloka62 man’s severe disqualifications and our ineligibility for the Lord’s Grace

Sloka63-64 Proclaims Lord’s unlimited Grace and magnitude

Sloka 65 Beseeching The Lord to shed His Grace on himself, though He

does not deserve at least for His grandfather Nathamuni’s sake.

 

Excepts from Sathyamoorthy Iyengar’s book.

 

Swami Nammazvar and Sri Parasara Bhattar's Thirunakshthrams falls on

June 1st and 2nd when Sri.V.K Swami may speak on their contributions

to Sri Vaishnavism.

To sign up for this great oppurtunity please visit:

http://ramanuja.cc.uic.edu/cgi-bin/vksvami.pl

For the whole series it is $108.00, and at the end you will also recive 2 CDs.

iramanuja adiyargal

Azhvar Emperumanaar Jeeyar Thiruvadigale Saranam.

 

 

Photos:

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