Thirumaalai-9

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Sri Parthasarathi thunai,

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

 

 

“ Mattrondrum Venda Maname Madhilarangar

Kattrinum meitha kazhalinai keezh- uttra

Thirumaalai paadum seer Thondaradipodi Emperumaanai

Eppozhudum peesu”

 

“ Srimat Krishna samahvaya Namo yaamuna soonave

yetkadakshai kalakshyanam sulabha: Sridara: sadaa”

 

Pranams,

In the last posting we enjoyed the beautiful

meanings which are present in the first paasuram of

Thirumaalai with the help of our great PVP’s words.

Sri PVP after that continues to explain the greatness

of Bhagavan nAma and why it is regarded so great by

the azhwar. The main advantage of the Bhagavan nAma

is that there is no restrictions to say it. You can

say it any time, at any place and under any

conditions, says the sastras. “Na Desha kAla neyamaha

sowcha asowcha vinirmayaha” says smriti. Once Sri

Parasara Bhattar was telling the magimai of Bhagavan

nAma to his shisyas. Then the shisyas asked Bhattar

if it was not even necessary to bath to say the nAma

of Bhagavan. For which Bhattar replied, “Is it

necessary to bath in a small pond before going to bath

in the gangus? Like gangus which purifies all our

body dirt and also the dirt in our minds and washes

away our sins even the nAma of

bhagavan(pundareekaksha) has the same power. It will

purify all your dirt so no conditions or AchAram is

necessary to do bhagavan nAma keertanam”. “pavithram

apavithrova……..yessmarate pundareekaksham…..” is the

sastra vakyam. But if we donot believe this and doubt

the power of the nAma then bhagavan is sure to test us

and give the palan but even then the palan will be

given finally. We have to have full confidence that

the bhagavan nAma is capable of giving us all the

lowkika and paraloka happiness.

 

Then she PVP says what the bhagavan nAma can give the

different adhikAris. “Eth thirunAmam than

prayojanandarapararkku prayojanatthai kodukkum,

upAyandhara nishtarkku pAvanamAi errukkum,

Prappannarkku deha yAtrA sEshamAi eruukum”.

For those who chant the bhagavan nAma to get some

worldly pleasures the nAma gives them the same. For

instance, at the end of the Vishnu SahasranAmam we see

a lot of palasruthi. “RogArtho muchyathe rogarth

bathyon muchyeta bhandanath bayan muchyetha bheedhasto

muchyetappanna Apathaha” etc. Whoever wants to get

rid of their diseases and those who want to get rid of

some binding and those who are afraid of something and

want to gain their courage can recite the SahasranAmam

of bhagavan, which will give them all those they

wanted. Actually one need not say the whole

sahasranAmam even one rAma nAma is equivalent to that,

advices shiva to pArvathi. In Vishnu dharmam there is

a whole chapter which gives the palan of the various

nAma of the bhagavan. When we say “ AchutA nanda

Govinda nAmochArana…..” we get rid of the various

problems in our body. On uttering and meditating on

Santana Gopalan one get bestowed with a child. If you

want to get married say kalyana rAma and it will be

done and thus the list goes on.

 

Our elders chant the bhagavan nAma while doing

anything. They keep on chanting bhagavan nAma day in

and day out. Even while eating bhagavataas eat only

alone with saying Govinda nAma. “kapale kapale chaiva

kuryath Govinda keertanam” says the sastras. For

each handful of food you take say Govinda and then

eat.

