Sri Srinivaasa Vaibhavam- ThiruppANaazhwAr anubhavam on ThiruvEnkatam- Introduction

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya namah;

Dearest all,

 

After the first four AzhwArs namely, Poigai, bhootha,

Pey and Thirumazhisai Azhwar’s enjoyment of

ThiruvEnkatam, we were blessed with Kulasekara

PerumAn’s wonderful eleven verses on ThiruvEnkatam.

Now let us enjoy ThiruppANaazhwAr’s.

 

Before that, let us glean at his life history..

 

On a Kaisika EkAdasi day in the month of kArthigai,

our ThiruppANAzhwAr, an incarnation of Sri vatsa mark,

the mole on Lord's Chest, where Sri MahAlakshmi

resides, appeared (as an " ayOnijA " , one who is not

born of mortal beings) and was picked up and brought

up by a childless pANar couple who belong to pANar

caste (untouchable " Harijan " caste)(in uRaiyoor near

SriRangam on the other side of river kAuvEri at

Tirucchirappalli). PANars were known for their sweet

voice and singing in praise of BhagawAn Sriman

NarayaNa.

 

Our pANan also grew up singing in praise of Arangan.

He used to come daily to the banks of River KauvEri

and stand there and sing for hours together in trance

enjoying the beauty of Srirangam temple from afar and

imagining the Lord's ThirumEni deeply(whom he had not

seen since pANars were not allowed to even enter the

temple).

 

On one such morning, the temple chief priest by name

" sAranga muni " (known as muni for his devotion and

piety towards the Lord Arangan) came to the River bank

to collect water for NamperumAL's Thirumanjanam(Sacred

Bath of Archa moorthy). When he saw one pANan standing

on the way, since he belonged to untouchable

category(as per the traditions existed then), sAranga

muni ordered him to give way and go away from that

place. Our bhAgavatA was totally lost in his world of

Bhajan. sAranga muni shouted angrily and even threw a

small stone at him to make him come to senses(!).

 

The stone hit him on his forehead and it started

bleeding! Our pANan

realized his blunder and apologised to muni and left

the place immediately feeling sorry for his action

towards the priest of Arangan.

Muni came back to the temple and found the Lord's

forehead with blood marks and muni was totally

astonished and shocked. He felt really sorry and

guilty for throwing a stone at that pANan and

recognised his apachAram. The entire place came to

know of the bleeding scene from Lord's dhivya mangaLa

vigraha; but not aware of the reason. During his

restless sleep, Arangan appeared and ordered the

priest to bring His bhaktA " pANAn " (whom he had

scolded and wounded that day) to the temple as a

prAyaschittam for his apachAram to His bhaktA.

 

Loka sArangha muni realised the greatness of PANan and

the next morning he rushed to the river bank. He

narrated the entire incident to pANan and prostrated

to pANan pleading for his pardon. pANan was very much

embarrassed

and was deeply moved by the Lord's grace and dayA on

him. But he refused to

enter into the temple as he did not want to spoil the

purity and sanctity of the earth at Sri rangam. He

said that he was not fit to set his foot in the Holy

place. Immediately muni carried our " pANan " on his

shoulders!

 

Our pANan was carried by Sarangha muni and was brought

to Srirangam

RanganAthar sannidhi (the Sanctum sanctorum). People

thronged to witness this great scene (of a high caste

individual none other than the Chief priest bringing

on his shoulders the lowest caste pANan to the

sannidhi and everyone was moved by Lord's greatness.

Our pANan throughout the journey on muni's shoulders

was having his eyes closed since 1. he was highly

embarrassed and 2. he was greatly moved by His daYA

and His mercy with which he has been blessed to enter

into the temple, which otherwise would have been

impossible. That is the reason pANan is called

MunivAhanar even today. (Sri vEdAntha Desikan wrote a

Sanskritized Tamil [maNipravaaLam] commentary called

" Muni vAhana Bhogam " .)

 

On reaching the inner sannidhi of Arangan where the

Majestic Lord Sri

Rangan, the Black Emerald is having His Yoga NidrA and

on seeing that

Eternally Beautiful, Merciful Lord's ThirumEni our

AzhwAn PANan got down and stood with folded hands

glued to each other; faced the Lord and was looking at

His entire Sowlabhya ThirumEni. He thoroughly enjoyed

His mEni azhaghu and sang TEN EXCELLENT PASURAMS THEN

AND THERE FOR WHICH THERE IS NO COMPARISON AND

PARALLEL. Out of 4000 pAsurams, this ThiruppANAzhwAr

sang just ten! and those ten are gems. (Sri vEdAntha

Desikan composed BhagavadhyAna sOpAnam on similar

lines admiring Lord Arangan's ThirumEni azhaghu-

 

At the tenth pAsuram (the end) our ThiruppANAzhwAr

says: " Lord RanganAthA is the Supreme Sovereign of the

Whole World and all the residents therein; He, who is

of the Black Colour and the Nature of (merciful)

clouds; who ate the stolen butter with his mouth and

his sweet hands; who has stolen my mind and the heart

fully; and HAVING LOOKED AND ENJOYED my nAthan (I

swear) these eyes can NOT see and will never see any

thing ELSE; " With that excellent pAsuram OUR

THIRUPPANAZHWAR merged and united with the Lord Sri

Ranganathar.

 

We will enjoy this AzhwAr’s two verses {#1 and #3) on

ThiruvEnkatam, though he has sung in Srirangam…

ThiruppANaazhwAr ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo narayana

dasan

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

SrI:

 

Dear BhakthAs :

 

Sriman MadhavakkaNNan is depicting beautifuly every day

the anubhavams of AzhwArs about ThiruvenkatamudayAn .

 

It would be of interest for you to know that Sriman M.A.Alwar of

Mysore and adiyEn have released one Multimedia CD ROM on

the Vaibhavam of 7 AzhwArs ( 3 Mudhal AzhwArs, PeriyAzhwAr ,

ANDAL , ThiruppANar and ThoNDaradippodi ) . We are midway thru

our completion of the second Multimedia CD ROM that would cover

the Life and dhivya Prabhandhams of Swamy NammAzhwAr ,

Madhura Kavi , KulasEkharar , Thirumazhisai and Thirumangai

Mannan .

 

The language in the CD ROMs (Audio and Multimedia ) is ENGLISH .

 

These Multimedia CD ROMs have excellent graphics about their

lives , audio narration , ease of navigation and the recital of

the dhivya Prabhandhams of these AzhwArs by the Melkote

AdhyApaaka GhOshti . It is a rare educational treat relevant

for the young and old alike . Number of you have provided

support for the creation of these CD ROMs .

 

Please contact Dr.M.A.Alwar at Mysore at the abovee-mail address

or adiyEn , if you wish to acquire these CD ROMs for your libraries .

The second volume will be ready by the end of Summer . The two

audio Tapes and the First Multimedia CD ROM covering the Vaibhavams

and the dhivya Prabhandhams of the 7 AzhwArs are currently available .

 

There are also 2 audio casettes , which have the Text of the audio scripts

on the lives of the 12 AzhwArs .

 

We are placing these casettes and Multimedia CD ROMs

at the sacred feet of Sriman NaarAyaNan so that He can

bless us to be part of this educational Kaimkaryam to

Sri VaishNavAs and abhimAnis .

 

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil V.Sadagopan