A Tribute to Sri Lakshmi Nrusimhan on His Jayanthi

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Dear Nrusimha BhakthAs :

 

Srimans MaadhavakkaNNan , Murali Rangaswami ,

Parthasaarathy Dileepan and Gerald Surya have already

paid their tributes to Sri Nrusimhan on this day of

His Jayanthi . Today also happens to be the Thirunakshathram

Of Madhura Kavi AzhwAr and the revered 29th pattam Jeeyar

of AhObila Matam , Sri ParAnkusa RaamAnuja YathIndhra

MahA Desikan , who ascended to Parama Padhaam from

ThiruppARkkadal , a village on the banks of PaalARu

in South Arcott district in TamilnAdu . I am so

glad to learn that the revered Jeeyar of AhObila Matam

will be speaking next about the Prabhandham of

Madhura Kavi AzhwAr in his tele-upanyAsam scheduled

for Saturday , May 1 , 99 .

 

On this Nrusimha Jayanthi day , please visit the lovely ,

and informative home pages on Ahobilam created by

Sriman ParthasArathy Dileepan and the delightful home pages

created by Sri VenakatEsh Elayavalli for Thirukkadigai

(ShOLingar ) and ThiruvallikkENi ( TeLLiya Singham )

divya desams

 

I missed the opportunity to listen to the special

Tele-UpanyAsam of the revered Prakrutham Jeeyar of

Ahobila Matam on April 24 on his AarAdhana mUrthy ,

MaalOlan , and from what I read from sri Dileepan's

posting , it must have been a most illuminating

and blessed occasion as it always is .

 

I will now take this opportunity to pay my humble

tribute to Sri Lakshmi Nrusimhan , who has been saluted

by VyAsA as :" Naarasimha Vapu: SrimAn Kesava:

PURUSHOTTHAMA: " .

 

He is indeed SrimAn , He is MaalOlan ,He is

Lakshmi Narasimhan . He is Nara Hari , Nara Simham ,

He is Vaikunta KantIravan and He is the Adhbhutha Kesari .

He is the TaapanIya Rahasya Saaran and He is the KaamAsikA Hari

of ThiruvELukkai kshEthram .He is the Adhi Purushan and

the akhila bhuvana bhandhu for all the Janthus residing here .

 

He is the Yoga Narasimhan at ThiruvallikkENi ,

Naamagiri and ShoLingar ( ChOlasimha Puram ).

He is the akkArakkani and the YadhrucchA Hari ,

who responded to the asura kumAran, PrahlAdhan and

acquired the name of PrahlAdha Varadhan at AhObila

KshEthram .He shows His avathAra rahasyam at Naamakkal,

where we have the darsanam of a huge fearsome Narasimhan

and below Him another small sized Saantha Narasimhan .

 

He is the PurushOtthaman described in the fifteenth

chapter of Sri Bhagavadh Gita( 15.18) :

 

athOsmi lOkE vedhE cha prathitha : PURUSHOTTHAMA:

 

( I am in the world/smruthi and in the VedhA /sruthi

celebrated as the PurushOtthaman or the most supreme One )

 

AchArya RaamAnujA quotes the passage of ChAndhOgya

Upanishad (8.12.3) to define the PurushOtthaman

( Utthama Purushan/Sri Narasimhan ) :

 

param jyOthi rUpam sampadhya svEna rUpENa

abhinishpadhyathE sa Uthama purusha:

 

(reaching the supreme light , it appears in its own

nature . He is the Supreme Person -- Sriman NaarAyaNAvathAra

Narasimhan , who came to the rescue of His dear bhakthan,

PrahlAdhan ).

 

As the PurushOtthaman saluted by the Vishnu

Sahasra Naamam , He Himself explains why that

name has been assigned to Him by the BhakthAs

like PrahlAdhA :

 

sarvasya chAham hrudhi sannivishtO

mattha: smruthir jn~Anam apOhanam cha

vedhaisccha sarvair ahamEva vEdhyO

vedAntha kruth vEda vidhEva chAham ( GitA :15.15)

 

(Meaning ): I am the One , who is seated in the heart

lotuses of All .I am the One from whom all memories ,

knowledge and their removal arise . I am indeed the One

to be known as the essence of all VedAs .I am the One ,

who grants the phalans of the rituals of VedAs ; I alone am

the knower of the VedAs .I am the saarabhUthan/

SaaranAthan of all the VedAs .

 

Due to the blessings of Naaradha Muni ,

PrahlAdhAn became the garbha SrimAn/Bhaagavathan

and had dhruva smruthi (Memory ) of the Lord

even as a foetus in the womb of his mother .

His angry and deluded father did not recognize

that the Lord was inside his heart cavity

and went on searching for Him with the shouts of

KvAsaou, KvAsou ( where is He ? Where is He ,

where is my enemy , who killed my brother ?).

 

As a direct result of the NaarayaNa smruthi ,

the child PrahlAdhA responded brilliantly to his

father's query :PrahlAdha! anUchyathAm ThAtha svadhItham

kimchith uttamam ?( My dear son! among all the lessons

received from your teachers today , what is the best ?).

 

Bhaktha PrahlAdhA's response was :

 

sravaNam keerthanam VishNO: smaaraNam paadha sEvanam

archanam vandhanam dhAsyam sakhyam aatma nivEdhanam

tanmanyE adhItham uttamam

 

He refers to the nine ways of the worship of the Lord

to attain Moksham : (1) Listening to the wonderous

deeds of the Lord as Parikshith Chakravarthi did

(2) Singing about the Lord's glory just as SukhAchAryA

did (3) Having ceaseless memory of the Lord as

PrahlAdha did (4)Worshipping the Lord's feet

(5)offering salutations to the Lord just as

AkrUrar did (6)serving the Lord as AnjanEya did

(7)saluting the Lord through mithra bhAvam ,

just as ArjunA did (8)Bhagavadh archanam just as

the emperor Pruthu did and (9) total surrender

at the Lord's feet and giving unto Him all

possessions and returning to Him , what is His

(Aathman ) just as AzhwArs and AchAryAs did and do

and help us perform Bhara samarpaNam .

 

This sarvAntharyAmi blesses the bhakthAs of Andhra dEsam

at AnanathavAdi as one of the nine NarasimhAs

at the confluence of the rivers VasishtA and GodhAvari .

He is sitting on top of MangaLagiri ( auspicous hill )

as Sri Lakshmi Narasimhan with great thirst for Paanakam .

At SimhAchalam , He presides over as Sri varAha Lakshmi-

Nrusimhan and gives us His nijarUpa sEvai for one day

in the year ( akshaya Thritheeyai ).He sheds His sandal

paste to give us His darsanam on that sacred day .It is said

that His Ugra NarsimhA form after the destruction of

HiraNyan had to be cooled under many layers of sandal paste.

At the hill of Yadagiriguttaah ,He appears as JwAlA

and YogAnandha narasimhan and cures "incurable " diseases .

 

At the KshEthram known as ThirunArAyaNapuram in

TamilnAdu ( near ThiruveLLarai divya desam ) ,

He shed His fearsome Nrusimha SvarUpam and

assumed the soumya NaarAyaNa rUpam to give darsanam to

PrahlAdhan . He sits in the Yogic posture at

ThirunArAyaNapuram (Melkote) in KarnAtakA .

Elsewhre Sri Lakshmi Nrusimhan offers us His

sEvai at Thiruneermalai as Saantha Narasimhan ,

as guhai Narasimhan inside Atthigiri ( Kaanchipuram ) ,

as Yoga Narasimhan at the southern prAkAram of

Thiruvanathapuram , as HiraNyasamhAran at

ThirukkOttiyUr , as Lakshmi Narasimhan at

ThiruvAli , Thirunagari and TanjayALi Koil on

the banks of VeNNaaRRankarai near Tanjore

and finally as Mettu Azahgiyasinghar at

Srirangam and blessed the poet Kambhan and

sanctified the arangERRam of Kambha RaamAyaNam .

 

This bhakthavathsala PerumAL, Sri Nrusimhan

appeared before HiraNyan to prove the truthfulness

(sathyam ) of His BhakthA's word that He is inside

the blade of grass as well as in the sthampam in

the HiraNyan's court and that He is everywhere .

 

Srimadh Bhaagavatham's famous slOkam about the Lord

making PrahlAdhA's word as sathyam is as follows :

 

sathyam vidhAthum nija bhruthya bhAshitham

vyApthinja bhUthEshvakhilEshu chAthmana:

adhrusyathAthyadhbhutha rUpam udhvahan sthambE

sabhAyAm NA MRUGAM NA MAANUSHAM (Bhagavatham:7.8.18)

 

To prove the truthfulnes sof His bhakthan"s

word , He jumped out of the gem-studded Vijaya

sthambham in a wonderous (adhbhutha rUpam )

form and punished the tormentor of His dear

Bhakthan. HiraNyan was not a naasthikan ; he

did not say that there is no BhagavAn VishNu .

His problem ws much worse.He believed that

the Lord was subordinate to him and everyone

should therefore worship him as the supreme

being .This loss of memory about the truth

(apOhanam ) led to his demise .The nishkAma

Bhakthi of PrahlAdhan led to the Lord to place

His hand on the head of His bhakthan and look at

him with the most merciful eyes .In SridharIyam ,

the commentator of Srimadh Bhaagavatham , Sri Sridharar ,

composes a slOkam about the juxtaposition of the fierce

anger of the Lord at the offending HiraNyan and the parama

KaaruNyam displayed at His parama bhakthan PrahlAdhan :

 

ugrOpyanugra yEvAyam svabhakthAnAm NRUKESAREE

kEsarIva svapOthAnAm anyEsham ugra vigraha:

 

(Meaning ): However fearsome the Lord looked

during NrusimhAvathAram , He looked with the most

merciful glances at His Bhakthan. The fearsome

lion may terrify all the other animals of the forest ,

but to its own cub , it displays the most tender

feelings .

 

When MahA Lakshmi was afraid to go near the Ugra

Narasimhan , BrahmA askd PrahlAdhan to approach

the Lord to pacify the Lord's anger ( PrahlAdham

prEkshayAmAsa BrahmAvasthithamanthikE ). PrahlAdhan

eulogized the Lord with 42 beautiful slOkams housed

in Srimadh BhAgavatham . The Lord became Saantha

Narasimhan and asked His Bhakthan as to what boon

he would like to have . PrahlAdhan asked for the boon

that would banish any thought of seeking a boon from

the Lord and just stay as a Bhakthan for Bhakthi's sake .

After that , PrahlAdhan got worried whether he might have

offended the Lord and asked for the boon for the Moksham

for his father , who had offended the Lord . Sri Narasimhan

said : Oh PrahlAdhA ! You are My MahA Bhakthan .

Because of yourself being born in HiraNyan's

vamsam ,for 21 generations , every one in your lineage

will reach sathgathi. Your father is also assured

of that Moksham .I will not kill anyone , who

is a descendant of your kulam .

 

Bhaktha PrahlAdhan at that time revealed to us

the mystery of the Lord's rUpa Mahimai :

 

rUpam Nrusimha vibhayAya janaa: smaranthi

 

(Meaning ): The people of the world meditate

on the Narasimha rUpam to banish their fears .

 

That is the greatness of the roudhra chEshtitha

Lord ( who performed the abhinayam of roudhra

leelai by taking the fierce form for a few

seconds ) , who is the PurushOtthaman

celebrated by the Sri Nrusimha Taapaneeya

Upanishad ( Sri TaapaneeyAbhidha sruthyantha

sphuta geetha Sarva Mahiman ).

 

We will conclude this special posting

on Nrusimha Jayanthi day with the Mangala

krithi of PrahlAdha Bhaktha Vijayam :

 

nee naama rUpa mulaku nithya Jaya MangaLam

 

PrahlAdha NaaradhAthi Bhakthulu pogadu chuNDE

RaajIva Nayana ThyagarAja Vinuthamaina ( nee naama

rUpa mulaku Nithya Jaya manGalam ).

 

Sri Lakshmi Nrusimha ParabrahamaNE nama:

Sri NaarAyaNa YathIndhara MahA DesikAya nama:

 

Daasan , Oppiliappan Kovil VaradAchAri Sadagopan