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Offering Obeisance with Words - Part 1

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Offering Obeisance with Words - Part 1 Offering Obeisance with Words - Part 1 Date: 2014-11-27 Author: Narahari Krishna das Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my dandavat pranams. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva. From scriptures we hear that we can bow down to the Lord in three ways - with body, mind and words. Along with bowing down to the Lord with our body, we should also offer our words and mind to Him. Offering obeisances with words is done by uttering 'namaḥ'. This will help us progress in devotional service by leaps and bounds. Srila Prabhupada explains the meaning of word namaḥ in the commentary of the verse 8.3.13 as follows. "Every living entity in this material world is struggling for existence, and the only salvation or relief from the cycle of birth and death in the evolutionary process is full surrender. This is indicated by the word namaḥ, "I offer my respectful obeisances unto You." Also the names of the Lord become mantras when they are combined with 'Om' and 'namah'. Vasudeva, Narayana, Narasimha etc are names of the Lord and when combined with 'Om' and 'namaḥ' we have mantras like 'Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, Oṁ namo Nārāyaṇāya or Oṁ namo bhagavate Narasiṁhāya etc. So we have the pranam mantra for Srila Prabhupada and spiritual master starting with "Nama oṁ visnu-pādāya" and also the vaishnava pranama mantra ends with 'vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ'. All these mantras contain 'namaḥ'. So while bowing down before the devotees or spiritual master, we are advised to chant the respective pranam mantras so that our words are also engaged in bowing down. Similarly at the beginning of class on Bhagavad Gita or Bhagavatam we recite "Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya" which means obeisances to Bhagavan Vasudeva. And while singing Narasimha arati we start with "namas te narasiṁhāya (Obeisances to you Bhagavan Narasimha). And while singing Tulasi arati we offer obeisances to Tulasi Maharani by saying namaḥ (namo namaḥ tulasī kṛṣṇa-preyasi). In Mahabharata and Srimad Bhagavatam we see that great devotees offered their obeisances to the Lord verbally by saying 'namaḥ'. Kunti Maharani and Bhishmacharya were elder to Lord Krishna and hence as per the social custom, they could never bow down to Him physically. Only Lord Krishna was bowing down to them whenever they met Him. And Kunti Maharani was also the aunt of Lord Krishna and hence the Lord always sought her blessings. So she could not bow down to the Lord even though He is Supremely worshipable due to social etiquette and the Lord also would not accept that. However, when Lord Krishna was departing to Dwaraka, He protected Parikshit and Uttara from the brahmastra of Ashvatthama. When He was about to leave Hastinapura, Kunti Maharani offered her famous prayer. In that prayer, she offered many obeisances to the Lord by saying namaḥ. She starts of her prayers by saying, "Namasye puruṣaṁ tvādyam", and ends her prayers by saying "bhagavan namas te". And in the below sloka she offers her obeisances verbally to each part of the Lord's transcendental form by saying "namaḥ". namaḥ paṅkaja-nābhāya namaḥ paṅkaja-māline namaḥ paṅkaja-netrāya namas te paṅkajāṅghraye My respectful obeisances are unto You, O Lord, whose abdomen is marked with a depression like a lotus flower, who are always decorated with garlands of lotus flowers, whose glance is as cool as the lotus and whose feet are engraved with lotuses. Krishna willing, we will meditate more on this in the subsequent offerings. Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Narahari Krishna das Chennai. Offering Obeisance with Words - Part 2 Date: 2014-11-28 Author: Narahari Krishna das Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my dandavat pranams. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva. This is in continuation of the previous offering wherein we were seeing how we can offer obeisances by words and how Kunti being aunt of Krishna, paid obeisances to the Lord by her wonderful prayers. Now let us continue to see from the pages of Srimad Bhagavatam the other devotees who had paid obeisances by words. 2. Obeisances offered to Supreme Lord pleases Him as well as demigods: Like Srimati Kunti Maharani Bhishmacharya also was elder to the Lord. The Lord always used to offer obeisances to Bhishmadev and Bhishmadev was in a position to bless Him and he could never bow down to the Lord due to social etiquette. But in his final moments he was lying on the bed of arrows, he offered prayers to the Lord which are recorded in Mahabharata and the prayers are full of obeisances, 'namo namaḥ' (I offer my repeated obeisances to the Lord). Thus he offered his pranams verbally by chanting namaḥ and also in his mind and the Lord accepted it and was pleased with Bhishmadev. The Vedas state the glory of uttering namaḥ before the Lord (or chanting His names along with namaḥ) as follows: yo devebhya atapati yo devanam purohitah purvo yo devebhyo jato namo rucaya brahmaye rucam brahmam janayanto deva agre tad abruvan yas tvaivam brahmano vidyat tasya deva asan vase Obeisances (namaḥ) to that Supreme Lord who is ever shining who shines for the sake of all the gods, who benefits the gods from time immemorial, who is the foremost of the gods. The gods uttered this word "namaḥ" which generates love for the Supreme Absolute Truth, in front of the Supreme Lord for His pleasure. One who understands the Lord in this way (adored by namaḥ), will be liked by the devatas and they will love to be under his control The above mantra was proved during the departure of Bhishmadeva. When he was about to depart, all the devatas and Rshis assembled eagerly to have darshan of his final moments. On his departure, they showered flowers and kettle drums were sounded by the devatas and they were pleased to see him attain the spiritual world. And the Supreme Lord Himself pleased by Bhishmadev's devotion and glorification, personally stood near him and heard all his prayers and gave His darshan to him during his final moments. Krishna willing, we will meditate more on this in the subsequent offerings. Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Narahari Krishna das Chennai. Offering Obeisance with words - Part 3 Date: 2014-11-29 Author: Narahari Krishna das Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my dandavat pranams. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva. This is in continuation of the previous offering titled, "Offering Obeisances with Words", wherein we saw the below 1. Obeisances could be offered by body, mind as well as words. 2. Obeisances offered to Supreme Lord pleases Him as well as demigods. We will continue to meditate on the glory of offering obeisances verbally by saying namaḥ. 3. Potency of offering obeisances verbally: The scriptures tell us even if a person accidentally calls out, "Obeisances to the Lord", he can be freed from sinful reactions. In Bhagavata purana, Suta Goswami says to Parikshit Maharaj in verse 12.12.47 patitaḥ skhalitaś cārtaḥ kṣuttvā vā vivaśo gṛṇan haraye nama ity uccair mucyate sarva-pātakāt If when falling, slipping, feeling pain or sneezing one involuntarily cries out in a loud voice, "Obeisances to Lord Hari!" one will be automatically freed from all his sinful reactions. One need not be a great devotee like Bhishmadeva or Kunti Maharani to do this. Even if he is sinful by nature and even if he does not know the glories of uttering namaḥ along with the Lord's names, by uttering it accidentally or involuntarily or even hearing it, he will be freed from sinful reactions and can make advancement in bhakti. There is a beautiful story in Vishnu Dharma purana explaining this point. Once a great Brahmana and a devotee of the Lord called Mudgala travelled to the abode of Yamaraj to meet him. When he saw the torturous punishments inflicted by the Yamadutas on the sinful living entities, he looked at them with compassion and they saw him. At once they became purified and felt momentary bliss and relief from their hellish suffering. Yamaraj explained to Mudagala that this was possible because of his glory of worshipping the Supreme Lord in your third previous life, and offering of charity made along with chanting the Lord's names along with 'namaḥ' such as 'kṛṣṇāya namah', 'vāsudevāya namah'. Yamaraj also said, "Those who remember Lord Krishna, bow down to him, take shelter of Him and worship Him by chanting mantras like kṛṣṇāya namaḥ, vāsudevāya namaḥ, they are not under my jurisdiction." Hearing this the living entities who were suffering in hell started chanting, "kṛṣṇāya namaḥ, govindāya namaḥ, vāsudevāya namaḥ etc". Though they could not bow down because they were being tied up and punished, but they verbally offered obeisances by saying namaḥ. Because of the potency of the names coupled with namaḥ, all the devices in the hell which were used to torture them stopped working; all the weapons in the hands of the Yamadutas became blunt; the fire burning in the hell became extinguished and all the Yamadutas became diminished in their strength and could not exert any further punishment on the residents of hell. As the chanting continued more and more, fragrant and cool breeze started flowing in that hell; everyone started hearing pleasing musical instruments of flute, vina etc; they became free of the hellish coverings and became endowed with heavenly dress and ornaments. Understanding the purifying effect of their chanting, Yamaraj immediately got up from his seat and started worshipping those residents of hells by offering water at their feet and said, "Those who bow down to Lord Vishnu, who is known as Yajnavaraha and who is the Lord of all gods, I bow down to them again and again.
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