Gopuram & VimAnam : Thiruvaheendhrapuram RathnAngi Kaimkaryam: Part 246

[Guest guest]

SrI:

 

Dear BhakthAs:

 

SrIman Sudarshanan touched upon some important points

regarding the origin of the Word , " gOpuram " and wondered about

the word " VimAnam " over Garbhagruham(Sanctum Sanctorium).

 

Here are some thoughts:

 

1. " Gopura Darsanam Paapa vimOchanam(VinAsanam) " is

the old adage (i-e)., The darsanam of the Gopuram of the Lord

removes all of our sins.

 

2. " Gopura darsanam kOti puNyam is another adage( The sight of

the gopuramgenerates crores of puNYam for us ). gOpuram really

refers to the walk way covered with a sculpted tower over it .

It can have many tiers.

 

3. It is not necessary or possible that one should worship

inside the temple every day.The mere gOpura darsanam

from near or far would lift one's spirits/mind and make them

remember the source of our earthly bhOgams and potential

for eternal service to the Lord in the other world.

 

4. gOpuram is really dhvAra gOpuram ( walkway with a tower over

that gateway ).

 

5. There can be many gOpurams inside a major temple in addition to

the four main ones in East , South ,West and North . At SrIrangam ,

there are 22 gopurams . The VimAnam for the presiding deity is at

the epicenter of all these gopurams .

 

6. " Temple is not merely a home of God , but a form of God as well " .

Gopuram, VimAnam are then to be considered as " samj~na " of

God. Gopuram and Vimaanam are embodied energy entities

( PrAsAdham Purusham mathvA poojayEth Manthravitthama: ) .

 

7. The Sthapathi ( expert in Aalayam construction ) should be

an authority on Saasthrams/Vaasthu Saasthram and be knowledgable

about Vedams : " sTapathi: Sarva-Saasthraj~na: VedavicchAsthra paaraga: "

 

8. The gOpuram , gates and VimAnam of a temple are defended by

AadhisEshan , Garudan , VishvaksEnar , DwAra PaalakAs of

unimaginable valor ( achinthya bala vikrama: ) as stated by

Swamy Desikan in one of the slOkams of Abheehti Sthavam.

 

9.The 20 th SlOkam of SrI VenkatEsa SubrabhAtham ( Tvath gOpura

sikharANi nirikshyamANa salutes the puNyasAlis , who have the good

fortune of the darsanam of the gopuram of Lord VenkatEsa at Thirumala.

The slOkam says: " Those blessed persons , who complete the different

Yaj~nAsto reach svargam and those , who follow Bhakthi or Prapatthi

route to gain Moksha siddhi are prepared to give up those hard earned

riches , when they by accident have the darsanam of Your gOpuram.

After that darsanam , they wish to return to the earth to be near You " .

 

10. There is an esoteric text known as " Silpa VidhyA RahasyOpanishad " ,

which is the Vedic Text for Sthapathis , who construct the temples including

gOpuram , Garbha graham and VimAnam over it. This and derivative texts

describe Vaasthu Purusha MaNDalam and the MahA Purushan residing inside

that MaNDalam .

 

11. The VimAnam unlike gOPuram has one to one match with the body of

Parama Purushan inside it . The VimAnam typically has SthUpam , Sikaram ,

nEtram , Galam , Prastaram , Padha Varagam , AdhishtAnam and Upapeetam .

The corrsponding parts of the Parama Purushan residing in that vimAnam are:

Hair Lock (SthUpam) , Mukham+Eye+Face ( sikharam ) , neck (galam) ,

shoulder ( Prastaram ) , arms+navel ( Pada vargam) , knee cap ( AdhishtAnaam )

and Feet ( Upapeetam).

 

12) Coming back to gOpuram , as is usually the case with the Sanskrit

words/roots , there are more than one meaning for this word and context

is important to generate the different meanings for the word gOpuram.

We will focus on the " gO " part of gOpuram , which is also seen in

" gOvindhan " , " gOdhai " . We will not get in to the Puram portion of

the word " gOpuram " .

 

In the case of " gO " sabdham forming the front end of the word

" gOpuram " there are atleast 10 meanings :

 

" gO " means (1) Moksham (2) Speeding arrow (3) Cow

(4) Divine speech (5) Vajra weapon (6) dhivya chakshus/

JnAnakkaNN (7) Sight (8) Flame/Jwaalai (9) BhUmi

(10) Victory .

 

We will elaborate on these ten different meanings as they relate to

the word " gOpuram " and the auspicious Phalans arising from

gOpura Darsanam .

 

Thus a whole set of contextual meanings are derivable from

the combination of " gO " + Puram .

 

SrI RanganAtha's Gopura darsanam from across the river Cauvery

has been a source of enthrallment for all devotees in general and

the AzhwArs and AchAryAs in particular .

 

(To be continued)

 

Daasan , Oppiliappan KOil VaradAchAri Sadagopan