GREATNESS OF KAINKARYAM

Love is an essential ingredient in service. In fact, it is the only ingredient. For to love, is to serve.

We naturally serve when we love. When we love our children, we serve them. When we love our spouses, we serve them. When we love our parents, we serve them. When we love our job, we serve the employer. When we love a cause, we serve it.

Srimad Bhagavatam says,
sa vai pumsAm paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokshaje
ahaituki apratihatA yayAtmA suprasIdati

The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service of the great Lord. Such devotional service must be motive-less and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self.

Among all kinds of service, kainkaryam – service to God, Guru and their devotees – is indeed the highest. However, the difference between this and other kinds of service is that this kainkaryam is bestowed, not taken up.

The Guru chooses how He has any particular kainkaryam done, and through whom; and in most cases, he picks the one who is least qualified for that role. That is the greatness of the Guru. Because it is then always obvious that it is only the Guru who worked through the disciple, as the disciple by himself was completely incapable of that role.

Sri Sri Muralidhara Swamiji says, “Kainkaryam and bhakti cannot be separated. Kainkaryam done without love is simply ‘work’. ”

And the beauty is that kainkaryam leads naturally to bhakti.

Srimad Bhagavatam says:
shushrUṣhoḥ shraddhadAnasya vAsudeva-kathA-ruciḥ
syAn mahat-sevayA viprAḥ puṇya-tIrtha-niṣevaṇAt

This sloka says that by wholeheartedly serving devotees who are completely free of vice, one gains affinity for listening to the stories of the Lord, which is the easiest means to develop bhakti.

Kainkaryam is the greatest blessing one can get. When we look at what great devotees ask time and again to Bhagavan, it is only for kainkaryam.

The foremost bhakta of Sri Rama is Hanumanji. He is the epitome of bhakti to Bhagavan and always has the Lord’s Name on his lips. And what does Hanumanji do? Always serves the Lord.

Vritrasura, a terrible asura who came to kill Indra, was really a great devotee at heart. In the famous Vritrasura Chatusloki – four beautiful verses that are filled with intense bhakti – in the very first sloka, Vritrasura says:
aham hare tava pAdaika-mUla dAsAnudAso bhavitAsmi bhUyaḥ
manaḥ smaretAsu-pater guNAms te gṛNIta vAk karma karotu kAyaḥ

Oh my Lord, shall I be reborn as a servant of Your servant whose only shelter is to be at Your lotus feet? May my mind always remember Your wonderful qualities, may my words always praise You, and may my body be always engaged in working for You!

The Gopis, who are the very embodiments of love for Bhagavan, ask only for His kainkaryam.
tan naḥ prasIda vṛjinArdana tEnghri-mUlaṁ
prAptA visṛjya vasatIs tvad-upAsanAshAḥ
tvat-sundara-smita-nirIkshaNa-tIvra-kAma
taptAtmanAṁ purusha-bhUshaNa dehi dAsyam

O vanquisher of all distress, please show us mercy. To approach Your lotus feet we abandoned our families and homes, and we have no desire other than to serve You. Our hearts are burning with intense desires generated by Your beautiful smiling glances. O jewel among men, please make us Your maidservants.

Even Lord Krishna’s consorts – Rukmini Devi, Satyabhama, Jambavati, Kalindi and others, the queens of Dwaraka, who all had the great fortune of being married by the Lord Himself, only aim to remain forever as His servants. One consort says, “I am His maidservant.” Another says, ”I am the one who sweeps His residence.” A third prays, ”May I always wash His feet and remain in servitude!”

Loving service pleases Bhagavan like nothing else.

Sri Krishna Himself says to Sudama, ”I, the Soul of All Beings, am not as satisfied by ritual worship, a new life, austerity or self-control as I am by faithful service to the Guru!”

How great then is this loving kainkaryam that exalted devotees crave for and Bhagavan Himelf extolls! And how fortunate are those who – though entirely incapable – have been bestowed, out of His compassion, with the fortune of performing some kind of service to Him.

Guru paramparA

Sriman Narayanan is the first AchArya for all of us.  He is the Adhi Guru.  Next comes Periya Piratti MahAlakshmi.  VishvaksEnar (Senai Mudhali)( -no connection with Mudhaliar caste of present times) is the next AchAryan.  He is the Chief of the Lord's army (sEnai).  Next is NammAzhwAr.  VishvaksEnar, it appears had come down to the earth to teach NammAzhwAr.  Nathamuni is His sishyA.  UyyakkoNdaar, MaNakkaal Nambi, Yamuna Muni (Alavandhaar), Periyanambi come in that lineage. Periya Nambi's sishyar is Our Most reverred YathirAjar, Sri RamanujAchAryA (lakshmaNa Muni).  He is the Most important AchArya of VaishNava Siddhantham. He is also called Bhagavadh RamanujA.  Rest is all that you are aware of and we can trace down to our present AchAryA.  (ask your parent, if you are not sure who your present AchAryA is.) 

Lord Rama's Nakshatra

This is the birth nakshatra of Lord Rama. The word Punarvasu is derived from Puna+ Vasu, which means return, renewal, restoration or repetition. The 12 Adityas were born of Kasyapa in the womb of Aditi. The 12 Adityas are Indra, Vaga, Vayu, Twasta, Varuna, Aryama, Pusa, Mitra, Agni, Parjyanya, Vivaswan and Dinakar. The mother Aditi of whom the Gods are born is the repository of everything good-truth, generosity, magnanimity, purity, aristocracy, beauty and renown. It follows that this star is the cause for these virtues. To start afresh after having once broken off, to start a new life, to come back from a distant land-all. Punarvasu signifies these. It stands for freedom from restriction and limitation, and boundless space.

Know Your Slokam from Vishnu Sahasranama Sthothram

Every person has a Slokam from Vishnu Sahasranama Sthothram, based on his or her birth star and paadam. On chanting that Slokam everyday, the perosn attains spiritual and material benefits. To know what is your Slokam you have to follow the method explained here:

In Vishnu Sahasranama Sthothram, there are 108 slokas. Totally there are 27 stars, list of which is given below. Each star or nakshatram has 4 paadas. Each person is born in one of the paadas. Therefore totally there are 108 paadas, in one-to-one correspondence with the 108 slokas of Vishnu Sahasranaama Sthothram. Your slokam is that which corresponds to the serial number of paadam in which you are born. For example, if your star is Rohini, paadam is 3rd, your slokam no. = Ashwini 4 +Bharani 4 + Kruttika 4 + Rohini 3 = 15th slokam of Vishnu Sahasranaama Sthothram, which is "Lokaadhyakshassuraadhyaksho..."

This is the list of nakshathras and the sets of slokam numbers for each star:
1) Ashwini - 1-4
2) Bharani - 5-8
3) Kruttika - 9-12
4) Rohini - 13-16
5) Mrugasira - 17-20
6) Ardra - 21-24
7) Punarvasu - 25-28
8) Pushyami - 29-32
9) Aaslesha - 33-36
10) Magha - 37-40
11) Purva Phalguni - 41-44
12) Uttara Phalguni - 45-48
13) Hasta - 49-52
14) Chitra - 53-56
15) Swati - 57-60
16) Vishakha - 61-64
17) Anuradha - 65-68
18) Jyeshttha - 69-72
19) Moola -73-76
20) Purva Ashaadha - 77-80
21) Uttara Ashaadha - 81-84
22) Sravanam 85-88
23) Dhanishttha - 89-92
24) Shathabhisham - 93-96
25) Purva Bhaadrapada - 97-100
26) Uttara Bhaadrapada - 101-104
27) Revati - 105-108

Vishnu Sahasranaama Sthothram has the power to activate Sahasraara Chakra, cause Atmajnaana and Brahmajnaana. To attain Moksha, one's Sahasraara Chakra must be fully opened. Daily concentrated reading of VSS will activate the Kundalini and other Chakras too. VSS contains the 1008 names of the Bhagawan. It was compiled by Sage Veda Vyaasa, and is a part of Mahaabhaaratam. In Mahaabhaaratam, it is told by Bheeshma on his 'ampasayya' to Yudhishtthira (Dharma Raaja) who wanted to know what is the way to attain Moksha..., who asks "ko dharmassarvadharmaanaam bhavatah pramo mataha, kim japan muchyate jantur janmasamsaarabandhanaat ," meaning, which is the greatest dharma and by chanting what do we attain Moksha. Bheeshma chants the VSS to Pandavaas who were present before him at that time.

Mahaabhaaratam has got immense sanctity, only because of two holy things forming part of it: The Bhagawad Gita and The Vishnu Sahasranaama Sthothram.

Thiruvaheendrapuram

The temple in its current form is believed to have been built during the Medieval Cholas, with later expansion from Pandyas, Hoysala Empire and Vijayanagara Empire. The temple has fifty inscriptions from Kulothunga Chola I (1070–1120), Vikrama Chola (1118–1135), Rajaraja Chola III (1216–1256), Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan (1251–1268), Vikrama Pandya, Vira Pandya III, Vijayanagar king Achyuta Deva Raya (1529–1542 CE) and Koperunjinga.

