Fifth Day of the trip: Following AchArya RaamAnujA's sacred steps : Trips to SriperumbhUdhUr and Kanchipuram, Feb 9 ,2000: Part IV

[Guest guest]

Sri Lakshmi Nrusimha ParabrahmaNE Nama:

Dear BhakthAs :

 

As AdiyEn had the sEvA bhAgyam of the Lord

of Hasthigiri , the outpourings of the anubhavam

of Thirukkacchi Nampi's Sri DevarAjAshtakam,

Swamy Desikan's Sri VaradarAja PanchAsath and

Sri MaNavALa Maamuni's Sri DevarAja MangaLam

slOkams served asa balm for my mind . AdiyEn has writeen

extensively about the eulogies of Thirukkacchi Nampi

and Sri MaNavALa MaamunigaL earlier in Bhakthi list

Postings and hence adiyEn will focus mostly on

Swamy Desikan's anubhavam .

 

Thirukkacchi Nampi's Sri DevarAjAshtakam

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

Thirukkacchi Nampi ( Sri Kaanchi PoorNar )

is known as "VaradhAngri SadhA sangha

rasAyana PaarAyaNar "(i-e)., One , who is

always engaged in affectionate sevai/kaimkaryam

to the sacred feet of the Lord VaradharAjan .

He has been hailed as "DevarAja DayA Paathram "

or the One , who was the object of the special

affection of Sri Varadhan .

 

The salutations to the PraNathArthihara Prabhu

of Hasthi Sailam starts with Thirukkacchi Nampi's

prapatthi in the first slOkam of this ashtakam :

 

" namasthE HasthisailEsa Srimann! ambhuja lOchana

SaraNam thvAm prapannOsmi PraNathArthihara achyutha "

 

In the next slOkam , Thirukkacchi NampigaL expresses

his fear of trespasses and includes a powerful word

( amaryAtham) from His AchAryan's (AlavandhAr's -

sthOthra rathnam )to show his nirvEdham :

 

" paapIyAmsam amaryAtham paahi maam Varadha PrabhO !"

 

The overflowing affection of this special Bhakthar

of the Lord is housed in his moving prayers :

 

"DevarAja DhayA sindhO ! Deva Deva ! JagathpathE !

kaaruNyAmrutha AanIthai: SeethaLi: abhishincha Maam "

 

(meaning ) Oh Ocean of DhayA ! Oh DevarAjA ! Oh

the supreme Lord of the Universe ! Please banish my

samsAric thApams through your kataaksha-amrutham

soaking me !

 

The Lord broke His archA silence and spoke to

Thirukkacchi Nampi and looked forward to his Fan

service ( ThiruvAlavatta Kaimkaryam )and sent His

six words to AchArya RaamAnujA through him .

 

RamyajAmathru Muni's ( MaNavALa Maamuni's)MangaLam

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

 

Sri MaNavALa MaamunigaL focuses on the dhayA

svarUpam of the Lord of Kaanchi and salutes

the PEraruLALa Tattvam in the very first slOkam :

 

" VaradhAya DhayAdhAmnE DheerOdhArAya MangaLam "

 

Here Sri MunigaL recognizes the Lord not only

as the embodiment of DhayA , but also as

the Dheeran and oudhAryavanthan ( the most generous

one as PEraruLAlan ).

 

Sri MaNavALa Maamunigal salutes the Lord as

" VaarijAkshan " ( SenthAmaraik KaNNan ) and

AbhIshta Phala DhAyakan ( vENDum Varam Vaari Vaari

Koduppavan) , PuNyakOti NivAsakan ( One who resides

under the PuNyakOti VimAnam ) . The essence of

ThiruvAimozhi Passage ( Kaachina PaRavai oornthu

ponmalain meemisaik kaarmuhil pOl ) has been

captured in the following slOkam section :

 

" Kaanchanaachala SrungAgra KaaLamEgAnusAriNE "

 

The Lord is visulaized here as the dayA-laden dark cloud

on top of the golden mountain of Hasthigiri.

 

He concludes this MangaLaasAsanam of the Lord with

a moving acknowledgement of Lord Varadhan's abundant

Krupai :

 

" MathangajAdhri ThungAgrassrunga srungAra VarshmaNE

MahAkrupaaya math rakshA dhIkshithAyAsthu MangaLam "

 

(meaning ): adiyEn's pallANDu to the Lord who is like

a jewel adorning the high peak of Hasthigiri ! Hail to

the Most merciful Lord , who has taken the dheekshA of

blessing adiyEn with His protection .

 

These are indeed moving MangaLAsAsanam passages

from Sri MaamunigaL's Sri DevarAja MangaLam .

 

Swamy Desikan's adoration in Sri VaradarAja PanchAsath

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

 

Sri Hasthi Saila SikarOjwala PaarijAtham , Sri VaradharAjan

captivated the mind of Swamy Desikan so much that he confessed

that he prefers the Lord's ArchAvathAram at Kaanchi over

the sevai of Parama Padha Naathan at Sri Vaikuntam ( Sathyam

sabhE VaaraNa saila Naatha Vaikunta vaasEpi namEabhilAsha:).

 

Swamy composed a SuprabhAtha SlOakm for the Lord . He also

described the ever changing beauty of the Lord during His

thsavam days and concluded :

 

thvam chEth prasIdhasi tavAsmi samIpathascchEth

thvayyasthi bhakthiranagA KarisailnAtha

samsrujyathE yadhi cha dAsa jana: thvadheeya:

SamsAra yEsha Bhagavann apavargha yEva

 

(Meaning ): Oh Lord of Hasthigiri ! You are the ocean

of auspicious attributes (anantha kalyAna guNArNavam).

This sad samsAric world will verily become Moksha KshEthram

(aanandha nilyam ), if Your face shows pleasure on seeing

diyEn displaying special bhakthi for You , while being near

You in the company of Your dear BhakthAs .

 

Swamy salutes Lord VaradhrAjan as PanchAvathAran

( Param , vyUham , Vibhavam , archai and antharyAmi

Brahmam ) and also as DasAvathAran . Finally , he

exclaims in wonderment : kim naama na asi ? Is there

anything that You are not (nee yethuvAhatthAn illai?).

 

Swamy Desikan salutes the Bhaagavatha GhOshti assembled

to have His sevai and declares that these BhagavathAs

are dhanyAs ( the blessed Ones ) :

 

" Varadha Tava vilOkayanthi DhanyA : "

 

Swamy sings ThirupaLLIyezucchi to the Lord and

prays for Him to reside in that SuprabhAtha kOlam

in his heart always:

 

"paNipathi sayaneeyAth utthithasthvam PrabhAthE

Varadha Sathatham antharmAnasam sannidhEyA :"

 

Swamy reminds the Lord that it is His Sankalpam

that is the mightiest help for his protection :

 

"sankalpa yEva BhavathO nipuNa: sahaaya:"

 

Swamy pleads with the Lord and says: You have

brought me safely upto this point (yEthavathIm

gamayithu: padhavIm dhayAlO: ).What trouble is there

to guide my path for the remaining small period

of my life here ? None. ( seshdAhvalEsa nayanE ka iva

athibhAra: ?). SwamY Desikan also acknowledgs that

it is the BhagavAn's katAksham , which results

in the SadAchArya PrApthi . He also reveals through

His dialog with the Lord of Hasthigiri that the Lord

alone serves as the bridge (sEthu) to attain Him

( thvAmEva ganthumasi sEthu: abhangurasthvam ) .

Elsewhere , Swamy Desikan explains to us

the tattvam of Sri Varadha sEthu and the blessings

arising from that sEthu darsanam :

 

" thamm veekshya sEthum adhunApi SarIravantha:

sarvE shaDUrmi bhauLam jaladhim taranthi "

 

Swamy points out that even the sight ( veekshaNam ) of

this most merciful sEthu (Varadhan )is sufficient

to cross safely the terrifying ocean with the six kinds

of gigantic waves ( Kaamam , kOpam, lObham ,mOham ,

madham and Maathsaryam ).

 

adiyEn will conclude this visit to Sri VaradharAjan Sannidhi

with the recitation of a slOkam from the VaradhAbhimAna

Sahasram :

 

prapanna Jana samrakshA dheeksithAya nirantharam

> Sri VaishNava sriyOttheepdha VaibhavAya asthu MangaLam "

 

(meaning ): Hail to the Lord of Hasthigiri , who has

taken the permanent vow of protecting well those , who

has performed prapatthi at His sacred feet ! Hail to

the Lord , who has the reputation of enhancing

the VaishNava Sri of His bhakthAs and BhaagavathAs !

 

In the next set of postings realting to the sixth ,

seventh and eighth days of this journey , aadiyEn

will cover the KarnAtaka dEsa Yaathrai in and

around Melkote( ThirunArAyaNapuram ).

 

Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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