Sri Periya Jeeyer's Arthi Prabhandam-9

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Sri Parthasarathi thunai

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

Sri Vara Vara MunayE Namaha

 

SrisailEsa dayA pAthram deebhakthyAdhi gunArnavam

Yateendra pravanam vandhE ramyajAmataram munim

 

Due to the divine grace of perumal and piratti we have been blessed with an

Acharya, who has made us realize that everything in this world is temporary and

that we are all destined to attain the divine kainkaryam of emperuman in the

nithya vibhuti after shedding this body due to the nirheduka krupai of emperuman

(“vaikundam puguvadhu mannavar vidhiyE” “maranamAnAl vaikundam kodukkum pirAn”).

 

But then even after this realization we have to still live in this world till

the last day comes. What shall we do? Sri manavala mAmunigal, vishadhavAk

sikAmani clears our doubt and says, “THIRUVARANGAM THIRUPATHIYE ERRUPPAGA

PETTROM”. Emperuman has blessed all of us with divya desa vAsam. Srirangam,

is considered as the bhooloka vaikundam.

 

Thondaradi podi alwar says, “pachchai mA malai pOl mEni pavala vAi kamala

chengan achchudhA amararErE Ayartham kOzhundhE ennum echchuvai thavira yAn pOi

endira lOkam Alum achchuvai perinum vEndEn arangamAnagarulAnE” In this paasuram

alwar refuses even paramapadam if he could just sit in a corner in Srirangam and

call the divine names of emperuman. But in the very next paasuram he says,

“vedha nool pirAyam…….pini pasi moopu thunbham AdhalAl piravi vEnden

arangamAnagarulAnE” Perumal listened to both the paasurams and got confused.

He asked alwar, “Oh! Alwar I possess only two vibhutis, one is the leela vibhuti

and other the nithya vibhuti. In the first paasuram you refused coming to the

nithya vibhuti so I thought you want to be in this leela vibhuti but now you are

saying that you do not want to live here too then whatelse can I grant you?”

Alwar replied, “you are mistaken Oh! Ranganatha you have one more vibhuthi, the

third one, Srirangam, where the miseries of this leela vibhuti will never enter

and the joy will be more than that even experienced by the nithya sooris in

vaikundam.

 

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Thus our alwars and acharyas considered Srirangam to be a third vibhuti of

perumal different from the other two. But Srirangam is still in leela vibhuti,

how can we say that it is different?

--\

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Life in Srirangam (here srirangam can be considered a representative of all

divya desams) is totally different. People schedule themselves only

corresponding to the schedules of Sri ranganatha. Always the temple has some

utsavam or the other and hence people are always engaged with some kainkaryam or

the other. Even if they don’t engage themselves physically, all minds are

always with ranganatha and his leelas. So people never care for hunger, sleep

or their health. Only rangan comes first the rest are taken care only later.

So their minds always linger around rangan. If there comes a time when they

slightly forget him, then rangam comes in front of their houses and reminds them

that they are living for rangan and hence should always be filled with only joy

and the samsAric miseries should never touch them. So though Srirangam is part

of the leela vibhuti, periya perumal is protecting it in such a way that the

word misery can never enter it in any form.

 

--\

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Ok. Then how is it different from nithya vibhuthi?

--\

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Anyone can go to Srirangam at any time and have darshan of periya perumal and

namperumal if they wish to do so. But can we have the darshan of

Srivaikundanathan in the similar manner. Namperumal is accessible even by the

nasthikas but paramapada nAdan is not accessible so easily even to srivaishnavas

till they shed this body here and go to paramapadam. We enjoy so many utsavams

in each divyadesam today but we are not aware if such utsavams exist in

vaikundam. Sri parasara bhattar before attaining paramapadam said, “I will go

over there and see and if I am unable to see the same beauty of namperumal with

kaviththa mudi, mugamum muruvalum (beautiful face with a pleasant smile) anjEl

endra kaiyum (hands which give abhayam) AsanapadmaththilE azhuthina

thiruvadinilaigal (the divine feet on the Asanapadmam), then I will pitch a hole

at one end and jump back to this world. Such was the experience of our

acharyas. They were so involved with ranganatha that they never wanted to go

even to Srivaikundam.

 

So divya desa vAsam is a blessing for all srivaishnavas. A srivaishnava wants

to live in a divya desam not because it will fetch him something else but a

divya desa vAsam itself is a boon, a joy for srivaishnavas.

--\

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But does this grant moksha? Our acharyas considered Srirangam itself has

moksha.

--\

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There is one legend in guru parampari. A king, kulOthunga cholan (kirimikanda

chola) wanted to convert on srivaishnavas to saivaits so he forced them to do so

and give in writing that shiva was the supreme. One member in his court named

nAloorAN told the king that his wish will be fulfilled if he made Sri ramanuja,

considered as a greatest acharya of srivaishnavas do the same. So the king

ordered, to bring ramanuja to the court but before the news could reach

ethirajar, koorathAzhvan in the disguise of ethirarjar accompanied by periya

nambi and his daughter Andal, visited the king and when the king asked them to

accept the sole supremacy of shiva, koorathAzhvan replied sarcastically which

made the king angry. So he punished both of them and both periya nambi and

Azhvan lost their eyes. On the way, due to old age and due to the harassment of

the king periya nambi became very weak and was in the stage of attaining

paramapadam. At that time, Azhvan said, “if we could hurry a little bit we can

reach srirangam and then nambigal can breath his last in the divine land and

attain the divine feet of emperuman.” Periya Nambi refused saying that, if we

rush to srirangam and if I breathe my last there, then it will leave a wrong

impression to the next generations that if a person dies in srirangam then he

will attain moksha, when perumal’s nirheduka krupai alone can grant us moksha.

 

So from this it has been proved that divya desa vAsam for Srivaishnavas is a

gift only for spending a good life while in this leela vibhuti. It is by itself

a result and will not grant any other result. Moksha can be granted ONLY BY THE

NIRHEDUKA KRUPA OF EMPERUMAN”.

 

--\

----------------------------mAmunigal says only thiruvarangam, then is it that

the other divyadesams are not worth living. What about the srivaishnavas who

are living in US and other places?

--\

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Let us see in the next posting.

 

(To be continued)

 

Alwar EmperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam

 

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasyai

Sumithra Varadarajan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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