Temple Priest Quarters Construction series: Thondardippodi AzhwAr's ThiruppaLLiyezhucchi Paasurams: Part VII /SEcond Paasuram

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs :

 

 

Let us start the study of the Second ThiruppaLLiyezucchi

Paasuram.

 

The second Paasuram of ThirupaLLiyezucchi takes this form :

 

kozhungudi Mullayin kozhumalar-aNaivik-

koorndhathu guNadisai maarutham ithuvO

yezhunthana malaraNai paLLikoLL annam

inpani nanaintha irum chiRahutari

vizhungiya mudalaiyin pilampurai pEzhvaay

veLLeyiRuravadan vidatthunukkanungi

azhunguiya aanayin arum thyur keduttha

ArangatthammA ! PaLLi yezhuntharuLAyE

 

The translation of the Second Paasuram by

Dr. V.K.N.S.Raghavan Swamy is as follows :

 

" Oh Lord RanganAtha ! (now) the gentle morning breeze from

the eastern direction blows , bringing with it the sweet fragrance

of the flowers from the jasmine ( Mullai) creepers. The swans have

gotten up from their bed of lotus flowers , shaking off the dew drops

from their wide wings . Oh , the Lord of Srirangam, You have protected

the great elephant , Gajendhran, which was in distress because of

its being caught within the massive teeth of the crocodile.

Oh Lord ! Please wake up and bless us " .

 

Sri RanganAtha SuprabhAtham's echos of the above Pasuram

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

Mullai pushpam is known as Sri Maagadhee Kusmam in Sanskrit .

It is a slender creeper waving with the wind and sending Its delicate

and unmistable fragrance as the morning breeze from the east

transports that most enjoyable gandham( fragrance ) towards

the reclining Lord's garbha graham as KusumAnjali . Sri RanganAtha

SuprabhAtham captures this scene in two slOkams :

 

SrImagadhee kusuma gadhavaha - anilOsou

prAchyAnthu veejathi sanair-adhunA sukhEna

IndhrAdhi dEva paripAlana jaagarooka

Sriranga MangaLa MaNE Tava SuprabhAtham

 

--- --- Sri RanganAtha SuprabhAtham : SlOkam 7

 

(Meaning ):Oh the blue gem of Srirangam ! The eastern breeze

carries the fragrance of Mullai flowers and is blowing gently

and is causing hapiness all around . Oh Lord intent on protecting

Indhran and the other dEvAs ! May this be an auspicious

dawn to You .

 

pakshAn vidhooya hima-thOya gaNAmsccha HamsA:

ambhOja panja sayanAth Dayathum pravrutthA:

grAhENa peeDitha gajEndhra rujO nivArin !

Sriranga Patthana PathE Tava SuprabhAtham !

 

-- -- Sri RanganAtha SuprabhAtham: SlOkam 8

 

(meaning): Oh the Lord of Srirangam ! Oh the GajEndhra Varadhan

who rescued in a trice the sufferings of the king elephant , whose

foot was caught in the mighty jaw of the crocodile in the lotus pond !

The Swan couple , which slept in the soft bed of lotus at night

are shaking their wings laden with the morning dew and are winging

their way to the sky . Oh Rangapureesa ! May this be an auspicious

dawn to You ! Please awaken and bless us !

 

Three Topics of the Second ThiruppaLLiyezhucchi Paasuram

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

These are : (1) Morning breeze wafting the Mullai Fragrance

(2) Awakening of the Swan couple in the lotus pond

(3) Gajendra Varadhan's blessed intervention

 

One has to close one's eyes and enjoy the Mullai fragrance

riding on the gentle morning breeze and enveloping us .

 

The picture poem of the loving swan couple stirring in the morning

is a poetic image to visualize. The bigger male swan was covering

its partner( female swan ) with one of its wings . The male swan wakes up

first and shakes off the dense dew that has accumulated on its wings

and shakes it off and its partner is now awake . Both get ready to

go about on their daily routines .

 

Gajendra Moksham is a very important episode for us since

it portrays the immediate attention that the Lord gives to His bhakthAs

in distress , especailly when they address Him as " AadhimoolamE "

and recognize His parathvam and their(BhakthA's) ananya gathithvam .

 

The ancient practise of meditating on GajEndhra Varadhan begins with

the recitation of the following two slOkams:

 

" grAhagrasthE GajEndrE- - -avatu Harirasou amhasam samhatErnah "

 

" nakrakrAnte KarIndhrE mukutita- - -moolam yathpradurasiitsa

disathu BhagavAn MangaLam santatham na: "

 

When our Lord in Sri Vaikuntam heard the heart rending cry of

GajEndhran in distress , He ran to the scene of the lotus bond ,

where His bhaktha was suffering from the mighty poisonous

jaws of the crocodile and cut its head off with ChakrAyudham .

He ran helter-skelter and did not even have the time to put on

HIs paadhukAs or nind His Keasam into a knot . He just jumped on

His Vaahanam , Garudan , to take Him to the lotus pond .

 

GajEndhra Moksham in PurANams

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

Srimath BhAgavatham descibes the Moksham for GajEndhran in

the 8th skandham . Sri NaarAyaNa Bhattadhiri covers it in

the 26th Dasakam of Sri NaarAyaNeyam .

 

A PandyA king who disregarded Sage AgasthyA got cursed

to become an elephant . The Sage recognized that the king

was engaged in Bhagavath smaraNam and that was the reason

for his lapse of not offering adhithi sathkAram . Sage Agasthya

controlled his anger and blessed the king with the boon that

Bhagavath SmaraNam will rescue him from his life as

an elephant at Thrkoota Malai .

 

Meanwhile , a gandharvan had become a crocodile and stayed in

the lotus pond of VaruNaa , where GajEndhran came to play with

his family . Gandharvan was told by the Sage who cursed him that

he will be released from his birth as crocodile , when he grabbed

the leg of the devotee , Gajendhran . There was a fight for thousand

years between the crocodile intent on pulling the king of elephants

down into the water and latter trying to get back to the shore

by shaking his leg off from the mighty jaws and the teeth of the crocodile.

With his poorva janma jn~Anam , Gajenndhran took the lotus flowers and

began to perfrom aarAdhanam for Sriman NaarAyaNan. Gajendhran still felt

that he could defend himself with his physical strength; when he

realized that no one except the Lord could save him , his ahankAram

and MamakAram disappeared . Immediately , Gajendhran began to

eulogize the Lord as the aadhimoolam , which enshrines Brahma

Tathtvam :

 

Sa vai na devAsura marthya -thiryank

na sthree na ShaNDo na pumAn na jnathu:

nAyam guNa karma na sanna chAsan

noshEdhasEshO jayathAdhasEsha:

 

(meaning): That Parabrahmam is neither dEvan or asuran or human or

animal or bird or insect ; neither is it a woman , man or neuter ; This

Supreme being is neither guNam or karmaa or satth or asatth . After

all these , whatever is left (aadhi moolam or Ucchishta Brahmam in

the Vedic parlance ) , May that appear before me and protect me .

 

When Sri Vaikunta Naathan heard this sthOthram and appeal ,

He rushed in a big hurry on the back of Garudan to the lotus pond and

sent His Chakram to destroy the crocodile . Our Lord placd His sacred

hand on His Bhakthan and directed the Chakram at the Crocodile and

released both of them from their states acquired by the Muni saapams .

 

The relevant Sri NaarAyaNeeyam slOkma pasages are:

 

SarvAthmA Thvam bhUrikAruNya vEgath

ThArkshyArooDa: prEkshithOabhU: purasthAth

 

The key word here is " BhUrikAruNya vEgam " .

This means that the Lord was propelled by

the mighty force of His immeasurable compassion

for His Bhaktha Janams and instantly appeared

in front of the suffering GajEndhran .

 

HasthIndhram tamm hastha-padhmEna dhruthvaa

chakrEna Thvam nakravaryam vyadhAree:

 

The Lord's weapon (sankalpam) made GajendhrA shine with

the bliss of Saaroopyam and the Gandharvan lost his crocodile form .

 

It is said that the Lord's touch released GajEndhran from

the samsAric nescience :

 

" GajEndhrO Bhagavath--sparsAth vimukthO ajn~Ana BhandhanAm "

 

BhagavAn says in Gita that the true detatchment from worldly matters

arise , when one is blessed with Bhagavath darsanam :

 

" rasa varjam rasOpyasya Param dhrushtvA nivartathE "

 

In the next posting , we will study together the third Pasuram of

ThoNDaradippodi's ThiruppaLLiyezucchi .

 

SrI Godharanga ParabrahmaNE Nama:

ThoNDardippodi AzhwAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

 

Srimate Sri Laksminrisimha Divya Paduka Sevaka

Srivan Satakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya Nama:

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil Varadachari Sadagopan

 

P.S : We have just 14 days to complete our Temple raffle to raise

funds for the construction of the living quarters for the priests of

Sri RanganAtha at His Pomona , NY temple. Please support this

kaimkaryam during this sacred month of Maarghazhi and recieve

the blessings of ANDAL as well .Please contact me regardign your

participation .