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Naanmugan Thiruvandhaadhi-7 "I SHALL NEVER EVER STOP UTTERING HIS DIVINE NAMES

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sadagopan • November 20, 1998 


Passage from Sri MadhavakkaNNan's posting 
******************************************
The 69th paasuram of Naanmugan ThiruvandhAthi tanslated by
Sri MadhavakkaNNan is another beautiful paasuram 
that is thought provoking .

Hence , I will share my thoughts on the insightful
anubhavam of a great AchAryA . Come to think of it ,
as the AzhwAr states in introspection , the power of 
the Lord's names, guNAs and soundharyam are nothing but 
the very essence of the Sanskritic VedAs and Upanishads .
Our Azhwar casts these Sanskrit Vedic thoughts in Tamil Vedas .
The 69th paasuram and its meaning is as follows
(excerpts from Sri MadhavakkaNNan 's posting):  

>69. "sevikku inbham aavadhuvum sengaNmaal naamam/
>puvikkum puviyadhuvE kaNdeer*- kavikkum/
>niRaiporuLaay ninRaanai nErpattEn* paarkkil/
>maRai poruLum atthanaiyE thaan."
>
>It is not just to avoid the punishment from yama, one needs to utter the 
>Divine names of Sriman Narayanan. The Divine names of Red Lotus eyed 
>Lord are also so pleasing to the ears; Not only for me, for the whole 
>earth, His name can offer shadow to the scorching heat of samsaara 
>saagaram. With no reason, He has blessed me mercifully to sing in praise 
>of Him, who Himself is the epitome of all Great admirable and adorable 
>GuNAs and Beauty, which can never be described to the full extent in 
>words. Coming to think of further,    
        ***************************
>this is nothing but the very essence of Vedas too. 
 **************************************************
I will attempt to elaborate on the above
underlined section of the AzhwAr's anubhavam .

The central points of this pasuram are :

1)The recitation of the auspicious names of the Lord
is not only for warding off the punishmnet of DharmarAjA ,
but also such a recitation is delectable and removes
the sufferings from Taapa thrayam experienced by the Jeevans .

2) It is His abundant and nirhEthuka krupA that
has energized me to sing about Him and His anantha
kalyANa guNAs that create , sustain and support the
Universe and its beings. These guNAs are limitless . 

3) Such eulogy of Him constitute the heart(essence)
of the VedAs . 

Let us recall a few echoing thoughts from the VedAs 
and upanishads as PramANams for the AzhwAr's anubhavam :

1. His all encompassing Nature : sarvE asmin dEvA 
   yEkavruthO bhavanthi --Atharva Vedam :XIII.4.21)
   (Meaning ): All the nature's creations and bounties 
   emerge out of Him and reach layam in Him .He is 
   the Sarva Seshi . 

2. His sustenance of His creations as avyAja KaruNA mUrthy ,
   His Rakshakathvam :  

   sam bAhubhyAm dhamathi sam pathathrai:
   dhyAvA BhumI janayan dEva yEka: --Rg Vedam X.81.3

   (Meaning ): Out of His magnanimity , He alone is
   sustaining (nourishing ) the uiverse and its beings 
   fanning (to banish the taapa thrayams)and inspiring 
   (blessing them to aspire towards Him thru sadAchArya 
   sambhandham ) as if by His two gigantic wings spanning
   the entire cosmos ( the analogy is to the Mother bird 
   watching over the newly-hatched chicks comforting them 
   from the pangs of suffering and encouraging them to take
   the first few steps ).

3. Yajur Vedam : XL. 8 

   Gist of this mahA manthram : Our Lord , radiant 
   without the body of the prAkruthic kind (suddha sattvam )
   that we are used to , is forever pure and circumscribes us 
   from all the sides of us. As the exalted poet with 
   penetrating wisdom and embodied intelligence extends 
   in all directions and time measures .He is SvayambhU
   (self-manifest); out of His avyAja dayA , He creates 
   knowledge and wealth (arthAn) for the benefit
   of the eternal Jeevans (saasvatheebhya samaabhya:). 

