nambi keTTavarillavO raMgaiyana -Devaranama by Sri Vyasarajaru

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Hare Srinivasa ! Sri Vyasaraja guruvantargata Sri Bharathiramana Mukyapranantargata Sri gopalakrishnaya namaha | naMbi keTTavarillavO raMgaiyana Sri Vyasarajaru who is none other than the avatara of Prahlada is giving assurance to everyone who has taken to the path of faith and to those who are wavering ,he uses logic and evidence to make a decesion to have trust in

Lord Ranganatha. But always there will be some who are not destined to be convinced because of thier innate essence and they are sure to fall. The Vedas themselves declare that any knowledge about God, His attributes, or leelas cannot be known through the perception of any sense organs nor through logic but only through the words of those who have expereinced His compassion, those who have been fortunate enough to be graced by His vision. nEndriyANi nAnumAnam vEdehyevainam vEdayaMti tasmAt

AhurvEdAH || One can believe what another has seen or expereinced but it is impossible to understand or acquire knowledge about something by just logic Especially if that something is not accessable to any of the sense organs which give inputs of knowledge. Even knowledge about ordinary things cannot be obtained by logic. Here knowledge of the object implies that which one gets by using the correct sense organ to sense it. ie eyes to see, ears to listen, tongue to taste etc. To understand consider a crude example: Everything that we know is percieved through one of the indriyas. For example taste of coffee. Using words it is impossible to express this unique taste to someone who has not tasted it. If you show him coffee, can that person get a taste of it? He cannot get the taste unless he uses his tongue. Because the smell alone is not coffee taste, the colour alone is not coffee taste. One would ask him to taste it to know it. Until he tastes it he has to accept the information given by someone trustworthy who has tasted it. Similarly we have to accept the words of the saints who have seen the Lord and the stream of words which comes from their

expereince is the Vedas. But to those who need lack the belief Vyasarajaru gives something more........... To understand the true import of the Vedas which are very abstract Vedavyasaru gave the Puranas using which one should discern the truth contained in the Vedas. Sri Vyasarajaru uses logic as well as evidences from the Puranas to substanstiate his claim. He gives examples of the devotees who had faith in the Lord's omnipotence,omnipresensce, omniscience and other innumerable attributes and states that they all faired very well.

Those bhaktas were blessed with the Lord's benevolence wherein He came personally or showed His vibhuthi at the instant when they called out to Him in utmost faith and surrender. SriVyasarajaru is himself one such bhakta in his previous avatar as Prahlada. Being an aparOXa jNAni he is definitely qualified to tell the ignorant masses like us about the Lord's infinite attributes and also assure us to have faith in the Lord. naMbi keTTavarillavO raMgaiyana naMbade keTTare keDali Vyasarajaru proclaims that one who trusts in Rangaiyya, will not be deluded, if there are some who don't beleive in the presence and abilities of the Lord, then let them get deluded. In the Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna tells Arjuna that one who has faith will obtain jNana and from there one will move upwards to mukthi. "shraddavAn labate jNAnam matparaH samyatEMdriyaH jNAnam labdvA

parAm shAMtimachirENAdhigacchati ||4.39 "He who is endowed with faith in the Lord and accepts and expresses devotion to the Lord as the Supremem being, has controlled his senses attains the direct vision of the Lord and soon obtains the prime objective -moksha." He also continues to say that those who don't have such faith are ignorant and ill-informed and cannot gain conviction in truth and such a one there is neither pleasure in this world nor joy in other worlds.Such a one forgoes all happiness. In one devaranama Sripadarajaru says

, dayamADi salahaiyya hayavada ninna charaNa naMbideno jIyA "Please protect me O lord Hayavadana as I have placed my trust and faith in Your lotus feet." Sri Purandara dasaru says , " smaraNe oMde sAlade gOviMdana nAma oMde sAlade pari pari vidhavella braMtiyeMdu

tilidu paramapurusha hariya nerenambidavarige" aMbujanAbhana akhila lOkEshana kaMbukaMdara kRuShNa karuNAsAgarana Who is this rangaiyya that SriVyasarajaru is referring to? He himself answers . He says , "Rangaiyya is the one who has the Lotus in His navel, He is the Lord of the entire universe, He has a beautiful neck with three folds like that of a conch shell, He has the most attractive form -Krishna and He is an ocean of mercy." One by one Vyasarajaru is substantiating his initial proclamation that one who has faith will only benefit and never lose. Beleive in Rangaiyya. Why? 1. Because He is ambujanAba. ambuja is the Lotus from which Brahma was born and He was instrumental in creating the universe. Vyasarajaru says, "The one who created you as well as the world around you , he was created by Rangaiyya .... so why cannot you have faith in Him?" 2. Because He is akhila lOkesha. akhila encompassing everything sentient and insentient, tangible and intangible, physical as well as subtle.He is the master of all and everthing, every occurence, every thought , every idea.....etc He says so Himself in the BG chapter 10.39, "There is no being mobile or immobile that can stay on its own without my support." Vyasarajaru says to the wavering devotee ,"You exist and the world around you exists because of Him, so why can't you place your trust in Him . He has propelled you this far, he will surely take you further along......" 3. Because He is kaMbukaMdara Krishna - One whose conch shaped neck moves down into the chest like a narrow valley between the two broad shoulders. It expresses the beautiful form of the Lord in His avatara as Krishna . The neck is also described to show that He is the originator of all the knowledge which exists in the Vedas and the primordial sound of 'OM' emantes from Him. His form and attributes are not different from Him and He attracts everyone who trusts Him. Vyasarajaru says to the layman ," If only you place your trust in Him, He will do the rest, He will attract you because it is His nature to attract the soul who trusts Him. He will carry you towards Him by bestowing the correct knowledge as He is the originator of all knowledge." 4. Because He is karuNAsAgarA - When one mentions the word ocean, we get the impression of vast, huge, inexhaustable.... If one has a doubt if all His compassion will be exhausted before one is eligible for it, Vyasarajaru is setting that doubt to rest by saying ... He is an ocean of compassion. His compassion is as infinite as Himself. Ghrini namaka paramatma is the central figure in the chakrAbja maNDala which is approved adhishtana for worhsip in the earth and the meaning of Ghrini is one who is extremely compassionate. As with all paramatma's guNas this is also infinite in nature . Even though logic cannot be used to understand the Lord, Vyasarajaru gives the attributes of the Lord and gives a convincing logic about the Lord using the knowledge contained in the Vedas . Vyasarajaru moves on to give the proofs next. tarala prahlAda

sAkshi-sarasiyOlidda karirAjanobba sAkshi maraNakAladi ajAmila maganannu kareye garuDanEri baMda garuvarahita He states examples of devotees who have expereinced the Lord benevolence. He says ,"The innocent little boy Prahalada is a witness to my statement. The elephant king who was rescued by the Lord while he was attacked by the crocodile in the pond is my witness. The wayward devotee Ajamila who

temporarily stepped from the path of dharma but returned to the track was forgiven and shown the onward journey by the Lord through the Vishnudootas. Vyasarajaru is saying that the Lord does not see the stature of the devotee (garuvarahita- devoid of pride). He came to the aid of a young boy, he came to the aid of cursed king who was born in the lowly birth as an elephant. He came to the aid of the fallen brahmin ajAmila who repented at the end of his life. Even at the time when the yamadootas came Ajamila did not call to the Lord, but just the name of his son -Narayana. But the Lord's extreme compassion on Ajamila because of his previous sadhana caused him to associate the word Narayana not with his son, but with the Lord who is the abode of infinite auspicious attributes. As a result his faith

returned and he was granted a lease of life during which he completed his sadhana and reached the abode of the Lord. Vyasarajaru is highlighting that the Lord is devoid of pride. He does not think it below His dignity to go to the aid of someone who called his son's name but instead looked at that jiva's sadhana over a long period and decided that He deserved compassion to be uplifted. Vyasarajaru says ," Hearken to my words .... trust in rangaiyya trust in rangaiyya" dOreyUrU EribaMda putranannu kOralhiDidhoraDisalu

araNyadolagavanidda staLadalli baradiMdODi baMda bhaktavatsalanna Vyasarajaru gives his next witness as Dhruva. The case of Dhruva is very exemplary as he was but a child of 5 yrs old and he was innocent and guileless about the sway of power within the family. When Suruchi told him to go and be reborn as her son if he wanted to sit on his father'slap, Dhruva was completely taken aback and hurt by the injustice. He was advised by his mother Suneethi to seek the redress from the Lord who is the only resort of the destitute. He had complete faith in his mother's words and went to the

forest. On the way none other than Narada came along to give him upadesha after testing his will to seek the Lord's grace. After austere penance ,the Lord graced Dhruva with His presence. Let's look at this example. It is different from the others simply because this boy was unaware of God's might during that birth. He was a great soul , no doubt and must have done a lot of sadhana before, but at that point he was feeling helpless and was being propelled by the simple desire to sit on his father's lap. He took faith in his mother's words and proceeded to the forest. But his trust in the Lord enabled him to secure a great guru and then led him to enlightenment. taruNi

droupadi sIreya dushshAsana sarasara seleyutire karuNi tannoDtiyoDane ADuvuda biTTu tvarado akshayavitta sirikRuShNarAyana Next Vyasarajaru sites the case of Draupadi who called out to the Lord . This is also singular in the sense that Draupadi is the incarnation of Bharathi devi who could easily change the situation at will. But she plays the part directed by the Lord in order to bestow faith on the

devotees and to delude the ineligible. All her relatives were present there and it was not lack of physical might that they could not go to her aid. When no one who was physically present helped her, she entreated the Lord who was with Rukmini Devi. But the Lord wastes no time, He immediately graces Draupadi with akshayavastra which she needed at that time. He gives what is needed by the devotee and is called as KrishnarAya by Vyasarajaru. Just a king meets the needs of the subjects, so also the Lord meets the needs of His devotees. But the king's realm of power is limited, he can only grant that much which is in his kingdom/power , but the Lord can grant anything . His power is limitless and His sway is at all places and times. With so many reassurances from SriVyasarajaru for the upliftment of

sincere souls, it is definitely proved that if one has faith in the Lord and His abilities then one will be led towards upliftment, beyond doubt. Sri krishNArpaNamastu I am not the doer, Lord Hari is the doer Whatever He makes me do is His worship by His grace R.Parimala

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