Why say "AdiyEn,rAmAnuja dAsan"?

Dear Friends, Just wanted to share what i got 2 know about recently through Sri Sri AnnAs upanyAsam AChArya RAmAnuja is an ocean of mercy who requested SriRanganAtha to grant mOksham to all the people in kali yugA by reciting his gadya trayA with bhakthi. Sri RanganAtha thought twice about it. He cannot dissapoint such a dear devotee. At the same time, if he grants mOksha to everyone, he can no longer perform his "LeelA". Hence, he said to AChAryA that anyone who performs sharAngathi to him by saying "AdiyEn , rAmanuja DAsan" will be granted mOksha. Only a very few percentage of the people kali are humble enough to even say that forget about saying it from the heart. That is yet another leelA of God. at least now , O mind, perform sharaNAgathi to this ocean of mercy not because you expect something out of it, but just to surrender under the lOtus feet of such a mahAnubAvar AaazhwAr anubavams ThirumangaI AaazhwAr Thirumangai aazhvaar says that the Lord will raze down the sorrow of his devotees "adiyaar paduthuyar aayinavellaam, nilandharam seyyum." He is ever gazing in the direction of Lanka eagerly awaiting the midnight visits of his dear devotee Vibeeshnan nammAzhWar Namaazhvaar asserts that the Lord is ever contemplating all the different ways to shower His grace upon the devotees "unnadiyaarku enseyvan enRE yiriththin^ee. PeriyAzhwAr Periyaazhvaar goes to the extent of suggesting that the Lord will reject charges made against the devotees even if they were to come from the thaayaar (Lakshmi) Herself, "thannadiyaar thiRaththakaththu thaamaraiyaaL aakilum sidhakuraikkumEl, "ennadiyaar adhu seyyaar, seydhaarEl nanRu seydhaar."" Why would thaayaar make any such complaint? The answer is to prove to the masses that the Lord will not forsake them at all! Such is the love of our Lord towards His devotees. Kulasekara Azhvaar He epitomizes the state of mind of all the aazhvaars when he declares that he will proudly wear on his forehead the wet mud from the feet of devotees, "thoNdar sEvadich sezhuncEr en sennikku aNivanE." Comments of other bhakThAs --Quote-- In this kali no one feels and spell it out from their hearts... unless we make an attempt to get such kind of bakthi , rangan wudnt c us as a even as a person among the crowd... But such kind of bakthi will grow only thro GURUKATAKSHA hence we shud alwz plead him to pour mercy(though till now its more)...on us Those things that u've quoted will b xplained very superbly by srisri in RAMANUJA VAIBVAM .i too have heard it so much of times.... --Unquote-- --Quote-- It is the way of vaishnavam,but the word have been forgot my most person.Even Our Namazhwar says "Thondar Thondar Thondar Thondan sadagopan".According to vaishnavam each Vaishnavate is a slave of other Vaishnavate,u can see this from the pasurams of our Azhwars and Aacharyans --Unquote-- Another Staunch VAishnavites view Anyone who does "samashranam". Having the sanku charkram in the left arm and right arm by your acharyar. The first lesson taught is whoever you talk you must say adiyen ramanuja dasan. I happened to listen in velukudi's discussion. Those who have done samshranam are only allowed to get srivaikunda moksham and they are the srivaishnavas. Info on Samashranam (nAma samasakaram) The AchAryA adds the name 'DAsA' at the end of the disciples name , to indicate that he is forever the servant of Lord Sriman NArAyanA and Bhagavad RAmAnujA. He becomes a 'RAmAnuja dAsan'.This is highly important. Eventhough Sri Vaishnavam is eternal , it was Bhagavad RAmAnujA who propagated it with intensity and fervour ,out of his great compassion for all the living entities. He was a supreme devotee of Sriman NArAyanA and an intellectual genius. He gave the true imports of Brahma SUtrAs and established the eternal truth vouchsafed in the Upanishads . He made everyone understand that NArAyanA , the consort of 'Sri' is the Supreme Lord , who has all the sentient beings and insentient things as His body (ie. NArAyanA is supporter & controller of everything and everything exists for His pleasure ). He gave the secret doctrine of 'prapatti' ( self -surrender ) to the whole world. PRAPATTI IS THE ONLY WAY IN THIS KALI YUGA BY WHICH ONE CAN REACH SRI VAIKUNTAM (MOKSHAM). Thus ,it was Bhagavad RAmAnujA who opened the gates of Sri Vaikuntam for anyone , irrespective of caste , creed or sex. The greatness of Bhagavad RAmAnujA cannot be expressed in mere words. Since he was the one who redeemed the whole suffering humanity by propagating the eternal truth and the ultimate good to everyone , Lord RanganAthA residing at SriRangam became so moved that , the Supreme Lord placed at the disposal of RAmAnujAchAryA , all His possessions - LIlAvibhUti ( Material World ) and Nitya-VibhUti (Spiritual World ie. Sri Vaikuntam ) - including Himself.In commemoration of that act , Lord RanganAthA conferred upon Bhagavad RAmAnujA the name of 'Udayavar'( Possesor or Master ) ,to signify that he was thenceforth the Master of All. Thus , to enter the Spiritual Abode of Sriman NArAyanA , the link with ' Udayavar '( Sri RAmAnujA ) becomes a vital and important criterion. The sishyA should always identify himself through this 'dAsa ' nAmA . Whenever he speaks to other bhAgavathAs he should have the servitude attitude which in one way can be cultivated by remembering his 'dAsa ' nAmA. Ladies shall identify themselves by suffixing "nAmine RAmAnuja dAsi" to their name ( eg: RanganAyaki nAmine RAmAnuja dAsi ). Courtesy : 1.http://www.salagram.net/sstp-TempleGoersGuide.html#SAMASHRAYANAM 2. "Oppilappan Yahoo Groups" AdiyEn thyAgayya and rAmanuja dAsan

Welcome to ramaneeyaRoopams

Dear Readers, I invite you all to visit my new picture blog where I will be sharing pictures that i like the most . Most of the pictures are obtained from elsewhere ( like flickr). I am sharing them so that readers with similar interests can enjoy. URL: http://ramaneeyam.blogspot.com I have named the blog as ramaneeya roopams for it will be a place for simple, pleasing and divine picures like that of srirAmA, the athi-ramaneeya roopam. with sathguru dhivyapAdha smaranams, krishna sarvam seethArAmachandrArpanam

Sathguru LEkha Etuvanti Guniki Theliyaka POdhu

Dear readers , For a long time I haven't been able to frequent to this blog-world of mine, which I do miss a great lot just like a most of you. There is some bad news and good news I have got to share with you (just like one of those TV ads,Surf Excel i think). The bad news is that , I wont be updating this blog any more (may be once in a blue moon). Now , for the good news. Perhaps a month back I started my new blog-world @ http://saptharathnas.blogspot.com (NAdhAmritha upAsakAs) The blog is dedicated to my "saptharathnAs" . I am hoping to continue posting more on that blog. I take immense pleasure in inviting the readers of this blog to "NaadhAmrutha upAsakAs". I would like to share my personal experiences with "Naadha UpAsanai" as i enjoy along with the kAtAkshams of the nAdhAmrutha upAsakAs and the nAdhapriyan. Now, Why did i want to start up a new blog dedicated to nAdhOpAsakAs? I strongly concur with the Sri Vaishnavaite concept of prapatti and sharanAgathi ( I am actually a telugu brahmin born and brought up in tamil country,just like my most favorite mAnasIga guru..I will introduce him very soon). When one surrenders onto bhagawAns dhivya kamala pAdams, one gets closer to the bhagawans dhivya mani pAdukAs(sandals). I said "mani pAdukAs". The pAdukAs are embroided with fabulous rathnAs. The rathnAs represent the bhagawaThAs who sing in praise of the lord in the sweetest nAdhams the sound of which will instantly destroy all the bAdhams(distrubances) of kali. Then,If one practices nAdhOpAsanai wIth shraddhA and bhakthi and other qualites(I will talk about them in a future post), one gets the bhAgayam of getting something superior to mukthi. What is that? Musically mingling with our lord while being on earth (very similar /perhaps even superior to JIvan mukthi) Am not sayin this . The great sri ranga bhaktha, Swami VEdanTa desikan has beautifully and peerlessly elaborated not in just a few verses but in a garland of exquisite 1008 verses. (sriranga pAdhukA sahasram). My first post in the new blog is on the same. Swami DEsikan has in fact sung in praise of NammAzhvAr. He infact composed those 1008 verses (sanskrit) in a mind-blowing 3 hours. Though this blog , I would like to share the glory of what swamy dEsikan had composed in thousand verses several hundred years back as I experience and enjoy it ONLY through the katAkshams of the great souls like him. On the same note ,If there is any of you who would like to contribute/ share your experiences with Carnatic Music (CM) from a bhakthi perspective, I would really like you to start a blog/ joint post in my blog. Here are some ideas on what you can write on.. 1. Write a personal account relating to a particular krithi/ krithis(kirtana) of the "saptharathnAs" 2. Writing interesting anecdotes from the lives of the great souls including that of the saptharathnAs ( it can even be an article that you might have read in some yester-year magazine;/book that the current generation is not aware of) 3. Translating and commenting (appreciative) a book ( something you think is priceless) All the articles should ultimately focus on the greatness of NaadhOpAsanai / NaadhOpAsakar. with sathguru dhivyApAda smaranAs, krishna sarvam seethAramAchandrArpanm

YEdanunnAdo, bhadrAdri Vaasudu

srI: Hay Deva Hay Dayitha , hay jagadheka bandho hay krishna hay chapala , hay karunaika sindho hay naatha hay ramana, hay nayanaabhi raaama haa haa kadhaanu bhavithaasi padham dhrushormeh (O DEva dEvA, the object of my supreme affection, O KRishna, the friend of the Universe, O Lord , who melts with compassion for the welfare of your devotees, O OCean of mercy! O , Lord of Mine! O, delight of my eyes,who warms my heart! Alas, I am suffering without your darsanam. When are you going to present yourself before me?) -KRishna KarnAmrutham of LeelA Sukhar Hay Raama Hay ramana, hay jagadheka veera hey naatha, hay raghupathey! KarunAlavAlA hay jAnakI ramana ! Hay jagadheka bandhO Maam paahi dheenam anisam krupanam krudhagnam Sri Raama karnaamrutham of Sadhguru bOdhendrAl broChevArevaruRA, ninnu vina, raghuvarA nI charanAmbujamulanE vidajAla karunAlavAla (O rAmA , who will save me other than you? O Ocean of Mercy, I can't leave your lotus like feet) O chathurAna Adi vanditha neeku parAkElanayya nee charithamu pogadaLEni naa chintha theerchi varamulIchi vEgamE (O , the one who is worshipped by the great ones like the brahma and others You are the one who can save me , If you show this aloofness ,what can I do? My diction is inadequate even to sing and praise your glories. I am in such helpless state. Please clear my worries, grant my wishes and rescue me) SeethA pathE nApai neekhabhimAnamu lEdhA VAdhaathmajArchitha pAdhA nA moralanu vinarAdhA (O! Lord of SItA , don't you have any affection towards me O! the one whose feets are always worshipped by hanumAn, Why don't you listen to my lamentation??) bhAsuramuga kari rAjuni brOchina vasudEvudavu neevu kAdhA (Arent you the Vishnu , who gloriously saved the elephant king?) nA pAtakamella pOgOtti gattika nA cheyi patti viduVaka brOchevArevarurA ninnu vinna raghuvarA. (Cleansing me of all my sins, and without leaving it, holding my hand firmly, who will save me other than you ???) Saint tyAgayyA in the kamAs krithi KarunaCheyvA enthu thAmasam krishna , yaadhava krishnA, yadukula krishnA. ksheera saagara sayanA ,nannu chintala pettavalEnA,sri rAmA. krupaya pAlaya ShaurE , karunA rasaVAsA rakshamAm sharanAgatham , pakshivAhan padhmajA ramana pannaga sayana padmanAbha prabhO dhuduku gala nannEdhORa, Koduku brOchurA SITA rAmachandra parabrahmanE nama:

Meenalochani Paasamochani Meenakshi

