USA : Fater's Day Reflections : Part II ( ThiruveLLakkulam Appan/ANNan Paasurams of Kaliyan)

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ThiruveLLakkuLam Divya Desam : Part 2Dear BhakthAs : We will continue with Kaliyan's salutations to

the EmperumAn of ThiruveLLakkuLam . In his first paasuram , Kaliyan begs Lord SrinivAsan of this

divya dEsam to banish all his samsAric sorrows and free him from all his anxieties and fears .

Comments on the First Paasuram

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Thirumangai's paasuram requesting the powerful Lord's intervention reminds us of the Yajur Veda manthram :

visvA rUpANi prathi munjathE kavi: prAsAveedh BHADHRAM dvipadhE chathushpathE

vi nAkamakhyath savithA varENyOnu prayANamushasO virAjathi --Yajur Vedam:XII-3

(Meaning): " God is adorable , Omniscient maker

of the Universe , worthy of adulation at dawn; He shapes all of the material objects seen in this universe.

He blesses the quadrepeds and bipeds and REMOVES ALL OF THEIR DISTRESSES AND ANXIETIES ". He removes all the samsaaric afflictions and confers lasting aanandham through the boon of Brahma Jn~Anam to those who surrender unto Him .Without partiality ,

He blesses the two-footed and the four-footed beings and pervades the universe that He created as Sarva VyApi,

VishNu . It is this parabrahmam that the above Yajur Veda

manthram saluted .It is this Bhadra NaarAyaNan that Vedam saluted with the words : "prasAveedh BHADHRAM ".

AzhwAr's paasuram is as follows :

KaNNAr kadal pOl ThirumEni kariyAi

naNNAr munai venRi koLvAr mannu NaangUr

thiNNAr mathiL soozh ThiruveLLakkuLatthuL

aNNA , adiyEn idaraik kaLayAyE --PTM:4.7.1

In the first line of the above paasuram , Kaliyan

compares the Bhagavath svarUpam as the deep and expansive one , like the dark, deep ocean ( kaNNAr kadal pOl

thirumEni KariyAi) . "KaNN aar kadal " refers to the bluish-black ocean that stretches as far as One's eyes could see and is filled with mysterious , soothing beauty .Kaliyan hints that the Lord's hue is reminding

him of that dark blue hue of the deep ocean .Just as we enjoy the mystery and the beauty of the blue ocean

without winking , Kaliyan says that he was intensely

engaged in enjoying the extraordinary soundharyam of

the Lord of ThiruveLLakkuLam .

The next line of the Paasuram is : " NaNNAr munai venRi koLvAr mannu NaangUr ". Here , Kaliyan celebrates the greatness of the citizens of this divya dEsam ."NaNNAr" means enemies .There are two kinds of enemies for us.

One is the external one and the other is the internal one

( BhAhyam and Aandhram ).The external VirOdhi (enemy) ,

has to be won over with the help of weapons like sword

and spear . The internal one has the limbs of arrogance,

jealousy , anger et al. This aandhra enemy has to be won by Bhagavadh DhyAnam , Moola manthra-Dhvaya Japam and

SaraNAgathi at the Lord's sacred feet . Kaliyan was familiar with the ways of a Kshathriyan prior to his

transformation as a Sri VaishNavan through the Lord's

intervention . As a result , Kaliyan was conversant

with the battle plans for winning both the BhAhya and Aandhra chathrUs . As the proverb goes , only the serpent can know of the other serpent's "legs ". Kaliyan was thus

able to recognize that ThiruveLLakuLam was filled

with the citizen-BhagavathAs , who have won over both the kinds of

fights by defeating soundly the Aandhra and BhAhya ChathrUs .

In the third line of this first paasuram , Kaliyan

refers to the strength of the ramparts that protect

the Lord's temple and addresses the Lord of this divya dEsam

as the one surrounded by mighty walls ( mathiLs ); his paasura vaakhyams are : " TiNNAr mathiL soozh

ThiruveLLakkulatthuL aNNA ". The strength of the protector is hinted by the reference to the strength of the ramparts surrounding His temple.The word aNNA stands

for the strong brother or father figure , who rushes to the rescue of the young/weak one in the family , who is frightened .

Kaliyan addresses endearingly the towering Father figure ,

Lord SrinivAsan at ThiruveLLakkuLam as "aNNA ".With Kaliyan's

usage of the word , aNNA , the divya dEsam came to be known as aNNan kOil .

In the final line of the paasuram , Kaliyan appeals movingly

to his aNNan to come to his rescue to drive away all of

his fears and sorrows (aNNA, adiyEn idar kaLayAyE ).Kaliyan

says : " Oh my sarva Swami ! Oh Lord of the hue of the deep , dark ocean ! Oh Lord , who lives in the kshEthram populated

by parama bhaagavathAs ! I am losing my foothold in this

ocean of samsAram and am being tossed about violently by

its gigantic waves . I am overpowered by the ceaseless

waves of the ocean of samsAram and at any moment , I am going

to drown . Please give me Your powerful hand and lift me

out of my miseries and place me in the cool shade of Your sacred feet ".

Kaliyan recognizes here that the fruit of SaraNAgathi

at the most powerful Lord's feet is Moksham and therefore

asks for the removal of all anisams (inauspiciousness and obstacles ) that stand in the way of his Moksham .

Kaliyan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam AdiyEn , Oppiliappan Koil V.Sadagopan