Thiruvananthapuram Paasurams of Nammaazhwaar :Part 2

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Dear BhakthAs :

 

In the fist paasuram of this decad , AzhwAr

mentions the name of Kesava to free him from

the threat of narakam and invites us on the journey

to Thiruvananthapuram .

 

In the second paasuram , he reminds us that every name

of Sri Anantha PadmanAbhan is like the sahasara naamams of

His .The reward arising from just reciting one of his names

is pointed out here .

 

In the third paasuram , he reveals to us that the mere

utterance of one of His name will result in the Lord of

Thiruvananthapuram treating us like one of the nithyasUris.

 

In the fourth paasuram , he reminds us of the fortunate

bhaagaavathAs , who perform aarAdhanam to the Lord with

devotion .He asks us to adore those BhagavathAs without

hesitation .

 

In the fifth paasuram , AzhwAr assures us that thoe

puNyasAlis , who worship the Lord of Thiruvananthapuram

with flowers will attain the status of DevAs .

 

In the sixth passuram , he invites us to join

with the devAs and nitya sUris in recognition

of the fact that the Lord of Thiruvananthapuram is

nityAnithya sarva deva samArAdhyan .

 

In the seventh paasuram , Azhwar instructs us that

the chance to be there at His temple and even to perform

the kaimkaryam of sweeping the portals of His temple

with a broom would banish all of our sins.

 

In the eighth paasuram , AzhwAr elevates us to

the status of fellow BhagavathAs and invites us

to enjoy the divya soundaryam of the Lord of

Thiruvananthapuram and get all of our sins destroyed .

 

In the ninth paasuram , Azhwar asks us to heed his

instructions , since his time for entering the Lord's

feet was fast approaching . He reminds us also of

our mortality and asks us to hasten to Thiruvananthapuram

and offer our worship to Sri Ananatha PadmanAbhan there

to destroy our SamsAric sufferings once and for all .

AlavandhAr followed those instructions and

was blessed . This story is covered at the end

of this posting .

 

In the tenth paasuram , Azhwar asks us to rcognize

Lord Ananatha PadmanAbhan as "Maadhavan " , or the One

who is forever assoicated with Hari Lakshmi to get our

sins destroyed . By worshipping Him as the Lord of

Lakshmi and performing AarAdhanam to the Divya dampathis

together , we will attain the status of the NithyasUris

of undiminishing glory .

 

The Maadhavathva , Kesavathva celebrations are recommended

for us to destroy all of our sins and to gain moksham .

Swami Desikan points out that The Lord here is Kesavan

because , He is vyadhva kEdha prasamana mahithan or

the One known for His glories as the remover of the sufferings

of the samsAris , who have lost their way to reach Him

and thereby entrap themselves with all types of obstacles .

 

The naamArchanAs appropriate to each of the ten paasurams

of this decad according to DramidOpanishad Taatparya

RathnAvaLi of Swami Desikan are as follows preceded by

PraNavam :

 

1. KesavAya Nama:( kesi hanthAran )

 

2. adhbhutha charithAya nama: ( Maayan naamam

ohr aayiran ; from one naama recitation , we

get many blessings as though one recites

His entire Sahasra NaamAs )

 

3. kakAdhIsa kEtavE nama: ( One who is Garuda

dhvajan )

 

4. aasatthimathE nama:( He is near to us ;

sing about Him )

 

5. SathpathayE nama Most graceful Sarva Swaami )

 

6. amara parishadhAdhibhUthAya nama:( the Lord of

the assembly of the DevAs )

 

7. lOkAdhisrashtE nama:( One who created the entire

Prapancham with its chEthanAs and AchEthanams )

 

8. Madana janayAya nama:( the father of Manmathan )

 

9. VaamanAya nama : ( The Kapata Vaamanan )

 

10. LakshmidhavAya nama LakshmI kaanthan or

Maadhavan ).

 

Sri AlavandhAr and Thiruvanthapuratthu EmperumAN

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

 

The Lord of Thiruvananthapuram was very dear to

AlavandAr , the grand son of Naatha Muni . AlavandhAr

was only 8 years old , when his grandfather reached

Parama Padham . The grand father , who gave us back

the lost Thiruvaimozhi with the anugraham of NammAzhwaar

had also received Yoga Rahasyam (secrets of Yogic

method ) from NammAzhwAr .That enabled Naatha Muni

to have intimate communion with Lord KrishNA ,

the kula dhaivam of Sottaik kulam , the kulam of

Naatha Muni.

 

Sri Kurukaik kaavalappan was the dear disciple of

Naatha Muni and was blessed to receive Yoga Rahasyam

from his AchAryan .None of the other sishyAs or

sishya Paramparais of Naatha Muni had the privelege

of initiation into the splendours of Yoga Rahasyam .

 

Sri Raama MisrA , sishyA of the sishyA

of Naatha Muni ( Uyyak KondAr) became the AchAryan of

AlavandhAr at the request of his AchAryan .

When Sri Raama Misra knew that his end was nearing ,

he asked AlavandhAr to approach Thirukkurukai Kaavalappan

at Veera NaarAyaNapuram and get initated into

the family treasure of Yoga Rahasyam .

AlavandhAr approached Kaavalappan and

prostrated before him and begged to be

initated into Yoga Rahasyam . Kavalappan

asked AlavandhAr to come back to him before

the next Thai month Pushya Nakshthram , when

he was planning to join the Lotus feet of

Sri Vaikunta Naathan .

 

During this time of wait , AlavandhAr came across

the Thiruvanantha Pura paasurams of NammAzhwAr

instructing all of us to rush to that divya desam

and offer our kaimkaryam to Sri Anantha PadmanAbhan

to cut asunder our shackles of SamsAram . AlavandhAr

was so excited that he took off right away to

this MalayALa divya desam and got himself absorbed

in service to the Lord there .One day , as he was

looking at the beautiful face of the reclining Lord

of this divya desam , he saw suddenly the face

of Thirukkurukai Kavalappan there . It flashed to him

then that it was Thai Pushyam and Abhijin muhUrtahm

and his would-be AchAryan to initiate him into

the family jewel of Yoga Rahasyam had just ascended

to Parama Padham . AlavandhAr was grief stricken

over his loss and from that day onwards , we have

lost Yoga Rahasyam given to Naatha Muni by NammAzhwAr

and passed onto his sishya has been lost to posterity .

The beauty of " Kaamani payantha KaaLai " of

Thiruvananthapuram bewitched AlavandhAr and

made him forget his return to Kaavalappan

in time to be initated into the mysteries of

Yoga Rahasyam . After that loss , AlavandhAr

returned to Srirangam for Darsana pravachanam

and blessed us with 8 granthams as a result of

the anugraham of " YezhilaNi Ananthapuram

padamudai aravil PaLLI payinRavan " saluted

by NammAzhwAr . These 8 granthams are :

 

(1) Aagama PrAmANyam

(2) Purusha nirNayam

(3) Aathama Siddhi

(4) Samvidh Siddhi

(5) Isvara Siddhi

(6) GIthArtha sangraham

(7) Chathus SlOki

(8) SthOthra Rathnam

 

He also blessed AchArya RaamAnujA to become

the grand sire of our SampradhAyam .Such is

the story of Thiruvananthapuram .

 

Daasan , Oppiliappan Sannidhi V.Sadagopan