The Vaibhavam of Lord VaradarAjan
****************************************
Blessed indeed are those , who have been born in
Kaanchipuram
or experienced the bliss of attending there
the Lord's Uthsavams or who are
fortunate to live there for a short time or for
extended periods of their lives .
Mukthi daayaka Mukundhan at
Hasthigiri
**********************************************
Sri PraNathArTihara Varadha Parabrahmam is saluted
as " Mukthi-dhAyakAn" ,
the grantor of the Parama PurushArtham of Moksha
sukham . " Kacchi tanil Mukthi
tarum "
Hasthigireesan is the One , who has blessed many AzhwArs and VaishNavite AchAryAs
from time immemorial to protect and
nourish SrI VaishNava SampradhAyam
.
AarAdhana Moorhty of Many
AchAryAs
***************************************
Out of His infinite and overflowing mercy ,
He stands on top of Hasthigiri to bless
us
as DevAthi Raajan and He is the abode of
Samastha KalyANa
GuNams . As Sathya Vratha-
KshEthra NaaTan , He is the Kula Dhaivam and AaarAdhana Moorthy for many of
our PoorvAchAryAs from BhAshyakArar to NadathUr
AmmAl , Sudarsana Soori
and onto Swamy Desikan . In this context ,
The SaraNAgathy performed by
Sri Sudarsana Soori at the beginning of his magnum opus , Srutha PrakAsikaa
is a moving one :
" Varadham DhvirathAdhreesam SrInidhim KaruNA
nidhim
SaraNyam SaraNam yaami PranathArTiharam
Harim "
Veda VizhupporuL on top of
Atthigiri
************************************************
With His Divine
consort , SrI MahA Devi , our Lord of Ubhaya VibhUthi provides
nithya Sannidhyam in
all the four yugams at Kaanchi , the Svyam Vyaktha KshEthram .
The MahOpakAram (anthamila udhavi ) conferred by Him ( AruLAzhi PerumAn )
for us steeped in anaadhi karmAs ( kazhiyAtha Karuvinai)
is beyond count
by any one ( anthamilaa udhavi yellAm aLappAr yArO?). In Meyviratha Maanmiyam ,
Swamy Desikan salutes Him as " karai puraNDa Karunaik-kadal " . Swamy Desikan
is dismayed over the
efforts of anyone to thank Him adequately and gives up
( yevaNNam pEsuveer ? yeethenna paangE ? ). Swamy Desikan recognizes
Lord VaradarAjan adorning all tatthvams and
aayudhams and standing on top
of Hasthigiri as the quintessence of Vedams ("
Sudar mihu Suruthi" ) :
" Garudan uruvAm maRayin PoruLAm
KaNNan
Karigiri mEl ninRu anaitthum
kaakkinRAnE "
SaraNAgathy by PoorvAchAryAs
***********************************
Lord VaradarAjan saluted as " Sri Hasthisaila
SikharOjwala PaarijAtham "
revealed His ParadEvathA PaaramArTyam ( as
the Supreme Lord)
to AchArya RaamAnujA through Thirukkacchi Nampi with the first of
His six upadEsams : " AhamEva Param Tatthvam " .
Lord VaradarAjan broke
His archa SamAdhi to converse with
Thirukkacchi Nampi to clear the doubts
of AchArya RaamAnuja . The elated
Thirukkacchi Nampi performed SaraNAgathy
to Lord VaradarAjan for that blessing to future
VaishNava Community through
the slOkams of SrI DEvarAjAshtakam commencing
with :
" NamasthE HasthisailEsa SrImann !
AmbhujalOchana
SaraNam ThvAm PrapannOsmi
PraNathArTihara PrabhO "
An uninterupted chain of AchAryAs from Swamy Natha
Muni ,
His grandson , Swamy AlavanthAr ( Periya
MudaliyAr) ,
Thirukkacchi Nampi , AchArya RaamAnuja , KurEsar ,
NadAthUr AmmAl , AathrEya RaamAnujar , Swamy
Desikan
and other major AchAryAs have performed their
SaraNAgathis
at the sacred feet of Hasthigiri Prabhu . Swamy
KurEsar performed
his moving SaraNAgathy in the second slOkam of his Sri VaradarAja
Sthavam :
" Svasthi Hasthigiri mastha sEkhara: anathanOthu mE
santhatham Hari:
SarvabhUtha-suhrudham DayAnidhim DevarAjam
athirAjam aasrayE "
Here , KurEsar recognizes the Lord of Hasthigiri as
the precious treasure of
PerumdEvi ThAyAr and as
the endless wealth for those , who seek boons
from Him . He is saluted as the One ,
who observes the vratham of granting
munificient purushArTams to those , who approach
Him . He is described as
the DayA nidhi , SarvEsan , RajAdhi Raajan and
as One who wishes always
the hitham for all jeevarAsis .
From slOkam 81 to 95 , KurEsar performs exemplary
SaraNAgathy
at the sacred feet of Lord VaradarAjan in SrI
VaradrAja Sthavam :
"agathiracharaNO bhvaapthou ludan , Varadha ! saraNam ithyaham
ThvAm vruNE " ( Struggling in
this fierce ocean of SamsAram ,
adiyEn who has no other upAyams seeks You
as the ParamOpAyam
for release from the cycles of births and
deaths). With touching Naicchiyam ,
KurEsar describes himself as being surrounded
by tens of thousands of
hEya guNams and submits that he has
chosen the DayA Nidhi ,
Hasthigireesan as the target of his SaraNAgathy
( asubha-guNaparas
sahasrAvruthE , Varadham urudayam
gathim ThvAm vruNe ).
Swamy NigamAntha MahA Desikan's
anubhavam of SrI Varadhan
************************************************************************************
In his Sri VaradarAja PanchAsath ,
Swamy Desikan chooses divinely-
directed words to hail his Ishta Dhaivam as UpAyam
and phalan . Here are
few selected examples of Swamy Desikan's adoration
of SrI Hasthigireesan:
" kalasa jaladhi kanyA vallaree kalpa saakhee kOpi
kaaruNyarAsi: "
Varadhan is identified here as the embodiment
of DayA intertwined
tightly with MahA DEvi ...SlOkam 1 .
Dhvaya Manthram is extolled here .
In the third slOkam , Swamy Desikan addresses
the Lord as
"avyAja Vathsalan " ( One who is naturally
predisposed to love
the ChEthanams performing SaraNAgathy at His sacred
feet ) .
This avyAja Vaathsalyam is unique to Varadhan .
Swamy Desikan
hails the anugraha Sankalpam of the Atthigiri
PeraruLALan here .
In the ninth slOkam , Swamy salutes Varadhan as the
matchless ,
one and only boat to help us cross the fierce ocean
of SamsAram
( SamsAra Vaarinidhi
santharaNa yEka pOtham ) .
In the 12th slOkam , Swamy recognizes and
salutes the Lord of
Kaanchi for His SarvAntharyAmithvam ( sarva
charAchara aathman) ,
Sarva KaaraNathvam and Sarva Sabdha Vaachyathvam (
Him being
the limit of all the
words as the Sareeram for the entire Naama Roopa
Prapancham ).
In the 16th and the 17th slOkams , Swamy
Desikan has the exquisite
anubhavam of the dhivyAthma svaroopam and the
dhivya mangaLa
vigraham respectively of this " KalyAna
Kodistha MahAdEvi Mana :
Priyan ". Commentators have observed that
Swamy Desikan linked here
the Sruthi vaakyam : " YathAthmakO BhagavAn ,
TadhAthmikA vyakthi: ".
Swamy Desikan echos as NigamAntha Desikan the
above Veda Vaakyam
in his 17th slOkam this way : " YathAthmakas: Thvam
vyakthim Kareesa !
kathayanthi tathAthmikAm tE ". Vyakthi refers to
the ThirumEni of the Lord .
In the earlier verse , Swamy Desikan had
eulogized the dhivyAthma Svaroopam
of the Lord of Hasthigiri at seven levels :
(1) akila hEya vipaksha bhUtham (Free from
any blemish ) .
(2) nithyam ( without beginning or end ; eternal)
(3) Param ( state as Supreme entity )
(4) Sarvagatham ( Pervading all chEthanams and
achEthanams )
(5) Susookshmam ( being the subtlest of the subtle
to enter every thing)
(6) nishpandha nanadhadhu mayam ( embodiment of all
pervasive bliss)
(7) SaanthOdhitham ( Among the two states of
NithyOdhitham and
SaanthOdhitham , latter is the state of sankalpam
of the Lord to
rule over His LeelA VibhUthi).
In slOkam 17 , Swamy Desikan points out that
Lord VaradarAjan's ThirumEni
(divine body/dhivya MangaLa vigraham ) has
identical glories to that of His
dhivyAthma svaroopam described by the above seven
attributes .
In the 28th slOkam , Swamy Desikan states
that the dhivya mangaLa
vigraham of Lord VaradarAjan serves as a coleryium
(anjanam) to reveal
His dhivyAthma svaroopam . Without that
coleryium , the dhivyAthma svaroopam
is invisible (adhrusyam) to samsAris . With the
benefit of the visualization of
the ThirumEni, the samsAris are always able to
see that dhivyAthma svaroopam
(nithyam pasyanthi).
Beyond SrI VaradarAja PanchAsath
************************************************
Swamy Desikan's indescribable attachment to
Lord VaradarAjan is
mirrored in many other Sri Sookthis besides Sri
VaradarAja PanchAsath (e.g) :
NyAsa Dasakam( SaraNAgathi anushtAnam); NyAsa
Vimsathy ( the glories
of the SaraNAgathy performed at Varadhan's
Thiruvadi) ; Meyviratha Maanmiyam
( avathAra Vaibhavam of the Lord); Adaikkala Patthu
( Tamil Sri Sookthi elaborating
the Prapatthi at SaraNyan's sacred PaadhAravindham
) ; ArTa panchakam ;
Panniru ThirunAmam ( The twelve NaamAs of the
Lord starting with Kesavaa) ;
Sri VaishNava dinasari( Pancha Kaala Prakriyaa)
and Thirucchinna Maalai
( the echo of the rahsya thrayams in the sound of
Thirucchinnam of the Lord) .
Passing tributes are made to PEraruLALan in Rahasya
granthams like Rahasya
RathnAvaLi ( two Pasurams ) , PradhAna Sathakam ,
UpakAra Sangraham ,
Tathtva Navaneetham and Rahasya Padhavee
. In his magnum opus ,
SrImath Rahasya Thraya Saaram , Swamy Desikan
salutes VaradharAjan
profoundly in every one of the 32 chapters of this
SrI Sookthi. From the UpOthgAtham
(the first chapter) to Nigamanam ( the last chapter
) , moving tributes are made by
Swamy Desikan to Lord VaradharAjan
.
Successors of Swamy Desikan &
thier anubhavams
*******************************************************************
After Swamy Desikan's time , great AchAryAs like
Sri KumAra VaradhaacchAr
(Son of Swamy Desikan ) , The First Brahma Tantra
Swatantra Jeeyar Swamy
( Founder of the
ParakAla Matam and direct sishyar of Swamy Desikan ) ,
GadikA Satham AmmAl , Adhi VaNN SaThakOpa Jeeyar ,
Shashta ParAnkusa
MahA Desikan of AhObila Matam , His disciple Pancha
Matha Bhanjana
Taatha Desikan (1509-1591 C.E) , ThottayAcchAr
(author of Sri DEvarAja
Panchakam ) linked to a special moment in
PeraruLALan's Garuda SEvai ,
SrI Lakshmi KumAra Taatha Desikan ( 1572-1632 C.E)
known for his many
Kaimkaryams to the dhivya Dampathis of Hasthi Giri
, ArasANippAlai
SrI VenkatAdhwari Swamy , the nephew of SrI Taatha
Desikan ( author of
SrI VaradarAja Champu and SravaNAnandham , tributes
to the Lord of
Hasthi Giri) , Thirupputtkuzhi KrishNa TaathArya
Desikan ( b.1823 C.E) ,
PaancharAthra Aagama adhikAris like Archakam Sri
Raajam Bhattar ,
ThAyAr Sannidhi Archakam Sri VaradAcchAr Swamy and
many Mahaans
from neighboring agrahArams like NaavalpAkkam ,
VilliyampAkkam ,
spent their life time in Kaimkaryams to
Hasthigireesan and spread
the Bhagavath RamAnuja SiddhAntham .
A Tribute to
PeraruLALan
***********************************
Such is the glory of Atthigiri PeraruLALa
PerumAl and His divine
consort , Sri PerumdEvi ThAyAr .adiyEn concludes
this special
tribute by ThottAcchAr during the occasion of
VaikAsi Garuda SEvai
of the Lord :
yath Veda MouLi gaNa vEdhyam avEdhyam
anyai:
yath Brahma-rudra-sura naayaka mouLi
vandhyam
tath PadhmanAbha padha padhmam idham
manushyai:
sEvyam bhavathbhi: ithi darsayatheeva
Taarkshya:
(Meaning): The Vaibhavam of Lord
VaradarAjan's sacred feet are to be
comprehended with the help of Upanishads , which
form the head of
Vedams . Their vaibhavam can not be understood by
those , who do
not accept Vedams as PramANams .Those sacred feet
of the Lord
are worshipped by the siras of Brahma , Paramasivan
and IndhrAdfhi
devathais. Those sacred feet are soft and fragrant like the lotus
flower
arising out of the Naabhi of the Lord.The Veda
Moorthy Garudan carries
them in hand with reverence and reveals them to the
people to remind them
about the
importance of their (sacred feet's) worship .
NamO SrI VaradarAjAya ,
Daasan , Oppiliappan KOil VaradAchAri SadagOpan
P.S : Those who are
interested to immerse deeply in SrI VaradarAja
GuNAmrutha anubhavam
are directed to the 845 page comprehensive
Monograph by "Varadha
GuNAmrutha Varshi " R. SrinivAsa Varadha
TaathAcchAr Swamy
duirng Vikrama , Kaarthikai anusham (Nov 26, 2000).
Yahoo! Groups Links
|
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia |
oppiliappan-subscribe@yahoogroups.com To subscribe to the list |