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Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00061 Jul 2003

 
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SrI:

Dear BhakthAs:

Our dear SrI Sadagopan Iyengar posted a beautiful 
article on ThiruvAttARu, a dhivya dEsam sung by
Swamy NammAzhwAr in ThiruvAimozhi: 10.6 decad.
Sriman Raghavan Gopalan has added more information on
this dhivya desam . Ten years ago , adiyEn had the bhAgyam to
write a 400 plus manuscript in Tamil regarding the 108 dhivya
desams and AzhwAr's anubhavams in Tamil. That is
resting pretty . adiyEn will take this opportunity 
now to translate from there the section on 
ThiruvAttARu highlighting Swamy NammAzhwAr's
paasurams.

Location:
*********
This dhivya desam is 24 miles to the south of 
Thiruvananthapuram on the road leading to Naagar Koil. 
Here, AdhikEsava PerumAL is resting under AshtAnga 
VimAnam looking westward. ThAyAr's Thiru Naamam is 
Maragathavalli NaacchiyAr. The garbha graham is vast 
as at Thiruvananthapuram with three gates.On the right hand
side gate, we have the sEvai of Thirumudi and Thirumukham
(Crown and Face).In the middle gate , Thiru Udharam (Stomach
region and the lotus creeper from the nabhi of the Lord 
with Brahma is seen. On the left hand side gate, the sacred 
feet of the Lord is seen. This sevai of the limbs of 
the Lord at ThiruvAttARu from right to left is the reverse of 
the sevai at Thiruvananthapuram. The AshtAnga VimAnam at 
ThiruvAttARu is similar to the VimAnam at Thiruvananthapuram. 
Just as Lord RanganAthA's and Lord YathOkthakAri's sevai are
the reverse of each other , those of SrI AnanathapadhmanAbhan
at Thiruvananthapuram is the reverse of SrI Adhi Kesavan
at ThriuvAttARu. There is a beautiful river behind 
the temple , wehre my fsther and myself performed 
our evening sandhyA Vandhanam on the day of visit
some twenty plus years ago. I have forgotten the name of 
the river now. Is it ThiruvAttAru? 

Swamy NammAzhwAr's Paasurams on ThiruvAttARu
**********************************************
Prior to the ThiruvAimozhi(TVM) of 10.6 decad , Swamy
NammAzhwAr performed ParOpadesam for the chEthanams
on how to recieve Sriman NaarAyaNan's anugraham(TVM:10.5)
in his role as an AchAryan. This decad starts with
the following Paasuram :

KaNNan KazhaliNai naNNUm manamudayeer
yeNNUm Thiru Naamam , tiNNam NaaraNamE

His ParOpadEsam was to perform AshtAkshara manthra Japam ,
which incorporates inside it the powerful NaarAyaNa
Sabdham in the manner recommended by Naarada Kalpam.
This kalpam states that great sages like Sanakar 
attained Parama Padham by reciting AshtAksharam:

bhahavO hi mahAthmAnO munaya: SanakAdhaya:
ashtAksharam samAsrithya tE jagmur-VaishNavam padham

AzhwAr instructed those , who wish to take refuge at
the sacred feet of KaNNan ( KaNNan kazhaliNai naNNum 
Manamudayeer) to perform japam ( NamO NaarAyaNAya).
He recommended them to pick unfaded flowers in 
the early morning and to get to Bhagavath SannidhAnam
and offer those flowers with Naama sankeerthanam 
to the Lord for attaining Vaikuntha PrApthi without
fail.He gave a sure recipe for liberation from 
the cycles of births and deaths :

naaDeer naadORum , vaadA malar koNDu
paadeeravan nAmam, VeeDE peRalAmE

Please recite His naamAs. Think of Him 
(NaaraNammAn PaaraNangALanai ninaimin).
All your karmAs (vinaikaL ) will be destroyed.
This was Swamy NammAzhwAr's hithOpadEsam for us.

After this upadEsam , Swamy NammazhwAr realized that 
the purpose of his avathAram was nearing completion as
he performed MangaLAsAsanam at ThiruvAttARu.
He was thrilled to know that the Lord of ThiruvAttARu 
was signaling him about his ascent to His Parama Padham. 
Thru the ten songs starting with " aruL PeRuvAr adiyAr",
Swamy NammAzhwAr extended his namskArams and gratitude
to ThiruvAttARAn.

Paasuram 1:
***********
aruL peRuvAradiyAr tammaDiyanERkku , AazhiyAn
aruL taruvAnamaihinrAnathu NAMATHU VITHI VAHAYE
iruL taru maagn~AlatthuLiinip-piRavi yAnn vENDEn
maruLozhi nee mada nenjE VaattARRANadi vanangE

AzhwAr became very joyous over the Lord's acceptance
of his request to ascend(return) to Parama Padham. 
In a happy frame of mind, AzhwAr began his conversation 
with his mind (Maanasa sambhOdhanam).

Oh my foolish mind! Our Lord has blessed us with 
the great boon that we requested of Him. Due to
our good fortune, our Lord who knows of our great
love for Him has showered His dayA . He has lifted us now
with His powerful arms from the deep ocean of SamsAram
(kai laahu kodutthu)and helped us to join Him at
His Supreme abode.Until now, we spent our time on
His earth performing mangaLAsAsanam to His ArchA Moorthams
at Dhivya dEsams , meditating upon His Vibhava avathaarams 
and performing kaimkaryams to His BhAgavathAs. The phalan from 
all such Kaimkaryams to Bhagavan and His BhAgavathAs is being 
fulfilled now.End is approaching for stay in this sorrowful 
SamsAric world (Mayarvu niRaintha intha periya prAkrutha 
lokatthil janmam yedukka vENDiyathu yenRa dhukkamAna 
vishayam ozhinthu vittathu).

Oh my mind! Our lingering predisposition (Chapalam) 
to perform additional MangaLAsAsanams at other 
dhivya desams has diminished now thanks to the Lord's 
boon to help us ascend His parama padham and serve
Him there with the nithya sooris and muktha jeevans.
This is firm now. Therefore, my dear mind! please banish 
any of your remaining ajn~Anam and spend the little time 
left on earth to contemplate on the sacred feet of 
the Lord of ThiruvAttARu. Please accede to my request 
and think of travel by the archirAdhi maargam alone 
thru the route of Bhagavath dhyAnam from here on .

Oh my dear mind! You are familiar with BhagavAn's upadEsam
to Arjuna in the battle field : "TasmAth sarvEshu kAlEshu
yOga yukthO bhavArjuna ". Please turn your attention to
the travel by ArchirAdhi maargam led by Archis (agni) 
and with other eleven guides/companions therefter to 
reach Brahma Padham. For us there is no longer any
worry or fear about births and deaths in this samsAric world.
We are destined to travel on the AirchirAdhi maargam (DevayAna
path) , banish our maruL (thirOdhAnam) , attain Jn~Ana
Svaroopam and become " apahatha-pApmathvaadhi sathyasankalpathva 
paryantha" guNakan . With the acquisition of apahatha-pApmathvam,
we are not influenced anymore by PuNyam and Paapam as mukthans
thanks to the anugraham of our Sathya Sankalpan,ThiruvAttARAn.
As BhUma VidhyA of ChandhOgyam teaches us , we attain the status
of " Aathma rathi: Aathma kreeDa: Aathma miTuna: AathmAnandha:",
which is the status of a Muktha Jeevan. As ChandhOgyam reveals
furhter , " AsmAth Sareeraath samuTTAya Param JyOthi Roopam 
sampadhya svEna roopENa abhinishpadhyathE" , we exit from 
this material and perihable body and attain Param JyOthi.
Swamy NammAzhwAr appeals to his mind in this cotext: 
" MaDa nenjE ! maruL-ozhi-VaattARRAn adi vaNangE".

Second & Third Paasurams:
*************************
VaattARRAn adi vaNangi maajn~Ala piRappu aRuppAn
kEttAyE mada nenjE KesavanempirAnai
paattAya pal paadip-pazhavinaikaL paRRaRutthu
nAttOdiyalvozhinthu NaarANanai naNNinamE

Our sampradhAyam asks us to utter the name of
Kesavan before travels. SwAmi NammAzhwAr addresses 
(Aadhi) Kesavan in this context as he starts his
journey to SrI Vaikuntam .

AzhwAr says: " adiyEn has completed many prabhandhams
to sing His praise ; adiyEn has performed many parOpadEsams 
thru these prabhandhams and adiyEn is blessed with 
the boon of Moksham so adiyEn is readying myself to travel 
to SrI Vaikuntam. He in His infinite grace is rapidly 
rushing towards me with eagerness ( maNN ulahil vaLam 
mikka VaattARRAn vanthu inRu ViNNulaham taruvAnAi ,
vithi vahayE viraihinRAn). The Lord of ThiruvAttARU 
celebrated for His limitless sakthi and keerthi is rushing 
to appear before me with alacrity with the intention of 
granting residence in His parama padham to adiyEn. 
He says to me that He needs few more paasurams from me 
and therfore is reasoning that adiyEn should tarry a little
to complete that kaimkaryam instead of joining Him 
immediately.Inspite of this short delay , He has assured me
that He is coming .He permits me to hear His Noopura nAdham
(Sathangai oli to assure His start of the journey towards me).
This parama bhAgyam is engineered by Him and nothing
that was accomplished is by us . Swamy NammAzhwAr expresses 
these thoughts in his third Paasuram on this dhivya dEsam:

naNNinam NaarAyananai nAmangaL pala solli
maNNUlahil valam mikka VaattARRAn vanthinRu
viNNulaham taruvAnAi viraihinRAn vithi vahayE
yeNNinavARAvik-karumangaL yennenjE

Fourth Paasuram
****************
In this Paasuram , Swamy NammAzhwAr identifies 
Adhi Kesavan of ThiruvAttARu as the One , who 
empowered him to sing about the sahasra namAms of 
His and enabled him to compose his Tamizh prabhandhams 
on Him:

yennenjatthu irundhu angirandhutamizh noolivai mozhindhu
vannenjatthu IraNiyanai mArvidanatha VaattARRAn
mannanjab-bhArathatthup-PaaNDavarkkai padai thottAn
nannenjE NamperumAn namakkaruL thAnn seyvAnE

Our Lord of ThiruvAttARu is the One who destroyed
the hard hearted HiraNyan , assisted the PaaNDavAs 
in the Bhaaratha yuddham by blowing His conch in 
the middle of the battle field, and got ready to use 
His chakram to the dismay of BhishmAcchAr but 
desisted finally from using it. Oh My dear mind! Please offer
your salutations to this mysterious Lord Adhi Kesavan!
This Lord , who composed the Tamizh Prabhandhams through
me will bless us with Moksha sukham.He abandoned 
the minds of nithyasooris and His bhAgavathAs on earth
and chose my mind (you) as His place of residence.
He made the most difficult to understand Sanskrit
vedAs easy to understand by all through choosing
the language for the Prabhandhams as Tamil and
released them through me. Thereafter, He has extended
His invitation for us to join Him in SrI Vaikuntam.
We have reached the status of people, whose wishes
have come true.

Fifth Paasuram
***************
VaanERa vazhi tantha VaattARRAn paNi vahayE
naanERap-peruhinREn narahatthai nahu nenjE
tEnErumalart-tuLavam thihazh paadhan sezhum paavai
tAnERit-tirivAn tann thALiNai yenn talai mElE

Oh My Mind ! following the dictat of VishNu Dharmam,
"nAham uthsrujya Govindham anyam aarAdhayAmi bhO:" ,
adiyEn will not perform aarAdhanam for anyone except
Govindhan.With practise of this vow, adiyEn has been
blessed to ascend to His Parama Padham. adiyEn has
assembled the courage to follow the way shown by
Adhi Kesavan of ThiruvAttARu and acquired the power to
laugh at the Naraham , which is SamsAra MaNDalam.
adiyEn's vinais have been destroyed.The Lord adorned
with His Sacred TuLasi garlands has transported Himself on
Garudan to rush to my side and has placed His sacred feet ,
which normally adorns the hands of Garudan , on my head 
as alankAram. As for myself , adiyEn is beaming with joy
over the thought that adiyEn is about to ascend Parama Padham 
through His grace.

(To Be Continued)

Daasan Oppilaippan Koil VardAchAri SadagOpan
. 




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