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Thirumaalai-9

From the Bhakti List Archives

Varadarajan Sourirajan • May 28, 2002 


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 PVPÂ’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 AtharvanamÂ…Â…..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 doesnÂ’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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