Thiru Adhyayana Sevai: Part XIX ** Mohini alankaaram for Lord RanganAthan at Sri RanganAthan temple at Pomona , NY ** on Dec 25,2001.

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SrI:

 

SrI RanganATO Jayathi

 

Dear RasikAs of Swamy NammazhwAr's dhivya Prabhandhams:

 

In today's posting , adiyEn will cover the Mohini alankaaram

for the Lord RanganATA at Pomona temple and compare it with

such an alankAram art Srirangam and comment briefly on

the significance of such an alankAram (nithya-anithya

Vasthu vivEkam).

 

During Thiru Adhyayana Uthsavam , Lord RanganAthan adorns

the Mohini alankAram . At the PurANic level , Mohini alankAram

is linked to amrtutha maTanam or the churning of the milky ocean

for nectar. Our Lord took on the role of a bewitching damsel to

distract the asurAs from getting their portion of amrutham .

 

In Sri VilliputthUr , amrutha maTanam is performed by

Arayars once during adhyayana uthsavam compared to MutthukkuRi,

which is performed thrice during the year. At AzhwAr Thirunagari,

during Pahal Patthu, both amrutha maTanam and Mutthukuri are

jointly performed. At Srirangam , amrutha maTanam is offered

as Arayar Sevai on the 8th day of Pahal patthu .

 

At Lord RanganAthaa's temple at Pomona , Mohini alankAra

sEvai was ralized on the day before Sri Vaikunta EkAdasi.

Sri RanganAyaki was amused and charmed by Her Lord's

ThirukkOlam. Devotees drank in the nectar of the beauty of

the Lord as Mohini. During EkAntha Sevai, there was special

VeeNai playing in front of Mohini. Dr . Amrutha VisvanaAthan

played in a moving manner the following songs on the manaLa

vaadhyam of VeeNai as at Srirangam during the EkAntha sEvai:

 

1. KaalaharaNa mElarA HarE- Suddha Saveri( St.ThyagarAjA)

2. Sri RanganATam UpAsmahE--PoorNachandrikA ( Sri Dikshithar)

3. Raama nee SamAnamevarUrA? --Hari HaraPriya (St.ThyagarAjA)

4. GeethArthamu SangIthArthamu--Surutti ( St.ThyagarAja)

5. Raama Raama Yenniro-VasanthA (Daasar padham)

6. Sriman NaarAyaNa ( ANNamayyA)

7. Sri RamachandrAya ( BhadrAchala Ramdaas)

 

Next day , Srimathi RanganAyaki performed before the Lord

accompanied by Dr. Hemavathi Nibhanipudi . adiyEn has written

about this double veeNai EkAntha Sevai Kaimkaryam on Swamy NammAzhwAr

Moksham day with emphasis on Sriranga Pancharathnam of

Saint ThyagarAjA.

 

Amrutha MaTanam

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

This event relates to the many happenings at the Milky

Ocean . The DevAs partook the nectar that was churned out

of the Ocean ; Our Lord partook the PeNNamudhu of MahA Lakshmi.

AsurAs lost out due to their aasuric tendency.

 

When the dEvAs and asurAs churned the milky ocean , amrutham

was not released. Then Lord churned His milky Ocean all by

Himself to release the nextar :

 

maTyamAnA: taTA sindhO: dEvAsura varuTapai:

yadha SudhA na jAEyata nirmamanTAjitha: SVAYAM

--Srimath Bhaagavatham: 8.7.16

 

Sri NaarAyaNa Bhattadhiri refers to the solo churning by

the Lord by holding the king of serpents , Vaasuki in His

hands this way:

 

yEkasthvam karayuga krushDa-SarparAja:

--Sri NaarayaNIyam: 27.11

 

MahA Lakshmi appeared first and the Lord was chosen by

Her as Her consort in a svayamvaram ; She chose immediately

the Lord's chest as Her permanent place of residence

to confer mangalam on all of Lord's efforts and bless devotees.

 

After additional happenings , Dhanvanthri BhagavAn arose

out of the churend waters with amrutha kalasam in His hands.

