My recent One week trip to Tamilnadu & Andhra PradEsh: In the foot steps of Swamy Desikan : Part II

[Guest guest]

SrI:

 

Dear BhakthAs:

 

Let us start with the Recitation of the DhyAna slOkam

of ThirukkOvalUr EmperumAn:

 

PrahlAdha Taarkshya Bali Sukra Namachunananta

LakshmI MrugaNDu Muni Vaasuki sEvyamAnam

KaasAra BhUtha MahathAhvaya dhivya soori

sammarthanOth sukhamaham SaraNam prapadhyE

 

Today , adiyEn will write about the visit to ThirukkovalUr

dhivya Desam. This is the sacred site where the Mudal AzhwArs

had the darsana soubhAgyam of the Lord with PirAtti at

the Dehali of the aasramam of a sage .The First , Second

and the Third ThiruvandhAthis arose from that anugraham

of the Lord to Poygai, BhUtham and Pey AzhwArs. Portion of

AdiyEn's earlier writings on the three AzhwArs are available

at the Bhakthi Archives:

 

Poygai (http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/archivesfeb2001/0007.html)

BhUtham(http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/archivesfeb2001/0033.html

Pey (http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/archivesjan2001/0162.html

 

Here was born the tribute of Swamy Desikan to DehaLIsa PerumAL

of this dhivya dEsam known as SrI DehaLisa Sthuthi.There are

Twenty Eight slOkaas in this beautiful sthOthram and

this Sthuthi has been covered by adiyEn in the postings

starting from August 1997:

 

http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/archivesaug97/0012.html

 

Here was born Saccharithra RakshA , one of the five

RakshA granthams bequeathed to us by Swamy Desikan .

This VaishNava anushtAna grantham has three chapters

dealing with Sudarsana-Paanchajanya DhAraNam (Taapam ),

Urdhva PuNDra DhAraNam and Bhagavan nivEdhitha upayOgam.

 

There are 23 paasurams on the EmperumAn of this

dhivya dEsams by number of AzhwArs including

those of Thirumangai, Poygai and BhUtham .

Thirumangai recalls His darsanam of the Lord

with paasurmas ending : " ThirukkOvalUrathanuLL

KaNDEn naan " .

 

Moolavar is the gigantic Thrivikraman with the uplifted

right Thiruvadi, which is being worshipped by Brahma dEvan.

Moolavar is made of DhAru (Wood ) as in the case of

Varadhan at Kaanchi resting in a special MaNDapam inside

Anaatha Saras .All the other moorthams inside are

also made of DhAru ( Lakshmi, PrahlAdhan , MahA Bali,

and his son Namacchi worshipping the lord's left foot.

Brahma performs AarAdhanam for the uplifted right foot.

SukrAcchAr who counseled MahA bali not to cede three

feet of land to the KapaDa Vaamanar is also there

inside the garchagraham along with MrugaNDu Maharishi and

his wife,the three Mudhal AzhwArs and Garudan). It is

a crowded Garbha graham as in ParthasArathy Temple at

ThiruvallikkENi and VanjuLa valli samEtha SrInivAsa

temple at NaacchiyAr Koil.

 

Uthsavar is AayanAr, KOvalan (GOpAlan).With Ubhaya

NaacchiyArs , He is an eye filling anubhavam.

 

ThAyAr is SrI PoonkOval NaacchiyAr/SrI Pushpavalli.

She welcomes us with a big smile and She is beautiful

to behold .

 

ChakkaratthAzhwAn with Yoga Narasimhan bless us in

a separate sannadhi near ThAyAr Sannidhi.

 

Theerthams are PeNNai River ,KrishNa and Chakra Theerthams.

 

VimAnam is SrIkara VimAnam.KshEthram is GopAla Puram.

 

He is Prathyaksham to: Bali Chakravarthy , Sage MrugaNDu ,

BrahmA ,Indhran, Sage Kukshi, Sages Sounakar,Kaasyapar,Kaalavar,

Kusadhvajan and the three Mudhal AzhwArs.

 

ThirukkOvalUr is one of the Five KrishNAraNya KshEthrams.

The other four KrishNAraNya KshEthrams are:ThirukkaNNangudi,

Kapisthalam ,ThirukkaNNapuram and ThirukkaNNamangai.

 

ThirukkOvalUr Temple is under the administration of

SrI EmperumAnAr Jeeyar Swaamigal paramparai for

the past 500 years. The temple is spread over

five acres of land with big gOpurams and is

maintained in a very clean state. The archakas

belong to the VaikAnasa Aagamam and perform sevais

to sevArthis with great affection. SrI KrishNa PrEmi

Swamy has deep connections to this KshEthram.

 

VishNu Durgai is a Rakshaki for the Lord .She is

said to have arrived from the VindhyA mountains

to perform Her guard duties. Thirumangai refers to Her

services in his paasuram: " KaRpudaya Madakkanni kaaval

pooNDa -- " After AarAdhanam and NaivEdhyam to PerumAL

and ThAyar, VishNu Durgai in the ardha MaNDapam ,

aarAdhanam for Durgai takes place.She is Kaaval

dhaivam . Only here among the 108 Dhivya dEsams ,

there is a sannidhi for VishNu Durgai.

 

The greatness of ThirukkOvalUr is that it is

the Dhivya Prabhandha avathAra sthalam . The first

three hundred paasurams of the NaalAyiram originated

here at a dEhaLi.

 

In the inner prAkAram is Vaamana Moorthy with umbrella

and DhaNDam as he proceeded to Bali Cahkravarthy's

Yaagam to seek three feet of land.VisEsha Uthsavam

for Him is on AavaNi ThiruvONam.

 

Thirumangai performs MangaLAsAsanam for the sthala Vruksham

(Punnai: Punnai muttharumpi semponn kAtta)) , River (PeNNai:

tunjA neer valam surakkum PeNnai), agrahAram filled with

Vaidhika SrI (sIrERu maRayALar niraintha selva ThirukkOvalUr),

Uthsavar ( MathiL Kovalidaikazhi aayan),VishNu Durgai

( kaRpudaya madakkannikaaval pooNDa kaDipozhil soozh--

PoonkOvalUr).

 

Let us enjoy the moving paasuram of ParakAla Naayaki

performing Madal Oorthal in Periya Thirumadal:

 

" Senni maNicchudarai TaNNkAl thiRal valiyai

Tannai PiRar aRiyAt-tatthuvatthai mutthinai

annatthai meenai aRiyai arumaRayayai

munnivulahuNDa Moorthiyai KOVALUR

mannum idaikazhi-yemmAyanai-- "

 

Here ParakAla Naayaki performs MangaLAsAsanam

to the Lord DehaLIsan (Idaikkazhi YemmAn) and

visualizes Him as an enchanting pearl(Mutthinai) ,

HamsAvathAran (annatthai) , MathsyAvathAran ( meenAi),

NrusimhAvathAran (aRiyAyai), Veda Moorthy (arumaRayai) ,

Baala GopAlan who swallowed the entire world and floats on

a fig leaf on the PraLaya waters( MunnivulahuNDa Moorthiyai).

 

Let us conclude the visit to this dhivya dEsam

with the jubilant statement of pEy AzhwAr , when

he and his fellow mudhal AzhwArs are blessed with

the darsana soubhAgyam of DehaLIsan:

 

ThirukkaNDEn PonnmEni KaNDEn Thihazhum

arukkan aNiniRam kaNDEn--serukkiLarum

PonnAzhi kaNDEn purisangam kaikkaNDEn

YennAzhi VaNNan paal inRu

 

--MoonRAm ThiruvandhAthi: Paasuram 1

 

" Today is a great day. I secured the privelege of seeing

the Lord's form, by His grace . I saw MahA Lakshmi ; I saw Her

on the pure gold body of the Lord; His effulgence was like that

of the Sun; I saw the foe-destroying , firey , but beautiful

chakra; I saw in His hand the bent Paanchajanya conch too.All

I saw in my dear ocean-hued Lord! " .

 

Here the Lord wears Sankham on His right hand and

the Chakram on the left hand . This is a reversal of

the positions of Sankhu and Chakram that are normally seen.

The Sankham on the right hand is denoting the conferral of

Jn~Anam to devotees.

 

Punar Darsana PrApthirasthu

SrImath Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam,

Daasan Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan