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Re: Varaha Puranam : part 3

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sadagopan • July 27, 1998 


Dear Bhakthas : In this final posting on
VaraahAvathAram , I will provide a quick overview of
Swami Desikan's Rahasya Grantham revered as 
Rahasya SikhAmaNi . I will cover the deeper intrepretations
in future postings in SaraNAgathi Journal . 

The Scope of Rahasya SikhAmaNi 
********************************
Rahasya SikhAmaNi is one of the chillarai Rahasyams 
created by Swami Sri Desikan . It celebrates and 
explains the deeper meanings of the two slOkams that 
constitute the unit known as varaha charama SlOkam .

The esoteric meanings for every word of these two
slOkams are provided by Swami Sri Desikan in this 
powerful gantham .I am planning to cover 
the details of this important grantham in 
one of the future issues of saraNAgathi Journal .
For now , here are some comments that might provide 
an introduction .

Swami Desikan's Tribute to the Lord
************************************

Swami Sri Desikan's salutation to the gigantic 
form of the VarAha PerumAn in this rahasyam is 
as follows :

kkApi kalpaanthavEsanthE kuradhagnE samruddhathAm 
vahathE mEdhinimusthAm mahathE POthriNE nama :

(Meaning ) : The deep ocean of the ocean during 
the MahA PraLyam times was equal to the dimension of 
one hoof of the gigantic Varaha PerumAn , who lifted BhUmi 
Piraati out of that Ocean like lifting a tuber ( kOraik Kizhangu )
from those waters and placed Her on His immense tusk .
I salute that BhUmiVarAhan , the MahA POthrin .

The Context of the Varaaha Charama Slokam 
****************************************** 

VarAha Sarama SlOkam arose because of the immense
compassion of Our ThAyAr , who is Omniscient and
yet asked Her Lord to bless the unfortunate chEthanams
( Her children ) with a Laghu UpAyam to overcome the 
sufferings of SamsAram and to reach His Lotus feet .

She rightfully recognized us as asaktha adhikhAris unable to 
practise the Guru upAyam ( Difficult to practise means)
like Bhakthi Yogam . She felt that route would be the 
equivalent of tying a panam kaai ( big palmyra Fruit )
around the neck of a sparrow , which surely will
ground it forever .She knew that we will not be able
to think of the Lord during the last moments of 
our life on this earth , when we are overpowered by 
blocked throat and memory loss et al . Our Mind will struggle 
with every matter other than the thoughts about Lord
at that time. She prayed to Her Lord therefore to
have mercy on us  and begged Him to 
bless us with a laghu upAyam (simple and unfailing
means ) of salvation . She wanted that laghu UpAyam
to be free from the burdens of svarUpa parikArams 
( structure and limbs /angams ) . BhU VarAhan agreed
to His dear consort's request and revealed to Her 
for our benefit a supreme message of Hope that 
would remove our fears at the worst time of our
suffering as our Jeevan is about to part from the
cage of body . 

The Meaning of the Varaaha Charama Slokam 
******************************************
The message contained in these two slOkams is 
the essence of Jn~Ana Yaj~nam , (viz ), Prapatthi .
As elaborated by nammAzhwAr's Thiruvaimozhi 3.7.7 ,
He revealed the steps that He takes to place the Jeevan
at His sacred feet at parama padham after revealing 
their natural nithyAnandha svarUpam .This He does 
by descending on this earth in Vibhava avathArams , 
protecting His adiyArs and then lifting them upto 
His celestial abode at the end of their dEha yaathrAis .

These two slOkams support the pUrva -utthara sections 
of Dhvayam and charama slOkam of Lord KrishNA and
the ahalahillEn paasuram of NammAzhwAr .

Thus the VarAha Sarama slOkams are anyOnya UpakArams 
(mutually supportive of each other in thought )for 
the latter rahasyams like Dhvayam and Charama SlOkam of 
ParthasArathy .

These two sacred VarAha Sarama SlOkams , the subject matter of
the elaborate commentary , Rahasya SikhAmaNi are :

sthithE manasi susvasthE sarIrE sathi yO nara:
dhAthusAmyE sthithE smarthA visvarUpam cha maamajam (1)

tathastham mriyamANam thu kAshtA paashaNa sannibham 
aham smarAmi madh bhaktham nayAmi paramAm gathim (2)

(Meaning ) :Oh Bhumi Devi !  The entire universe is
my body (sarIram ) . I do not have births or deaths .
When my bhakthAs with mahA visvAsam surrender to me,
while they are still in a state of tranquil mind and healthy
body and reflect about Me as as SarvAdharan ( root cause
of all) , NiyanthA ( one who commands from within )  
sarva sEshi ( the ultimate ), aasrayaNeeyan ( one who
is fit to be worshipped )  , Sarva VyApthan (all-
pervasive )  and Nithya sannihithan ( One who is always 
near ) , THEN I think of them at their last moments,
when they are totally unconscious like a log or  a stone
and lead them by archirAdhi maargam to My parama padham 
and bless them to have nithya kaimkarya bhAgyam to Me there .

Concluding prayer of Swami Desikan to BhU VarAhan
**************************************************
Swami Desikan concludes his elaborate commentary with a 
moving prayer:

kaalE prApthE karaNavilayAth kaashta paashaNa kalpAn
Naatha: POthrI nayathu krupayaa naathitha: kam padham na:
 
(meaning ) : When the time of physical death approaches ,
and when our limbs have lost their power and when we are 
in a state of unconsciousness equal to that of a stone or
a log , then may Lord VarAhan in response to our earlier
saraNAgathi have mercy on us and lead us to His Parama Padham .

This in essence is Rahasya SikhAMaNi grantham . 

The Twin significance of the VarAhaavathAram
********************************************* 
The Deeper significance of the Varaha Avatara / Hiranyaksha
story with which we are all familiar is as follos :

The deeper significance to this avathAram are two fold in
my opinion : (1) The birth of VarAha Charam slOkam and 
(2) AsahyApachaaram /BhagavathApachAram as revealed by 
the dwaara paalakAs' ( Jaya-Vijaya"s ) apachAram to 
the SanathkumAraa  
and the the other three great sages ,who were prevented by
 from having the darsanam of Sriman NaaraayaNa at 
Parama Padham . Our Lord will not put up with 
BhAgavathApachAram even if it originates from 
His servants . 

Jn~anap Piraan ThgiruvdigaLE SaraNam
Bhumi Devi ThAyAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam 
Oppiliappan Koil Varadachari Sadagopan 

P.S :Please help with the AchArya RaamAnujA CD ROM 
Project to the best of your ability .Thanks .