Dear Friends , Updated I am pleased to write this post dedicated to naadagamakachoodaamani Sri muthuswami dhikshithar and to kadhambavana vaasini ,meenalochani ,paasamochani meenakshi devi. As a new way to eliminate long days of null activity, I have planned to build up the post in incremental steps every day. I am sure that , this approach will also be appreciated. A rare flashback :) I am indeed very blessed enough to have lived in the holy city of meenakshi sundareshwarar for almost 8 years. Those were my school days when I used to go along with my father to the sundareshwarar temple ( a beautiful and big temple ) with so many prahaarams. I and my dad used to circumambulate the moola sannithi of meenakshi amman and sundareswarar experience that i miss quite a lot after coming to US:(. The vibrations in such temples are so distinct and wonderful despite all the for an unforgettablecrowd. I have wished so many times to be born as a son of a temple purohit/ a bhagawathar/ dikshithar and perform nitya kainkaryams to the temple deity, if i were to have a rebirth:). I and my father used to walk around the entire temple hopping around the thousand pillar hall ( AyirankAl mandapam) ,the lovely porthaamarai kulam ( the golden lotus pond) , the mighty vennai kaalis (butter kaali vigrahaas). people throng around the before the vigrahaas and throw butter ball at the kaalis by wishing for something. its a belief that the wish will be fulfilled. I can remember the small yet very expressive hanuman vigraha carved on to a pillar. The statue always used to be covered with chendhooram (safron) and butter. It would be a wonderful sight. In rapture , I used to take a big soop from the vigraha and keep it on my forehead. Like this hanuman , at yet another corner of the porthaamarai kulam , there is a vigraha of nandhi covered fully with vibuthi. what lovely sights? shoudn't one be blessed to have gotten a glimpse of such vigrahaas which aren't just carvings made out of stones. As, T.S Balakrishna sastrigal has said in one of his discourses , the speciality in such vigrahas is the chaaitanyam. If you go north of india, you can find lot of temple. You can find very beautiful statues carved out of marbles but what makes the difference. it is the chaitanyam inside the stone. These vigrahas have been worshiped, praised, sung in beautiful raagas by very noble souls depicting their mahaatmyam. UPDATE 1 : I mentioned about the krithi Meenakshi Memudum dehi composed by muthuswamy dikshithar yesterday. When i first heard Sri Madurai Mani Iyer(MMI) rendering this krithi, I instantly fell in love with it and y wouldnt i be? My dad used to be a great rasikan of sri mmi so was I. A new cassette on the stands?? Bring it home.That was our spirit. Both I and My father so very liked his baani (style) of singing swara jatis (sarvalaghu style) and shruthi shudhham. For us , he was carnatic music at best. For me, MMI and carnatic music arent different. When he was very young he used to sing at anju kattai ( pitch 5) . Smt M.S. Subbulakshmi is the only other person who can go upto this pitch. Later his health deteriorated. Here are some excerpts taken from other MMI fans at sangeetham.com. " Every other Musician of his time had the privilege of good health, prosperity and happy life for atleast 40-45 years. MMI at the age of 17 lost his father(who was the only bread winner), had to shoulder big responsibilities of bringing up the family of 3 sisters, mother and grand mother. He was a budding artiste and he had to face lots of challenges to meet both ends for his family. Only by divine grace he got good name and fame during late 1930s. (GNB/Semmangudi were already a superhit, though MMI started singing since 1924) But during early 1940s he got a major setback in health with that dreadful disease he was just in his late 20s and had to forgo his marriage. With such a kind of physical challenge he fought for almost one full year to comeback (his old style gone and sruthi came down). It was only thru his devotion to music, strict adherence to Shruthi (no other musician was as perfect as MMI in Shruthi shuddham and swarasthaana shudhham- I am not saying this, shri Lalgudi told this amidst of 1000 rasikas in 1997). All he could give is a simple good music with Sruthi shudham, raaga shudham, swarasthaanashudham and Laya shudham." "Mani Iyer was a devotee of Navagrahas and upon the advice of Sengalipuram Anantharama Dikshitar he practiced singing them at home. Dikshitar was a great fan of MMI and MMI was a devotee of Dikshitar. Once Dikshitar out of compassion asked shri MMI to be with him for 40 days at Guruvayur to help him get rid of Leprosy (which was incurable those days). Dikshitar himself got that disease cured by a miracle of Shri Guruvayurappan (his photo is to be seen in the temple along with that of Chembai, who also got rid of his voice problem thru the Lord). MMI who was advancing in age, like a Vedanti, denied the chance of curing and said, he wish to fully suffer from his Karma and then get rid of it in the same birth. This incident was told by a witness who was a fan of Dikshithar..." "His ill health robbed his personal life completely and he had to depend on others for even taking food and basic cleanings. As age advanced his health was still more affected. With these set backs I wonder if even one else could have even sung, leave alone all these shudhdhams." He had such a deep sangeetha jnaanam. Even pass by rikshavalaas used to stand by to listen to his simple and elegant way of delivering some really intricate music that requires strenuous training and conditioning . One thing that had struck me hard about MMI is that the moment he renders the first 2 raaga alaapanas, one can get a feeling of what raaga it is. You dont have to ponder over and over. Listening to his renditions were instrumental in me cultivating a liking towards this noble form of music. The other aspect is his simplicity especially when it comes to rendering swaraas. He is so very peerless when it comes to rendering swaras. I am a guy that likes saahityams more that raaga alApanas and swaras but with MMI it is an exception because the swaras themselve speak their beautiful divine language. You would never find MMI struggling to render swaras even at very brisk sarvalaghus. They start dancing on his mouth spontaneously. He truly is a mahanubAva when it comes to carnatic music. Like this , i can keep writing on my feelings. That would be for yet another day. Meenakshi Memudum Dehi Those were the nights when I and my parents went to sleep listening to MMI rendering in his madhuradhwani this wonderful krithi in pantuvarAli (a.k.a gamakaKriya acc. to Sangeeta Sampradaya Pradarsini of Subbarama Dikshithar). This is the same krithi after listening to which ,dikshithar left his mortal coils. If one has to write about Dikshithar , a separate blog would be required. I wish to start a blog showcasing the mahaatmyams of the krithis and the lives of the trimurthies of carnatic music. On the same note, let me strongly encourage interested volunteers to spend some dedicated time (at least once in every week) to gather info about their lives and works and more importantly use the info to emphasize the inherent greatness to fellow readers. This should definitely be a great adventure ride into the lands of their wonderful past. The volunteer should consider bhakthi as the driving force.Mere collection of facts wont be of great help. Lots of material are already there on the internet. Many of them fail to affect the reader because of the importance given to facts and figures. Such articles will quench the thirst of the intellect but not the soul. Hence, it becomes highly important for the reader to have high regard for what he/she is going to write about. Aathmaarthama ezhudhanum (words should be nothing but a transformation of the heartfelt feelings). Such volunteer help would be greatly beneficial. I dont know if i am makin any sense or how feasible this project will turn out to be but i just wanted to pen my thots and highly hope to get the katAksham of the trimurthis and their glorious gods to make it happening. Any suggestions/ideas/questions will be welcomed with folded palms:) Anyways, after a useful digression, let me get back on track with dikshithars gem of krithi. The compositions of dikshithar are full of gamakas. A gamaka is defined as, "swarasya kambo gamaka: srotra chitta sukhavaha:". That graceful movement of the swara, that fine pull of the string, which brings happiness to the hearer is a gamaka. Different gamakas arouse different emotions. Singing or playing the same kind of gamaka throughout, makes it dull and monotonous. A happy combination and intertwining of the various gamakas is what is wanted. - Sri Parameswara Bhagawathar. Gamakas are the life-givers of carnatic music. Dikshithar was a master of using gamakas. Most of his krithis are gamaka laden and deep in meaning. Take Meenakshi memudum dehi for eg. The greatness of dikshithar can be easily infered from MMI's rendition where he handles the gamakas in his raagAlApanAs and saahityams to perfection. Talking about gamakas and dikshithar's compositions , one can get from the krithi that Meenakshi Devi is also known as raajamaathangi, identified as one of the forms of Shakthi. Worshipping of this form confers musical skills to the devotee. No wonder the NaadaGamakakriyachoodAmani left his mortal coil by listening to this immortal krithi. He praises the goddess as the creator of the ten gamakas of veena. (VeenA GAna Dasagamakakriiye). (will be continued) More to come... i will continue to write on MMI,dikshithar and Meenakshi Memudum Dehi i will be uploading some krithi renditions. So, keep an eye on the blog:). Appreciation of the renditions will demand taste in traditional carnatic padhathi. (tradition) but am sure that everyone can enjoy the rasa induced by the pantuvarAli/ gamakakriya raaga. Smt M.S. Subbulakshmi has also rendered the same krithi beautifully but currently i dont have a copy of her rendition. Will upload if i get hold of it some time in the future. Namo gurguhAya nama: DEhi meenalochani paasamochani meenaakshi Sarvam sitAramachandraarpanam

RamabhadrA rArA shri ramachandrA rArA

Dear Friends , Sri: It gives me immense pleasure to write up this post after a long long time due to the grace of SitaRama bhakthas by first offering my salutations to the lotus feet of two of the great raama bhakthas/ vakh-geyakaras in this kali yuga, the nadhOpAsana rathnAkarA Tyaga brahmam and Kancharla Bhakta RamadasulaVAru. We are indeed very fortunate enough to know about their lives and their works. These two saints/vakh-Geyakaras are like two brilliant eyes that radiate the glory of Sita Ramachandra swamy to the people suffering from material pangs in this Kali Yuga. These are the great souls that melted the Naadhapriyan with their beautiful kirtanAs soaked in nectarine love for him. How can the Lord remain unmoved by the devout cryings of his dear ones? Didn't he IMMEDIATELY rush to the help of the mighty Gajendra, the King of Elephants, when he cried for help? Saulabhyam (easy access) and Souseelyam(easy access to all) is one of the anantha kalyana gunas of our sundara raamachandran. One just has to call out his name "Raaamaa" and we have his katAksham already. Just like the mighty gajendra, all we have to do is call out his divya naama to escape from the jaws of the crocodile (material life ) instead of trying hard to do it by ourselves. This is the central idea behind naama sankeerthanam and lots of credit goes to Bhadrachala RamadasulaVaru. If not for him , there will be no prAchina naama sankeerthanam today. Note: Let me slightly interrupt u. The blog can also be downloaded in rtf format. See Link section below. BhadraRAAMAAchalam BhadraAchalam , literally means "on top of Bhadra". Also,Bhadram means anything that is auspicious. Seetha Raama is "atIVa Bhadram". He is the most auspicious of everything. Who is this Bhadra? and Why should Raama be seated on top of Bhadra? There is a short story behind this. Once there lived a great sage called Bhadra. He did intense tapas to see SitaRama . Rama was in Dandakaranya forest during the same time. He implored Rama to be seated on his head but Rama was on the look out for his consort SitA Devi. He promised him that he will fulfill his desire after finding SitA and establishing dharma by killing the wicked RAvanA. As RAmA was unable to fulfill his desire during his avatarA , bhadrA was performing intense tapas since then(until end of Thretha Yuga). Without any delay, Lord Vishnu rushed to his devotee by blowing his conch(panchajanya) , accompanying Sita Devi and Lakshmana and manifested as Vaikuntha RAma. Immediately , the sage Bhadra asked his holy feet to be placed on top of his head. What is the significance of this? On top of our body is our mind. Our mind is fickle. Hence, it is very important to control our mind. This is the task undertaken by the greatest of the sages and seers ultimately to realize the bliss of Aatman. By doing intense tapas, sage Bhadra got a chance to seek the most auspicious feet of SitaRama and have it placed on his head. Let we all yearn for such a thing in this kaliyuga. *Pleased with the severe tapas performed by Bhadra, Lord Rama appeared before him and asked, “What is it that you seek?” Bhadra prayed, “Oh! Lord! Please place Your Lotus Feet on my head!” and Lord Rama blessed him with the touch of His Lotus Feet. The hill has thus taken on the name of this Bhakta Bhadra and is known as Bhadrachalam." Such a manifestation of the lord as vaikuntha Rama is very enchanting, special and all powerful indeed. No wonder lakhs of devotees throng to Bhadrachalam on the SriRaamanavami day for the SitARAmachandraKalyAnam. Sita Rama has 4 hands (chathurbhujam) each having Sankha (conch) , chakra and dhanurbAna(other 2 hands) . The beautiful Sita devi is seated on the left lap of such a handsome RamA (see picture) Lakshmana stands to the left of the Sita and Ramchandra. Such dazzling self manifested vigrahAs (swayambhu) were revealed to a pious woman belonging to the 'Sabari' kula in a dream. Her name is POkala Dhammaka. One interesting feature to note is the absence of hanuman. How come? The maruthi anjali sloka goes as follows "yathra yathra raghunaatha kirthanam, thathra thathra krutham hasthakaanjalim baashpavaari paripoorna lochanam maaruthim namatha raakshaasa anthakam " Translation : Where all raama's naama is being sung [or told or spoken], there maaruthi [the enemy of raakshasaas] ,stands bowing to raamaaa with folded hands in anjali mudhra, eyes completely filled with tears. How can such a maaruthi be absent ???? There is another interesting story behind this. It is believed that raama sent his great bhaktha hanumaan to bring KAlaKAlan, who was suffering from pangs of hunger to his own place. KAlAkalan had become a great sinner by desiring his Guru's wife. He was cursed by his Guru to suffer from the dreaded disease of leprosy. With no place to live and no one to support , kAlaKAlan wandered aimlessly. He learnt that even the worst sinner was offered food in Bhadraachalam, he decided to take refuge in the Lords place. [total sharanaagathi]. He somehow manged to reach bhadraachalam but dropped down soon after seeing the temple towers from a distance. Kaarunyaasaagara ,sri raama, immediately said "He who has come into the precincts of Bhadrachalam that is my territory becomes mine and is cleansed of all his sins, however grievous they be. He belongs to none else but me and has no right to be taken elsewhere but to my Kingdom. Let him be brought to me!” and sent hanuman to bring kAlAlkalan to him. Bhadrachala RaamadasulaVaaru If we have bhadraachalam today, it can only be because of the great raama bhaktha RamadAsulu GAru. He spent his life just to bring up the temple in bhadraachalam for his hero. He is that noble soul who always had sitaaraama occupying his mind and soul. EVen in his toughest times when he was imprisoned and whipped to death by the nizam for making use of the state funds to construct the temple, , he poured out his love for sita raama, Deenadayalo! Deenadayalo! Deenadayaapara Deva Dayãlo!” -- Oh! Compassionate one! Oh! compassionate One!. He carved out the icon of Sri raama in the prison walls just with his fingers and worshipped. In one of his krithis, he pleads raama to come and save him but with no response he asks teasingly " Rama , Why don't you give your consent to watever i have done ? Say that i havent done anything wrong. Is it because your mouth contains pearls which you fear will spill down if you open your mouth. PalukE BangAraMAyena Kodhandapaani ! PalukE BangAra mayE pilichina palakaVEmi. Would Raama fail to come to the rescue of such a devotee? Rama and lakshamana took disguise as the assitants of Ramadasa and paid the nizam sacks of gold coins. The pleased nizam immediately set ramadasa free and offered the gold given by rama and lakshmana but ramadasa refused to take. The coins are known today as 'Ram tanka' coins. They have the pattabhishkam scene on one side and the picture of the great raama bhaktha anjaneya on the other side. One should develop taste for Rama Japa (Rama japa ruchi). One who enquires into the ‘hetu’/ ‘phala’ (fruit) of Rama Nãma japa is not eligible to chant it. When we are offered ‘laddu’ (a kind of sweetmeat) do we try to find what it is made of or what good would eating it bring? We just grab and put it in our mouth and enjoy it! Don’t we? So should the chanting of the Mantra be. Unless you have a taste for the chanting of the Mantra, unless one is deeply attracted to it he cannot be called a Bhakta. He is only aateria ‘kamyan’ - one who seeks ml benefits. Perhaps one of the superd and well-known kirtana of Bhadrachala ramadas is the kirtana "charanamule nammithi, nee divya charanmuley nammithi. Vaaridhigatina vara bhadrachala varaDA varadA VaradA nee divya " ( It is only in your Divine feet that i Trust , the one who constructed the bridge, bestower of boons of bhadrachala, Bestower of boons, It is your divine feet (I trust). This kirtana has the sharaNagathi (prapathi) trademark written all over it. TyAgayyA on RamadAsulavAru The great naadOpAsakA born in the pushya bagula panchami (today) day took bhakta ramadas as his role model. As a baby , he was fed with the nectarine songs of ramAdas by his mother. It seems like tyAgayyA was born to extend ,elevate and decorate the raama bhakthi of ramadas by adding the element of naadham. In the famous devaGAndhAri krithi, ksheerasagara sayana, he asks rAma, Dhirudau RamadAsuni bhandhamu dhirchinadhi vinnAnurA, rAmA Translation : O Rama, I have know how you obtained the release of the bold ramadasu from his prison life In prahlAda Bhakthi Vijayam, we can find another tribute Kaliyugamuna vara bhadrachalamuna nelakonna raamachandruni pAda bhakthula kella varudanandagi velachina shri raamadaasu vinutintu madin Translation: I praise Shri rAmadas, who shrined in the world as the supreme devotee of sri raamachandra, who shines forth from his seat at bhadrachalam in this kali yuga As a concluding note, let me share with u a great musical treasure of tyAgayya as he pours forth in kaarunya rasa. The krithi is pAhi rAmachandra rAghava in the yadukula kAmbhodhi rAgA. In the krithi, tyAgayya pleads rAma how he can live this janmA without his kaTAksham. Musiri Subramania Iyer really popularized this krithi with his peerless rendition. Another krithi, Ksheerasaagara sayana in devagAndhAri raaga has also been rendered by musiri so wonderfully. Usually, people recognize musir only by the nagumOmu ganaleni krithi, but he has rendered so many other wonderful krithis like the above mentioned ones. I encourage you guys to check them out in the following link section. May the great bhakthas like ramadasa and tyAgayya grace upon all of us to get the kaTaksham of SitARAma. sarvathra raama bhakthulaku vandanam. jAnakI kAntha smaranam , jai jai rAma rAmA. gOpikA jeevana Smaranam , Govinda Govinda External Links and References: 1.Musical Links BalamuraliKrishna's rendering of Bhakta Ramadasu T.N SheshagOpalans Renderings Musiri Subramania Iyer-KshiraSagara Sayana - Deva Gaandhaari Veena- KshiraSAgara Sayana PAhi RAmachandra RAghavA -Yadukula KAmbodhi-Musiri Subramania Iyer pahi RAmachandra RAghavA- T. K .Govinda Rao The same document in rtf format 2. References Madhuramurali.org SriRanganganAtha BhadriRAmA 3. Credits Writely.com musicindiaonline.com streamload.com blogger.com last but not the least,SeethaRaama bhakthas:)

BREAK

Dear Friends Due to different unavoidable reasons, I haven't been able to blog for good over a period of time. I don't know when i would be back to blog-o-sphere but I am hoping to get back in the near future (don't know when exaclty). Only HE knows. I would like to convey my BIG thanks to all you fellow blggers,well-wishers and friends. For all regular visitors of this blog, kindly drop in your email ids so that i can inform you guys whenever i resume blogging. May the great Lord shower his blessings to y'll. Sarvam sriraaamachandraarpanam