Sri KulasekarA's Birthday , Iswara Samvathsaram : Part 1

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs : It gives me great pleasure to join

on this sacred day of Sri Kulasekara AzhwAr's birth

( Maasi Punarvasu ) to pay my tribute to the great

Saint-King from KeralA-Paandya desam . This is also

the day in which Sri RanganAtha Swamy Temple foundation

stone is being laid at Pomona , NY following the divine

blessings of Sri Maha Lakshmi and the 44th Jeeeyar , His

Holiness Sri Vedantha Desika MahA Desikan , the builder

of the Southern Gopuram of Sri Ranganathan . May this effort

thrive and May the object of Sri Kukasekara AzhwAr's

deep desire come to reside here on the Banks of Hudson

river in New York and bless us all for times to come .

 

A Tribute to Sri Kulasekhara

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Srimans MadhavakkaNNan and MuraLi Rangaswamy

have paid wonderful tributes already this morning .

I will follow from there and focus on the deep

and profound statements of MahA Viswasam of

KulasekharA enshrined in his salutations and

prayer to Sri VitthuvakkOttu AmmAn of MalayALa

divya desam ( PerumAL Thirumozhi : 5th decad )

 

The Divya Desam of VitthuvakkOdu

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The name VitthuvakkOdu comes from the

joining of two words : VidhwAns + Kodu

or koodiya Idam ( the place of assembly ) .

 

Vedic Scholars , Experts in Kaavyam , Naatakam ,

Alankaara Saasthram , Tarkam , MeemAmsam and

Yogam used to assemble here as residents and

gave the name of VitthuvakkOdu to this thiruppathi .

They were very respectful of each other and

developed deep friendship ( Mithra BhAvam ) .

Hence , this Thiruppathi is also known as

MitthirakkOdu , the place of assembly of

friends .

 

Location of VitthuvakkOdu

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

 

This Kshethram is at a distance of 10 miles

from ShoranUr on the GuruvAyUr-ShoranUr road .

It is on the bank of BharathappuZhA river

and can be reached from PattAmbhi train station .

The garbha graham is semi-circular similar to

the traditional ones of KeraLa divya desams.

 

The method of worship is neither VaikAnasam

or Paancha Raathram , but Taantric . There is

no chatAri usage .Only Sandal Paste and

Tulasi leaves are given as PrasAdam . Potti

( pOtthi ) Brahmins perform Abhigamanam with

wet cloth and continue with the daily aarAdhanams

devoutly as in the case of GuruvAyUr . There is a

temple for the grandson of the Lord ( Lord SivA )

infront of this temple .

 

The ArchA Moorthys of VitthubvakkOdu

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

 

The Lord's name at this Thiruppathi is Uyya Vantha PerumAl .

ThAyAr's name is Thiru VitthuvakkOttu Valli .

The name for the Lord is intriguing . Instead

of Uyya Vaikka Vantha PerumAL , He is

called Uyya Vantha PerumAL or the Lord ,

who came to be redeemed . Perhaps , he acknowledges

the moving SaraNAgathi paasurams of His dear

BhakthA , who deservedly earned the suffix of

PerumAL after his name of KulasekharA . Our

predecessors have rightfully stated : " PerumALai

aRiyAthAr PerumALai aRiyAthArE ". The meaning of

this statement is : "One who does not understand

the Paasurams of KulasekHara PerumAL would not

know about PerumAL ( Sri RamachandrA ) , who

performed AarAdhanam to Periya PerumAL ,

Sri RanganaathA , during His avathAram as the

son of DasarathA . Perhaps Sriman NaarAyaNa

who is Bhaktha Paaratantryan felt that

he should take this name as one who came to be redeemed

in the spirit of VaishNava Nampi of Thirukkurungudi ,

who came to attend KalakshEpams of Sri RaamAnuja

on the banks of TamraparaNee river .

 

The Greatness of KulasEkharA

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Our AzhwAr is considered as the amsam of the Kausthubham

gem adorning the chest of Sriman NaarAyaNan .

KulasekhaRA was a king of Kolli Naadu in those

days , when there was the joint kingdom of

Keralaa and Paandya desam . He was born under

the star of Punarvasu , the same one under which

Sri RamachandrA was born as KausalyA suprajA .

Like Chakravarthi Thirumahan , he gave up his

kingdom too for dhArmic reasons .He wanted to

emulate Ilaya PerumAl and wanted to serve always

the Lord ( Bhagavad Seshathvam ). Like BharathA ,

he wanted to have Paarathanthryam and wanted

to perform PaadhukhA PattAbhishEkam . Like

SatrugnA , KulasekharA stood for Bhagaavtha

Seshathvam celebrated in the Thiruvaimozhi

Paasurams of decad 3.7 summarized

recently by Sri MadhavakkaNNan .SatrugnA is known

as Nithya Satrugnan : The Forever foe

of anything that stood in his way to serve BhagavathAls

like Bharathan , his brother . In a similar spirit ,

KulasEkarA defended BhagavathALs in his court , when they

were falsely accused of stealing the AabharaNams

of his AarAdhana Moorthy . KulasekharA put his

hand into a pot containing Cobras to attest

to the purity of BhagavathALs and won .Such is

the greatness of KulasekharA , who dreamed and

sung daily about his pilgrimage to Srirangam

so that he can be near to Sri RanganAthA .

 

Our PurushArtham is Bhagavadh Kaimkaryam.

That is Mudal kOdu ( the first step).

The kadaisi kOdu ( the last step ) is

CharamAvathi Bhagavatha Kaimkaryam of the kind

celebrated by NammAzhwAr in Thiruvaimozhi 3.7.10:

 

"--adiyAr adiyAr tammadiyAr tamakku

adiyAr adiyAr tammadiyAr adiyOngaLE "

 

( Meaning ) : " Myself and mine are servants to

the servants of the servants of the servants of

the servants of the servants of the servants of

this lovable Lord "

 

He declared : " Inbamarum selvamum ivvarasum

yaan vEndEn " and spent his days in Bhagavadh/

Bhagavadha KAIMKARYAM . He followed the traditional

SaraNAgathi maargam established by the Divya Dampathis

and spent his last days at Srirangam and ascended

to Parama padam from there .

 

In his VitthuvakkOttu paasurams , he expressed

his understanding and practise of the profound

meaning of PraNavam with particular emphasis on

the letter " U" in the combination of the triad ,

A,U and M . The Letter "U " stands for AnanyArha

Seshathvam asserting that the Jeevan is Seshan to the Lord

and the Lord alone . AzhwAr's MahA Visvaasam and

aathma SamarpaNam in the true spirit of SaraNAgathi

is etched in these verses .

 

I will comment on the individal paasurams

in the subsequent posting(s) .

 

KulasEkhara AzhwAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan