Varaha Puranam : part 3

[Guest guest]

Dear Bhakthas : In this final posting on

VaraahAvathAram , I will provide a quick overview of

Swami Desikan's Rahasya Grantham revered as

Rahasya SikhAmaNi . I will cover the deeper intrepretations

in future postings in SaraNAgathi Journal .

 

The Scope of Rahasya SikhAmaNi

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Rahasya SikhAmaNi is one of the chillarai Rahasyams

created by Swami Sri Desikan . It celebrates and

explains the deeper meanings of the two slOkams that

constitute the unit known as varaha charama SlOkam .

 

The esoteric meanings for every word of these two

slOkams are provided by Swami Sri Desikan in this

powerful gantham .I am planning to cover

the details of this important grantham in

one of the future issues of saraNAgathi Journal .

For now , here are some comments that might provide

an introduction .

 

Swami Desikan's Tribute to the Lord

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Swami Sri Desikan's salutation to the gigantic

form of the VarAha PerumAn in this rahasyam is

as follows :

 

kkApi kalpaanthavEsanthE kuradhagnE samruddhathAm

vahathE mEdhinimusthAm mahathE POthriNE nama :

 

(Meaning ) : The deep ocean of the ocean during

the MahA PraLyam times was equal to the dimension of

one hoof of the gigantic Varaha PerumAn , who lifted BhUmi

Piraati out of that Ocean like lifting a tuber ( kOraik Kizhangu )

from those waters and placed Her on His immense tusk .

I salute that BhUmiVarAhan , the MahA POthrin .

 

The Context of the Varaaha Charama Slokam

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VarAha Sarama SlOkam arose because of the immense

compassion of Our ThAyAr , who is Omniscient and

yet asked Her Lord to bless the unfortunate chEthanams

( Her children ) with a Laghu UpAyam to overcome the

sufferings of SamsAram and to reach His Lotus feet .

 

She rightfully recognized us as asaktha adhikhAris unable to

practise the Guru upAyam ( Difficult to practise means)

like Bhakthi Yogam . She felt that route would be the

equivalent of tying a panam kaai ( big palmyra Fruit )

around the neck of a sparrow , which surely will

ground it forever .She knew that we will not be able

to think of the Lord during the last moments of

our life on this earth , when we are overpowered by

blocked throat and memory loss et al . Our Mind will struggle

with every matter other than the thoughts about Lord

at that time. She prayed to Her Lord therefore to

have mercy on us and begged Him to

bless us with a laghu upAyam (simple and unfailing

means ) of salvation . She wanted that laghu UpAyam

to be free from the burdens of svarUpa parikArams

( structure and limbs /angams ) . BhU VarAhan agreed

to His dear consort's request and revealed to Her

for our benefit a supreme message of Hope that

would remove our fears at the worst time of our

suffering as our Jeevan is about to part from the

cage of body .

 

The Meaning of the Varaaha Charama Slokam

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The message contained in these two slOkams is

the essence of Jn~Ana Yaj~nam , (viz ), Prapatthi .

As elaborated by nammAzhwAr's Thiruvaimozhi 3.7.7 ,

He revealed the steps that He takes to place the Jeevan

at His sacred feet at parama padham after revealing

their natural nithyAnandha svarUpam .This He does

by descending on this earth in Vibhava avathArams ,

protecting His adiyArs and then lifting them upto

His celestial abode at the end of their dEha yaathrAis .

 

These two slOkams support the pUrva -utthara sections

of Dhvayam and charama slOkam of Lord KrishNA and

the ahalahillEn paasuram of NammAzhwAr .

 

Thus the VarAha Sarama slOkams are anyOnya UpakArams

(mutually supportive of each other in thought )for

the latter rahasyams like Dhvayam and Charama SlOkam of

ParthasArathy .

 

These two sacred VarAha Sarama SlOkams , the subject matter of

the elaborate commentary , Rahasya SikhAmaNi are :

 

sthithE manasi susvasthE sarIrE sathi yO nara:

dhAthusAmyE sthithE smarthA visvarUpam cha maamajam (1)

 

tathastham mriyamANam thu kAshtA paashaNa sannibham

aham smarAmi madh bhaktham nayAmi paramAm gathim (2)

 

(Meaning ) :Oh Bhumi Devi ! The entire universe is

my body (sarIram ) . I do not have births or deaths .

When my bhakthAs with mahA visvAsam surrender to me,

while they are still in a state of tranquil mind and healthy

body and reflect about Me as as SarvAdharan ( root cause

of all) , NiyanthA ( one who commands from within )

sarva sEshi ( the ultimate ), aasrayaNeeyan ( one who

is fit to be worshipped ) , Sarva VyApthan (all-

pervasive ) and Nithya sannihithan ( One who is always

near ) , THEN I think of them at their last moments,

when they are totally unconscious like a log or a stone

and lead them by archirAdhi maargam to My parama padham

and bless them to have nithya kaimkarya bhAgyam to Me there .

 

Concluding prayer of Swami Desikan to BhU VarAhan

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Swami Desikan concludes his elaborate commentary with a

moving prayer:

 

kaalE prApthE karaNavilayAth kaashta paashaNa kalpAn

Naatha: POthrI nayathu krupayaa naathitha: kam padham na:

 

(meaning ) : When the time of physical death approaches ,

and when our limbs have lost their power and when we are

in a state of unconsciousness equal to that of a stone or

a log , then may Lord VarAhan in response to our earlier

saraNAgathi have mercy on us and lead us to His Parama Padham .

 

This in essence is Rahasya SikhAMaNi grantham .

 

The Twin significance of the VarAhaavathAram

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The Deeper significance of the Varaha Avatara / Hiranyaksha

story with which we are all familiar is as follos :

 

The deeper significance to this avathAram are two fold in

my opinion : (1) The birth of VarAha Charam slOkam and

(2) AsahyApachaaram /BhagavathApachAram as revealed by

the dwaara paalakAs' ( Jaya-Vijaya"s ) apachAram to

the SanathkumAraa

and the the other three great sages ,who were prevented by

from having the darsanam of Sriman NaaraayaNa at

Parama Padham . Our Lord will not put up with

BhAgavathApachAram even if it originates from

His servants .

 

Jn~anap Piraan ThgiruvdigaLE SaraNam

Bhumi Devi ThAyAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Oppiliappan Koil Varadachari Sadagopan

 

P.S :Please help with the AchArya RaamAnujA CD ROM

Project to the best of your ability .Thanks .