Thirumaalai-28

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Sri Parthasarathi thunai,

 

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

 

 

 

“ Mattrondrum vEinda Maname Madhilarangar

 

Kattrinum meitha kazhalinai keezh- uttra

 

Thirumaalai paadum seer Thondaradipodi Emperumaanai

 

Eppozhudum peesu”

 

 

 

“ Srimat Krishna samahvaya Namo yaamuna soonave

 

yetkadAkshai kalakshyAnAm sulabha: Sridara: sadaa”

 

 

 

Pranams,

 

 

 

We Srivaishnavas consider 108 divyadesams to be very important to us though

there are many more temples where the lord resides. We call the temples which

have been sung by the alwars as divyadesams, since they have the mangalAsAsanams

of the divyasooris, the alwars. Even among these divyadesams some have the

importance because of the perumal there and in some the emperuman came to that

place due to the magimai of the divyadesam itself. For instance, in Srirangam,

lord ranganatha decided to stay in this place attracted by the beauty of the

divyadesam. When vibheeshanazhvar was carrying lord ranganatha, gifted to him

by sri rAma, to lanka, while passing srirangam lord ranganatha was very pleased

with the kaveri river and the beautiful flora in the area that he decided to

stay over there. In thirupathi, we find that the seven hills themselves are

very sacrad and that the sins of who ever goes to the seven hills are washed

out. This has been quoted even in rAmayanam. When sugreeva sent his men to

search piratti in various directions, he instructed them not to go to the seven

hills since if they go there then there punyams and papams will be nullified and

they will attain moksham. That is why kulasekara alwar says “emperumAn ponmalai

mEl Edenum AvEnE”. Considering the importance of the seven hills, alwar here

wants to take any birth in thirumalai. It may be an animal birth, an insect

birth or a flower as long as it is in Thirumalai. Such is the importance of the

divyadesam and that is why even the famous venkateswara perumal selected this to

be his abode. Similarly when we see thiruvallikeni, this divyadesam was

initially a tulasi forest, where various rishis did their tapas. When the king

sumathi asked thirupathi perumal to give darshan to him like in krishnAvatAram,

emperuman replied ‘ Go to the sacrad place BrindAranyam near the kairavini

pushkarini where many other rishis are doing tapas and if you too do tapas over

there then your wish will be fulfilled’. Generally the rishis do not do tapas

in any place, they select the most sacrad place to do tapas where they can

peacefully meditate on the god. In BrindAranyam already many rishis where doing

tapas and hence thirupathi perumal directed sumathi also to the same place. So

attracted by the charm and beauty of the divyadesam and the magimai of the place

due to the number of rishis meditating on the lord making it a purely a sattvika

place made lord, come over here. Since the rishis meditated on different forms

of the lord the lord gave them darshan in the form they liked the most(“ye

yatAmam prapatyanthE thAm thathaiva bhajAmyaham” says sri Krishna in bhagavat

geetha) and stayed in the same forms and hence now we all have the bhakyam to

have darshan of the various perumals in various sannadhis, without any tapas or

dhyanam. So we find that these places did not become divyam because emperuman

came here but the emperuman’s came here because these desams were already

divine.

 

 

 

You may all be wondering why adiyen is telling all these without going to the

explanation of the meanings of the next paasuram. This introduction has been

given to clarify why alwar is suddenly singing about the natural beauty of

Srirangam like other ordinary poets. We all know that alwars are not bothered

about anything else other than the lord then why should they sing about the

natural beauty? The alwars, mainly thirumangai alwar, does mangalAsAsanam to

both the divyadesam and the perumal because he feels everything in a divyadesam

is divine and praise worthy. In similar strands, thondaradipodi alwar also

enjoys the beauty of Srirangam and says among this beautiful scenary we find

another beauty reclining, the lord ranganatha and then he finally comes back to

the same old story feeling for the people, who do not enjoy all these and put

themselves to miseries, running at the back of worldly pleasures.

 

 

Paasuram-14

 

 

“vandinam muralum sOlai mayilinam Alum sOlai

 

kondal meedhanavum sOlai kuyilinam koovum sOlai

 

andarkOn amarum sOlai anithiruvarangam ennA

 

mindarpAyindhu vunnum sOttrai vilakki nAykku edumineerE”

 

 

 

vandinam muralum sOlai mayilinam Alum sOlai: Srirangam is filled with number of

beautiful gardens. Those gardens are filled with beautiful and sweet smelling

flowers which have honey in them. We find number of bees in these gardens which

are attracted by the fragrance and beauty of the flowers. That’s what alwar

says here ‘vandinam muralum sOlai’, the gardens filled with bees flying from one

flower to another. In this pleasant place there are number of peacocks which

dance with joy. Alwar imagines that the sound made by the bees to be a praise

to the lord and that to that music the peacocks dance.

 

 

 

kondal meedhanavum sOlai kuyilinam koovum sOlai: The kaveri river is flowing

and the plants are flourished, seeing the richness of this place the clouds have

appeared on the sky. The trees in these gardens are so well grown that they

almost touch the skies. And the cuckoos in these gardens sing sweetly with

joy. As andal says ‘kootil erundu kuyil govinda!govinda! endrazhaikkum’. In

srirangam if the parrots which have been kept inside a cage, can sing happily

the name of the lord then wont the birds which have been left freely in the

beautiful gardens sing with joy the praise of the almighty? Even Sri Bhagavatam

says, that even the bees in brindavam always sing the praise of Sri Krishna

only. So the gardens in srirangam, are filled with the cuckoos which happily

sing about the lord and the bees hum the music and the peacocks dance to this

and the clouds appear to be a spectator to this grand music performance.

 

 

 

andarkOn amarum sOlai: Still now alwar sang about all the other beauties in

Srirangam. Now alwar says, the beauty which gave beauty to anything else in

this world has also come to stay in this divyadesam. Any other beauty in this

world is only a part of the emperuman’s beauty. That emperuman, who is the king

of kings and one who is the supreme, he also stays in this place. Sri PVP says

like the bees, cucukoos, peacocks and the clouds which got attracted to the

beauty of this place the emperuman also got attracted to this divyadesam and

stayed here. It is no wrong in equating the parAtparan with these ordinary

jeevans, since this is only to show the magimai of the divyadesam.

 

 

 

anithiruvarangam ennA mindarpAyindhu vunnum sOttrai vilakki nAykku edumineerE:

Inspite of all these importance, people refrain from even uttering the name of

this divyadesam. Many places people say are beautiful, even if we are unable to

go there we imagine the beauty of that place and enjoy. But the unfortunate

part is Srirangam is the most beautiful place in this world, still people do not

even think of it or feel bad that we are unable to go there. They cease to

accept the importance of this divyadesam but are only concerned about their

wordly pleasure. How can people be so stupid? Alwar’s anger is raised thinking

about such people and hence he goes to the level of cursing them. He says grab

the food, which these people jump to eat and throw it to a dog since a dog which

stays in srirangam is worth living than such people who do not even utter the

nAma of the bhagavan and his divya desam.

 

 

 

AzhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam

 

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasyai

 

Sumithra Varadarajan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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