||    The greatness of Naama Sankeerthanam    ||

SARVATHRA GOVINDHA NAAMA SANKEERTHANAM , GOVINDHAA , GOVINDHAA !

ISAVARA SAMVATHSARAM THIRU AADIPPURAM DINAM

With a prayerful appeal to GodhA Piratti, I start the series on Naama Sankeerthana Mahimai.

As we go on a paada yathrai across the length and breadth of Bharatha Desam, we hear the dhvani of the Lord's names echoing from corner to corner. Our AzhwArs , AchAryAs , following the tattvams revealed by the sacred VedAs , Upanishads and PurANAs have sung the glory of Sriman NArAyaNA and benefitted from the specific potencies of the transcendental names of the names of the Lord saluted by Sri VishNu Sahasra Naamam.

The bhakthAs of our Lord underwent the nine stages of Bhakthi revealed in Srimadh Bhagavatham by the baala bhagavadhA, PrahlAdhA and reached tanmayathvam:

sravaNam keerthanam VishNO : smaraNam paadha sevanam I
archanam vandanam daasyam sakhyam aathma nivedanam II

Sri chaitanya MahAprabhu instructed one of his chief disciples (Saanatana Goswaami) that naama sankeerthanam is the most important one to release the jivA from the bonds of SamsArA. His view is based on Sukha Brahmam's own explanation to king Parikshith that the recitation of the KrishNa mahA mantram is the sure deliverer of a samsAri from his bonds in this peculiar age of Kali:

kalEr dosha-nidhE Raajan asthi hyEkhO mahAn gunA : I
keerthanAdhEva KrishNasya mukthasanga: param vrajEth II

(Meaning) : My Dear King Parikshith ! Although the Kali Yuga is loaded with all types of blemishes , yet , there is one good quality about it . It is that the simple chanting of the NahA manthram of Sri KrishNA can make one free from the bonds of SamsArA and elevate them to the transcendental kingdom of Sri Vaikuntam.

Bruhan-nAradheeya PurANam picks up this thought further, when it declares with great perspicacity that there is no alternative for spiritual advancement in Kali Yugam than the recitation of the holy name of the Lord :

HarErnAma HarErnAma HarErnamAiva kevalam I
kalaou nAsthyEva nAsthyEva nAsthyEva gathiranyathA II

Thrice it is stated, " There is no alternative way ". Purusha Sooktham stated only once , Naanya: PanthA ---"

The Kali-SantharaNa Upanishad reveals to us the way to cross the dangerous ocean of SamsAra, which has been attested by the ancient VedAs :

HarE krishNa HarE KrishNa , KrishNa KrishNa HarE HarE
Hare Raama HarE Raama , Raama Raama HarE HarE I
ithi shiodasakam naamAm kali-kalmasha nAsana,
naata: paratarEpyeya : Sarva VedEshu drisyathE II

(Meaning) The sixteen holy names of the Lord in unison ( HarE KrishNa ---Hare Raama HarE HarE ) are particularly potent to counteract the contaminations (dhoshams ) of Kali Yugam. All the vEdAs consistently declare that the chanting of the sacred names of the Lord is the only path to cross the ocean of nescience. There is no other alternative to reach parama padham.

KulasEkhara AzhwAr started therefore his Mukhunda Maalai slOkam with the counsel to his tongue, " JihvE keerthaya Kesavam ". A fellow bhakthA from ParasurAma KshEthram, Sri LeelA Sukhar asked his speech to be purified by the utterances of the Lord's name:

maadhuryENa vijrumbhanthAm VAACHO NASTHAVA VAIBHAVAM I
chApalyEna vivardhanthAm chinthA nasthava saisavE II

(Meaning): May our speech elevate itself and grow in sanctity by speaking about your auspicious glories! May our minds purify themselves by the affectionate remeniscence of your baala leelAs at Gokhulam and BrindhAvanam.

Sri LeelA Sukhar went on to state in a chamaka paarAyaNam sense the fruits of such a dhruva smrithi (unceasing rememberance of the Lord) attained thru naama sankeerthanam this way:

prEmadham cha mE kaamadham cha mE
vEdanam cha mE vaibhavam cha mE I
jeevanam cha mE jeevitham cha mE
dheyvatham cha mE Deva naaparam II

(Meaning): O Deva Deva ! You are the One , who blesses me with affection (love ) ; You are the One , who fulfills my ishta kaamams (wish -fulfiller) ; You are the One , who gives me the true knowledge ; You alone are my entire wealth ; You are my prANa naadi , ( the life force ); You are my living days ;except You , there are no supreme beings for me ( MaRRor daivam aRiyEn ).

The great NammAzhwAr declared in this context many centuries before the author of KrishNa karNAmrutham:

" There is naught else ! We tell it in brief, to all the beings of this world: sorrow not (maa suchi) ; the thought of the GeethAchAryan is enough. Ah ! even if you do not attain Him , evil ( amangaLam) will not cross your path ; learn the faultless glory of the names of the Lord born as a cowherd in north MathurA and know it as best to live in its thought " -- ThiruvAimozhi 9.1.7

PeriyAzhwAr confessed about his helpless state this way and then comforted himself with the thought of his sambhandham to the Lord in his Periya Thirumozhi verse (5.1.1):

" O Lord MaadhavA ! I am devoid of purity of speech , I am unfit to praise You ; still my tongue knows none but You ; I am therefore afraid ; it is also not under my control ; even if you get irritated that I am prattling like a fool , I can not manage my restless tongue ; O You Lord with Garuda Dhwaja ! You will see (cause) eloquence even from a crow's mouth, O You primeval cause! "

NammAzhwAr expresses a similar thought about his own inadequacies in his Thiruvaimozhi (5.7.1):

"I have no record of austerities: I do not possess any subtle knowledge: still, I can not be quiet even for a moment without (the thought of) You , O Lord resting on Your serpent bed ! O Father! I will not be too much burden to You! "

Thondaradipadi AzhwAr , the RanganAtha pathivrathA , thundered about his special status as a result of learning about the sanctifying naamam of the Lord in one of his ThirumAlai verses:

" Keeping the senses in safe custody and jumping over evil , we are roaming about roaring victoriously over the heads of Death and his emissaries , all in the boldness of having learnt Your NAME , O Lord residing at Srirangam , O primeval purushA , who periodically devours and spits out all these three worlds ! "

Thirumangai , who had the revelation of the glory of the Lord's name from the Lord Himself sang in two verses about the glory of Naama SiddhAntham in His Periya Thirumozhi :

" I languished , I sorrowed in my heart , I identified myself with my body , the home of the great misery , in which I was born ; thus I ran after young women , intent on the pleasures of the senses that they gave ; running thus , by the grace of You , the savior , I came by the great state of knowledge and began seeking ; seeking I discovered the name nArAyaNA. " ( Periya Thirumozhi 1.1.1 )

" The name nArAyaNA will bless one with high birth and unmatched affluence ; it will raze to the ground all sufferings that its devotees (reciters) have to pass through ; it will bless one with heaven and the great state of the Lord's service ; it will give success and all other auspicious things ; it will do for one beneficial things even more than one's own mother ; THAT word (naamam) I have found , the name nArAyaNA." ( Priya Thirumozhi -- 1.1.9 )

In this second posting, I will cover the following topics briefly: Naama Sankeertthanam and Bhakthi, Examples of Uttama BhakthAs (Naama/Naadha SiddhAnthis), Effect of Naama Sankeerthanam and Ishta Daivam worship.

Myriads are the examples of such BhakthAs exist in the Bhakthi literature; to keep these postings at a moderate size level, I will confine my observations and reflections to a smaller subset of duch BhakthAs.

My main thrust will be on the Rama Bhakthi of Saint ThyagarAjA as gleaned from his krithis and operas such as PrahlAdha Bhaktha Vijayam and NowkA charithram. The chinthanam of Sri Ramachandra is invariably and unmistakably present in the mind of this Raama ChaithanyA even in these dance dramas composed especially to salute Lord NarasimhA and BhagavAn KrishNa respectively.

