Inputs for CD ROM : XII.4-- Thirumangai AzhwAr's Six prabhandhams: Periya Thirumozhi

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Dear BhakthAs: adiyEn could not think of a better day

than Vishu Samvathsara udhaya PuNya Kaalam to conclude

this series of inputs for the CD ROM on AzhwArs and

the 108 Dhivya Desams . Here is the final posting on

Thirumangai Mannan's Periya Thirumozhi.Thanks for all

of your encouragements and feedbacks on this series

offering humble salutations to the Twelve AzhwArs.

From here on unitl Swamy Desikan's Thirunakshathram

(PurattAsi Sravanam) adiyEn will focus on two topics:

(1) completion of Sri GuNa Rathna Kosam for the lista

and (2)Postings on ChillaRai Rahasyams for the Swamy Desikan

net maintained by Sri Hari SarangarAjan of Singapore.

 

Daasan , V.SatakOpan

 

Thirumangai Mannan's Periya Thirumozhi

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Periya Thirumozhi (PTM) is the most voluminous and

significant work of Thirumangai with 1084 paasurams of

high " literary excellence " and profound insights into

the theological teachings of Sri Vaishnavam . Swamy

Desikan hailed PTM as " aRivu Tharum Periya Thirumozhi " .

He saluted this magnum opus of Kaliyan as the dhivya-

Jn~Anam conferring Prabhandham.

 

Dr.S.M.S.Chari sums up the importance of PTM in his

monograph , " Philosophy and Theistic Mysticism of

the AzhwArs " this way :

 

" PTM is the most important work of Thirumangai

AzhwAr .It is a composition of a large number of

devotional verses generally on the greatness of

the several VaishNavite shrines , the ArchA deities

installed therin and in particular the numerous

auspicious attributes of God as experienced by

the mystic saint. Besides the detailed references

to God and His attributes , there are a large number of

verses which speak about human suffering caused by SamsAric

bondage and the ways and means of overcoming it leading

ultimately to the attainment of God. "

 

Thirumangai " s MangaLAsAsana KshEthrams & Paasurams

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Among the 108 dhivya desams, the Thirumangai peformed

MangaLAsAsanam for 86 KshEthrams . He left out a few(22)

in reverence perhaps to Swamy NammAzhwAr , PeriyAzhwAr ,

ANDAL,Thirumazhisai and KulasEkharar.

 

(A)Among the 40 Chola Naadu dhivya desams , Kaliyan

left out only Anbil and Thiru Kavitthalam .These two have

recived single Paasurams from Thirumazhisai.

 

(B)Among the 18 Paandya Desams , Kaliyan in deference to

Swamy NammAzhwAr and PeriyAzhwAr as well as ANDAL,

left out their avathAra Sthalams . Further , Kaliyan

did not perform MangaLAsAsanam for many PaandyA Desams

eulogized by Sawmy NammAzhwAr.Those left out by Kaliyan are:

 

(1) ThirukkuruhUr (2) ThirukkuLanthai (3)ThirukkOLur

(4) Thirucchiririvara Mangai (5)ThiruppuLingudi

(6) ThiruppErai (7) Thiruttholaivilimangalam

(8)Thiru VaraguNa Mangai(9)Sri VillipputthUr

and (10) Sri Vaikuntam .

 

©Among the MalayALa dhivya desams sung by Swamy

NammAzhwAr , Kaliyan performed MangaLAsAsanam

for just ThiruvallavAzh and Thiru NaavAi.

The Dhivya desams deferred to Swamy NammAzhwAr are:

(1)Thiruvananthapuram (2) ThirukkaditthAnam

(3)ThirukkAtkkarai (4)ThirucchenkunrUr

(5)ThiruvaNN-ParisAram (6) ThiruvaNN-VaNDUr

(7)ThiruvAttARu(8) ThiruvAranviLai and

(9)ThiruvitthuvakkODu in deference to KulasEkharar .

 

(D) Among Vada Naadus , He keft out ThirukkaNDangudi

eulogized by PeriyAzhwAr.

 

Together , they add upto 22 dhivya desams unsung

by Thirumangai.

 

Simple Meanings and Commentaries on Periya Thirumozhi

******************************************************

Besides the commentaries of VyAkhyAna Chakravarhti ,

Periya VaacchAn PiLLai , Sri UtthamUr Swamy has

blessed us with detailed commentaries on PTM.

Sri MadhavakkaNNan of Singapore has an ongoing series

about the simple meanings of almost two thirds of

PTM paasurams .These are archived in Bhakthi List and

in Bahrain Sri Vaishnava List .

 

Inview of these resources , adiyEn will cover only three

items relating to PTM :

 

A. The First Pasuram of Periya Thirumozhi

 

B. Thirumangai's Paasurams on Lord RanganathAn

dear to him in so many ways .At Srirangam ,

Kaliyan built the prAkArams for the Lord's temple,

built the DasAvathAra sannidhi and initiated

the First adhyayana Uthsavam here by bringing

Swami NammAzhwAr's archai from AzhwAr Thirunahari

for the celebrations .

 

C. The last paasuram of PTM.

 

A. The First Paasuram : " VaadinEn Vaadi VarunthinEn-- "

**************************************************

According to Sri UtthamUr Swamy , the Other AzhwArs

before Thirumangai --PeriyAzhwAr ,ANDAL, KulasEkharar,

Thirumazhisai , ThonDaradipodi,ThiruppANar ,

Madhura kavi et al--have elaborated on the deeper

meanings of PraNavam and nama: Sabdhamof Moola Manthram

in their paasurams .In such efforts , they touched upon

Seshathvam as PranavArtham (PeriyAzhwAr) , Aathma samarpanam

arising from the maturity attained by the Seshan

(ANDAL ),Bhagavath Seshathvam and BhAgavatha Seshathvam

(KulasEkharar ,ThiruppANar & nammAzhwAr))and AchArya

Seshathvam (Madhura Kavi). Thirumangai Mannan ,

who received direct upadEsam on Moola Manthram from

the Lord Himself elaborated on the profound meanings of

NaarAyana sabdham in his Periya Thirumozhi.

 

It has been pointed out the Lord who was not fully

satisfied with the fruits of His Upadesam for Arjunan

was eager to become the AchAryan for Thirumangai

and thereby remove His concerns about the effectiveness

of His UpadEsam. Our Lord attained a sathpAthram as

His Sishyan in Thirumangai and in return was pleased

to receive more than 1000 Paasurams thru the six

prabhandhams of Thirumangai.

 

In his first Paasuram of PTM , Thirumangai recalls in

a spirit of nirvEdham the many years that he had wasted

chasing after all kinds of BhOgams and follows it

up with a sigh of relief that he has been redeeemed

by Sriman NaarAyaNan Himself through His upadesam of

Moola Manthram as his ParamAchAryan.He rejoices over

his redemption and declares aloud : " Naann KaNDu

KoNDEn NaarAyaNAvennum Naamam " . AzhwAr's joy is

transparent & abundant over the thought that he had

received upadEsam directly from the very Meaning of

the Moola Manthram : Sriman NaarAyaNan Himself.

Swamy Desikan has brilliantly summarized the matchless

fruits of the Upadesam of this Moolamanthram (AshtAksharam )

from an AchAryan this way:

 

ThAram Poorvam tadhanu Hrudhayam taccha NaaRAyaNAyEthi

aamnAyOktham padhamavayathAm SaarTamAchArya dattham

angikurvan alasa manasAm AthmarakshAbharam na:

Kshipram kshipathu nikhilAn kinkaraiswarya-vignAn

 

(Meaning): First is Pranavam;next is the namas sabdham,

which in turn is followed by the famous NaarAyana

sabdham revealed by the VedAs . When one receives

upadesam of this most sacred VyApaka manthram (AshtAkshari)

with its meanings from a SadAchAryan and reflects on

these powerful meanings , then the Lord , who accepts to

take on the responsibility of protection of the jeevan

will remove every obstacle that comes in the way of

enjoying Kaimkarya sampath.

 

The Prime AchAryan of all sadAchAryAs was the Brahma Guru

for Thirumangai and no wonder that his Joy overflowed

through the medium of Periya Thirumozhi starting from

this first paasuram .

 

(B) The 73 Paasurams of Thirumangai On Lord RanganAthan

*****************************************************

adiyEn refers you to the six page write up on

Kaliyan's eulogy of Sri RanganAthan in the posting

archived in the Bhakthi List:

 

V.Sadagopan, http://www.ramanuja.org/s/bhakti/archives/

may98/0017.html

 

© Final Paasuram of Periya Thirumozhi(PTM: 11.8.10)

**************************************************

In this decad of moving prayer to the Lord to redeem

him from all klesams , Thirumangai describes his avala

nilai to the state of " AaRRankarai Maram " that would be

swept away in the next flood and as the Fox caught up in

the flash floods ( VeLLatthidaippatta Nari inam pOl).

He pleads with the Lord to save him and to bless him

with kaimkarya Sri to serve Him in His Parama Padham:

 

aNiyAr Pozhil Soozh AranganaharappA

thuNiyEnini NinnaruLallathenakku

MaNiyE Mani MaaNikkamE MadhusoothA

PANIYAAYENAKKU UYYUM VAHAI , PARAMCHOTHI

 

In the next paasuram, Thirumangai addresses

the Lord of Srirangam as Veda Moorthy

and pleads with Him to grant the boon of

Moksha Siddhi:

 

chandhOkA TalaivanE TaamarikkaNNA

anthO adiyErkkaruLAi unnaruLE

 

In the final paasuram of this decad , Thirumangai,

who received the paripoorna anugraham from the Lord

points the way for us to receive such blessings of

the Lord . AzhwAr states in his role as a SadAchAryan

that those who understand the meanings of this decad

and recite them will be freed of all types of Vinais

and would attain Moksham:

 

KunRamedutthaanirai kaatthavanRannai

manRil puhazh Mangai Mannan Kali KanRi soll

Onru ninRavonpathum vallavar tamm mEl

YenRum VinaiyAyina SaarahillAvE

 

Thirumangai AzhwAr ThiruvadigaLE saraNam .

 

This kaimkaryam is now complete and is

placed with reverence at the feet of the Lord

with utter humility .

 

DaasOsmi , DhanyOsmi, anugruhIthOsmi

Srimath Azhagiya Singar Thiruvadi ,

Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SatakOpan