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Vol IV - Thaniyan 2, PART 2 - Iraamaanusa Nootrandhaadhi Upanyaasam Translation

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narayankv • September 21, 2001 


Iraamaanusa Nootrandhaadhi - Volume IV


Volume Title :- "The qualities of a True Devotee" 

(Contd.. from previous posting)


Thaniyan
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Iraamaanusa Nootrandhaadhi Thaniyan - 2 (Contd..)



Sri Krishna Paramaathmaa Says :-

"Hey Arjunaa ..!! one cannot leave the materialiatic pursuits 
the moment one thinks that it should not be desired. One has 
to practice doing it. It might take time, but if we practice
to bring our mind to our stride one can achieve this. Hence
"Abhyaasenathu Kowntheya: vairaagyena cha vrudhathe" .
Practice sacrificing the materialistic puruits and one day you 
will succeed. To practice this, you need enough vairaagyam such 
that everytime your mind tends towards the materialistic 
pursuits, your vairaagyam should say, "Oh mind.. dont go towards 
materialistic pursuits". If this vairaagyam continues, finally 
you will achieve a state when your mind will start moving towards
realizing your self and then the supreme being. Once your mind 
starts realizing the self and the supreme being, it will never 
go back to materialistic pursuits."

Now considering the line  :

"Sayantharu Keerthi Iraamaanusamuni Taalinai mel.."

It says that "Those feet which gives us the victory in our life, 
i.e it gives us victory in succeeding in our efforts to overcome 
the materialistic pursuits", that is mentioned in

"Nayantharu Perinbamellaam pazhudhendru nanninarpaal.."

Meaning :- "For those who has left all the materialitic pursuits 
that are done through the Karmaendriyaas"

On such a lotus feet

"Uyanrandha Gunathu Thiruvarangathamudongum anbaal.."

Meaning :- "The greatest of all daasans who is 
Thiruvarangathamudanaar, out of his immesnse love and bhakthi",  
on emperumaanaar lotus feet mentioned above


"Iyambum Kalithurai andhaadhi odha isai nenjame.."

Meaning :- "has composed 100 paasurams on Kalithurai Andhaadhi 
style. Hence oh my mind..!! always desire to recite those verses."

Hence here "Embaar" submits and surrenders his mind by worshipping 
or requesting his mind itself to surrender in reciting these verses 
of "Iraamaanusa Nootrandhaadhi".

Poigai aazhwaar says in his paasuram

"NaaNaamai Nallen Nayam.."

Meaning :- I feel shy within myself to go behind or tend towards 
materialistic pursuits and hence i won't go behind them. Aazhwaar 
says that one should feel shy to go behind or tend towards 
materialistic pursuits.

Periyavaachaan Pillai has given vyaakyaanam for the above Paasuram 
in which he says :-

"A man will never will like or love a man who has come in a woman's 
dress thinking that he is a woman. Even though he looks like a 
woman due to the woman's dress he wears, he is not actually a
woman. But when a man likes such a man in a woman's dress, and when 
he comes to know about the reality, he will feel so dejected and shy 
due to his act. Hence aazhwaar in the above says that he has a 
similar feeling in having desire over the materialistic pursuits."

Similarly when we realize the supreme being and when we compare this 
joy with the materialistic pursuits, our mind will feel so ashamed 
like what aazhwaar says above, saying that when we have things that 
gives us immense pleasure and eternal bliss why should our mind tend 
towards such temporary and materialistic pursuits ? This feeling will 
automatically come in one's mind, if the mind starts realizing the 
supreme being and then the mind will start feeling shame for what it 
has been doing so far without realizing the true happiness or joy.

We are neglecting so many people as untouchables and they are not 
eligible to do bhakthi etc.  But instead of doing such things, if we 
consider the materialistic pursuits to be the untouchables, then
we will start realizing the supreme being and will attain immense 
pleasure with the supreme being anubhavam. Our body or Shareeram 
is actually an untouchable. To whom ? To our aathmaa. Our aathmaa 
will not touch the Shareeram (body). It considers that the Shareeram 
(body) as an untouchable. Shareeram (body) is always temporary in 
nature as it undergoes various changes in size, shape, appearance 
etc. But aathmaa is "Nithyam" (Permanent). It doesn't undergo any 
changes, it always enjoys eternal happiness.  It has all the 
knowedge about itself and the supreme being but due to our 
ahankaaram and mamakaaram and other materialistic qualities prevent 
us from understanding our aathmaa and its true nature. This is 
what we call "Agnaanam" i.e lack of knowledge about the supreme 
being.


Pillai lokaachaaryaar says :-

"Thannai kandaal paambai kandaarpole.."

Meaning :- one should run away from the shareeram and go towards 
understanding the aathmaa as one runs from seeing the snake. Hence 
such realization is what one should have with the shareeram (body).

So, one should compare between the happiness we get due to bhagavdh 
vishayam and materialistic happiness by doing constant practicing 
and then at one stage our mind will automatically go towards bhagavdh 
vishayam. We have to make this attempt because we always want 
happiness 
and "Permanent Happiness" and not temporary happiness. Hence 
oh..mind ..!! make an attempt to realize the eternal happiness.


Manvaala Maamuni says :-

"Kaamaadhi Dosha Haramaathma padaasrithaanaam,
Raamaanujam Yatipathim pranamaami moordhnaa.."


"Kamaadhi Dosha Haramaathma.."

Meaning :- One who defeats and destroys all the dosham done through 
karmendriyaas like kaamaam, krodham  etc.

"Padaasrithaanaam.."

Meaning :- For those who surrender at the lotus feet. Hence


"Raamaanujam Yatipathim pranamaami moordhnaa.."

I Surrender at the lotus feet of the the great "Yatiraaja 
Raamaanujan".

In Raamaayana, Maareechan tells Raavanaa when he took the name of 
Raamaa that "Please dont say any word that begins with "Ra" as it 
gives enormous fear for me". This was because Raavanaa mentioned the 
name "Raamaa" by which he got frightened.

Similarly the "Raamaanujaa" also starts with the letter "Ra". Hence 
our poorvaachaaryaas in their vyaakyaanam say that as the letter 
"Ra" in "Raamaa" defeats and destroys all asuraas, similarly
the letter "Ra" in "Raamaanujaa" defeats and destroys all those 
asuraas that are considered to be the barriers for an individual 
soul to attain the bhagavdh thiruvadi, like  Kaamaa, Krodhaa etc.


Similarly Swamy Vedaantha Desikar in yathiraaja spathathi 45th Verse, 
Says :-

"Vahathi mahilaamadhyo vedhaathrayee mukharai: mukhai:
varatanuthaya vaamo bhaaga: shivasya vivarthathe
tadapi paramam tatvam gopijanasya vamshamvadam
madanakadanai: na klishyante yatheeshwara samshrayaa:"

"Vahathi mahilaamadhyo vedhaasthrayee mukharai: mukhai:"

Meaning :- Naanmukhan Brahmaaa owns Devi Saraswathi with his four 
           heads


"Varatanuthaya vaamo bhaaga: shivasya vivarthathe.."

Meaning :- Lord Shiva gave half of his body to Paarvathi to stay 
           along with him


"Tadapi paramam tatvam gopijanasya vamshamvadam.."

Meaning :- The one who is considered as Para Tatvam too is dancing in 
           front of the gopikais who are more in number.

Hence Brahma atleast gave his face for saraswathi out of his love on 
her,Shiva even gave half of his body to paarvathi but if we consider 
the great supreme being Lord Krishna gave himself to the Gopikaas in 
Brindhaavanam. So all these gods have somehow affected by kaamaa or 
love and bondage to their respective devis but :-

Note :-
*******

In the above explanation the word "kaamaa" should not be 
misinterpreted for the "kaama" that we the jeevaathmaa experience in 
this world. It just refers to the bondage of these three gods to 
their respective devis.


"Madanakadanai: na klishyante yatheeshwara samshrayaa:"

Meaning :- Those who surrender at the lotus feet of emperumaanaar who 
is yatheeswara will not get affected by any of the bondages and even 
if we are, it will get removed automatically and we will remain 
unaffected by all the materialistic qualities.

Hence Empaar says, oh mind..!! Surrender to the lotus feet of the 
greatest soul, Ramanuja. Swamy Embaar includes his mind itself in his 
ghoshti because it listens to what he says. Hence I surrender at the 
lotus feet of Emperumaanaar and recite the "Iraamaanusa 
Nootrandhaadhi".

So to conquer our mind we should include our mind in our ghoshti 
itself. We should treat it as ours and should make it listen to us. 
We have to do this at the cost of even falling at the mind's feet. 
Here we should note that the Mind is an Achetanam (Insentient) and 
Aaathmaa is Chetanam (Sentient). Embaar treats his mind as another 
person and included the Mind in his ghoshti to recite the verses of 
Iraamaanusa Nootrandhaadhi. Hence by this itself we can understand 
that the "I" and the "Mind" are different. "I" refers to Aaathmaa 
(Sentient) and the "Mind" is Achetanam (Insentient). Anything that 
refers to aathmaa is always Chetanam (Sentient) and anything that 
refers to something that belongs to Aathmaa ,(i.e the Mind) is 
Achetanam.

Now our poorvaachaaryaas, when they gave the vyakyaanam, have enjoyed 
the above thaniyan by changing the above thaniyan's meaning  slightly 
using the word "Nanninar paal.." as follows :-

"Nayantharu Perinbamelaam Pazhudenru nanni nam paal.."

or

"Nayantharu Perinbamelaam Pazhudenru nanni nan paal.."

Note the word "Nanni nam paal" and "Nanni nan paal.." between the 
original verse and the above. In the original thaniyan it 
says "Nanninar paal" which means those bhaagvathaas like "Empbaar, 
Koorathaazhwaan, Thiruvarnagthamudhanar etc.". That is, this 
Iraamaanusa Nootrandhaadhi was recited for those who have defeated 
the materialistic pursuits within themselves, those who are none 
other than "Empbaar, Koorathaazhwaan, Thiruvarnagthamudhanar and 
other disciples of emperumaanaar.". This is interpreted in the first 
illustration of the thaniyan. In the second ilustration, "Nanni Nam 
Paal " or "Nanni Nan Paal" in which Embaar refers that these verses 
of Iraamaanusa Nootrandhaadhi have been sung for the purpose of 
us "Nam Paal" or himself "Nan paal". So swamy says that these 
verses were specifically composed for us and himself to surrender at 
the lotus feet of emperumaanaar, to destroy all the materialistic 
qualities within ourselves.

With this posting, along with Volume II & III posting completes the 
Lecture 2 and Lecture 3 of the Iraamaanusa Nootrandhaadhi.


RAAMMANUJASYA CHARANAU SHARANAM PRAPADYE, SRIMATHE RAAMAANUJAAYA NAMA:


(Thodarum - To be continued)

The Vedics Iraamaanusa Nootrandhaadhi Team
http://www.radioramanuja.com


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