thiru-k-kUdalUr - pAsuram 1

[Guest guest]

srImathE rAmAnujAya namah

thirumangai AzhvAr thiruvadigaLE saraNam.

 

dear bhAgavathAs,

 

Over the next few days, the VEDICS/rAmAnuja list volunteers

will be providing with material related to thiru-k-kUdalUr,

and the most beautiful perumAL there - jagadrakshaka

perumAL, or vayyam kAththa perumAL. The first in

that series is from periya thirumozhi, 5th paththu,

2nd thirumozhi.

 

1. thAn tham perumai aRiyAr

thUdhu vEndhar-k-kAya vEndhar Ur pOl

kAnthaL viral menkalai nanmadavAr

kUndhal kamazhum kUdalUrE.

 

thAn tham perumai aRiyAr -

One who does not know His own greatness

 

vEndhar-kku thUdhu Aya vEndhar -

the place of the One who was the messenger

of the kings (pAndavAs)

 

Ur - if one asks which is His place,

 

kAndaL viral men kalai nal madavAr

kUndhal kamazhum kUdalUrE -

it is kUdalUr, which is the place filled

with aroma of the hair-do's of ladies

who have beautiful fingers like the

kAndaL flower.

 

-- paraphrasing of vyAkhyAnam of

srI. PB aNNangarAchArya svAmi.

 

The vEdAs declare in many places that the LOrd

is all knowing (sarvagjnan), and all-powerful

(sarvashakthan). However, it seems that He

Himself does not know of His greatness. Only

when others tell Him that "You are so great!

You have such great qualities" does He come to

know of His greatness Himself.

 

What is His greatness? the all-powerfulness, and

the supreme greatness (parthvam) is not His

greatness. His wonderful quality of being

accessible, approachable, and commandable by

His devotees (Evi kAriyam koLLalAmpadi

thannai thAzha vittu koNdu irukkum iruppu!),

like the pANdavAs did when they sent Him as

their messenger to the kauravAs.

 

Such a great Lord, who has all-powefulness

AND all-approachability (parathvam and

saulabhyam), has chosen thiru-k-kUdalUr

as His abode.

----

 

This pAsuram is so apt to the current scenario.

This perumAL - jagad-rakshaka-perumAL (the One

who is the guardian of the world!) put Himself

in such a poor situation. His temple was

dilapidated, his roofs were full of trees and

creepers. His AzhvAr sannadhis were run down.

His own consort's sannadhi - thAyAr sannadhi -

collapsed. His temple was not even open for

an extended period of time each day.

 

Why did He do this to Himself? Cannot he just

fix all the things so that He lives like

the king that He is?

 

Apparently He did not want to do that. He wanted

His devotees to be with Him, to come to Him,

and lovingly do service to Him. Once His

devotees started caring about Him, and started

coming to Him, He multplied their miniscule

efforts Himself, and started to make things happen.

 

Such a great Lord, in order to give opportunity

for His devotees to love Him and to care about

Him, put Himself in such a dilapidated temple.

(The first thing we do when our home leaks

is to fix the leak. What about the LOrd's

house?) He suffered so much for us to care about

Him, and perform service to Him, and for us to

"feel good" performing such a service to Him.

 

Isn't He great? Isn't He the most wonderful

Lord? Isn't He one who does not know His own

greatness? It is indeed true what our AzhvAr

says. The Lord of thiru-k-kUdalUr certainly

does is "thAn tham perumai aRiyAr"

 

--

This Lord's temple is being renovated. Details of

the renovation can be found on

http://www.vedics.net/cbin/vedApp.pl?appName=tkudalur

If anyone is interested in participating in this service,

please do visit the website.

 

 

AzhvAr emperuAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam,

irAmAnusan adiyArgaL