thiru viNNagarath thEn - part 7 - iRuththEn

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Srimadh Azhagiya Singar thiruvadikaLE saraNam

 

(Summary: One more reference is presented for poRuth " thEn " . The 2nd

of the 21 thEn is referred here as iRuth " thEn " . The phrase " poRuL,

inbam " or Arttha and kAmA is extensively discussed).

 

thiru viNNagarath thEn - part 7 - iRuth " thEn "

 

Dear bAgawathAs,

 

Earlier it was cited that the " nenchil poRuththiya thEn " was

none other than the nitya thEn thAyAr HERself. When thAyAr (who is

residing in the thirumArbu) gets pradhAnam in a thiru nAmam

(example " poo maNNu mAthu porunthiya mArban " of Sri rAmAnuja nooRRu

anthAthi) such perumaL gets the radiance of " poN niRam " or golden

color due to the very presence, pradhAnanam & influence (medaitrix)

of the thAyAr (in the thiru mArbu). Such Lord is known as " Pon

niRam " porunthia appan or ponnappan (*).

 

The word iruth " thEn " comes from iRu. " iRu " has several

meanings of which one of the main meaning is " to give " . iRuth " thEn "

means adiyEn gave up. What are the things that Sri AzhwAr gave up ?

These are " poruL " and " inbam " or ArthA and kAmA. ie..Sri AzhwAr

gave up his attachement to artthA and kAmam. Besides this direct

meaning, the phrase " poRuL, inbam " is used in many different ways

in this pasuram. Importantly this phrase is sandwiched between two

other phrases and is used by both these two phrases as well. ie..

The first three phrases are as follows.

 

1. PoRutthEn pun sol nenchil

2. poRul inbam ena irAndum iRutthEn

3. Aim pulankatku kadan Ayina vAyil otti aRuththEn

 

Hence there are three main usage for this phrase " poruL, inbam " .

In this part we will see as to how it is used in connection with

the first phrase. ie.. Currently we will see as to how it is used

for the phrase " poRutthEn pun sol " . If Sri AzhwAr has to provide

materialistic gifts to the so called bandhukkaL mentioned in the

earlier pravEsam, then he has to have the material in abundance to

give them. Material can be in any form. Money, gold, dravyam, rice,

food and so on. It seems Sri AzhwAr have been giving out all these

things to his bandhukkaL for a long time hoping that some of them

will try to live as a Srivaishanava. However it didnot happen as

mentioned earlier and they all behaved like an avaishnava.

 

When one do " sthuthi pAdal " (praising one) it was all meant

for fetching all these ArtthAs or materials. It is said that during

the early century many " kavis " or poets used to sing in praise of

the Kings and Lords and get rewarded with so much of materials

such as gold, cow, land rice, etc. adiyEn gave up all such materials

and helped all the bandhukkaLs. adiyEn had the pleasure of giving up

all these arthAs. This is anyway an Oru alpa santhOsham. But adiyEn

derived immense pleasure in parting these materials to the bhandus.

The inbam or kAmA need not be a sexual feeling alone. Inbam can be

termed as joy as well. ie.. adiyEn gave up all the attachment to

arthAs or materials and derived a great joy by giving them to many. But

adiyEn gave up that joy also as adiyEn realised the greatest of

all the joy is to serve you my lord Sri thEnappan or Sri Oppiliappan.

 

Sri kumuthavaLLi nAcchiyAr samEtha Sri thirumangai AzhwAr

thiruvadikaLE saraNam

Sri boomidEvith thAyAr samEtha Sri Oppiliappan thiruvadikaLE saraNam.

adiyEn irAmAnusa dAsan

thiruk kudanthai Sampath Rengarajan

 

(*) - Thus Sri AzhwAr was also referring to Sri Ponnappan or Sri

POnnappath " thEn " of thiruviNNagaram. This viLakkam or explanation

on the thiru namam and the Lord Sri POnnappan is provided further

in the current series " adiyArkku ennai AtpaduththinAn " on Lord Sri

thiru vEngadamudaiyAn. It was also briefly presented in an article

titled as " thanthanan thanathAL nizhaLE " published for Sri Oppili

appan mAniccka koNdai malar samarppaNam (The contents of this 1999

malar will be published in the web very soon and links will be

provided from Sri Oppiliappan web site).

_______________

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Sri:

 

SrimatE Gopaladesika MahadesikAya Namaha,

 

Dear Sriman Rengarajan Swamin,

 

