Temple Priest Quarters Construction series: Thondardippodi AzhwAr's ThiruppaLLiyezhucchi Paasurams: Part IV

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs :

 

Let us enjoy the introduction of U.V. (Sudarsanam)

PutthUr KrishNaswamy IyengAr for the Sanskrit

version of SuprabhAtham for Lord RanganAtha by

Aasukavi KidAmbi T.Govindha Iyengar of SrivilliputthUr.

The above Sanskrit SuprabhAtham was inspired by

ThoNDardipodi's Tamizh PaLLiyezucchi .

 

PerumAL's Yoganidhrai

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The very special " sleep " that the Lord has at Srirangam

is known as yOga nidhrai or " vizhi thuyil " or " aRi thuyil "

or " KaLLa Nitthirai " . PeriyAzhwAr in his 5.1.7 Thirumozhi

refers to this KaLLa nitthirai :

 

" veLLai veLLatthin mEl oru paampai metthayAha viritthu

athan mEl kaLLa nitthirai "

 

His yOga nidhrai is all about staying awake thinking about

how He can redeem the souls , who have diminished Svaroopa

Jn~Anam and thus suffer in SamsAram . SamsAris think that there

is only this world ( ayam lOko naasthi para ithi maani). They

think of themselves as brave and learned and wander in this

samsAram like the blind led by the blind ( " Svayam dheerA:

paNDitham manyamAnnA: , dandhramyamANA: pariyanthi mooDA:

andhEnaiva neeyamAnA yaTAndhA: " says the KaThopanishad).

 

BhagavAn resting at Srirangam on the bed of AdhisEshan

in the state of Yoga nidhrA contemplates on customized

ways to help these sufferers in SamsAram . Indeed , He never

sleeps according to another Upanishadic passage : " Ya yEshu

supthEshu jaagrathee " He is the only One , who is awake , while

the SamsAris are deeply lost in their slumber of nescience and

viparItha vyApArams of breaking the Lord's commands .

 

To awaken such a Lord engaged in Yoga Nidhrai and to request

Him to come to the rescue of the Bound Jeevans (Bhaddha

chEthanams ) is the ancient avocation of Jn~Anis dear to Him.

Veda Purushan Himself requests the Lord in TaitthirIya

NaarAyaNa vallee : " Utthishta Purusha Haree lOhitha

pingalAkshi " . Parama Purushan is awakened here with

the prayer : " Oh Haree ! Parama PurushA ! Oh the Lord with

beautiful red eyes reminescent of the red lotus " . PunDareekAkshan

and PurushOtthaman are jointly invoked here.

 

The other awakenings of the Lord

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Sage ViswAmithrA awakened Raamachandran, the SuprajA of

Kousalya during morning sandhyA to perform his ordained

duties ( ParamAthma " s aarAdhanam) :

 

KousalyA SuprajA Raama poorvA sandhyA pravartathE

utthishta nara saardhUla karthavyam dhaivamAhnikam

--- -- Srimath RaamAyaNam : Baala KANDam: 23.2

 

In Utthara KaaNDam of Srimath RaamAyaNam ( 37.4) ,

the mighty and beautiful Raamachandra is awakened by

the court vandhees with the reminder that the whole world

gets into slumber , when He sleeps (Thvayi supthE jagath sarvam

svapathi ) and that He must awaken them from their sleep of

avidhyaa :

 

Veera Soumya ViBhudhyasva KousalyAnandha vardhana

jagathithi sarvam svapathi Thvayi supthE narAdhipa

 

The AzhwArs who preceded ThoNDaradippodi awakened

the Lord at different dhivya dEsams in their own way :

 

" ThORRamAy ninRa SudarE ! Thuyil yezhAi " --- ANDAL

 

" Kidantha naaL kidnathAi, yetthanai kaalam kidatthi "

asked Swamy NammAzhwAr ( ThiruvAimozhi: 9.2.3 )

 

" Moovluhum thozha iruntharuLAy ThiruppuLingudi

kidanthAnE " is the appeal of Swamy NammAzhwAr

on another occasion to the ArchA Moorthy at ThiruppuLingudi.

 

ThoNDaradippodi followed Vedam , Upanishads and

the AzhwArs that preceded him and composed the dhivya

Prabhandham of ThirupaLLiyezhucchi to Lord RanganAthan,

who had awakened him earlier from samsAric sufferings.

