Om Namo Narayanaya!

ॐ

This is a transcript of the Sri Guruvayurappan Vaibhavam pravachanam by Paranur Mahatma Sri Sri Krishna Premi Anna which is told with so much bhAvam and the pure essence of bhakthi with the Lord personified within the divine exposition by our Sri Sri Krishna Premi Anna. One cannot just stop the flow of tears of bhakthi as one can purely feel by the grace and presence of the lord within when listening to this pravachanam.

Certainly by the compassionate grace of Sri Sri Anna, I was even able to translate this pravachanam by hearing it word-for-word. As Srimad Bhagavatham says "yasmin prati-ślokam abaddhavaty... - Not according to the grammatical rules and other rhetorical rules, but simply an attempt to glorify the lord is enough! was what motivated me to translate word-by-word albeit with a simpleton's understanding and hearing of the words coming from the mahatma and attempt to simply repeat the words as a service to the lord and a chance to be able to write his glories that's all! I want to be completely forgiven by the lord and the mahatma for any mistakes and if at all I have assumed something even knowingly and unknowingly, for it is complete lack of ignorance and foolhardiness on my part. I really really thank the lord from the depths of my heart to have got this thought, more so to be able to even bravely embark upon writing the words of the mahatma and I take this as a great fortune bestowed unto me."

Please listen to the upanyasam from the divine voice of Sri Sri Anna in Tamil for no words can describe the divine bliss one gets from hearing the upanyasam from the Mahatma himself. You can reach out for all the divine discourses expounded by Sri Sri Anna at the website portal https://srisrianna.com/

I noted that I began to write the words down for two reasons, first to hear again and again the words from Sri Sri Anna who is divinity personified and also seemed to give me me some superficial understanding at my level and second to experience the greatest of bliss while translating every word and sentence in an attempt to try and get their meaning as well, a feast for the soul I daresay. Immense satisfaction was obtained while listening to it again and again, word for word. This gave me a great joy whilst also rooting the love for Guruvayurappan in my heart never to forget and time and again the joy to remember these whenever and wherever Narayaneeyam was either sung or pravachanams heard, which hitherto I was blissfully unaware of. Also an excuse for listening again and again to savor every pearl in the oysters of the words flowing from Sri Sri Anna's mellifluous divine voice of Sri Krishna himself while writing them down. 

I was also very much blessed to be able to hear this upanyasam just after my recent darshan of Sri Guruvayurappan at the holy shrine of Guruvayur when I felt an unexplained urge to write this pravachanam as a blog and wished also to share this divine upanyasam with one and all so they too can enjoy reading in English if they did not have a chance to hear this wonderful upanyasam. Radhe Krishna! Anand Sundaresan

Please listen to the upanyasam from the divine voice of Sri Sri Anna in Tamil for no words can describe the divine bliss one gets from hearing the upanyasam from the Mahatma himself. You can reach out for all the divine discourses expounded by Sri Sri Anna at the website portal https://srisrianna.com/

Krishnaya Vasudevaya Devaki Nandanayacha

Nadagopa Kumaraya Govindaya Namonamaha!

Namapankaja nabhaya namapankaja maline
Namapankaga nethraya namasthe pankajankraye!
Gopika Jeevana Smaranam Govinda Govinda!!

With the divine grace of Bhagavan Sri Krishna, here are assembled many sadhus. Satsangham, the company of truth is possible only by the grace of God. If we have done crores of punyam in various births, the merit (punyam) will just result in heavenly happiness or the worldly happiness but the benefit of satsangha or the bhagyam of satsangha can only be got by the divine grace of bhagawan Sri Krishna. Otherwise it is not possible to get. Are there not sadhus in this world? There are many sadhus present, but the intention within the mind to use their company wisely is not present within all the people. A sadhu will even be close by, even present in our own home, yet we will not use them wisely. Bhaktha Prahlada was not understood by Hiranyakashipu and the gain that prahlada obtained was ultimately not obtained by Harinyakashipu. Kamsa never obtained the satsangham that was present within Sri Akrurar although Kamsa was ever close to him. But Kamsa never understood Akrurar. Likewise many people, even whilst being in the midst of the company of the sadhus will not understand them and not use their satsangham wisely. Only with the blessings of Sri Krishna, will the company of the sadhus have its merit and use.

Whomsoever has the grace of Sri Krishnan will certainly benefit from the satsangham and will have the use of the company of the sadhus. What will be the benefit from the sadhus, if we ask, then the answer is Sri Krishna kathai (story of his leelas and greatness). Those who tell the Sri Krishna kathai are the sadhus. Those that perform the vaidheegha karma purohitars (conducting of family sacraments - the priests), sastrigals are also sadhus, pandits who have studied the sastras are also sadhus, sathyasandhan (those who are wedded to truth), sishtacharyas (the righteousness ones), those who don't stray away from the path of dharma are sadhus too as well are those who perform the ashtangayoga abhyasa (the 8-fold yoga). Those who inquire into the atma and wish for it are also sadhus. But those who perform satsangham, bhagavannamakeerthanam, bhagavatha pravachanam, bhagavatha katha sravanam are called as the only sadhus because it is the bhagawan who comes to them himself in the satsangha mahatmiyam and its great significance. Sri Krishnan himself does the upadesham to Sriman Uddhavan in the bhagavatham.

na roDayathi maM yogaHa

na saayathi maM yogaHa
na sanKyam dharma eva ca
na swaDhyayas tapas tyaGo
nesta-purtam na dakshina
vritani yajnas chandaMsi
tirthani niyama yamaH
yatha varunde satsangHa
sarva-sangapaho hi maM

Hey Uddhava, I am obtainable only by satsangham....na rodayathi maM yogaHa as just by yoga alone I won't be obtained, nor by dhanam (wealth) or dharmam (charity or service), nor by tapas, nor by soul awareness, nor by sanyasam but only by satsangHam, I am always obtainable. But this doesn't mean that the bhagawan is not obtainable either by dhaana, dharma, karma or sanyanas or association with them and only obtainable only by satsangHam. The bhagawan doesn't say these practices are not the means. The bhagawan means that beyond these types of means, (thinking of a different type of sadhu), the bhagavan mentions that I am obtainable by satsangHa. Now who is that sadhu? 

The bhagawan says,

paThanto nAmAni
pramadabharasindhau nipatitAH

smaranto rUpaM te
varada kathayanto guNakathAH

- Bhagavan namam and sankeerthanam,

in the ocean of bhajanananda we are immersing ourselves. When we are singing the namam....pramadabharasindhau nipatitAH....we are immersed also in the ocean of samsara and experiencing several difficulties, the people are getting an opportunity to fall into the ocean of namasankeerthanam chanting 'Krishna Guruvayurappa', Vaikuntapathe!, Vasudeva!, Gokula nandana! Brindavana Vihari! Dwarakadeesha!. Only by saying these namas does one get to be immersed in the ocean of bhajanamrutham.

smaranto rUpaM te varada kathayanto guNakathAH' -

it is said that between the namam and roopam there is a synchronous relationship, when we say the namam, immediately the roopam will be remembered. When elephant is described as a namam, immediately the picture of the elephant is remembered isn't it!

"yena kena prakAreNa namashrayaha",

that's what we should strive to become, we should protect the nama. How we should protect, whether with or without ruchi, while for some, immediately the taste of nama will be obtained, whereas for others only after lots of effort, but the effort for getting the ruchi is by prema (love).

evam-vrataH sva-priyah-nAma-kIrtyA

jAtAnurAgo druta-citta uccaiH
hasaty atho roditi rauti gayaty

unmada-van nrtyati loka-bahyah

In Srimad Bhagavatham, Kavi yogeeswarar says....

evam-vratah sva-priyah-nama-kirtya (namakeerthanam is a vrattam)....

nama parata saadhana nahi (as the Maharashtra sadhus say),

there is no other sadhana apart from nama.

....evam vrattaha - to attain the bhagawan this is the only way.

kalau nastyeva nastyeva
nastyeva gatir anyathaHa!

We should protect the nama. Upanishad says,....

'etad alambanam srestham'
'etad alambanam param',

the namam is the alambanam (support/take hold of). It is hard to take hold of the parmatma, he is everywhere, what then is the procedure, the answer is in....'tasya vaachakaH praNavaHa' - Om!....is the vacHakam and the namam to take hold of. Amongst the many namas, praNavam is one of the namam and praNavam is the hold to get Brahmaswaroopam. What then is the mahimai (significance) between namam and praNavam? praNavam is the alambanam for obtaining brahmaswaroopam as shown by the upanishads and the same upanishad tells the mahimai of the bhagavan, which again the namam. More than 1 lakh japam of praNavam is equivalent to saying "Narayana, Narayana" namasmaranam. For praNava japam, there is a stipulated order, but for the namasmaranam there are no limitations, anybody can say it. Ajamilan chanted Narayana and attained Mukthi. Narayana namasmaranam has so much significance than the Omkaram....omkara lakSha adhikaM....

