Thirumaalai-28

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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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