Thiru maal irum sOlai - Part 21 - thiru maal adi sErvarkaLE (conclusion)

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Part 21 - thiru maal adi sErvarkaLE (conclusion)

 

Logistics:

 

This place is 12 miles from the city of Madurai. One can go to

madurai by plane, train or bus. There are many town buses plying

to this place from Madurai. One can stay in Madurai and have darshan

of this Lord.

 

 

Moolavar : azhagar, kaLLazhagar, Paramaswami, Sundara Rajan

maalaangaarar, maal irum sOlai nambi

 

Thaayaar : Sundara valli, Sridevi, (separate koil)

 

Facing : East Facing

 

theerththam : noobura gangai or silambARu

 

sthala vruksham: vrushaba giri, santhana vruksham

 

prathyaksham : malayathvaja pAndiyan, darma dEvathai

 

ursavar: parimEl azhagar, kaLLazhagar both Moolavar and ursavar

have pancha aayudhams.

 

ANDAL sannithi: This is the only temple ANDAL is seen in sitting posture.

 

vimaanam : soma chanda vimaanam

 

Similarities with Srirangam:

Sri Rangam and Thiru maal irum sOlai are similar in many ways.

Both the temples have fort type entrances and mathil suvar or compound walls.

 

Both temples have huge nel kuthir to store vast amount of nel (paddy) that

comes

from temple lands.

 

Both the pradhAna vaayil or prominent entrance to the temples are called as

"ayar pada vaasal".

 

The ahaara niyamanam for both temples are observed similarly by using ghee that

is made as a separate ney or ghee that is separated uniquely in the process

for the Lord. (Remeber "selvar appam" of arangan !)

 

Thirumangai delivered on thiru aranga mathils and periazhwaar deleivered on

thiru maal irum sOlai mathil.

 

Thiru arangan blessed Sri Ramanujar and Thiru maal irum sOlai ninRaan nambi

blesses Sri koorath azhwaar

 

Both the Lords are excelling in their beauty. Thiru Arangan is the most

beautiful Lord in sayanak kOlam and thiru azhagar is the most beautiful lord in

ninRa kOlam.

 

Lord Arangan came here twice and was kept in th etemple well when Srirangam was

attacked by the invaders. Since Arangan stayed here for sometime, it is

believed that this kshEthram gives the palan of srirangam too !

 

Other features of this temple :

 

The saaligrama worship is offered everyday and the abishEka theerththam is

offered to bhakthaaLs as a prasAdham.

 

 

Some important ANDAL pasurams on Lord Azhagar and some insights:

In the path of ANDAL I have attempted to summarise the thala purAnam

in 21 parts which can be equated to the love on all the 21 births. (iRRaikkum

(7), EzhEzhu (7+7) piRavikkum). There are more specialities that one can

keep on writing on this lord for many more days. However some important aspects

include some of ANDAL's key pasurams.

 

The itheeham is such that ANDAL's pAsurams are the

essence of the 3 charama slOkas and the height of

bhakti one can dream to have on Lord. ANDAL who is

also the incarnation of Boomidevi naachiyaar had

conveyed the varaha charama slOka avathAram's inner

meanings as per the concluding verse of the decade

on thiru maal irum sOlai as per sri periya

vaachchaan pillai. That makes me take a closer look

at these ten songs. As I was *attempting* to write

the "vyAkyAnam" or patha vurai for

the first pAsuram (taking into account

other vyAkyaanams and my own insights) of

this decade and started the series of post

on thiru maal irum sOlai I wrote that I was seeking

ANDAL's blessing. The same night as

the post appeared a close friend of

me and a very devout member of the group had a dream

in which ANDAL appeared and had conveyed some

message. This was conveyed to me ( as intended) as

this person was not able to fully realise the

dream and the message. However with the help of a

very senior member of this group and my own analysis

the dream was understood and the insights occurred

to me more clearly. Incidentally in relation to my

little combined attempt of insight on

this first pAsuram my mentor

called me from Madras and initiated me with one of the

most important moola mantram of Lord's koorma

avathAram as conveyed to this "upAsakar". What a

coincidence my attempted writing

earlier was containing some good

insights on koorma avataharam not knowing the future

that came through the dream and the mantram. This

gave me the drive to go in as much detail as

possible for this kshEthram. This is not for a viLambaram

or self advertisement that

I shared this in this post. If mere starting to write on this koil

itself can bring many boons, dear BhakthaaLs you must visit this

temple one day in your life and seek more from the Lord.

Coming to ANDAL pasuram

 

santhodu kaarakilum sumanthu thdanGaL poruthu

vanth izhiyum silambArudai maal irun chOlai ninRa

sundaranaich curumbAr kuazhaR kOthai thoguththu uRaiththa

senthamizh paththum vallaar thiru maal adi sErvaargaLE.

 

naachiyaar thiru mozhi

 

In concise meaning ANDAL assures that if one can

thoroughly understand and chant these 10 pAsurams on

Lord Azhagar, they are sure to attain HIS holy feet.

In detail, when a woman goes from her parents place

(piranthaa agam or poranthaam) to her inlaws (manam

puguntha agam or pukkaam) place, she always used to

take seethanam or seer with her. Similarly the

silambAru that originates in this hill and arrive at

her puguntha agam of this temple carries in her

waves with her all the sandal woods and other forest

logs. And while coming so, she is running very fast such that

she is eroding the banks and rushes to her pukkaam.

This is similar to an elephant piercing the objects

using its tusk (ie the veham or force). This

silambARu for azhagar koil is similar to viraja

nathi for parama patham. Thus the place that has

this silmabaaRu has this sarvanga sundaran Lord

Azhagar and this lady (ANDAL) who has her koonthal

or her hair wherein vandugaL (bees) constantly come

and would like to stay (due to its manam or fragrance and the

flower that is on it and the garlands on her) sung

these verses on this Lord. Thus she sung these

verses as similar to making a garland (thoguththu

uRaiththa) of rathnams and gems and stones. That is

she compiled all the infinite kalayAna gunas of the

lord azhagar in these verses in these ("senthamizh"

) romantic pAsurams that overflow with her love for

the Lord. ie these pasurams became the most

enjoyable tamil (sen thamaizh) due to the "love" conveyed in them.

Those who can do anusanthaanam or chant these verses

with the inner meanings in their mind will attain

Lord's holy feet. That is those who want to do

irrend or any other service or adimai sEvai at the feet of holy

dampathis will not go through the pirivu that ANDAL

herself is undergoing and they will get their desire

fulfilled. ie They will attain the parama

purushArtha kaimkaryam that they wanted to be the

eternal servant of the Lord. Sri Periya vaachaan

pillai compares this to

 

"aham sishyaa cha dhaasee cha bhakthaa cha purushOththama"

 

in varAha purAnam Booma Devi (currently as ANDAL)

says to Lord Varahar on her being rescued that

Oh Lord purushOththamaa, I will be your sishyai and

dhaasi and bhakthai. ie When she was boomi piraati

she wanted to be the dhaasi ie she wanted to be an

irrend or a house servant when the Lord and periya piraati says

"pick this up keep this there etc" and she wanted to

just do that service for them. She also wanted that

I will want to be born as the daughter (valaRpu

magal) and sing in praise of you as your bhakthAL

(Bhakti is the message in all her pasurams and she

is the mother of all for bhakti maargam) . Can this

be possible for boomi devi piraati to be born as all

these three and as desired by her during vaRaha

avatharam ? (yes) "Purushoththamaa, what ever extent you

wanted to destroy the (samsAram of adiyaars)

adiyaars from their bondage and they also get

destroyed to that extent. Though when the water

from the river flows all through the supporting

irrigation canals and drainage, the end amount of

water that merge with the ocean when the river ends

there is never reduced. Similarly if one can enjoy

the Lord as sishyai or as dhaasee or as bhakthai,

the pleaure never diminishes and only grows for

boomip piraati. ie as per Sri periya vaachchaan

pillai these 10 verses convey that ANDAL fulfilled

her own desire as sishyai and dhaasee and bhakthaaL

(height of bhakti is poured in these verses) that

she had as boomi devi piraati in varaha avatharam

just by delivering these immensely loving pasurams

on lord ahzagar and it is implied for us that such

ANDAL's fulfilling pasurams are the essence of

varaha charma slokam as well (the inner meanings as

felt by ANDAL) and those who would chant them with

the undrstanding of complete meaning will undoubtedly attain Lord's

holy feet as similar to her ownself's fulfillment of

desire. ie ANDAL have paved the shortest way for we

bhakthaaLS through these verses and is asking us to

chant them and assuring us with her own experience.