 

PrathivAdhi Bhayankaram Annan modeled after the Azhwar's

(RanganAtha Pathivrathai's) ThirupaLLiyEzucchi paasurams

to compose his Sri VenkatEsa SuprabhAtham .

 

This then is the ancient SampradhAyam of awakening

the Lord engaged in Yoga Nidhrai during the early

morning hours at the dhivya dEsams .

 

Today , adiyEn will continue with the study of the two

Taniyans for the ThiruppaLLiyezucchi Prabhandham .

 

Thirumalai AaNDAn's Taniyan

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TamEva mathvA ParavAsudEvam

RangaEsayam raajavadarhaNeeyam

prabhOdhakeem yOkrutha sookthimAlAm

BhakthAngrirENum BhagavanthameeDE

 

(Meaning): adiyEn offers my salutations to ThoNDaradippodi

AzhwAr , who possesses the auspicious guNams such as

Jn~Anam and who blessed us with the dhivya Prabhandham of

ThiruppaLLiyezucchi that awakens the Lord of SriRangam ,

whom He considered as the ParavAsu DEvan Himself

presiding over Sri Vaikuntam . In this dhivya Prabahndham ,

AzhwAr hailed the Lord resting on the bed of AdhisEshan as

the king of the universe and offered his reverential

salutations .

 

(Comments) :Tradition has it that the archA Moorthy at Srirangam has

to be considered as Para VaasudEvan , who resides at Sri Vaikuntam .

The Lord of Srirangam(SrI Rangasaayee illuminating the meaning of PraNavam

( PraNavArTa PrakAsakan ) is ParavAsudEvan Himself

in archai ( Sa VaasudEvO RangEsa: prathyaksham paramam padham ) .

The river Cauvery at Srirangam is considered as VirajA nadhi at

Sri Vaikuntam . The Ranga Mandhiram ( Garbha Graham housing

the Lord) is equated to Sri Vaikuntam in this view :

 

KaavEri VirajA sEyam Vaikuntam Rangamandhiram

Sa VaasudEvO RangEsa: Prathyaksham Paramam Padham

VimAnam PraNavAkAram Vedha srungam MahAdhbhutham

SrI Rangasaayee BhagavAnn PraNavArTa prakAsaka:

 

--- --- Sri ParAsara Bhattar in Sri RangarAja Sthavam

 

(Meaning): This Cauvery river holier than GangA is the river

VirajA , which marks the boundary of Sri Vaikuntam .

Sri Vaikunta Lokam is the temple of Sri RanganAtha with

the seven prAkArams . The Lord resting on the five headed

AdhisEshan is one and the same as Para VaasudEvan of

Sri Vaikuntam .Therefore , Sri Ranga KshEthram is the Parama

Padham that can be seen with the physical eyes of the SamsAris.

Sriranga VimAnam has a form similar to PraNavam and it glorifies

the meaning of PraNavam .

 

Second Taniyan by Thiruvaranga PerumAn Arayar

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MaNDangudi yenbar maamaRayOr manniya seer

ThoNDaradippodi thonnaharam- - vaNDu

tiNarttha vayal TennarangatthammAnai -- PaLLi

uNartthum PirAn udhitthavoor

 

Great Vedic scholars point out that ThirmaNDamgudi

is the place of birth of ThoNDaradippodi AzhwAr , where reside

BrahmaNa srEshtAs reputed for their Vaidhika anushtAnams and

VedAdhyayanam . Here was born the AzhwAr , the parama upakArakar ,

who pleaded on behalf of us with the Lord of Srirangam known for

its many ponds , where the bees hover to collect the honey from

the lotus flowers . At this dhivya dEsam of Srirangam , the Moolam

for all dhivya dEsams , ThoNDaradipodi appealed to Lord RanganAtha

to awaken and bless all the chEtanams assembled in front

of His court yard and bless the world as well .

 

In the next posting , adiyEn will give the meanings of the individual

Paasurams of ThiruppaLLIyezucchi .

 

SrI RanganAyaki samEtha SrI RanganAtha ParabrahmaNE Nama:

ThoNDardippodi AzhwAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

 

Srimate Sri Laksminrisimha Divya Paduka Sevaka

Srivan Satakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya Nama:

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil Varadachari Sadagopan