Poygai AzhwAr Thirunakshathram(Birthday)

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Dear BhakthAs :

 

Today is the day of Iypaasi SravaNam (VishNu

Nakshathram ) .On this day , Poygai AzhwAr was born

inside a golden lotus flower in the PushkariNi (temple

Tank ) at Kanchipuram YathOkthakAri's temple as ayOnijar .

Since he was born in a Poygai ( pond ) , he is

revered as Poygai AzhwAr .

 

He is considered the amsam of Sriman NaarAyaNA's

Conch, Paanchajanyam .MudaliAndaan in his invocatory

paasuram (Taniyan ) salutes this AzhwAr as " Kavij~nar

pOrERu " (pOrkkALai ) or the Victorious fighting

bull among the poets .MudaliAndAn summarizes the

contributins of Poygai AzhwAr this way :

" vaitthu adiyavarhaL vAzha arum Tamizh

nURRanthAdhi padi viLanga seythAn parinthu "

AzhwAr was a parama bhagavathar . Out of concern for

the welfare of his fellow BhagavathAs of the world

( Vaitthu adiyavarhaL vAzha ) , our AzhwAr composed

the most beautuiful 100 paasurams in the anthAdhi

style , where the last word of the paasuram becomes

the beginning word of the next paasuram .

 

MudaliAndAn describes the contribution of Poygai pirAn

this way :" padi viLanga parinthu aru Tamizh nURRanthAdhi

seythan ".The words "padi ViLanga" is important . AzhwAr's

kaimkaryam is to help us comprehend clearly the steps

that one takes to gain the benefits of learning Vedams

and VedAngams , Karma YogAnushtAnams,Prapatthi yOgAnushtAnam ,

the ascent to Sri Vaikuntam by archirAdhi maargam through

recognition of Sriman NaarAyaNA as the supreme one among

the Gods with MahA visvAsam .

 

MudaliAndAn points out that Poygai AzhwAr

out of his overflowing Bhakthi (bhakthi parivAham )

for the Lord and compassion for the suffering humans

blessed us with these "sonn maalais" ( Garlands made

of fragrant paasurams ). in this context , AzhwAr in

his very first paasuram states " seyya sudarAzhiyAnukkE

soottinEn sonn maalai , idarAzhi neenguhavE yenRu " .

He makes it clear that these garlands are exclusively

for the Lord adorning the Sudarsanam of shining flames

with the choice of the word " sudarAzhiyAnkkE " , similar

to ANDAL's clear statement in ThiruppAvai , "UnakkE

naamm aat chyvOm ".

 

DevathAntharams are banished in the above vAkhyams and

the Lord is recognized as AadhimUlam or the supreme One .

AzhwAr also points out that he had a motive in

offering the word-garlands to Sriman NaarAyaNA .

That motive as a compassionate AchAryA is :

"idarAzhi neenguhavEyenRu ". Idar Aazhi means

the ocean of misery and unhappiness that a bhaddha

jeevan experiences in this samsAram . For the sole

purpose of drying up of that ocean (neenguhavE yenRu )

of misery, AzhwAr points out that he interceded with

the Lord through his garland samarpaNam .This is "parivu"

or compassionate intercession .

 

Our Lord has the radiant Sudarsanam sending out hot rays

to dry up the samsaric ocean . AzhwAr also does his part :

he makes the entire earth as the ahal( container )viLakku ,

the entire ocean as the ghee to fuel that lamp and the hot

Sun as the lamp that shines there ( vaiyaam takaLiyA ,

vaar kadalE neyyAha , veyya kathirOn viLakku aaha ).

 

The grandest conception of invoking the entire earth

as the holding vessel , the oceans as the energizing

ghee(fuel) and the Sun as the lustre of that lamp

earns this AzhwAr and his two brethern the mangaLAsAsanam

of Swami Desikan in Srimadh Rahasya Traya Saaram

(AchArya KruthyAdhikAram ) , the collective title ,

" Paattukkuriya pazhayavar moovar " .Swami Desikan

points out what the misison of these three AzhwArs were :

" naattukkiruL seha naanmaRaianthi nadai viLanga ".

Swami Desikan states that the ThirukkovalUr DehaLIsan

squeezed them tight in the short space of a dEhaLI

so that the three AzhwArs would banish the sorrows

of the world thru their three Sri Sookthis , which

are the distillation of the three rahasyams encompassing

Tattvam, Hitham and PurushArtham .

 

AzhwAr's uninterrupted chinthanai of the Lord

(dhruva smrithi ) as he lay in the womb of the

golden lotus at the ThiruvehhA poygai is referred

to in another of his paasuram this way :

" anRu karu arangatthuL kidanthu kai thozuthEn

kanDEn Thiruvaranga mEyAn disai ". Even before

coming out of the Kanchana padmam (golden lotus)

and as he lay in the womb of that lotus , his head

was already turned towards the direction of

Sri KomaLavalli samEtha Sri Sonna VaNNam seytha

perumAL in a mood of reverence and dhyAnam .

 

Sriman NaarAyaNA , who came to rescue the Brahma

dEvan's Yaj~nam at Kaanchipuram laid down

as a dam (VehhaNai/vEgAsEthu) across the fast flowing

Sarasvathi in the form of a river .He protcted the

Yaagam of BrahmA the completion of which led to

the appearance of Sri VaradarAjan in His PuNyakOti

VimAnam on top of Hasthigiri . Swami Desikan points

out that the very same ParamjyOthi is seen both at

the middle of Vegavathi river as well as on top

of Hasthigiri :

 

yEkam VegavathI madhyE HasthisailE cha dhrushtathi

upAya Phala bhAvEna svyam vyaktham param maha :

 

This self-manifest jyOthi is not an antharjyOthi

seen in the middle of Srirangam , but the BhairjyOthi

seen at ThiruvehhA .

 

I had the good fortune of visiting this divya desam

associated with Poygai AzhwAr , Thirumazhisai AzhwAr

and YathOkthakAri PerumAL exactly two weeks ago .

The beauty of the Lord of ThiruvehhA is indescribable .

The fifteen Paasurams of the divya Prabhandham

( one paasuram from Poygai, one paasuram from NammAzhwAr ,

Three from Thirumazhisai, four from pEy AzhwAr and

six from Thirumangai ) on the Lord of ThiruvehhA are

beautiful ones to reflect upon .

 

In my next post , I will write about them .

Tomorrow is the combination of Avittm and

Sathayam , the birth stars of BhUtham and

pEy AzhwArs. Betwen themselves , the three

Mudal AzhwArs have performed MangaLAsAsanams

on EmperumAns of 35 of the 108 divya dEsams .

Poygai has eulogized 7 divya dEsams , BhUtham has

sung about the Lords of 13 divya dEsams and

pEy AzhwAr has offered his salutations to the

Moorthys of 15 divya desams .

 

Mudal AzhwAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan