Bhagavannama and mantra are different. Bhagavannama means rAma, krishnA, nArAyana, gOvindA, gOpAla which are indeed the 1000 names of the bhagavan or even more. There are no disciplines ("niyamam") nor controls imposed over the saying of these names. There are NO procedures or disciplines mandated that these namas should only be said in the morning, should not be said in the night, should not be said while sitting, standing or sleeping, can only be said looking at a certain direction, cannot be said in foreign lands or should be said at only specific times etc.,
WHENEVER, WHEREVER, WHOMSOEVER can tell the namas of the bhagavan with complete freedom.
Srimad Bhagavatham tells us about the significance of such names and likewise the Vishnu Dharmam also. The tamil translation of the Vishnu Dharmam is indeed the Tirumalai. Just as in the Srimad Bhagavatham, Ajamila attained liberation by saying "nArAyana", likewise in the Vishnu Dharmam, kshatra bandhu attained liberation by saying "gOvindA" as we saw earlier, all these are the greatness of the nama.
Just like Jyothida sastram (astrology), there is a separate mantra sastram. Only if one has full knowledge of the mantra sastram, can he know the mantra vAdam. Just as Jyothisham which is a deep subject and one needs to have a deep knowledge as surface knowledge is useless and if may not bear fruit rather and it will be a danger too. If one has obtained knowledge of several sastras, he can be termed as a "sastri". What puranas are there and which purana has been told by whom and to whom, the names and stories contained within, who possesses the intelligence to tell them clearly are indeed called by the name of "Pauranikas" and they are clearly eligible to attain the "VyAsa peetam". Then there are those who are chanting bhagavannama all the time who are called "bhAgavathars" and not "mantravAdis".
Mantra sastram is separate, Nama is separate. Why could the nama be told so easily and simply? Lets take for example a tablet with high dosage which the doctor does not prescribe for casual use and will indeed use them only when required and with imposed restrictions. Even this medicine is preserved safely in cold storage as the potency of the medicine will go down if kept otherwise and may yield disastrous results. So even while giving the medicine we think twice. Sometimes with careful thinking once or twice notwithstanding the side effects we still administer it. But ordinary medicines we give without any restrictions. In the same way there is this difference between the mantras and the bhagavannama. Nama can be told in any manner and will still bear fruit. Even if one says wrongly "Narana" instead of Narayana, but thinks of Narayana in is mind, Govinda he says "Goinda", Rama he says "Mara" but thinks of the respective God in his mind it is great. Bhagavan thinking that the person chanting his name is just like his little child speaking in the childish tone and thinking that he is calling out for him, gives his kripa immediatly and grants his wishes.
But Mantras are not like that. For Mantras the pronunciation has to be correct. Likewise the modulation has to exact. Also there is a procedure for chanting the mantra and this has to be strictly followed. Before the chanting of the mantra one has to perform the anganyasam, karanyasam and the dhyAnam correctly and also for a certain amount of these mantras, an equal number of homas have to be performed and certain such vidhis exist. There is just no single mantra, there are indeed several hundreds of them. One Mantra gives victory over enemies, another gives health, yet another gives wealth, gives education and so on - all these are ordinary mantra. There are also mantras above these which if we chant can make the opposition party not able to perform certain functions. In earlier days, vidwans would go to the Kings courts and perform debates. During the debates if one were to use a particular mantra, the opposition party in the debate would be made unable to even speak itself. It would arrest the speech of the person. Other mantras can make a person unable to get up even from a specific place. So in Mantra sastra there are mantras that can do good as well as bad and if bad thinks do happen, there are mantras to get relieved from them as well.
There are mantrams to perform upAsana to the bhagavan or attain bhagavath sAksAthkAram. The people who are called rishis are those who have seen the Gods appear before them and the rishis are those who have found these mantras and got them to us. By and Large if we see stories of the bhakthars whether it is TulasidAsar, Thiagarajaswamigal, Tukaram, Namadevar, PurandaradAsar and such Azhwars and Acharyas, we see that they will not perform the japam of the mantras and even if they did chant, the basis of the mantras will be the ashtAkshara mantras of bhagavannama. They never wished with these mantras to get benefits or desires, never had interest or thoughts in worldly wealth, family etc and they did not even think in these terms when they chanted these bhagavannama based mantras. But certain people will possess the japam of the sudarsanAzhwar or chakrathAzhwar especially the vaishnavOttamar, the reason being if at all for the perumal or the adiyArdhazh who are performing namasankeerthanam any difficulties or troubles arise, the vaishnavOttamars can perform seva to help relieve them of this. That is why they possessed the mantras of chakrathAzhwar. Even for a bhagavath bhaktha who gets sick, it is only the doctor who can relieve him from the disease. Likewise if the adiyArdhazh get some trouble and if there is a way that they can be relieved from that with the use of the mantra sastras, the mantras would then be quite useful. That is why we see in all temples the chakrathAzhwar being present. chakrathAzhwar only can remove all our difficulties, obstacles and any bad schemes that may have been executed upon us without our knowledge. If we know or do not know that someone is creating trouble for us, they wont be allowed to affect us if we pray to the chakrathAzhwar. If we go to many temples, we can see devotees performing circumambulation to the chakrathAzhwar and lighting the lamp for the chakrathAzhwar.
