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Nara-NaarayaNa svarupam at BadrikAsramam

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sadagopan • July 11, 1998 


Recently , Sriman Ram Gopalaswamy had asked a question
about AshtAksharam , Dvyam and the avathaaram of
the Lord as Nara-NaarAyaNan at BadrikAsramam .

Sriman Mani Varadarajan has answered the first two 
questions . I will attempt to answer the third one .

It just so happens that ANDAL in her NacchiyAr Thirumozhi 
Paasuram 2.1 gives us the clue : 

" Naamam aayiram yEttha NinRa NaarAyaNAnaranE ---"

in the first quater of the paasuram . 

ANDAL , who should know the mysteries of Her Lord's
avathAra rahasyam identifies Him appropriately 
under the collective name of " NaarAyaNAnaranE "
in one breath. She does not split His naamam 
into NaarAyaNE and NaranE . 

{ I want to digress to slaute the aasthika couple ,
Sriman and Srimathi KrishNamAchAri engaged in 
commenting upon Sri VishNu Sahsara naamams 
( naamam aayiram yEtthi nirkum Bhakthar Sri
KrishNamAchAri ) and his dharma pathnI , 
Srimathi KrishNamAchAri, who has been joyously
engaged in enjoying the Sri Sookthis of our 
ANDAL . I must confess that her translations are
better than my original writing . She is going 
to write about this particular Paasuram next . 
Thanks to both of them for their valued Kaimkaryams } . 

Now coming back to the Salutation ," NaarAyanAnaranE " ,
we have to transport ourselves on this Aani SravaNam 
day morning to the sacred ground of BadrinAth , 10,350 feet 
high on the  banks of the sacred AlakanandhA river .

We offer our worship there to the Veda Purushan , GarudAzhwAr 
first at " SimhadwArA " before entering the main
temple to offer our prostrations before the mUrhtys there .

Badri Vruksham is the Ilandai tree , which is
dear to MahA Lakshmi . Legend has it that the Lord 
did tapas ( penance ) under that sacred tree , when 
he incarnated as Sri BadrinArayanan to educate /iniitate
the people suffering from the terrors of SamsAram 
through Sri AshTaakshara manthra UpadEsam to them .
That Ilandai tree is not visible according to legend 
in Kali yugam .

Sriman NaarAyaNA incarnated as a Tapasvi with JatA , with conch 
and chakrA in His upper hands and Yoga MudrAs in His lower hands 
and sits in padmAsanam . On His right side are KubEran , Garudan 
and on His left are Sage Naradhar , NaarayaNar and narar et al .

It was the Lord's intent to demonstrate that Tapas 
is needed to secure the blessings of Athma Jn~Anam 
and to demonstrate to His avathAra Purushaas ,
Nara and NaarAyaNaa , how to conduct the life of 
a Tapasvi in a Aasramam observing Guru-Sishya Paramparai
( Gurukula Vaasam ) to secure the fruits of the pursuit of
Brahma VidhyA . DEvAs , Rishis and Common people (SamsAris )
were also the object of this demonstration .

NarA and NaarAyaNA incarnated as asampUrNa avatArams
in Satya YugA to Dharma DevA and Murthy Devi , the daughter
of Daksha PrajApathi . These two children performed Tapas 
in NaimisAraNyam first and then in the hills known as
GandhamAdhanam and finally arrived at BadrikAsramam for
initiation by Sriman NaarAyaNA Himself. In the DwApara Yugam ,
they continued the Guru-sishya paramparai thru the PurNAvatharam
of Lord KrishNA and His sishyan, ArjunA .

Thus ," the NaarAyaNA naranE " vaakhyams of ANDAL
refer to the previuous avathArams of the Lord and 
the AshtAkshara manthram that has reached us thru
AchArya Mukham .

It is interesting to observe that in this temple 
of Sriman NaarAyaNA that moved Thirumangai so much
at the very beginning of his Periya Thirumozhi ,
there is a sannidhi for Sri Lakshmi Narasimhan at 
the back of the main shrine and there are additional 
sannidhhis for Sri VedAntha Desikan and Bhagavadh
RaamAnujA . The AchArya paramparai is well saluted 
there in the context of the Guru-Sishya relationship . 

Daasan , SadagOpan