Sri Divya Prabhandham also called as Nalayira Divya Prabhandham is a collection of 4,000 Tamil songs composed by the Alvar saints, and it was compiled in an appropriate manner by the Vaishnavite Saint Sri Nathamuni, during the 10th century AD.
This work was written in the form of poems, which was sung by the Alvar saints, and these divine songs are still sung by the Vishnu devotees even today, and especially during the Tamil month of Margazhi, songs from Nalayira Divya Prabhandham would be played in the temples through loud speakers, and also would be chanted by the Temple priests. In the Srirangam temple, the chanting of the Divya Prabhandham is still done regularly as a service to the god.
The Divya Prabandham contains songs in praise of Lord Vishnu, and also about his various avatars. Singing songs and listening to the Divya Prabandham songs is similar to drinking of the divine milk from the Holy Cow mother Kamadhenu, and it is also considered equivalent to the Holy Vedas, and the ancient Puranas.
Some of the wonderful songs contained in the Holy Text, Sri Divya Prabhandham are as follows:-
Oh! Lord Krishna, the cow’s milk has attained good smell and contains more sweetness, since it was consumed by you.
Oh! Lord Krishna, the yellow metal gold, has attained more brightness, since it was worn by you on your body!
Oh! Lord Krishna, I am able to realize that good perfume smell comes from your body, and it resembles similar to the Parijatha flower smell!
Oh! Lord Krishna,though you appear dark in colour, yet I am astonishing about your stunning divine beauty and I want to see it again and again through my naked eyes!
You are the one, who is apart from worldly illusions, let you live long for the sake of your devotees like us!
Oh Krishna, you are the one who is considered to be very strongest person in the world, since you have easily defeated your enemies with your tender hands itself!
Let us praise the little boy Lord Krishna forever, forever and forever and let us surrender under his holy lotus feet!
Let us praise the great Lord Vishnu who is the wonderful consort of the beautiful Ma MahaLakshmi who got herself seated permanently on his chest.
Let us praise the bright god, who permanently holds the Holy Sudarshana Chakra and the beautiful Panchajanyam conch on his hands, and he makes use of it during the battle field.
Let us praise Lord Krishna, who has fought with the dreaded demons in order to pacify the entire world, let him also kill our evil habits like lust, anger and greed.
Let us praise the Lord to live for a long period, and let us realize him by keeping him on our soul, and let our entire body chants the glories of Lord Vishnu. Let us pray for the longevity of the Lord. Oh My Lord Vishnu, my mind must think only about you, and I don’t want to keep garbage on it!
Oh My Lord, I want to do service to you, and I want to sing your glories, chant your names and mantras, and I want to hear the wonderful sound “NARAYANA”, “NARAYANA”, all over the world.
O my dear Vishnu devotees, please recite the thousand names of Lord Vishnu, and also pray for his longevity.
Let my hands always Bow to his feet and let me get addicted on seeing his wonderful feet again and again.
O my Dear Vishnu, you are the one who took the ferocious form of Narasimha, you are the one you once took the gentle Rama avatar, and you are also my beloved Krishna.
O my Lord, Your body glitters like the gold, your face delivers radiance equivalent to millions and millions of suns, your popularity has spread in all the worlds, you have been always praised by the Bhagavathas like Narad, Tumburu, Prahalada and Dhruva, you would never be defeated by anyone and there is no end for you.
O divine lord, your lips contain some amount of ghee which was consumed by you in your devotees place, you wear nice golden ornaments on your neck, which adds more beauty to you, let you live for a long period.
O My Lord, Your devotees are waiting in queue to adorn you with precious silk clothes and golden ornaments. We are also anxiously waiting to eat your left over food, since we consider the food items equivalent to the Divine Amirtha, from the heaven.Long live, long live, Oh our Dear Paranthama.
Oh My Kannan, Kesavan, you are the lovely child, who was born in Mathura, Where the cowherds seems to be very busy towards collecting milk from the cow’s udder to offer to it our beautiful Lord Krishna.
Oh my Krishna, we can witness your childish divine beauty, where you used to spray the butter here and there as a form of one of your playful activities.
“JAI SRI KRISHNA BHAGAVANE NAMAHA”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR