Iraamaanusa Nootrandhaadhi - Volume III Volume Title :- "The qualities of a True Devotee" (Contd.. from previous posting) Thaniyan --------- Iraamaanusa Nootrandhaadhi Thaniyan - 2 2."Nayantharu perinbamellaam pazhudhanri nannninarpaal Sayantharu keerthi iraamaanusamuni thaalinaimel Uyarndha gunathu thiruvarangathamudhongum anbaal iyambum Kalithurai andhaadhi odha isai nenjame" The above second thaniyan was given to us by Embaar. Meaning :- Oh !! my mind..!!, always sing the verses or paasurams :- - That were composed in the Andhaadhi style of composition, - Also composed in a Kalithurai Yaappu (A Gramatical Style of composing tamil paasurams), - On the divine feet of Emperumaanaar Sri Raamaanujar, whose lotus feet to which when we surrender, can destory all the materialistic comforts that we experience in our life namely Kaamaa, Krodha, Lobha, Madha, Maathsarya, which are the five powerful enemies of a jeevaathmaa that prevents from understanding or realizing the supreme being, - Which was composed for those who have surrendered to the lotus feet of emperumaanaar, leaving the materialistic comforts - Which was composed out of immense love and bhakthi on Emperumaanaar by the greatest of the greatest Daasan, Thiruvarangathamudanaar ********************************************************************** Note :- Pl. write to the Vedics Raamaanuja Team if anyone would like to know what "Kalithurai" and "Andhaadi" means, as it is out of context for the topic under discussion. ********************************************************************** Nenjame - Oh my mind Odha isai - Always wish to recite Iyambum Kalithurai Andhaadhi - The verses that were composed in the andhaadhi style, Also composed in a Kalithurai Yaappu (A Gramatical Style of composing tamil paasurams) Sayantharu Keerthi Thaalinaimel - On/For the feet of emperumaanaar that has the divinity and Iraamaanusa Muni divine grace and those feet which show us the way to realize the supreme soul and to attain the feet of emperumaan Pazhudhanri Nanninarpaal - For those people who have sacrificed and left the Nayantharu Perinbamellaam - Materialistic comforts Ongum Iyambum Anbaal - The verses that were Composed out of immense love and bhakthi Thrivarangathamudhu - By Thiruvarngathamudhanaar Uyarndha Gunathu - Who has all the characteristics and qualities of a true Daasan or bhaagavthaa We might want to know why the materialistic comforts has been indicated by the word "Perinbam", whereas that word is usually used only for the true happiness, which is eternal bliss. From the materialistic person's point of view, it is considered as the "Perinbam", but from the view of those who have left these material comforts, it is not so. The following explains the term "Nayantharu Perinbamellaam" in the above thniyan :- Now the question is, is it difficult to leave our materialistic qualities ? Those qualities are:- Kaamaa - Desire (things that we desire to get) Krodhaa - Anger (the anger that comes when we don't get the desired things) Loba - Jealousy Madha - Ahankaaram (The feeling 'I' within one's self) Maathsarya - One who doesn't like others happiness and success The answer is "Yes"; it is difficult to destroy all these materialitic qualities and comforts. Even Lord Krishna in Bhagavadh Gita says that "Hey Arjunaa..!! there is nothing that you can achieve in the world; the least you can do is destroy the five qualities that are the sources, which don't allow you to realize the supreme soul. Always think that you should succeed and conquer these five enemies with immense vairaagyam or stubbornness. These are considered to be five enemies of a jeevaathmaa that prevents one from performing bhagavath bhakthi and realize the supreme being." The Vedaas also quote the same as follows, and gives us guidelines to do bhagavadh bhakthi :- Leave all the following :- - Leave all the those things which are not permanent in this world, which are nothing but the materialistic comforts. - Leave all those that prevents you from doing bhagavath bhakthi - Leave all those thoughts that tells you that you are doing the karmaa (Ahankaaram). The feeling of "I" in one's mind. Enjoy all the following :- - Enjoy all those that shaatraas tell you to enjoy - Enjoy those things that doesn't prevent you from doing bhagavath bhakthi, - Enjoy those things that relates just to the body but not apply to the Aathmaa or soul With these guide lines we can get answers for all questions such as :- 1. Can I marry or not 2. Can I earn money or not Etc., and many more questions like this. To answer all these just refer the questions with the guide lines give above by Vedaas. If the karmaa you do is in anyway preventing you to do bhagavath bhakthi, never do it; if it doesn't prevent you from doing so, then enjoy it. If one doesn't follow these guidelines, then one can never become a Sri Vaishnavaa or one can never realize the supreme being. As far as anything that we enjoy is to enrich our thoughts that leads to bhagavadh bhakthi, we can enjoy those things. One can become a Sri Vaishanava not by knowledge or not by learning vedaas or scriptures but only by leaving all these materialistic comforts. Again leaving materialistic comforts doesn't mean that we should leave them totally. It means that we should enjoy all these thinking that it is only for the body and not for our aathmaa or soul. We can enjoy anything in which we don't have the feeling "I" did it, or "I" enjoyed it etc. One can become a True Sri Vaishnava only by their Anushtaanam of these good qualities in their daily life and not by anything else. Why are we always referring to "Raamaanuja Thiruvadi" in order to destroy these materialistic qualities? What does it mean by "Raamaanuja Sambandham", How do I get it ? Our elders say that if we get the Samaashrayanam or Pancha Samskaaram from an aachaaryan, then we get Raamaanuja Sambandham. Even then we hear many of us raising the questions in our mind that if we get the Pancha Samskaaram from one of the achaaryaa in the lineage of the 74 Simhaasanaadhipathis that emperumaanaar appointed to spread vaishnavism, then we can consider that we can get Raamaanuja Sambandham because, all the simhaasanaadhpathis were direct disciples of emperumaanaar. But today if we go to any aachaaryaa and get Pancha Samskaaram how can we say that we get Raamaanuja Sambandham ? What are we going to get if we get Pancha Samskaaram done ? How can one prove that the aachaaryan from whom we get Pancha Samskaaram, has Raamaanuja Sambandham ? All these questions are those of many of us who ask or think. What is the answer for these questions ? The answer is, if we keep thinking like this, we will never get Raamaanuja Sambandham. Moreover one cannot get Raamaanuja Sambandham by just getting the Pancha Samskaaram done from an aachaaryan. The Pancha Samkaaram where we get the Shankam and Chakram embossed on our shoulders is a kramam that shows to the outside world that we are a Sri Vaishnavaa, but this actually doesn't get us the Raamaanuja Sambandham. So what should one do to get Raamaanuja Sambandham ? It is just that one should stop thinking like this and asking such questions and just believe that the Shaastraas have clearly told us about Pancha Samskaaram and it has to be done through an aachaaryan who has come in the lineage of Bhagavadh Raamaanujaa. How do i know whether the aachaaryan has raamaanuja sambandham ? Again one should believe and feel that our elders have showed the aachaaryan who they believe and truly follow that the aachaaryan has the Raamaanuja Sambandham. We have never grown in this world by asking questions for everything. We have beleived so many things for which we dont have proof. We have believed so many things as it is. Hence one should stop asking questions and believe our elder's words and what our Shaastraas say. If we believe in what we do as a Pancha Samskaaram, then we get the Raamaanuja Sambandham automatically due to our belief itself. Instead if one keeps asking questions, then one will never get Raamaanuja Sambandham at all. Now the answer for why should we have "Raamaanuja Sambandham" is: in order to destroy all our materialistic comforts and qualities and get the knowledge of the supreme being. Why should one get it from "Raamaanua Sambandham" ? Because our emperumaanaar was the only one who was a True Sri Vaishanavaa who had all these materialistic qualities destroyed within himself and also followed in his Anushtaanam or Practice. As we already quoted that a true Sri Vaishnava is one who leaves all the materialtic comforts and follows the same in his anushtaanam or practice. Hence our emperumaanar is the only one who makes easily detach ourselves from these materialistic comforts and shows us the way to attain the lotus feet of our beloved emperumaan at Sri Vaikuntam. Hence one should get "Raamaanuja Sambandham". Thats why Manavaala Maamunigal in his "Yathiraaja Vimsathi" says :- "Kaamaadhi Dosha Haramaathma padaasrithaanaam, Raamaanujam Yatipathim pranamaami moordhnaa.." "I pay respect at the lotus feet of Sri Raamaanujaa in order to destroy all my materialistic qualities such as Kaama, Krodhaa etc. and to attain the the bhagavath sannidhi." Same way even Krishna Paramaathmaa who preached Arjuna to leave all these materialistic qualities, himself came as Bhagavadh Raamaanujaa as an lokaachaaryan to help all the Jeevaathmaas realize the supreme soul; to get into the path of bhagavadh bhakthi because emperumaan followed all those which was preached by Krishna Paramathmaa. Emperumaan Himself thought that the jeevaathmaa can be corrected only through an aachaaryan (another jeevaathmaa)and hence was born here as emeprumaanaar. This is clearly illustrated in the"Iraamaanusa Nootrandhaadhi" paasuram