Request from Sri Sarathy of Chennai/Bangalore about he Meanings of AhObila Paasurams ( Periya Thirumozhi: 1.7)

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Dear Sri Nrusimha BhakthAs :

 

SrimAn Sarathy of Bangalore requested me to write on the Ten

paasurams of Thirumangai AzhwAr on Ahobila Naraimha Prabhu.

It is my pleasure to do so. Sri Sarathy is an AhObila Matam sishyar .

These Paasurams like the NaimichAraNya Paasurams are used

in the daily SaathumuRai at the Sannidhi of MalOlan .

 

The First AhObila Narasimha Paasuram starts this way :

 

angkaN nyaalamanja angkOr aaLariyaay avuNan

pongga aagam vaLLugiraal pOzhndha punidhanidam,

paingkaNaanaik kombu koNdu patthimaiyaal, adikkeezhch

chengkaNaaLi ittiRaincum SingkavEL kunRamE.

 

Thirumangai Mannan's Vaibhavam

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

Thirumangai AzhwAr , the last of the AzhwArs in a chronological sense

was following Saiva SampradhAyam as a chieftain of Aali Naadu .

When he wanted to marry Kumudhavalli NaacchiyAr , she rejected

him as an " avaishNavan " . Thirumangai Mannan pointed out that

he was born in a Saiva Paramparai and yet through Saasthra Jn~Anam ,

he is a VishNu Bhakthan . He offered to adorn VaishNava lakshaNam

( ThirumaNN Kaappu ) and Kumudhavalli relented to take his hand

in marriage . She put one more condition . She wanted Thirumangai

to conduct TadhiyArAdhanam every day for MahA BhAgavathAs of

Sriman NaarAyaNan for an year . Thirumangai agreed and used his wealth to

perform such TadhiyArAdhanams daily . After he expended his wealth ,

he accumulated wealth in many other ways including waylaying people

and using their wealth to continue with the Bhagavadh-BhAgavatha

AarAdhanams .

 

BhagavAn Sriman NaarAyaNan was immensely pleased with the Bhakthi

of Thirumangai for His BhAgavathAs and decided to intervene actively

to bless Thirumangai . Our Lord took on the appearance of a rich Brahmin

adorning costly jewelery on His person and was accompanied by His divine

consort with abundant jewelery . They appeared as a newly married couple

travelling on the road where Kaliyan and his cohorts were waiting for

victims to come their way . Kaliyan was very pleased with the prospect of

the rich couple as a source of revenue for feeding the BhagavathAs for the

next

few days . Kaliyan took up his spear and robbed the Lord , tied up all

the jewelery in a neat little bundle and put it down. He turned his

attention to a beautiful diamond ring that the Brahmin ( our Lord )

was wearing and tried to pull that ring out of the finger of the victim .

Kaliyan experienced difficulty in completing the task of robbing

the Lord of His ring (Mothiram) . Now , He tried to lift the bundle

containing the jewelery and found to his dismay that it was impossible

to lift that bundle . It was too heavy . Kaliyan got angry at his victim and

accused Him of using a manthram to frustrate him . Our Lord answered :

" Yes , There is a most auspicious Manthram holding its sway but I can not

reveal it " . Kaliyan got angrier and tried to use his teeth to remove the

ring

from the Lord's finger .

 

Our Lord responded in an exclamatory mood : " Is not this our dear Kaliyan

? " .

Thirumangai was now blessed with the sambhandham of the Lord's body through

his teeth and got elevated immediately . Our Lord transformed Himself now

into His Own Svaroopam with MahA Lakshmi at His side and with great

affection

performed the UpadEsam of AshtAksharam into the ear of Thirumangai.

That adhbhutha anugraha visEsham of the Lord made Thirumangai

a PoorNa VaishNavar and the blessed Kaliyan travelled with his Devi

Kumudhavalli to many dhivya dEsams and performed MangaLAsAsanam on

the various ArchA Moorthys with delectable Paasurams with deep TathvArthams

..

Thirumangai blessed us with six dhivya prabhandhams as the six angams for

Swamy NammAzhwAr's four Dhivya Prabhandhams ( Four Vedams) .

 

Sequence of Paasurams before AhObila Paasurams

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

Elated by the mahA bhAgyam of recieving AshtAkshara ManthrOpadEsam

directly from Sriman NaarAyaNan , in the first Paasuram of his Periya

Thirumozhi , Thirumangai expresses his gratefulness to the Lord for

blessing him , who was unfit in every way with the Ujjevana Manthram of

AshtAksharam revealing the sambhandham between JeevAthmA and

ParamAthmA : " NaadinEn naaDi naann kaNDu koNDEn NaarAyaNA

yennum naamam " . In the 8th paasuram of the First Pathikam of Periya

Thirumozhi , Kaliyan assured us that if he could acquire AshtAkshara

manthram even if he was not fit to recieve it , that people like us should

have no doubt in being blessed with such anugraham . He was pointing out

in the mood of NaicchyAnusandhAnam that paramAthma dhAsyam is

svabhAvikam for the Jeevans . In the 9th Paasuram , Thirumangai

revealed to us that the name of NaarAyaNa will bless us with every

kind of Iswaryam ( Kulam , Selvam , NeeL visumbu , valam , perunilam ) .

He concluded this Paasuram with a celebratory statement about

the power of AshtAksharam : " PeRRa thAyinum aayina seyyum ,

nalam tarum sollai nAnn kaNDu koNDEn NaarAyaNA yennum nAmam " .

That NaarAYaNa nAmam will bless us with the hitham , which is even more than

what one's own Mother could confer . Kaliyan concluded that in the land

populated by

AshtAkshara (Thirumanthira) nishtars ( who are deeply immersed in it) ,

there will be no diseases or deficiencies ( VyAdhi and dhurbhiksham) .

 

In the second decad , Thirumangai celebrates NaarAyaNa Naama PrabhAvam

and arrives at the dhivya dEsam of Thiruppirithi ( JyOthir Matam ) on

the banks of river GangA . Thirumangai was on his way to BadrikAsramam

where NaarAyaNan performed UpadEsam for Naran on AshtAksharam.

Sriman NaarAyaNan is also the devathai for AshtAkshara Manthram .

Therefore , Thirumangai decided to travel to BadrikAsramam and stopped

on the way at Thirupparithi , a dhivya dEsam at the foot hills of HimAlaya .

 

In the third and the fourth decads , Thirumangai performs MangaLAsAsanam

for the EmperumAn of BadrikAsramam . After the visit to Thiruppirithi and

Badari , Thirumangai arrives at the dhivya dEsam of SaaLagrAmam on

the banks of Gadaki river in the snow bound territory of HimAlayAs .

Here , he performs MangaLAsAsanam for Sri Moorthy of SaaLagrAmam

thru the paasurams of the 1.5 decad of Periya Thirumozhi .

 

After SaaLagramam , Thirumangai descends to the plains and arrives

at NaimichArANyam , where the Lord is in the form of a forest . Here ,

Thirumangai performs SaraNAgathy to the EmperumAn of NaimichAraNyam :

" NaathanE vanthunn Thiruvadi adainthEn NaimichAraNyatthuLLa YenthAi " .

NaimichAraNyam is the sacred place, where Maharishis assemble to perform

sathkarmAs and removes all sins thru dharmAchAram .Here Thirumangai

confessed that he is the possessor of many sins and he performed SaraNAgathy

at the Lord's sacred feet there to destroy those sins . After that moving

SaraNAgathy to the Lord , who is in the form of forest (AaraNyam ) at

NaimichAraNyam , Thirumangai thought of another dhivya dEsam

known for its dense forests and tall mountains (Viz)., AhObilam .

Thirumangai was pulled towards that dhivya dEsam of AhObilam

by Narasimha BhagavAn . Thirumangai performed MangaLAsAsanam

for the Lord of SingavEzh KunRam (AhObilam ) , which will be the focus

of this series of postings . From AhObilam , Thirumangai sought another

mountainous dhivya dEsam ( ThiruvEngadam ) and performed MangaLAsAsanam

of ThiruvEngadamudayAn with 40 paasurams .

 

Thus , the ten paasurams on AhObila Naathan are in between those of

NaimichAraNya paasurams and the ThiruvEngada Paasurams . adiyEn will

cover the individual paasurams of AhObilam in the subsequent postings .

 

Srimath Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan

 

P.S : Please join in ANDAL's Mutthangi Kaimkaryam at SrivilliputthUr,

Her avathAra Sthalam on Aadi Pooram day . adiyEn plans to close

the appeal for Mutthangi SamarpaNams by next Friday , July 15 .