Thirucchandhaviruttham- 77th verse- Greatness of ashtAksharam!

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SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya namah:

Dearest Srivaishnavas,

 

You are advising us to perform the great uphill task

of performing the most difficult bhakti yoga and we

are not at all qualified to even undertake the same.

Listening to our utter helplessness AzhwAr advises-

Contemplate on Saranagati and the esoteric

ashtAksharam… A wonderful PAsuram…

 

ettum ettum ettumaay

or yEzhum yEzhum yEzhumaay,

ettum moonRum onRumaaki

ninRavaathi thEvanai,

ettinaaya pEthamOdi

RaiNYchin^inRa vanpeyar,

ettezhuththu mOthuvaar_kaL

vallarvaana maaLavE. (77)

 

oru ettum ettum etthum aay- 24 tattvas

oru yezhu yezhu yezhum aay- 21 lokas (worlds)

ettu moonRum onRum aay- eight tattvas; three tattvas

as well only tattva Aagi ninRa- thus being as above

all;

Adhi devanai- Sarva kaaraNan (cause of all) –

EmperumAn Sriman Narayana Ettin aaya bEdhamOdu- with

eight different (kinds of)

irAniji ninRu – bow down (prostrate) – without

involving in any other means avan peyar- uttering

His…(glories)

ettu yezhutth um- ThiruvashtAksharam (also)

OdhuvaargaL- utterance of the same always (daily and

contemplating on its esoteric meaning) vaanamE Ala

vallar- qualified to rule even Paramapadham…. (means:

Parampadham is at their spell – in their hands)

 

By prostrating the ubhaya vibhUthi nAthan Sriman

Narayanan, one can get and attain Paramapadham

effortlessly (with a little effort of saranagathi at

His feet) While Bhakthi yoga is a arduous and warrants

continuous performance of dhyAnam of His lotus feet,

Prapatti (saranagathi) at His feet enables one to

start enjoying immediately and assures us of

Paramapadham at the end of this life itself. Hence

since there is a way out, no need to worry- AzhwAr

says.

 

Ettum ettum ettum- He could have said 24 tatthvas;

Because he was going to mention ashtAksharam in fourth

line, he split into three eights…. For rhyming.

 

yEzhum yezhum yezhumaay- three (seven worlds) From

bHumi upto Sathya lokam is one seven; Below the bhUmi-

pAthAlLa lOkas (seven) – athala, vithala, soothala,

rasaathala, thalaathala, mahaathala, paathaaLa – asura

raakshas live here- their bhOgasthAnams.

Third seven- Raurava et al- api saptha naraka lokas as

uttered in BrahmasUthra.. - in between the universe

and the maahajalam (cosmic waters) –

 

Also one can say: seven dweepams, seven kula

parvadhams (mountains); seven oceans etc..

 

Ettum moonRum onRum aagi- Brahmaan can be called as

eight- moola prakrithi (matter), Nithya vibhUthi

(Paramapadham), kaalam (Time), baddha, muktha, Nithya,

DharmabhUtha jnAnam, Paramathma..

moonRum- Chethana, achEthana, and Iswara (BhOkthA,

bhOgyam, prErithA) thrividham brahmamEthath- says

Upanishad.

Everything is housed in Brahman and hence cane be just

One- asEsha chithachith brahmEka mEva thatthvam. (Lord

with chith and achith as part of His Sareeram).

 

Also, it may mean- eight – ashtAnga yOga- Parabhakthi.

 

moonRum- Swanishtai, Ukthi nishtai and Acharya nishtai

(three ways of performing Prapatti)

onRu- Prapatti (Saranagati)

 

Also it may means 8 +3+1= 12 Adhithyars.

It may also mean dwAdasAkshara manthra…

 

ettinAya bEdhamOdu iRainji-

iRainji- vaNangudhal- Bow down- Prostrate-

Thus eight means here- ashtAnga praNamam- One should

do saashtAnga praNAmam (prostrating – sEvicchufying)

with all eight namely, two hands, two legs, face down

flat on the floor, and manas (mind), buddhi

(intellect) and abimaanam (desire for EmperumAn with

no “I” and “mine”).

 

Also it may mean- anukoolya sankalpam, praathikoolya

varjanam, mahaaviswaasam, gOptrtrva varNam,

kaarpaNyam, (angas of bharanyAsam) and the Swaroopa

samarpaNam, bhara samarpaNam, and phala samarpaNam

(the Saranagathi- the Athma samarpaNam as angi) are

the eight..

