MalayALa Naattu ThiruppathikaL: ThiruvAttARu : Part I

[Guest guest]

SrI:

 

Dear BhakthAs:

 

Our dear SrI Sadagopan Iyengar posted a beautiful

article on ThiruvAttARu, a dhivya dEsam sung by

Swamy NammAzhwAr in ThiruvAimozhi: 10.6 decad.

Sriman Raghavan Gopalan has added more information on

this dhivya desam . Ten years ago , adiyEn had the bhAgyam to

write a 400 plus manuscript in Tamil regarding the 108 dhivya

desams and AzhwAr's anubhavams in Tamil. That is

resting pretty . adiyEn will take this opportunity

now to translate from there the section on

ThiruvAttARu highlighting Swamy NammAzhwAr's

paasurams.

 

Location:

*********

This dhivya desam is 24 miles to the south of

Thiruvananthapuram on the road leading to Naagar Koil.

Here, AdhikEsava PerumAL is resting under AshtAnga

VimAnam looking westward. ThAyAr's Thiru Naamam is

Maragathavalli NaacchiyAr. The garbha graham is vast

as at Thiruvananthapuram with three gates.On the right hand

side gate, we have the sEvai of Thirumudi and Thirumukham

(Crown and Face).In the middle gate , Thiru Udharam (Stomach

region and the lotus creeper from the nabhi of the Lord

with Brahma is seen. On the left hand side gate, the sacred

feet of the Lord is seen. This sevai of the limbs of

the Lord at ThiruvAttARu from right to left is the reverse of

the sevai at Thiruvananthapuram. The AshtAnga VimAnam at

ThiruvAttARu is similar to the VimAnam at Thiruvananthapuram.

Just as Lord RanganAthA's and Lord YathOkthakAri's sevai are

the reverse of each other , those of SrI AnanathapadhmanAbhan

at Thiruvananthapuram is the reverse of SrI Adhi Kesavan

at ThriuvAttARu. There is a beautiful river behind

the temple , wehre my fsther and myself performed

our evening sandhyA Vandhanam on the day of visit

some twenty plus years ago. I have forgotten the name of

the river now. Is it ThiruvAttAru?

 

Swamy NammAzhwAr's Paasurams on ThiruvAttARu

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

Prior to the ThiruvAimozhi(TVM) of 10.6 decad , Swamy

NammAzhwAr performed ParOpadesam for the chEthanams

on how to recieve Sriman NaarAyaNan's anugraham(TVM:10.5)

in his role as an AchAryan. This decad starts with

the following Paasuram :

 

KaNNan KazhaliNai naNNUm manamudayeer

yeNNUm Thiru Naamam , tiNNam NaaraNamE

 

His ParOpadEsam was to perform AshtAkshara manthra Japam ,

which incorporates inside it the powerful NaarAyaNa

Sabdham in the manner recommended by Naarada Kalpam.

This kalpam states that great sages like Sanakar

attained Parama Padham by reciting AshtAksharam:

 

bhahavO hi mahAthmAnO munaya: SanakAdhaya:

ashtAksharam samAsrithya tE jagmur-VaishNavam padham

 

AzhwAr instructed those , who wish to take refuge at

the sacred feet of KaNNan ( KaNNan kazhaliNai naNNum

Manamudayeer) to perform japam ( NamO NaarAyaNAya).

He recommended them to pick unfaded flowers in

the early morning and to get to Bhagavath SannidhAnam

and offer those flowers with Naama sankeerthanam

to the Lord for attaining Vaikuntha PrApthi without

fail.He gave a sure recipe for liberation from

the cycles of births and deaths :

 

naaDeer naadORum , vaadA malar koNDu

paadeeravan nAmam, VeeDE peRalAmE

 

Please recite His naamAs. Think of Him

(NaaraNammAn PaaraNangALanai ninaimin).

All your karmAs (vinaikaL ) will be destroyed.

This was Swamy NammAzhwAr's hithOpadEsam for us.

 

After this upadEsam , Swamy NammazhwAr realized that

the purpose of his avathAram was nearing completion as

he performed MangaLAsAsanam at ThiruvAttARu.

He was thrilled to know that the Lord of ThiruvAttARu

was signaling him about his ascent to His Parama Padham.