4. Overcoming the punishment of DahramarAjA through 
   the sole intervention of Our merciful Lord:

   Yajur Vedam VIII.13 (devakruthasyai--) and 
   Yajur Vedam I.5 (agnE vrathapAsthE ---)
   Yajur Vedam VII.20 ( upayAmagruhIthoagrayaNOsi
   svAgrayaNa:I Paahi Yaj~nam , paahi Yaj~na pathim ) 

   The meanings of these Veda manthrams are:
   
   Our Lord is the atonement for the sins committed 
   by the Devaas as enlightened jeevans ; He is indeed
   the atonement for the sins accumulated by ordinary
   men (manushya krutham ) ; and also , He is the one
   and only atonement for the sins committed by our 
   elders in society (pithru krutham ) .He is the 
   atonement for sins committed consciously or 
   unknowingly , for the sins that are small or huge.
   These sins will not be banished until He comes
   to our rescue . We with His blessings have to 
   fight against ignorance , viparItha Jn~Anam ,
   evils and weaknesses . He will come to our rescue 
   as the strong rescuer .He is indeed our Vrathapathi
   (the sustainer in our determined efforts energized 
    by MahA VisvAsam in Him ) .

    Our Lord for this reason is our ULTIMATE SHELTER
    (REFUGE) AND THE FINAL RESORT (upayAmagr*uhIthOsi)
    and IS our FINAL ATONEMENT (avyAjanaamaasi).

Our Lord adored by Thirumazhisai AzhwAr and his fellow
AzhwArs is the synonym for lustre (Tejas) , vigour (Veeryam ), 
energy and strength (Ojas and Bhalam )and other KalyANa 
guNAs hailed by AchArya RaamAnuja in his SaraNAgathi
Gadhyam . He is the conquering might as He showed on 
the battle field of KurukshEhtrA ; He is the anger 
on the battle field of LankhA , where He destroyed
adharmam as Veera Raghavan . He is the universal deluge as 
He devours all as a VisvarUpi at the time of PraLayam . 
That is the reasoning behind the moving prayer 
housed in the following Yajur Vedic manthram ( XIX. 9) :

thEjOsi thEjO mayi dEhi (Oh Lord , You are lustre : give me lustre)

veeryamasi veeryam mayi dEhi ( You are vigour: give me vigour)

Bhalamasi Bhaalm mayi dEhi ( Thou art strength : give me strength)

OjOasyOjO mayi dEhi( Thou art energy: give me energy)

manyurasi manyum mayi dEhi( You are anger: give me anger)

sahOsi sahO mayi dEhi( Thou art the conquering might ;
give me might ) . 

All these blessings are sought from the treasure house 
of the anantha kalyANa gunAs , Our Lord , the SarvAdharan
to do prapatthi to Him with its five angAs .That is the right
intention , the only emancipating intention of humans 
as His blessed creation . Our Lord revealed the four VedAs
with that intention to address the welfare of the mankind .
That is His supreme gift to us.Our AzhwArs out of their 
own limitless compassion as the Lord's messengers composed
paasurams in the vernacular for one and all to acces the 
grand thoughts housed in the Veda manthrams .Our AchAryAs 
intrepret it and serves as the links in the eternal
chain (aachArya paramparai ) reaching back to the divya-
dampathis . 

I will conclude this posting with a magnificient 
Yajur Veda manthram (XXXIV.5) , which is powerfully
integrative and vast in its scope of uniting the Lord ,
the Veda manthrams revealed by Him and the activities of
His beloved creations :

yasmin nrucha: Saama YajUgumshi yasmin prathishtithA
raTanAbhAvivArA : I
Yasmimschithagum sarvamOtham prajAnAm tanmE mana: 
siva sankalpam asthu II

(Meaning ) : Wherein the Rks of Rg Vedam , Saamans
of Saama Vedam and Yajur vedic passages  like spokes
within a chariot's nave are included, and wherein 
ALL the thoughts of creatures are interwoven , 
May that my mind , be moved by right intention 
(that is redeeming and fulfilling ).

Veda PurushAya nama: 
AzhwAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam 
Oppilliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan