Sri VitthuvakkOttu AmmAn PaasurungaL of KulasEkharA:Part 2

[Guest guest]

Dear BhagavathALs :

 

The ten passurams of AzhwAr are moving statements

about his Aakinchanyam and MahA VisvAsam . Swami DEsikan

captured the mood of the mind of KulasEkharA in

his SaranAgathi Granthams like Nyaasa Dasakam ,

SaraNAgathi Deepikai as well as in Daya Sathakam

slOkams . The whole decad is a " VisvAsa PrArthanA

pUrvam Aathma RakshA bharam " in the spirit of

Swami Desikan's second slokam of Nyaasa Dasakam :

 

nyasyAmi Akinchana: Sriman anukUlOnyavarjitha: I

visvAsa PrArthanA pUrvam Aathma RakshAbharam tvayi II

 

First Paasuram : Mother and Crying Child

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Here he described his helpless state to that

of an infant , which has been discarded by

its mother in anger and disgust because of

the screams and tantrums of the wimpering infant .

The infant is totally helpless to take care of itself

and awaits the mercy of the mother to releive its

misery .Azhwar states that his condition is exactly

like that infant . He says , "Unn SaraNallAl SaraNillai " .

He states further that all of his accumulated samsaaric

ills are causing him indescribable pain and

they can not be eliminated by anyone except the Lord.

He is screaming in anguish to get the Lord's attention

and that the Lord like the mother ignoring the infant

does not pay attention to him and move in his direction

to help him . AzhwAr declares with conviction that

inspite of the Lord's lack of initiative to help him , he

will not seek help from anyone else .He says :" I will stay

forever in the belief that your Lotus feet are my

sole refuge and will hold on to them , even if you kick me

away .I will wait for your anger to subside

and meanwhile hold on to your sacred feet firmly until

the dawn of Your DayA ".

 

Oh DayA mUrhty ! Oh my Lord ! There are a lot of

bad sons ( evil PuthrAs : Kuputhra , but

nobody ever heard of evil mothers ( KumAthA ) .

Even with a bad son , a mother shows affection and

comes to his rescue. If ordinary mothers behave

in this predictable fashion and are compassionate

towards their ill-behaving sons , I can not see how

Yourself , the jaganmAthA can ignore me( Your son )

and my sufferings? Hence I am convinced that

you will not abandon me .

 

The description of the Lord of VitthuvakkOdu as

the Mother of the Universe by KulasEkharA reminds

one of Swami Desikan's prayer to the Lord of ThiruvEnkatam

in Daya sathakam :Maatha: DayE ! mE mana : tvAm

prasAdhayithum icchathi " . He says : " Oh DayA dEvi!

my mind wants to gladden Your heart . You are afterall

my Mother.As Your dear child , I want to make You

happy by presenting You with nourishing victuals

to please You . I look around to see what I have got

in my collection to give You .I see that I have only

one item in plenty in my possession (i-e., ) the

bundles of my accumulated sins . I conclude that

they will serve as food for You and perform prapatthi

at Your sacred feet and offer my paapa raasis as

the naivEdhyam .With mahA visvAsam in You and

your power to wipe out my sorrows ( taru thuyaram

tadAyEl unn saraNallAl saraNillai ) , I offer these

bundles of sins to You as food . What do You do ? In one

second , you swallow them and stand there famished

suggesting that what I offered is not enough for You to

appease Your hunger . Oh DayA svarUpi ! please take

the role of my Mother and do not be angry at me and

enfold me in Your hands in affectionate embrace

and feed me the milk of Jn~anam and thus protect me .

There is no one else for me as refuge . I wish to

surrender my soul at Your sacred feet . Such thoughts

are echoed by Swami Desikan in the following DayA Sathaka

SlOkam :

 

Outhsukhya pUrvamupahruthya mahAparAdhAn

maatha: prasAdhayithum icchathi mE manastvAm I

aalihyathAn niravasEshamalabhdha trupthi:

tAmyasyahO Vruhshagireesa dhruthA DhayE tvAm II

 

Second Paasuram :Pathivrathi& ill-behaving Consort

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

 

Here , AzhwAr compares himself to " KondAnai

allAl aRiyA kula mahaL " and concludes that

" un kurai kazhalE kURuvanE " .

 

Oh VitthuvakkOttammA ! I am Your bonded servant .

If You do not come to my rescue , others will

laugh at You as a negligent Master. They will

laugh at me as well and point out that I am the

foolish girl , who puts too much belief in Your

action to protect me and I am going to be surely

disappointed . Whatever these people of the village

say , I will have enduring visvAsam in Your

public statement , " MaamEkam SaraNam vraja"

and will wait for you to take the first step towards me.

My state is similar to a Chaste woman , whose husband

engages in despicable acts . Even if the neighbors laugh

at her for her "stupidity " to be faithful to him , she

will continue to wish for his KshEmam and will

perform without let kaimkaryam to him . My status is

similar to that pathivrathai . Even if you declare that

You will not protect me , I will hold onto Your lotus

feet adorned with the silampu denoting

You as a mahA Veeran ; I will not let go

off your protective feet . I want to remind you

that Our relationship is not dissolvable .

 

Third Paasuram : Aggreived Citizen& Irresponsible King

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

 

In this paasuram , AzhwAr compares his state of

Ananya SaraNAgathithvam by invoking the example

of a negligent and derelict king , who does not

come to the rescue of the suffering citizens. That king

wears the sceptre and crown for the express purpose

of protecting his subjects. That is his kshathriya dharmam .

Even when he fails to discharge his avowed

duties , the people have no other recourse except

to expect him to protect them . My status is

similar to that. Even if You wont cast Your

benovolent glances in my direction and take

note of my suffering , I will stay at Your feet

reminding You of Your dharmam as SaraNAgatha Rakshakan

and will wait in my helpless state without seeking

relief from anyone else . Like the fish in the ocean ,

Who know that they have no other place to go even

if the waters of the Ocean dry up , Oh Lord of

VitthuvakkOdu surrounded by the rich and wet fields of

paddy , I will stay with mahA visvAsam in You

as my protector. I will not look to powerless

demi-Gods , who pretend to offer protection

and finally reveal their helplessness . I will

firmly place my faith in You and You alone

as my protector and rest my case for Aathma

RakshaNam at your sacrd feet .AzhwAr states here:

" unn paRRallAl PaRRilEn " .

 

Fourth Paasuram : The ill patient and the Surgeon

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

 

Here AzhwAr compares his relationship with the Lord

as one between a sick patient needing help and the

Doctor , who could cure the illnes with surgery .

The patient has cancer and the surgeon has to

perform an operation to cut the flesh and remove

the cancerous growth . The patient is going to

suffer immensely from the pain of surgery .

Once the operation takes place and the patient is cured of

his long sickness , he is utterly grateful to

the surgeon for saving his life . AzhwAr says that

his status is like the trusting patient , who

casts the burden of protection to the mAyAvi surgeon ,

the Lord ,and bears with all the intermediate sufferings

during the period of surgery .He says that he will

comprehend the pain as activities on the part of

the Lord to save him and will wait to be cured

and offer his thankfulness later to the Lord for

His mahOpakAram .He says that he will wait for

the dayA of the Lord to perform the surgery and cure

him of the fearsome cancer of SamsAram .

 

Fifth Paasuram : The tired albatros bird and the Ship

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

 

In this paasuram , he describes his helpness with

a soul-stirring cry : Where will I go ? What

will I do ? He compares himself to a sea bird ,

which was sitting on the mighty tall mast of a ship

in the middle of the ocean . The big bird thought

it was strong enough and decided to leave the safety of

the towering mast and discover the land to rest .

It flew for hours and hours away from

the ship in search of comforting land to rest .

The bird did not sight the land and was mighty tired .

It recognized how foolish it was to abandon the safety of

the ship's mast and to venture forth on its own

to cross the ocean .It returns chastised and sits

on the mast to complete safely its journey to

the other side of the ocean . AzhwAr compares his status to

this bird , which cast safety to winds and was going to

endanger its life . He says in this context :

" Oh Lord who destroyed the royal elephant of Kamsa

that came rushing to you in anger with blood-shot eyes !

Where can I go for refuge forgetting your strong pair of feet ?

Is it possible to forget them and look for safety

anywhere else ? Please tell me ." Yengu POyhEn ?

Unn iNai adiyE adayallAl , yengu pOyhEn ? " .

 

As a vivEki , I have evaluated Your power and

that of other Gods and comprehend very well

that You alone have the power to bless me

with the fruits of Moksham . I used to be like

the restless sea bird , which left the safety of

the mast and wandered here and there . I have

now fully understood that Your sakthi and grace

have no match in all the worlds . I am therefore

desirous of performing nithya Kaimkaryam to You .

I wish to place my AathmA at Your sacred feet .

Swami Desikan echoed the thoughts of AzhwAr in

an AshtabhujAshtaka Slokam this way :

 

sakthim saraNyAnthara sabdha bhAjAm

sAram cha samthOlya palAntharANAm I

tvadh dAsya hEtho: tvayi nirvisangam

nyasthAthmaNAm nAtha Bibharshi Bhaaram II

 

KulasEkhara perumAL ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan