Acharya vaibhavam - 25- Narayana.... who is He? Is He four handed One? or The One pervading the whole Universe? Immanent in everything? Indweller?

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya nama:

 

Dearest all,

 

Let us enjoy the name Narayana… again

To recapitulate:

 

" Nara " means Vishnu (Narayanan) because He is

imperishable. " Naara " means the entire universe

composed of Chit & Achit entities which originated

from " Nara " as " Nara " is the cause of the entire

universe having the subtle chit & achit as his body

before creation and creates them by giving expanded

form and having the expanded chit and achit as his

body. " Naaraanaam Ayanam " means " Naaraayana is the

base/support for all chit and achit tatvas " . This

shows the " Bhahir Vyaapthi " - the manner in which

Naaraayana pervades the universe. " Yesya Naaraaha

Ayanam " means " Naaraayana is present inside all chit

and achit entities as the ultimate controller

(anthar-yaamin, soul) and owner (Seshi-Lord) of

everything. This shows the " Anthar Vyaapthi " - the

manner in which Naaraayana is present inside

everything. The " NAakaara " in the end of the term

" NaaraayaNA " without doubt says that the term

" Naaraayana " is a particular noun denoting the Lord of

Goddess Lakshmi who is Vishnu. This is confirmed by

the grammatical rule of the Vedas (Vyaakaranam - one

among the six accessories of the Veda) and by

Paanini's grammatical treatise. Thus the Veda

identifies the supreme self (Brahman) as Shreeman

Naaraayana [from Sri MS Hari Swami’s wonderful write

up]

 

What and who is Narayana?

Does He have a form?

 

As explained above, Narayana refers to the divya Atma

svaroopam which pervades everywhere & He is the

Brahman (source of creation , the maintainer & in

whom it dissolves ).

 

Narayana is always personal because of His

infinite kalyAna gunAs . Just because He is all

pervading , it doesn’t mean that He is impersonal .

The same infinite nArAyaNA takes many forms for

the pleasure of His devotees & the body of such

forms are made up of the special aprAkruta material

called " suddha sattvam " & such incarnations are out

of His own will (ie.Not because of karmA). The

infinite qualities of nArAyaNA are not because of His

form . It is based on His svaroopam & His

dharmabhooda jn~Anam both of which are infinite . For

example , a human being speaks , laughs , shows

compassion to others , makes friends etc because of

the jIvAtmA & not that the material body by itself

is doing all these things . Similarly, nArAyaNA is

present inside the divine body (divya mangaLa

vigraham) & thereby gives opportunities to His

devotees to serve Him. Thus " nArAyaNA " is different

from nArAyaNA’s form .

 

But , nArAyaNA eternally gives the sevai (darSan) with

divya mangaLa vigrahA at Sri VaikuNTham . But

muktAtmAs & nityasUrIs can also enjoy the divyAtma

svaroopam of nArAyaNA which is million times more

blissful than His divya mangaLa vigrahA .

 

Unfortunately , baddha jIvAtms can’t have the

sAkshAtkAram of Him (ie. DivyAtma svaroopam). It is

debarred for them by the sankalpam of nArAyaNA .

Wherever " nArAyaNA " is mentioned it refers to His

divyAtma svaroopam & not to His form , of which

the four handed form which He takes is the most

famous . A baddha jIvAtmA can atbest know about

nArAyaNA (divyAtma svaroopam ) & discuss about His

kalyAna gunAs & in that way meditate on His divyAtma

svaroopam , but cannot have its

sAkshAtkAram.

 

He is ever merciful & thus takes beautiful forms for

our sake. So , His " divya mangaLa vigrahA " is the

sole refuge for His devotees.

 

A yogi does the sAkshAtkAram of His divya mangaLa

vigrahA at his heart if he chooses that upAsanA . If

some other yogi chooses to perform some other Brahma

VidyA (upAsanA) , he can have the sAkshAtkAram of the

divya mangaLa vigrahA of nArAyaNA say in the orb of

the sun. But , the greatest &

most merciful avatAram is the archAvatAram , in

which even the rogues , thieves , non - devotee ,

devotee , rich , beggar , athiest, animals & all

sorts of living entities can see with

their material eyes the archA thirumeni ( divya

mangaLa vigrahA ) of Sriman nArAyaNA . This display

of immense Soulabhyam & Sowseelyam by Sriman

nArAyaNA although being the Param poruL (Supreme

Being) is the main reason for His ardent devotees

like AzhwArs to dive into

various devotional moods filled with mystic

experience in communion with the supreme Lord & in

that bliss comes forth their most nectarine Divya

Prabandhams , which is so potent

to change even a stone hearted athiest into a

bhAgavathA filled with all bodily horripulations

during his bhagavad anubhavam . [from Sri Anand

Karalapakkam swami's article]

 

Our most merciful Acharya purushas have lost

themselves in the divine Beauty of these ArchA

avathArams and have even mentioned that they would

love to be at these Divya Desams rather than going to

even Paramapadham…

 

The Supreme Goal is to serve Sriya: Pathi Sriman

Narayana at all times, in any condition, wherever the

Divine Couple is. It does not matter whether it is in

Sri Vaikuntham or not. As Swami Sri Vedanta Desika'

says in Sri Varadaraja Panchasat: vaikuNTha-vAse'pi na

me'bhilAsa: I have no desire to even stay in

Vaikuntha. The goal is then nitya-kainkaryam alone. It

just so happens that while embodied, there are

continuous obstacles to performing divine service.

Since there are no such obstacles in Parama-Padam, the

state of liberation, we ask for moksha. But this is

only to sub-serve the true goal of nitya-kainkaryam.

 

More on these forms - tomorrow.

 

asmadhAcharya paryanthAm vandhE GuruparamparAm

Regards

Namo Narayana

dasan