As the name
suggests Naalayira Divya Prabhandham is a collection of 4000 Tamil verses
composed by 12 alvars. Basically Divya Prabandham sings the praise of lord
Narayana and alvars sang these songs at so many sacred shrines across the country
called as Divya desams. Coming from a staunch Saivites community I have no clue
on what basis I chose to start reading the book on 15th December
2016 which happened to be almost start of Margazhi month and I successfully
completed reading the book on 13th January 2018 which was last day
of Margazhi. One reason on why I chose to read this book is could be because of
‘Genes’ since my dad is an ardent devotee of Lord Perumal. I hardly knew at the
start of what is in store for me during the course of me reading the book since
I had to go though a massive transformation in my life. Also reading the connotation
of each verse is beyond the scope of my age hence I just read the verses. I
feel I have something small to offer for ones who happen to read this blog and so
here I go …..
Let me go over the
Yuga we are living – are we living in Kali yuga which is considered to be period
of darkness and divisiveness, hatred and greed, warfare and inequality ? If we
just take a look into what is happening around the globe you may relate to what
I say. Very sorry to hear regarding the gun shoot incident in Florida and if US
is scary of gun shots then we have India full of road accidents and similarly
there are other countries where either poverty or warfare is ruling the roost.
Mother Nature is literally crying due to environmental hazards caused by insatiability
of human beings. Though Chennai floods brought people together it is shame that we need something as big as Chennai Floods to make people united. If you take a closer look into Human beings - we thank for
everything we have on Thanksgiving day and next day we run for deals, we pray
for rain but at the same time we offer coconut to almighty not to rain on the
day of our personal event.
Year 2017 was one
year where I had to go through so much of frustration and my patience was thoroughly
tested. Being a religious person I even thought of deserting from worship but
the commitment to read the book kept me going. Though my frustrations are far
from over but am starting to understand life from a bigger picture. Now if I
look back to see where did I get all the mental strength to face everything
that was thrown at me then it has to be the Naalayira Divya Prabhandham book. Though
we should always mantle ourselves with positivity we cannot hide the fact that
we are concerned over so much of hatred happening around us, natural calamity,
aging parents, health concerns etc., This is where prayers come into picture
and there are different ways to offer prayers. You can sing praising the lord, offer
dance, volunteer at a temple etc., You can also take up something substantial
as a commitment to offer your prayers to lord such as reading. If you happen to
be Lord Siva devotee you have ‘Devaram’, Thiruvasagam’; Lord Muruga devotee you
have ‘Thiru pugazh’, ‘Kandha Puranam’; Lord Permal devotee you have ‘Naalayira Divya
Prabhandham’; Lord Ganesha devotee you have ‘Ganesha Puranam’; Lord Sai baba
devotee you have ‘Sai Satcharitra’; etc., Take the book of your choice based on
Ishta Devadha and start reading whenever you get some time and always acknowledge
the fact that hardships will not disappear just like that and with faithful
prayers one can come out of it. I do not have the age to advise anyone but I
just want to share something which I believe could be helpful based on my
personal experience.
Also February 16th
2018 marks a decade of me starting my personal blog site. Though I have written
very few of them I have got some amazing and memorable compliments from friends.
I promise to take blogging more seriously and value every minute of the reader
and will come up with some nice articles in the coming weeks/months.
Choosing a topic takes much more time
than writing one. Being good at heart is not just helping poor and needy but
also sharing something in your life which could have a positive influence in
others life. Through this blog I have paid my tribute to ‘Naalayira Divya
Prabhandham’ book and I believe I can bring a positive influence to anyone
reading this blog.
