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Srimadh Azhagiya Singar thiruvadikaLE saraNam

 Dear bAgawathAs,

 thiru viNNagarath thEn - part 2 - Poruth "thEn"
****************************************************
 (Prior to embarking  on this small journey  of  drenching in various
 "thEn", one will attempt to dwell on a  common question in adiyEn's
 and many other similar bAgawathAs's mind. ie.. Why make a "big deal"
 out  of   this  reference  to "thEn" and other such words used in a
 simple  poetic reference. These poetic references are anyway common
 to many  other such poems. In  this part the question on use of uncommon
 words are discussed. A brief analysis is  attempted  as to why tamil
 vEdham is called as tamizh maRai and maRaith "thEn"?  The tamil word
 maRaiththEn means I have hidden something.) Finally the first of the
 21 thEn namely poRuth "thEn" is dealt.

 Dear bAgawathAs,

 maraith "thEn"

    In  some  of the poorvAchAryA vyAkyAnams on tamil prabhandhams
 Samskritham  has  been  referred  as the "muRattu bAshai" (tough to
 "learn & use" language).  It is felt that the samskritha vada mozhi
 is not understandable by many commoners. Ofcourse Sanskrit is one of
 the oldest and most beautiful language and for every Srivaishanva
 both tamil and sanskrit are like their two eyes. AzhwArs incarnated
 as  per Sriman nArAyanA's  thiru  uLLam  and  delivered  the  vEdhams in an
 extremely  easy  to  learn and talk language, ie. tamil. It is said
 that those  tamil vEdhams are not only easy to learn, they are also
 undiluted, unambiguous  and  unadulterated in  their  meanings  for
 samskrtiha vEdhams. While  it  is said so,  there  are  many AzhwAr
 pasurams that  contain  certain complex  or sometime compounded and
 uncommonly used tamil words as  main  references.  Some   of  these
 references are hidden in a  compounded   word   ("thEn"  references
 of  this  series  such as  thuRan"thEn", maRan"thEn" etc).  Someone
 may think that "why  all  these  "muRattu   vArtthaigaL"  (words that are
 somewhat difficult to pronounce and understand)  are  being used in
 the supposedly easy to understand "tamil vEdham"?. Some of these
 references  are mostly on the surroundings of the divya dEsams.
The  compounded  and hidden words are mainly on  the beauty
and  specialty  of  the  buildings, fields, trees, gardens, flowers,
honey,  bees  and  the  rivers in a divya dEsam.  Why not they simply
refer  to  the  divya  dEsams alone and be upto the point (*)?
Is it simply to fill in the  lines to suit  the  poetic meter and standards
alone? ie..They fill  in the poetic meter adopted in that pathigam.
It   is common to any  poetry.  However, a person who is not so
familiar with poetic tamil  may get tired of some of these repeated
references.

     We are all taught that  the  AzhwAr  Sri sukthis are not mere
 mortal poems such that one can simply look at them  in  the  poetic
 sense alone and be content with that.  It  is  said  that  they are
 embedded with layers of inner meanings.  That is why  AchAryA after
 AchAryA incarnated and delivered so many wonderful  vyAkyAnams that
 are so unique only to Srivaishnava Sri Sukthis. (Though  shaivaites
 have their own score of tamil granthams in numbers, it is said that
 they donot have  many meaningful vyAkyAnams such as ours). If these
 pasurams are using very complex compounded & hidden words and  have
 layers of inner meanings, then comes the question as to how one can
 call the tamil prabhandhams as something that is very  "clear,
 unambiguous" and so on in their effort to  provide  clear  meanings
 for vEdhams. It  is  a  very valid question.

 The tamil word "maRai" means hide something. ie..They   (samskritha
 vEdham) hide the thatthuvam of "param poruL" such that many are not
 clear about it. Hence the samskritha vEdham is  named  as  "maRai" or hide.
 Since tamizh is  so sweet as "thEn", the  tamil vEdham can be called
 as  maRaith"thEn". However thamizh vEdhams never hid the concept of
 para thaththuvam.  They were pretty open about  it, and forthcoming
 and straight forward as to who is the paramAthmA.  In  this  sense,
 the tamil vEdham or the 4000 pAsurams are what they are meant to be
 and known for (Swami dEsikan's reference "theLiyAtha maRai nilangaL
 theRiginROmE"). But many poorvAchAryAs call divya prabhandhams also
 as "thamizh maRai". Is  it a simple common terminology to call them
 as vEdham? If these pasurams are  NOT  hiding  the  para thatthuvam,
 then why is it called as  "maRai" again?  or else what is it hiding
 this time around?  It is said that these pasurams are also somewhat
 secretive and not "very open" in  describing about the many of  the
 paths  that  lead to the said paramAthmA. ie.. One may ask, "What's
 the point in simply learning who is the paramAthmA  and not knowing
 what  to  do with that knowledge (on "who is the paramAthmA")?.

    One must also  learn  that the  purpose of the jeevAthmA is to
 serve the paramAthmA (divya  dampathis) eternally.  Such "kainkarya
 prAptthi"  is "always" possible only by attaining  mOksham.  There
 were many mArgAs that the vEdhAs have preached for  one  to  attain
 brahmam. However our AchAryAs  emphasis  that  many of these mArgAs
 are not possible for the "kali yuga boolOga vAsis" to do,  as  they
 require extremely rigorous pursuit that are not  feasible  for  the
 samsAris of kali.  The  tamil vEdham incarnated in boolOgam towards
 the beginning of kali. Their purpose was not only to establish very
 clearly  as  to who is paramAthmA,  but  also  to  part  with  some
 knowledge as to how the kali yuga vAsis can attain the same.

      The only mArgam that "suit" the boolOga vAsis in kali is the
 saranAgathi or prapatthi mArgam. There  were  several references to
 AzhwAr  doing  saranAgathi   to the Lord. However, these references
 were interpreted  differently by  different  SrivaishnavAs. Some of
 them argue that these references are not necessarily talking  about
 prapatti or saranagathi mArgam as such and question these  mArgams.
 These references were somewhat implicit about  the  yAgam or ritual
 saranagathi.  Hence  it  somehow  makes  one  feel that these tamil
 vEdhams as "thamizh maRai". ie, These also hide the true  nature of
 the main and only mArgam that is easy to pursue in kali. It is said
 that due to some reasons divya dampathis  made  only  Srivaishnavas
 know  about  the para thatthuvam very clearly. It is also said that
 due  to  some  other reasons,  only a few  among them  were  made to
 understand  the  implicit references to the prapati mArgam.  Thanks
 to many of our poorvAchAryAs who wrote about these.  The references
 to  saranagathi,  its  angAs,  angis  are  derived  and  understood
 from these pAsurams from AzhwAr Sri sukthis due to these vyAkyAnams(*).

 Many poorvAchAryAs  beginning from  Sri peria vAcchAn  pillai  have
 explicitely   mentioned   about  this  prapatthi  mArgam  in  their
 vyAkyAnams for these pasurams. This is a knowledge one may have  to
 obtain  from the sadAchAryA's kAlakshEmam of these 4000 pasurams. Of this
 knowledge, the most important knowledge is to do a "saranAgathi" or
 "Athma samarpanam" at the holy feet of the divya dampathis "through
 a sadhAchAryA".  How can one  do  such  saranAgathi and  what  does
 one  do  after   doing saranAgathi ? In what way all these analysis
 and the current flow of thEnARu can explain this ?

 maRaitha "thEn" ?

       The actions one has to perform as being a prapanna  are the
 essence of some of these pasurams we deal in this series.  However,
 these pAsurams are very candid  about all these information and  we
 have to gain the understanding of them  after   doing  kAlakshEbham from a
 sadhAchArya.  Having  mentioned  a bit about the saranAgathi
 margam and  its most  suitable nature, it is  time  to  deal  those
 "muRattu vARtthaigaL"  and hidden references in  tamil  vEdham. Why
 did they hide this concept (saranagathi mArgam, prapanna  shAshtram
 and the description of our destiny)? In tamil  maRaitha"thEn" means
 why did you hide ?.  It also means "maRaitha thEn". ie.. The  tamil
 prabhandham that hide all these very important concepts is  nothing
other than  this "thEn" or 4000 divya prabhandham.

