The greatness of Srimad Bhagavatham is that wherever the parayanam of Srimad Bhagavatham is being performed and where listened to in that place, Kali will never come. The Yugam in which we live is Kali, Kali meaning "Kalmasham". There is a lot being told of how people would be in Kali and how they would act in the discourses. The only medicine for Kali is Srimad Bhagavatha parayanam.
Srimad Bhagavatham also tells about the significance of Namakeerthanam. Due to the influence of Kali, even a suddha atma, who had been with the lord in his birth itself, Parikshith himself was subject to a wrong doing by putting a dead snake around the neck of a sage. Even playfully kali should not get associated with one. Parikshith put the snake around the neck of the Maharishi Sameekar as a result his son Sringi pronounced a curse upon him and he listens to the Srimad Bhagavatham in 7 days. Since he had a curse as a result of the Kali dosha, he listened to the Bhagavatham which removes this dosha. That itself is testimony to the fact that Bhagavatham will remove the doshas of Kali. Once the Srimad Bhagavatham itself was hid by Kali. One who is doing good in Kali will get lot of bad happenings. If one is suffering a lot, it does not mean he is bad and if one is living in the lap of luxury, we can brand him as good even. In Kali, one cannot differentiate between being good and bad either in suffering or comfort as we see from Mahabharatam the good pandavas suffered, the bad duryodhana and his people were indeed in comfort. Those who beleive in God will suffer a lot but even then they wont leave God, thats their greatness. Only way in Kali is namakeerthanam and the book which describes it is the Srimad Bhagavatham.
Ordinary people have worries and Mahans have also worries. Ordinary people worry about their families, children, job whereas the Mahans worry that people are moving away from dharma, people are not having bhakthi, not believing the bhagavan, how to give them bhagavath bhakthi, how to take them in the right direction. There was such a mahatma called Bhupadevar, seeing Kali fiercely making its presence felt. In Tamil Nadu, a beautiful place true to its name is Tirumalirunchozhai (also called sozhaimazhai), chithrakoota near Kasi also is a very magnificient place as also told beautifully in the Valmiki Ramayanam. Sri Rama was peacefully living and a bit happy during his vanavasam only in this place called chithrakoota. In Tamil Nadu, Tirumalirunchozhai near Madurai, azhagar malai and a very green hill and a place fit for penance. In this place if one does tapas, this will bear fruit. Even though the perumal in other temples have varadahastam or abhayahastam, the kalazhagar here will give an assuring abhayam. If a hand is lifted and shown as a blessing then it is called abhayam - do not fear! I am here! Who can lift the hand like this? One who is not afraid of anyone, only HE can give such a sort of assurance. If one is afraid of 10 people himself, how can he say dont fear to anyone. So only the bhagavan has the authority to give abhayam to others. Such a bhagavan is present in ahayahastam (hand facing upward to assure devotees) and in others varadahastam (hand facing downward to give to devotees). But in the azhagarmalai the perumal has a ahwAnahastamk - he invites everyone. Come to my lotus feet. All the 4 types of dharmArtha kAma mokSha the purushArtham, 'aram' (virtue of charity), 'porul' (wealth), 'inbam' (pleasure), 'veedu' (spiritual emancipation) whatever you ask I am ready to give and I am the kalpakavriksham, Kamadhenu, come to me, saying so the perumal is inviting us by his anugraham. In the Tirumaliruncholai there will be a lot of monkeys in that mountain, there is a big waterfall. There is a big mantapam atop the mountain called the "Madhavi mantapam", then there is the noophuragangai, its a beautiful mountain, gives peace to the mind. This mahatma, Bhupadevar when he saw this Kalidevan dancing everywhere kept thinking what is the deliverance from this Kali and did not get any answer. So he practiced the "Dwadasakshari" mantram in this Tirumalirunchozhai kshetram eating only fruits and roots performed tapasya. Kalazhakar perumal, Sundararaja perumal appeared before him and the sage asked the perumal as to why people are swaying away from the path of dharma without bhagavath bhakthi, everyone is wayward and they are not getting bhakthi to reach your lotus feet. Perumal says the main reason for this is that the Srimad Bhagavatham has disappeared from the world. If the Bhagavatha grantham is found out again and if there are bhagavatha sapthahams being performed everywhere then the kali purushan can be subdued. When asked how the Srimad Bhagavatham can be found again, Perumal says, 'If you were to go to Brindavan on the banks of River Yamuna, perform tapas like you did now but to see Sri Suka brahmam. Suka Brahmam will then bless you with the 18000 slokas of Srimad Bhagavatham. Likewise the sage performed tapas to Sri Suka Brahmar and then obtained by his grace the 18000 slokas of Srimad Bhagavatham.
