AhObila Paasurams ( Periya Thirumozhi: 1.7) Part IV

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Dear Sri Nrusimha BhakthAs :

 

The First Paasuram for the Lord of Ahobilam is :

 

alaittha pEzh vaay vALL yeyiRu ohr kOLL ari aay , avuNan

kolaik-kayyALan nenju idantha koor uhirALan idam

malaittha selsAtthu yeRintha poosal vann-tuDi vaay kaduppa

silaikkai vEdar thezhippu aRAtha SingavEL KunRamE

 

- - Periya Thirumozhi :1.7.2

 

In the previous Paasuram, the sanchAram of the Lions

to Sri Narasimhan's sannidhi to present their SamarpaNams of

the danthams (tusks ) of elephants for use in ivory cots and

palanquins for the Lord were described .

 

In this paasuram , another type of noisy activity at SingavEL

KunRam is described by the SevArTee , Thirumangai Mannan .

 

Here Thirumangai sees the bhakthAs of Lord Narasimhan

struggling to find their way amidst the fierce and inhospitable

terrain of Ahobilam to have the darsanam of their Lord and

putting up with the stones and arrows of the native hunters .

 

The First two lines of thePasuram

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First , salutation is made to the Thiruppathy of the Lord . It is

identified as the place of residence of the majestic , matchless

Lion( ohr kOLL ari) with the sharp outstretched tongue that is roaming from

side to side inside the cave like mouth (alaittha pEzh vaay ) and revealing

the radiant white teeth (VaaLL yeiRu) over and below that tongue.

That Simha roopa Moorthy pulled out the heart of the asuran HiraNyan

(avuNan) with His fierce and powerful nails ( koor uhirAl nenju piLanthAn)

and punished him (HiraNyan) decisively for his many trespasses .

 

This angry Simham tore apart the chest walls of HiraNyan to check

if the heart of HiraNyan had any fear about Him and respect for Him

as well as affection for his son , PrahlAdhan . Finding none of the above

in the heart of HiraNyan , Narasimha BhagavAn tore out that heart of

HiraNyan and threw it out . Thus , Lord Narasimha put an end to

HiraNyan , whose sole activity was destroying others for

disobeying him( Kolai Kai AaLan) . Kaliyan salutes Ahobilam

as the dhivya dEsam , where Lord became the HiraNya SamhAra

Moorthy as well as Bhaktha PrahlAdha anugraha Moorthy .

 

While HiraNyan went on a rampage of killing all those ,

who did not recognize him as the Supreme Being , his young

child with extraordinary vivEkam displayed the highest form of

VishNu Bhakthi and provided upadEsam for all about the nine

kinds of VishNu Bhakthi that they should observe for their salvation :

 

" SravaNam Keertthanam VishNOr smaraNam Paadha sEvanam

archanam vandhanam dhAsyam Sakhyam aathma nivEdhanam

ithi pumsArpithA VishNou Bhakthi : chEth nava lakshaNA "

 

When HiraNyan challenged his son and asked him whether his Hari

was inside a pillar that he hit with his hand , PrahlAdhan answered

that Hari is everywhere including that pillar . Hari jumped immediately

out of that pillar so that His parama bhakthan's words do not become

untrue and destroyed the mighty asuran in a trice with His nails alone .

 

HiraNyan had done fierce presence once and had recieved a set of

boons from Brahma Devan that (1) he should not experience death

from a human or an animal ; (2) he should not meet death during day

time or night time ; (3) he should not meet death inside the house or

outside the house ; (4) he will not be killed on earth or in the sky ;

(5) he should not be killed by a living entity or one without life .

HiraNyan

thought that he was very clever in seeking such boons to gain freedom

from death . Bhagavaan is cleverer in scheming than HiraNyan .

As He tore out of the Sthampam , our Lord took on the Narasimha

Roopam . In that state ,He was neither a full human being nor a full animal

..

He became naram kalantha Singham . His time of appearance was

neither day or night . It was sandhyA kaalam that was in between

the two . Our Lord did not kill HiraNyan either inside or outside

the house (palace) ; He killed the asuran on the door step , which

is in between the inside and the outside . HiraNyan met his death

on the lap of the Lord , which was in between the earth and aakAsam .

