thiru viN Nagaram - part 5 - thAL iNaiyan than kurukoor sadagopan

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Part 5 : thAL iNaiyan thankurukoor sadagopan

 

 

 

 

Nammaalwaar

 

kaaNminkaL ulakeer enRu kaN mugappE nimirntha

thaaL iNaiyan Rannaik kurukoor sadakOpan

sonna aayiraththuth thiruviNNagar paththum vallaar

kOnai yinRi viNNOrk kenRum aavar kuravarkaLE

 

"kAnmin ulageer ! enak kaN mugappE nimirntha thaaL" i.e. "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.

i.e.., It grew so much that for those eyes of the boolOga vAsis then,

the holy feet crossed their limits and vertically beyond the rim of

their eyes (i.e. kaN mugappE). One can wide open their eyes and see the

horizon all around while standing on a plain land or on a sea shore.

However this 'area' of human perception on the horizon is dictated by

earth's curvature.(horizon is literally the place where land and sky

seemed to meet each other and live in union as per a tamil kavi). When

looking at this scenario of thiruvikkrama avathAram with a rational

mind and with some scientific thinking, one may conclude that, when

this feet was placed on the whole of the earth first, the contact patch

of this holy feet with the earth must have been on the northern crown

of the spherical globe. According to some observers this part must

have been the only land that was inhabited then.

 

As per vAmana purANam, this feet "blacked out" the whole earth

then. Like everyone, Emperor mahAbali could not even see the

thiruvikkrama avathAram as he was also trapped under this feet that

enveloped the whole area over the earth. Later he pleaded to Lord to

show him this magnificient sight and the Lord obliged him and offered

HIS thiruvikrama avathAra darshanam once again in thiruk kOviloor.

(When nammAzhwAr concluded in his decade on the 10th pAsuram on the

holy feet that enveloped this earth, Thiru mangai continues this

sentiment by discussing the next event of this avathAram i.e. placement

of the "second step" using the other holy feet at the "ether world", in

his *first* paasruam on this Lord Oppiliappan as "paNdai nam vinai keda

enRu thoNdarum amaraarum" i.e. the Devas anticipating this holy feet

for yugAs waited to cleanse their sins as this holy feet was placed on

their lOgam - this will be dealt in the next paragraph).

 

Coming back to this verse by Nammaazhwaar, he equates himself

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

iNaiyan". We all have been knowing/reading that "nammAzhwAr" is being

called as "sadAri" and being equated to "HIS Holy feet" in many

literatures including Sri RanganAtha pAdhuka sahasram. In "sri

sampradhAyam" he is equated as the contact link (achAryAL) between us

and the Lords holy feet that we seek to belong. The basis for such

litertures is provided by Sri NammAzhwAr himself through these verses

on Lord Oppiliappan and hence these 10 pAsurams are of very great

importance to all Srivaishnavs of "Sri" sampradhAyam. Azhwaar also asks

us to look at HIS majesty (in thiruvikkrama avathAram as seen in thiru

viN Nagaram)in this pAsuram. In this last pAsuram azhwAr says " if you

chant these 10 verses delivered by me "self, who is equal to such Holy

feet of Lord thiru viNNagaraan that rose in front of the eyes of

boolOga vaasis , (and as the "thaaLinaiyan", assures that) one who

worships HIM will surely become a member of the elite group of

viNNvar's achAryALS or leaders.

 

This being Lord Oppiliappan or thiru viNNagaraan (Vin - sky ,

nagaran - city ; in Sanskrit this lord is prayed as vyOma pureesan-

VyOma - ether; puri eesan - the Lord of ether space or vAn ulagam) 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 (representation of boolOgam) and thiru

viNNagaraan (lord oppilaar appan or vyOma pureesan) are in kalyaanak

kOlam symbolizing this instant of thiruvikrama avathaaram. The moment

Lord placed HIS holy feet on the earth, all the earth's souls and

creatures that were ever created on earth and thrived using the earth's

resources belonged to HIM from then on. This is the feeling one must

get prior to having baranyAsam, ie., all our souls were HIS property

and owned by HIM and that the main purpose of life is to serve Sriman

NArAyanA only. (Please read my post on my baranyAsam for more

details). The kalyAna ursavam for this Lord is a very special offering

one can perform, as this kalyAna ursavam symbolises this holy moment of

thiruvikkrama avathAram each time it is performed. It is conceived that

as similar to dEvas, we can get our sins removed instantly at this

moment if we pray to this Lord in "kalyAnak kOlam".

 

thaL iNaiyan kurukoor sadagOpan thiruvadikaLE charaNam

Sri Boomi Devi nAchchiyAr samEtha Sri Oppiliappan

thiruvadikaLE charaNam.

Sampath Rengarajan

 

 

Addendum to the previous part:

 

In this part, the aspect of this Lord was discussed as 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 with folded legs and praying our Lord, and the Lord's

abayahastham pointing towards HIS holy feet that was placed on the

earth. This Lord has a unique prapatti slokam delivered for him as

similar to Lord RanganAtha.