Part XV: Swamy Desikan's Taathparya RathnAvaLi: 72nd SlOkam on ThiruviNNagarappan ( ThiruvAimozhi: 6.3 dasakam )

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Thursday , Dec 27 , 2001: Sri Vaikunta DhvAdasi Day

 

Eleventh ThiruppAvai (KaRruk KaRavaikaL--)Dinam

 

ANDAL ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

 

SrI:

 

Dear RasikAs of Swamy NammAzhwAr's Dhivya Prabhandhams:

 

On this Eleventh ThiruppAavi day , adiyEn will continue with

the ten guNams covered in the 72nd SlOkam of DTR about

ThiruviNNagarappan :

 

samapth dhAridhrya bhAvAth asukha sukhakruthE: patthana-grAma bhAvath

puNyApuNyAdhi-bhAvaath kapaDaruchutayA sarvalOkAdhi- bhAvAth

dhivyA-dhivyAngathvAth suradhithijagaNa-snigdha-sathruthva keerthyA

chAyAcchAydhi-bhAvAth agaDithagaDanam prAha KrushNam SaThAri:

 

Prelude to the ThiruviNNagar Paasurams ( nalkuravum selvam--):

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

In the previous decad , Swamy NammazhwAr had praNya Kalaham

with archAvathAra perumAL and asked Him to leave Her (ParAnkusa

Naayaki's) company . PerumAl can not ofcourse give up His dearest

bhakthan and came running after Parankusa Naayaki and displayed

His soundharyam and Isvaryam and United with Her at AakAsa Nagaram

as Sri Vaikunta NaaTan.AzhwAr named this dhivya Desam as

ThiruviNNagar, where he had samsLesham to his heart's content.

 

AzhwAr in his ecstasy sang about the agaDithagaDana tatthvam

of the Lord , where polar opposites of GuNams (non-co-existables )

such as poverty and penury , hell and heaven , enimity and

friendship , poison and nectar coexist and are controlled by Him .

 

AzhwAr states that the Lord is impossible to see and yet He

Himself came down from Sri Vaikuntam to seek his company and

unite with him/her in his role as ParAnkusa Naayaki.

 

He says in the second paasuram that he saw the Lord at ThiruviNNagar,

at this dhivya dEsam equal in auspiciousness to Sri Vaikuntam .

He goes on to hail the Lord as the Sum and Substance of all ,

even the opposites such as city and hamlet , knowledge and ignorance ,

light and darkness and all like these dhvandhvams. AzhwAr reveals

to us that the Lord exists with His splendour in PuNyam and Paapam,

Union and seperation , memory and forgetfulness , existence and

non-existence. The Lord is present in all these mutually

non-co-existables displaying His agaDithagDanA Saamarthyam.

 

In the seventh paasuram , AzhwAr asserts that for anyone ,

who seeks Moksham , there is no other path (naanya: panTA

ayanAya vidhyathE) , no other refuge except the firmly-helping

ThiruvadigaL of ThiruviNNagarappan .

 

In the 8th paasuram , The Lord of ThiruviNNagar is his

Father , Mother , Refuge , dear Helper and every thing .

AzhwAr priases the great upakAram of ThiruviNnagarappan

in keeping all His bhakthAs under His wings and protecting

them while banishing the non-believers outside His shelter.

 

In the 9th paasuram, Swamy NammAzhwAr acknowledges that

the Lord gave His sacred feet as the cool refuge for him

at ThiruviNNagar .AzhwAr acknowledges that the Lord's holy

feet are the cool shade against the torturing heat of

samsAram (worldly afflictions).

 

In the 10th paasuram, AzhwAr that the Lord is residing as

antharAthmA even in all polar opposite attributes that we

experience in this world .They are ALL He although the heyams

(stigma/blemishes) of these things do not ever taint Him.

He makes a subtle point here .He is them but they are not He.

 

In the concluding 11th paasuram , AzhwAr states that

the Lord is Parama Soulabhyan 9Most easy to access by all)

and that these paasurams on ThiruviNNagarappan were composed

at His order and anyone , who masters them will attain

the status of nithyasooris.

 

The Ten GuNams saluted by Swamy NammAzhwAr in th eorder

of the ten paasurams are:

 

1)Sampadh-DhAridhrya BhAvAth( nal kuravum ): He is in

the form of poverty and wealth . The dharmi becomes

the two opposite dharmams .It is a wonder ! He is

the antharyAmi in both .

 

2) asukha sukha kruthE bhAvAth: the joy (kaNDa inbham )

from the enjoyment of wealth (sampath ) and the woes (thunbham)

from the experience of poverty (dhAridhryam ) have Him as

the indweller. He is there in both thru His unique skills

to dwell in irreconcelable opposites.

 

3) patthana-grAma BhAvAth: Nakaramum Naadum . The dhraavyams on

both ends that lead to the enjoyment are cited here.

 

4)PuNyApuNyAdhi BhAvAth: PuNNiyam and Paapam are the opposite

of each other. PuNNiyam is the fruit of following SaasthrIya

dharmams . Paapam arises from the rejection of such dahrmams.

He is the antharyAmi in both.

 

5) KapaDaruchutayA: He is the controller of dishonesty(kaitavam)

and uprightness( aarjavam), the polar opposites.

 

6) Sarva lOkAdhi BhAvAth (MoovulahangaLumAi): His ability to

mix unblendables (agaDithagaDanam GuNam) is seen in that

He is all the three worlds and then He is NOT.

 

7) dhivyAdhivyAngathvAth(Param sudar UdambAi ,

azhukku patthittha UdambAi): The Lord of ThiruviNnagar

has a supremely effulgent form as well as the form that

is the oul of the filthy world that is visible to us .

He does not however get tainted by the dirt and filth.

This world is His body and yet the heyams of this world

does not tarnish Him.

 

8) suradhithijagaNa-snigdha sathruthva kIrthyA(van saraN

surarkkAi, asurarkku venkURramAi): He is refuge for

the devAs ( devout bhakthAs) and fiery death to

demonic persons (those with asura svabhAvam ).

 

9) TaathamAthrAdhi BhAvAth( Yennappan , Yennai PeRRavaLAI):

The Lord of ThiruviNNagar in His condescending grace (DayA)

is my Father, birth Mother and the other Mother, who

reared me as sevilitthAi.He is all these !

 

10) ChAyAcchAydhi BhAvAth( Nizhal Veyyil, SiruMai perumai--):

He is comforting cool shelter for the aasrithAs and

the burning heat for those , who have asura svabhAvam.

He is thus the indweller of both these opposite guNams.

 

Swamy Desikan concludes this 72nd SlOkam on ThiruviNNagarappan

with the statement that this is the way in which Swamy

NammAzhwAr enjoyed and described the agaDithagaDana guNam of

the Lord at this dhivya desam : agaDithagaDanam prAha

KrishNam SaTHAri:

 

Let us all pay our tribute to Swamy Desikan through

support of the NithyArAdhanam for Him at His sannidhi

in ThUppul. Please help in every way you can to realize

the core funds to miantain nithyArAdhanam without

interruption to Swamy Desikan at His birth place.

Nothing is more important than performance of

Nithya AarAdhanam . The blessings from Swamy Desikan

are many and let us participate in this important kaimakryam.

 

The next DTR slOkam will be on Thirukkuruhoor Aadhi NaaTan,

the dhivya dEsa EmperumAn of AzhwAr Thirunagai , the birth place

of Swamy NammAzhwAr ( TVM 4.10 ).

 

ThiruviNNagarappan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Sri RanganAyaki SamEtha Sri RanganAtha ParabrahmaNE Nama:

Daasan, Oppiliappan Koil VardAchAri SaThakOpan