       As mentioned earlier many of these compounded words are  on
 the  nature of  the surroundings of a divya dEsam  are  very  sweet
 like honey and and are very  poetic  and  can  be called as  kavith
 "thEn". In particular these poetic references on  the  surroundings
 are about the towns, fields, buildings, trees, flowers, honey, bees,
 rivers and so  on. Besides the poetical value and being a component
 of the meter, these references have special meanings as such.

     Each and every one of these 108 divya dEsams are Srivaikundam
 themselves. Since perumAL is doing a nityA vAsam, these  are  to be
 seen as a Srivaikundam incarnate in boolOgam. When such Srivaikutam
 incarnates  in  the  boolOgam, along with that comes the inmates of
 the Srivaikundam. When a jeeva nathi sAram is referred in a pAsuram
 it must be considered as a reference to the "vEdhAm" surrouding  that
 Srivaikunda  divya  dEsam. (kAvEri  is also known  as vishnu
 mAyA).  When a "SiRu nathi" is cited,  it may  be understood as many
 upanishads that are constantly staying in that divya  dEsam and are
 praising the Lord of that divya dEsam. When many elegant  and  very
 beautiful buildings and their enormous height,  golden  nature   is
 mentioned it  indicates  the  great  nitya   suris  who  constantly
 surround  the paramAthmA.

 They view or keep having darshan of the paramAtha from  where  they
 are and they never move away. In tamil, they are referred as  "imai
 kottAmAl pArtthuk koNdE irruppavargaL". ie.. they never move around
 and station themselves  permanently  around  divya  dampathis.  The
 reference  to height and other aspects of these structures indicate
 the greatness of those nitya suris  (height,  golden nature).  When
 fertile fields are mentioned they  show  the  great  palans,  these
 "jeeva nathis" (vEdhams) have rendered to this divya dEsam ie.. the
 "vEdha vitthukkaLAna  mahA purushargaL"   and mahAns who constantly
 surround that  city  and pass on that gentle breeze of vEdha swAsam
 in and around that divya dEsam. They are fertile due to the  rivers
 (vEdham), and the boomi  (divya dEsam) vAsam.  The  huge  and  very
 beautiful walls  that surround the divya dEsam are to be considered
 as the strong gaurds of the Srivaikundam.

      The gardens that has the flowers and trees may refer  to the
 rare collection of granthams and Sri sukthis on this  Lord.   Above
 all, the Bees that buzz these gardens must be  consdiered  as   the
 "AchAryALs" who incarnate  often  and seek the  essence  of   these
 Srisukthis and granthams  collect  them  in  their  hives  for  our
 benefits. There is a clear  reference  provided  by Sri thirumangai
 AzhwAr for this interpretation on bees. Finally  the essence of all
 these Sri sukthis and  granthams must be that  Honey  or "thEn"  we
 all seek. Such "thEn" is  easily  provided  by  our great AchAryALs
 who collect it and pass on to us. In the midst  of all these our Lord
Sri thiru viNNagarath thEn is majestically  standing and looking at us.
"santhana theNRal salikkAmal veesum aruL  paarvai"(*).

 poRuth"thEn"

       Having explored the usage of many "alankAra vArtthaigaL" such as
 "thEn" and bees of  Sri AzhwAr  pAsurams,  we enter into the intended
substance of this  series. Sri thiru  mangai  AzhwAr delivered 3 pathigams
on our Lord  Sri  Oppiliappan.  In the first pathigam he describes his
"arucchi"
or hatred  towards  samsAram.  In  this  pathigam   he explains the  extreme
trouble he had to undergo due to samsAric life & lowkeekam.
 He also cries in fear about  the  difficulties  that  may arise out
 of this samsAric drought. By citing all these he tries to plead  to
 thAyAr to stand or act as the "purushAkAram" (mediatrix) and   give
 him the refuge under perumAL's holy feet.

       The tamil word  poRuth"thEn"  means  I was tolerating. Sri
 AzhwAr describes as to how he was enduring  many  insults. "adiyEn
 used to consider  the  bandhukkaL  or the samsAric relatives as my
 friends. However they were all actually  acting as  my shathrus or
 foes.  They treated me as an "aNNiyan" whenever  they  didnot want
 me.  They used to abuse  my relationship with them and took it for
 granted.  They took all the possible  help   from me and  yet they
 used horrible and abusive remarks that (the words that  will  hurt
 and make deep wounds in one's heart or "puN padutthum sol") at me.
 I used to tolerate these words.   I was  self controlling. In fact
 I  used  to  think  that  "these  people  didnot use those abusive
 remarks at some other person or strangers. Atleast they didnot hurt someone
 else. If these words have been used at someone  else,  they  would
 have felt  heart broken. Atleast it didnot happen. I  am  thankful that
 these  were used at me.  Due to this someone else has been  spared
 from getting heart-broken".

      "After all, these words are mere sabthams. Only when we  see
 the meanings for these  abusive  words it  may be hurtful. Any word
 mean nothing  if we donot see its "poruL"  or meaning. Even when we
 say "thEn", our mouth begins to drool. It is because our mind knows
 that "thEn" means very sweet.  If  this  dravyam is named something
 else  other than the word "thEn", we may not feel the same way when
 we pronounce the word "thEn". Hence  without the "poRuL" or meaning,
 the word is only a sound. So I treated those  words  as mere "Osai"
 or noise and tolerated such. I tolerated them at my  heart. Besides
 even if I have   to  see  the meaning, it is after the all Lord Sri
 thEnappan (Sri Oppiliappan) who serve as the "poruL" or meaning for
 every word and it is the same Sri thEnappan who stood as the "suvai"
 or taste for "thEn". How can HE ever be hurting ?  In view of Lord
 residing in any  poruL i tolerated the "pun sol" in my heart. i.e, My
 reaction to those "pun sol" stayed deep inside my heart. I never ever
 showed my feelings in anyway through my external senses. i.e I never
 even reacted in anyway that might suggest that i was hurt by those
 "pun sol". My mind was looking forward to those "thEn sol" on the
 Lord and so these "pun sol" never bothered me. Many people will
 brood over such insults or hurtful words even if they donot outwardly
react.
 Many will show it up in their faces. Many will want the opponent's blood
for
 it. Many others will try to revenge in someother way. Some will want
 a last word from the opponent. Some will keep it in their hearts but
 will give a "bit of their mind" to others. Some will show it to  someone
else. But AzhwAr keeps it in his heart, controlled and tolerated.

 Some of these "thEn" must also be referring to someone or something
indirectly.
 porumaiyAna "thEn" - i.e porumaiyil boomiyai pOnRu undO? this porumaiyAna
 thEn or poRuth "thEn" in the "nenchil" or "thiru mArbu" is referred to
 Sri Boomi dEvi thAyAr. It is rather a tradition to refer to thAyar
 first as similar to  "poo mannu porunthiya maarban". No wonder the very
first
word of this  pathigam has an implicit reference to Sri Boomi dEvi thAyaar.

 Sri kumutha vaLLi nAcchiyAr samEtha Sri thirumangai AzhwAr thiruvadikaLE
 saraNam

 Sri boomidEvith thAyAr samEtha Sri Oppiliappan thiruvadikaLE saraNam.

 adiyEn irAmAnusa dAsan


 * - When our Lord thiru viNNagarath thEn is in the midst of all these
 "alankaaraa varNanaikaL" and ramyamana sooznilai, He is constantly
 looking at us with HIS "thEn" paarvai. Such thEn paarvai is, the "thiruk
 kaN  paarvai" of Lord "thEn" appan and is such that it is having the
 effect of the gentle breeze that carries the fragrance of sandalwood
 and is continuosuly blowing without any tireness. Such "santhanath
 thenRal pOnRa paarvai" is also the "aruL kalantha eerap paarvai". i.e
 when one is receiving His belssings from His eyes one is also feeling
 the "santhana theNRal" blowing on them gently and making them feel
 very light, and happy.




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