Sri Srinivaasa Vaibhavam- Mudhal - PoigaiAzhwAr anubhavam of ThiruvEnkatam- 5 [40th verse]

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SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya namah:

Dearest Srivaishnavas,

 

Let us continue to enjoy Poigai AzhwAr

aruLiccheyalgaL…

His Mudhal ThiruvanthAthi 40thth verse is the next

one:

 

peruvil pakazhik kuRavar_kais senthee

veruvip punamthuRantha vEzham, - iruvisumpil

meenveezhak kaNdancum vEngadamE, mElasurar

kOnveezha kaNdukanthaan kunRu. [40

 

Sri Srinivasa perumAL of ThiruvEnkatam resides here

forever only in order to crush the enemies and destroy

the hurdles of His dearest devotees.

 

This Thirumalai is the place of the Lord who had

destroyed the chief of asurAs- HiraNyan and rejoiced

making him fall dead. In this divya Desam, the

[kuRavar] gypsies who live in there, in order to chase

the elephants out of their fields, run behind them

holding big well-lit torches with the ball of fire at

its end for showing the directions and the path. The

elephants get out of their fields and go into the

forests. But those elephants get scared that the

meteors that fall from the skies are the ball of fire

[from these gypsies].

 

Yet another poetic imagination by AzhwAr!

 

HiraNyakasipu – father of Prahlada asked his son:

where is Your Lord Sri Hari?

He is there everywhere. [engum uLan kaNNan]- says

Prahalada.

Is he here? [ingillaiyaa?] asks HiraNyakasipu.

Hiranyakashipu is the personification of ahankaram and

mamakaram [i and mine]. He has caused lots of damage

to all the bhaktas, sages and bhaagavathas by

instructing them to do everything for himself and not

for the Lord Sri Hari. He has questioned the very

existence of God, challenged Him as also propagated to

the world that he himself is the Supreme. He had

tortured his own son and committed tremendous

BhAgawatha apachAram.

 

The Lord Sri Nrusimha proved that his bhakthas are

protected by Him always. Prahlada was saved number of

times from Hiranyakasipu's torturous deeds and all the

while, Lord was waiting for the opportune moment.

 

The same is reflected in PeriyAzhwAr pAsuram:

 

kOLariyinnuruvangoNdu_avuNanudalam

kuruthikuzhambiyezhakkoorukiraalkudaivaay!

…

aaLa! enakku_orukaal_aadukasengeerai

aayar_kaLpOrERE! aaduka_aadukavE.

 

Oh Lord! The One who tore the body of hiraNyakasipu

with His sharp nails getting the blood inside out,

taking the form of lion faced huge form (Nrusimha

avataaram) to make the Bhagawatha’s words true

(Prahalada’s)! During Govardhana Pooja, when DevEndran

angered and sent torrential rains on Gokulam, You

lifted effortlessly the Govardhana mountain to save

the cattle and the cowherd folks from heavy downpour!

Oh Master! Aduga senkeerai.. Aduga AdugavE..

 

The Lord made not only the words of Prahalada; also

did he make the words of Chathur muka brahmA when he

gave away the boon to HiraNya kasipu. He took the

form; the time, the weapon (nails- which are alive as

well as dead- meaning nails do not have life, as when

we cut, it does not pain; and still it has life as it

grows) the place (neither inside the house nor

outside- at the entrance; neither on the ground nor in

the sky.. on his lap..). Also Sri Manavala MamunigaL

mentioned in his vyAkhyanam of this pAsuram that the

Lord came in such a way that made HiraNyakasipu think

of the truthful words of Prahalada (at the time of his

death).

 

Thus, the Lord is teaching a lesson, indirectly also

to Lord Brahma, on giving boons- to what extent a boon

has to be given and to whom. Lord Brahma had blessed

Hiranyakasipu in such a way that Lord has very few

options and He abided by all the conditions of the

boon and did not violate any.

 

The wonder of BhagawAn NarasimhA's leelA is that His

appearance reflects intense anger towards

hiraNyakaSipu, while at the same time, He makes His

appearance to prahlAda one of intense Mercy and

kindness reflecting that of a mother feeding her young

child (datta sthanA saroja sadrSA drSA vyatibhishajya

thE vyajyate in Swamy Desikan’s KaamaasikhAshtakam).

Such is greatest kripa or dayA to His devotees.

 

The Lord Narasimha is the One who is here at this

divya desam of ThiruvEnkatam and is ever ready to

protect His devotees at all times. BhagawAn is the

only one who can protect us. If He does not protect

us

no one else can protect us, and if He decides to

protect us, we don't need anyone else's protection.

This concept is conveyed in Slokam 8 of Swamy

Desikan’s KaamaasikhAshtakam

 

tvayi rakshati rakshakaih kim ananyaih;

tvayi ca arakshati rakshakaih kim ananyaih.

 

The same idea was conveyed in SrI ashTabhujAshTakam

Sloka 5 and 6: bhayam kutah syAt tvayi sAnukampe,

rakshA kutah syAt tvayi jAtaroshe

(Slokam 5), and tvayi pravrtte mama kim prayAsaih,

tvayyapravrtte mama kim prayAsaih (Slokam 6). This is

the basis of goptrtva varaNam (the deliberate choice

of Lord Sriya: Pathi Sriman Narayanan alone as the

Sole Protector) which is one of the limbs of prapatti

or performance of Saranagathi. [from Sri N

Krishnamachari Swami’s translation].

 

AzhwAr ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

Sri PadmavathI samEtha Sri Srinivasa ParabrahmaNE

namah:

Regards

Namo Narayana

dAsan