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Iramanusa Nootrandhadhi - Vol VII, Velukkudi Swamy Lecture(English Translation)

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narayankv • November 16, 2001 


Volume VII :- Concluding part Thaniyan 3


Volume Title :- ananya prayOjana Bhakthi


In the last posting we concluded  telling the greatness of reciting
Emperumaanaar's thirunaamam with "ananya prayOjanam" i.e without
any fruits or expectations. Now, in this concluding part, we will
complete the rest of the vyaakyaanam of Swamy Pillai Lokam
Jeeyar on this thaniyan.


"aru samayam vellum parama.. "

One who defeated the six mathams as said in "Iraamaanusa 
Nootrandhaadhi" by Amudanaar as :-

"koorum samayangal aarum kulaiya.."

One who defeated the other six mathams through his reasoning 
power. "Parama" here refers to one  who is great. The six mathams 
referred to here are Sankara, BhAskara, Yadhawa, Bhatta, Prabhakara, 
Paasupatha. Emperumaanaar defeated all these mathams through his 
arguments against them by quoting excerpts from Vedams and Vyaasa 
Maharshi's brahma soothrams. Hence Emperumaanaar is also praised 
as :-

"Aru samya chedi adhanai aruthu vaithaan."

What is the relation between the first prayer that Amudanaar made in
recting the thirunaamam of  Emperumaanaar and defeating the six 
mathams and how they are connected ? This is explained below:

We as jeevaathmaas without belief in our religion or Emperumaan or
having half-hearted faith in the existence of Emperumaan are like 
those philosophers of six mathams who argue that Emperumaan's 
existence  is nothing but maayai and that he doesn't have any 
kalyaana gunaas. Hence Emperumaanaar distroys this feeling within 
ourselves and gives the strong faith on the supreme being. Hence we 
should surrender at Emperumaanaar's feet.

Amudanaar also tells Emperumaanaar in a  challenging way 
here "Oh..Raamaanujaa! Devareer can destroy those six mathams but it 
is very difficult for Devareer to make adiyEn's tongue chant 
Devareer's thirunaamam. Hence adiyEn surrenders at Devareer's feet to 
make adiyEn chant Devareer's thirunaamam always in my mind and on my 
tongue."


What is so great about this thirunaamam of Emperumaanaar ?

We can compare the thirunaamams of Emperumaan and Emperumaanaar. Both
have 4 letters in tamizh - "Naaryaanaa" and "Raamaanusaa". But it is
very difficult to realize the greatness of  "Naaraayana" than
realizing "Raamaanusaa" This is because Emperumaanaar's apaara 
kaarunyam in making us attain Sri Vaikuntam thereby preventing our 
rebirth in this Bhoolokam is by removing the darkness in our mind by 
the realization of the supreme being. Hence this thirunaamam 
of "Raamaanusa" is far better than all the 1008 names of Emperumaan.

Periyaazhwaar says "Andrenakkavai pattini naale .." in his
thirumozhi meaning that if he does not recite Kannan's thirunaamam
even a single day, then he considers that day as the day of fasting.
But here if we do not recite Emperumaanaar's thirunaamam even a 
single day it equivalent to not being alive on that day for,  it is 
not even considered as a day in our life. Hence Amudanaar says "Oh. 
Iraamaanusa.!",  " Adiyen Seiyum Vinnappame.." meaning that it  
is  "adiyen's request..".

Now Amudanaar has made this humble request to Emperumaanaar. But what
happened as the result ? Here Pillai Lokam Jeeyar swamy beautifully 
says that we can only make a request but not command or ask for the 
fruits of our request. In this context, Swamy Pillai Lokam Jeeyar 
quotes from Thiruvaaimozhi..

In most of the pashurams of Nammaazhwar he sends birds as his
messenger to Emperumaan to go  and explain to Him about the
state of his Athmaa. In those contexts, Aazhwaar also asks the bird 
what it expects as a Sambhaavanai for its "mahopakaaram ?" To which 
in turn the bird replies "Swamy! I haven't yet conveyed your message 
to Emperumaan. Moreover I do not know what will be the outcome of my 
message. That being the case, how can I accept Devareer's 
sambhaavanai ??" Swamy Nammaazhwaar replies to this by saying...
"adiyEn has no right to expect a fruit for my message through you  to
Emperumaan. But can only make a request. It is entirely Emperumaan's
sankalpam to grant my request. Adiyen is a Daasan to Emperumaan and 
his bhakthaas. Hence please go and convey my state to Emperumaan."

Such paasurams in Thiruvaaimozhi essentially explain the nature of 
Jeevathmaa and what rights the Jeevaathmaa has with respect to 
Emperumaan. In the same way, Amudanaar says "Adiyen Seiyum 
Vinnappame.."  Swamy Manvaala MaAmunigal also ,in his "Aarthi 
Prabandham" says, :-

"Enne eathiraasa enakkaai nee seidhaal, unakkadhu thaazhvo urai
 Anna kudineer arindhu mulaioon kuzhavi thannudaiya noyai   
 thaviraalo.."

Which means "Adiyen is true embodiment of aparaadhams and 
apachaarams. Devareer is true embodiment of kaaruyam devoid of any 
aparaadhams. Hence Devareer can shower  blessings on this mahaa 
aparaadha chakravarthi and adiyen is in the pure state of receiving 
it . When the two of us have such a relationship between us why should
adiyen even ask you the reason for your not showering your blessings 
on me? Adiyen can only request your kataaksham. Devareer does not 
have any nirbandham to protect adiyen and give devareer's kataaksham 
towards adiyen.".

Swamy Vedaantha Desikan also prays thiruvenkatAmudaiyaaan in
Dayaa Sathakam as "Aham asmi aparaadha chakravarthi..
Karunethvam thu guneshu saarvabhoumee.." meaning "adiyen exists as 
the king in committing apachaarams. But oh my lord Srinivaasaa!, you 
exist as the pure embodiment or Saarvabhouman or Emperor of 
Kaarunyam."


*********************************************************************

Note :-

Respected Bhaagavathothamaas. Please forgive adiyen for any
misinterpretation of the above verse. This verse was not quoted
originally by U.Ve. Velukkudi Swamy. Its adiyen's own
scribbling as adiyen thought that it would add light to the
current scenario. Any apachaaram committed here is purely
adiyen's own fault and adiyen requests the learned acholars of
the list to forgive adiyen with all your kaarunyam.

*********************************************************************

In a similar way, here Amudanaar says that we can only request from 
our side to Emperumaanaar and keep expecting his kataaksham. Although 
we do not know when his kataaksham will be showered , we should keep 
chanting his thirunaamam always.

We often chant the Bhagavan naamam always even though we might not 
know the inner meaning of the thirunaamam. But still at one point of
time we will definitely get the fruits of reciting the thirunaamam.
Similarly even when we recite Emperumaanaar's thirunaamam without
knowing the meaning, just on our tongue alone, we will still get
the kataaksham of Emperumaanaar one day. This is just
like Draupadi praying to Kannan to protect her with just the belief
on the thirunaamam. In a similar way, anyone, anytime without any 
restrictions, can recite Emperumaanaar's thirunAmam, unlike 
Ashtaakshram which has restrictios that need to be followed.

The above vyaakyanam was given by Swamy Pillai Lokam Jeeyar
assuming that Amudanaar requests  Emperumaanaar for making him 
(Amudanaar) recite Emberumaanaar's thirunaamam which is being recited 
by those bhaagavthaas doing eternal service to his lotus feet. 

