A SanyAsi ascends to the throne : part 5

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Dear Narasimha BhakthAs :

 

In this posting , I will cover the paasurams through which

AzhwArs enjoyed NrusimAvathAram . I am indebted to

Dr . M.A . VenkatakrishNan , the editor of GeethAchAn ,

who presented a article in the spthathi malar of the 44th

Jeeyar of Ahobilam . I will include his comments and

include additional material to elaborate on the theme

developed by him .

 

The Beauty of the Lord in NrusimhAvathAram

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Although the Lord has chosen to appear in many avathArams,

NrusimhAvatharam is considered an exquistely beautiful

avathAram . The qualifying adjective of " beautiful " is not attached

to any other avahArams according to our poorvAchAryAs . For

instance, Sri VishNu sahasra nAmam describes BhagavAn

NarasimhA as " Naarasimha Vapu: SREEMAAN " . In Naanmuhan

ThiruvandhAthi , Thirumazhisai salutes this beautiful avathAram as

" AzhahiyAn thAnE ariyuravam thAnE " . He is not beautiful because

of having a man's body or lion'ds head . Both these mingle together

to present the most beautiful svarupam like the sugar dissolved in

milk .

 

Although He is present as ArchA murthy in many divya desams ,

he is saluted as Azhahiya Singam at ThiruvallikkENi alone . Here,

the Lord is present as Bhayankara Svarupam to HiraNyan (Moolavar )

and as the most merciful svarupam to His bhakthan , PrahlAdhan, with

His AahlAdha mudrai in one of his hands asking his dear Baala -

BhagavathA to come near . THAT name of Azhahiya Singam is borne

by the MatAthipathis of AhObila Mutt even today .

 

The Glory of the Lord in NrusimhAvathAram

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The all comprehending NammAzhwAr states that

the special glory of Lord NrusimhA can not be assessed

by us . In the Thiruvaimozhi Paasuram 2.8.9 , he salutes

Lord NarasimhA this way to reveal His special glory and

parathvam :

 

yengumuLan KaNNan yenra mahanai kaaynthu

ingillaiyAlenru IraNiyan thooN pudaippa

angappozhudhE avan veeyatthOnria yen

SINGAPPIRAAN PERUMAI AARAAYUM SEERMAITTHE

 

The meaning given for this paasuram by Sri V.N. VedAntha Desikan

is : " The proof that He is all pervasive was established by

PrahlAdhA . He repeated : " The Lord is every where " . The asuran,

HiraNyA , is now to put to test this thesis . He tapped a pillar ,

familiar to him from the moment of its making and positioning .

None could have played any trick . From that pillar , rending it

asunder , the Lord NarasimhA came out . In a moment --nay ,

at the same moment , the asuran melted like gold in the fire.

To prove PrahlAdA's words , " HE is all pervasive " , the Lord

took the male lion-faced avathArA to match the masculine gender

used by PrahlAdan ( uLan ) . Without taking a form , The Lord would

have done away with HiraNyA . But then , the world would only

join the school that says that God has no form . Hence , He took a

visible form . My dear Narasimhan came out , therefore , proving

that He is all pervasive , that He is supreme God , He has a form ,

that He will appear to save His devotees , more so that He will

confirm His devotee's contention . IS IT POSSIBLE TO DESCRIBE

ADEQUATELY HIS GREATNESS ? " .

 

NampiLLai , who commented on this paasuram in his eedu

was reminded of a Periya Thirumozhi paasuram and another

one from PeriyAzhwAr Thirumozhi and includes them .

Dr.VenkatakrishNan poses the rhetorical question

"Is it not wonderful and appropriate that the blissful experience

of blending the passurams of Thirumangai and PeriyAzhwAr ,

when meditating upon the rare form of the Lord having the features

of a lion and a man ? " .

 

NampiLLai comments : " When some one says that the Lord is

everywhere, we should fall at the feet of the man , who says that .

If your own son says that the Lord is everywhere , the father

should be doubly happy about the jnAnam of his child.

The reaction of the deluded HiraNyan was just the opposite.

He got enraged at his bhagavathA-son and shouted at him .

NampiLLai is now reminded of the paasuram of Thirumangai

on Telliya Singham of ThiruvallikkENi :

 

paLLiyOlodhivantha tan siruvan vaayilOr aayira naamam

oLLiyavahippOtha aangathanukku onrumOr porupilAnAhi

piLLayai seeri vehuNdu thooN pudaippa piraiyeyiRRanal

-

vizhippEzhvaai

TeLLiya singamAhiya thEvai ThiruvallikkENi kandEnE

 

--Periya Thirumozhi 2.3.8

 

When children come home from their class on the first day

at school , the parents ask with affection for the details of

happenings at school and enjoy the Mazhali vaaku (lisp )of

the child . They are thrilled to have the experience of the child

recollecting and describing the high lights of the day . HiraNyan

on the other hand was mighty angry to hear his child praising

Bhagavan NaarAyaNan as all pervasive and as the supreme

among Gods and Living beings . HiraNyan declared that

PrahlAdan was not his son . Thirumangai , who believes

that any one , who utters the name of the Lord is the sarva

vidha bandhu ( related by everyway ) and identifies with PrahlAdA

as his own son and says " PiLLayai seeri " according to

NampiLLai .

 

This mad HiraNyan furiously asks his son , : You said

that your Lord is everywhere , Is He in this pillar ? " and

hit a pillar that he chose with his fist. When NampiLLai

is ready to describe the meaning of the above paasuram

of Thirumangai , he is reminded of the anubhavam of

PeriyAzhwAr in the following paasuram ( Periya Thirumozhi :

1.6.9 ) :

 

aLanthitta thooNai avan thatta aangE

vaLarnthittu vALuhir Singa uruvAi

uLanthotti IraNiyan oNmArvahalam

piLanthitta kaihaLAl sappANi

peymulai undAnE SappANi

 

MaNavALa MaamunigaL has followed PeriyavAcchAn

piLLai's vyakhyAnam that had disappeared and reproduced

it with emphasis on each word of this paasuram of PeriyAzhwAr.

 

MaNavALa Maamuni's line-by-line commentary is as follows :

 

" aLanthitta thONai avan thatta" :HiraNyan had constructed

a victory pillar ( Jaya Sthambham ) in his darbhAr hall .

HiraNyan chose the height and circumference of that pilllar

and had it placed at his sabhA mantapam to remind

him of his many victories over the DevAs . That was the pillar ,

he chose to hit with his hand , while he queried his son

about the whereabouts of the Lord . Bhagavan broke that

pillar and came out of THAT pillar to counter any argument that

He appeared out of any other pillar , where H e(the Lord) was

deliberately hidden inside by some one like a "trojan horse ".

Lord Narasimhan appeared out of the very same trusted pillar ,

which was created by HiraNyan himself .

 

" avan thatta " : If any one othe rthan HiraNyan had hit the sthampam ,

people might say that they carried inside their palm the miniature

form of the Lord and passed it on to the sthampam .To avoid

any controversy of htis sorrt , the Lord appeared as a sequel

to the asuran's own hand hitting the jaya sthampam .

 

" avn thatta aangE " : Had the Lord appeared on another pillar

after HiraNyan hit the Jaya sthampam , then people would say

that the Lord was not there , where HiraNyan hit . Therefore ,

the Lord appeared " aangE "( right there ) . The word " AangE "

used by PeriyAzhwAr has a temporal and spatial element attached

to it . We focussed on the spatial element of Him appearing there

so far . AzhwAr seems to have had the time element in mind as well .

The moment HiraNyan hit the pillar with his palm , instantaneously

the Lord appeared to quell the doubts of bahgavadh virOdhis

that the Lord was not there due to any delay in His appearance .

 

" aangE vaLarnthittu " : Unlike the other growing life forms that

go through stages such as garbha vaasam , gradual growth and

birth as an infant and continued growth thereafter , the Lord grew

instantaneously many sizes larger than the asuran and pounced

on the asuran , who had committed grave bhagavatha apachAram .

 

The Lord's anger was not quenched even after destroying

the asuran . Poyhai azhwAr describes the fear of MahA Lakshmi

to approach Her own Lord at that juncture: " PoomkodhaiyAL

VERUVA ponpeyarOn maarvidantha VeenkodhavaNNar " .

Piratti hesitated to approach Lord Narasimhan . BrahmA

and the others approached the Lord with PrahlAdhan in front.

The Lord's anger subsided once he saw the child PrahlAdhA

approaching Him . Achaarya RamAnujA is said to have explained

this section of Poyhai's paasuram this way : " Even if the Lioness

is showing its anger at the elephant , it will not stay away from

from breast feeding its own infant " .

 

Thus , the poorvAchAryAs of our tradition have understood

the unmatchable glory of NrusimhAvathAram and the Lord's

matchless beauty and simultaneous display of anger at

the aparAdhi and compassion for His devotee . Dr . VenkatakrishNan

quotes another paasuram of NammAzhwAr in this context :

 

sella uNarnthavar selvan tan seeranRikkaRparO

yellaillAtha perumtavatthAl palaseymiRai

allalamaraiccheyuum IraNianAhatthai

Mallal AriyuruvAiccheytha MAAYAMARINTHUME

---Thiruvaimozhi 7.5.8

 

( Meaning provided by Dr.Vedantha Desikan of Oppiliappan

Kovil ) : " Any one , who has realized what is real goal of life

will not take interest in anything except the great Sri NrusimhA

avathAram . I shall explain why . He is the really affluent Lord

( Mallal ) , the affluence being the attachment to His devotees .

What is His prowess ? He killed as in mere sport ,

the HiraNyA of great valour , who had acquired

many boonsto afflict the DevAs . MY LORD APPEARED

IN A MIRACULOUS MANNER ( maayam) , WITHOUT

VIOLATING CODES (of boon given to the asuran ) ALSO " .

 

Aasritha vaatsalyam is the wonderful lesson taught by

Lord Nrusimhan . Dushta nigraham and sishta paripAlanam

are interwoven tightly in this avathAram . That is why , PeriyAzhwAr

also celebrated Nrusimhan during his mangaLAsAsanam

in ThiruppallANdu :

 

" ThiruvONatthiruvizhavil andhiyampOthil ariyuruvAhi

ariyai azhitthavanai panthanai theera pallANdu

yenru paadhuthumE " -- ThiruppallANdu : Verse 6

 

It is important to note that PeriyAzhwAr as " ananya-

prayOjanar and Bhagavadh prApthi kaamar " saluted

NrusimhAvathAram and its glory in detail first and foremost

in his ThiruppallAndu as Sriman NaarAyaNA appeared

on the sky with His pirattis on the back of Garudan to

bless the AzhwAr , who had won the contest at the court

of PaandyA king to establish the parathvam of the Lord.

 

NammAzhwar salutes Nrusimhan as " Mallal ariyuru "

in his Thiruvaimozhi paasuram ( 7.5.8) . Mallal means

sampath or Lakshmi . Mallal ari uru means therefore

the form of the Lord as Sri Lakshmi Nrusimhan or

MaalOlan , the nitya AarAdhana moorthy that landed in

the palms of Adhi VaNN SatakOpa Jeeyar , the founder

of the AhObila Matam and travels across the length

and breadth of Bharatha Desam with the peetAthipadhis

of this Matam . NammAzhwAr clearly states that those ,

who clearly understand the purusharthams of life

( Sella uNarnthavar ) will not take interest in any one

other than Lord NrusimhA ( Selvan tan seeranRikkaRpaRO ).

 

Such a "sella uNarnthavar " is the 45th Jeeyar of AhObila Mutt ,

who has dedicated his life and taken sanyAsa aasramam

to bless us all and to intercede for us as our AchAryA .He is

a great Bhagyasaali and in that aspect , his importance

can be understood from a paasuram of Thirumazhisai

AzhwAr , who never minces his words:

 

mARAya dhAnavanai vaLLuhirAl mArvirandu

koorAhakkeeriya kOLariyai - vERAha

yEtthi iruppaarai vellumE maRRavarai

saatthi iruppaar tavam

 

Here , Thirumazhisai states unequivocally that

our ujjevanam 9salvation ) is assured by performing

charaNAgathi /SaraNAgathi at the sacred feet of

the one , who worships NrusimhA as his principal

aarAdhana moorthy . When we worship this aachaarya ,

who worships Nrusimhan , we acquire a unique glory

of our own . Thirumazhisai is referring here to the concept

that it is better to offer our salutations to the adiyArs

of the Lord than to the Lord Himself . May we approach

BhagavAn Nrusimhan with His key devotee Azhagiya Singar

of Ahobila Mutt leading the way just as PrahlAdhA did

at the behest of MahA Lakshmi in approaching the angry

Nrusimhan just after HiraNya SamhAram .

 

I will cover few more paasurams of Kaliyan on

the divya Desams such as SaaLagrAmam ,

ThiruvEnkatam , ThirunAngoor and ThiruarimEya-

ViNNagaram , which offer their salutaions to

BhagavAn Nrusimhan . Kaliyan's attachment to this

Special avathAram of the Lord is understandable ,

since he was born in Thirukkurayaloor , where the

presiding deity is BhagavAn Nrusimhan Himself .

 

AzhwAr AachAryAL ThiruvadigaLE SaraNamm

Oppiliappan Kovil VaradAchAri Sadagopan