SrI :
Dear BhakthAs of Saptha GirIsan :
In a previous posting , adiyEn focused on the
philosophical
background on the Param JyOthi Tatthvam invoked in
lighting
the Maa ViLakku as a PrArTanai by the ladies of the
house .
Today , Iw ould like to share with you additional
thoughts
on the symbolism and significance of Maa ViLakku
.
There are no specific pramANams to cite from Kalpa
Soothrams.
It is a form of Dheepa Poojai practised by some
families devoted
to Lord VenkatEsa as the immortal
lamp on top of the seven hills .
Govindhan as Svayam JyOthi on top of the Seven
hills
**************************************************************
On this day , the Govindha Naama sankeerthanam
reverberates
on the hills of Venkatam as the sevArthees meditate
on the dheepam
and climb the hills to have the sevai of this
eternal dheepam .Swamy
Desikan salutes this aprAkrutha JyOthi on the hills
as " Jayanthee
sambhavam DHAMA " full of tEjas born on SrI
Jayanthee day . That
tEjomaya dhivya MangaLa vigraham is invoked in our
houses especailly
on PurattAsi SraaNam days to bless us .This is the
beautiful , illuminating
radiance born in aayar kulam ( ThiruppAvai :
Paasuram 5 --" Aayar kulatthil
thOnRum aNi ViLakkai ) . This radiance is
aprAkrutha Suddha satthvamaya
dhivya JyOthi ( Addhiyam sOthi Uru--Swamy
NammAzhwAr). This DhAma sabdham
has been linked to the dhivya MangaLa vigraham of
the Lord by commentators.
Vaikunta Vaasi SrIman Anbil GopAlaacchAr Swamy has
instructed us
that this "DhAmam " ( incomparable radiance in the
form of the radiance )
is the sacred feet of Govindhan with the auspicious
marks of Dhvajam , rEkhA
et al ( CharaNa roopa dhAmnA vallavee Jana vallabha
thva rahasya
sankeerthanaanupadhamEva). This is " the
SvaprakAsa JyOthirmaya
VaasudEva Roopam " according to Dr.V.N.Vedantha
Desikan . The sacred feet
which roaed in BrundhAvanam and thos esame feet
that landed on
Venkatam hills for the purposes of avathAram comes
to our house , when
the Maa ViLakku is lit by pious women folks on
PurattAsi Saturdays.
AzhwAr's a nubhavam of this JyOthi
******************************************
The three Mudhal AzhwArs lit their own lamps in the
first verses
of their respective ThiruvanthAdhis and had a
cosmic vision of
the Lord with His Devi .
Poygai AzhwAr , the first of the three Mudhal
AzhwArs is the PaanchajanyAmsar.
This AzhwAr lit a Cosmic Lamp for the Lord with the
gigantic Earth as
the container vessel/bowl (ahal) to hold the
surrounding seas serving as
the fuel for the lamp and lit the lamp with the hot
rayed Sun as the light (ViLakku)
to ban the darkness of ajn~Anam:
" Vyaam TahaLiyA Vaar kadalE neyyAha
veyyak--kathirOn viLakkAha ---Seyya
SudarAzhiyAnukke SootinEn sonn
maalai
idarAzhi neenguhavEyenRu "
When Poygai AzhwAr spoke with the dawning of
JN~Anam
that the Lord is the Supreme Master (Sarva Seshi) ,
the next of
the Mudhal AzhwArs, BhUtham used His Bhakthi as the
ahal
to for the Lord and His intense desire to visualize
/ experience
the Lord as the ghee/fuel for that lamp . The wick
in that lamp
was His heart that was racing in
anticipation of the bliss of
enjoying the Lord's
presence :
AnbE tahaLiyA aarvamE neyyAha
inbhuruhu sinthai idu thiriA
--nanpuruhi
JN~Anacchudar viLkkERRinEn NaaraNaRkku
Jn~Anat-Tamizh purintha naann
pEy AzhwAr with the benefit of Para Jn~Anam joined
the other two
AzhwArs to have ParipoorNa SaakshAthkAram of the
Lord in the light
(glow) of the lamp lit by the other two and
described that anubhavam
of enjoying the Lord with His divine consort and
His weapons :
"ThirukkaNDEn ponn mEni
KaNDEn--Thihazhum
arukkanaNi niRamum kaNDEn
--seruuliLarum
ponnAzhi kaNDEn purisankam kai kaNDEn
yennAzhi VaNNan paalinRu"
In the third Paasuram of the MoonRAm THiruvandhAthi
,
PeYAzhwAr described the Lord as
the permanent cure for
the illness of SamsAram( varu naraham theerkkum
marunthu)
and identifies Him with residences in the
Milky ocean ,
the breast region of MahA Lakshmi and his heart
lotus :
" ManatthuLLAn Maakadal
neeruLLAn--MalarAL
tanatthuLLAn TaNN thuzhAi Maarbhan
-----
varu naraham theerkkum marunthu
"
PeyAzhwAr declares further that he
visualized the Lord's
Sacred feet and announces that he clung to them
tight
as the refuge to destroy forever the cycles of future births .
AzhwAr explains in the next Paasuram that the
dhivya jyOthi
of the Lord's feet are our means for the
liberarion from the terrors
of SamsAram and they should be goal and the Supreme
object
of enjoyment ( Marunthum poruLum amuthamum thAnE
).
The same Jyothi ( Kaarthikai dheepam ) was seen by
Thirumangai Mannan
at SrIrangam and
Utthama Nambi explained that as the means , goal and
the perrenial , insatiable enjoyment (aarAvamudhu)
for us .
May the divine JyOthi of the PurattAsi Saturday
dheepam shining on
the ahal of Maa ViLakku chase away our darkness of
aj~nam and
Vipareetha Jn~Anam and offer us the comforting
place in His
Parama Padham at the end of our earthly existence
!
NamO SrI VenkatEsAya ,
Daasan , Oppiliappan KOil Varadachari
Sadagopan
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