number 33 that begins as "Adaiyaar kamalathalarmagal kelvan.." which was clearly explained in the previous posting. The quality "Kaamaa" is the reason for all the fights and wars that we see today in this Kali. If we destroy the Kaamaa within each one of us, then most of our day to day fights and problems that bothers each one of us in this Kali will be solved. If "Kaamaa" increases, it in turn increases Ahankaaram (The "I" feeling in one's self), and other unwanted qulities described earlier. If this has to destroyed one should have Satva Guna within one's self. When Satva Gunam reduces within ourselves, then we will not listen to our elder's advices, when we fail to listen to our elder's advices, then we will tend not to follow our aachaaryaas, and when we don't follow our aachaaryaas, then we wont have bhakthi on emperumaanaar and when we dont have Raamanauja bhakthi, then again the materialistic qualities will increase within us. Hence all these are connected in a chain. Hence one should have Satva Guanm and to get Satva Gunam one needs a sadaachaaryan who can guide and lead us to practice Saathwikam in our day to day life in order to do bhagavadh bhakthi. So one should approach an aachaaryan thinking and feeling that we dont know anything and aachaaryan has to lead us to the right path. When we approach our aachaaryan thinking in this manner, our achaaryan never says no or fails to guide us until the end of our life or until we get into bhagavadh bhakthi. This is what the above thaniyan says about "Emperumaanaar's thiruvadi" by indicating "Sayantharu Keerthi Iraamaanusa Muni Thaalinai Mel". All the above explanation refers to the word "Sayantharu Keerthi" of emperumaanaar. Thus we can destroy all our Kaama, Krodha and other unwanted qulaities by just following emperumaanaars life history and hearing it. Once emperumaanaar went to Thirunaaraayana Puram along with swamy Mudaliyaandaan, leaving Koorathaazhwaan behind in Sri Rangam. On the way going to Thirunaaraayana Puram they stayed in a place called "Mithilaapuri" where those people failed to accept what empermaanaar advised about bhagavadh vishayam and aaraadhana kramam. Hence emperumaanaar called Mudaliyaandaan swamy and told him to keep his feet in the water, in a tank where those people use it for their daily Anushtaanam. Swamy Mudaliyaandan also did what emperumaanaar said. As usual those people came and completed their Anushtaanam in the tank. The moment they finished their Anushtaanam, they automatically came to emperumaanaar and surrendered to him. Thus when the Thiruvadi of Adiyaar or Daasan to emperumaanaar can change one's life drastically, then we should think the divinity of the lotus feet of our beloved emperumaanaar. We should also be able to visualize how great Mudaliyaandaan's Thiruvadi is as he surrendered at the lotus feet of emperumaanaar. Similarly once Mudaliyaandaan swamy said to the people of Mithilaapuri that after the daily ghoshti emperumaanaar will get the first perumaal theertham and then Mudaliyaandaan swamy wanted to get the theertham after emperumaanaar. But the local people objected for it, saying that "since emperumaanaar is a parama yati and Sri Vaishnavaa, he gets the first theertham and then since they are the local people they should get the next theertham." But Mudaliyaandaan swamy wanted himself to get the next theertham after emperumaanaar. Hence the local people complained about this to emperumanaar. Immediately emperumaanaar went and stood as the last person in the ghoshti. Searching for emperumaanaar and finding him at the last in the ghoshti, and when asked why he did so, emperumaanaar said that since in this town local people has the first authority to get the theertham and since Mudaliyaandan swamy wanted to get the second theertham after emperumaanaar, he allowed the the local people to get the first theertham and then he wanted to get it so that even mudaliyaandaan swamy is satisfied and the local people were also satisfied. Such a parama bhaagavthaa was emperumaanaar, he lowered himself amongst all the bhaagavathaas and showed his divine qualities and also practiced it in his day to day life and showed us the way to attain bhagavadh sannidhi. So surrendering at the lotus feet of our emperumaanaar will give all the success in our life towards anything that we would wish to achieve. Hence let us surrender all our mind and body at the lotus feet of our beloved and most lovable emperumaanar. This posting, along with Volume II posting completes the Lecture 2 of the Iraamaanusa Nootrandhaadhi. Lecture three will be posted soon. RAAMMANUJASYA CHARANAU SHARANAM PRAPADYE, SRIMATHE RAAMAANUJAAYA NAMA: (Thodarum - To be continued) The Vedics Iraamaanusa Nootrandhaadhi Team http://www.radioramanuja.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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