The Hindu scriptures emphasize that a mind free from impurities like anger, jealousy, delusion, fear, ego, false pride etc. is a pre-requisite for gaining Self-knowledge. The Self-knowledge thus earned liberates a person from the endless cycle of pleasure and pain. The scriptures also highlight that a spiritual aspirant's mind has to be single-pointed towards the goal of gaining Self-knowledge, since that knowledge alone can release a person from the worldly bondage.

But in this day and age, we lead a highly materialistic life. Most of us find it very difficult to control the mind. One just has to sit down and try to meditate on a single object to realize the difficulty to control the mind. The mind wanders faster than one can imagine. Ironically, we don't even realize that we have been enslaved by our own internal enemies like anger, desire, ego etc. To win over these internal enemies, we need to keep constant vigil on every transaction with the world and our behavior so as to avoid ourselves from being enslaved by these enemies. This is a very difficult task.

Does this mean that there are no hopes of getting ourselves out of this cycle of pleasure and pain? NO! The contemporary saints and teachers who understood the spirit of the scriptures and also know the present day difficulties have been very compassionate to provide us with the simplest way to attain purity of mind - singing the divine name of the Lord, simply called Naamasankirtanam.

The efficacy of Naamasankirtanam has been highlighted in many great works. It is said that His naama (Name) is more powerful than Him, the naami. In the following verse, Lord Narayana Himself emphatically tells his devotee Narada that He neither resides in Vaikunta nor in the heart of Yogis; but He is always present wherever His devotees are singing His Names.

"na aham vasaami Vaikunte na yogi hrudaye ravau
madbhaktah yatra gaayanti tatra thishtaami narada"

The above verse also brings out the importance of satsanga, association with devotees of the Lord. The mere association purifies our mind.

Adi Sankara in his famous composition Bhaja Govindam, says that there is no joy or pleasure in the worldly things and only singing His names will purify our mind to help us get out of this bondage.

Another great sage says that just uttering His Names like Achyuta, Ananta, Govinda, acts as a medicine (bheshajam) that annihilates all the diseases in this world, including the samsaara bhava roga that all of us are suffering from. The sage further asserts that this is the Truth and he is indeed telling nothing but the Truth:

"achyutananda govinda nama ucharana bheshajat
nashyanti sakala rogah satyam satyam vadami aham"

It is also said that

"yat phalam naasti tapasaa na yogena samaadhina
tat phalam labhate samyak kalau keshava keerthanaat"

Those results that cannot be obtained even by meditation and yogic samadhi, can be easily attained in the present day and age of Kali Yuga by singing His Divine Names.

The following verse says that in Kali Yuga, there is no other way out for liberation, but for chanting the Lord's name always:

"harer namaiva namaiva mama jeevanam
kalau nasty eva nasty eva gatih anyata"

Compared to other ways of purifying the mind, like performing elaborate rituals, meditation etc., naamasankirtanam is very easy - in fact, it is easier than walking, eating etc. Is it difficult to say, "Raama", "Krishnaa", "Naaraayana", "Govinda" etc? Moreover, there are absolutely no rules to be adhered to when chanting the Lord's Name. Anybody can chant it, anytime and anywhere!

In the final verse of the great epic Mahabharata, Vyasacharya says that after deep analysis and enquiring into the scriptures again and again, he concludes that singing the Lord's Name is the only way to attain salvation:

"aalodya sarva shaastrani vichaarya cha punah punah
idam ekam sunishpannam dhyeyo naarayana sada"

Another verse cautions us that we do not have much time to spare. Our human birth, which the rarest gift we got, is dwindling every second. When our time on this earth is over, Yama (the Lord of death) will show no mercy! We will have to leave this place then and there. So, we need to start chanting the Lord's name right now!

"kalakshepo na kartavyam ksheenam aayuh kshane kshane
yamasya karunaa naasthi kartavyam hari keerthanam"

Trinity of Naamasankirtanam in South India

The foundation of ancient tradition of Sampradaya Bhajan in South India is said to have been laid down by the Trinity of Naamasankirtanam - Sri Bhodendra Saraswati swamigal, Tiruvisanallur Sri Sridhara Ayyaval and Marudanallur Sri Sadguru swamigal. They brought the importance of naamasankirtanam to the layman. Hence, the present day sampradaya bhajans contain kritis sung in their praise as a part of Guru kirtanams.

Sri Bhodendra Saraswati Swamigal was the 59th pontiff of the Kanchi Kamakoti mutt. He was also called Bhagavan Nama Bhodendral. He preached his Rama Namaa siddhanta, that chanting Rama Naama was the only way to attain purity of mind.

Tiruvisanallur Sri Sridhara Venkatesa Ayyaval was a contemporary of Sri Bodhendra Saraswati Swamigal. He was a great devotee of Lord Shiva. He gave importance to Shiva Naama.

Marudanallur Sri Venkatrama Sadguru Swamigal travelled around the whole of India and compiled a lot of compositions by eminent saints and set up the pattadhi, which has been kept intact for the past 200 years.

Apart from the Divine Trinity of naamasankirtanam, Pudukottai Sri Gopalakrishna Bhagavathar, Sri Gnanananda Swamigal, and Paranur Sri Krishna Premi Swamigal are notable contemporary saints who have propagated naamasankirtanam.

About Shenkottai Hariharasubramanian

Shenkottai Hariharasubramanian is a Bhagavatha who is well-versed in the Hindu scriptural texts and has understood and adheres to the dictates of the sampradaaya bhajan and paddhathi krama. He scrupulously observes the nithyakarmaanushtanams, unchavruthy, bhajans, dolothsavam etc. Sri Hari Subramanian who hails from from a very traditional Indian music family, has devoted his entire life in learning sampradaaya bhajans from an eminent music maestro. He had his initial training in music (vocal) for about ten years under the Late Guru Sri. Parameswara Bhagavathar, a veteran musicologist. He underwent further extensive training for three years under Sri Srimushnam V. Rajarao, a vocal and miruthangam exponent and Smt. Padma Chandilyan, a renowned musician of Chennai. Sri Hari Subramaniam is an extremely talented musician even at this very young age. If devotional singing and bhajans were not his primary mission, he could very well have become top notch professional concert singer of Carnatic music. It is indeed a great blessing for the traditional (sampradaya) bhajan and devotional music world that Sri Hari Subramaniam chose to dedicate his prodigious talent to bhakti and bhajans. When such extraordinary talent and utter devotion combine, it becomes an out-of-the-world experience for the devotees.