 

Avan peyar- The most essential and important one of

His name is uttering the divinely esoteric

ashtAksharam…

Glory of this ashtAksharam [extracted from Sri Anand

Karalapakkam swamin’s article]

 

Whatever a man ought to know is all contained in

ashtAksharA – i.e. VedAs viz. Rg, Yajur, sAmam &

atharvan and other collection of words.

The meaning(s)[whether considered as one sentence,

two or three etc. ] that arise out of ashtAksharam is

the final essence of all vedAs. All the tattva, hitA

& purushArtA is made crystal clear by it. One will

remain in peace & with ecstasy he will be performing

the kainkaryams [eternal service] to the Divya

Dampati, since all the ignorance, confusions etc

arising out of studying the views of various

philosophers (vedic/non-vedic ) on one’s own accord &

building castles of ignorant speculations being wiped

off by the esoteric meaning(s) of ashtAksharam - the

nectar (amrutam) of knowledge churned from the vast

oceans of Upanishads. That’s why sAstrAs glorify

ashtAksharam to such a great extent.

 

The glories of ashtAksharam are beyond words. The

comparison shown here is not something ordinary. One

(deeply from the depth of one's heart) should

understand the esoteric nature of ashtAksharam & more

importantly about its meanings.

 

The meanings of ashtAksharam once understood will

yield the faultless and blemishless jn~Anam. The true

knowledge with no doubts whatsoever, with unshakable

faith & with ample clarity on UpAyA (means) & Upeyam

(goal to be attained) will surely evolve out after

understanding the divine meanings of ashtAksharam.

That most glorifiable ashtAksharam finally leads one

to " prapatti " . The glories of prapatti even surpasses

the glories of ashtAksharam, or in other words,

ashtAksharam is glorified mainly because it

explains the esoteric doctrine of prapatti. Thus

uttering the ashtAksharam knowing its esoteric

meaning, will guarantee a place in Paramapadham.

 

Let us also dwell upon the dhyAna sloka of this

ashtAkshara mantra and its great meaning from which

one can picturize the Paramapadha nAthan’s form…

[Thanks to Sri Satakopan swamin for his permission to

make use of the same here appropriately]

 

savyam pAdham prasArya srithadurithaharam dakshinam

kunchayithvA

jAnUnyAdhAya savyEtharamithara bujam nAgabhoghE

nidhAya I

pascchAth baahudhvayEna prathipatasamanE dhArayan

sankha chakram

dEvIbhushAdhijushtO janayathu jagathAm sarma

VaikuntanAtha: II

 

The vision of Sri VaikuntanathAn is invoked here for

dhyAnam .

 

He has his left leg extended on his seat of AdhisEshA.

Savyam (left )

pAdham (foot ) is extended (prasArya ) from the left

knee down . The

right ( dakshiNam ) paadham is bent ( kunchayithvA )

at the knee and

is resting on the seat of AdhisEshA . That anugraha

paadham is the

one, which removes the samsaric ills of prapannAs

quickly

( sritha duritha haram) .

 

The left hand is resting on the left knee (

jAnUnyAdhAya savyE bhujam).

The other hand is resting on the body (seat ) of

AdhisEshA ( Ithara bhujam nAga bhOghE nidhAya ) .

 

Further in his upper hands , he is adorning the Divine

Conch

( Paanchajanyam ) and the mighty disc ( Chakram ){

pascchAth

bAhu dhvayEna dhArayan Sankha chakrE } .

 

What is the purpose of these two divYaayudhams that he

is

sporting on his upper hands? He adorns them to quell

the arrogance of His enemies -- AsurAs and enemies of

SadhjanAs -- { prathipata samanE dhArayan } and to

conquer / destroy them .

 

That Lord seated on AdhisEshA as paramapadha nAthan

with sankha -chakrams with one leg dangling and the

other resting in a bent manner on His seat is

addressed here for conferring prosperity and

auspiciousness on all the inhabitants of His world.

It is pointed out that He is seated on AdisEshA with

His divya Aayudhams and AabharaNams.

He is seen with His two dEvIs on his two sides. He

takes great

pleasure in being accompanied by His dEvIs and

Aayudhams. We meditate on Him as Sri VaikuntanAthan in

this joyous mood .

 

VaikuntanAtha: jagathAm sarma janayathu (May the Lord

of Sri Vaikuntam bless the worlds with sarva mangaLam

).

VaikuntanAtha: dEvIbhUshAdhijushta : ( The Lord of

Parama Padham is extremely delighted to be in the

company of His Consorts and His weapons ). May that

happy Lord of Sri Vaikuntam bless us with

auspiciousness! May He bless us as we are about to

perform japam of His mUla manthram !

 

Thirumazhaisai Piraan ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo narayana

dAsan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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