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
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