"ThirunAvAi"

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Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya Nama:

 

ThirunAvAi

 

Quiet flows the BhAratapuzhA, its pace sedate and tranquil, like a mature

person, the years of frenetic activity and furious efforts in pursuit of

materialistic pleasures behind him. The river has journeyed over hill and dale,

irrigating thousands of acres of land turned golden with fertility, rushing

headlong into valleys when laden with freshets. The longest river in Kerala

State, it is verily the Provider for thousands of agriculturists living along

its picturesque banks spread over hundreds of miles. It is their source of

happiness, its waters unfailingly assisting them in their husbandry, year after

year.

 

Among the thousands who have made the banks of the BhAratapuzhA their home, is

one Farmer too. One might ask what is so special about this Farmer, when there

are thousands of others. The important difference between this cultivator and

others is in the crop they raise. While others grow crops like paddy, maize,

plantain, sugarcane, etc., this farmer specialises in agriculture of

unimaginable proportions, raising Jeevatmas implanted in the soil of Karma. He

proudly watches over His growing crop day by day, ever vigilant against the

damage that the rodents of Maya and the allied pests of KAma, KrOdha, etc. can

cause to the fledgling nursery. He applies in adequate measure the fertilisers

of Sathya and Dharma and sprays insecticides of just punishment. He and His

Wife, equally concerned about the welfare of their human crops, tend to them

with anxiety, burning a lot of midnight oil. When the crops grow knee high and

sway gracefully in the wind, the Farmer and His Wife stand on the raised piece

of land above the fields, proudly surveying their handiwork, manifested in the

form of golden crops. The farming couple also engage a watchman called Acharya

to ensure that the crop is given all the nutrition it needs and is immunised

from evil influences.

 

As the day of harvest approaches, the Divine Farmer and His Consort grow more

nervous, hoping against hope that their crop would retain its good health till

the end. However, as Providence would have it, the crops, imbibing some dormant

disease of long standing from the soil of Karma, start withering away gradually,

leaving a field of decayed stems where there stood healthy sprouts weighed down

with golden ears of corn. The Farmer and His wife are heart-broken that their

innumerable days and nights of hard toil has failed to yield the bountiful

harvest they looked forward to. However, they are not the ones to give up. They

clear the field of the dead crop and make it ready for another crop, ever

optimistic (despite repeated failures) that each batch would yield them at least

a few sacks of corn (the mahatmas who surrender to the Lord with the realisation

that He is indeed everything).

 

The Lord is indeed hopeful from each batch of Jeevas turned out from the factory

of Creation, that they, at least, would not go the way of their forebears, and

would definitely rise above the pestilential influences of the Six Enemies

(KAma, Krodha, Lobha, MOha, Mata and MAtsarya). In their infancy, the Jeevas do

display signs of promise. They look set to tread the path of liberation that the

Lord wants them to traverse. However, the unbreakable shackles of Karma prove

too strong for most of them and they change directions midway, switching to the

path leading back to the abyss of Samsara, from which they had emerged with a

lot of effort. Slowly but surely, they are sucked once more into its swirling

vortex, helpless and beyond help. Only a few are brave and steadfast enough to

disregard the wrong pointers they come across on the path and stick to the

well-trodden trail to eternal happiness and deliverance, gladdening the hearts

of the Lord that at least this many could be saved out of the total production.

 

The Lord is thus an Eternal Farmer ("KrishIvala:"), raising one batch of human

crop after another and providing them all that is required to overcome the bonds

of Karma. Though only a negligible portion of the total crop survives and makes

it to the gates of Paradise, the Farmer never gives up and persists with the

process of Creation, in the fond hope that one day, hopefully not too distant in

the Cosmic Future, every single Jeevatma would share with Him the immeasurable

bliss that He and those He has saved, enjoy for ever. He employs ever-watchful

Acharyas to turn errant souls in the right direction, but many a time Jeevas

listen to the Acharyas with apparently rapt attention, but go their own

delinquent ways thereafter, while the fortunate few who retain the preceptor's

homilies build upon them to emerge successful in surmounting the innumerable

obstacles on their path to Paradise.

 

Coming back to the BhAratapuzhA and the Eternal Farmer, we find that the latter

has chosen to locate His farmstead on the banks of this glorious river. Much in

the fashion of the Ganga and the Cauvery, the Bharatapuzha too practically

washes the holy feet of the NavA Mukundan (as the Keralites call Him fondly),

the presiding deity of ThirunAvAi, a divyadesam sung with verve by two of the

most prolific Azhwars, Sri Satakopan and Sri Thirumangai Mannan. While the

latter makes a mere passing reference to this Emperuman at the fag end of Periya

Thirumozhi in a pasuram addressed jointly to ThirukkOttiyur and ThirunAvai, Sri

Nammazhwar devotes all of ten pasurams to this Lord. Curiously, however, neither

Azhwar makes a mention of the Bharatapuzha, which is indeed puzzling,

considering Azhwars' propensity for painstakingly vivid description of the

locales of each divyadesam. Though we find Sri Kalian singing paeans of praise

in favour of the Ganga (while eulogizing the Lords at Badarikashramam,

Thiruppiridhi, etc.) and that of the Cauvery at numerous other places, neither

he nor Sri Nammazhwar speaks a word about the PuzhA!

 

One thing that appeals most to Sri Nammazhwar is the dense flower-filled groves

and gardens of ThirunAvAi, which he remarks about repeatedly, no less than five

times in ten pasurams-

 

"KondhAr malar sOlaigaL soozh ThirunAvAi"

 

"VandAr malar sOlaigaL soozh ThirunAvAi"

 

NediyAn urai sOlaigaL soozh ThirunAvAi"

 

NeeLAr malar sOlaigaL soozh ThirunAvAi"

 

Veri thaN malar sOlaigaL soozh ThirunAvAi"

 

According to the locals, this Lord Mukunda of ThirunAvAi, true to His tirunAmam,

is capable of bestowing Paramadam on His devotees. This is in tune with the

Azhwar's thiruvuLLam too, for he says that all sins are destroyed, once we fix

our minds on the Lord of ThirunAvAi-"arukkum vinai Ayina, Agatthu avanai

nirutthum manatthondriya chintayinArkku". Not only does this Emperuman remove

all our Karmas which stand as obstacles in our spiritual progress, but He also

endows us with unblemished wisdom, enabling us to realise clearly our own

svarUpam, that of the Lord's, and the strategy we have to adopt for lifting

ourselves up from this mundane morass and for attaining eternal bliss in the

company of the Lord and His devotees. This is brought out by Azhwar's

sreesokti,"MaruLE indri unnai en nenjatthu irutthum teruLE taru then ThirunAvAi

en dEvE!". From this, it is clear that when Azhwar acknowledges Emperuman's

mercy in endowing him (Azhwar) with all-encompassing wisdom in the very first

pasuram of Thiruvaimozhi ("Mayarvara madhi nalam aruLinan evan avan"), he is

referring to only the Lord of ThirunAvAi, who has destroyed his "maruL" or

agyAnam and blessed him with "TeruL" or crystal-clear perception.

 

The Lord, in His arcchAvatAra (the forms He assumes in various temples) is none

other than the Paramapurusha. For the benefit of devotees who may have a doubt

in this regard, Azhwar repeatedly addresses the Lord of ThirunAvAi as the

Supreme Being Sriman Narayana, emphasizing their identity-

 

"nAvAi uraigindra en NAraNa nambI!"

 

"ViNNALan virumbi urayum ThirunAvAi"

 

"navai il ThirunAraNan sEr ThirunAvAi"

 

"Moovar mudalvan oru moo ulagAli

 

dEvan virumbi urayum ThirunAvai"

 

It is thus clear that the Lord of ThirunAvAi is no different from the Lord of

Sri Vaikuntam, the Supreme Lord of all Creation. The purport behind all this is

to emphasize that this Mukunda can indeed deliver from us samsara and afford us

eternal bliss.

 

ThirunAvAi has another colourful feather in its cap, one that perhaps no other

divyadesam can boast of- it is a place where the Lord is happy to reside in. He

takes pleasure in being a resident of ThirunAvAi, according to Sri Nammazhwar,

who says this not once but twice, for good measure-

 

"dEvan virumbi urayum ThirunAvAi"

 

"ViNNALan virumbi urayum ThirunAvAi"

 

It would be apparent from the second quote that the Lord takes greater pleasure

in residing at ThirunAvAi than at Sri Vaikuntam. The reasons for His preference

are not far to seek. The bewitching natural beauty of the place, surrounded by

dense flower groves and gardens, with the beautiful BhAratapuzha flowing at a

stone's throw from the sanctum sanctorum, the fragrant breeze, laden with the

heavy scent of flowers from the opposite shore tickling His nostrils pleasantly

and the wholesome and serene atmosphere of divinity and pure devotion that

characterizes the place-all these add up to an extremely tranquil scenario,

which makes for an ideal abode for the Lord.

 

The name of the divyadesam too is unique- "nAvAi" means a boat: this, however,

is no ordinary boat. It can ferry us far, from these mundane shores to those of

Paradise, navigating quickly and safely on the sea of samsara filled with

dangerous predators. Another feature of distinction here is the separate

sannidhi for "Malarmangai nAcchiar", as the divyadesams in Kerala do not have

separate shrines for Piratti. This Lord is supposed to have blessed Gajendra, in

commemoration of which the statue of an elephant stands near the Lord's flag

mast. Performance of pitru kAryAs here is supposed to ensure salvation to one's

forefathers.

 

The bewitching tirumEni of the Lord at this place fills one's minds long after

one has taken leave of Him, after a satisfying and rewarding mangalAsAsanam. And

its peace, calm, tranquillity and divinity stay etched in one's mind.

 

The mind hankers after another glimpse of this Lord, after the Azhwar's own

experience-" kaNNAra kaLikkindradu ingu endru kol kaNgaL?".

 

For intending visitors, this divyadesam is well connected by road and rail,

though only the slower trains stop at ThirunAvAi (pronounced "ThirunAvAya" by

the locals). The neighbouring Kuttipuram is a major town on the national highway

to Calicut and plenty of buses/cabs are available from and to all major

destinations. Further details are available on Sri (Bahrain) Venkat's website

www.srivaishnavam.com, which is of great help in planning journeys to MalainAdu

divyadesams, apart from affording a wealth of information on all aspects of our

Sampradaya.

 

Srimate Sri LakshmInrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana

Yatindra Mahadesikaya Nama:

 

Dasan, sadagopan