Date: September 29 and 30, 2007
Time: 1:30pm – 2:30pm
Topic: Guruvayurappan Leela and Sant Namdev
Venue: Guruvayurappan temple, Morganville, NJ.
Pravachana karta: Sri Ramanujam Mukundagiri.
A crowd of 40-50 people were eager to listen to Ramuji’s speech on the leelas of Sri Guruvayurappan. Ramuji re-iterated the presence of God in every form of life. He said that when God can live in huge elephants, and small earthworms, why cant he live inside the idol? So Guruvayurappans idol or deity is verily Guruvayurappan. He also dwelt on the fact that Namakirtan is the only way to please God in Kali yuga. He cited the examples of many mahans to bring to limelight that there could be no other path more simpler than Namakirtan.
Ajamila Charitram was recalled to drive home the fact that one is considered to have chanted the Lords name even if he does not do it intentionally. This makes Namakirtan even more easy for people of all languages and religions. For example, when a person says “Aarama” in kannada or “haram” in hindi, it is considered as Namakirtan as “Rama” is a part of these words.
Having said the above on the first day of the satsang, Ramuji, started with a reference to Bakthi and Prahlada swami. Prahladha swami lists 9 steps for bakthi namely “Shravanam, Keertanam,Vishnoho Smaranam, Padasevanam, Archanam, Vandanam, Dasyam, Sakhyam, and Atmanivedanam”. Since the previous day’s topic was Sravanam, the next day was kirthanam. Hence the satsang started with a 15 min Namakirtan of Mahamantra. Ramuji said that Namakirtan was the first thought that would come to one’s mind if they had been to Pandarpur in Maharashtra. Ramuji said that strong faith (druda vishwasam) is a must for Bakthi and Sant Namadev’s life is a proof for this.
A whole bunch of Abhangs were quoted to establish that the Lords name is the sweetest of all and how most of the Pandarpur mahatmas happily tread the path of Bakthi. While the crowd of 40 devotees was awestruck with Ramujis versatility, they resolved to chant Nama as a second step towards treading this path. Dr. Yegna Subramaniam, Mr. S. S. Iyer and Mr. Nandu Baliga from the temple and Mr. Guruvayurappan K were very helpful in organizing this program.