Thanks a lot for another evocative posting on Poru Then. This in a

nutshell is the quintessence of Our Vedam rooted Sampradayam. Swami

Desikan pays tribute to Thayar resident in the Lord's Vakshasthalam

and conferring added radiance to the resplendent Lord in the opening

verse of the Sri Stuthi through the salutation " BhUshayanthIm sva

kAnthyA " . Swami Desikan elaborates upon this train of thought in

verse 15 of the Daya Shatakam, wherein He emphatically states that

" You (Daya Devi) are the one who makes the Lord what He is. Other

Kalyana guNams such as Bala, Aishwarya, Shakti et. al turn out to be

verily Doshas in Your absence. " It behoves us to contemplate a little

more on this salutation in that " Why are these KalyANa GuNams doshams

in the absence of Daya? " Swami Desikan answers this in verses 33 and

34 of the Daya Shatakam, wherein he portrays Daya Devi as the female

lawyer representing a Prapanna in the court of the supreme Lord,

Narayana. Lord Narayana is an impartial judge (PakshapAthAna

Bhigyam), who dispenses justice in strict accordance with the

Shastraic injunctions (Shruti and Smruti). Various KalyaNa GuNams

attest to violations of the Shastraic injunctions on the part of the

erring jivan and recommend suitable punishment to be meted out as a

result. In a straightforward case such as this, the erring jivan

stands condemned, with absolutely no hope of redemption. Here is

where Daya Devi steps in. She seizes her chance upon beholding that

the Lord is in the company of His consorts (praguNamanuviDhEyam

prApya padhmA sahayam). She argues that " It is absolutely true that

the erring jivan is guilty of grave offences. However, so grave are

the offences that the jivan has committed that time itself will run

out if he has to undergo punishment. That is the jivan has to undergo

so many rebirths that time itself will run out. Therefore, punishing

him is a futile exercise. " Daya Devi furthermore cites scriptural

support for her argument as " Let us for instance consider the

Ramayana. In the words of Sita herself, there is nobody who has not

erred. The list of sinners includes Sita Devi, Lakshmana, Hanuman,

and the Lord Himself. Why? Did not Sita Devi commit Bhagavata

apacharam by hurling abuses at Lakshmana, when Lord Rama went after

the golden deer? Was not Lakshmana guilty of transgressing the Lord's

command (who had instructed him to safeguard Sita while the Lord

chased the golden deer) by going to His help? Did not Hanuman (a

Brahmachari) suggest to Sita (a Parama Pativratai) that he would

carry her on his back and unite her with Rama? Isn't it the Vedic

injunction that every man is responsible for protecting his wife

under all circumstances? Therefore, Lord Rama too cannot be above

blame for placing Sita Devi in a vulnerable position, so that She

could be abducted by Ravana. " Daya Devi continues " However are such

apacharams punished? No. Therefore, in an analogous manner erring

jivans must be forgiven for their enormous sins and be graced by the

Lord. " Somewhat mollified, the other KalyaNa GuNams recommend that

the jivan perform prayaschittam before being accepted by the Lord.

However, Daya Devi eloquently demolishes this argument by stating

that " Performance of Prayaschittam requires the jivans to take

additional births, during which they accrue more sins. Therefore,

even this is a futile measure. Oh Lord please grace the jivan and

bless him with eternal Kaimkaryam once right away. " The Lord is

pleased with the arguments offered by Daya Devi and instantaneously

offers refuge to the erring jivan.

 

An important question that arises in this context is " Who is Daya

Devi? " The answer to this is provided by Swami Desikan in verse 18 of

the Sri Stuthi, where he states " VishNu kAnthE dayAm thE " , i.e.,

Thayar is verily the manifestation of the Lord's Daya. Therefore,

Daya Devi and Mahalakshmi Thayar are one and the same.

 

What is the connection between " ThEn " and Thayar? Swami Desikan

answers this in the opening verse of the Daya Shatakam, wherein he

states

" yan mUrthyA sharkarAyitham " , i.e., forms of the Lord such as Para,

vyUha, Vibhava, and Antharyami are very hard to behold and enjoy.

These, while undoubtedly being sweet, are like the hard-to-come-by

sugarcane juice. Whereas behold this Archa Murthy of Lord Srinivasa

(who is united with Sri both in name as well as through Thayar's

residence in His Vakshasthalam), who is a feast to the eyes, like

easy to partake of sugar candy.

 

Swami Alavandar succinctly declares in the Chatushloki that even a

lifetime is insufficient to fully comprehend the meaning of the word

Sri. " Sri ithyE vachanAma thE Bhagavati bruma katham thvAm vayam " .

 

Ahirbudhnyan pays tribute to the blessing of SharaNagati granted by

the Divine Couple together in the Mantrarajapada Stothram salutation

" shriyAcha BhadrayA juShta: yastham Bhadram namAmyaham " . Bhadram is

the name of Bhagavan Nrusimha and Bhadra is the name of Thayar, His

consort, who is never separated from the Lord. The Bhadram

(protection) afforded jointly by the Divine Couple is unfailing

protection of Prapannas-in granting them Moksham (freedom from a

seemingly endless cycle of births and deaths on account of Karma)

resulting in eternal Kaimkaryam for their performance of SharaNagati.

As a by-product they also grant the benefits of Dharma, Artha and

Kama to the Prapanna during the latter's earthly existence.

The " Then " of eternal Kaimkaryam is sweet nectar for the jivan who

has endured the heat of samsaric afflictions.

 

Thanks again for your wonderful summary and please pardon adiyen for

his indulgence. Everything correctly stated is entirely due the

limitless grace and compassion of adiyen's Acharyan, H.H. Srimad

Andavan Swami of Srimad Poundarikapuram Ashramam. All errors are

adiyen's contribution.

 

Namo Narayana,

 

SriMuralidhara Dasan

 

, " Sampath Rengarajan " <srengara@h...> wrote:

> Srimadh Azhagiya Singar thiruvadikaLE saraNam

>

> (Summary: One more reference is presented for poRuth " thEn " . The 2nd

> of the 21 thEn is referred here as iRuth " thEn " . The phrase " poRuL,

> inbam " or Arttha and kAmA is extensively discussed).

>

> thiru viNNagarath thEn - part 7 - iRuth " thEn "

>

> Dear bAgawathAs,

>

> Earlier it was cited that the " nenchil poRuththiya thEn " was

> none other than the nitya thEn thAyAr HERself. When thAyAr (who is

> residing in the thirumArbu) gets pradhAnam in a thiru nAmam

> (example " poo maNNu mAthu porunthiya mArban " of Sri rAmAnuja nooRRu

> anthAthi) such perumaL gets the radiance of " poN niRam " or golden

> color due to the very presence, pradhAnanam & influence (medaitrix)

> of the thAyAr (in the thiru mArbu). Such Lord is known as " Pon

> niRam " porunthia appan or ponnappan (*).

>