A SanyAsi ascends the AchArya Peetam : Part 7.2

[Guest guest]

Dear Nrusimha BhakthAs :

 

6 . Thirucchemponchey Kovil

 

This divya desam is considered as the central gem

of the 11 ThirunAngUr divya desams ( Naayaka MaNi ) .

The presiding deity (uthsavar ) is PEraruLALan ( Varadhan ) .

The mUlavar is Sempon RanganAthan .

ThAyAr is Allimaamalar NaacchiyAr . Thirumangai

placed 10 paasurams at the lotus feet of these ArchA

Moorthys.

 

Thirumangai salutes the Lord with His consorts , Sri Devi and

Bhu dEvi . He recognizes Him as the water-laden , dark cloud

of the rainy season , which cools us off from the scorching heat

of the taapams of SamsArA . In the first paasuram , AzhwAr

declares that all his anxieties are over now that he has had

the sevai of PEraruLAlan with Sri Devi and Bhu Devi at

Thirucchemponsey kovil .

 

AzwhAr suggests that the Lord acquired His name as pEraruLALan

( the great boon giver ) , because of the presence of Sri Devi

an Bhu DEvi on his sides. AzhwAr declares that he ahd the

darsanam of the Lord with ubhaya NaacchimArs ( kandu),

held that vision in his heart (kondu ) and had his salvation

as a result ( uynthu ozhindEnE ) .

 

In yet another paasuram , AzhwAr states that

the Lord of Semponseykoil is like the compassionate

mother responding with alacrity and concern to alleviate

the sufferings of her child .Avyaja KaruNai of the Lord in

His role as Daasarathi is referred to here by the AzhwAr .

 

7. ThiruttheRRiambalam

 

At this divya desam , PerumAL's naamam is SenkaNmAl

and His naacchiyAr's name is Semgamalavalli . He gives

us darsanam in bhujanga sayanam. Kaliyan salutes Him as

aapath sahAyan in his ten paasurams . he gives prominence to

NeeLA deVi in more than one paasuram . In one , he is awed by

the valour of the Lord , who destroyed seven mighty oxen to win

the hand of Nappinnai .

 

Azhwar remembers that the Lord took all that trouble

to win Nappinnai as His bride. What did he do ? The father

of Nappinnai had seven strong black oxen with dangerous ,

curved horns like scimitars , mighty temper , strong legs

and fierce apppearances . Any one , who wanted to compete

for the hands of Nappinnnai had to subdue those bulls in

combat . All those , who contended to get Nappinnai's hand

in marriage were gored by the bulls in their fights. Nithya Noothana

YuvA ( KrishNA ) entered the bull ring , subdued and destroyed

the bulls . He became the winner of this KanyA sulkam and

married Nappinnai , who is none other than NeeLA Devi

saluted by NeeLA sUktham as , " NeeLAm dEveem saraNamaham

prapadhyE sutharasitarasE nama: GruNAhi--" and " MahA dEvyai cha

vidhmahE VishNu pathnyai cha dheemahi " .

 

May we obtain the blessings of SenkaNmAl KaNNan

through the grace of Nappinnai piratti celebrated by

AaNdAL in Thiruppavai as well .

 

8. Thiru MaNikkodam

 

PerumAL and ThAyAr's naamams are Sri MaNikkoda nAyakan

and Thiru MAmahaL NaacchiyAr . Kaliyan points out that this

divya dEsam in the middle of the fertile Cauvery delta is full

of all auspiciousness ( Sarva Sampaths ) :

 

poompunal Ponni muRRum puhundhu pon varaNda yenghum

tEmpozhil kamazhu NaanGoor ThirumaNikkudatthAnE

 

" odhalar pozhil ThirumaNikkUda nAthAr " stands under

the Kanaka vimAnam on the banks of divine Cauveri river

and gives us His blessed darsanam with His Devi . AzhwAr

recognizes Him as " Pinnai sevvitthOL puNarntha venthai "

( the Lord , who is in union with Nappinnai pirAtti ) . He also

salutes Him as Jaanaki RamaNan :

 

perumahaL pEthai mangai tannOdum pirivilAtha

ThirumahaL maruvu Naangoor ThirumaNikkUdatthAnE

 

AzhwAr salutes the wife of Raghu vamsa tilakam and the dear

daughter of the king Janaka , who is the embodiment of dharmam

and J~nAnam here as the NirdhOsha KalyANa guNa svarUpi and

the cause of the auspiciousnes of the Lord of this Thiruppathi .

AzhwAr recognizes Him as " Moovaril mUrthy mudalvan "

( the first among the trinity ) . He concludes his tribute to

this KshEthram by pointing out the blessed people , who have

the darsanam of the Divya dampathis here would be blessed

with all auspiciousness in their lives on earth and will enter

Sri Vaikuntam thereafter.

 

9. ThiruveLLakkuLam (aNNan kovil )

 

This divya dEsam is celebrated as DakshiNa Thiruppathi .

This is the birth place of Kumuda valli NaacchiyAr , who

married Thirumangai and was instrumental in transforming

him into a Sri VaishNavan . Under the shade of TatvathOdaka

vimAnam , KaNNan gives us His darsanam with His pirAtti ,

PoovAr ThirumahaL NaacchiyAr . Thirumangai's saraNAgathi

here is a moving one . He addresses the Lord endearingly

with the epithet , aNNA < and prays :

ThiruveLLakkuLatthuL aNNA ! adiyEN idari kaLayAyE , nediyAyai!

adiyEn idar neekkE ! " . He continues to implore the Lord to remove

all the obstacles standing in his way to get moksham . His moving

prayers shows his aathuram and intense desire to obtain the divya

dampathi's blessings :

 

" aanAi adiyEnukku aruL puriyAyE !

 

ThiruveLLakkuLatthAnE !yellavidarum kedumARu aruLAyE !

 

SeerAr pozhil ThiruveLLakkuLatthuL AarAvamudhE ! AdiyErkkaruLAyE !

 

MaalE ! yen valvinai theerttharuLAyE !

 

ThiruveLLakkuLatthuraivAnE ! aavA ! adiyEn ivan yenru aruLAyE ! " .

 

These paasurams have been intrepreted by our pUrvAchAryAs

as the commentary on the the second section of the sacred

Dhvaya nmanthram . Kaliyan is understood to have prayed to

the divya dampathis for pUrNa kaimkarya anugraha siddhi

through Dhvaya manthram ( PadmAsahAya saraNAgathi

manthram according to Swami Desikan ) . This sacred dhvaya

manthram is considered as the dawn for the dark night of praLayam

( KaaLa raathri ) by Swami Desikan ( PrathyUshathAm bhajathi

samsruthi KaalarAthrE : ) .

 

May we understand and practise the meanings of these

paasurams of Kaliyan that are close to the Dhvaya manthram

and obtain the anugraham of the aNNan Koil divya dampathis !

 

10. ThirukkavaLampAdi

 

This thiruppathi is at a distance of seven miles from

SeerkAzhi . Here, Sri GopAla KrishNan stands under

Svayambhu vimAnam with His dEvis , Madavaral Nangai ,

Sengamalvalli nAcchiyAr , RukmiNi and SatyabhAmA awaiting

His bhakthAs . This temple has AarAdhanam only once each day

at 10 AM . It is very much different in this aspect from other temples

with pancha kaala pUjas . Close to this divya dEsam is

ThirukkurayalUr , the birth place of Thirumangai AzhwAr .

Three furlongs off from ThirukkurayalUr in the opposite

direction of ThirukkAvaLampAdi is Mangai matam , where

AzhwAr conducted TadheeyAradhanams to Sri VaishNavAs

to win the hand of Kumudavalli NaacchiyAr . At ThirukkurayalUr ,

there is a beautiful and majestic archA mUrthy of BhagavAn

NarasimhAn . One can relate Thirumangai Azhwar's names ,

adayAr seeyam and arattu amukki , to that of Lord Lakshmi

Nrusimhan . Seeyar means a Lion . AdayAr means mARRAr

or those , who are bhagavadh dvEshis ( enemies of the Lord ) .

Like Sri Nrusimhan , Kaliyan with his sword and shield as well

as the spear went after the enemies of the Lord like a Lion

goes after its prey . Thus he shares the guNam of Nrusimhan .

Arattu amukki means the one who crushes the ones , who have

ill will towards the BahgavathAs .Here again , we can see the

guNa saamyam with the Lord Nrusimhan .

 

Coming back to ThirukkAvaLampAdi thiruppathi , one of the Pancha

KrishNa kshEthrams of ChoLa naadu , Thirumangai performed

SaraNAgathi to KaNNan , Just as ArjunA did at KurukshEthram :

 

" yacchrEya: syanniscchitham brUhi tanmE sishyasthEham

maam tvAm PRAPANNAM "

 

Arjuna in the state of Aakinchayam begged the Lord to do whatever

that He considered appropriate and auspicious for him as a Sishyan

and Prapannan . Tirumangai in a similar mood of utter helplessness

appealed to the Lord nine times in his paasurams and recognized Him

as his upAyam for the rakshaNam :

 

" KaavaLampAdi mEya KaNNanE kaLai kaN neeyE ! "

 

May we seek the blessings of Sri Gopala KrishNan

and Mada varal mangai ( MahA Lakshmi ) in the manner

in which Thirumangai showed us the way and perform

SaraNAgathi and benefit !

 

11 . ThiruppArthan PaLLi

 

This divya dEsam is at a distance of two and half miles from

ThirunAngUr . The ArchA mUrthys are Sri tAmaraiyAL kELvan

and Sri tAmarai nAyaki . They stand under nArAyaNa vimAnam .

In addiiton to the ten paasurams of Thirumangai , there is a

eleventh paasuram for tis KshEthram by Poygai AazhwAr

in Mudal ThiruvandhAdhi .

 

tAmaraiyAL kELvan means that He is the Lord of MahA Lakshmi .