HiraNyan was destroyed with the weapon of nakham ( nail ) of the Lord ,

which is neither living nor dead . When it grows , it has life . When it is

cut and thrown away , it has no life. Thus the Lord outsmarted

HiraNyan , while not violating the boons granted by the careless

Brahma Devan .

 

After HiraNyan was destroyed , Bhagavan invited PrahlAdhan to come

near and asked him to choose the boons that he wished to have. PrahlAdhan

responded : " Oh My Lord ! You can not distract me by granting me boons .

I seek only the boon of freedom from attachment to any thing other than

Your sacred feet . Lord Narasimhan was immensely pleased with

the VairAghyam and Bhakthi of PrahlAdhan . PrahlAdha Sthuthi of

Lord Narasimhan with 42 slOkams is one of the most sacred sthuthis .

This sthuthi was a favorite of HH InjimEttu Azhagiya Singar .

 

PrahlAdhA's immense bliss on having the sevai of Narasimha BhagavAn

is beautifully expressed by Saint ThyagarAjA in his PrahlAdha Bhakthi

vijaya Naatakam .Through a Gandha Padhyam , the Saint of ThiruvayyARu

describes :

 

ithadE JeevAdhArudu ,

ithadE nAnOmuphalamu IndhrAdhinudhuNDu

ithadE mununanau brOchina-

thithadE SarvEswaruNDuni ithaDE ithaDe

 

(Meaning) : He alone is the foundation of my life ; He alone is the

fruit(Phalan) of my vrathams ; He alone is the object of

the worship of Indhran ; He alone is the One , who protected me

from time immemorail ; He alone is the SarvEswaran.He is the One;

He is the Supreme One.

 

In an Uthpala MaalA meter gadhyam , ThyAga Brahmam describes

the blissful mental state of PrahlAdhan after the darsanam of

the Lord :

 

" tallini joosu Bittavala , tAmara vairiki kalvasanthamE

Pallava PaaNi jAruvela , bhAnudu lEvaka viprureethithA

ullamunAsajenthi , nikilOtthama dEvuni kanna yanthanE

jallani bhAshpamulva- tala saakenu paadhamulayanthu

mrOkkagAn "

 

(Meaning) : When PrahlAdhan had the bhAgyam of seeing the Lord

of the Universe , his eyes were flooded with tears of joy and he fell at

the sacred feet of the Lord . His mind was filled with joy . His joyous

status was like that of an infant , which saw its mother , like the Lilly

flower that experienced the Moon rise , like the young woman ,

who met her lover and like the Brahmins who saw the Sun rise

( SooryOdhayam ) .

 

Such is the glory of Lord Narasimhan , who was eulogized by PrahlAdhan

throug 42 exquisite slOkams in Srimad BhAgavatham . Ahobilam is

the dhivya dEsam , where HiraNya SamhAram and PrahlAdha anugraham

happened at the same time . Let us conclude this posting about the first

two lines of Kaliyan's second Paasuram with the description of Sri NaarAyaNa

Bhattadhiri in SrI NaaraayaNeeyam, which captures the essence of

the first two lines of Thirumangai Mannan's second paasuram :

 

taptha-svarNa savarNa ghUrNadh athirooksha aksham saDAkEsara

prOthkampa pranikumBitha amBaram ahO jeeyAtthatavEdham vapu:

vyAttha vyApthamahAdarIsakha mukham khaDgOgra valkanmAhA

jihvA nirgama dhrusyamAna sumahA dhamshtrAyuga uttAmaram

 

(Meaning ) What a Wonder ! His fast moving (rotating ) manes around

His neck had the hue of molten gold . His face had the most frightening

eyes .The movement of the assembly of His pidari mayir ( saDAkEsara)

hid the sky as it were with their hugeness . The open mouth had

the appearance of a huge cave . His rapidly moving tongue from side to

side of His mouth was like a sharp and rotating sword . When the tongue

was projected outward , the huge cannine teeth became visible and was

frightening to look at . Oh Lord Narasimha ! May this firece form of Yours

shine radiantly forever !

 

We will cover the next two lines of the second paasuram

in the next posting .

 

Sri Lakshmi Nrusimha ParabrahmaNE Nama:

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil V.Sadagopan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Srimate Sri Laksminrisimha Divya Paduka Sevaka

Srivan Satakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya Nama:

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan