Thirumangai Mannan's Paasurams onThiruviNNagarappan:PeriyaThirumozhi(PTM) : 6.1.2

[Guest guest]

SrI :

 

Dear BhakthAs of Sri BhUmi Devi SamEtha Oppilaa Appan:

 

In the second Paasuram , Thirumangai Azhwar celebrates the churning of

the Milky Ocean by Bhagavan and refers to the bhAgyams obtained by

the DevAs , Lord Siva and the Lord Himself , who got the best of the rewards

from that effort :

 

aNNal seythu alai kadal kadainthu athanuL , kaNNuthal najunAAnk-kaNDavanE

ViNNavar amuthuNa amudhil varum , peNNamudhuNda EmperumAnE !

ANDAi unaik-kANbhathOr aruLenakkaruLithiyEl

vENDEm amani vAzhkkayai ViNNagar mEyavanE

 

(meaning ) : Oh Lord who showed in so many ways that You are the Supreme Master of

both the DevAs and the Asuraas during the churning of the Milky Ocean and took on

the leadership to churn that ocean full of turbulent waves all by Yourself ! The first

object that came out of Your effort was the greatest among poisons , the Haalaahala

Visham . You looked over Lord Sivan --with His third eye on His forehead-- partaking

that poison and gaining the name of Neelakantan or the Blue-throated One . Next arose

the amrutham , which You distributed among the DevAs . Amrutham was almost like

the husk compared to the delectable essence of that nectar that appeared next in

the form of the most beautiful and auspicious Yuvathy , MahA Lakshmi . Oh Lord ,

You made sure that the Supreme gem among women choose You as Her NaaTan

and enjoyed Her as Your dhivya Mahishi . Oh Lord of such clever acts

of managing the churning operations of the Milky Ocean ! adiyEn will

cast

aside the samsAric bhOgams immediately , if adiyEn is granted the boon of

Your darsanam in person .

 

(Comments) : For Rudran , the poison was his preferred food . He consumed that

and saved the world from being destroyed by it . For Sriman NaarAyaNan , the femenine

nectar ( PeNNamudhu) was the most enjoyable food ( BhOgyam ) . The DevAs got

what they wished for with the matchless valor of the Lord (viz)., the ordinary nectar ,

which banished death and aging on consumption . The dEvAs became ViNNavars as

a result of consuming the nectar that arose from the Milky Ocean through the Lord's

efforts . The dEvAs were content with the nectar and did not perform SaraNAgathy

to the Lord and did not select Him as their PrApyam ( the PurushArTam

to be gained ) .

That most beautiful femenine nectar ( BhOgyam ) , MahA Lakshmi chose You as PrApyam

and the purpose of the KoormAvathAram was completed . You came to be

known since then as " PeNNamuthu uNDa EmperumAn : the Sarva Swamy ,

who orchestrated the whole drama of the churning of the Milky Ocean and

reserved Yourself the Supreme Gift of MahA Lakshmi as Your Devi .

 

Special Notes on Amrutha maTanam ( Churning of the Milky Ocean for Nectar)

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

Our Lord was the Master , who commanded the Churning operations

and assigned the duties to the various participants and when they failed , He had

a solo operation to bring it to a successful end . He rewarded Himself

at the end . His various acts of valor and supervision is referred to by

Thirumangai AzhwAr as "aNNal seythu" . Let us reflect on those critical

supervision of the Lord to complete this gigantic effort and the provision of

leadership to the dEvAs and the asurAs during that operation .

 

Sage DhurvAsA's curse

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

Once Indran was cursed by Sage DhurvAsa for his insolence and lost all

his Iswaryam . Indran became desolate and joined with Brahma and the DevAs

to pray to Sriman NaarAyaNan for the restoration of his Iswaryam . Pleased with

their prayers , the Lord of Sri Vaikuntam appeared befre them , blessed them

and commanded them to make peace with their enemies , the asurAs ,

and join with them to churn the Milky ocean for nectar for restoration of

their wealth .

 

Start of the Churning Operations

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

The dEvAs made peace with the asurAs and then followed the command of

the Lord to lift the Mandara mountain to be used as the Churning rod . The 33 crores of

DevAs and the 66 crores of AsurAs were full of pride and as a result ,the mountain

that they lifted slipped from their hands . Our Lord stepped in , lifted that mighty

mountain single handedly , placed on the back of Garudan and positioned it in

the middle of the Milky Ocean as a churning rod . The great serpent , Vaasuki was

the strong churning rope and the dEvAs and the asurAs held on to the rope

to start the churning . As they churned strenously under the direction of the vigilant

Lord , the mountain ( the churning rod ) became unsteady . Our Lord took on

the avathAram of a giant Tortoise ( Koormam ) , dived in and steadied the mountain

by holding it on His vast back . Meanwhile , the assembly of asurAs and dEvAs

were tiring and were unable to carry on with the churning . The fiery breath of snake

Vaasuki did not help them either . Our Lord then decided to churn the ocean

single handedly . One by one emerged the objects and people from the Ocean .

 

Products of amrutha MaTanam

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

First came the most potent poison with the name of HaalAhalam . For pleasing his Lord

and to save the devAs and others , Lord Rudran assembled that poison and drank it.

KaamadhEnu ( the boon granting Cow) , Ucchaisravas ( the beautiful White horse ),

IrAvadham ( the white elephant with four tusks ) , Kalpa Vruksham and Apsaras women .

appeared next one after the other. Our Lord allocated all these gifts to the DevAs .

 

Appearance of MahA Lakshmi

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

After that , MahA Lakshmi arose out of the Milky Ocean like a streak of

lightning that brightened all directions ( Ranjayanthi disa: kAnthyA

vidhyuth-soudhAmanee yaTA ) . Her youth , hue, udhAra svabhAvam

and other KalyANa guNams attracted evey one's mind. She however was

interested only in Her Lord . She walked towars Her Lord . Maha Rishis

perfomed abhishEkam for Her and the DevAs beautified Her with special

pieces of Jewelery and silken garments . MahA Lakshmi took a flower

garland in Her hand and placed that garland around the neck of Her Lord

as if it was a svayamvaram . Our Lord placed Her on His chest . The whole

world was filled with happiness over Her choice of Sriman NaarAyaNan

as Her husband .

 

Dhanvanthri arrives with the amrutha Kalasam

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

Our Lord disappeared now from the side of MahA Lakshmi and then

emerged out of the Milky Ocean as a Sundara Purushan with amrutha

kalasam in HIs hands . SrImath Bhaagavatam describes the appearance of

ParamAdhbhutha Purushan , Danvanthri ( 8. 8.31-35) :

 

amruthApoorNa kalasam Bibrath valaya-bhUshitha:

Sa Vai Bhagavatha: SaakshAth VishNOr-amsaamsa sambhava:

Dhanvantaree ithi khyAthO AayurvEda dhrugijyabhAk

 

The Selective Distribution of the Nectar to the DevAs by Kapata Mohini

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AsurAs rushed now towards Dhanvantari and fought for the nectar.

Our Lord took on the Mohini avathAram through VishNu MaayA and

distracted the asurAs , who began to run after Mohini forgetting their

desire for the nectar. Mohini persuaded the smitten asurAs to sit in

a seperate row and and selectively fed the dEvAs with the nectar so

that they could become immortal and be freed from old age. The asurAs ,

the sworn enemies of the DevAs , were cheated by the Lord

 

Thus , there were many adhbhuthams performed by the Lord during

the churning of the Milky ocean for Nectar . All of these wonderous acts

are summarized by Thirumangai as " aNNal seythu alai kadal kadainthu--

atanuL PeNNamuthu uNDa EmperumAnE " . All of these are the results of

the crafty orchestration of the events by the Supreme Master ,

Sri Hari NaarAyaNan. Thirumangai salutes the Lord as KoormAvathAram

in htis context here .

 

ThruviNNagrappan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Srimath Azhagiya Singar Thiruvadi ,

Oppiliappan Koil Varadachari Sadagopan