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
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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