67 DAYS TO GO UNTIL THE SATHABHISHEKA VEDA PAARAYANAM : PART 7 /RIG VEDAM 7 : THIRUVIRUTTHAM

[Guest guest]

Sri:

 

Dear VedAbhimAnis :

This will be the FINAL part of the series on Thiruviruttham ,

where adiyEn will highlight the saamyam ( resonances) of this

Prabhandham with selected Rig Veda mantrams .

 

Viruttham means VirutthAntham ( happennings) , news , activities .

The Jeevan wants to let the Lord know how it is faring under

the trauma of SamsAric ills and the sufferings caused by seperation

from its Master .

 

Thiruviruttham's First Paasuram Passage

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" ImayOr Talaivaa ! mey ninRu kEttu aruLAi

adiyEn seyyum VINNAPPAME ".

 

(Meaning of the Whole Paasuram):Oh the Lord of all Celestial Beings !

adiyOngaLs are long suffering SamsAris under the sway of vipareetha

Jn~Anam and ajn~Anam . We committ many dushkarmAs . We have impure

bodies due to anAchAram .We are nithya samsAris stranded in this world and

feel lost/abandoned . Oh Lord ,who comes to the rescue of one and

all through many means including Your various avathArams ! Please appear

before me , your daasan , in your most splendid dhivya ThirumEni and listen

to adiyEn's viNNappam ( PrArTanA poorvaka Vijn~Apanam , prayerful request ).

 

This respectful ViNNappam is made to DevAthirAjan ( ImayOr Talaivan) ,

the Lord of Kaanchipuram . At the temple of Hasthigireesan at Kaanchi ,

Swamy NammAzhwAr's archai has folded palms and is seen in the state of

making a Vijn~Apanam to the Lord to cut asunder the ills of SamsAram and

be granted MokshAnugraham and Nithya Kaimkarya bhAgyam at Sri Vaikuntam .

 

Swamy NammAzhwAr assumes the role of ParAnkusa Naayaki

and pleads with Her Lord as a Pathivrathai for union with Her Lord

to enjoy married life with Him as His sahadharmachAriNi.

 

Parankusa Naayaki invites the attention of Her Lord in great sorrow

about her state of seperation from Him and asks whether this is just

( Paasuram 4). She seeks the PurushakAra help of the three consorts of

the Lord ( Sri , BhU and NeeLaa DEvis) to unite her with their Lord ( Paasuram 3).

These are soulful cries of ParAnkusa Naayaki born out of VislEsham and

Viraha taapam . She seeks unbroken sambhandham with her Lord .

She does not want to go thru samslEsham and vislEsham again and again .

She despairs over how many aeons she has to wait to recieve Her Lord's

anugraham ( Paasuram 13: Yeervana uzhikaL yenai ? ).

 

Naayaki despairs over the approach of the darkness of the rainy season

and her seperation away from her Lord ( Pasuram 16 , 17 & 18 ). She laments

over his broken promise to return before the rainy season . She sends the clouds

and the swans as her messenger to her Lord on Thirumala to appraise Him

of her sufferings ( Paasuram 30 , 31 & 32). She longs for contact with sacred

objects like the TuLasi garland , which has HIs dEha sambhandham to stay alive

until He returns.She complains about her Lord's indifferences ( PirAnAr KodumaikaL).

She begs the AchAryAs to place Her at the sacred feet of her Lord since she has

no strength left ( Paasuram 54: Yemm Yeesar ViNNOr PirAnAr maasu-il malar

adik-keezh yemmai sErvikkum).

 

The concerned Mother of ParAnkusa Naayaki complains to the Lord

on behalf of her languishing daughter ( Paasuram 62) and challenges

the Lord about the injustice that He is commiting :

 

muRayO aravaNai mEl paLLIkoNDa Mukhil vaNNanE ?

 

ViNNappam in Rig Vedam & Thiruviruttham

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The key word in Thiruviruttham is " ViNNappam". In many Rig Veda mantrams ,

many devathAs are approached with ViNNappam by the Jeevans for

gaining one or other desired wishes and " bhOgams". These dEvathaas

like Agni , Indhran , Sooryan et al have to be approached with the full

Jn~Anam that their indweller (SarvantharyAmi) is their empowerer .

 

The 64th Paasuram of Thiruviruttham is key in the context of Rg Veda

Connection of this dhivya Prabhandham :

 

IrukkAr MozhiyAl neRiyizhukkAmai ulahaLantha

ThirutthALiNai nilatthEvar vaNanguvar-- yaamum-avaa

orukkaa vinayodum yemmOdum nonthu kaninmayin

karukkaai kadippavar pOl ThirunAmacchol kaRRanamE

 

( General Meaning) : On His earth , the DevAs of the earth ,

(the BrAhmaNaas/ nilathEvar ) , worship without blemish the sacred

pair of feet of the Lord , which measured the worlds during Thrivikrama

avathAram . For this purpose , the BrahmanNAs use the sacred Sookthams

from the ancient Rig Vedam . While it is so , we who are limited by our varNa dharmAs

from reciting Veda Mantrams sorrow over the paapams that caused this

and choose the route of reciting Thribikraman's glories through Naama sankeerthanam

in Tamil thru this Prabhandham of Thriuviruttham . The Brahmins follow the rigprous ,

ancient route of Rig Vedic recitation , dhyAnam , archanam , Yajn~am and gain

the direct visualization of the Lord . We have the Mahaa bhAgyam of attaining

the same goal through the learning of the recitation of His NaamAs

( Naama sankeerthanam ).

 

Rig Vedam is saluted by Swamy NammAzhwAr as "Aar Mozhi" or ParipoorNa

speech ( Niraintha Mozhi). Why so ? It is because of its (Rig Vedam's) eulogy of

the Lord and His Vaibhavams , kalyANa guNams without any admixture of other

dEvathAs. Thrivikrama avathAram is taken up by the ancient Rig Vedam because

it deals with the Lord's sacred feet , which was washed by Brahama and that flow of

Gangaa PravAham is retained by Siva on His matted locks with reverence .

 

Swamy NammAzhwAr refers here to the importance of VarNAsrama dharmams , when

He instructs us : " Vedam vallaarhaLaik-koNDu ViNNOr PerumAn ThruppAdham

paNinthu ". He states here that the worship of the Lord of the Celestials is to be done

with the help of the Veda mantrams by the experts skilled in Veda adhyayanam . This is

so beause the Lord is inside these JyOthirmaya Sruthis as a resplendent , ParamjyOthi:

" Sudar mihu SruthiuL ivai uNda SuraNE " .

 

There are too many Rig Veda Mantrams to cover , if we make a serious attempt

to link them with the ViNNappam made by Swamy NammAzhwAr in His Thiruviruttham .

adiyEn will attempt such a study on a future occasion inview of the lengthiness of

the current essay .

 

Next we will study the Atharva Veda Saamyam of Swamy NammAzhwAr's

Periya ThiruvandhAthi .

 

Srimath Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchari Sadagopan