Sri Vilakkoli Perumal, Thoopul/ThirutthaNkA dhivya Desam: Nithya AarAdhana kaimkaryam for VilakkoLi PerumAL and Swamy Desikan : Part XI:Eighth SlOkam

[Guest guest]

SrI:

 

Dear BhakthAs:

 

Today , adiyEn will cover the Eighth slOkam

of Sri SaraNAgathi DhIpikai , where Swamy Desikan

pays tribute to the Six GuNams behind the Lord 's

name , BhagavAn and ubhaya linga Tatthvam of

BhagavAn:

 

Jn~Anam Bhalam niyamana-kashamatA-aTa veeryam

sakthisccha tEja ithi guNa-shaDgamAdhyam

SarvAthisAyini HimavanOpanEsa Yasmin

anthargathO jaghadhiva Thvayi sadhguNouga:

 

(Meaning): Oh Lord of ThirutthaNkA ! Oh DhIpa PrakAsA!

Although You possess limitless auspicious guNams ,

the group of Six ( Jn~Anam , Bhalam , Sakthi ,

Isvaryam, Veeryam and TEjas ) are the most prominent.

They surpass the ecellence of all the other guNams

of Yours. In reality , Your name BhagavAn arises from

the possession of these guNams .All the other guNams are

contained inside these six guNams. Just as in the time of

the great deluge (PraLayam/aavAnthara PraLayam) ,

the whole world (prabanjam) is housed in the tiny

stomach of a child form of Sriman NaarAyaNan floating

on the leaf of a Pupil tree, the many and varied kalyANa

guNAs of Sriman NaarAyaNan are housed inside

the six pradhAna GuNams of our Lord. avai ivaikaLuil

pothinthu adangi uLLana .

 

Comments on the individual words of the SlOkam

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

adiyEn will comment on the following words/pasages

of this slOkam :

 

1. Hima Upavana Isan

2. niyamana KashamathA

3. GuNa ShaDkam

4. sadhguNa Oga:

5. SarvAthisAyini Thvayi

 

1.Hima Upavana Isan : The Lord of ThirutthaNkA is

saluted in Sanskrit as Hima Upavana Isan ( HimOpavanEsan).

Hima is a word with many meanings: Cool , dewy , Moon,

Sandal tree, camphor , lotus, white khadira tree ,

arka and chitraka plants mentioned in aTarva Vedam.

The common feature of all the above names to denote

"Hima" is coolness ( TaNN ).In the context of the Lord

DhIpa prakAsan of ThirutthaNkA , this coolness relates

to His comforting coolness that gives relief from

the Taapa Thrayams of Scorching SamsAram .

 

Vanam & Upavanam: Vanam means an uncultivated forest .

Upavanam is a cultivated grove or a pozhil or aarAmam

in the language of dhivya prabhnadham . Upavanam is

thus a group of nandavanams fit for the Lord's sport.

Hima Upavanam thus refers to the cool gardens on the banks of

Vegavathi river . DhIpa PrakAsan is the Isan of this

HimOpavanam and hence is addressed endearingly by

Swamy Desikan as "HimOpavanEsan".

 

2.Niyamana KshamathA: Among the six pradhAna guNAs

of the Lord is one recognized as Isvaryam or VibhUthi.

This Iswaryam of the Lord that is common to both

BhagavAn (ShADguNya SampoorNan) and His Piratti

(Bhagavathi) consists of both LeelA VibhUthi

(this world) and Nithya VibhUthi (SrI Vaikuntam ).

Swamy Desikan salutes DhIpa prakAsan as the One

with the power of ruling both these two Iswaryams.

This ruling power in Tamil is understood as "AaLum

Vallamai".

 

3. GuNa Shadgam: The six PradhAna GuNams of Jn~Anam,

Bhalam , Iswaryam , Sakthi, Tejas and Veeryam are

understood as the GuNa shaDgam or the sextet of

Mukhya GuNams of BhagavAn , Sriya: pathi.Out of

these six guNams arise the three VyUha Moorthys

according to PaancharAthram with a pair of the

above guNams.

 

4.SadhguNa Oga: the limitless (anantha) kalyANa

guNams of the Lord that fold into the above six

dominant guNams.These are the naR guNak kootangaL

referred to in the SaraNAgathi gadhyam of AchArya

RaamAnujA and the SrI VishNu SahasranAmams.

" SadhguNa Oga: aadhyam guNa shaDgE anthargatha:"

is the message of Swamy Desikan.

 

5." SarvAthisAyini Thvayi jagadh iva anthargatha: ".

Just as the entire world (chEthanams and achEthanams)

are hidden and protected in Your small stomach

during praLayam , so are the assembly of limitless

auspicious guNAs of Yours are contained inside

the six pradhAna GuNams of Yours .

 

The word SarvAthisAyini is a beautiful one.

It means " YellaavaRRilum mEmpatta" or

the One , who has no equal or superior and

as such is the Para DEvathai. The entire

sixth chapter ( ParadEvathA PaaramArTyAdhikAram)

is devoted to establishing the Supermacy of

Sriman NaarayaNan .He has no equal or superior

among the gods. Swamy Desikan's emphasis is

that all the other gods are karma VasyarkaL

and are the crations of Sriman NaarAyaNan

and as such do not have the power to grant moksha

anugraham. That power to grant freedom from

the recurring cycles of birhts and deaths

is exclusively in the hands of this SarvAthisAyi.

 

In the next sOkam , Swamy Desikan will salute

the role of Sriman NaarAyaNan ( SrI DhIpa PrakAsan

as the Aadhya Guru ( First AchAryan ) for

the SrI VaishNava Guru Paramparai.

 

Sri Maragathavalli SamEtha Sri DhIpa PrakAsa ParabhramaNE Nama:

Swamy Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam,

Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SaThakOpan(Sadagopan)

 

P.S : Please come forward and support the NithyArAdhana

Kaimkaryams at ThUppul for Swamy Desikan and His avathAra

sthala PerumAL, SrI DhIpa PrakAsan. Thank You all !