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Date: Sat Sep 08 2001 - 14:27:44 PDT
Foreword :-
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We from VEDICS Iraamaanusa Noorandhaadhi Team would first like to
seek the blessings of all bhaagvathaas before proceeding in this
small kaimkaryam of translating Iraamaanusa Nootrandhaadhi in English
according to the upanyaasam rendered by U.Ve. Velukkudi Krishnan
Swamy. We also request all bhaagavathhas, mahaanubhaavaas and other
learned scholars to pardon us if we have scribbled something that may
be incorrect. If we have done so, it is purely because of our
ignorance, and lack of sampradaic knowledge. We further submit the
forthcoming postings of Iraamaanusa Nootrandhaadhi to the lotus feet
of Bhoomi, Neela, Lakshmi Devi sametha, Sriya: pathi Sriman
Naraayanan and our beloved Emperumaanar and all Aazhwaars and
Poorvaachaaryaas to accept this kainkaryam for themselves and guide
us through the entire journey of this kainkaryam. We will not add,
delete or modify any of the lines or anubhavams that U.Ve. Velukkudi
Krishnam Swamy has given in his upanyaasam. We also seeks the
anughrahams of U.Ve. Velukkudi Krishnan Swamy in fullfilling this
kainkaryam without any hindrance.
"RAAMAANUJASYA CHARANAU SHARAM PRAPADYE, SRIMATHE RAAMAANUJAAYA NAMA:"
THIRUVARANGATHAMUDANAAR'S IRAAMNUSA NOOTRANDHAADHI - THE PRAPANNA
GAAYATHRI
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Avathaarikai :-
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Our beloved Lord, Bhoomi Neelaa Sri sametha Sriya: Pathi Sriman
Narayanan, out of his extraordinary kaarunyam and love for us, has
given us this birth as a jeevaathma with its full knowledge and
brilliance, according to our karma in our previous births. We the
jeevaathmaas are born on this earth as a result of our paapams or
punyams we did in our previous births. We are born as a maanusha
janma in the first place, because of the punyams we did in the
previous births.
Even in this janmaa, we are born as a Srivaishnavaa because of the
bhakthi and love that we would have shown to Emperumaan in our
previous births. We need to understand that we are born as a
Srivaishanavaa, in order to perform bhagavan nama sankeerthanam, and
earnest service to bhaagavthaas; we also have to perform service to
other living beings on this earth and show the same love and
affection towards all living beings, the same way as our beloved Lord
showers his love and affection on us.
Our emperumaan wants us to eradicate all our karma by doing
saranagathi to His lotus feet and attain His feet at paramapadam, so
that we never return to this ocean of samsaara. We the jeevathmaas
waste our time in materialistic pursuits instead, without realizing
this fact. Perumaal on the other hand, showers his mercy even through
the jeevathma's state of ignorance and yearns for the jeevathma to
attain paramapadham.
Even if we utter His name once, with sincere devotion, He becomes
delighted and runs to our side at once. This states that His
affection for us is multifold than the affection we have for Him.
But we forget to realize ourselves, and our true state, along with
the extreme kaarunyam that emperumaan has towards us. We continue to
experience and enjoy various temporary pleasures, without realizing
that they are only for the body and not for the aathmaa.
The aathmaa is unaffected by impurities. The aathmaa has enormous
brilliance and knowledge about its true state. But because of
emperumaan's maayai, all the brilliance and knowledge about aathmaa,
is hidden to our mind. This barrier can be easily crossed by chanting
bhagavan naamaa; doing earnest services to bhaagavthaas and
emperumaan who will also help us in understanding our true self. Once
we understand our Aathmaa then, we will never go behind earthly
pleasures. But we fail to do so; hence emperumaan started thinking of
a way to bring all of us (Jeevaathmaas) towards him. He gave all of
us the great gift of Four Vedas, Smruthis and Suthraas, Shaastraas
and Puraanaas. The jeevaathmaa however, fails to understand the
meaning of these scriptures and misinterprets them in unwanted ways.
Hence bhagavaan thinks that he failed in his attempt. As a next step,
he thinks that, unless he is born on this earth, he cannot achieve
his goal. So he takes his vibhavaavathaaram as said in the
following verse :-
"Meenodu Aamai kezhal ari, kuralaai, muunum iraamanaai, thaanaai,
pinnum iraamanaai dhaamodharanaai karkiyum aanaan "
Meenodu - (Mathsya), Aamai - (Koorma), Kezhal - (Varaaham), Ari -
(Narasimham), Kuralaai (Vaamanam), Munnum Iraamanaai (Parasu Raman),
Thaanaai (Rama), Pinnum Iramanaai (Bala Raman), Dhaamodharanaai
(Krishnan), Karkiyum Aanaan (Kalki)
Here "Thaanaai" denotes Lord Rama. Even though the Lord was born as a
normal manushyaa, He still manifested all the divine qualities of the
supreme being. Hence aazhwaar considers him as the supreme being
itself and uses the word "Thaanaai". U.Ve. Velukkudi Swamy in his
Upanyasam under the title "Aazhwaargalum Chakravarthi Thirumaganum"
explained this quote during his recent visit to the United States.