Saint ThyagarAjA completed the recitation of the Taraka Naamam of Sri RaamA ninety six crores of times and had the sowbhAgyam of the darsanam of Sri RaamA with SitA dEvi, LakshmaNA and AnjanEya in front of his house on the Thirumanjana veedhi of ThiruvaiyAru. He is the great one who asked out of his VairAghyam , " Nidhi chaala Sukhamaa ? Raamuni sannidhhi seva sukhamaa ? mamatha Bhandhana yutha nara sthuthi sukhamA? Sumathi ThyagarAjanuthini KEERTHANA sukhamA ? "

APPROACH OF AN UTTAMA BHAKTHA & NAAMA JAPAM
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truNAdapi suneechEna tarOrapi shaishNunA I
amAnina mAnadEna keertaniyah: Hari : II

--SikshAshtakA #3 , Chaitanya MahA Prabhu

(meaning): One should repeat (chant ) the auspicious name of Hari in a humble state of mind , while considering oneself lower than the lowly blade of grass ; one should be more tolerant than a tree ; one should be free from all sense of vanity and false airs and one should be prepared to offer respectful salutations to other devotees of the Lord.

In the sixth and the twelfth chapters of Sri Bhagavadh GitA dealing with DhyAnam and Bhakthi , Our Lord has explained the bhaktha , who is dear to Him as Sama-LOshtAsmkaanchana: (one to whom a lump of earth/piece of roof tile , stone and gold are one and the same in value) , prasAntha manasa: ( One of perfectly tranquil mind ) , SraddhAvAn ( posessed of MahA viswasAm ) , adhvEshtA ( free from hatred or malevolence to others ) , sama dukkha suka : ( even minded , while experiencing pain and pleasure ) , subhAsubha parithyAgi ( renouncer of
good and evil in an equal manner ). GeethAcharyan declares that such a devotee is dear to Him ( BhakthimAn ya: sa mE priya : ).

There have been many such Uttama BhakthAs who have attained Moksham through single-minded bhakthi and naama sankeerthanam across the length and breadth of Bharatha Desam. There are no distinctions among these perfected saints based upon caste, culture, personal good looks, family ( kulam ) , wealth or profession.

These Saint-Singers described by the late Dr.V.Raghavan as the Great Integrators are AzhwArs of different castes or no caste , NaayanmArs , the SiddhAs , HaridAsAs of KarnAtakA ( Srinivasa Naik/Purandara dAsA , Kanaka dAsa , the shepherd by birth ,Vijaya dAsA , the Brahmin ) , the Saints of MaharashtrA ( Jnana dEvA , Nama dEvA , the tailor , EkanAth , the Sanskrit scholar , TukArAm , the shop keeper , Samartha RaamdAs , the guru of King ShivAji ) , Narasimha MehtA and MirAbai of RajasthAn , Akho , the goldsmith of Ahmedabad , Kabir , the weaver of Banares , TulasidAs of Raamanandi sect also from Banares , the cobbler-mystic , RaidAs , another fellow-RaamAnadhi like Kabir and Tulasi Daas , DaadU , the Brahmin cotton-cleaner , SankaradEva of Assam , RamadAs of BhadrAchalam , Saint ThyagarAjA of TamilnAdu , Mutthuswamy Dikshithar , Sridhara IyaavAL of Thiruvisanallur , Upanishadh Brahmam of Kaanchi , who was the friend of Saint ThyagarAjA's father , Sri Raama Brahmam and
a multitude of others.

Sage NaaradhA in his 72nd Bhakthi sUtram explains that there are no distinctions among such uttama bhakthAs based upon caste , culture , beauty , kulam , Eisvaryam or chosen livelihood:

nAsthi tEshu jaathi vidhyA rUpa kula dhana kriyAdhibhEdha:

The supremacy and the efficacy of their bhakthi through Naama sankeerthanam and Naama Japam is the common denominator among them that they were heedless of the people's criticisms (jana jalpa nirbhayA :) and great teachers and practioners of Bhakthi mArgam (BhakthAchAryAs).

These ancient masters of unalloyed Bhakthi to Sriman NaarAyaNA have been identified by Sage NaaradhA as Sanath KumArA , VyAsA , Sukha Brahmam , UddhavaA , AaruNi , Maha Bali , who followed the path of surrender , HanumAn , VibhishaNA , et al. The lives and compositions of these BhakthAs define the greatness of BhagavAn's Naamams as the UpAyam and UpEyam for Moksha Siddhi.

Occasionally , VidvEsha Bhakthi or communion
through confrontation helped to obtain the "blessings" of the Lord . Slaughter at the Lord's hand raised the likes of HiraNyakasipu, HiranyAkshA , KamsA , SisupAlA and DantnavakthrA et al.

More frequently, J~nana Bhakthi attained through the amalgam of J~nanam and Bhakthi made many uttama bhakthAs to gain a deep comprehension of the divine excellence of the nAmAs of the Lord and led them to the path of Saantha Bhakthi.

A few had mUDa bhakthi (devotion without saastraic or Upanishadic knowledge) and yet were totally absorbed in naama sankeerthanam. They developed a loving relationship with the Lord as in the case of the Gopis of BrindhAvanam. About the Gopis , Bhagavatham declares:

" They never learnt the VedAs ; they never served any teacher ; they practised no austerity ; but by association with holiness , they attained Me " ( Bhagavatham XI . 12.7& 8 ). In an earlier canto, Srimadh Bhagavatham has revealed the different roots of attaining the Lord's grace: " The Gopis through desire , KamsA through enimity , the VrishNis through clannishness , the paandavAs through affection and the sages through devotion attianed Him " ( Bhagavatham VII.1.30).

The naama sankeerthanam appears to be the most efficacious method of attaining Him in this Kali Yugam , where righteousness is on the decline. The greatness of such BahgavatOtthamAs have been extolled by Srimadh Bahgavatham elsewhere:

" The BhagavatOtthamA ( the highest type of devotee ) is one, who sees the glory of the BahgavAn reflected in all beings , high and low , and also perceives all beings as dwelling in Him.

The second-rate devotee is one , who makes a distinction between BhagavAn , His devotees , common people and evil -minded ones , maintaining towards them attitudes of reverential love, friendship , pity , and avoidance respectively.

The most inferior type of a devotee is one , who worships images of God with great devotion , but has no regard for His devotees and no consideration for others. "

The UpaasanA of one's Ishta Daivam
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The Lord's name such as RamA , KrishNA , VaamanA , NrusimhA , TrivikramA , have specific potencies. A great Rama BhakthA , Lord SivA has declared in Padma PurANam: " O My dear Consort ! I chant the sacred name of Raama Raama Raama and thus enjoy this purifying sound (dhvani).
This holy name of RamachandrA is equal to one thousand names of Lord VishNu . " Srimadh Bhagavatham with Sri KrishNa bhakthAs in mind gives a twist and states: " One thousand names of VishNu are indeed equal to one name of Raama , and three names of Raama are equal to one name of KrishNA " ( Bhagavatham 1.19.6) .

The choice of one form or avathAram of the Lord for deep immersion is perfectly fine to advance one's spiritual progress and to attain siddhi. They become " TanmayA: " according to NaradhA's 70th Bhakthi SUthram. They live absorbed in that form of the Lord . They become Raama Chaithanyas like Saint ThyagarAja or BodEndrAL. They become absorbed in KrishNA and become KrishNa chaithanyALs like MirAbai or Cahithanya MahA prabhu. They become tadheyA: and belong to Him and Him alone. They do not enter into vain disputations and discussions (vaadhO naavalabhya: / 74 th sUthram of Naaradha Muni). Sage NaaradhA gives the reasons why such great souls following Ishta Daiva upAsanA do not enter into vain disputations in the 75th Bhakthi SUthram of his:

baahulyAvakAsathvAdhaniyatathvAccha

(meaning); ( Vain debates and disputations are to be abandoned ) because there can be endless , diverse views and all mere arguments become ultimately inconclusive only. Trying to understand God-head by the intellectual route of debate is recognized as impossible. Spiritual experience is beyond intellect and reasoning. The Lord warns us that He is the consciousness behind all experiences: " From Me arise all experiences ; I am not in them , they are in Me ."

The Uttama BhakthA may see all His Ishta Daivam in all forms of Sriman NaarAyaNA and yet will not put anyone down for their chosen mode of worship. He will question , " Raama nee samaanamevarurA ? " and yet will be tolerant to another bhaktha engaged in worshipping another from of divinity and will understand the approach as ultimately reaching Sriman NaarAyaNA as revealed by Lord KrishNA in Srimadh Bhagavath GitA.

KrishNArpaNam Asthu .
Oppilaippan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan

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