The power of Namajapam - Ajaamilan's story

The power of Namajapam - Ajaamilan's story

For the past few days Sri Velukkudi Krishnan has been telling us the story of Ajaamilan (அஜாமிளன்) – a classic example of how taking the name of God will help us. This was part of the Bhagavatham by Sri Velukkudi Krishnan telecast on DD Podhigai at 6.30 am Monday to Friday.

Ajaamilan was born in a Brahmin family and did his duties well. He was married to a very pious lady who served him well and had good children. One day when he went to the forest to collect wood for homam, he met a woman there. He found her very attractive and in his lust for her, forgot his wife and children and started living with her in the forest. He was ready to do anything for his new found love and even killed animals for the meat for her sake. He lived a sinful life with her and had many children. He was very close to his youngest son whom he had named Narayanan. Years rolled on and it was time for Ajaamilan to leave this world. Yama dhoothas came with the pasa kayiru to take him away and Ajaamilan experienced the fear of death. He panicked and called his son Narayanan. The young son was playing at a distance and did not hear him. Ajaamilan had to call him many times uttering the word “Narayana, Narayana” Bang came the Vishnu dhoothas hearing the name of Narayanan. The Vishnu dhoothas who were replicas of Vishnu in colour and appearance, asked the Yama dhoothas to go as they had to take Ajaamilan to Vaikundam.

The Yama dhoothas who had come there in the first place to take Ajaamilan to Yamalogam because of his number of sins, were surprised to see the Vishnu dhoothas there ready to take him to Vaikundam. The Vishnu dhoothas told the Yama dhoothas that Ajaamilan had cried the Lord’s name “Narayana” several times and that is why they had come to his rescue. Not able to understand how despite so many sins Ajaamilan was being helped by the Vishnu dhoothas, the Yama dhoothas went back to Yamaloga to ask their master Yamadharman about this. Yamadharman explained to the dhoothas the greatness of Namasangeerthanam and instructed them not to go anywhere near Ajaamilan. Here, Ajaamilan lost his fear of death once the Yama dhoothas left and the Vishnu dhoothas blessed him and let him continue his time on earth. Regretting his sinful life so far, Ajaamilan went to the banks of River Ganga and spent the rest of his life doing the namajapam of the Lord. Finally when it was time for him to leave this earth, Vishnu dhoothas alone came and took him to Vaikundam.

Waterbodies of India I

Being a Chennaite, I love our Marina Beach. In fact when we were young, visit to the Beach was our favourite outing. http://sundarivenkatraman.blogspot.com/2009/07/nostalgia-evening-in-marina-beach.html Amma and Paati used to take us all to the Beach from our house in Nungambakkam and Appa would join us there straight from office. The standard meeting place was at the Kannagi statue. At first I was very scared by the huge sheets of waves. I remember my eldest sister Sujatha used to lift me and every time a wave came, she used to bend down and dip my feet in the water. She is 10 years elder to me and must have been about 14-15 years when she did that. I am not sure if I would have had the courage to do such a thing at her age. Thank you Sujatha for introducing me to the beach! Slowly I came to know water was fun and fell in love with it.

My first river bath was in the Thungabhadra. I may have had the chance to have a dip in Cauvery earlier than that, but I do not remember it. About Thungabhadra, we had been to Adoni to my mother’s uncle’s (Kittappa Chittappa) place for summer holidays and went to Mantralayam from there. I actually do not remember the temple now, but I do remember bathing in the river very well. I was about six years old. My parents just made me stand in chest deep water. Appa joked that he could feel a few fishes biting him. I started jumping in the water and wanted to get out immediately as though the small fishes were going to eat me whole!

In 1985, we all went to Patna for my uncle’s (SV Prasad) wedding. Ganga flowing in Patna is called Akanda Ganga as she runs in a very wide path there. It was very nice and pleasant to have a bath here and I realised that I liked river bathing too. After the wedding, our family alone proceeded to Allahabad. Here again we bathed in the Triveni Sangamam. Here, we could very clearly see the colour difference where the Ganga and Yamuna met. River Saraswathi is supposed to come from underneath and invisible. This trip was really enjoyable and I would like to make a separate blog on this North India trip. Our next stop was at Varanasi where we bathed in the Ganga on 2-3 days. In spite of so much of junk being thrown in, the river remains pure!

After Varanasi, Appa took us all to Rameswaram. On the way to Rameswaram, we went to Thiruchendur. What a sea it was! We went in for a dip but many of us fell into the water as the sea was very rough, but it was great fun.

At Rameswaram, the sea is very calm, almost like backwaters and only during high tide, it is a little wavy. So it was almost like bathing in a river. We all enjoyed it so much! I am very happy to have visited Rameswaram four times so far. The last trip was with my husband, mother-in-law, brothers-in-law and their families and was real fun. Twice we went to the sea for bathing and both the times it was at high tide and very wavy.

Dhanushkodi – what a beautiful place! Out of the four visits to Rameswaram so far, I have been to Dhanushkodi thrice. Each time this place looked different. My second visit was after the tsunami and I could see that the sea had come way inside eating into the shore. At Dhanushkodi we could see the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean joining at a point. During the latest trip, we performed some pujas there and had the opportunity to stay for a longer period. While the men were busy with the puja, I was very happily walking on the beach collecting shells. The kids and I were very keen to go as much as possible into the sea and at one point we all just sat inside the sea and enjoyed the waves crashing on us. As it was morning, the weather was mildly sunny and the water was quite cool. I really love the sea here and would like to visit again.

On my third trip to Rameswaram which was a package trip with about 100 odd people, we all went to Devipattinam. I have heard about this place first in Kalki’s Alaiosai and then from my sister Sujatha. The Navagraham here is said to have been worshipped by Lord Rama on his way to Lanka. The uniqueness of this Navagraham is that during high tide, they are completely submerged in the water and only during low tide, can we do puja or pradakshinam. After having bath in the sea here, we did the perambulations around the Navagraham in waist-deep water.

Though Kumbakonam is my hometown, I have bathed in the Cauvery only once during my visit to Nallur with Appa.

Hope to have a bath in Cauvery once again and also visit the other Holy Rivers of India!