tri-mUrti in tiruvAimozhi - Part 13.

[Guest guest]

Dear Sriman KrishnamachAri,

 

Wonderful series your are writing on. I was reminded of "Maraprabhu"

of PoonthAnam, the ardent devotee of GuruvAyoorappan.

 

adiyEn

thyAgayya and RAmAnuja dASan

 

 

 

 

Oppiliappan, "gopan" <yennappan wrote:

>

> SrI:

>

> Dear Sriman Krishnamacahri :

>

> This series is most enjoyable .

> Thank you very much .

>

> May I request you to consider starting a series of articles on

> the individual slOkams of Sawmy Desikan's Taathparya RathnAvaLi and

> DhramidOpanishad Saaram ? Thank you .

>

> V.Sadagopan

>

> -

> champakam

> Oppiliappan

> Tuesday, June 20, 2006 8:22 PM

> tri-mUrti in tiruvAimozhi - Part 13.

>

>

> tri-mUrti in tiruvAimozhi - Part 13.

>

> 3.6.9 (26):

>

> ta'njamAgiya tandai tAyoDu tAnumAi avai allanAi

> e'njal il amarar kula mudal mUvar tam uLLum AdiyAi

> a'nji nIr ulagattu uLLIrgaL! avan ivan enRu kUzhEnmin

> ne'njinAl ninaippAn yavan avanAgum nIL kaDal vaNNanE.

>

> The main theme of this pASuram is to emphasize the saulabhyam and

> sauSIlyam of His arcA incarnation.

>

> "ulagattu uLLIrgaL! ta'njamAgiya tandaiyoDu tAi tAnumAi avai allanAi

> e'njal il amarar kulam mudal mUvar tam uLLum AdiyAi nIr a'nji avan

> ivan enRu kUzhEnmin ne'njinAl ninaippAn yavan avan nIlL kaDal vaNNan

> Agum".

>

> "O! You people of the world! I have described the greatness

> (parattvam) of the ocean-hued One who is the Lord of all the deva-s

> including brahmA, rudra, and indra. He is also the Protector of all

> the beings of all the three worlds, as well as our Creator (our

> Father and Mother, and in addition, all the other relatives is He

> alone). Such is His immense and infinite greatness. I have also

> described His vibhava forms such as Lord rAma, Lord kRshNa, and Lord

> nRsimha, who took their incarnations at various times long back, and

> are not accessible today to us. Based on these, don't be confused

> that this emperumAn is beyond your reach. This same emperumAn has

> chosen to be present Himself in arcA form in any material in which

> you choose to consecrate Him, and He is very much physically present

> in these forms that you choose to assign to Him. (So, devote

> yourself to His easily accessible arcA form with all your heart, and

> He will redeem you all)."

>

> The key phrase of this pASuram is "ne'njinAl ninaippAn yavan avan

> Agum" - He accepts as His divya rUpam any form that we assign to Him

> for worship as the arcA mUrti. It is true that He is the Protector

> of all, in the form of the mother, the father, the self, etc. It is

> true that He is the One who is the object of meditation by the likes

> of rudra, brahmA and indra, and their antaryAmi as well (mUvar tam

> uLLum Adi). Because of His Supremacy as revealed by the above, don't

> be confused that He is inaccessible to you (kUzhEnmin). Don't also

> be confused as to who the Supreme Deity is - for example, whether it

> is vishNu, rudra or brahmA. The nIL kaDal vaNNan is the Supreme

> Deity, and He is present in all the arcA forms in which we invoke Him

> for worship, since He is a great soulabhyan. Thus, don't be confused

> that He is inaccessible to us in His form in His abode in

> SrIvaikunTham, nor be confused about the inaccessibility of His

> vibhava forms (like SrI rAma, SrI kRshNa etc.) to us now. His arcA

> forms are just as real, and He is thus accessible to us and is very

> much within our reach.

>

> This pASuram is considered the essence of this tiruvAimozhi by the

> commentators, and the previous eight pASuram-s of the xurrent

> tiruvAimozhi serve as the prelude leading to this pASuram. In

> previous pASuram-s, nammAzhvAr describes emperumAn as SrI vaikunTha

> nAthan (3.6.1), Lord rAma (3.6.2, 3.6.8), Lord kRshNa (3.6.3, 3.6.5,

> 3.6.7), and Lord nRsimha (3.6.6). From all these pASuram-s, one may

> get the feeling that emperumAn is inaccessible to the likes of us,

> since the para-, vyUha, and vibhava forms are not within our reach

> now. So nammAzhvAr points out to us that this same emperumAn wills

> and gets into the arcA forms that we create and consecrate, and thus

> He is physically present in these arcA forms, and is easily

> accessible to us, and thus there is no need to be confused that He is

> not accessible to us in the para, vyUha and vibhava forms.

>

> - ta'njamAgiya tandai tAyoDu - He is the permanent Father and

> Mother to all the beings of all the worlds. The father and mother

> who are responsible for our birth in the current janma are only

> related this way to us in this birth, but He alone is the Eternal

> Father and Mother to us. The father and mother through karma may

> even abandon the children for various reasons (kAkAsura was abandoned

> by his father when he got into trouble with rAma, jarAsandhan was

> abandoned in the middle of the road because his parents felt that the

> time of his birth was inauspicious, and there are parents who sell

> their children for what they consider financial necessity). Such is

> not the case with emperumAn. He is described as "bhUtAnAm yo'vyayaH

> pitA", "sarveshAmeva lokAnAm pitA mAtA ca mAdhavaH" etc.

> - ta'njamAgiya tAnumAi - Even our own self is supported by Him,

> and not by our efforts. Left to ourselves, we would only exclusively

> indulge in material benefits that are not for our ultimate good.

> - avai allanumAi - BhagavAn is not only the Father, Mother, and

> the self, but He is everything else as well - such as the brother,

> the sister, the friend, etc. (mAtA pitA bhRAtA nivAsaH SaraNam

> suhRd gatiH nArAyaNaH - SElEi kaNNiyarum perum Selvamum nan makkaLum

> mElAt tAi tandaiyum avarE ini AvArE).

> o PitR mAtR suta bhrAtR dArAH mitrAdayopi vA ekaika phala

> lAbhAya, sarva lAbhAya keSavaH - All the relatives are of use for

> some one thing (and that too, because He is their antaryAmi), but

> kESava is One Who is the ultimate source of support as all).

> - e'njal il amarar kula mudal - He Who is the Lord of all the

> nitya sUri-s who are endowed with unlimited bhagavad anubhavam.

> Without Him they cannot live.

> - mUvar tam uLLum Adiyai - He Who is the object of meditation

> of brahmA, rudra, and indra. He Who always resides in the hearts of

> the three, and Who is their antaryAmi.

> - avan ivan enRu kUzhEnmin -

> o Based on all the above attributes, do not be confused that

> since He is the Lord of the nitya sUri-s, the antaryAmi of brahmA,

> rudra and indra, etc., He is inaccessible to you. (He is very much

> accessible to you through the arcA mUrti form).

> o Or, if the reference to "mUvar" is taken as reference to

> brahmA, vishNu and rudra, don't be confused as to whether `avan'

> (rudra, brahmA etc.) are same as or different from `ivan' (Lord

> vishNu), or whether one is supreme or the other is supreme. Beyond

> doubt, `nIL kaDal vaNNan' is the Supreme Deity.

> o Or, don't be confused as to who is the Lord of the nitya

> sUri's, the ultimate Mother and Father and all other relatives for

> all of us, the One who is worshipped by the likes of indra, brahmA

> and rudra etc. It is none other than the nIL kaDal vaNNan, Lord

> vishNu.

> o -Or, don't be confused as to how Lord vishNu, who has the

> aprAkRta SarIram in His form in SrI vaikunTham, can reside in the

> bimbam made of gold, silver, etc., and thus limited by space, time,

> etc. Because of His infinite saulabhyam and sauSIlyam, He has chosen

> to accept this form and is present in the consecrated bimbam of your

> choice with all His kalyANa guNa-s.

> - ne'njinAl ninaippAn yavan - Even though He is not limited by

> space, time, and objects, He chooses to get into the bimbam that you

> choose to consecrate Him in. Don't think that He has now become

> constrained by space, time and objects. He chooses to get into any

> bimbam of your choice with all His kalyANa guNa-s, just to bless you

> all and be accessible to you. In other words, this term refers to

> His bimbam in gold, silver, etc., that has been consecrated for His

> worship (this is not to be interpreted as the worship of anya-devatA-

> s). (kRtvAtmanaH prItikarIm suvarNa rajatAdibhiH - He enters into the

> bimbam of gold, silver, etc., of His own will, with all His kalyAna

> guNa-s, for the benefit of His devotees.

> - nIL kaDal vaNNanE - Here the term `vaNNam' refers to His

> svabhAvam or inherent nature. nIL vaNNam refers to His nature of

> vAtsalyam; kaDal vaNNam refers to the depth of His nature that is not

> easily understood by everyone - for example, His saulabhyam of being

> present in His full form in the arcA mUrti-s in which He is

> consecrated.

>

> The anubhavam of SrImad tirukkuDanthai ANDAn is that we should look

> at the pASuram as "ne'njinAl ninaippavan evan? avanE nIL kaDal vaNNan

> Agum" - "The One whom you consecrate in the arcA form is the same One

> who is present in SrI vaikunTham", rather than "The One Who is in SrI

> vaikunTham is the same One who is in the acrA form". In other words,

> let us enjoy His arcA form as His primary Form of choice, and His

> form in SrI vaikunTham as One of His vibhUti-s or extensions, rather

> than the other way around.

>

> Lord kRshNa conveys the same thought that is conveyed in this

> pASuram, through the following Sloka in the gItA:

>

> - ye yathA mAm prapadyante tAns-tathaiva bhajAmyaham |

> mama vartmAnuvartante manushyAH pArtha sarvaSaH ||

> (gItA 4.11)

>

> "Whoever resorts to Me in any manner, in the same manner do I favor

> them; men experience Me alone in different ways, O arjuna!"

>

> svAmi deSikan summarizes this pASuram in his dramiDopanishad tAtparya

> ratnAvaLi as "bhavya-dhI-vRtti-bhA(a)vyAm ". This quality of

> bhagavAn accepting any form in which the devotee wants to consecrate

> Him, is the limit of His saulabhyam - His ASrita saulabhya kAshThA or

> the extreme limit of His quality of being easily accessible to His

> devotees.

>

> -dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

>

> -To be continued.

>

>

>

>

>

>