"Vaamanan adiyinai maruvuvare" - Part 2- thala puraaNam

[Guest guest]

Dear bAgawathALs, to day is thai "srvanam" and the day they celebrate

theppOrsavam for boomidevi samEtha Than oppaar illapan in ahOraathra

pushkaraNi.

I am blessed to be born on this day due to the grace of Lord Oppiliappan and it

is my duty to serve the Lord in any way I can. I consider that if I can convey

his kshEthra puRANam once again to all bakthALs it would be one of the *janma

palan*. As sravana vratham is being observed by me my family and many

oppiliappan bakthALs all around the world, I would like to repost this thala

purANam which has a few addition to last year's post.

*****************************************************************************

"Vaamanan adiyinai maruvuvare" - Part 2- thala puraaNam

 

 

Thala PuraaNam

 

Uthyath kOdi thivaakarEnthu subagam

peethambaraa lankritham

naanaa booshaNa booshitham

navaganach syaamam prasannaananam

laavanyaam punithim nirasthalavaNam

srichanga chakraanchitham

sree vaikunda puraathibam subathanum

boomyaah pathim samsrayeh

 

This place is in the taluk of "thiru nageswaram" the railway station is also

names thiru nagewaram. The easiest approch is from KumbakOanm by a taxi, auto

or a town bus. This is 3.5 miles from kumbakonam. There are many places

available in Kumbakonam to stay and Kumbakonam can be reached by ant trian from

Madras, or Trichy as this is a semi urban town with all boarding and lodging

facilities.This place is discussed as Vaikundam in sanskrit literatures and

also as "aakasa nagari". The naattaaru that runs here is considered as

"virajaa" river.This place is in the taluk of "thiru nageswaram" the railway

station is also names thiru nagewaram. The easiest approch is from KumbakOanm

by a taxi, auto or a town bus. This is 3.5 miles from kumbakonam. There are

many places available in Kumbakonam to stay and Kumbakonam can be reached by

ant trian from Madras, or Trichy as this is a semi urban town with all boarding

and lodging facilities.

 

Moolavar: Than oppaar illapan

thaayaar :boomidevi thaayar

ursavar: Same name as perumal

 

Prathyaksham or kaatchi kaNdavar: ie who prayed the Lord in this shekthram and

obatined his blessing and had HIS darshan as well.

 

1.Garudan

2.Kauveri

3.DarmadEvathai

4. MaarkaNdEya muni

5. Nammaazhwaar.

 

theerththam: ahOraathra pushkaraNi, saarnga theerththam, aarthi pushkaraNi,

soorya theerththam, indhira theerththam

 

thirumugam: East facing

 

vimaaNam: sudhdha aananda, sudhdha saththva, vishNu

 

special days: Sravanam days of every month, brahmOtsavam, thEr in panguni and

kalyaana urtasavam in Ippasi and thoppam in thai months.

 

speciality: Thayaar always go with perumaal in all purappaadus and they are

never separated. They both are in the same sannithi and thayaar doesnot have a

separate sannithi. MaarkandEyaa also appears in front of the lord as the Lord

is in thiruk kalyaana kOlam. People having difficulty in getting married do

praaththanai to this Lord for offering "Kalyaana ursavam".

 

The thalapuraanam of this temple is discussed in bramhaanda puraaNam as Sri

Naarathar asked his father Brahmaa and the details are offered by no one other

brahmaa himself. This place is discussed as Vaikundam in sanskrit literatures

and also as "aakasa nagari". The naattaaru (dakshiNa gangai) that runs here is

considered as "virajaa" river.

 

Once thiruth thuzhaay (thulasi) did penance and asked the Lord , "you are

bearing Lukshmi alone in your chest, I request your such special blessing and

attention for me also". The Lord said "Lukshmi occupied my chest after severe

penance and now she is about to incarnate on the banks of river kauveri in

boolOgam in the name of boomi dEvi. You may appear there prior to her as a

thulasi plant and she will incarnate in your lap (ie under your shaddow). "I

will accept Lukshmi some days later" and since you were the "support or

aathaaram" for her incarnation you will be rewarded as very special to me in

this temple than lukshmi. One can attain the blessings of Lukshmi dEvi only

after severe penance. But one who worships me with your ithazh or leaves, will

get the effect of doing "aswamEtha yaagam". And those who dwell in your vanam

as their place of living will surely attain mOksham. You will always be the

garland that is presented to my chest. I will accept thulasi maalai first and

will marry Lukshmi only next". One hearing this thulasi appeared in

ThiruviNNagaram and this is confirmed by the 53rd paasuram of Sri Nammazhwaar

in thiru viruththam. MrikaNdu Maharishi's son Sri MaarkaNdEyaa did worship the

Lord and had desired that Lukshmi should appear as his daughter and the Lord

should become his Son-in-Law. When he was doing theerththaadanam and shEthra

yaaththirai, after reaching this place he felt that this is the right place for

getting his desire fulfilled and he started and did severe penance for 1000

years seeking Lukshim dEvi's blessings. Lukshmi at the end of 1000 years

appeared as a baby under the already incarnated thulasi chedi or plant. Since

he was felt by the presence of this baby he realised the right thing that this

is Lukshmi and that part of his desire was fulfilled and took possession of the

baby and brought her up. When this young girl reached the adolescent age or

paruvam, one day (panguNi month sravana nakshathram) the Lord, appeared as an

old man and asked for the hand of maarkaNdEya's daughter. He replied "you are

very ripe and old, my daughter is very very young and she doesnot even know to

cook with proper salt (lavanam) contents. You may get angry and curse her if

she cannot even cook properly. This is not fare. I knew of everything. You are

bodily old but mentally very aware. You must forgive me and bless me and this

will not work out.".

 

"If your daughter must cook without salt I will take it as my best food. I will

not leave from here without marrying. WIthout knowing what to do , maarkaNdEyaa

sought the help of the ever protecting Lord Vishnu's help and did meditate at

this instant. He realised using his thaBovalam that the old man is no one other

than Lord Vishnu HIMself. When he opened his eyes the Lord appeared in front of

him with changu and chakram as in SriVaikundam (HE is seen in the same figure

even now in this temple) and maarkaNdEya asked for forgiveness and offered and

did kannikaathaanam of his daughter (lukshmi) to the Lord HIMself.

 

Since the Lord said "I will accept the food that is not salted as my best and

most desired food", this temple neyvEthiyam is always done without salt in any

food. No one should take anything that contains salt ever into this temple and

puraaNaas indiacte that such persons who will knowingly do so will suffer in

the bottom most hell severely. The name uppiliappan is also due to this

puraaNam. However, nammaalwaar called him "than Oppaar illappan", that is HE is

the who has no comparison to HIM (ie there is neither an equivalent nor

superior available to this Lord ie mikaiyum oppum illaathavan).

 

At the time when Nammaalwaar arrived here he was also wondering over 80

of his own paaurams that he delivered already and felt that certain aspects of

these paasurams were not quite clear to aazhwaar himslef. It is beleived that

the Lord appeared to namaazhwaar here and not only cleared his doubts on such

paaurams that has "munnukkum pinnukkum muranaana poruL" in it and also made him

realise that HE is present in those paasurams as antharyaamim. Hence namaalwaar

sung in praise of him as "sEraatha poruLkaLellaam sErththa perumaL". It seems

the Lord was overjoyed and hugged and embraced aazwaar here and pOkaatha

oorkaLin ie (DD's) sevaiyellam saathithaar. ie Besides this Lord also offered

nammalwaar the darshan of variuos other shEkthrams here itself in viNNagaram in

the forms of the LORDS of various other shethrams that namaalwaar didnot go.

Namaalwaar sung on 36 kshethrams only of the 108 DD's. The Lord also offered

the five darshans of HIMsleves here to nammaalwaar (incidentally the four such

avthaarams due to their placement with respect to thirviNNagaraan in the center

can also be equated to his "4 vyookams" or the expanse of the universe in

either direction. Vishnu is one who is ever and "all" prevading in these forms

in the universe). As per "pancha ratra" and as acccpeted by all the three major

schools (advaitha, vishitaadavithaa and dvaitha) Lord Vishnu was the only

present at the time of creation and everyone else were created from HIM. This

statement is validated by the ten paasurams of nammazhwaar which explains the

order of creations unfolding from HIM. There is a Desikan sannithi prior to

crossing the dwaara baalakas (who look real to me) and I often meditate to the

Lord in front of Swami Desikan. A year back Sri PD had a "desire" and I also

had such "desire" (simultaneously) at this place as I was in front of Swami

Desikan (that I had to do the kainkaryam for his paasurams). This was conveyed

to Sri PD when I returned from India and he said he had this in mind for

sometime and we both worked together and presented Swami Desikan's entire

prabandam in electronic form in our web. I am thankful to Sri PD for his

leadership and Sri Mani for offering the site and encouragement for this

project.

 

 

 

Please note that the Lord in this temple bears the charama slOkam in HIS right

hand palm as "maam Ekam charanam vraja" and offers abayahastham. Hence this is

also known as the "paripooraNa chranaagathi" offering kshethram. Since HE

appeared prior to Lord Venkataachalapathy, he is considered elder to Lord

VENKATAachalapathy and all praarth thanais that are meant for Lord

Venkataachalapathy are accpeted by this Lord on HIS behalf. ie those who are in

these neighborhood and cannot travel to thirumalai for some reason can offer to

this Lord such offerings and such offerings are considered as fulfillment of

the praarthanaias to Lord venkataachalapathi. Lord Venkataachalpathi is in the

mode of "ananthaa" and this Lord in three modes, they are sudhdha aanandhaa and

sudhdha saththuvaa and vishnu. This is the only temple or place in this

booLogam that Lord Vishnu is appearing in his ninRa kOlam as similar to

Srivaikundam (more than 7 feet tall) and also in the same mode as sudhdha

saththuvam (no other temple has this "mode") and hence this considered the Sri

Vaikundam of Lord Vishnu known as "Thiru viNNagaram". The tank in this temple

has another story. Once a King had consummated (puNarchchi) with a daughter of

a saint and hence the saint cursed him to become a bird. The King lived as a

bird and one night when there was a storm and the branch of the tree the bird

was sleeping broke and fell into the water beneath which was this tank in the

night time. The bird who got dipped by this accident in the tank regained his

original form as the King and since then this is known as the only theerththam

that one can do theerth thaadanam even in the night. (In general "theerth

thaadanam" in the night is not recommended by our scriputres). Since this tank

has such a healing power both in day and night it is called "ahOraathra

pushkaraNi". This Lord also has a unique supra paatham offerred to HIM.

 

On Sravanam day there will be "sravana deepam", taken by a divine person on

whom it is beleived the lord will prevade at this time of deepam. He will carry

the deepam around the temple as lead by two other deepams one is vaal deepam of

aanchnEyaa and the other is satti deepam of Lord Narasimhaa. Numerous devotees

from all walks of life wait for this event on Sravanam day as they ask the LORD

(ie the main deepam bearer) nivarththi and boons for their problems and

penances. No science can reason this experience as this has to be sought and

felt by one. One has to see this deepam sEvai to appreciate the majesty of this

Lord's prevasion. We had had unique blessing during these. There are few other

temples in this area such as thErezhundoor temple where also the sravana deepam

is observed. Since there is an unique relevance to this Lord and Lord

Guruvaayoorappan exists, this Lors is also dressed on some days as

Guruvaayuurappan and bakthaas offer "thulaabaaram" to thios Lord also as

similar to offering to Sri Guruvaayoorappan. Sri Poundrika Puram ashram

aandavans have done enormous thoNdu or service for this Lord. 43 rd Jeer known

as thEvanaar vilaakam jeer is attached to this temple and is known as

Oppiliappan kOil saarnthi Jeer. The temple has chithra thirup paavai printed on

the wall.

 

 

poygai aazhwaar

 

vEnkadamum "viNNagarum vehhaavum

akkaatha poongidankil

neeL kOval ponnagarum

naankidaththum ninRaan irunthaan.

 

Here aazwaar confirms this SriVaikuNdan in Ninra sayanam

 

pEy aazhwaar

 

paNdellaam vEnkadam paaRkadal vaikuntham

koNdaaNG kuRaivaarkku "kOil pOl"

vaNdu vaLankiLaru neeL sOlai vaN poonkadaigai

iLankumaran than "viNNagar".

 

Here azhwaar confirms that he is ever young and always present

 

Nammaalwaar

 

kaaNminkaL ulakeer enRu kaNmukappE nimarntha

thaaLiNaiyanRannaik kurukoor sadakOpan

sonna aayiraththuth thiruviNNagar paththum vallaar

kOnaiyinRi viNNOrk kenRum aavar kuravarkaLE

 

"kAnmin ulageer ! enak kaN mugappE nimirntha thaaL" ie "It seems Lord's holy

feet *said* to bolooga vaasis during vaamana avathaaram, that "Hi folks of this

boolOgam, watch this" and while saying it seems the holy feet also grew and

rose to reach beyond the vaan ulagam. (Thiru mangai continues this sentiment in

his *first* paasruam after nammazhwaar's lastr paasuram on this Lord

oppiliappan that "paNdai nam vinai keda enRu thoNdarum amaraarum" ie the devass

anticipating this holy feet waited to cleanse their sins as this holy feet was

placed on their lOgam). Coming back to this verse by nammaazhwaar, he equates

himself to this holy feet in this verse saying "kan mugappE nimirntha thaaL

iNaiyan" ie if you chant these 10 verses delivered by me "who is the equal (me)

to such Holy feet of Lord thiru viNNagaraan that rose in front of the eyes of

boolOga vaasisees". Azhwaar azwaar also asks us to look at HIS majesty, and as

the "thaaLinaiyan", assures that that one who worships HIM will surely beome a

member of the elite group of viNNvar's leaders. This being Lord Oppiliappan or

thiru viNNagaraan is the same as Lord thiruvikkraman who connected boolOgam and

vaaNulagam with his two holy feet alone. Here the same is seen in the moolavar

sannidhi where Sri boomaadevi (representaion of boolOgam) and thiru viNNagaraan

(lord oppilaar appan) are in kalyaanak kOlam symbolising this instant of

thiruvikrama avathaaram. Hence it is also conceived that doing thirumanchanam

(like how Lord Brahma did with his kamandal theerththam and ganges, silambaaRu

etc unfolded from it) is the most desirable sevai one can do when they visit

this kshEthram. Another aspect of this Lord is such that this is also the same

Lord who gave charanaagathi to boomidevi in varaahaa avathaaram. This is

symbolised by the posture by which mother Sri boomi devi is seated in front of

the Lord and the Lord's abayahastham has the words from charam slOkam "maam

ekam charaNam vraja" printed in it. Though it is believed that these words are

later day additions, it very apt that this is the same Lord who also gave this

charaangathi thuvam in Sri Krishna avathaaram. Finally in this karpa graham, a

representaion of mummoorthis are always present where the other two are always

worshipping the Lord Sriman Narayana thereby upholding the truth that as per

vedas Sriman naaryaana is the only param poruL. thirumangai in his pAsuram

delivers that "moovaa", "vaaNavar tham mudhalvaa" when he sees this lord in

this sannithi with the other two. Since mother booma devi is the

supporter of all earthly creations and their thrival, she is equated to Lord

Bramha who creats, and since lord maarkandEya was in union with shiva when

shiva saved him from yama, he is considred the representaion of Lord shiva as

well.

 

However, it is said in puraanam that saint maarkandEya didnot want to live for

ever in immortality and sought a higher patham from Lord shiva. Lord shiva

advised him that the only such partham is mOksham and the only giver of such

patham is Lord Vishnu and asked him do penance for Lord Vishnu's grace. saint

maarkandEya did penance and worshipped Lord vishnu in 32 kshethrams of which

this is one. He was finally granted mOksham in a near by divya dEsam by Lord

Vishnu with padmam in his hand as similar to the parama path naathan in thiruch

chErai by Lord saaranathan (Lord Vishnu). This will be covered in thiruch

chErai thala puraanma in detail.

 

Thirumangai aalwaar

in three chapters expresses all the attributes of this Lord and swears that

he doesnot want his samsaaram if this Lord will not bless him with HIS grace.

 

aandaay unaik kaaNbathOr "arUL" enkku arULithiyEl

vEdEn maNai vaazhk kaiyai viNNagar mEyavanE

 

"Thiruvadi" worship is the most reverred form of our worship for realised and

alike srivaishnavaas. After booLOgam was used for one foot, It is stated that

during vaamana avathaaram all the dEvaas and anthanaas of vaaNulagam were

standing ready for the thiruvadi sErvai, so that "all" their "vinais" will be

washed away by this instant the feet is placed on their world. Aazhwaar sings

this in his paasurm "paNdai nam vinai keda" enRu aNdarum amararum".. Brahmaa

washed the Lord's feet and worshipped the feet when it was placed on the

vaanulagam and that holy water became "Ganges" or gangai. The flower on this

thirup paatham was later seen on the head of Shivaa after these steps were

placed. Since this place viNNagar is vaanulagam this feet is same that

was placed on the viNNulagam and has the effect of cleansing the sins of even

dEvaas. Among all thiruvadis everyone knows that Sri Vaamanan's thiruvadi is

the best to worship as it was uniquely sought by everyone including Shivaa and

Brahmaa and dEvaas. Thirumangai emphasis that one will get the same effect here

when they worship this Lord with those paasurams. The moment the lord placed on

the vinnagaram he is also the owner of the vinnulagam (as promised in yagaa

thaanam by maahaa bali) and such is the vyOma pureesan. ie the Lord of ether

world or aakaasa ulagam or viNNulagam. One should also note that "thiru Onam"

ie the star sravanam, (ie the star of Lord Vishnu) is celebrated in kerala to

commemorate King baali's exit. it is beleived that Lord Vamanan appeared on day

of this star and took thiruvikrama avathaaram and estabilished dharma.

 

poomaru pozhil aNi viNNagar mEl

thaamaru seerkalikanRi sonna

maamaru thamizhivai paada vallaar

"vaamanan" adiyinai maruvuvarE

 

PiLLaip perumaal iyengaar has offered mangaLaa saasanam for this Lord.

 

note : when sravana vratham is observed one will take the food without any salt

added and please note that even in logical pursuit this is good for health as

no salt "one day in once in 28 days" is good for physical heart and kidney.

Besides salt is considered the composite of the other two guNams namely thamas

and Rajas. The one without salt is considerd to hold suththa saththuvam in

total. Also as per the modern science all the impurities of this earth

crystalise to become salt in the ocean and that anything without such salt is

known to be totally pure or "suththam".

 

Please note that this vratham is little difficult to observe as comapared to

other vrathams such as eKadEsi vratham. There are three important aspects of

this vratham of which no salt is one. I cannot discuss the other two aspects in

public domain as they are to be understood by each reader themselves. If the

sravaNa vratham is observed with observance and upholding these aspects one is

sure to get HIS blessings. For the benefit of the members of this group I also

want to add one more clue. The Lord is "present" in the form of "dhaaru" here.

 

sriyah kaaanthaayaa kalyaanaa nithayEr nithayErththinaam

srimath yOma pureesaaya srinivaasaaya mangalam

 

Sri Sri Boomi Devi naachchiyaar samEtha Sri Oppiliappan thiruvadikaLE charaNam.

Sampath Rengarajan