Srimad Bhagavatham also tells about the significance of Namakeerthanam. Due to the influence of Kali, even a suddha atma, who had been with the lord in his birth itself, Parikshith himself was subject to a wrong doing by putting a dead snake around the neck of a sage. Even playfully kali should not get associated with one. Parikshith put the snake around the neck of the Maharishi Sameekar as a result his son Sringi pronounced a curse upon him and he listens to the Srimad Bhagavatham in 7 days. Since he had a curse as a result of the Kali dosha, he listened to the Bhagavatham which removes this dosha. That itself is testimony to the fact that Bhagavatham will remove the doshas of Kali. Once the Srimad Bhagavatham itself was hid by Kali. One who is doing good in Kali will get lot of bad happenings. If one is suffering a lot, it does not mean he is bad and if one is living in the lap of luxury, we can brand him as good even. In Kali, one cannot differentiate between being good and bad either in suffering or comfort as we see from Mahabharatam the good pandavas suffered, the bad duryodhana and his people were indeed in comfort. Those who beleive in God will suffer a lot but even then they wont leave God, thats their greatness. Only way in Kali is namakeerthanam and the book which describes it is the Srimad Bhagavatham.
Ordinary people have worries and Mahans have also worries. Ordinary people worry about their families, children, job whereas the Mahans worry that people are moving away from dharma, people are not having bhakthi, not believing the bhagavan, how to give them bhagavath bhakthi, how to take them in the right direction. There was such a mahatma called Bhupadevar, seeing Kali fiercely making its presence felt. In Tamil Nadu, a beautiful place true to its name is Tirumalirunchozhai (also called sozhaimazhai), chithrakoota near Kasi also is a very magnificient place as also told beautifully in the Valmiki Ramayanam. Sri Rama was peacefully living and a bit happy during his vanavasam only in this place called chithrakoota. In Tamil Nadu, Tirumalirunchozhai near Madurai, azhagar malai and a very green hill and a place fit for penance. In this place if one does tapas, this will bear fruit. Even though the perumal in other temples have varadahastam or abhayahastam, the kalazhagar here will give an assuring abhayam. If a hand is lifted and shown as a blessing then it is called abhayam - do not fear! I am here! Who can lift the hand like this? One who is not afraid of anyone, only HE can give such a sort of assurance. If one is afraid of 10 people himself, how can he say dont fear to anyone. So only the bhagavan has the authority to give abhayam to others. Such a bhagavan is present in ahayahastam (hand facing upward to assure devotees) and in others varadahastam (hand facing downward to give to devotees). But in the azhagarmalai the perumal has a ahwAnahastamk - he invites everyone. Come to my lotus feet. All the 4 types of dharmArtha kAma mokSha the purushArtham, 'aram' (virtue of charity), 'porul' (wealth), 'inbam' (pleasure), 'veedu' (spiritual emancipation) whatever you ask I am ready to give and I am the kalpakavriksham, Kamadhenu, come to me, saying so the perumal is inviting us by his anugraham. In the Tirumaliruncholai there will be a lot of monkeys in that mountain, there is a big waterfall. There is a big mantapam atop the mountain called the "Madhavi mantapam", then there is the noophuragangai, its a beautiful mountain, gives peace to the mind. This mahatma, Bhupadevar when he saw this Kalidevan dancing everywhere kept thinking what is the deliverance from this Kali and did not get any answer. So he practiced the "Dwadasakshari" mantram in this Tirumalirunchozhai kshetram eating only fruits and roots performed tapasya. Kalazhakar perumal, Sundararaja perumal appeared before him and the sage asked the perumal as to why people are swaying away from the path of dharma without bhagavath bhakthi, everyone is wayward and they are not getting bhakthi to reach your lotus feet. Perumal says the main reason for this is that the Srimad Bhagavatham has disappeared from the world. If the Bhagavatha grantham is found out again and if there are bhagavatha sapthahams being performed everywhere then the kali purushan can be subdued. When asked how the Srimad Bhagavatham can be found again, Perumal says, 'If you were to go to Brindavan on the banks of River Yamuna, perform tapas like you did now but to see Sri Suka brahmam. Suka Brahmam will then bless you with the 18000 slokas of Srimad Bhagavatham. Likewise the sage performed tapas to Sri Suka Brahmar and then obtained by his grace the 18000 slokas of Srimad Bhagavatham.
By and large, what is told in the Srimad Bhagavatham again and again is the namakeerthanam. When we speak to some people busy with their profession, and queried as to how they are progressing with their job and how is it going then they will invariably say, 'I dont have job satisfaction'. Some will say,'The job is not challenging'. Some will say that they are not getting the right promotion. Some will say that they are not getting the correct increment. Some will say that they are being transferred here and there and they are not interested in this. Some will say the circumstances surrounding their job is not conducive. So for the people in various professions there seems to be some sort of dissatisfaction according to their various requirements. These dissatisfied people then decide to start a business of their own and when they aprroach this two questions will be asked, "What do you know?". Then you need knowledge of doing a business of your own. Then if there is someone with the right knowledge, can you then put in the intial investment and do you have the capacity to generate this. For this too if you dont have money then you cannot do self businesss.
Likewise the jeevan inside us has the dissatisfaction.
The jeevan gets some many images coming from the eyes, from birth till this date, the eyes have seen so many many images, we get leave visit places, go on vacation, excursions and see many places in foreign countries but still do we spare these eyes or express our gratitude to them. Always there is still the yearning for these eyes to keep on experiencing more and more sights with no rest. not enough we say, same with the ears, the sounds are not enough, we need more and more always. same with the mouth, it is not enough. speech is not enough, the taste to the tongue, keeps on still craving for anything more tasty, more salty or more kaaram, body as well is asking something or the other. The jeevan inside is fed up with all this. Like one says inside the home, whats the use of working like a dog for you. No one is having gratitude and no one is feeling satisfied similarly the jeevan inside is crying. How many places, oh you eyes i took you to see, how many sounds I made you hear, how much I made you eat and only for you I have been running around and you have no gratitude, thus the jeevan cries from inside.
"Now the jeevan thinks if I do a self work, I can be happy myself instead of working for this gratitudeless body."
Not worrying about these eyes and ears, the jeevan tries to create something good for itself finally. So deciding not to be a slave to the indriyas, the jeevan now thinks of starting its own business and now when it starts to embark on it it has to know certain knowledge and need a starting capital. Firstly to take the path to jNana, the first question to be asked will be, 'Do you know brahmasutrams? Do you know the bhagavad gita? Do you know the Upanishads? The answer is "I DONT KNOW ANYTHING".
Thats fine then, do you have "Vairagya" (dispassion), "Sansaya" will you take, not only taking making sure you dont go on a wrong path with this. So the jeevan is fearful I dont know the path and the intial investment in starting this own business is "Vairagya" and that is not with me.
Then again the jeevan wants to do DhyAnam, for that there needs to be a certain time available and in that certain time the mind needs to be subdued and not to think of anything and to really subdue the mind, one needs to sit for several hours, a minimum of atleast 4 hours one has to sit without moving arms or legs and sit still in order to quieten the mind mindful of this fact is that it should not be tiresome or difficult for him to, he needs to be relaxed sitting like this for 4 hours as well!!! Must be like a flower. Why? because there is a relationship between the mind and the body. If the body keeps swaying, the mind likewise does too. We can see this for real in a person, say when a person is in worry, he will not be in one place and will be moving from one place to another, being extremely restless because inside the mind there is anxiety.
Thus in order to control the mind, one has to sit for several hours and possess the ability to do Dhyana. As the mind has been practicing the art of wandering for years and years and straightaway it will not become still. Thus for performing the business of dhyAnam, one needs the initial investment of control of the mind. Straightaway the mind cannot be controlled, before this primarily many steps have to be performed to achieve this. Patanjali himself says the steps, 'yama-niyama-pranayama-pratyahara-dharana-dhyAnam'. Having done all the steps before coming over to dhyAnam. Mind control is not as easy as just shifting the hands on the clock from 5 pm to 6 pm, think of world today, think of bhagavan tomorrow just switching it. Its not so easy as that and one cannot do like that! THIS IS NOT A MECHANICAL PROCESS! So without abhyAsa dhyAnam will not be fruitful.
Then again, if we take Karma Yoga. If we need to do some Yaga, homa then we need to do Veda Adhyayana and we need help from someone to perform this kriya and on top of all this we need Achara and anustAna and this will not bear fruit so this investment is required for Karma yoga method.
Then again, when we think of doing social charity, there are so many in requirement for medical attention, education and monetary and for this we need to perform the action in a selfless manner without the feeling of "I" when doing this. We may be doing a good thing, suddenly someone would come over and say, more than you the other person is doing a better thing. Then immediately our face becomes dull. What is this?, I am not being admired for my work. Even though both are doing the good work, maybe old or new, the feeling that "I" am doing is very much present. So one cannot do selflessly any good work. So Selflessness is the initial investment for doing the own business of charity even.
But without the need for any initial investment there is a job, no intelligence is required for this, if one were to search and find out and in order to satisfy the atma and the bhagavan as well, there is one which is the bhagavannamakeerthanam. For this you need not go to somebody and learn something special. No need to know brahmasutram, bhagavad gita, upanishad nothing. If you cannot sit for 1 hour, no need. You need not be selfless. Do you need Achara, anustAna, even if you dont have its ok. What is the eligibility required? Having no eligibility or ability is what is really required.
But what the namakeertanam will do is, with this dhyAnam, yogam, karmAnustanam or vedantam whereever this will take one, there this nama will take you.
The greatness of this namakeerthanam being said is the sole purpose of Srimad Bhagavatham. Therefore the Srimad Bhagavatham again and again in various ways tells the greatness of the namakeerthanam. Thus in the story of Ajamila, in the end ajamila says Narayana. In the Tirumalai, kshathrabandhuvum parAngathi kandukondan is being said. Kshathrabandhu, leading a life with the cow, the person who was looking after the cow had the name of "Govinda" and whenever he was calling out to the cowherd, calling his name "Govinda", he attained liberation. This bhagavatham having returned to us, the gratitude is expressed to this great Sage Bhupadevar. Similarly these 4000 verses of Azhwargal which had disappeared, again we have the whole 4000 recovered and available to us even now. The pasuram, Tirumalai we are able to read and get anandam out of that even today. During the perumal processing, ghosti and the time of seva, these prabhandham we are able to offer, all these which have been restored to us by the great mahatma, Nadamunigazh and for Nadamuni to get all this, it was the azhwar (AramudhaAzhwar) in Kumbakonam - SARANGAPANI ENPERUMAN.
Subham!!
Radhe Radhe