Now from our point of view the second type of vyaakyaanam can be
looked at in a different perspective from the first vyaakyaanam as 
below :

Now let us consider ourselves that Amudanaar is one among those
Bhaagavthaas who do eternal service to the lotus feet of
Emperumaanaar. Now we can pray Emperumaanaar that "Oh..
Raamaanusaa..!, Please bless adiyEn with the gift of reciting
Iraamaanusa Nootrandhaadhi giving the greatness of
devareer's thirunaamam as composed and recited by the great
bhaagavtha who does eternal service at Devareer's lotus feet
who is none other than ThiruvarangathAmudanaar."

Similarly let us consider the name "Raamaa". Sri Raaman is true
embodiment of all kalyaana gunaas. He is the avathaaram of beauty.
Similary Emperumaanaar is the true embodiment of beauty with this
tridhandam and his kaashaayam. Hence Emperumaanaar can be compared
to Sri Raama who is the embodiment of all kalyaana gunaas.

"Kaashaaya shobhi kamaneeya shikaa nivesham, dhanda trayojvala 
kharam.."

Emperumaanaars thirumeni is a shear beauty with his Shikai, Kaashaaya
Vasthram, and Tridhandam in his hands which is a bliss to witness for 
ever.

Such is the  beauty of Emperumaanaars thirumeni.  

Swamy Vedaantha Desikan says :-
     "Upaveethinamoordhva pundra vantham,
      trijagath punya phalam trdhanda hastham
      Sharanaagatha saathavaa hameede
     shikayaa shekarinam pathim yatheenaam"

meaning - Emperumaanaar has a thirumeni which has the Upaveetham 
(Poonool), Oordhvpundram (Thiruman Kaappu), Tridhanda Hastham (Hands 
that hold the Tridhandam), Shikai on his head who glorifies this
word as a Yatheeshwara.

*********************************************************************
Note :-

Respected Bhaagavathothamaas. Please forgive adiyen for any
misinterpretation of the above verse. This verse was not quoted
originally by U.Ve. Velukkudi Swamy. Its adiyen's own
scribbling as adiyen thought that it would add light to the
current scenario. Any apachaaram committed here is purely
adiyen's own fault and adiyen requests the learned acholars of
the list to forgive adiyen with all your kaarunyam on this lowest
of the lowest soul.

*********************************************************************

which also means the same as mentioned in the above quote. 

Hence when combined with the beauty of Sri Rama, Emperumaanaars 
thirumeni has all kalyaana gunams that are equal to Emperumaan's  
thirumeni. Hence if we recite this thirunaamam with or without 
knowing the meaning, its effect will protect all these jeevaathmaas 
first and it will do so at any cost. Hence let us all take an oath 
within us and invite our mind to recite Emperumaanaar's thirunaam in 
order to cross the ocean of samsaaraa and attain the lotus feet of 
Emperumaan at Sri Vaikuntam.


Hence to sum up, the message that is given to us here is:

We all are worse than even Asuraas. Asuraas atleast did all the bad 
deeds because they wanted  to get Shaapa Vimochanam directly from 
Emperumaan Himself. If they had not committed the bad deeds, 
Emperumaan would not have gone to kill them and then in turn they 
would not have received Shaapa vimochanam. This was what actually 
Raavana thought, when everyone tried to stop him (from doing heinous 
deeds) describing Bhagavaan's strength, although he did not say so 
openly. We are worse than even Raavanaa because we never feel that we 
do mistakes but we continue doing it. Hence we should consider 
ourselves as the lowliest souls and recite the thirunaamam of 
Emperumaanaar constantly.  That way our "Shaapam", which is the 
accumulation of paavam and punyam, gets nullified in this birth 
itself and we never go through the cycle of re-birth again but do 
eternal kainkaryam to Emperumaan and thAyAr at their lotus feet in 
Sri Vaikuntam.

This concludes Thaniyan 3. Let us continue with the last thaniyan
in the next post.


RAAMMANUJASYA CHARANAU SHARANAM PRAPADYE, SRIMATHE RAAMAANUJAAYA NAMA:


Emperumaanaar, Bhaagavatha, Bhagvath Thiruvadigale sharanam,

The VEDICS Iraamaanusa Nootrandhaadhi Team




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