 

Till now we talked about the jobs of a lowkikan and

that all those benefits can be got by just chanting

the bhagavan nAma. Then comes bhagavat karyams like

punya theertha snanam and other dharmams which are

done to gain more punyam. What all palans these

punyams grant us are given by the bhagavan nAma

itself. Sri Vishnu Dharmam says “ Sa Ganga sa gaya

seethu sa kasi sa cha pushkaram jigvakhre varthathe

yasya Harir ith akshara dvayam” “Rig vedo sa yajur

vedam sAma veda sa Atharvanam……..Harir ith aksharath

dvayam” So what ever palan is obtained from going to

ganga, gaya, kasi, pushkaram etc can be obtained by

just uttering the 2 letters Hari. Similarly whatever

a person learns from the vedas is inscribed in the

Hari nAmam that is why any person starting to chant

any of the vedas starts with the Hari nAmam. Even if

a person does 100 yAgAs he is sure to come back to

this world after exhausting all his punyams but if he

says the bhagavan nAma he attains the world from which

he need not return for ever.

 

Then PVP says for those who consider other upayams

like karma yoga, gnana yoga etc to be the upayams to

attain moksha the bhagavan nAma removes the defects in

their yoga and helps them to attain moksha. In case

of a karma yogi AchAram is the utmost essential thing

but nowadays nothing is pure. The upaveetham(poonal)

is not properly made with the necessary mantra

chanting and the person wearing it doesn’t maintain

its auspiciousness by doing thrikala sandhya and

other necessary rituals. The Ajyam(ghee) is not pure

and it is purchased from shop. Then the pavithram is

not pure, not cut in the right place and at the right

time as specified in the sastras. The most important

thing the water is not pure and it comes in pipes used

by many. On top of all these people do not have

purity in mind to do karmas as Ishwararpanam. So what

our rishis adviced us is to complete any karma by

doing krishna smaranam. This is not only for the

vaidheka karmas one can do karma yogam even by

submitting what ever he does unto the feet of the

bhagavan. So whatever we do we have to do as

krishnArpanam. Again for a person who wants to do

meditation this is kali so he will not be able to

concentrate so if one keeps chanting the bhagavan

nAmas it purifies his mind and makes him to

concentrate. Even patanjali in his yoga sutra says

“Ishwara pranidhanatma”. Catch the hands of the

bhagavan and proceed in your yoga. Patanjali there

refers to pranavam one another bhagavan nAmam. Even

for learning vedanta bhagavan nAma is necessary. Thus

PVP explains that even for persons who are trying to

attain moksham by using any other upayam specified in

bhagavat geetha bhagavan nAma helps in one way or the

other and its chanting is utmost necessary.

 

The next is about the prappanas who do not depend on

any other upayam other than bhagavat krupai. Do they

need bhagavan nAma too. For them PVP says the nAma

chanting will be used for kalashepam(that is to spent

time). After doing prappati the prappanan does not

attain moksha immediately so till the time he stays in

this world what will he do? He has to do pancha kala

pArAyanam. If he is incapable of the aradhayams then

he has to stay with those who are capable to do those

to the bhagavan(like his acharyas). If not atleast

stay in a Divya Desam since there will be some

bhagavat vishayam always going on in a divya desam, in

which he can participate but in kali even the divya

desams are not pure and staying with an acharya is not

possible due to many problems so only thing a person

can be satisfied which he is capable is to chant the

bhagavan nAmam at all times. That is what Sri PVP says

that for a prappanan the bhagavan nAma will be used

for kalashepam. Earlier it looked like alwar was

telling the bhagavan nAma to be the upayam and now he

says saranagathi as upayam and nAma as just a pass

time for a prappanan it seems to be contradictory.

But the actual thing is alwars words are never

contradictory. What he wants to stay is prapatti is

the only upayam no doubt but when one person keeps on

reciting the bhagavan nAma his mind is purified. As

bhagavan in geetha says “Na me bhaktha pranashyati”

the person who chants bhagavan nAma becomes a bhaktha

of bhagavan and as days pass he realises that all

happens only by the krupai of the bhagavan and he

surrenders to him accepting that even the nAma which

comes in his mouth is due to his krupai and hence does

prappati which leads him to moksham.

 

The rest we will continue in the next posting.

 

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasyai

Sumithra Varadarajan.

 

 

 

 

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