ie thiru maal adi sErvarkaLE !

 

There are also 2 other pasurams of naachiyaar thiru

mozhi that has to be dealt in this post as they have

special and mantric significance. These were chanted

by me at Buffalo conference in a note of thanks to ANDAL

for having sent the clouds promptly to clear the

snow during the clouds. Many may not have completely understood

the significance of these pasurams that time.

However I would provide a "brief" references to them

here.

 

MazhaiyE ! mazhaiyE ! maNpuRam poosi uLLAy ninRA

mezhuh OORRinAR pOl OORRu nal vEngadaththuL ninRa

azhagap piRAnAr thammai yen nenchaththu agappadath

thazuva nin(Ru) ennaith thaiththuk kONdu ooRRavum vallaiyE

 

naachiyaar thiru mozhi

 

She calls the clouds to pour and cool her down

mentally and unite her with the Lord. She calls

mazhai twice as these clouds are hanging very high, up in the sky

(cumulonimbus clouds that bring rains hang high in

sky not cirrus clouds that bring the snow which

hangs low in altitude) can hear her voice. ie she

compares the process in which the candle is burnt

and formed and the sEru or wet sand is applied at

the outer shell as a coating to keep the formation

inside in the statue or idol making procees. And she

pleads to rain that her heart is warm with love for

Lord Ahzgar and let the rain form the coating and

keep her formation in tact.ie Simialrly, The Lord who makes me

melt inside is this azhagar, who is

standing in vEngadam. (thirup paanazhwaar sung that

it was arangan who stood in vEngadam). Thus

HE appeared in my heart and wished to embrace me but

didn't (do so) get to me as I extended my arms and then

appeared outside and made me hug HIM. ie he didn't

appear to her heart when she wanted but appeared to

her outside her heart in person. ( this seems like

the clue as to who came "out" of Lord Arangan when

ANDAL merged with him in kalYAnam at arangan

sannithi. Refer to my previous post as to which lord

came out and accepted her hand during this holy and

auspicious moment). Further the insight as per Sri

periya vachchan pillai is that ANDAL wished to the

rains that 'please keep me and the lord in a cell as

similar to keeping "ushaiyai" the daughter of

baanAsura and Lord krishna's grand son aniruththan.

And during such occasion of beingf together the warmth is so high.

Can't you pour then so that it will be helpful

during those warm moments to cool down?' ie She is

urging the rains not to pour now and melt her down

with the sights of the peacock dancing and other

surroundings cooling down but to pour down and melt

her further when she is in union with the lord.

 

kadalE ! kadalE ! yunnaik kadainthu kalakkuRuththu

udaLuL pugunthu ninRooRal aRuththavarkku ennaiyum

udaluL pugunthu ninRooRal aRukkukinRa maayaRkku en

nadalikaL ellaam naagaNaikkE senRu uRaiththiyE

 

Naachiyaar thiru mozhi

 

ie she saw the kadal or ocean and the alai or waves

that starts back in the shore and request them to

reach the nAgaNai ie the Lord's aNai made of nagam

ie thirup pArkadal and asks the wave to goto the

lord in this naganai or thirup paaRk kadal and tell

HIM her plight. Similar to mazhaiyE mazhaiyE, the

(twice) repeated calling here is said

to be felt necessary by ANDAL

because the muzhakkam or sound of the alai was so

noisy and loud that they may not hear with just a

one time call. And hence she makes a sound that is

higher in decibels than these waves the second time

(through her athman) so that they can

really listen to her now. She says

HE is using you the ocean as HIS bed but HE churned

you too in koorma avathaaram. You

sincerely helped HIM only by

being HIS bed. Like those who destroys the

opponent's war machinery with the first strike

itself, (that is the force of churning by Lord Koorma)

HE churned you in his very first prominent avatharam

(very first prominent for us

Srivaishnavas in Sri sampradaayam

because it is now that Sri

joined HIM). HE didn't even think that this is HIS bed.

