Sri AparyApthAmrutha dhyAna sOpAnam ; Slokam 5

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs of Sri AarAvamudhan of Thirukkudanthai :

 

In the fourth slOkam , Thirukkudanthai Desikan enjoyed

the unique beauty of the thighs of Hema Rangan . In the fifth

slOkam , he describes the object of his gaze as his eyes moved

upward and settled on the waist region of the Lord of Thirukkudanthai .

The luminous waist belt , the golden chain tied around the waist to

hold His peethAmbaram and the shining peethAmbharam adorning that

waist become the objects of his attention . He enjoys paramAnandham

from the experience of his anubhavam of the waist region of the Lord

resting on His bed of Adhi SeshA at Thirukkudanthai .

 

The fifth slOka vAkhyams are as follows :

 

Spurath kaancheenaddham kanaka kati sUthrENa cha vrutham

visAlam vistheerNa pravaraguNa peethAmbharayutham I

katee dEsam Saarnga pravara dhanushO lOchana yugam

mamAlOkhya prEmnA niravadhi mahAnandham abhajath II

 

( Anvaya kramam ) : spurath kaanchee naddham , kanaka kati

sUthrENa cha vrutham , visAlam vistheerNa pravara guNa peethAmbhara

yutham , Saarnga Pravara dhanusha: katee dEsam , mama lOchana yugam

prEmNA aalOkhya , niravadhi mahAnandham abhajath .

 

(Meaning ) : My eyes attained the highest of Anandham through

the sEvai of the waist region of SaarngapANi , the Lord of

Thirkkudanthai adorned with the golden belt , golden waist chord

and the broad , beautiful peethAmbharam of auspicious

attributes .

 

Commentary

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

*** This is a unique anubhavam of Thirukkudanthai Desikan .

Both ThiruppANAzhwAr in AmalanAdhipirAn and Swami

Desikan skipped the anubhavam of the waist region of

Sri RanganAtha ( Kasthuri Rangan ) in their eulogies.

 

Thirukkudanthai Desikan , the aparAvathAram of Swami

Desikan made up for his oversight in the earlier avathAram

( in his Bhagavad dhyAna sOpanam ) and stopped to enjoy

the beauty of the waist region of Hema Rangan of Thirukkudanthai .

That is why , Sri AapryApthAmrutha DhyAna sOpAnam has

13 verses ( one extra ) compared to the 12 verses of

Sri Bhagavdh DhyAna sOpAnam of Swami Desikan .

 

*** Spurath kanchee naddham : In the previous slOkam ,

Thirukkudanthai Desikan referred to " kaanchee niryath

kiraNa ruchiram peetha kousEya jushtam " . He was celebrating

the beauty of the thighs of the Lord there , where the effulgence

originating from the golden and gem-studded waist belt

fell on the peethAmbharam covering the Lord's thighs and enhanced

their beauty . In this slOkam , Our AchAryan comes back to the source

itself (viz)., the golden waist embellished with the navarathnams .

He says that beautiful waist is bound ( naddham ) by the shining

(spurath ) waist belt ( Kaanchee ) .

 

*** Kanaka Kati sUthrENa cha vrutham :

 

Below that golden belt , our AchAryan comes across

the beautiful katee sUthram , which is used to hold

the peethAmbharam . In TamiL , katee sUthram is

known as " arai nANN " . PeriyAzhwAr has enjoyed

the beauty of the katee sUthram of Bala Gopalan

( Thirukkudanthaik Kovalan ) in his paasurams this way :

 

" ponnarai nANodu maNiccka kiNN kiNi tannarai aada "

 

The golden waist chord has little golden bells attached

to it . As the most beautiful BalagOpAlan moves around ,

the bells jingle with sunAdham . PeriyAzhwAr enjoys the sounds

originating from the waist region .

 

Elsewhere , PeriyAzhwAr invites our attention to the golden

arai nANN and asks us to enjoy its lustre and the golden bells

in the form of the mAthuLai mottu(pomegranet Bud )

attached to that golden waist chord :

 

" arayil tangiya ponvatamum tALa nan mAthuLayin poovodu

pon maNiyum "

 

The thiruvAbharaNams on the waist are saluted by

Thirukkudanthia Desikan a la periyAzhwAr , since

Lord of Thiukkdanthai has been enjoyed as GopAlan

by AzhwArs . NammAzhwAr 's enjoyment of this arai--

nANN of AarAvamudhan is contained in the following

paasura portion : " AarAvamudhamAyallAviyuL kalantha

kArAr karu muhil pOl yenammAn KaNNanukku --nANN ,

pinnumizhai palavE "

 

*** VisAlam vistheerNa pravara guNa peethAmbharayutham :

 

The glory of the unmatched lustre of the peethAmbharam

has been repeatedly saluted by our purvAchAryAs and AzhwArs .

 

During KrishNAvathAram , the Lord was born in the dark

prison of kamsA with PeethAmbharam on His waist

and its lutre removed the darkness of the dungeon .

 

Sukha Brahmam has celebrated the Lord adorning

the red peethAmbharam and appearing like the new Manmathan

winning the old Manmathan in beauty :

 

peethAmbharadhara: sragvee SaakshAnmanmatha manamatha :

 

" Araicchivantha aadai " is the salutation of ThiruppANar .

Our Lord's hue is dark blue . The red peethAmbharam

has the quality of adding to the beauty of His hue as

parabhAgam ( complimentary ) . That combination looks

like a red lotus that has just blossomed on the blue waist

(waters ) of the Lord ( KousEya pushpitha tatam ) .

 

NammAzhwAr has enjoyed the beauty of the red peethAmbharam

on the bluish hued waist of the Lord as " sekkAr maamuhil udutthu " .

Elsewhere , NammAzhwAr has queried the Lord about

the relation between the lustre of peethAmbharam and

the beauty of the waist that adorns it :

 

" padic chOthi aadayodum palkalanAi nin

paimpoRk katicchOthi kalanthathuvO " .

 

Thirukkuanthai dEsikan describes this beautiful

peethAmbharam as visAlam ( broad ) , vistheerNam

( extended ) and pravara guNayutham , Saarnga

pravara dhanusha: katee dEsam ( that waist of

SaarngapANi , adorned by the peethAmbharam

of auspicious guNAs )

 

What is the auspicious guNAs that Thirukkudanthai dEsikan

is referring to here ? One is the bhOga LeelA of the Lord .

KulasEkarar refers to the use of the PeethAmbharam by

the Lord to hide a Gopi ( bhakthai ) and rushing her to His

abode during the dark hours of the night without attracting

the attention of anyone . But a friend of the girl catches the Lord

and describes it with affection this way :

 

minnottha nuNNidayALaik kondu

veenkiruLvAi yenthan veethiyOdu

ponnottha vAdai kukkUdalittup--

pOhinrapOthu naan kandu ninREn--

------------PerumAL Thirumozhi 6.5

 

Even in the darknes of the night , the lustre of

the peethAmbharam gives away the Lord rushing

to His abode . He had covered his head and that of

the beloved with a " mukkAdu " made from His

peethAmbharam and was detected by the friend

of the Gopi . Later in the evening the Lord rushed to

the side of the friend , who had seen him rushing

off with her girl friend . This annoyed friend asks the Lord,

" I caught You running off under the cover of Your

peethAmbharam . Why are You now coming to me after

abandoning my innocent friend ? Please return to

the side of my friend , who is broken hearted about

Your deception " .

 

That is the Mahimai of the PeethAmbharam

adorning the waist of our Lord of Thirukkudanthai .

 

Our AchAryan recalls this scene and his eyes become

dimmed with tears of prEmai , (mama lOchana Yugam

prEmNA aalOkhya ) and reach the state of limitless joy

( niravdhi mahA Aanandham abhajath ) .

 

This slOkam in celebration of the beauty of Katee

dEsam /tiruk kati sthAnam ( waist region ) of the Lord

has a relationship to the anubhavam of NammAzhwAr

of a MalayALa divya Desam revered as ThirukkatitthAnam .

 

This divyadEsam is 23 miles from AmbalappuzhA

and the Lord here has the name of Adhbhutha

NaarAyaNan . NammAzhwAr has performed

mangalAsAsanam of this Lord with 11 pasurams

( Thiruvaimozhi 8.6 decad ) .NammAzhwAr has a special

affection to the Lord of this divya desam reminding of

His beautiful waist region ( katee dEsam ) as revealed

from those 11 paasurams dedicated to the Lord

Adhbhutha NaarAyaNan of ThirukkatitthAna divya dEsam .

 

NamO NaarAyaNA ,

Sri AparyAptha Para BrahmaNE Nama:

Thirukkudanthai dEsikan ThriuvadigaLE SaraNam

Swami Sri Desikan ThiruvadigaLE saraNam

 

Oppilaippan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan