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Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya Nama:



ThirunAvAi



Quiet flows the BhAratapuzhA, its pace sedate and tranquil, like a mature 
person, the years of frenetic activity and furious efforts in pursuit of 
materialistic pleasures behind him. The river has journeyed over hill and dale, 
irrigating thousands of acres of land turned golden with fertility, rushing 
headlong into valleys when laden with freshets. The longest river in Kerala 
State, it is verily the Provider for thousands of agriculturists living along 
its picturesque banks spread over hundreds of miles. It is their source of 
happiness, its waters unfailingly assisting them in their husbandry, year after 
year.



Among the thousands who have made the banks of the BhAratapuzhA their home, is 
one Farmer too. One might ask what is so special about this Farmer, when there 
are thousands of others. The important difference between this cultivator and 
others is in the crop they raise. While others grow crops like paddy, maize, 
plantain, sugarcane, etc., this farmer specialises in agriculture of 
unimaginable proportions, raising Jeevatmas implanted in the soil of Karma. He 
proudly watches over His growing crop day by day, ever vigilant against the 
damage that the rodents of Maya and the allied pests of KAma, KrOdha, etc. can 
cause to the fledgling nursery. He applies in adequate measure the fertilisers 
of Sathya and Dharma and sprays insecticides of just punishment. He and His 
Wife, equally concerned about the welfare of their human crops, tend to them 
with anxiety, burning a lot of midnight oil. When the crops grow knee high and 
sway gracefully in the wind, the Farmer and His Wife stand on the raised piece 
of land above the fields, proudly surveying their handiwork, manifested in the 
form of golden crops. The farming couple also engage a watchman called Acharya 
to ensure that the crop is given all the nutrition it needs and is immunised 
from evil influences.



As the day of harvest approaches, the Divine Farmer and His Consort grow more 
nervous, hoping against hope that their crop would retain its good health till 
the end. However, as Providence would have it, the crops, imbibing some dormant 
disease of long standing from the soil of Karma, start withering away 
gradually, leaving a field of decayed stems where there stood healthy sprouts 
weighed down with golden ears of corn. The Farmer and His wife are heart-broken 
that their innumerable days and nights of hard toil has failed to yield the 
bountiful harvest they looked forward to. However, they are not the ones to 
give up. They clear the field of the dead crop and make it ready for another 
crop, ever optimistic (despite repeated failures) that each batch would yield 
them at least a few sacks of corn (the mahatmas who surrender to the Lord with 
the realisation that He is indeed everything).



The Lord is indeed hopeful from each batch of Jeevas turned out from the 
factory of Creation, that they, at least, would not go the way of their 
forebears, and would definitely rise above the pestilential influences of the 
Six Enemies (KAma, Krodha, Lobha, MOha, Mata and MAtsarya). In their infancy, 
the Jeevas do display signs of promise. They look set to tread the path of 
liberation that the Lord wants them to traverse. However, the unbreakable 
shackles of Karma prove too strong for most of them and they change directions 
midway, switching to the path leading back to the abyss of Samsara, from which 
they had emerged with a lot of effort. Slowly but surely, they are sucked once 
more into its swirling vortex, helpless and beyond help. Only a few are brave 
and steadfast enough to disregard the wrong pointers they come across on the 
path and stick to the well-trodden trail to eternal happiness and deliverance, 
gladdening the hearts of the Lord that at least this many could be saved out of 
the total production.



The Lord is thus an Eternal Farmer ("KrishIvala:"), raising one batch of human 
crop after another and providing them all that is required to overcome the 
bonds of Karma. Though only a negligible portion of the total crop survives and 
makes it to the gates of Paradise, the Farmer never gives up and persists with 
the process of Creation, in the fond hope that one day, hopefully not too 
distant in the Cosmic Future, every single Jeevatma would share with Him the 
immeasurable bliss that He and those He has saved, enjoy for ever. He employs 
ever-watchful Acharyas to turn errant souls in the right direction, but many a 
time Jeevas listen to the Acharyas with apparently rapt attention, but go their 
own delinquent ways thereafter, while the fortunate few who retain the 
preceptor's homilies build upon them to emerge successful in surmounting the 
innumerable obstacles on their path to Paradise.



Coming back to the BhAratapuzhA and the Eternal Farmer, we find that the latter 
has chosen to locate His farmstead on the banks of this glorious river. Much in 
the fashion of the Ganga and the Cauvery, the Bharatapuzha too practically 
washes the holy feet of the NavA Mukundan (as the Keralites call Him fondly), 
the presiding deity of ThirunAvAi, a divyadesam sung with verve by two of the 
most prolific Azhwars, Sri Satakopan and Sri Thirumangai Mannan. While the 
latter makes a mere passing reference to this Emperuman at the fag end of 
Periya Thirumozhi in a pasuram addressed jointly to ThirukkOttiyur and 
ThirunAvai, Sri Nammazhwar devotes all of ten pasurams to this Lord. Curiously, 
however, neither Azhwar makes a mention of the Bharatapuzha, which is indeed 
puzzling, considering Azhwars' propensity for painstakingly vivid description 
of the locales of each divyadesam. Though we find Sri Kalian singing paeans of 
praise in favour of the Ganga (while eulogizing the Lords at Badarikashramam, 
Thiruppiridhi, etc.) and that of the Cauvery at numerous other places, neither 
he nor Sri Nammazhwar speaks a word about the PuzhA! 



One thing that appeals most to Sri Nammazhwar is the dense flower-filled groves 
and gardens of ThirunAvAi, which he remarks about repeatedly, no less than five 
times in ten pasurams-

"KondhAr malar sOlaigaL soozh ThirunAvAi"

"VandAr malar sOlaigaL soozh ThirunAvAi"

NediyAn urai sOlaigaL soozh ThirunAvAi"

NeeLAr malar sOlaigaL soozh ThirunAvAi"

Veri thaN malar sOlaigaL soozh ThirunAvAi" 



According to the locals, this Lord Mukunda of ThirunAvAi, true to His 
tirunAmam, is capable of bestowing Paramadam on His devotees. This is in tune 
with the Azhwar's thiruvuLLam too, for he says that all sins are destroyed, 
once we fix our minds on the Lord of ThirunAvAi-"arukkum vinai Ayina, Agatthu 
avanai nirutthum manatthondriya chintayinArkku". Not only does this Emperuman 
remove all our Karmas which stand as obstacles in our spiritual progress, but 
He also endows us with unblemished wisdom, enabling us to realise clearly our 
own svarUpam, that of the Lord's, and the strategy we have to adopt for lifting 
ourselves up from this mundane morass and for attaining eternal bliss in the 
company of the Lord and His devotees. This is brought out by Azhwar's 
sreesokti,"MaruLE indri unnai en nenjatthu irutthum teruLE taru then ThirunAvAi 
en dEvE!". From this, it is clear that when Azhwar acknowledges Emperuman's 
mercy in endowing him (Azhwar) with all-encompassing wisdom in the very first 
pasuram of Thiruvaimozhi ("Mayarvara madhi nalam aruLinan evan avan"), he is 
referring to only the Lord of ThirunAvAi, who has destroyed his "maruL" or 
agyAnam and blessed him with "TeruL" or crystal-clear perception.



The Lord, in His arcchAvatAra (the forms He assumes in various temples) is none 
other than the Paramapurusha. For the benefit of devotees who may have a doubt 
in this regard, Azhwar repeatedly addresses the Lord of ThirunAvAi as the 
Supreme Being Sriman Narayana, emphasizing their identity-

"nAvAi uraigindra en NAraNa nambI!"

"ViNNALan virumbi urayum ThirunAvAi"

"navai il ThirunAraNan sEr ThirunAvAi"

"Moovar mudalvan oru moo ulagAli

dEvan virumbi urayum ThirunAvai"

It is thus clear that the Lord of ThirunAvAi is no different from the Lord of 
Sri Vaikuntam, the Supreme Lord of all Creation. The purport behind all this is 
to emphasize that this Mukunda can indeed deliver from us samsara and afford us 
eternal bliss.



ThirunAvAi has another colourful feather in its cap, one that perhaps no other 
divyadesam can boast of- it is a place where the Lord is happy to reside in. He 
takes pleasure in being a resident of ThirunAvAi, according to Sri Nammazhwar, 
who says this not once but twice, for good measure-

"dEvan virumbi urayum ThirunAvAi"

"ViNNALan virumbi urayum ThirunAvAi"



It would be apparent from the second quote that the Lord takes greater pleasure 
in residing at ThirunAvAi than at Sri Vaikuntam. The reasons for His preference 
are not far to seek. The bewitching natural beauty of the place, surrounded by 
dense flower groves and gardens, with the beautiful BhAratapuzha flowing at a 
stone's throw from the sanctum sanctorum, the fragrant breeze, laden with the 
heavy scent of flowers from the opposite shore tickling His nostrils pleasantly 
and the wholesome and serene atmosphere of divinity and pure devotion that 
characterizes the place-all these add up to an extremely tranquil scenario, 
which makes for an ideal abode for the Lord.



The name of the divyadesam too is unique- "nAvAi" means a boat: this, however, 
is no ordinary boat. It can ferry us far, from these mundane shores to those of 
Paradise, navigating quickly and safely on the sea of samsara filled with 
dangerous predators. Another feature of distinction here is the separate 
sannidhi for "Malarmangai nAcchiar", as the divyadesams in Kerala do not have 
separate shrines for Piratti. This Lord is supposed to have blessed Gajendra, 
in commemoration of which the statue of an elephant stands near the Lord's flag 
mast. Performance of pitru kAryAs here is supposed to ensure salvation to one's 
forefathers.



The bewitching tirumEni of the Lord at this place fills one's minds long after 
one has taken leave of Him, after a satisfying and rewarding mangalAsAsanam. 
And its peace, calm, tranquillity and divinity stay etched in one's mind.

The mind hankers after another glimpse of this Lord, after the Azhwar's own 
experience-" kaNNAra kaLikkindradu ingu endru kol kaNgaL?".



For intending visitors, this divyadesam is well connected by road and rail, 
though only the slower trains stop at ThirunAvAi (pronounced "ThirunAvAya" by 
the locals). The neighbouring Kuttipuram is a major town on the national 
highway to Calicut and plenty of buses/cabs are available from and to all major 
destinations. Further details are available on Sri (Bahrain) Venkat's website 
www.srivaishnavam.com, which is of great help in planning journeys to MalainAdu 
divyadesams, apart from affording a wealth of information on all aspects of our 
Sampradaya.



Srimate Sri LakshmInrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana 
Yatindra Mahadesikaya Nama:

Dasan, sadagopan

















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