Dhanvanthri is BhagavAn's amsam. Asuraas started their fight

for possession of amrutham . The baffled and anxious dEvAs

outnumbered by the strong asurA horde prayed to the Lord for

help. AmruTa Matana karthA assured the dEvAs that he will

come to their rescue and disappeared from the scene .Instantly,

He returned to the scene as a most beautiful girl in front of

the asurAs and dEvAs.The unsurpassed soundharyam of the Lord

in Mohini alankAram(vEsham) intoxicated the asurAs. Sri NaarAyana

Bhattadhiri pays tribute to the soundharyam of Mohini incarnation

of the Lord this way:

 

ShyAmam ruchAapi vayasAapi tanum tadhAnim

prApthOasi thunga-kucha-maNDala bhangurAm thvam

peeyUsha kumbhakalaham parimuchya sarvE

thrushNAkulA : prathyayu: thvadhurOjakimbhE

 

(Meaning): Oh Lord GuruvAyUrappA! at that time

(when the asuraas were quarreling with dEvAs for

amrutham) , You incarnated as the most beautiful

young girl with great radiance, shyAmaLa hue ,

all saamudhrikA lakshaNams such as fully developed

sthanams . The asurAs stopped their quarrel and

drank in Your beauty and got intoxicated

with that anubhavam. They were attracted by Your

sthana kumbhams and left aside momentarily their

interest in amrutha kumbham. Is itn't that so?

Lord GuruvAyUrappan nodded His head to indicate

that such a Mohini form was taken by Him to help

the dEvAs and cheat the asurAs in observance of

the SanAthana dharmam practised during the performance

of any Sathra Yaagam.

 

The asurAs aked the Mohini to intervene and distribute

the amrutham in a fair way between the cousins (dEvAs

and asuras / the sons of Kasya PrajApathi). Using His

VishNu maayA, the Lord as Mohini made the asurAs

bewitched by Her soundharyam and asked them whether

they trusted Her to engage in the task of distribution

of amrutham. AsurAs said that they trusted Her and gave

the amrutha kalasam to Mohini for equitable distribution.

 

Mohini asked the asurAs and the dEvAs to take their seats on

opposite rows and used Her srungAra chEshtais to delude

the asurAs and distibuted all the amrutham to the dEvAs.

Mohini (Hari NaarAyaNan) did not want the asurAs ,the eternal

enemies of the dEvAs to gain immortality and perpetual

youth and therefore with the agreement to do what is " fair " ,

distributed the entire amrutham to dEvAs.

 

The asurAs realized now that Mohini had cheated them

cleverly and distracted them with Her srungAra chEshtais

like adjusting Her slipping upper garment et al .The asurAs

now started a big fight with the dEvAs. Lord left the Mohini

Roopam and appeared on Garudan with disc and conch and

quelled the fight and protected the dEvAs.

 

AraYar Sevai on Amrutha MaTanam

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

on the final day of Pahal patthu , ThriunedumthANDakam

is recited and SaathvIka abhinayam is performed for

Amrutha MaTanam . The first Paasuram of ThirunedumthANDakam

( MinnuruvAi) with its profound meanings on the tatthvams

of Chethanam , achEthanam and Isvaran is connected to

the amrutha maTana Tattvams .The Lord's triple role as

BhOgyam , BhOkthA and PrErithA and their eternal relevance

and joy is compared to the alpa (tansient)sukhams represented by

PeNNAsai, PonnAsaia nd MaNNAsai ( chasing after perishable

physical beauty , coveting gold and land).AzhwArs in number

of their Paasurams have performed upadEsam against chasing

anithya sukhams and asked us to devote ourselves to

the lasting bliss of ParipoorNa BrahmAnandham attained by

Prapatthi or Bhakthi Yogam. Rest of the sukham is

transient like the flash of lightning ( Minn UruvAi) .

ParamAthma Tatthvam is " Pinn UruvAi " and is eternal

and totally blissful. The first 11 paasurams of

Thirunedum ThANDakam are known as Amrutha MaTanam

Paasurams for Arayar sEvai.

 

Such is the glory behind Mohini alankAram

and the deep tatthvams behind it !

 

AazhwAr , AchAryan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SaThakOpan/Sadagopan