We can also intrepret this name of His to mean that He is the one,

who listens to the sipArisu of Sri Devi to forgive our trespasses

and grats us Moksham . In this context ParAsara Bhattar has

saluted MahA Lakshmi's greatness in his guNa rathna kOsam

as exceeding that of Her Lord :

 

Sriya: sree: ! Sri RangEsaya ! tava cha hrudhyAm Bhagavatheem

Sriyam tvathoapyucchai: vayamiha PaNAma: sruNatarAm I

dhrusou tE bhooyAsthaam sukha taraLatArE sravaNatha :

punarharshOthkarshAth spurath bhujayO : kanchukasatham II

 

( meaning ) : My Lord ! Sri ranganAthA ! You indeed are the one

enhances the beauty of Your dEvi ( Thiruvukkum ThiruvAhiya selvan ) .

She is your prANa nAdi ( Life force ) . She is equal to You in Her

six guNAs such as J~nAnam , Balam , tEjas , Isvaryam et al .

We assess that She excells You through Her guNam

of PurushakAram .

 

Sri parAsara Bhattar was indeed the purOhithar of tAmaraiyAL

kELvan ( Sri RanganAthA ) . If any pone can understand the relative

excellence among the divya dampathis , he is eminently qualiifed

to do so ! Hence , he bluntly stated about Her superiority in this way .

 

Ahirbudhnya Samhithai slOkam states that BhagavAn and Lakshmi

are sarva sEshis When one approaches them through the upAyams

of Bhakthi and /or Prapatthi , one obtains j~nAnam that is equivalent

to paripUrNa brahmAnubhavam . This arises from the orientation ,

" oNN tAmaraiyAL kELvan nOkkum uNarvu " . When approached

in this manner , We recognize the presence of the Divya Dampathis

as antharyAmi Brahmam without any separation and are a unitary

principle as stated in the samhithai slOkam :

 

nArAyaNa param Brahma sakthirnArAyaNee cha saa I

vyApakAvathi samslEshAth ekatattvamivOdhithou II

 

He is the Lord , who went after the nectar of femininity ,

while the dEvAs focussed on the nectar that would make

them free from old age and death ( ViNNavaramudhuNa vamudhil

peNNamudhunda emperumAn ) . She is the nectar of nectars

that arose out of the milky ocean . His love for Her will not

permit Him to ignore her sipArisu ( PurushakAram ) for us ,

the erring jeevans . He demonstrates His dayA svarUpam

in response to Her recommendation and intercession

and blesses us with Moksham . Swami Desikan explains

this extraordinary relationship between the divya dampathis

this way in Sri Rahasya traya Saaram :

 

" InnamudatthamudAlirangu ThirunAraNanE

manniya van SaraN maRROr paRRInRi varippavarkkE "

 

Thirumangai remembere d the special anugraham of

ParthasArathy to ArjunA and entered into the role of

parakAla nAyaki and reminded the Lord that "she "

will follow the model of AalrmElmangai , who vowed

not to leave Her husband's chest even for a fraction of

a second ( AhalahillEn ) .

 

The paasurams of Paarthan PaLLI are throught he mouth of

the mother of ParakAla nAyaki . The mother reminds the Lord

that her young and beautiful daughter is intoxicated with His

beauty and is spending all of her time awaiting His arrival .

The mother is clearly worried about the obsession of her

daughter and describes her daughter's pitiable plight to

the Lord of Parthan PaLLI :

 

naadiyenrnuLLam konda nAthan yenrum nAnmaRaigaL

tEdi yenrum kANamAttA selvan Yenrum siraikoLL vandu

sEdulavu pozhil koLL nAngai dEvadEvan yenrenrOdhi

paatam sEr melladiyAL PaarthanpaLLI pAduvALE

 

The mother says that her daughter insists that tAmaraiyAL

kELvan has come by and entered her heart . She says that

the vEdAs are searching for Him everywhere not knowing that

their EmperumAn has taken up residence in her heart. She

blurts out that the vEdAs are dismayed . She spends all her

time decorating herseldf with ankle ornaments (silampu )

and other jewelery awaiting your arrival . In between , she is

singing about the glory of Your Thiruppathi and Your

kolatthirumEni ( beautiful form ) . Thirumangai described his

deep love for Sriman NArAyaNA of this KshEhtram through

the words of his mother here .

 

May we all be blessed by Thirumangai's tributes to the

ArchA mUrthys of the eleven ThirunAngUr divya desams and

benefit from shtira bhakthi to the divya dampathis !

 

AzhwAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Oppiliappan Kovil VaradAchAri sadagopan

[Guest guest]

Rarely, I got time to read this thoroughly. These pasurams and the quote

from Ahirbudhnya Samhita on Sri-tatva is very important to our siddhantam.

Of course, Thirumangai mannan's verse in the form of mother's statements on

her daughter, in whose heart lord Srimannarayana has taken residence

dodging even the depth and charm of Vedic hymns and being not able to

gauged by them; is a great way to experience Lord.

 

Krishna