Thus the lord came down to the earth as ten different manifestations
to save us from this ocean of samsaaram, but he still felt that he
couldn't attain his objective.
Bhagavaan says in bhagavadh gita "Hey Arjunaa! Even after trying
innumerable methods to save the jeevaathmaas, they fail to realize
that I came all the way to the earth from the heavenly abode to save
them and I am the Supreme Being. They see me as that specific
avataaram but not the actual Supreme Being who came down to earth as
these vibhava avataarams. If I am born as krishnaa they neglect me by
saying, "after all this is krishnaa who is born one amongst the
people in gokulam"; if I show my power and brilliance from my
heavenly abode, they say that I am unreachable. Hence I am neither
able to show my supreme form nor the easiest form as a
vibhavaavatharam. Since I showed only these two forms, I failed in
this attempt. I'm still thinking of a method to save these
jeevaathmaas."
Hence bhagavaan thinks that he cannot save these jeevaathmaas if he
manifests himself as paramaathaa, because both are unequal in their
qualities and characteristics. One cannot use the lion to catch the
elephant, because the lion will eat the elephant. Hence the
jeevaathmaa can be corrected only by another jeevaathmaa. So
bhagavaan sends aazhwaars to this earth to save the jeevaathmaas.
First comes the avataaram of perumaal's divya amsams as mudal
aazhwaars: Poigai, Bootham, Peyaazhwaar and then pugazh mazhisai
iyyan, arul maaran, seralar kon, thuyya bhatta nadhan, anbargaal
thooli, narpaanan, and narkaliyan who gave us the essence of vedas.
They did their duty in translating the vedaas as the Naalaayira Divya
Prabandham in Tamil. But they never educated the jeevaathmaas by
their guidance and upadesams except through their prabandhams.
Instead they were immersed in their extreme love towards emperumaan
themselves. They experienced emperumaan within themselves by singing
his praise; they cried for liberation from this world, but none of
them made an attempt to guide a normal jeevathmaa to make the
jeevaathma realize emperumaan. Aazhwaar saw the state of the
jeevathmaas and decided that they cannot guide these jeevaathmaas and
instead, sought liberation from this world. They cried with love to
emperumaan to take them away from this earth and they sang the sacred
4000 and attained the lord's feet at paramapadam. So we had only the
Prabandhams that they sung. This made bhagavaan think that he failed
in this attempt also. Hence bhagavaan wanted someone to guide the
jeevaathmaas throughout their life in understanding the inner
meanings and intentions of vedaas, shaastraas, puraanaas and
prabandhams. This will make them realize the Supreme Being.
Hence bhagavaan thought of sending aachaaryaas who are like
aazhwaars, since they were geared towards guiding the jeevaathmaa
rather than experiencing the Supreme Being themselves, like the
aazhwaars.
Hence emperumaan sent Sriman Naathamunigal to the earth first;
Naathamunigal was born in Kaatu Mannaargudi. He obtained all the
prabandhaams of aazhwaars from Swamy Nammaazhwaar, and along with
this, Nammazhwar gave us the gift of our life to Sri Nathamunigal.
Swamy Nammaazhwaar gave a Bhavisyadaachaaryar Vigraham of Bhagavadh
Ramanuja to Sri Nathamunigal which can be still seen in the
Thirukurugoor opposite to the Nammaazhwaar Sannidhi. So Nammaazhwaar
already told nathamunigal that Bhagavad Ramanuja will be born in kali
yuga to save the jeevaathmaas. Bhagavad Ramanuja will be the
lokaachaarya who will correct all jeevaathmaas and destroy the kali.
The vigraham mentioned above was created by Sri Madurakavi Aazhwaar
at the banks of the river Thaamraparani. When he actually wanted a
vigraham of Nammaazhwaar, he got the vigraham of emperumaanaar
instead. When asked, Nammazhwar replied that the vigraham appeared
out of his own grace and anugraham and he also gave a Nammaazhwaar
vigraham to Sri Madurakavi Aazhwaar. This vigraham has been
maintained, and worshipped by the aachaaryaas in our lineage in
Thirukkurugoor and is still being worshipped today.
Swamy Vedantha Desikan in Yathiraja Sapthathi says
"Amunaa tapanaathishaayi bhoomnaa
yathiraajena nibadhdha naayakasri:
mahathi guru pankthi haara yashti:
vibhudhaanaam hridyamgamaa vibhaathi:"
In the garland of our Guru Parampara, one side is decorated with the
rathnaams which starts from emperumaan lakshmi nathan and other
mudalaachaaryaas like Nathamuni, Sadagopan, Senai Nathan and on
the other side we have the rathnams like nanjeeyar, nampillai etc.
Out of all these rathnams our emperumaanaar is like a naayaka rathnam
who is in the middle of these rathnams. This is the condensed meaning
of the verse above.
Swaamy Raamaanujar had a disciple called Sri Koorathaazhwaan.
Koorathaazhwaan had a disciple named Thiruvarangathamudhanaar who
composed a work called "Iraamaanusa Nootrandhaadhi" on
Emperumanaar. This work was heard by our beloved emperumaanaar when
it was composed, and was accepted. One can do trikaala
sandhyaavandhanam, one can keep performing brahma yagnyam, one can
recite vedams but all this will only ensure that one is a true
Braahmanaa. But to capture the mind of our beloved lord and become a
Sri Vaishnavan, one has to recite the 108 verses of Iraamanusa
Nootrandhaadhi every day. This is also called "The Prapanna
Gaayathri". If not everyday, we must recite it at least once a week,
once a month, once a year or at least once in a lifetime. If one does
not recite this at least once in one's lifetime, emperumaan will not
give Sri Vaikuntam to the jeevathma as we will not get Raamaanuja
Sambandham. This ensures that we become emperumaan's adiyaar, as this
has Sri Emperumaanaar's sambandham in it.
It has the word "Iraamaanusa" in each verse that establishes our
relationship or sambandham with emperumaanaar. As we recite this
every time with love and affection towards emperumaanaar, it
establishes our sambhandam with emperumaan.
Thiruvarangathamudhanaar was born in "Moongirkudi". He was the main
kainkaryaparar in the Sri Rangam temple. He used to maintain the
temple keys with him and used to read the puraanam for perumaal. But
the temple organization was not satisfactory, as witnessed by
emperumaanaar. Hence emperumanaar wanted to change the responsibility
from Amudhanaar. Emperumaanar was waiting for the right time for this
to happen. On the same night, emperumaanaar had a swapnam(dream)
where emperumaan Sri Ranganatha came and told that "Amudanaar is
entirely dependent on me and does kainkaryam. Hence I leave this
issue to you". Emperumaan did not say anything else other than the
above sentence. Hence Raamaanuja assumed that emperumaan doesn't want
Amudanaar to be removed from the kainkaryam.
So emperumaanaar decided to leave Sri Rangam and go to Kancheepuram
along with Koorathaazhwaan. But koorathazhwaan thought for a while
and said "Emperumaan's wish might not be what devareer thinks. He
wanted devareer to correct amudanaar and make him devareer's
disciple." Hence emperumaanaar thought that what aazhwaan suggested
might be right. So Raamaanujar handed over the responsibility of
correcting Amudanaar to Aazhwaan. Slowly aazhwaan corrected Amudanaar
and brought him towards the kainkaryam of emperumaanaar. But still
Amudanaar had the temple responsibility. Emperumaanaar thought that
Amudanaar has to be involved in some other kainkaryam which
emperumaanaar had in mind. If he still continued to take the
responsibility of temple, he wouldn't be able to fulfill
emperumaanaar's wish. In the mean time, Thiruvarangathamudhanaar's
mother attained paramapadam. For the 11th day after her death,
Amudanaar wanted someone to come to his gruham and participate in the
event. On those days, if one goes for the 11th day to any house, they
cannot participate in any koil kainkaryam or any festivals for
another one year. To be precise they are not eligible to do anything
for one year. Hence no one was ready to accept this offer. Amudaanaar
approached emperumaanaar for a suitable person to come to his gruham.
Emperumaanaar thought of this as the right time and sent
Koorathazhwaan, reminding him of his plans to shift the temple
responsibility from Amudanaar and correcting him at the same time.
Accepting this as a command from his aachaaryan, azhwaan went to
Amudanaar's griham for the 11th day kainkaryam.
After having food at Amudanaar's house, Amudanaar asked whether
Aazhwaan was satisfied with the food and other upachaarams. But
Aazhwaan said that he was not satisfied. Amudannar asked aazhwaan as
to what would satisfy Aazhwaan. Aazhwaan then asked for the temple
keys from Amudanaar and that he should not recite puraanam for
perumaal. He obtained both these kainkaryams and handed it over to
emperumaanaar. Then emperumaanaar handed over the puraana patanam
kainkaryam to koorathaazhwaan and handed over the temple key
responsibility to mudaliyaandaan. Amudanaar was totally dejected and
was not his normal self, which was witnessed by emperumaanaar.
Emperumaanaar's intention was not to steal the kainkaryam from
Amudanaar but to correct as per namperumaal's wish.
One day when the Sapthaavaranam utsavam was being held where Pillai
Thiruvaraga Perumaal araiyar, of Azwaar thiruvaranga Perumaal's
lineage, was reciting prabandham in the arayar sevai. Emperumaanar
went towards him and asked him for bhikshai. Immediately surprised
by this, arayar asked what he can do. Emperumaanar requested that the
first 3000 should be recited by people of araiyar tradition as
araiyar sevai, and the rest 1000 (Iyarpaa) along with Iraamaanusa
Nootrandhaadhi will be recited by the kainkaryaparars from the
Amudanaar's lineage. Even now, because of the lack of people in
Amudanaar's tradition, the Iyarpaa is recited by normal adhyaapaka
ghoshti and the rest 3000 by Araiyars. As requested, the araiyar
accepted this offer and emperumaanaar handed over this kainkaryam to
Amudanaar immediately.
Thinking of this mahopakaaram that emperumaanaar has done for him,
Amudanaar became extremly happy and wanted to compose a prabandham on
emprumaanaar. He composed a prabandham on emperumaanar which says
that emperumaanar is the supreme being, emperumaanaar is
ranganaathar, emperumaanar himself is devaathi rajan.
After composing this, amudanaar showed it to emperumaanaar, but
seeing the way the prabandham was composed; emperumaanaar rejected
the prabandham saying that he doesn't want a prabandham composed in
this manner. Dejected by this, amudanaar thought of composing a
prabandham on emperumaanaar somehow. He took a oath to compose a
prabandham in andhaadhi style, having the name "iraamaanusa" in each
verse. The first half will have the name of a mahaanubhaavar who was
worshipped by emperumaanar, and the second half will contain verses
that says the mahaanubhaavar's thiruvadi is emperumaanaar, so that
emperumaanar can accept this prabandham. Amudanaar chose a place near
the adaiyavalanthaan veedhi, which is a coconut farm where he sat and
wrote the nooranthathi. At the time of completion even without
Amudanaar's knowledge, emperumaanar along with empaar, aazhwaan and
mudaliyaandaan appeared and saw amudanaar composing this prabandham.
At that time amudanaar had composed 105 verses and was about to start
the famous saatru paasuram "Iruppidam, Inbutra, and Angayal paai"
verses. Seeing this emperumaanaar felt that somehow amudanaar had
established his wish of composing a prabandham on emperumaanar, which
was also up to Emperumaanar's expectations.
Hence amudanaar with the kataaksham of emperumaanaar composed the
last three paasurams. To mark this occasion, unlike the traditional
way where only last 2 paasurams will be recited during satrumurai,
here the last three passurams were considered to be
saatruppaasurangal with emperumaanaars anugraham.
One day, namperumaal decided that this prabandham should be
propogated and asked emperumaanaar in his swapnam not to attend
ghoshti on the sapthaavaranam day. The next day Iraamaanusa
Nootrandhaadhi was recited in the absence of emperumaanaar with
namperumaal's command. Even the naadhaswaram was stopped. From that
day onward, on the Sapthaavaranam festival, only the Iraamaanusa
Nootrandhaadhi will be recited as per namperumaal's command by normal
adhyaabhaaga ghoshti rather than araiyar sevai.
Thus amudanaar's prabhandam was very happily accepted by namperumaal
since it was compsed on emperumaanaar. Even though initially
amudanaar was the disciple of koorathaazhwaan, gradually by the
brilliance and kaarunyam of emperumaanaar, he became his disciple and
offered this great "Prapanna Gaayathri" at the lotus feet of his
Aachaaryan; this work was accepted and blessed so that it is
propogated for the entire people of later generations and be the best
amongst all prabandhams.
This journey of Iraamaanusa Nootrandhaadhi will continue and let us
take an oath that we will do a japam of this "Prapanna Gaayathri"
everyday, if not once in a month, or once in a year
or at least once in a each one of our lifetimes by reciting it with
love and affection towards our beloved emperumaanaar and obtain
raamaanuja sambandham.
"RAAMAANUJASYA CHARANAU SHARAM PRAPADYE, SRIMATHE RAAMAANUJAAYA NAMA:"
(Thodarum.. Will Continue..)
VEDICS
Iraamaanusa Nootrandhaadhi Team
Bhaagyaa Murali Thirumalai, Narayanan K. Veeraraghavan & Mukundan
Pattangi
http://www.radioramanuja.com/talks/velukkudi/rnoot/
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- SrImate rAmAnujAya namaH -
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