Addendum to SudarshanAzhwAr Sannidhi at Pomona RanganAthan Temple; Part II at the request of Sri Lakshmi Narasimhan of Boston

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs:

 

AdiyEn mentioned that some of the Sudarshana ArchA

Moorthys have Eight hands and others have Sixteen hands.

Swamy Desikan pays tribute the Eight-handed and the Sixteen-

handed Sudharsana Moorthams in one of His profound prabhndams

revered as Paramatha Bhangam . The first paasuram is

about the Eight-handed Sudarshanan and the last paasuram

is about the Sixteen-handed Sudarshanan .

 

Why did Swamy Deikan pay such extraordinary attention to

Sudarshana BhagavAn ? It is because of this great AchAryan's

belief in the prowess of Sudarshana BhagavAn in destroying

all philosophies and Mathams that misled people and committed

them to endless wanderings in the samsAric forest without any

hope for release from the cycles of repeated births and deaths.

 

Swamy Desikan was invited once to a debate with Para Matha Vaathis

in front of Lord DevanAthan of ThiruvahIndhrapuram on the banks

of PeNNai river. Swamy prayed to Lord Suadrshanan rotating in

the hands of Lord DevanAthan and also in the hands of Sri HayagrIvan

sitting on a throne at the tip of his tongue . Lord Sudarshanan

took over and burnt to ashes the siddhAnthams of Para matha Vaadhins

through Swamy Desikan.

 

Swamy Desikan pointed out gaping holes in the philosophies of

SaaravAka , Bhouddha, Adhvaitha , Jaina ,BhAskara-Yaadhava,

VaiyAkaraNa , KaNAda, Goudhama, MeemAmsaka , Saankhya , Yoga,

and Paasupatha mathams and established the superiority and

soundness of VisishtAdhvaitham over all of them. Sudarshana

BhagavAn staying in the hand of the Lord was instrumental

in Swamy Desikan's victory in this fierce and decisive debate .

Swamy Desikan was recognized by Lord DevanAthan for the kaimkaryam

that he rendered for our sampradhAyam that day.

 

In Paramatha Bhangam , Swamy Desikan spoke about the glories of

Paancha Raathra Saasthram and the Svaroopam of Prapatthi and

showed the way for Moksha Siddhi . He praised the power of

the sixteen hands of Sudarshana BhagavAn at the end of

this Prabhandham that led to his victory.

 

Swamy Desikan's Prayer to the eight-handed Moorthy

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

At the very beginnig, Swamy eulogized Lord Sudarshanan

and visualized His ThirumEni inside the Sudarshana Yanthram.

There Swamy saw the Lord in aashta-daLa-Padmam ( eight petalled

lotus)containing six triangles inside which , he shone with

eight hands bearing Disc, Conch , Bow, Axe, Pestle, Ankusam ,Mace

and a lotus-shaped weapon.

 

The first paasuram of Parama Padham visualizing the Sudarsha-

Moorthy of unimaginable lustre inside His yanthram takes this form:

 

YeNN taLa ambhuyatthuL ilangum aRu-kONamisai

VaNN PaNilam Thikiri VaLai Vill VaLai Vaai musalam

thiNN kaiyil ankusam seer thihazhum Gadhai Senkamalam

yeNN paDai yEnthi ninRAn Yezhil Aazhi IraivanE

 

" Yezhil Aazhi IRaivan--YeNN padai YEnti NinRAN ".

(The most beautiful Sudarshana BhagavAn presented

Himself with His Eight weapons in His Eight hands).

 

The Sixteen-Handed Sudarshana Moorthy

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

The day of debate with opponents from other Mathams

was the fifth day of Thai Month , when Lord DevanAthan of

ThiruvahIndhrapuram even today has an Uthsavam on the banks of

PeNNai River , a few miles from ThiruvahIndhrapuram.

Swamy Desikan had accompanied DevanAtha perumAL as

a member of the Prabhandha GhOshti . At that time ,

the opponents of Sri VisishtAdvaitham challenged

Swamy Desikan for a debate to proove the superiority

of their Mathams over Sri VisishtAdhvaitham .

 

Swamy prayed to Lord Sudarhsanan , engaged in the debate

and defeated his opponents soundly . That gist of the debate

is covered in the Para Matha Bhanga Prabhandham . At the end

of this Prabhandham , Swamy Desikan salutes Sudarshana

BhagavAn profoundly and says :" Oh Susdarshana!You are

the veritable embodiment of the tejas (JyOthi ) of Lord

RanganAthan . In Your sixteen hands , the entire universe

is strung together like the beads in a necklace ( SoothrE

maNigaNA: iva).Those sixteen hands are in a great hurry to

give succor (abhaya PradhAnam ) to BhaagavanthAs wishing

Bhagavath Kaimkaryam just like AdhisEshan .Those sixteen hands

compete with one another to destroy the asura kulam ,which

attempts to steal the wealth of the DevAs.They destroy all

dushtAs , who cause harm to BhAgavathAs. With their Tejas,

they banish the darkness of Ajn~anam and cause great Kshemam

(Moksha Sukham )to the Lord's devotees. It is impossible to

adequately describe the greatness of the power of Your

Sixteen hands holding sixteen weapons."

 

Swamy Desikan is very diplomatic and praises AdhisEshan

for whom the dhivya Desam of ThiruvahIndhra Puram is named.

AhIndhran ,means Adhi SEshan ; He built the well to produce

the water to quench the thirst of the Lord of this Dhivya Desam.

After referring to the JyOthi of Sri RanganAthan taking

the form of Sudarshanan (" Thihazh aravu aNai Arangar tEsu yenna

Manniya Sudharisanar" ) , Swamy pays tribute to AdhisEshan

associated with the sthala purANam of ThiruvahIndhrapuram:

" Adiyum aru-karuNayumAm Aravu yenna ninRu adi adayum adiyarai

anbinAl anjal yenpathum ". Here, Swamy Desikan says that

Sudarshanan is like AdhisEshan --the bed and Paadhukais of the Lord--

who assures abhaya pradhAnam to bhakthAs of Sriman NaarAyaNan ,

who perform saraNAgathi at the feet of His Lord.Deftly, Swamy

Desikan Pays tribute in one paasuram to AhIndhran (AdhisEshan)

dear to AhIndhrapura NaaTan ( Lord DevanAthan) of Tiruayinthai ,

Sri RanganAthan and His Tejas , Sudarshana AzhwAn .He concludes

this last paasuram with sixteen lines ( PathinARu seer chandha

Viruttham ) to remind us of the powers of those Sixteen handed

Sudarshana Moorthy adorning Sixteen weapons :

 

" Thihazh aravu anai Arangar tEsu yenna manniya

Thiri-Sudarsanar seyyaveer YeNN BhuyankaLE ".

 

" Thihazh aravu aNai Arangar " = The Lord of Srirangam

with the bed of the tEjOmaya AdhisEshan

 

" Arangar tEsu yenna manniya" = Appearing like the enduring

tEjas of Sri RanganAthan

 

" Thiri-Sudarsanar" = The brilliantly rotating Disc form

of Sudarshanar invoking Jagath and Kaala Chakram inside

 

"seyya eer YeNN BhuyankaLE" = Those sixteen red hands

of Sudarsanar are indeed the ones that gladden the hearts of

DevAs by providing protection from asurAs; they are the Ones

eulogized by the VedAs and defeat all the enemies of

Veda-Baahya mathams and Kudhrushti mathams;those hands

are the Ones that spread in all eight directions and

with their radiance banish the darkness of Ajn~Anam .

 

In the first four lines of the 16 lined Paasuram ,

Swamy Desikan pays tribute to the Sixteen weapons

that compete with one another to come to his rescue

in the debate with para matha Vaadhins:

 

Thihiri mazhu uyar Kuntham ThaNDu ankusam poRi-

sithaRu satha-mukha angi VaaLL vEl amarnthathum

Thezhi PaNilam Silai KaNNI Seeerangm sevviDi

sezhiya gathai musalm thisoolam Thihazhanthum ---

 

All the sixteen weapons from the Disc to the Trident

of ShOdasAyudha Sudarshanan are saluted in the above

four lines of the last paasuram of paramatha Bhangam

by Swamy Desikan.

 

The glory of kavi ThArkika Simham shines forever

in His Tamil Paasurams and Sanskrit slOkams and

illumines our path always.

 

Swamy Desikan ThiruvadigaLE Saranam,

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil varadAchAri SatakOpan