Pushpa, ThyAga, BhOga ...16

[Guest guest]

Water is the first thing that provides cooling effect. For example, a tired

person would first want to take a warm shower before starting his next activity.

Similarly, when we consider Srirangam, kAvEri is the starting point of bhOgam.

Srirangam is a place that did not achieve bhOgam after Ranganathar’s arrival. It

was because of its bhOgam that PerumAl chose to reside there.

 

An interesting thing to notice is how the Azhwar’S have referred to kAvEri. She

is called as ‘Thenneer Ponni’ by one Azhwar, where as she is called as

‘kalangiya neer’ by other Azhwar. How can both be true? This is where we really

need our AchAryAs. Swami ParAsara Bhattar was known for his complete jnAnam,

bhakti and vairAgyam. He lived his complete life in Srirangam. Had he lived for

few more days he would have built a way for all of us from Srirangam to

SriVaikuntam. He has thoroughly enjoyed the PerumAl in Srirangam in his

RangarAja Stavam. Let us see what is the explanation for kAvEri being both

‘Thenneer Ponni’ and ‘Kalangiya neer’.

 

KavEri is considered to the mother of RanganAchiyAr. ThiruppArkadal is

considered to be the father of RanganAchiyAr. Since Srirangam is nothing but

BhoolOka Vaikuntam, the water of kAvEri is very clear with thelivu by always

washing the feet of RanganAthar. Since kAvEri is the mother in law of PerumAl,

she is always concerned that she is not able to completely serve the PerumAl.

Hence, everytime she washes the feet and comes back she starts to worry much

about RanganAthar. Hence she is also a ‘kalangiya neer’.

 

KavEri water is full of bubbles. This is because kavEri is always proud that it

is superior to even Ganges. Though Ganges has got its own speciality of washing

the feet of PerumAl when He took vAmana avatAram, she was stored in head of an

anya dEvatA (ShivA). On the other hand, kAvEri is always washing the feet of

RanganAthar. Hence it is very obvious that KavEri is more special than Ganges.

All the souls on the earth take bath in holy rivers to shed off their sins.

Hence all the rivers carry those packs of sins (pApa moottai). Hence they need

to off load those pApa moottais somewhere. Every ippasi month, they all come and

mix with kAvEri to do so. KavEri, on the other hand does not carry any of those

as she is always washing the feet of PerumAl.

 

All the above facts are speciality of kAvEri. How does she really give bhOgam to

Srirangam? We can refer to the beautiful pAsuram of NammAzhwar in ThiruvAymozhi.

 

‘kangulum pagalum kaN thuyi laRiyaaL kaNNanNeer kaikaLaal iRaikkum,

 

changuchak karanga LenRukai kooppum `thaamaraik kaN' enRu thaLarum,

 

`eNGNGanE tharikkE Nnunnaivittu' ennum irunNilam kaithuzaa virukkum,

 

chengayal paaynNeerth thiruvaraNG kaththaay! ivaLthiRath thencheykin RaayE?'

 

If we look at the last line of the verse, Azhwar’s thAyAr (mother of ParAnkusa

nAyaki) refers to the bhOgam of fishes living in kAvEri.

 

The fishes living in kAvEri are so big that everytime they jump they hit the

coconut (ilaneer) in the trees. Because of the force, the water in the coconut

will fall into kAvEri and add to the sweetness of her. Drinking this water,

fishes get the bhOgam with more strength. If we look into the actual meaning of

the pAsuram, the mother of ParAnkusa nAyaki pleads to RanganAthar saying that

souls (jeevAtmAs) that are dependent on only nAram (acit, the kAvEri water) live

happily in Srirangam, but my daughter, who is completely immersed in thoughts on

you (ayanam) is not able to get the bhOgam. She is not able to realize the day

and night. She is always thinking about you. Whenever she tries to lift her

hands to worship you, she ends up wiping her eyes.

 

Would it be right in comparing the above kalangiya neer from Azhwar’s eyes to

the kalangiya neer of kAvEri?

 

Let us look into one more aspect of bhOgam in Srirangam so that we complete the

spectrum of bhOgam with regard to cit and acit. This can referred from

Thondaradippodi Azhwar’s ThirumAlai.

 

‘vaNdina muralum sOlai mayilinam aalum sOlai, koNdalmee thaNavum sOlai kuyilinam

koovum sOlai, aNdar_kO Nnamarum sOlai aNithiru varanka mennaa, miNdar_paayn

thuNNum sORRai vilakkinaayk kidumi NneerE’

 

Bees (vandus) in this Divya Desam are always singing in groups. This music is

nothing but the sAma GhAnam that expresses complete bliss. Because of these

groups, the peacock community thinks that the black clouds are covering the

place. This is the sign of rain. Hence, peacocks start dancing. Looking at the

dance of the peacock community in turn, the actual clouds think that it is time

to rain, and hence start moving. On the other hand, kuyil inam is completely cut

off form these two, and they keep chanting in on PerumAl in their own fashion.

 

We have seen that acit (the place including kAvEri) and cit (even the fishes)

are in complete bhOgam in this place. We already know that PerumAl is always

full of bhOgam. Still there is a speciality attached to the bhOgam of this

PerumAl. We will enjoy that in the next posting.

 

aDiyEn,

 

ramanan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check out the new Front Page. www.