AzhwAr AruLiccheyalgals on Sri RanganAthan : Part 14

[Guest guest]

Dear Fellow students of AzhwAr's MangaLAsAsanams :

 

In the remaining few Postings concluding

on AchArya RaamAnujA's birthday ( May 1 ) , I will

select illustrative Paasurams from all the AzhwArs ,

who have performed MangaLAsAsanams on the Lord of Srirangam .

There are 247 bhakthi-laden paasurams from eleven of

the twelve AzhwArs. Madhurakavi , who sang only about

his AchAryA , NammAzhwAr is the only exception in this list.

We will enjoy selected paasurams from each of the eleven

AzhwArs on Lord RanganAthA next .

 

Mudal AzhwArs : Poygai , BhUtham and PEy Azhwars

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Between the three of them , they contributed SEVEN

Paasurams . Poygai AzhwAr has one paasuram about Sri

RanganAthan that addresses all those , who have

a poor understanding of the mahimai of Sriman NaarAyaNA

as the ParamAthman and DevAthi Devan . He addresses these

poor folks as " yEzhaikAL " , or the sppiritually poor ,

who have lost sight of the imperishable wealth , Sriman

NaarAyaNA as their one and only Lord .

 

Poygai AzhwAr's (The Embodiment of Para Bhakthi) Paasuram

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onRu maRanthu aRiyEN Otha Neer VaNNanai naan

inRu maRappEnO yEzhaikAL ! -anRu

karuvarangatthuL kidanthu kai thozuthEn kaNdEn

ThiruvarangamEyAn thisai

--- Mudal ThiruvandhAthi: Paasuram-6

 

Poygai was born at ThiruvehhA in a lotus pond inside

a golden lotus during Iyppasi SravaNam as the amsam

of the Lord's Paanchajanyam .He states in this paasuram

that he has never been without the thought of Sri Ranganaatha

at any time in his life including the time he spent inside

the golden lotus as a foetus .He states that he turned

his head even during the foetal stage towards the direction

of Sri Ranganaathan at Srirangam . He was in garba rangam

( womb of the Golden lotus ) and he turned towards Sri Rangam

even then and offerd his anjali .

 

SaashtrAs say that the child growing in the mother's

womb has the correct j~nanam and VairAghyam . When it

leaves the mother's womb and enters this world , it

loses all that it was blessed to possess before .

AzhwAr has this fact in mind and reminds the spiritually

poor that he has not lost that J~nanam and VairAghyam

even now as in the case of other children . He remembers

turning His head even as a foetus towards the Lord of

Srirangam and saluting Him with folded hands.He says

that he recognized the neela mEgha ShyAmaLa RanganAthan

as the supreme Brahmman and therefore has not turned

his gaze away from the direction of the Lord of Srirangam .

He asks a rhetorical question : If I did so then as a foetus

already , do you think I am going to turn in the direction

of devathAntharams now ?

 

BhUthatthAzhwAr's ( The ebodiment of Para J~nAnam)Paasuram

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This AzhwAr was born inside a Maadhavi pushpam

as ayOnijar at Talasayana Thiruppathi during Iyppasi

avittam as the amsam of Sri GoumEdhakI ( the gathai

that we see on the lower left hand of Sri RanganAthA ).

He was called BhUtham in the spirit of " yEvam bhUthOsmi"

or I remain as the the Bhutham of Maadhavan or the servant

of the Lord . BhUtham in Tamil means " Iruppai peRRa ),

one that has the status of some thing ; in this case ,

as the one , who is fully cognizant of its status as

the daasa bhUthan to the Sarva sEshi , the Lord of Srirangam .

BhuthatthAzhwAr performed MangaLAsAsanam of Sri RanganAthan

with four paasurams . The one that reminds one of

Parama Padham and its gates opened on Vaikunta EkAdasi

day at Srirangam is my favorite one of this AzhwAr :

 

thiRambiRRu ini aRinthEn Tennarangatthu yenthai

tiRampA vazhi senRArkku allAl -tiRampA

cchetinarakai neengit thAmm selvathan munn vAnOr

kadinakara vaasaRkkathavu

--- Second ThiruvandhAthi : Paasuram 88

 

Azhwar equates Srirangam and Sri Vaikuntam here .

They are equal to each other .Why ? Both have seven

prAkArams and thousand pillared halls . One is BhUlOka

Vaikuntam ; the other is the residence of the nithya sUris ,

" vaanOr kadinakaram " (i-e)., Parama padham . The first

door of Sri Vaikuntam would not open to any one ,

who did not follow the noble Veda , Saashtra PramANams

established by Sri RanganAthA .Therefore , they can not

succeed in entering Sri Vaikuntam . AzhwAr reminds us here that

Sri RanganAthan is the Lord of Saasvatha dharmams . This

truth is emphasized in Sri VishNu sahasra Naamam :

 

aachAra prathamO dharmO dharmasya Prabhurachyutha:

 

vEdA:sAstrANi vij~nAnam yethath sarvam JanaardhanAth

 

bhajanthi yE pushkarAksham na tE yaanthi parAbahvam

 

The " tiRampA Vazhi " referred to by Bhutham is

the sAsvatha dharma maargam established by the Lord .

When those that do not follow the above dhArmic way ,

the front door of Sri Vaikuntam will bang shut as

they approach . It wont let them in .Where will these

folks end up ? " tiRampA cheti narahu " ( the smsAric

hell with the dense & dark forests ) will be their lot .

 

PEy AzhwAr The embodiment of parama bhakthi )

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This AzhwAr was born again as an ayOnijar in a red lilly

blossoming inside the well at the temple of Adhi Kesavap perumAL

at Myalpore during an Iypaasi sathayam . He performed

MangaLAsAsanam for the Lord of Srirangam with two

paasurams .He was the amsam of the Lord's sword , nadhakam .

My favorite among the two paasurams is the sixty second

paasuram of the third thiruvandhAthi :

 

ViNNagaram VehhA viri thirai neer Venkatam

maNNagaram maamAda VeLukkai -maNNahattha

Then Kudanthai thEnAr Thiruvarangam thenkOtti

tann kudangai neerERRAn thAzhvu

 

Here , the AzhwAr celebrates the soulabhyam and

the souseelyam of the Lord , who is sarva swAmi .

Even though He is Sarva swAmi , he stretched His hand

and received in the palm of the hand the water poured

by " Emperor" MaahA Bali to solemnize the dhAnam of three

feet of land measured by His Vaamana form . He put aside

His parathvam and asked for the gift of the three feet

of land from MahA Bali . PEy AzhwAr points out that

Souseelyam and the soulabhyam of the Lord is abundantly

evident at Srirangam , ThiruviNNagar , ThiruvehhA ,

ThiruvEnkatam ,VELukkai , Thirukkudanthai and

ThirukkOshtiUr . Azhwar describes Srirangam as

" thEn aar Thiruvarangam" . The divya dEsam of Srirangam

filled with sweet honey is saluted here with the choice

of words : " thEn aar Thiruvarangam " . The sweet honey

at the center of Srirangam is none other than Sri RanganAthan .

 

We will cover the selected salutations of Thirumazhisai ,

ThiruppANar , Kulasekarar and Thondaradipodi next .

 

Sri RanganAtha Charanou SaraNam prapadhyE

Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan