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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00113 Sep 2002

 
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Sri Parthasarathi thunai

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

Sri Vara Vara munayE Namaha

Pranams,

Adiyen before proceeding further to the details of the divya desams, would like 
to mention about the source of information from which, adiyen will be preparing 
the postings. 

Its actually based on a book called "108 vainava divya dEsa stala varalAru"by 
vaishnava sudarAzhi Sri A.EthirAjar, karaikudi. 

The highlights of this book are the following

This book has been blessed with srimukham by HH Sri Varada ethirAja jeeyer from 
Sriperumbudur.
Also blessed with srimukham by HH Sri Sriranga Narayana Jeeyer swami(50th 
pattam) from Sri Rangam.
In 1995, this book has received the first prize, among the Tamil 
Anmeega(religious) books released in that year from the Tamil Nadu government.

Adiyen, thereby hopes that, the authenticity of historical and other 
information provided in the postings will not raise doubts in the minds of the 
readers.

 

Now, let adiyen continue with the introduction,

As said in the previous posting, emperumAn takes five different forms, viz., 
para, vyuha, vibhava, antaryAmi and archai. Alwar reverberates the same in the 
following paasuram:

"vinmeediruppAi, malaimElnirppAi, kadal sErppAi

manmeeduyalvAi evattrul engum maraindhuraivAi

enmeedhiyandra puravandaththAi enadAvi

vunmeedhAdi vurukkAttAdhE olippAyO?"

Here vin meediruppAi refers to paratvam, (staying in the sky/heavens)
malaimEl nirppAi to archai (staying in divya desams like thiruppathi, 
thirumAlirunchOlai etc, (Standing on hills/mountains)
kadal sErppAi refers to vyuha moorthi, (Residing in sea)
man meedhuyalvAi refers to vibhavams(he came down as rama and Krishna) (Walking 
or loitering on earth)
evattrul engum maraindhu vuraivAi refers to antaryami who stays inside each 
one, being invisible to all. (Hiding inside the above mentioned)

Next let us see how the various divya desams are classified:

Arsham: Some divya desams were formed by rishis. They are called Arsham.
PowrAnikam: Those divya desams, which are regarded high in the purAnAs, are 
powrAnikam.
Svayam vyakhtha stalam or saithyam: Those which were formed by themselves are 
svayam vyakhtham
Deivam: Those which were formed by brahma and other devas are called deivam.
mAnavam: Those which were consecrated by adiyars and kings are called mAnavam.
abhimAna stalams: Those which were largely enjoyed and praised by Acharya 
purshAs are called abhimAna stalams.

Any divine temple, irrespective of the above categories, if alwars had 
donemangalasasanams to the deity, is called as divya desam. The word ?divyam? 
in Sanskrit means ?auspicious?. These divya desams which have been sung by the 
divya sooris(alwars) in their divya prabandhams(4000 paasurams)are very 
auspicious and have full sanctity.

Similar to the Narayana manthram, which has 3 padhams, the divya desams also 
have 3 important reasons for their divinity. The temple, the perumal or the 
deity and the paasurams (mangalAsAsanam) of alwars. 

Like the eight aksharAs of the narayana manthram, the divya desams have saptha 
punyam and the alwar paasurams thus making the divya desams capable of giving 
the same palan(result) given by the chanting of the astAkshara manthram. The 
saptha punyam referred are:

"kshetram vanam nadhi sindhu puram pushkarini tatha vimAnam saptha punyancha 
yatra desa"

If all these along with alwar paasurams are present, then what hinders us from 
calling the place as a divya desam? There are totally 108 such divyadesams 
accepted in our sampradAyam. The divyadesams get a special prominence due to 
the vimAnam above the garbha gruham of the prime deity with beautifulsculptural 
works. There are altogether 96 different types of vimAnams found in the 
108-divya desams. The few important among them are:

PranavA kruthi vimAnam (in temples formed by devas)
vimalA kruthi vimAnam
suddha satva vimAnam
thAraka vimAnam
suganAkruthi vimAnam
Vaithika vimAnam
vutpalA vimAnam
sowndarya vimAnam 
pushkalA vartha vimAnam
vEda chakkra vimAnam
sanjeevi vigraha vimAnam
astAnga vimAnam (as in paramapadam)
punya kOti vimAnam
sreekara vimAnam
ramya vimAnam
mukunda vimAnam
vijaya kOti vimAnam
simmAkkara vimAnam
taptha kAnchana vimAnam
hEma koota vimAnam

It is commonly told by our ancestors that just the gopura darishanam grantsus 
kOdi punyam. Such is the importance given to the vimAnams in the divya desams. 
Among the 108 divyadesams, two are not in this world and hence cannot be 
reached by us in this birth. But it is a general belief that those who visit 
106 in this world will be taken to the rest two by bhagavan after this janma 
(life). The two, which are not in this world, are paramapadham and pArkadal. 

Among the above said 106, 96 are in south India and 12 in north India.

We will see why more divya desams are in south India and about the whereabouts 
of these divyadesams and about the alwar mangalAsAsanams to these divyadesams 
in the coming postings. We will then proceed to see the divyadesams in detail 
one by one.

(To be continued)

AzhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasan

Varadarajan

 

 



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