SrI: Dear BhakthAs : After the most memorable Visva Roopa Sevai of SrI RanganAthan , there was the whole day left still to plan an additional trip to a dhivya dEsam not too far from Trichy . adiyEn was thinking about a visit to Anbil and AppakudatthAn( ThiruppEr Nagar near Koiladi) . My nephew , Sri V.Srikanth , the Regional General Manager for "The Hindu " tilted the decison scale in favor of Thiru Naagai . His observation was that the Soundharyam of the EmperumAn of Thiru Naagai was matchless and that I should not miss the opportunity . As a bonus , I had the opportunity to add one more dhivya dEsam ( ThirukkaNNangudi ) during this day long trip . Visit to Thiru Naagai celebrated by Thirumangai *************************************************** Here came Thirumangai Mannan in search of funds to complete the Mathil Kaimkaryam for Lord RanganAthan . Buddhism was strong in Naaga PattiNam in those days and they were rich and led a comfortable , nonascetic life . There was a big golden statue of Buddha at the Buddha VihAram at Naagai (SoodAMaNi VihAram going back to 3rd Century B.C/KIng AshOkA's time ) and it was well protected as well . Kaliyan , who raided SrIman NaarAyaNan Himself in His PoorvAsramam to perform TadhiyAraadhanam for Sri VaishNavAs did not hesitate to enter the Buddha VihAram at night , silence the alarms and walked away with the treasure . Thirumangai rushed off to Srirangam , melted the huge gold statue , cashed the proceeds and used the monies to build the PrAkArams ( MathiLkaL) or Flag mast at Srirangam , which we see even today . Back at Thiru Naagai , Thirumangai was overtaken by the extraordinary beauty of Soundarya Raajan and gasped for words to describe that exquisite beauty and ended his ten paasurams with the two words : " acchO azhagiyavaa ". We will study the pasurams of Thirumangai next . Thriu Naagai Paasurams ************************** Thiru Naagai Paasurams follow that of the ThirukkaNangudi Paasurams . The night before arriving at Thiru Naagai Kaliyan had rested under a Mahizham tree in the prAkAram of the Lord at ThirukkaNNangudi after his mangaLAsAsanam of that Divya dEsa EmperumAn all day. As he rested under the shade of PerumAL's vimAnam at ThirukkaNNangudi , Kaliyan worked out the scheme to enter the Buddha VihAram at Naagai to remove the golden statue of BuddhA , which was well protected . Thirumangai travelled next day from ThirukkaNNangudi to Thiru Naagai to accomplish His mission of removing the golden BuddhA statue . At Naagai , He performed MangaLAsAsanam first for SoundararAjan . The matchless beauty of SoundararAjan transformed him into the mind set of a woman( ParakAla Naayaki) to have samslEsham (union) with the Lord as " her " Naayakan . At the beginning , Kaliyan in a state of being blinded by the beauty of Soundara Raajan is unable to identify the captivating Lord in front of him . He wonders whether it is Thirukkudanthai AarAvamudhan in whose beauty he (Kaliyan ) lost his mind earlier ( punal soozh Kudanthaik- kidantha sEdarkol yenRu terikka maattEn) . AzhwAr as ParakAla Naayaki is unable to determine whether it was AarAvamudhan , who was in front of him . In the subsequent paasurams , ParakAla Naayaki soaks deeper into the aanandhAnubhavam of the unparalleled beauty of Thiru Naagai EmperumAn and wonders whether He is the beautiful EmperumAns , who have captivated him earlier at Thirumeyyam , Kaanchi (VaradarAjan) , Srirangam (RanganAthan ) , Neer VaNNan of Thiruneer Malai , UrayUr PerumAl , Tenn Madhurai EmperumAn and ThirumAlirumchOlai Sundara Raajan ( Aazhagar) .Lord's maayam holds sway . Unable to identify the Lord appropriately , Kaliyan goes onto think that the most beautiful Lord in front of him could be either the golden Moorthy inside the Aaadhithya MaNDalam or VibhavAthara KaNNan or the Kutti KaNNan in His Baala GopAla roopam as He floated on the banyan leaf during the time of deluge . Finally , his confusions are gone and Kaliyan correctly recognizes the Lord appearing before him as " azhahiyavan " or Soundara Raajan of Naagai dhivya dEsam . Excerpts from the Paasurams attest to the exalted enjoyment of the soundharyam of the Lord of Thiru Naagai by Kaliyan : " pal maNi mutthodu ilangu sOthi, aadaham pooNDa oru naanku thOLum acchovoru azhahiyavaa " --- --- Paasuram 2 . (Meaning): He shines with many kinds of gems and pearls as a Param jyOthi with four beautiful shoulders as Soundarya Raajan . "-- -- perithum iLayar , sempavaLam ivar vaayin vaNNam dEvar ivarathu uruvam sollil , ampavaLat-tiraLEyum oppar acchovoru azhahiyavaa " -- -- Paasuram 4 (Meaning ): He is very young , nithya yuvA . His lips are most beautiful and resemble a ripe , red coral . If one wishes to describe the beautiful form of this divine person , it is like that of the soundaryam of a red coral bunch . Kaliyan repeatedly states that he does not recall seeing this beautiful Lord anywhere before ( " ivar tammai paNDu kaNDaRiyOm ) . Kaliyan describes the ThirunAgai PerumAL as " kaNDAr vaNangum anjana maamalai" ( the great mountain of coleryum before whom every one prostrates in wonderment). He describes the Lord's lotus-soft ThirumEni as being equal to the dark rainy clouds ( pankayam anna mEniyum vaanatthu aNikezhu maamuhilEyum oppar acchovoru azhahiyavaa). In the final phala sruthi paasuram , BhagavAn of ThirunAgai removes all identity confusions and Kaliyan recognizes and salutes Him as NaagapattiNatthu SoundararAjan : annamum kEzhalum meenumAya aadhiyai NAHAI AZHAHIYAARAI kanni nann maamathiL Mangai vEndhan kaamaruseer KalikanRi kunrA innisaaRc-chonna senchsonnmAlai yEzhumiraNdum onrum vallaar mannavarAi ulahu aNDu meenDum vAnavarAimahizhvu yeythuvarE (Meaning ): Those who master the ten paasurams of Thirumangai Mannan's on the Lord of ThirunAgai , who incarnated as Hamsam , VarAham and Mathsyam will unfailingly rule this world and thereafter reach Parama Padham and enjoy the BrahmAnandham there . SthaLa VisEsham ****************** This dhivya dEsam is known as Naagai because the Lord of this dhivya dEsam is prathyaksham to Naaga Raajan .It is a port city and hence it is called PattiNam . Through the reference to " Naahai AzhahiyAr " in the 10th Paasuram , it becomes clear that all the ten Paasurams are about Naagai's most beautiful SoundararAjan . The beauty of the Lord of Naagai is seen to be believed . His beauty is indeed captivating . A family was performing ThirukkalyANa Uthsavam for Him on the day of adiyEn's visit . He was even more radiant during this occasion . The Bhattars are old fashioned and their upachArams to their Lord are full of Bhakthi bhAvam . They do not rush anything . The bhattars invited me to stay after the Lord's ThirukkalyANam and enjoy the KalyANa SaappAdu. adiyEn gladly accepted and the items were like nectar. PerumAL's name is Soundarya Raajan . ThAyAr's name is Soundharya Valli . The vimAnam is Soundarya VimAnam .PushkaraNee is Saara PushkarNee . The Lord is Prathyaksham to Thirumangai AzhwAr and Naaga Raajan . In the next posting , adiyEn will describe my visit to the dhivya dEsam of ThirukkaNNangudi, one of the Pancha KrishNa kshEthrams of ChOLa dEsam . NamO Sri RanganAthAya , Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil V.Sadagopan Srimate Sri Laksminrisimha Divya Paduka Sevaka Srivan Satakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya Nama: ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $9.95 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything. http://us.click.yahoo.com/J8kdrA/y20IAA/yQLSAA/VkWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SriRangaSri/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: SriRangaSri-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
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