Such a namasmaran everyday morning in the sannidhanam of the bhagavan - NARAYANA SHARAS as its termed, to be drenched in the sharas early morning, bhakthas await here in Guruvayur at the early hours of the morning for krishna darsanam, which is a great sight in itself. All these people say "Narayana, Narayana, Narayana, Narayana"....awake all night waiting for the dawn of early morning....nidra vasana ramaneeya mukaravindau....little kids still in their disturbed sleep, being woken up by 3.00am or 4.00am....Uthishto Uthishta Govinda uthishta garudadhwaja Uthishta kamala kantha thrilokyam mangalam kuru....,people await for bhagawan to be woken up by chanting "Narayana, Narayana". 

When the door is opened, now the people who have been saying "Narayana Narayana" so far will now suddenly exclaim "Krishna! Guruvayurappa!", "Krishna! Guruvayurappa!", Krishna! Krishna!. Why, more than a lakh praNavam is Narayana namam, more than a lakh Narayana namam is Krishna Guruvayurappa, Why, due to the love. If Narayana is said, there is fear and respect for the bhagawan's immense power because it is the perumal, bhagavan, whereas the love for little kutti krishna becomes our unnikrishnan, guruvayoorappan, we would just rush and hug the bhagawan as the swaroopam is before us. We would not feel like chanting "namo namaha narayana" then. We would like to perform parmalinganam to little krishna, hug and lift him up, such would be a desire then and therefore when they say "Krishna Guruvayurappa", the upanishad's Om praNavam is being said to the prabhramham. Saying Narayana is told in the puranams, the same bhakthas say "Krishna Guruvayurappa" here in Guruvayur.

There are many Krishna kshetrams, Udipi Krishna kshetram, then there is the Mannargudi Krishna kshetram in our Tamil Nadu itself as well as many Krishna kshstrams in Guruvayur whilst in the North, there is Gokul where Krishna came into being. Then there is Brindavanam where Krishna ruled, Dwaraka, Nagadwara of the panchadwaras, Puri Jagannathan, Pandaripuram and likewise there are so many kshetrams in our Bharata desham. In spite of all this, when the correct address for Sri Krishna is quoted it is "Krishna Guruvayurappa". Other addressing forms are there - Gokula Nandana, Dwaraka Deesha, Brindavana Vihari but ultimately the correct address is always "Krishna Guruvayurappa", the reason just arose from this question itself - 

"Did Sri Krishna become Guruvayurappa or Guruvayurappa is Sri Krishna?"

Everyone generally would think that Sri Krishnan is himself Guruvayurappan. But the truth is Our Guruvayurappan was born as Sri Krishna in Gokul. Guruvayurappan existed before Sri Krishna. Krishna came afterwards. Similarly it is said, in Srirangam, bhagavan Ranganathar existed before Sri Rama. Bhagavan Sri Ranganathar himself then came into being as Sri Rama. Therefore for Sri krishna, an idol has been setup and this is a kshetram of krishna, is what everyone would generally think. But Guruvayurappan came into being as Sri krishna is a great surprising fact. Since Guruvayurappan is in Guru-Vaayu puram. 

Once upon a time, Guruvayurappan was in Madurai, this is told in Mathurapuri, Kartikeya Mahatmiyam - Madurayam KartiKe masi poojeyam aDhikesavam. There is a sannidhi called Adhikesava perumal which existed in the times of kamsa and before that Guruvayurappan is present. This Adhikesava perumal temple exists even today in Madurai. But the Adhikesava murthi had left from that place. How? In Madurai, Devaki and Vasudeva were praying to the Adhikesava murthi that their troubles should be over. What their trouble was that, after their marriage they did not have Grihapravesam, instead they had Karagrihapravesam (Put into Jail). So in their lives within the jail all the time, many children were born and each were done to death by kamsa who had slaughtered them. They had no peace and they prayed to the kshetram Murthi bhagawan Adhikesava perumal -

devakyAm devarUpiNyAm

viShNuH sarvaguhAshayaH

AvirAsiid yathA prAcyAm
dishiinduriva puShkalaH

tamadbhutam balakamabujekshanam,

chaturbhuja shankha gadadyudhayudam

shri vatsya lakshmyam
gala shobhi kaustubham,

pitambaram sandra payoda saubhagam
maharya vaidurya kiritakundala

tvisha parishvakta sahasrakuntalam
uddhama kanchanagada kankanadibhir
virochamanam vasudeva aikshate

saying thus, the bhagawan in all HIS glory with "shankam chakra padma gadadharan" as a child, this slokam and the murthi inside we see is Guruvayurappan. That chaturbhujam adbhutam child when born, devaki asked that instead of this chaturbhuja roopam she wished to see a child roopam and the grace was given thus which was the murthi ordered to be taken to Gokulam. The bhagawan appeared in the chaturbhujam roopam (having four hands) and talked to Devaki and Vasudevar and then provided the darshan in a child form as well and therefore the reason we see Guruvayurappan in child form one time and as the chaturbhujam roopam another time. In chaturbhujam roopam, shankam chakram gada padma (conch, discus, mace, lotus) is what is told in the bhagavatham. Next moment we see the form as the child of Devaki. The bhagavan in Gokulam, herding the cows and playing with it, performed raasakrida and then after performing many leelas returned to Mathurapuri and due to the troubles caused by Jarasandha left Mathura and came to rule in Dwaraka taking all the Yadavas with him. There was no one in Mathura now. 

When taking everyone, will they forget the murthi of Sri Adikeshava. It maybe that other people who have taken up jobs in Delhi or America may forget their Sri krishnan in the villages. All the people in the villages have now gone to take up jobs in the city. The thought hasn't come to them that there is their krishnan in the village and from their earnings they could send atleast Rs.10/- every month. Many don't have this thought. They cannot take the krishnan with them also. 

But not Devaki and Vasudevar, they had prayed to the Adiskeshava vigraham, our Sri Guruvayurappan and they would not part with that and they could never think of leaving it in Mathura. So when they left Mathura and came to live in Dwaraka, they brought that with them. There they built a very nice temple in Dwaraka and the bhagavan also lived throughout with Devaki and Vasudevar in Dwaraka and they were performing aradhanas to krishna. But by the curse of a brahmana, all the samastha yadavars, who in fact were the devas alongwith the bhagavan, by showing the world that whole generations will be destroyed with false deeds, went heavenwards. Bhagavan went on pravaasa kshetram to Vaikuntam taking Rukmini alsowith him. Now Dwaraka became deserted and the sea engulfed it and was drowned. Hence the Adikesavan vigraham (idol) which was in Dwaraka also fell into the sea. Adikesan, now being a very ancient murthi present much before the krishna avataram was then picked up by Vaayu Bhagavan (Wind God) and Guru bhagavan (Brihaspathi) with their hands from the sea depths and then coming over the surface of the sea, they were thinking that they need to find a place to consecrate the idol which they were bringing with them. There were huge waves and amongst the waves, our bhagawan Sri Guruvayurappan is coming as if he is swimming on the waves. Guru and Vaayu are now bringing it. The place they arrived was called 'Rudratheertham' where bhagawan Shiva revealed to Prachethas, the 'Rudra Geetham' to worship bhagawan Mahavishnu in Srimad Bhagavatham. When the Rudra Geetham was told, the bhagawan would present himself and readily bestow boons, but then we should not ask boons such as asked by Ravana as now bhattadri teaches us how to ask for boons,

tulayama lavenapi

na svargam napunar-bhavam

bhagavat-sangi-sangasya
martyanam kim utasisah

Half a second, in Guruvayur, if we get to hear the bhagavath satsangham and this bhAgyam is enough. But more than Brahmalokam, Vaikuntam, Kailasham - napunar-bhAvam, there won't be so much joy, why because the bhagawan of that Vaikuntam is verily present here - Hantha! Bhagyam Jananam, everyone can just go to Guruvayur which is Vaikuntam and have darshan, why then would anyone wish to really go to Vaikuntam. When such a bhagyam is here, then for even half a second of satsangham, hearing the divine leelas of the bhagawan as namasankeerthanam, one cannot compare with bhakthi purushArtham, thus the bhagawan Siva peruman teaches. 

Siva peruman then calls Guru and Vaayu near to him and behests them to consecrate the idol at this place in Guruvayur, the bhagyam of the people, told in the words of the upanishads, is told by Hantha! Bhagyam Jananam. Neither any of the characteristics of a yeti, yogi, vaideeka brahmanan or any such but mainly by jananam. All the people can just come, see and obtain brahma sakshatkaram here itself. What brahma sakshatkaram that can only be obtained over yugas with severe austerities can very easily be obtained when you come here - Hantha! Bhagyam Jananam. One just has to come that is enough. This is even a bigger task than a ashTaanga Yoga. Just one has to come here, that is all. What happens if we come, once we come there is - Hantha! BhAgyam JanAnaM! Then, in this Janma, cannot be forgotten. Its our bhagyam that Sri krishnan is consecrated here. That is why, here in Guruvayur, it is not just Sri Krishnas representative as Guruvayurappan, but Guruvayurappan himself is present here, the same archAvataram bhagavan who performed all the leelais in Gokulam and Brindavanam, in this age of the Kali is here, people need to have the satsangham here.

paThanto nAmAni
ramadabharasindhau nipatitAH

smaranto rUpaM te
varada kathayanto guNakathAH

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