On the Thousand Names of Hari - Harinama keerthanam

O Parthasaradhi, as a blind man who cannot see the realities, I kept wandering in search of help. Neither did I have any qualifications, nor any knowledge. But I had the faith and trust in my inner voice.  Kindly protect me from all miseries.

I pay my humble obeisance to the great Gurus who have lit the torch and engaged me in the path of Service. I bow down to the Holy names of Hari which is so potent and can sanctify the mind of its impurities from material contamination.

The Harinama Keerthana embodies the Malayalam characters which are 51 in number and the poetic incarnation of Lord Vishnu symbolizes the duality of the avatars of the Lord Krishna and Lord Rama. The Lord plays his Leela emphatically for the joy and happiness of His devotees. Lord is so merciful that even those thinking about him in negative gets a chance to get liberation from the pangs of Lord's Maya energy.  The Lord protects his devotees through his Leela, and can be experienced if one develops purity of mind through the constant remembrance of the Lotus Feet of the Lord. The Lord exhibits various relationships  (Rasa) with a devotee - neutral (Santha), servant (Dhasya), friend (Sakha), parent (Vatsalya), conjugal lover (Madhurya). In the Gita, the Lord explains Arjuna that he is impartial to all living entities, however towards a devotee He is merciful and extends His Supreme Bliss.

The sanctified words of the Lord suggests that being a devotee is the highest qualification a person can receive. As far as the symptoms are concerned the Gita verse 10.9 explains The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are surrendered to Me, and they derive great satisfaction and bliss enlightening one another and conversing about Me. Being a devotee is not a easy thing, it is only possible to have devotion with the sanction from the Lord. 

The Hari Nama Keerthana is composed by Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan, who is a Malayalam devotional poet also known as the "Father of Modern Malayalam". Other most important works of Ezhuthachan includes the Ramayanam and Mahabharatam in Kilippattu style. In the Harinama Keerthana, the poet develops a unique style in establishing the 51 characters of Malayalam, by including them as the first character in every stanza starting with Stanza 14. Each stanza elaborates a Tatva taken from our puranas, which involves a story about Lord Rama and Lord Krishna.  For example Stanza 35 reads,

Chammati poondu kadingaanum murukkiyuda,

Ni indrathmajannu ther pooti ninnu batha,

Chemme maranjoru saram kondu konnathumo,

Rindrathmajanne , hari narayanaya nama. 


The stanza talks about the son's of Indra in two Yuga's. Narayana in the incarnation as Lord Rama defeated Bali (son of Indra) by shooting an arrow from behind the bush. Later in His avatar as Lord Krishna, he drove Arjuna (another son of Indra) as a charioteer along with His whip in the Kurukshetra war.  

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