A granite wall surrounds the temple, enclosing all its shrines and bodies of water. The rajagopuram, the temple's gateway tower has five tiers and raises to a height of 60 ft (18 m). Though the presiding deity is Devanathaswamy, the temple is known for Hayagriva, the horse faced avatar of Vishnu. The temple is the only historical temple in South India to have a shrine of Hayagriva.

Devanathaswamy is believed to have appeared to Adisesha (the sacred serpent of Vishnu), sage Markandeya and Hindu god Indra. Six daily rituals and three yearly festivals are held at the temple, of which the chariot festival, celebrated during the Tamil month of Chittirai (March–April), is the most prominent.

A Mason's challenge to Swami Vedanta Desikan

A mason challenged Swami Vedanta Desikan to construct a well by using bricks with uneven dimensions. The Shilpa Sastra, an ancient treatise on arts and crafts from India says that bricks which are uniform in size, have square corners, have a specific size, and are red in colour are the best for construction. Even though the bricks given to him did not fulfil these requirements, swami Desikan used his extraordinary acumen to arrange these bricks in a unique sequence and plastered them to form the circular periphery of the well, which can still be seen in Tiruvahindrapuram.

What is Divya Prabandham?

Here we can find what is Divya Prabandham from various sources. Adiyen is very beginner, so trying to learn and get into our Sampradayam. So if any mistakes, please accept my apologies. 

However Bhagavat Gita is called as 5th Veda, Divya Prabandham is a form of Vedas in Tamil Language.

The Divya Prabandham is the Divine collection of 4000 hymns sung by Azhvars who lived in the southern part of India before 8th century A.D.The term azhvar means the one who is "immersed in" and they were immersed in Bhagavath anubavam all the time. It was the scholar-saint Nathamuni who, in the 10th century, retrieved and compiled this divine collection and numerous commentries have been written by various poorvacharyas for this divya prabandham and it is a life time exercise to read and the understand the inner meanings of the bakthi laden pasurams.

Source: http://srivaishnavam.com/

The Divya Prabandham sings the praise of Narayana (or Vishnu) and his many forms. The Alvars sang these songs at various sacred shrines known as the Divya Desams. The Tamil Vaishnavites are also known as Ubhaya Vedanti (those that follow both Vedas, i.e., the Sanskrit Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda, as well as the Tamil-language Tiruvaymoli, a work which many South Indian devotees regard as the Tamil Veda).

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naalayira_Divya_Prabhandham

The Divya Prabandham is the collective corpus of the passionate hymns of the Alvar mystics (5th-8th centuries A.D.). It was the scholar-saint Nathamuni who, in the 10th century, retrieved and compiled this bhakti treasure which is the pride of Tamil classical literature. The Sri Vaishnava guru parampara (inheritance order of the preceptors) is held to commence from Lord Sri Narayana himself, and to centre, rightly so, around Sri Nathamuni and his grandson Sri Yamuna. The Alvars represented all the caste-groups of the society and their works enjoy the status of "dravida" or Tamil Veda, on par with the "girvaana" Veda in pre-Panini Sanskrit. The Divya Prabandham is in the form of adoration of the deities of 108 temples (divya desams) situated in different parts of the country, and employs every form of poetics (aNi) and prosody (chandam) available in Tamil.

Source: https://ramanuja.org/sv/prabandham/index.html

These days many of us like everything in Android App. Adiyen found a good app to learn Divya Prabandham. 

Please find the link here for the app developed by Vedics.

Link for Android Users: Vedics

Link for iOS Users       : Vedics in iOS

Please help with your comments and feedback.

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasaan

Sri Vaishnava Sandhyavandhanam with Explanation in Tamil

Many of us searching for Audio Guide along with Meaning for Sandhyavandhanam.

Especially for a beginner like me it is really required in the initial stage as I like to follow our Sampradayam which I didn't these many days.

Thanks to my bro for sharing this audio file with me. Below are the links for you to download.

Sandhya Vandhanam - Morning
Sandhya Vandhanam - Afternoon
Sandhya Vandhanam - Evening
Sandhya Vandhanam Explanation

Lets Follow Sampradayam, Lets do our Nitya Karma.

Don't forget to post your comments below.

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasan

Thirumalai Swarna Gopuram

Tirupati is a city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Its Sri Venkateswara Temple sits atop one of the the 7 peaks of Tirumala Hills, 

75th Divya Desam of 108.