Nrusimha Jayanthi : A belated salutation

[Guest guest]

Dear Narasimha BhakthAs :

I was out of town for a couple of days and saw on

return home the excellent essay of Sri Murali Rangaswami.

I join with him to offer my salutations to Sri Narasimha

on this day , Which happens to be NammAzhwAr"s

Thirunakshtram (Vaikasi Visakam ) .

 

I will offer my salutations thru two Krithis of our

great composers , Saint ThyagarAjA and Sri Dikshithar.

 

I was listening to the Bilahari Song of the Saint as I was

returning home from Washington D.C sung by Srimathi

Jayalakshmi . It was moving . Here is the text and meaning

of this song :

 

Pallavi : Narasimha Nanu BrovavE Sri Lakshmi

 

Anupallavi : KoramAlina narula gonuiyAdanu nEnu

Parama Paavana NaapAli Sri Lakshmi

 

CharaNam 1: Needhu bhakthAgrEsarudu PrahlAdhutOka

Kanakakasipu vaadhu kOrvaka ninnu SaraNani

yaadhu kOmana gAchinAvu (Narasimha )

 

CharaNam 2: yenthakani sairinthu ,nee mansanthu teliyanidhi yedhi?

lokula nindhakOrvaka ninnu kOrinandhu kEnthani

karuNa choothuvO? (Narasimha )

 

CharaNam 3: nee japamu , nee smaraNa , nee padha pooja,

nee vaari chelimi yOsagi raajigA daya cheyu

ThyagarAja sannutha ! taramu gaadhu ( Narasimha )

 

The VairAgyam of our Sadhguru comes thru in this song . In the pallavi

and anupallavi vAkhyams ,Saint ThyagarAjA prays to Lord

Lakshmi Narasimhan to protect him and states that it is his

disposition not to flatter the chaff of humanity . This declaration of

this great BhakthA of Lakshmi Narasimha Murthy is very much in the spirit

of Swami Desikan 's statement in the 1st slokam of Vairagya PO :

 

Kshubhyath Kshudhra NarEndra chAtu rachanA

dhanyAn na manyAmahE ( We shall not think highly

of those , who consdier themselves blessed to be able to

praise the deluded chieftains of a little land with their

praise couched in beautiful words ) .

 

Sri Dikshithar in his LalithA raagam song " HiraNmayeem

Lakshmeem " expreeses his own distaste for seeking the

succor of the lowly humans for his livelihood this way :

 

" HiraNmayeem Lakshmeem sadhA bhajAmi

heena mAnava asrayam thyajAmi "

 

In the three charaNams , the saint reminds Prahlada Vaadan

that He came to the rescue of the foremost devotee of His ,

when he was unable to put up with the torments of his father,

HiraNyakasipu . He reminds the Lord that PrahlAdan took

refuge at the Lord's feet and Lakshmi Narasimhan responded

instantly and saved the parama Bhagavathan , PrahlAdan

and destroyed the evil asurA king , who committed Bhagavatha

ApachAram .

 

ThyagarAjA complains that he can not bear anymore the Lord's

indifference to his appeals to be saved and asks the Lord how

He plans to deal with him . He says : O Lord ! You are a sarvajnA !

You are omniscient ! I have been driven to your feet by the maatsaryam

and jealousy of the worldly people all around me . I have appealed

for your protextion as Sarva Rakshakan . Let me see how you are

going to display Your mercy to me in these circumstances . I can not bear

any longer your indifference " .

 

In the third charaNam , the saint begs for the DayA of the Lord

and asks for the boon of His anukampA in a large dose , so that

he can perform the nAma japA of the Lord , dhyanam of His

anantha KalyANa guNAs , and engage in the paada sevanam

and seek the company of the BhakthAs and BhagavathAs of

Lord Lakshmi Narasimhan .

 

The sentiment expressed is very similar to that expressed in

Saint ThyagarAjA's DhainyOkthi krithis such as " Kaala HaraNa

MelarA ? HarE ! SeethArAmA ! , where he asks the Lord for the

reason for His delay in blessing him . He compares his hopeless

situation in this Sudha SaavEri krithi to the plight of birds that

roam round and round and finally seek the shade of the tree for their

rest . Likr them , he says that he has wandered day in and day out

(dina dinamanu tirigi tirigi dikkulEka charaNujocchi).

 

When we remember that this Rama ChaithanyA thought of

Lord Lakshmi Narasimhan as SeethAraaman in PrahlAda

Bhaktha Vijayam krithis , we can have a coherent understanding

of his appeal to Lord lakshmi Narasimhan and appeal to him

to be given the same treatment as PrahlAdA .

 

The Second Krithi of Saint ThyagarAjA in Raagam Palamanjari

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

 

Our Saint chose Palamanjari raagam to salute Lord Lakshmi

Narasimhan . This is a shorter krithi :

 

Pallavi : Sri Naarasimha maam paahi

KsheerAbdhi KanyakA ramaNa

 

Anupallavi : DheenArthi nivAraNa bhavyaguNa

tithi tanaya timira Surya trinethra

 

CharaNam : PrahlAda ParAsara Naarada Hrudh

pannkEruha neeraja bhandhO

aahlAdha kara bavarOga samhAra

Varadha ThyagarAjAdhi vinutha (Sri Naarasimha )

 

He chose sanskrit this time to appeal to Lakshmipathi

saluted by Sahasra naamam as Naarasimha Vapu SrimAn .

He recognizes Him as the banisher of the ills of His BhakthAs

( DheenArthi NIVaRAnA ) .

 

His merciful and compliant nature is saluted as Bhavya GuNa .

He eulogizes the Lord as the destroying Sun that removed the darkness

of Hiranyakasipu , the son of asura maathA , Tithi . He visulaizes the Lord

with the three eyes of Surya ,Chandra and Agni as seen by the Upanishads.

He describes the Lord as the Sun that makes the heart lotuses of

PrahlAda , ParAsara , Naarada blossom . He recognizes the Lord of

ThiruallikENi as the Aahlada Varadan with AahlAda hastha mudrA

inviting the Parama Bhakthan , PrahlAdA to come near. He salutes

the Abheeshta Varada swamy , Naarasimhan as the BavarOga

SamhAra Varadhan .

 

Saint ThyagarAjA had visited the Temple of Sri Parthasaarathy

and TeLLiyasingham at ThiruvallikkENi during his KshethrAdanam

and this Palamanjari song seems to have been composed

during such a visit as one understands from the reference

to TeLLiyasingha Murthy as Aahlada karan . The Bilhari song

appears to be composed during the occasion of his visit to

KatikAchalam or ShoLingar (Shozhasinhapuram ) , one of

the 108 divya desams .

 

Sri Dikshithar's Mohana Raaga Krithi on Lord NarasimhA

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

 

Sri Dikshithar had great manthra siddhi . The Lord at ShoLingar

is known for his VaraprAsada anugraham for those , who perform

Nrusimha manthra japam . Dikshithar like Saint ThyagarAjA

climbed the hill of Katikaachalam and beged the Lord to appear

before him and protect him . It is only great men , who can

command the Lord to appear before them .The Lord as YathOkthakAri

does oblige His dearest devotees . Dikshithar addressed

the Lord in his Mohana Raaga Pallavi : Narasimha aagaccha ,

Parabrahma puccha sveccha svaccha ". While asking for " the

impossible " in a daring manner , Dikshithar humbly reminded

himself that the Lord is the parabrahmam and as one, who

fulfills His wishes with His volition (Svath sankalpam ) . Dikshithar

further recognizes the Lord as Parama Svathantran . He salutes

the Akkarakkani of Katikai as the parisuddha svarupan and as

the supreme Lord worshipped by the trimurthys and Indran .

 

Dikshithar reminds us of the Lord as the protector of the foremost

of His devotees , Prahlaada . He salutes the Lord seated on the

top of the hillock of KatikAchalam as the foremost among the brave

and most auspicious. He recognizes Him as the one , who lifted

the GovardanA hill during KrishNAvathAram with his lotus soft hands.

He recognizes Him as the benefactor of Yoga AnjanEyan seated

opposite him in his own temple with four hands adorned by the Visnu

chinnams: disc and the conch . Tej LaavaNyam of the Lord

with theface of the lion and the body of a human is visualiazed

by Dikshithar . He also salutes the Varadaraaja perumAl ,

who has aseparate sannidhi at this divya desam with the

naama: kari Giri Varada .

 

There are many brilliant thoughts housed in the chaste Sanskrit

krithi of Dikshithar . We can easily spend a lot more time prying open

the multiple meanings behind each of the chosen words of salutation

to KatikAchalEsvaran . I will just quote the song for now :

 

Pallavi : Narasimha aagaccha , Parabrahma Puccha sveccha svaccha

 

Anupallavi : Hari hara BrahmEndraadhi poojithaathyaccha

Parama Bhagavatha PrahlAda bhakthEccha

 

CharaNam : Dheera tara KatikAchalEsvara sowratara hema koteesvara

veera vara Mohana vibhaasvara maara vara maanava

Hareesvara

Mura hara naka dhara sarasija kara parama purusha

pavanaja subhakara suruchira kari giri Varada vira

sarasa

Guruguha Hrudaya sahachara ( Narasimha aagaccha )

 

When Sangeetha kalanidhi Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer renders

this song , the listener gets goose pimples .

 

Sri Lakshmi narasimha ParabrahmaNE Nama :

 

Oppiliappan koil VaradAchari Sadagopan

 

P/S : I will offer my salutation to Sri NammAzhwAr tomorrow

inview of the lateness oft he hour.