Kulasekara PerumAn Thirunakshathram - Maasi punarpoosam - Let us pay our obesiance to AzhwAr - and place our head at the AzhwAr's feet!

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika Mahadesikaya nama:

 

Dearest all,

 

Today is Maasi Punarpoosam – Kulasekara AzhwAr

Thirunakshathram.

 

KumbhE PunarvasuBhavam KeraLE ChoLa PattaNE

Kaustubhamsham DharAdeesham KulashekaramAshrayE

 

Let us remind ourselves of utilizing our limbs and

parts of our body to pay our obeisance to our most

merciful Divya Dampathi.

 

Vaikuntham puhuvadhu maNNavar vidhiyE… [Thiruvaymozhi

10.9]

 

We the human beings on this earth also can attain that

Srivaikunta and enjoy in as much as those Nithyasuris

do. Yes. It is certainly possible. It is indeed our

very birth right. That is the very reason and cause

for which the most merciful Lord Sriman Narayanan has

created us. We were lying dormant during dissolution /

deluge [praLaya] like the golden particles sticking to

the wax of goldsmith, we were lying with all our

knowledge hidden and covered- says Vedas. We had lost

the worldly pleasures as well as the Absolute Bliss at

the upper world, Srivaikuntam. Due to our past karmas

[actions] that we had performed prior to this

dissolution [praLaya], we have been pushed into this

horrendous samsaaric ocean. Due to His limitless

grace, He takes pity on us some day due to some

unknown smallest past good deed of ours, He makes us

born in this birth and grants us an opportunity to get

this human body, the intellect, and thus all the tools

to realize Him.

 

He enables us to have an access to all the wonderful

works of preceptors, Vedas and saasthras for us to get

the right knowledge, understand the means to attain

the goal namely the Srivaikunta, i.e. moksha anandham.

He enables Azhwars, acharyas to take birth for

blessing us with the right way and the goal. He

enables us with the wonderful epics, and puranas to

understand the right and wrong. His upakaarams

(helpful deeds) thus are innumerable. It is all due to

His grace. The very existence and survival of ours is

His grace. When we go to sleep, who takes care of us?

Who ensures that we get up the next day? It is all due

to His grace. It is He who grants us the body, mind

and the intellect to us.

 

If we don’t utilize the tools, namely the senses, the

body, the mind, the intellect, to perform such actions

in order to attain Him, how will we ever be able to

cross the ocean of samsaara? How will we ever be able

to attain Srivaikunta and the absolute, immense,

permanent pleasure?

 

How will we ever be able to get rid of further

horrible births and accumulated sins after sins? If

someone has given us a boat to cross the turbulent

river, and if we choose not to oar the sails, and to

the contrary, relish the way the boat is tormented by

the river current and rocking here and there, how will

we ever be able to cross at all safely? Not only will

the boat get broken to pieces, the passenger will also

be doomed. Unlike him, the boatman, let us oar our

boat (the body and the associated instruments) in

right way and in correct direction, to reach the

destination namely Srivaikuntam. What are the right

ways? How do we do that? – we don’t know? No worries.

Kulasekara, who immersed himself in Rama bhakti, shows

the path and the way- the means and the tools.

 

jihvE kIrtaya kESavam mura-ripum cEtO bhaja SrI-dharam

pANi-dvandva samarcayAcyuta-kathA: SrOtra-dvaya tvam

SRNu |

kRshNam lOkaya lOcana-dvaya harEr

gacchAnghri-yugmAlayam

jighra ghrANa mukunda-pAda-tulasIm mUrdhan

namAdhOkshajam ||

 

16th verse of Mukunda maala.

 

Oh tongue! Sing the name of Kesava! Oh mind! Think of

Muraari! Oh hands! Perform archana to Sri

Mahalakshmi’s consort Sridhara! Oh ears! Hear always

the wonderful stories of dark hued cloud coloured most

merciful Lord! Oh eyes! See KaNNan’s most beautiful

form at all times. Oh legs! Take me to His temple. Oh

nose! Smell the fragrance of the Thulasi leaves of

Mukundan. Oh head! Bow down to the Paramathma!

 

Kulasekarar entreats all his senses - tongue, ears,

eyes, legs, nose, head and mind to engage in the

service to Lord Sriman Narayanan.

 

[From Sri Satakopan Swmai’s wonderful write up]

 

The first appeal goes to SrI kulaSEkharar's tongue -

He asks it to praise Lord kESavan. The name kESava has

three meanings covering dushTha-nigraham, svAmitvam

and saundaryam of SrI ranganaatha.

In the aspect of destruction of the unrighteous

(dushTha-nigraham) he refers to the Lord slaying an

asura by name " kESi " - therefore the name kESava.

 

In the aspect of svAmitvam, kESava stands for SrI

ranganaatha being the master of brahma and rudra. In

the aspect of saundaryam, kESavan means one with

beautiful hair. Through the invocation of the name

kESava, SrI kulaSEkhara implies that the kalyANa

guNa-s of the Lord are countless and his tongue will

not run out of kIrtana-s to sing about Him.

 

The second appeal of SrI kulaSEkhara - hE " cEta:

mura-ripum bhaja! " – goes to his mind. He asks his

mind to meditate on the Lord who is the destroyer of

an asura by name " muran " . By this meditation one will

see Him clearly inside oneself, says the AzhvAr. He

probably has the following verse from

brahma-bindu-upanishad in mind:

 

ghutamiva payasi nigUDham bhUtE ca vasati viGYAnam |

satatam manthayitavyam manasA manthAnabhUtEna || "

 

The upanishad verse says that Lord SrIman-nArAyaNa is

hidden in all cEtana's hearts like ghee in milk. Just

as one churns the milk with a wooden instrument (ie

mattu, in tamizh) to release the butter, so should one

use one's mind to witness SrIman-nArAyaNa in one's

heart.

 

Then the AzhvAr asks his two hands to do arcana with

tulasi leaves and flower petals. He wants his hands to

do arcana to SrI-dharan with perfection appealing -

" pANi-dvandva SrI-dharam samarcaya (samyak arcaya) " .

 

He wants his hands to do arcana not only to nArAyaNa

but also to SrI-dEvI by choosing the name, SrI-dhara.

The divya-dampatI-s are inseparable.

 

SrI svAmi dESikan later followed the AzhvAr's thought

when he bowed to the divya-dampatI's

Eka-SEshitva-yOgam in his SrI-stuti and declared:

 

" yuvAm dampatI daivatam na: " (ie dampatI yuvAm na:

daivatam) SrI dESikan amplified the thought behind

SrIdhara: by stating that both mahAlakshmI and

nArAyaNa, shining as matchless couple, serve as

Supreme and unified God in one inseparable form.

 

After the appeal to his hands, SrI kulaSEkhara turns

his attention to his ears. He asks them to hear

(SrOtradvaya tvam acyuta kathA: SRNu !) stories about

acyutan. The name acyutan symbolizes His total resolve

to come to prapannas' rescue without fail. By invoking

acyuta, SrI kulaSEkhara reminds his ears about

SaraNAgati-vratam and abhaya-pradhAna-guNam of

SrIman-nArAyaNa reclining on Adi-SEsha at SrI-ranga

kshEtram.

 

AzhvAr says to his ears that hearing of the kathA-s of

acyutan such as

vibhIshaNa-SaraNAgati, kAkAsura-SaraNAgati,

draupatI-mAnasamrakshaNam, gajEndra-mOksham,

ambarIsha-caritram etc. can only assure one of the

secure and delectable experience of tasting the

nectar-like SaraNAgata-rakshaNa anubhavam.

sAtvata-samhitA echoes AzhvAr's thought as follows:

 

" sankalpAdEva bhagavan tattvatO bhAvitAtmAnAm |

vrtAntamakhilam kAlam sEcayatmRtEna tu || "

 

The samhitai verse states that SrI acyutan blesses

those who worship Him with the nectar-like experience

of association with Him throughout their earthly lives

and gives them the refuge of His cool feet by driving

away afflictions.

 

SrI kulaSEkharar next calls on his pair of eyes to

enjoy the beauty of SrI ranganaatha in His avatAra as

SrI kRshNa.

 

His appeal is " kRshNam lOkaya lOcana-dvaya: "

 

To witness and enjoy the beauty of SrI kRshNa

bhagavAn, he asks his legs to go to temples where His

arca-mUtIs are enshrined. The AzhvAr advises his legs

as follows : " anghriyugma harE: Alayam gaccha " .

 

AzhvAr then asks his nose to smell the sweet perfume

of tulasi leaves that adorned the holy feet of SrI

kRshNa - " hE kRshNa, mukunda-pAda-tulasIm jighra " .

 

Finally, he asks his head to bend and offer its

namaskAram-s to Lord ranganaatha - " hE mUdhan

adhOkshajam nama " .

 

Sarvam SrI kRshNArpaNamastu....

 

Let us place our heads at the lotus feet of Sri

Kulasekara perumAn.

 

AzhwAr ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo narayana

dAsan

 

 

 

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