Acharya vaibhavam - 26- The Lord Himself is Number 26- He is so easily accessible; He shows Himself so gracefully at Divya Desams for our sake......

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SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya nama:

 

Dearest all,

 

Today is the 26th post…The number 26 is very

significant FOR US..

 

Swami Nammazhwar says: eNNilum varum en ini vENDuvam

(tiruvAi. 1.10.2). if we count numbers and utter the

number 26, He thinks we are referring to Him, and uses

this as an excuse to come to us.

 

Among the tattva-s, the twenty-fifth is the soul

(jIva), and the 26th is paramAtmA. If someone counts

numerals just for counting purposes, and accidentally

utters the number 26, He is willing to assume that

this person is thinking of Him as the 26th tattvam,

and is willing to appear before this person to bless

him. Such is His willingness to be easily accessible.

 

 

His easiest accessibility is the form in which He

makes Himself available to us through the archA

vigraham in the temples.

 

Swami Srimad PaRavakkOttai Andavan Swami-

asmadhAchAryan His Holiness Sri Gopaladesika

Mahadesikan mentioned in the teleupanyasam the

following: [as translated beautifully by Sri Sadagopan

Swamin]

 

 

The superiority of ArchA rUpam among Sriman NarAyaNA's

pancha rUpams ( param , VyUham , Vibhavam , antharyAmi

and ArchA ).

 

Parama padham , where the Lord is resident as

Parama padha nAthan is surrounded by the aNDams and

the aavaraNam waters (Oceans ) . It is not of easy

access to us residing on earth . We can not travel

there even to get a vessel filled with aavaranam

waters .It is too far away .Hence param and parama

padham can not be enjoyed with our sthUla sarIram .

Only as a muktha Jivan possesing

Sookshma sarIram , one can enter and enjoy the

anthamil pErinbham there .

 

The second rUpam of the Lord is as Sesha saayee in

the middle of the milky ocean .Here He is presenting

Himself as KshIrAbhdhi nAthan to DevAs and maharishis.

Again , this is beyond our reach with SthUla sarIram .

hence , it is not of much use either for us to see

and enjoy .

 

The Third rUpam of the Lord is what has been

celebrated as Raama , KrishNAvathArams . These Vinhava

avathArams were enjoyed by those who were

contemproaries .Today , it is histroy and we can not

enjoy Lord KrishNA as Gopis and AkrUrar did . Thus

this rUpam is in the past like last year's river water

, which is no longer available to quench our thirst (

dried up river bed ).

 

The fourth rUpam is antharyAmi savrUpam . It is

likened to OoRRu jalam . You have to dig in the river

bed sand and access the water under . Through the

difficult JNa~na Yogam , one can visualize this

svarUpam of the Divya dampathis seated in our heart

cavities . Very few have the power to succeed in such

efforts and thus , this svarUpam is also not within

reach of ordinary folks on this earth .

 

The fifth rUpam is the One that Sriman NaarAyaNan

took to make Himself easily available to one and all

and to enjoy Him with our own sthUla sarIram and

Maamsa chakshus . No divya dhrushti as needed by

ArjunA is a must to see the VisvarUpam of

the Lord . " angu vaitthu , inghE piRanthathu " is

the celebration of this ArchAvathAram by Eedu grantham

..

 

Srimath Andavan went on to describe the five

rUpams celebrated by Vedams in the manthram

in the manner of tamizh maRai :

 

ambhasya paarE bhuvanasya madhyE

naakasya prushtE mahathO mahIyAn

sukrENa jyOthIgumshi samanupravishta:

PrajApathisccharathi garbhE antha :

-- TaittirIya AaraNyakam : III.13.3

 

In ParAvathAram , the Lord is in Sri Vaikuntam

as para VaasudEvan enjoying the Saama ghAnam .

Therefore it is described as Paattu kEtkumidam .

It is not accessible to us ; we can not hear this

music with our Maamsa karnams .

 

In VyUham , Lord rests on the serpent bed

enjoying His yOga NidhrA .He is rudely awakned

by all the terror stricken devAs , who seek

His interventiion and complain about the terrors

inflicted on them by the asurAs . He has to come to

help after listeing to their fear-laden prayers

( muRaidal iDam ). This far off place is also

inaccessible to us .We can not get there to appeal

to Him to intervene and help us from our afflictions.

Therefore Vyuha Moorthy is off limits for us.

 

Vibahva avathArams are known as kuthittha iDam .

Lord NarasimhA jumped out of the pillar and

performed His avathAra Kaaryam and can no longer

be seen in His original vibhava form .

 

AntharyAmi svarUpam is known as OottumiDam .

It is a svarUpam exclusively seen by those ,

who have succeeded in their Jn~ana Yoga saadhanais.

It is again out of reach for us .

 

ArchA SvarUpam is known as VaLaittha iDam .

Here , the Lord ahs become very accessible to us

and rests at Srirangam suggestign that He would not

leave us until all of our Paapams are removed .

He patiently waits for us to get SadAchArya

Sambhandham and come to Him . AzhwArs and AchAryAs

enjoyed the ArchA mUrthys at the various divya desams

and stated unequivocally that it is their prefeered

choice among the five prakAra rUpams of Sriman

NaarAyaNan .

 

It is interesting to note that para VaasudEvan

gives us sEvai on the PraNava VimAnam at Srirangam ,

VyUha Moorthy is seen as Archai at Srirangam , Anbil ,

Thirukkudanthai et al , Vibhava Moorthys are present

in the ArchA form at ThiruevuLL ( Sri Veera Raaghavan

), Dwarakai ( KrishNan ), AhObilam ( Narasimhan ) et

al.

 

AzhwArs and AchAryAl's assertion of their preference

for the archA form of the Lord over all the other

Four forms are abundant . Srimath Andavan quoted a few

of them .

I have added a few more to illustrate his point :

 

icchuvai taviRa yaan pOy Indira lokamALum

achuvai peRinum vENDEn Arangamaa naharuLAnE

-- ThirumAlai of ThindaradipoDi : 2nd Paasuram

 

aNdavANanarangan , van pEy mulai

uNDa vAyanRanunmatthan kANminE

-- KulasEkharar : PerumAL Thirumozhi:3.4

 

sempavaLa vaayan ThiruvEnkatamennum

EmperumAn Ponn malai mEl yEthEnum aavEnE

--- Kulasekharar : PerumAL Thirumozhi : 4.10

 

AanDAi unaik KaaNpathOr aruLenaakaruLithiyEl

vENDEn manai vAzhkhayai ViNNagar MEyavanE

-- Thirumangai's Paasuram on ThiruviNNagarAn

Manai means here Sri Vaikuntam .

 

athraiva sukhamAsva

-- Sri RanganAthA's instruction to AchArya RaamAnujA

 

nirantharam nirvisatha : tvadhIyam

asprushta chinthA padham aapirupyam

satyam sapE Vaarana sailanAtha

vaikunta vaasEpi na mEabhilAsha :

--Swaami Desikan , Sri VaradharAja-

PanchAsath: 49th slOkam

 

Here Swami Desikan that he has no desire to reside

in Sri Vaikuntam since he has the bhAgyam

to enjoy the unparalleled beauty of Sri

VaradarAjan right here in His archA form on top of

Hasthigiri. He swears that he prefers Kaanchi Vaasam

to have the Sevai of Lord VaradarAjA over residence in

Sri VaikuntanAthan .

 

That is the glory of ArchA rUpam for us as revealed by

our AzhwArs and AchAryAs .

 

Lord Ramachandra in His vibhavAvathAram performed

AarAdhanam to Sri RanganAthA in ArchA form at AyOddhi

.. That is the highest form of tribute that one can

come across regarding the celebration of

ArchA rUpam as the most enjoyable by us on earth among

all the five prAkarams of Sriman NaaraayaNan.

 

[unquote]

 

Such is His Greatness. He has helped us thus in every

possible way… His upakaarams are numerous. Let us

discuss them morrow.

AsmadhAchArya paryanthAm vandhE GuruparamparAm

Regards

Namo Narayana

dasan