Since HE put the kal or stone or malai into the heart (ie

here it is centre of universe where the mEru malai

was placed to churn) of those who gave HIM a place

to sleep and churned and extracted (Sri) the essence

from their heart. Thus you also were churned by HIM

as similar to me and what should I do ? ie the inner

meaning is that when thirup paaRkadal was churned

Lord attained Sri and it was a lesson to dEvas that

what ever one will do it was for the benefit of Lord

only that one will do anyhthing. ie the purpose of

life is to serve sriman narayana only. Though the

dEvas thought the churning was done to get them the

amirtham the main purpose of churning was to get Sri

to the Lord ! Similarly when ANDAL's heart is

churned by the Lord the essence of purushaarthatham

(as simialr to Sri's patham at HIS lotus feet) is

brought out by this churning through these verses of

ANDAL ! ANDAL first calls mazhai the rains and

subsequenly calls the ocean where these rain water

merge. This itself symbolizes what is the

purushaarththam (rains) for us (ie we are simialr to rains)

ie to merge with the

Lord (the ocean) (ie th eLord is the ocean of mercy)

and that her pasurams are the

rivers of love that can take us to such ocean simply !

 

 

It is said that Sri thirumalai nambi used to be

immersed in these two pasurams. *Since* then all our

poorvaach chaaryaaLs also were very much involved

with these 2 paasurams. Sri thiru malai nambi will

do anusanthaanam of these 2 paasurams and water down

through his eyes (immersed in deep bhakti) (ie kaNNerum kambalumaaka

thEngi mownamaaka nirpaaraam) and will

not utter even a single word and stay like that

untill the end of the vyaakyaanam. Thus even today

in ANDAL kaalalkshEbams it is best to do

anusanthaanam of these 2 songs at the end and complete the

session itself with that. That was the reason I did

chant these 2 verses in Buffalo during my talk. It

is also *believed* from the anubavam of Sri

thirumalai nambi that one need not dwell on anyother

pasuram of ANDAL if they can do anusanthaanam of

these 2 paasurams with the understanding and

realisation of complete meaning and stay muted with

the bhakti alone. ie It can be derived that these 2

paasurams alone convey the complete essence of all

ANDAL's paasurams of naachiyaar thirumozhi and

thirup paavai when chanted with realisaton and bhakti

and that one will attain the same patham that ANDAL

desired to, both as ANDAL and as well as Boomi devi

during koorma avathaaram.

 

Having said all these, I would like to conclude my

serial on Lord Azhagar by offering my prayers to HIM

through a simple tamil pAsuram that I wrote on Lord

Azhagar. The meaning of this slOkam transpires my

insights on the ANDAL pasurams and my own state of

bhakti on Lord. I will leave to the tamil friends to

translate this. I encourage all the readers

including the non tamil readers to simply chant

these 2 pasurams of ANDAL (ANDAL's message) atleast once and think of

azhagar malai (nammazhwaar's message).

 

My simple pasuram on Lord azhagar:

 

mazhalaith thamizh koNdu maalai onRu thoduththEn

kazhal thannaik kaNdu kaalam kanRu kazhiththEn

uzhal aadu nenchE ! unaik kadainthEn varanE !

nizhal tharum nedumaalE ninadainthEn saraNE !

 

 

Sri SridEvith thaayaar Sri ANDAL samEtha Sri

kaLLazhagar paramswami sundara raaja perumaal

thiruvadikaLE saraNam

 

Sampath Rengarajan

 

note: Please forgive me for some typos and ommissions in all the articles.

I will try to revisit this topic with some small notes when desired by Lord.