pEy AzhwAr Birhtday & concluding tribute to ThirukkOvalUr

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs :

 

This day is for the rememberance of the third thiruvandhAthi

of pEy AzhwAr . I will select four verses to offer at

the feet of the Lord of ThirukkOvalUr as the concluding

samarpaNam on this series on Sri DehaLeesa sthuthi .

These four verses are :

 

1. 58th verse of Poygai AzhwAr

2. 77th verse of BhUthatthAr

3. 81st verse of pEy AzhwAr

4. Thirumangai's ThirukkOvalUr paasuram( 2.10.2)

 

1 . Pygai AzhwAr's Mudhal ThiruvandhAthi Paasuram (58)

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thozhuthu malar kondu dhUpam kaiyEnthi

yezhuthumezhuvAzhi nenjE --pazhuthinri

manthirangaL karpanavum maaladiyE kai thozhuvAn

antharamonrillaiyadai

 

Word By word Meaning :

 

nenjE yezhu = O, my mind ! please wakeand get up !

 

dhupam kai yEndhi thozhuthu yezhuthum = let us

carry the flowers for worship in our hand , prostrate

ourselves before our Lord and attain salvation .

 

vAzhi = may thou live long !

 

pazhuthu inri karpana manthirangaLum

Maal adiyE kai thozhuvAn = the manthrams

like Ashtaaksharam that we receive in the proper

manner from faultles AchAryAs through upadEsam

are indeed for meditation on and the worship of

our Lord's sacred feet .

 

antharam onru illai = there is no delay thru following

other routes such as karma, j~nana and Bhakthi

yOgams . they cause distracting delays that you do

not need to brook with . Prapatthi margam is implied

here .

 

adai = may thou receive that bhAgyam of truptha prapatthi ,

where you perform all the services and deeds prescribed

for one in the life after prapatthi .

 

This is one of the maanasa sambhOdhanam paasurams.

 

2 .BUthatthAr Paasuram : second ThiruvandhAthi--77

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urumkandAi nannenjE utthaman naRpaadham

urumkandAiyoN kamlam tannAl

yEtthi paNinthavanpEr eer iyjnooRu yeppozhuthum

saatthi uraitthal tavam

 

nal nenjE = O my mind filled with auspicious traits

as a result of pUrva janma sukruthams !

 

nal paadham urum kandAi = The purushOtthaman's

holy feet will of its own accord will become accessible to you .

other distractions wont happen to you . By his own

anugraham , you will have the praapthi (realization )

of worshipping His lotus feet .

 

oNN kamalam tannAl urum kandAi =you will be blessed

with the kainkarya Sri of offering beautiful lotus flowers

at those sacred feet . That will happen too !

 

yEtthi paNinthu sAtthi avan pEr eer innUru yeppozhuthum

uraitthal tavam urum kandAi = you will be blessed with

the fruit of austerities (viz)., eulogising Him with His thousand

names at all times , prostrating before Him and offering

Him the fragrant and beautiful lotus flowers at those holy

feet of our Lord .

 

AzhwAr engages in mAnasa SambhOdhanam and

assures his mind that the ever-compassionate Lord

out of His bhaktha vAthsalyam will make all of these

desired events happen for the prapannA . MahA viswasam

in the Lord as SaraNAgatha vathsalan is the undertone

of this paasuram .

 

pEy AzhwAr : third thiruvandhAthi --paasuram 81

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nenjAl ninaippu ariyan yElum nilai peRREn

nenjamE pEsAi ninaikkumkAl --nenjatthup

pErAthu niRkum perumAnai yen kolO

OrAthu niRpathuNarvu

 

yen nenjamE = O my dear mind !

 

nenjAl ninaippu ariyanElum nilai peRRu

pEsAi = even if the Lord is not easy to be

realized in His full glory by meditation , please

root yourself in the sankeerthanam of his names

and become tranquil . May thou steadfastly

eulogize Him !

 

ninaikkum kaal nenjatthu pErAthu niRkum

perumAnai uNarvu OrAthu nirpathu yen kol ? =

why is it that you are distracted to other subjects ,

when the object of your dhyAnam , the Lord is

accessible to you without separation even when

you think of Him once ?

 

AzhwAr admits that it is not easy to control the mind

from straying to other subjects than the Lord . He suggests

that his mind to shift to naama sankeerthanam as an aid ,

when the dhyAnam is interrupted . He also points out that

it is an error to stray away from this bhaktha sulabhan .

That uNarvu ( ceaseless dhyAnam and dhruva smruthi )

is suggested elsewhere in the divya prabhandham as

" tAmaraiAL kELvan ORUVANAYE nOkkum UNARVU ".

That our Lord , the consort of MahA Lakshmi should be

the one and only object of our dhyAnam is the upadEsam

of the AzhwAr , who saw the divya dampathis with his tapas .

 

4 .Thirumangai"s thirukkObvalUr paasuram

( Periya Thirumozhi :2.10.2 )

 

kondalarntha naRunthuzhAi saanthum dhUpam

dheepam kondu amarar thozha ppaNankoL paampil ,

santhaNI menmulai malarAL dharaNi mangai

thAmiruvar adi varudam tanmaiyAnai

vandhanai seythu isai yEzhu aaRu angam iynthu

vaLar vELvi naan maRaigaL moonRu theeyum

chintanai seyuthirpozhuthumonRum selvat-

thirukkOvalaUrathanuL kandEn naanE

 

Thirumangai desribes the scene that he saw at

the sannidhi of hte Lord of THirukkOvalUr . He witnessed

the elaborate and traditional worship prescribed

by the agamAs and sAsthrAs . Who was performing

this aarAdhanai ? Amarars were peforming this aarAdhanai .

 

PeriyavAcchAn PiLLai intreprets amarars as the DevAs

including BrahmA ( brahmAdhigaL ) . Namjeeyar intreprets

the word amarar to mean nithya sUris .

 

The celestial beings arrive at Gopapureesan's sannadhi

carrying fragrant flower garlands , sandal paste , lamps ,

incense and worship the Lord resting on the multiheaded

AdhisEshan , while his lotus feet are being pressed by

the soft hands of His two dEvis ( Sri and BhU devi ) with

sarvAlankArams .

 

Thirumangai describes the glory of ThirukkOvalUr , where

the dEvAs have assembled to perform their ArAdhanai .

He hears divine music based on the saptha svarAs ,

vedha ghOsham , recitation of the six limbs of the vEdAs .

He sees the tall flames rising from the five mahA yaJ~nams

and the three base agnis like gharhapathyam maintained

for the vaidhika karmAs . He sees these achaara , anushtAna

sishtAs , who ceaselessly think of the Lord as sarvantharyAmi .

In short , the abundance of Vaidhika Sri is witnessed and

recorded by Thirumangai at ThirukkOvalUr as the proper

background for the moving aarAdhanam performed by

the nithya sUris and the dEvAs .

 

May the paripUrNAnugraham of the pUmkOval NaacchiyAr

sametha Aayan--Thrivikraman of ThirukkovalUr standing

under the shade of Srikara Vimanam on the banks of

Sri KrishNa theertham fall on all of us and bless us

to gain an understanding of the thiruvandhAthis of

the three mudhal AzhwArs !

 

AzhwAr AchAryAL thiruvadigalE SaraNam

Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan

Isvara samvathsaram Iyppasi Dasami ,

Sathaya Nakshthram .