Greatness of BhagavannAma Sankirtana - 1

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Dear Haribhaktas,

 

You all are aware that the Vedas and Puranas extol Sri

Vishnu as the supreme God. Sri Madhvacharya has shown

to us that all names, in fact all sounds, refer to God

in the highest sense. Each name among the 1000 names

of Vishnu Sahasranama conveys a special meaning, a

unique quality of the God. Contemplating on God's

names enables one to gain knowledge about God's

greatness. This knowledge is a very vital ingredient

in what we call as Bhakti. The english term 'devotion'

which is commonly used in place of 'Bhakti', really

falls short in conveying the meaning of Bhakti in its

fuller sense. Sri Jayatirtha defines Bhakti as

" strong, ever flowing, deep love towards God, with due

understanding about his greatness, uneffected even in

the presence of several obstacles " . Surely, such

Bhakti is the stepping-stone for the obtaining God's

grace. I am proposing to start a series of postings on

the " Greatness of BhagavannAma Sankirtana "

which highlights the benefits of contemplating God's

names with Bhakti with a view to using illustrations

from BhAgavata. I pray to the Almighty, Sri Laxmi

Narayana and Sri Vayu, to bless us with Jnana, Bhakti

and Vairagya.

 

Shri Gurubhyo namaH

HariH OM

Shri VedavyAsAya namaH

Shri AnandatirthabhagavatpAda gurubhyo namaH

Sri Jayatirtha tikArAya gurubhyo namaH

Sri Raghavendra tirtha gurubhyo namaH

Guruparampara asmad gurorgurvantargata

ramakrishna vedavyasatmaka laxmIhayagrIvaya namaH

 

nArAyaNaM guNaiH sarvairudIrNaM doShavarjitaM

gyneyam gamyaM gurUnschApi natvA sUtrArtha uchyate

– sutra bhAshya

 

THE GREATNESS OF BHAGAVANNAMA SANKIRTANA

-------

 

Introduction

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

 

Devotees worship God in many ways and obtain his

grace. Some perform severe penance to please him; some

perform various vedic sacrifices while some please him

by chanting his name with Bhakti. In this kaliyuga,

where one's life span is very short it is very hard if

not impossible to please God through the above

mentioned sadhanas viz., penance & sacrifices. For the

benefit of souls in this kaliyuga that are eligible

for liberation, a simple way has been prescribed by

shastras, which is remembering God's names with Bhakti

(Bhagavannama SmaraNa) contemplating on their meanings

according to ones eligibility. According to shAstra,

liberation is possible through the divine knowledge of

Brahman. BhagavAn Veda Vyasa has written the

Brahma SutrAs to fix the meaning of the Vedas. The

Vedas give the knowledge about Brahman. This knowledge

blossoms with bhakti (mahAtma gyaNa purvastu sudruDaHa

sarvatodhikaH...antarAyasahsrenApi

apratibaddho nirantara prema pravAhaH bhaktiH -

Jayatirtha). This bhakti is achieved through Brahma

Jignyasa which constitutes shravaNa(studying shAstra),

manana(contemplating on shAstra artha which is

Brahman) and nidhidhyasana(meditating upon Brahman).

When God's names are chanted with Bhakti, it results

in more Bhakti, which gives oneself capacity to

understand the nature of Brahman according to ones own

eligibility. Then through his grace, after

bimbAparoxa(vision of God within), the soul will be

permanently liberated. The root cause for this

liberation is BhagavannAma Sankirtana.

 

Next: What is the greatness of BhagavannAma

sankirtana?

 

References:

Srimad Bhagavatam Mulam (sixth skandha) with Sri

Madhva's BhAgavata tAtparya nirnaya

Vijayadhvajeeya PadaratnAvali tiika

BhAgavata tatva prakAshika (AndhrAnuvAda) by Sri

Pundit PagidAla AnandatirthAcharya

 

 

(to be cont'd...)

 

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Rachuri Raghavendra Rao

rrachuri

http://www.geocities.com/rrachuri/

H:91-40-454 7636

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