Thru the ten songs starting with " aruL PeRuvAr adiyAr",

Swamy NammAzhwAr extended his namskArams and gratitude

to ThiruvAttARAn.

 

Paasuram 1:

***********

aruL peRuvAradiyAr tammaDiyanERkku , AazhiyAn

aruL taruvAnamaihinrAnathu NAMATHU VITHI VAHAYE

iruL taru maagn~AlatthuLiinip-piRavi yAnn vENDEn

maruLozhi nee mada nenjE VaattARRANadi vanangE

 

AzhwAr became very joyous over the Lord's acceptance

of his request to ascend(return) to Parama Padham.

In a happy frame of mind, AzhwAr began his conversation

with his mind (Maanasa sambhOdhanam).

 

Oh my foolish mind! Our Lord has blessed us with

the great boon that we requested of Him. Due to

our good fortune, our Lord who knows of our great

love for Him has showered His dayA . He has lifted us now

with His powerful arms from the deep ocean of SamsAram

(kai laahu kodutthu)and helped us to join Him at

His Supreme abode.Until now, we spent our time on

His earth performing mangaLAsAsanam to His ArchA Moorthams

at Dhivya dEsams , meditating upon His Vibhava avathaarams

and performing kaimkaryams to His BhAgavathAs. The phalan from

all such Kaimkaryams to Bhagavan and His BhAgavathAs is being

fulfilled now.End is approaching for stay in this sorrowful

SamsAric world (Mayarvu niRaintha intha periya prAkrutha

lokatthil janmam yedukka vENDiyathu yenRa dhukkamAna

vishayam ozhinthu vittathu).

 

Oh my mind! Our lingering predisposition (Chapalam)

to perform additional MangaLAsAsanams at other

dhivya desams has diminished now thanks to the Lord's

boon to help us ascend His parama padham and serve

Him there with the nithya sooris and muktha jeevans.

This is firm now. Therefore, my dear mind! please banish

any of your remaining ajn~Anam and spend the little time

left on earth to contemplate on the sacred feet of

the Lord of ThiruvAttARu. Please accede to my request

and think of travel by the archirAdhi maargam alone

thru the route of Bhagavath dhyAnam from here on .

 

Oh my dear mind! You are familiar with BhagavAn's upadEsam

to Arjuna in the battle field : "TasmAth sarvEshu kAlEshu

yOga yukthO bhavArjuna ". Please turn your attention to

the travel by ArchirAdhi maargam led by Archis (agni)

and with other eleven guides/companions therefter to

reach Brahma Padham. For us there is no longer any

worry or fear about births and deaths in this samsAric world.

We are destined to travel on the AirchirAdhi maargam (DevayAna

path) , banish our maruL (thirOdhAnam) , attain Jn~Ana

Svaroopam and become " apahatha-pApmathvaadhi sathyasankalpathva

paryantha" guNakan . With the acquisition of apahatha-pApmathvam,

we are not influenced anymore by PuNyam and Paapam as mukthans

thanks to the anugraham of our Sathya Sankalpan,ThiruvAttARAn.

As BhUma VidhyA of ChandhOgyam teaches us , we attain the status

of " Aathma rathi: Aathma kreeDa: Aathma miTuna: AathmAnandha:",

which is the status of a Muktha Jeevan. As ChandhOgyam reveals

furhter , " AsmAth Sareeraath samuTTAya Param JyOthi Roopam

sampadhya svEna roopENa abhinishpadhyathE" , we exit from

this material and perihable body and attain Param JyOthi.

Swamy NammAzhwAr appeals to his mind in this cotext:

" MaDa nenjE ! maruL-ozhi-VaattARRAn adi vaNangE".

 

Second & Third Paasurams:

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

VaattARRAn adi vaNangi maajn~Ala piRappu aRuppAn

kEttAyE mada nenjE KesavanempirAnai

paattAya pal paadip-pazhavinaikaL paRRaRutthu

nAttOdiyalvozhinthu NaarANanai naNNinamE

 

Our sampradhAyam asks us to utter the name of

Kesavan before travels. SwAmi NammAzhwAr addresses

(Aadhi) Kesavan in this context as he starts his

journey to SrI Vaikuntam .

 

AzhwAr says: " adiyEn has completed many prabhandhams

to sing His praise ; adiyEn has performed many parOpadEsams

thru these prabhandhams and adiyEn is blessed with

the boon of Moksham so adiyEn is readying myself to travel

to SrI Vaikuntam. He in His infinite grace is rapidly

rushing towards me with eagerness ( maNN ulahil vaLam

mikka VaattARRAn vanthu inRu ViNNulaham taruvAnAi ,

vithi vahayE viraihinRAn). The Lord of ThiruvAttARU

celebrated for His limitless sakthi and keerthi is rushing

to appear before me with alacrity with the intention of

granting residence in His parama padham to adiyEn.

He says to me that He needs few more paasurams from me

and therfore is reasoning that adiyEn should tarry a little

to complete that kaimkaryam instead of joining Him

immediately.Inspite of this short delay , He has assured me

that He is coming .He permits me to hear His Noopura nAdham

(Sathangai oli to assure His start of the journey towards me).

This parama bhAgyam is engineered by Him and nothing

that was accomplished is by us . Swamy NammAzhwAr expresses

these thoughts in his third Paasuram on this dhivya dEsam:

 

naNNinam NaarAyananai nAmangaL pala solli

maNNUlahil valam mikka VaattARRAn vanthinRu

viNNulaham taruvAnAi viraihinRAn vithi vahayE

yeNNinavARAvik-karumangaL yennenjE

 

Fourth Paasuram

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

In this Paasuram , Swamy NammAzhwAr identifies

Adhi Kesavan of ThiruvAttARu as the One , who

empowered him to sing about the sahasra namAms of

His and enabled him to compose his Tamizh prabhandhams

on Him:

 

yennenjatthu irundhu angirandhutamizh noolivai mozhindhu

vannenjatthu IraNiyanai mArvidanatha VaattARRAn

mannanjab-bhArathatthup-PaaNDavarkkai padai thottAn

nannenjE NamperumAn namakkaruL thAnn seyvAnE

 

Our Lord of ThiruvAttARu is the One who destroyed

the hard hearted HiraNyan , assisted the PaaNDavAs

in the Bhaaratha yuddham by blowing His conch in

the middle of the battle field, and got ready to use

His chakram to the dismay of BhishmAcchAr but

desisted finally from using it. Oh My dear mind! Please offer

your salutations to this mysterious Lord Adhi Kesavan!

This Lord , who composed the Tamizh Prabhandhams through

me will bless us with Moksha sukham.He abandoned

the minds of nithyasooris and His bhAgavathAs on earth

and chose my mind (you) as His place of residence.

He made the most difficult to understand Sanskrit

vedAs easy to understand by all through choosing

the language for the Prabhandhams as Tamil and

released them through me. Thereafter, He has extended

His invitation for us to join Him in SrI Vaikuntam.

We have reached the status of people, whose wishes

have come true.

 

Fifth Paasuram

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

VaanERa vazhi tantha VaattARRAn paNi vahayE

naanERap-peruhinREn narahatthai nahu nenjE

tEnErumalart-tuLavam thihazh paadhan sezhum paavai

tAnERit-tirivAn tann thALiNai yenn talai mElE

 

Oh My Mind ! following the dictat of VishNu Dharmam,

"nAham uthsrujya Govindham anyam aarAdhayAmi bhO:" ,

adiyEn will not perform aarAdhanam for anyone except

Govindhan.With practise of this vow, adiyEn has been

blessed to ascend to His Parama Padham. adiyEn has

assembled the courage to follow the way shown by

Adhi Kesavan of ThiruvAttARu and acquired the power to

laugh at the Naraham , which is SamsAra MaNDalam.

adiyEn's vinais have been destroyed.The Lord adorned

with His Sacred TuLasi garlands has transported Himself on

Garudan to rush to my side and has placed His sacred feet ,

which normally adorns the hands of Garudan , on my head

as alankAram. As for myself , adiyEn is beaming with joy

over the thought that adiyEn is about to ascend Parama Padham

through His grace.

 

(To Be Continued)

 

Daasan Oppilaippan Koil VardAchAri SadagOpan

..