Dear srivaishNava perunthagaiyeer,
Many a times the naasthikaas ask the question "does the so called kadavuL or
your lord in the silai form [vigraha form] require so much fanfare in the
uthsavams spending so much money and wasting so much manpower. Why not give all
that money in poor feeding or some such social cause?"
The answer for this question is simple. In the name of the supreme god's
uthsavams, what is really happening is a mass poor feeding only, may be, not a
direct throwaway 'feeding', that is happening around with a political colour,
but after spending some amount of physical energy, combined with devotion, from
all participating in those uthsavams.
* The flower vendors,
* the naadhaswara team,
* the persons who carry the vaahanams - [sri paadham thaangikaL
as they are termed in paribhaashai],
* a congregation of vedha paaraayaNa and prabhandha goshti,
* the baktha gOshti who visit the temple et al
are all well fed during the uthsavam days, without any doubt. So it is nothing
but mass feeding only without the political colour, but with devotion from
every heart participating Even curious onlookers are also fed without
exception. Further it is also a time to meet relatives and friends, coming from
different places and assembling at the temple. Thus there is a major social
purpose in conducting these uthsavams. Another simple social purpose is that,
those who are physically incapable, and not so mobile like able bodied,
resting back in the houses and thinking the lord always, are also enabled to
have a su -dharsanam of the lord in full royal decoration at their very
doorsteps. That way uthsavams serve another major social cause.
Ok. Whatever is said above is all for those living in that place or
surrounding, where uthsavam is conducted. But, how about other aged and
incapacitated bhakthaas who live in a different place? The answer to this
question is to be thought about for a while.
Ha ha, I got it. If the bhakthaa is a sincere one, then Bhagavaan goes to him
at his place even though uthsavam is conducted in lord's place. You may say
"Hey MGV, it is a nice story, do you have any such story to support your
contention?".
The main purpose of writing this is to highlight that 'act' of bhagavaan.
Otherwise why I have to ramble all these which you all very well "know"? Sri
bhagavaan suddenly stops his royal procession and goes to that bhakthaa in a
different place, who wanted to have a dharsanam of the lord in the procession
that too on that particular vaahanam. The following is a fact, which is even
now being observed. Now listen to that story - rather read that.
There was a devotee of Varadharaaja of Kanchi, named sri Doddaachaarya who
lived at Sholinghur. He is a devotee of lord of sholingur - sri yoga narasimhar
and also kaanchi varadhan - pEraruLaaLan. Sri Doddaachaarya used to visit
Kanchi for the vaikaasi brahmOthsavams regularly and in particular for the
garuda sEvai. With advancing age it became difficult for him and he stayed back
at Sholinghur. But was very much desiring to have the su-dharsanam of varadhan
on the garuda vaahanam.
On time, the Lord Varadaraaja, when brought out in procession on garuda
vaahanam, he instructed his bearers to lower the umbrellas, so that the devotee
sree doddaachaar will be able to see him from Sholinghur itself. Archakaas and
others did that immediately.
This became a routine later. That ritual of that doddaacharya incident is
faithfully followed even today. The lord while just coming out of the main
gOpuram from the vaahana maNdapam will first have a small umbrella. As soon as
the procession reaches the gOpura vaasal,. for few minutes with that small
umbrella the lord will be covered for few moments. During those moments it is
said the lord visits his devotee doddaachaarya at sholingur. After a few
moments, the cover is removed, karpoora harathi done. Next 2 bigger umbrellas
are mounted on the vaahanam and procession along the streets starts.
[perhaps kaanchi natives may add few more points. What I give here is based on
observation and as well the book by sri sundararaja thathachariar - named
varadaraja gunaamrutha vaibhavam page 749. This doddaachaar has also written a
small 5 slokam sthothram on varadhan named 'devaraaja panchakam']
As a standing witness to this incident, today also we can see varadhan in
garuda vaahanam on the banks of thakkan kulam in sholingur. Sri narasimha as
varadhan helps doddacharswamy, his bhaktha, to think of varadhan of kanchi and
enables him to have his su-dharsanam.
But sree muthuswamy dhikshithar, one among the trinity of our music, places
"kari giri varadha vichaara" meaning - narasimhan himself is thinking about
kaanchi varadhan - in his krithi [krithi given below]. Is it surprising? No.
This is similar to lord srinivaasan of thirumalai replying brahma to do the
naivEdhyam to narasimha of ahobilam. During the thiru aaraadhanam of srinivaasa
kalyaaNam to padhmaavathy thaayaer, brahma did not know to whom the naivEdhyam
is to be offered. Since the supreme lord srinivaasan is sitting there as
maappiLLai in his own marriage, to whom the offering to be made? Is the dilemma
of brahma. So brahma asked maappiLLai himself - to whom I have to offer please
suggest. Brahma got reply to offer to ahobila narasimhan. So it is not
surprising that one thinks of another.
Now read that krithi.
Ragam: mOhanam Thalam : mishra cApu
Pallavi:
narasimha aagachCha parabrahma puchCha sva ichCha svachCha
Anupallavi:
hari hara brahma indhra aadi poojitha athyachCha
parama bhaagavatha prahlaadha bhakthyachCha
Caranam :
dheerathara ghatikaachala eesvara
soura thara hEma kOtisvara veera
vara mOhana vibhaasvara maara vara
maanava hareesvara murahara nagadhara
sarasija kara parama purusha pavanaja
subha kara suruchira kari giri varadha
vichaara sarasa guruguha hrdhaya sahachara
Meaning:
narasimha aagachCha = Come O Narasimha!
parabrahma puchCha = of the form of the Supreme! [actually puchCha means tail,
or end portion. For para brahma what is the tail or head - so it is the full
form - ultimate or supreme lord]
sva ichCha = One who moves at will!
svachCha = Pure one! Crystal clear one
hari hara brahma indhra aadi poojitha athyachCha = who is worshipped by Vishnu,
Shiva, Brahma, Indra and others!
parama bhaagavatha prahlaadha bhakthyachCha = One who is manifest at the behest
of great devotee Prahlada!
dheerathara = Valiant one!
ghatikaachala eesvara = Lord of Ghatikaachala (Sholingur)!
soura thara = Brave one!
hEma kOtisvara = Akin to gold and ten million suns in effulgence!
veera = grand valiant
vara mOhana = Radiant in an enchanting form!
vibhaasvara maara = Worshipped by Cupid
maanava hari eesvara = worshipped by great men!
murahara - Destroyer of Mura!
nagadhara = Carrier of the mountain!
sarasija kara = Possessing lotus like hands!
parama purusha = Supreme one!
pavanaja subha kara = Benevolent to Hanuman!
suruchira kari giri varadha vichaara = Ever meditating on the lovely Varadhan
at Hasthi giri!
sarasa guruguha hrdhaya sahachara = Ever present in the soft heart of guruguhan
- [guruguha is the mudhra of dhikshithar - the composer of krithi - muthuswamy
- or muthu kumara swamy as murugan is called].
Let us be thinking both narasimha of sholingur and one who is in his mind the
hasthi eesan - varadhan till we receive next post on this topic - having some
points on that ghatikaachala naathan from thirumangai aazhvaar.
Dhaasan
Vasudevan m.g.
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