Sri Nrusimha Jayanthi 1998 : Part 2

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends : I will write another 18 articles in celebration

of Sri Nrusimhan in support of the 18 Brick Kaimkaryam for

Sri Ranganatha Temple and make an earenst appeal for helping

Sri RanganathA Tmple construction brick by brick .I will cover

the Nava NarasimhAs of AhObilam , Thirumangai's Paasurams and

the SaraNAgathi of Adi Sankara at the Lotus feet of

Sri Lakshmi Narasimhan appealing to Him to give His hand and to

lift him out of his sufferings ( dEhi KarAvalampam ).I will cover

the shatpadhi sthOthram on another occasion outside this kaimkaryam .

 

First SlOkam of Sri Lakshmi Nrusimha SthOthram by Adi Sankara

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Srimath payOnidhi nikEtana chakrapANE

bhOgeendhra bhOgamaNi ranjitha puNyamUrthE

Yogeesa sAsvatha SaraNya bhavAbdhipOtha

LakshmI Nrusimha mama dEhi KarAvaalampam

 

(Anvaya kramam /Prose order) : Srimath PayOnidhi NikEtana !

ChakrapANE ! BhOgeendhra BhOga maNi ranjitha puNya

mUrthE ! Yogeesa! Saasvatha ! SaraNya ! BhavAbthipOtha!

Lakshminrusimha ! mama karAvalampam dEhi .

 

Each of the words chosen by Adi Sankara is precious and

powerful . The waves of thoughts associated with them

are profound in the context of Vedams , Upanishads and

Bhagavadh Vishayam .Let us enjoy the deeper meanings of

the 8 namaskArams or naamArchanais that Adi Sankara

performed during his appeal for protection .

 

1 .Srimath PayOnidhi nikEtana : As all auspicious pronouncements

about the Lord have to begin with the Sri sabdhaham , Adi Sankara

follows this ancient custom embedded in the dhvaya manthram

( Sriman NaarAyana charaNou SaraNam prapadhyE ) and addresses

the Lord as Srimath or the One who possesses all the wealth

and riches possessed by Him as a result of the auspcious glances

of MahA Lakshmi , which in turn identifies Him as

LakshmI Narasimhan , LakshmI Hayagreevan ,

LakshmI NarayaNan , Sriya: pathi , MaalOlan ,

SrIdharan et al .

 

He has Srimath Gaambheeryam as well ,as He sits

in the court of His bhakthAs and BhaagavathAs .

He has that Srimath Gaambheeryam ( auspicious majesty )

because of Her presence next to Him . She is " MaanAtheetha

prathitha vibhavA , MangaLam mangaLAnAM ( She is of limitless

glory and is the inner auspicious power of all auspicious

entities ) . Her BhUmA (wealth ) extends from Sri Vaikuntam

to the Milky Ocean and the lotus forests of the Earth ,

which She elects as one of Her places of residence besides

the Lord's chest . Adi sanakara seems to suggest ,

 

" SrEyOmUrthim Sriyam AsaraNa: tvAm SaraNyAm prapadhyE

( I who has no other refuge perform my saraNAgathi at

Your auspicious feet ).

 

The second word of this first namaskAram is

( Srimath ) PayOnidhi nikEtana . The Lord of

LakshmI is visualized here as the resident of the

Milky Ocean where the waves striking His holy feet

break up into white pearl-drops as described by

Sri Kulasekara In his his beautiful Mukunda MaalA.

There He rests with His consort on the bed of AdisEshan .

This is the VyUha state of the Lord.The VimAnam here is

AshtAnga VimAnam .There are 51 paasurams for this divya desam

that we can not see in our bodily state .

 

PeriyAzhwAr addresses this KsheerAbdhi naathan as

" Paarkadal VaNNA !, PaaRkadaluL paLLi koLhinRa

parama mUrthy ! ". ANDAL salutes Him as " pARkadalUL

paiyaatthuyinRa paraman " in Her Thiruppaavai and

" Pongiya PaaRkadal paLLIkoLvAn " in Her NaacchiyAr

Thirumozhi . Kulasekara salutes Him as " pARkadaluL

thuyilum MaayOn " . " Naaga mUrthy sayanamAi nalam kadal

kidanthu " is the MangalAsAsanam of Thirumazhisai .

Thirumangai addresses Hima s " ParamanE pARkadal KidanthAnE " .

NammAzhwAr salutes Him as " pARkadal pAmpaNai mEl

paLLIkondu aruLum seethanai " . The Lord's VyuhA state is

thus adequately saluted by Adi SankarA in the line

of the AzhwArs .

 

2 . ChakrapANE ! The Lord with the shining disc ,

Sudarsana chakram , is revered here .The hand of

the Lord holding the divine disc is addressed

endearingly as ChakrapANE . Our Lord Uses His

chakram resting in His hand as PrayOga chakram to

use against the enemies of His BhakthAs or as

SamAsrayaNa chakram to imprint the seal of Disc

on the right hand shoulders of humans to initiate

them into the fold of Sri VaisshNavAs as he did at

the divya desam of NaacchiyAr Koil , when He initiated

Thirumangain Mannan and conferred Sri VishNava Sri on him .

 

NammAzhwAr salutes this ChakrapANi in his Thiruvaimozhi 5.1.1:

" KaiyAr chakkarathen karumANikkamE --" . Here AzhwAr

concedes that the dear One shining like a gem holding

Sudarsana Chakram in His hand was won over notwithstanding

his hypocisy in devotion to Him .That is the power of

ChakrapANi .

 

Sudarsanan is hailed as AayudhEsvara

( the Lord of the weapons of Sriman naarAyaNan ) .

ChakrapANi is the SarvEsvara, the Lord of the Lord

of Weapons . He has an esteemed place on the right hand

of the Lord and gives him the name ChakrapANi .

 

3.BhOgeendhra BhOga maNI ranjitha puNya mUrthE !

This is the third namaskaraNam . BhOgeendhran is

the Lord of Serpents , AdisEshan . On his thousand

hoods are sparkling rathnams that illuminate the dark

blue body of the auspicious Lord , which shines with

an extraordinary red hue.

 

In his very first verse of PerumAL Thirumozhi ,

Kulasekara AzhwAr describes this beautiful scene

at Srirangam , where the red rays emanating from

the rubies on the thousand hoods of AdisEshA cast

their unparalleled glow on the body of the Lord .

 

4. yOgeesa ! The tribute here is to YogAnandha Narasimhan ,

who sits in Yogic posture as at AhObilam ,ThiruvELukkai ,

Sholigar divya desam and ThiruvallikkENi .

This Yoga Nrusimhan taught Yogic secrets

to His parama Bhakthan, PrahlAdan . He invited PrahlAdan

with aahlAvana mudhrA and sat him on His lap and taught him

the intricate Yoga saasthram .

 

Swami Desikan in the fifth verse of KamAsikhAshtakam

salutes this Yogeesan :

 

"-- paryanka sthira dhAraNA prakatitha prathyak

mukha avasthithi: , prAyENa praNIpEthushAm

prabhurasou YOGAM NIJAM SIKSHAYAN --KamAsikhA KesarI " .

 

Swami Desikan had saluted earlier the RamaNeeya ParyankAsaanam,

Bhanthum akilasya JanthO: Bhanthura paryanka bhandara RAMANEEYAM .

(Sriman Sudarsanan has commented beautifully on this slOkam

earlier ).In the fifth slOkam , Swami Desikan describes

the AhAryan aspect of Yoga Nrusimhan seated with Yoga Pattai

teaching Yogam ( dhyAnam about Him )to all those ,

who approached Him for such instruction . This group is led

by PrahlAdan .

 

5. Saasvatha ! He is eternal and the Sarva Seshi .

He is the Ucchishta Brahmam , who is the enduring

principle .

 

6. SaraNya ! He is the Loka SaraNyan . He is the home for

PrapannAs . With MahA VisvAsam about the Lord's

SaraNYa rakshakthvam , the prapannAs thru AchArya Mukam

perform their prapatthis at the lotus feet of the SaraNyan

and He keeps after His vow of protecting them as

the Sarva janthu SaraNya mUrthy . The reference is to

the Charama Slokam of Srimadh Bhagavadh GitA , Abahaya

PradhAnam by Sri RamachandrA and the assurance given by

Sri Lakshmi Varahan to PrapannAs .

 

7. BhavAbhdhi pOtha ! He is the boat to transport us

safely across the turbulent and fearsome ocean of

SamsArAm . He is " YugyyAna Cinthyan " or the object

of DhyAnam by Yogis to attain freedom from the cycles

of births and deaths ( SamsAram or Bhavam ) . He is

Vara GuNa arNavan ( the ocean of auspicious attributes) .

He takes the form of a secure boat to transport us across

BhavArNavam to His parama padham .Therefore , he is the

BhavAbdhi pOthan . The whole concept of the Divya

desam , ThirunAvAi in KeraLA is about this Naavam

(NoukA )aspect of the Lord .

 

8. Lakshmi Nrusimha ! ( mama dEhi karAvalampam ) :

Here in a spirit of utter helplessness ( aakinchanyam

and KaarpaNyam ) , Adi Sankara appeals to the Lord

LakshmI Nrusimhan to rush to his rescue as the flames

are engulfing his body . Thrice has Adi sanakra

has been saved by the grace of Sri Lakshmi Nrusimhan .

Here , Adi SankarA asks the Lord to give His

hand to lift him out of his miseries.The spirit of

Adi sankarA's prayer is covered by Swami Desikan 's

KamAsikAshataka slokam ( #3 ) :

 

aakuntam aadi Purusham Kanteeravam upari kuntitha arAthim

vEgOpakantasangAth Vimuktha Vaikunta bahumathim upAsE

 

( Meaning ) : Our Lord Narasimhan's body structure is

awe inspiring and mysterious . From head to His neck ,

he has the usual form of Sriman NaarAyaNan . Above the neck ,

He has the head of a Lion ( Simham ).With this mysterious

form , he took the role of kapata Narasimhan to destroy

HiraNyan and bypass the power of his boons . Appreciating

the special beauty of the banks of the Vegavathi river , our

VaikuntanAthan has put a lower priority on the soukyam

of residing in parama padham and has decided to stay

instead at ThiruvELukkai divya desam near Kanchipuram .

 

Sri LakshmI Narasimham yeedE !

Oppilaippan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan