Periya Thirumozhi 1.3-Before the agony of old age strikes.....

[Guest guest]

Sri:

 

Dearest Sisters and Brothers,

 

AzhwAr in this ten proceeds to Badrikaasramam. Badari means "ilandhai"

fruit. (Badari also is referred to as "Vadari" in Pure Tamil- like

Hrishikesh is called as "IrudeekEsan"). Badrikaasramam (Vadari aasramam)

is 187 km from Hrishikesh on Himalayas, by bus. One can reach Haridwar

by train and from there one has to travel by road.

 

The place is Badrinath. Moolavar: Badri Narayanan; Sitting posture

(vEERRirundha ThirukkOlam); Thaayaar (Goddess): Aravindha valli;

Prathyaksham to Naran. Tree is "ilandhai" (Badri). Sri BadriNarayanan

shows Himself, with jadaa (tresses as rishi) and chathurbhujam (with

Sanghu, Chakram, while the lower two hands showing Yoga mudhrA, ) in

Padmasanam, in "thapasvi" posture. This is Ashtaaksharam's avathaar

sthalam. Since it is on Himalayas, and is a snowy area, it is closed on

Deepavali and the temple reopens only on ChitrA pourNami (in April), due

to heavy snowfalls and the road blockages. The best time for visiting

this great sthalam is May or September, lest there will be rains/heavy

winter. (There is a lovely picture of Badri Narayanan in this thapasvi

posture in Srimad Pondareekapuram Andavan Ashramam!)

 

Let us enjoy now AzhwAr's pAsurams on this sthalam. (Note that AzhwAr

went on foot all the way and advises us in this ten "Reach this sthalam

before the old age strikes you!- The agony of old age is very

beautifully described by ThirumangaiAzhwAr in this ten! It is not that

we don't know; But we don't realise that we will one day become old!)

 

(As Vijay Triplicane suggested, please read the Tamil text to enjoy the

meanings better; I do not write the transliterated text here only for

space constraint- else, the post will be very long! and those who do not

know Tamil will anyway not read them; because I know it is more

difficult to read the transliteration, unless you have heard of the

pAsurams before!)

 

1. Let us go to Badri and pay obeisance to the Lord- Emperumaan who

sucked the life of Puthanai along with her breast milk, (when she had

disguised herself like a mother, with an intention to kill KaNNan with

her poisonous breast milk). Let us reach this place (Badri) before we

get old, having to sit every now and then due to exertion in walking

with the support of third leg (the stick) and legs stumbling due to old

age; with the back hunched and the head always lowered to see the path

(with a poor vision). Before such a situation creeps in, Let us reach

Badrinath!

 

2. Holding the lower back with one hand due to pain, and holding the

(walking) stick with the other, body slightly shaking and shivering due

to its poor stamina and over exertion, eyes fading and losing its vision

time and again, coughing loudly every minute (with terrible pain in the

chest due to heavy coughing) - when you walk like that, the young women

on the streets giggle and tease saying "hey! look at this "kizha bolt!"

.. Before such a situation arises, Let us go to Badri and pay obeisance

to Badri Narayanan.

 

3. The skin has dried completely and is wrinkled; the nerves all appear

as if they are like Coconut strands ("thEngaay naar"); the mind is

completely weak (due to the inability to carry out any active work by

the body); the eyes ogling everywhere, to look for the correct, proper

path (and is not able, to due to poor vision); the feet and legs

refusing to proceed further with all the above problems and shake. Oh

Mind! If you can think and realise this, right now, have bhakti and

utter devotedly His Divine names and let us go and pay obeisance to

Badri Narayanan. Come!

 

4. Due to old age, the eyes terribly lose its strength; and one becomes

almost blind; the dirt from eyes along with tears (due to various

reasons, may be a nick from the "dear" daughter-in-law!) roll down the

cheeks; the mucus and bile aggravate and one coughs heavily; the legs

(and knees) hit against each other when attempting to walk little

longer; - before such a situation creeps in, let us go and obeisance to

Badinath, - Emperumaan who had lifted the Govardhana mountain

effortlessly, as a young boy, to save the cattle from torrential rains.

 

5. "Oh I had such a lovely time tasting the saliva of young women, and

had the beautiful physique which they liked very much"- like that keeps

on lamenting and in between unable to continue talking such long

statements, coughing heavily; with legs shaking, trying to prevent from

falling on the ground by holding the walking stick for support, unable

to walk even a foot distance and being there for a long time and unable

to walk a little longer- Before such an old age strikes, let us pay

obeisance to Badri Emperumaan who wears the most fragrant ThuLasi (basil

leaves) garland on His ever Youthful ThirumEni (Divine Body).

 

6. Before the body gets weaker and weaker with the mouth talking all

rubbish like a mad man, with the body gets thinner and thinner (with the

digestive system malfunctioning), with the mucus and phlegm choking and

irritating the throat resulting in ceaseless coughing, with the weak,

feeble voice due to poor strength and stamina,- Before all these happen,

Come Let us go and pay obeisance to Badri Narayanan Emperumaan who is

showing Himself at Badri, - our Father, - the Primordial Chief,- the

dark hued Beautiful Lord, who had appeared for churning the Ocean to

obtain nectar for the sake of Devas.

 

7. The lump of phlegm intensifies in the throat and the coughing

aggravates; "hey! See, your man- the one who was dear to you and was

your mate a few years back" - like that the young women tease addressing

each other and laugh at the dying oldies, saying mockingly "...

peppa..peppE.." (AzhwAr says ""pappavappar"). Before such a thing

happens, let us pay obeisance to Badri Narayanan who is the Most

valuable treasure of ours, that always saves us. ("naasthi

pithraarjitham kinchith; na mayaa kinchithaarjitham; hasthi mE hasthi

sailaagrE vasthu paithaamaham dhanam" says Swami Desikan. There is an

inherited wealth for me which I had inherited from my ancestors

(grandfather) and that is Hastigiri Varadan. - The grandfather's

property is legally the grandson's while father's is not necessarily!)

- here AzhwAr says "vaippum vaazhuvum anaan"- i.e. He says "Emperumaan

becomes the upaayam and upEyam (the means as well as the end for us).

 

8. "You have become sickly coughing ceaselessly and you have thinned

(like a skeleton); It is so gruesome to even look at you; Don't stay

here; Walk off from this place"- Thus, with utter disrespect and scorn,

the beautiful young women address- leave any semblance of love for such

beings; - and if ever you wish to get saved, let us go pay obeisance to

Emperumaan Badri Narayanan, who wears the most fragrant thuLasi maalai

(garland).

 

9.The five sense organs (karma and jnana indriyas) lose their stamina

and strengths due to old age; the mind feels conspicuous of his

disability and is ashamed to even come out in front of others and show

themselves; sitting alone and laments at the inability and agony of old

age that has struck with the terrible coughing and spitting of phlegm,

blabbering all that comes to mind with incoherent words and murmurs to

himself- Before all this happens, let us all go and pay obeisance to

Badri Narayanan who is worshipped by Bhagawathas offering him thulasi

garlands and dancing and singing His (thousand) Divine names.

(KulasekarAzhwAr in his "mukunda maalaa" 33rd verse sings on the same

token "krishna tvadeeya pada pankaja ... kutasthE.." Oh Lord krishna! at

this moment, let my mind (as a royal swan) enter into the Lotus Feet of

yours; How will it be possible for me to remember you at the time of

death, when my throat gets choked up with phlegm, mucus air and bile?"

PeriyAzhwAr says " vaayoru pakkam vaanghi valippa vaarttha neer kuzhi

kaNgaL mizhaRRa, thaayoru pakkam thandhai oru pakkam, thaaram oru pakkam

araRRa, thee oru pakkam vandhu sEra..... appOdhaikku ippOdhE solli

vaitthEn...")

 

10. About Badri Narayanan -Emperumaan, Thirumangai mannan recited these

pAsurams and those who recite them devotedly singing and dancing, will

be the rulers of even Paramapadham; They will never ever go to any other

world and suffer any more.

 

Thirumangai AzhwAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

 

Narayana Narayana

 

Regards

 

Narayana dAsan Madhavakkannan

 

 

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