ThiruppANAzhwAr Thirunakshathram today- Kaartthigai RohiNi

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya namah:

Dearest Srivaishnavas,

 

Today is the Thirunakshathram of ThiruppANN AzhwAr. Swamy

Desikan refers to him reverentially as PaNN perumAL and num pANan. He

(AzhwAr) was born in Kaartthigai Rohini- which is today). [Yesterday

(Kaartthigai-Kritthigai was Thirumangai AzhwAr Thirunakshathram. I

missed to write about Kaliyan due to my work pressure and lazyness as

well:-)]

 

aDiyEn had the bhAgyam of attending kaalakshepam sessions [by

Simhapuri Sri MS Hari in his inimitable style- I could attend only

few of them for the 1st PAsuram which itself went to about 10-12

hours and the SaaRRumuRai] of MunivAhana bhOgam by Swamy Desikan

written on ThiruppANAzhwAr's Amalanadhipiraan. Both are marvelous and

divine compositions is a GROSS underdstatement and no words can do

justice to explaining the anubhavam of num pANan's ecstasy and num

Thuppul KulaMani's reverence to PaaN perumAL and

his anubhavam.

 

>From what (little) understood by aDiyEn from the kaalakshepam

and reading Sri UttamUr Swamy's commentary, let us contemplate on the

same today on this auspicious day. Swami Desikan had the greatest

affection for these moving verses of Amaladhipiraan and had written

Muni Vaahana BhOgam out of his extraordinary reverence for

ThiruppANAzhwAr. He also composed BhagavadhyAna sOpAnam (sthOthra in

Sanskrit) on similar lines from toe to the crown of Sri

Ranganathan.

 

In the Amalanadhipiraan pAsuram, (10th) AzhwAr does not say

Yenn amuthanai kanda YENN kaNNgaL . He states " yenn amuthani kanda

kaNNgaL." (the eyes that saw "MY" amudhan- my nectar). Until this

paasuram, he has been referring to himself as en chinthai, en uLLam,

and aDiYen etc.. At this stage of reaching crescendo his anubhavam

of the sarvAngha soundharyam of periya perumAL , the affiliation with

himself is gone. He (AzhwAr) becomes like a leaf that moves from one

place to another due to the gentle breeze simply swayed by the

current, AzhwAr is also taken from one part of ThirumEni to another

and finally when seeing and enjoying the ThirumEni in its entirety,

He forgets his name , his place of origin and

everything else.

 

It is also told that Lord RanganaathA made sure that there is no

distraction

to the AzhwAr in the deep experience of HIS athayantha

soundharyam and

lAvaNyam . AzhwAr engaged in such an incomparable experience

that he could not come down to refer to his coordinates or the fruits

of the blessings of reciting his paasurams like other AzhwArs did.

 

He was too far away to come back to utter or give a word of

advice to us as an AchAryA. He was being pulled and dragged

by the Lord's beauty and was hastening to merge with the

Primordial Chief resting on the AdhisEshan at Srirangam

 

In the second line of the final paasuram, he states as to what

had happened to his mind : YennuLLam kavarnthAnai --- ( kanda kaNNgal

maRROnRinaikkANAvE )". The heart has been stolen. Property gone

back. There is nothing left to talk about the erstwhile state

as ThiruppANan from UrayUr.

 

AzhwAr acknowledges that the eyes that have seen His amudhan can

not see anything or anybody else after experiencing the beauty of His

Lord with the eyes. Swami Desikan points out that the AzhwAr was in

the state of ananya prayOjana kaashtai (the boundary of the state of

not expecting any fruits other than the Lord Himself) and that led to

declaring " kanda kaNNgaL " instead of " kanda yenn kaNNgaL " in

the spirit of nirahankAram and nirmamathvam. [it was an emotional and

ecstatis experience when sri Hari was explaining this and people

listening were with moist eyes and could not even see each other with

such an anubhavam described and narrated and experienced. Though

adiyEn did not have such an anubhavam, was feeling proud

of being a resident of that kshEthram at least:-)]

 

Swami Desikan quotes two examples to compare the AzhwAr's

extraordinary mental state of bliss. One is the statement of AnjanEyA

to Sri RamachandrA. AnjanEya the greatest of Rama Bhakthas says that

his Bhakthi to Sri Raman is nithyam (unchanging and eternal ); he

adds that his thoughts do not go even go to Sriman NaarAyaNA in

Vaikuntam , but are rooted in Sri Rama and Him alone ( anyathra na

gacchathi ) .

 

The other example quoted by Swami Desikan is the Thiruvaimozhi

paasuram of NammAzhwar (4.9.10):

 

kandu ketuRRu mOnthu undu uzhalum eimkaruvi

kanda inbam ----kanda sathir kandozhindhEn

adainthEn un thiruvadiyE "

 

(Free translation): After experiencing the limitless beauty of

You both as Divya dampathi and as Nithya sEshi in Sri Vaikuntam with

your own blessings, I have abandoned with joy the perishable alpa

sukhams [fleeting sensual desires] born out of the activities of the

five senses and the kaivalya sukham coming from athmAnubhavam. I have

now firmly grasped Your lotus feet as the one and only lasting and

incomparable sukham in all the worlds.

 

In the final tamizh paasuram of Munivaahana bhOgam, Swami

Desikan pays tribute to the " KaNNaniyE kaNduraittha kadiya kaathal"

of PaaNN perumAL " and describes his prabhandham as "pazha maRayin

poruL " (the essence of the ancient Vedas

dealing with the relationship between the Lord and Jeevan ):

 

kaaNpanavum uraippanavum maRRonRikk-

kaNNanayE kanduraittha kadiya kaathal

paNN perumAL aruL seytha paadal patthum

pazha maRayin poruL yenru paravuhinROm .

 

In his pala sruthi on MunivAhana BhOgam, Swami Desikan hints at

his composition as equal to "muktha isvarya rasOpama:" (equivalent

to the brahmAnandham experienced by the muktha Jeevans and Nithya

sUris in Nithya VibhUthi/Sri Vakuntam ) .

 

That is because the subject matter deals with the paripoorna

anubhavam and enjoyment of the Supreme (ParamAnandham) to the

exclusion of all the other pleasures by ThiruppANAzhwAr at the

bhUloka Vaikuntam that made him declare " amudhinaikkanda KaNNgal

maRRonRinaikkANAvE ".

 

[Thanks to Sri MS Hari for explaining so ecstatically two years ago]

ThirupPAN PerumAL ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

Swamy desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo Narayana

dAsan