In the Srimad Bhagavatham, Aswattama vowing to destroy the roots of the pandava dynasty first killed the upapandavas who were sleeping and then began thinking that the root of this dynasty can be got rid of only by killing parikshith who was growing in the womb of uttara. He then called upon the brahmastra which was a weapon that was most powerful in the whole of the universe to just destroy the foetus in the womb of uttara. This astra which one would even hesitate to call upon to be aimed at Kings was now sent to kill the child growing in the womb of uttara. Bhagavan then uses his sudarshana chakra to protect the child.
Similarly in the Srimad Bhagavatham, when King Ambarisha was being the victim of the anger of Durvasa maharishi, it was the sudarsana chakram which chased Durvasa. Ambarisha did not call the chakrathAzhwar to come to his help or save him. Why this story is mentioned in the bhagavatham that the chakram started on its own then? Sage Durvasa was a very famous sage, when Durvasa came sakshath bhagavan himself would come it is said. Such a rishi got angry at a mistake he wrongly thought as being done by Ambarisha and when Durvasa called upon tantraic mantras against Ambarisha, Amabrisha never thought of or called SudarsanAzhwar nor fall at the feet of bhagavan for protection at that time. But in Bhagavatham it is said that the chakram started of on its own accord. There is an important meaning in this. Bhagavath bhakthas even when confronted with difficulties from great sages as Durvasa and whether they pray to the bhagavan or not, SudarsanAzhwar will come on its own to help. The same in the case of Gajendra moksham when the crocodile was being severed by the chakram to save his bhaktha. In that chakram there is prayOga chakram or a beautifully decorated chakram. In most temples there will be a separate sannadhi for chakrathAzhwar. In ThirumAzhizhancholai in the sannidhanam of kazhazhaghar, there is the thAyyar sannadhi and behind the thAyyar we can see the chakrathAzhwar. In the bhavam of looking at it we would think that in the fear that this chakram may be sent upon anyone by the perumal, piratti has kept the chakram hidden behind. We cannot describe in no ordinary terms the greatness of chakrathAzhwar. In the kshetram of bhaskaram, sakshath bhaskaran being suryanarayanan himself is looking at chakrathAzhwar in its sannadhi which was the sthala puranam at kumbakonam and which we have seen. Therefore some mahans would have chanted the sudarsana mantram and such a mahan was the kooranarayana jeeyar. By his sudarsana mantra prabhavam, perumal was brought back from the floods in the river cauvery. Also when a mantravAdi was trying to take away the beauty of Ranganathar, he was made to stop from this act which we have seen.
After Ramanujar, came EmbAr, then parAsarabhattar, then nanjeeyar who lived from 1113 AD to 1208 AD. In the temple the arayar who would put on a cap over their heads are indeed the kings and they would be called so. There would be certain arayars who would be there for performing vinnappam and they would be called as vinnappam arayar. One such important arayar was called thiruarangaperumal arayar. Thiruarangaperumal arayar got a disease and do what may the disease would not leave him. Then there was the devi of kooratAzhwar by the name of Andal. Andal had sympathy for Thiruarangaperumal who was performing vinnapam in the temple and was worrying about this disease and the suffering he was undergoing. The main identification of these Vaishnavar, bhakthar, bhagavathottamarghazh is their inability to stand the sight of other people in suffering. Will they then be able to withstand the suffering of bhagavath bhakthars. Devi Andal sees all the difficulties faced by Thiruarangaperumal arayar and wonders as to what to do about this. Will not kooranarayana jeeyar with his sudarsana mantra prabhavam cure this difficulty. At this time however kooranarayana jeeyar is in kazhazhaghar sannadhi of ThirumAzhizhancholai. Andal sends the message with the details of Thiruarangaperumal arayar who performs vinnappam in the temple and is suffering from a disease and in difficulty and requests kooranarayana jeeyar to cure this disease. To cure him, kooranarayana jeeyar sings 100 stotrams upon sudarsanAzhwar which are collectively called sudarsana shatakam. Even today we get these slokas. In a family even if there are several difficulties, disease, fear from enemies, court case, if someone is performing mantras and tantras against our family, if we daily do the parayanam of the sudarsana shatakam there will be peace and happiness and difficulties will be averted as well as the attack by the enemies. The greatness of this shatakam being thus, was created by kooranarayana jeeyar to help rid of the suffering of a bhaktha.
Subham
Radhe Radhe
Read more translations of the other episodes at: http://aranganinarumai.blogspot.com/
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