based on the vyakhyanam of Sri Periyavaccan Pillai
by Smt Sumithra Varadarajan

In the last posting we enjoyed the beautiful meanings which are present in the first paasuram of Thirumaalai with the help of our great PVP's words. Sri PVP after that continues to explain the greatness of Bhagavan nAma and why it is regarded so great by the azhwar. The main advantage of the Bhagavan nAma is that there is no restrictions to say it. You can say it any time, at any place and under any conditions, says the sastras. "Na Desha kAla neyamaha sowcha asowcha vinirmayaha" says smriti. Once Sri Parasara Bhattar was telling the magimai of Bhagavan nAma to his shisyas. Then the shisyas asked Bhattar if it was not even necessary to bath to say the nAma of Bhagavan. For which Bhattar replied, "Is it necessary to bath in a small pond before going to bath in the gangus? Like gangus which purifies all our body dirt and also the dirt in our minds and washes away our sins even the nAma of bhagavan(pundareekaksha) has the same power. It will purify all your dirt so no conditions or AchAram is necessary to do bhagavan nAma keertanam". "pavithram apavithrova……..yessmarate pundareekaksham….." is the sastra vakyam. But if we donot believe this and doubt the power of the nAma then bhagavan is sure to test us and give the palan but even then the palan will be given finally. We have to have full confidence that the bhagavan nAma is capable of giving us all the lowkika and paraloka happiness.

Then she PVP says what the bhagavan nAma can give the different adhikAris. "Eth thirunAmam than prayojanandarapararkku prayojanatthai kodukkum, upAyandhara nishtarkku pAvanamAi errukkum, Prappannarkku deha yAtrA sEshamAi eruukum".

For those who chant the bhagavan nAma to get some worldly pleasures the nAma gives them the same. For instance, at the end of the Vishnu SahasranAmam we see a lot of palasruthi. "RogArtho muchyathe rogarth bathyon muchyeta bhandanath bayan muchyetha bheedhasto muchyetappanna Apathaha" etc. Whoever wants to get rid of their diseases and those who want to get rid of some binding and those who are afraid of something and want to gain their courage can recite the SahasranAmam of bhagavan, which will give them all those they wanted. Actually one need not say the whole sahasranAmam even one rAma nAma is equivalent to that, advices shiva to pArvathi. In Vishnu dharmam there is a whole chapter which gives the palan of the various nAma of the bhagavan. When we say " AchutA nanda Govinda nAmochArana….." we get rid of the various problems in our body. On uttering and meditating on Santana Gopalan one get bestowed with a child. If you want to get married say kalyana rAma and it will be done and thus the list goes on.

Our elders chant the bhagavan nAma while doing anything. They keep on chanting bhagavan nAma day in and day out. Even while eating bhagavataas eat only alone with saying Govinda nAma. "kapale kapale chaiva kuryath Govinda keertanam" says the sastras. For each handful of food you take say Govinda and then eat.

Till now we talked about the jobs of a lowkikan and that all those benefits can be got by just chanting the bhagavan nAma. Then comes bhagavat karyams like punya theertha snanam and other dharmams which are done to gain more punyam. What all palans these punyams grant us are given by the bhagavan nAma itself. Sri Vishnu Dharmam says " Sa Ganga sa gaya seethu sa kasi sa cha pushkaram jigvakhre varthathe yasya Harir ith akshara dvayam" "Rig vedo sa yajur vedam sAma veda sa Atharvanam……..Harir ith aksharath dvayam" So what ever palan is obtained from going to ganga, gaya, kasi, pushkaram etc can be obtained by just uttering the 2 letters Hari. Similarly whatever a person learns from the vedas is inscribed in the Hari nAmam that is why any person starting to chant any of the vedas starts with the Hari nAmam. Even if a person does 100 yAgAs he is sure to come back to this world after exhausting all his punyams but if he says the bhagavan nAma he attains the world from which he need not return for ever.

Then PVP says for those who consider other upayams like karma yoga, gnana yoga etc to be the upayams to attain moksha the bhagavan nAma removes the defects in their yoga and helps them to attain moksha. In case of a karma yogi AchAram is the utmost essential thing but nowadays nothing is pure. The upaveetham(poonal) is not properly made with the necessary mantra chanting and the person wearing it doesn't maintain its auspiciousness by doing thrikala sandhya and other necessary rituals. The Ajyam(ghee) is not pure and it is purchased from shop. Then the pavithram is not pure, not cut in the right place and at the right time as specified in the sastras. The most important thing the water is not pure and it comes in pipes used by many. On top of all these people do not have purity in mind to do karmas as Ishwararpanam. So what our rishis adviced us is to complete any karma by doing krishna smaranam. This is not only for the vaidheka karmas one can do karma yogam even by submitting what ever he does unto the feet of the bhagavan. So whatever we do we have to do as krishnArpanam. Again for a person who wants to do meditation this is kali so he will not be able to concentrate so if one keeps chanting the bhagavan nAmas it purifies his mind and makes him to concentrate. Even patanjali in his yoga sutra says "Ishwara pranidhanatma". Catch the hands of the bhagavan and proceed in your yoga. Patanjali there refers to pranavam one another bhagavan nAmam. Even for learning vedanta bhagavan nAma is necessary. Thus PVP explains that even for persons who are trying to attain moksham by using any other upayam specified in bhagavat geetha bhagavan nAma helps in one way or the other and its chanting is utmost necessary.

The next is about the prappanas who do not depend on any other upayam other than bhagavat krupai. Do they need bhagavan nAma too. For them PVP says the nAma chanting will be used for kalashepam(that is to spent time). After doing prappati the prappanan does not attain moksha immediately so till the time he stays in this world what will he do? He has to do pancha kala pArAyanam. If he is incapable of the aradhayams then he has to stay with those who are capable to do those to the bhagavan(like his acharyas). If not atleast stay in a Divya Desam since there will be some bhagavat vishayam always going on in a divya desam, in which he can participate but in kali even the divya desams are not pure and staying with an acharya is not possible due to many problems so only thing a person can be satisfied which he is capable is to chant the bhagavan nAmam at all times. That is what Sri PVP says that for a prappanan the bhagavan nAma will be used for kalashepam. Earlier it looked like alwar was telling the bhagavan nAma to be the upayam and now he says saranagathi as upayam and nAma as just a pass time for a prappanan it seems to be contradictory. But the actual thing is alwars words are never contradictory. What he wants to stay is prapatti is the only upayam no doubt but when one person keeps on reciting the bhagavan nAma his mind is purified. As bhagavan in geetha says "Na me bhaktha pranashyati" the person who chants bhagavan nAma becomes a bhaktha of bhagavan and as days pass he realises that all happens only by the krupai of the bhagavan and he surrenders to him accepting that even the nAma which comes in his mouth is due to his krupai and hence does prappati which leads him to moksham.

The rest we will continue in the next posting.