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Fifth Day of the trip: Following AchArya RaamAnujA's sacred steps : Trips to SriperumbhUdhUr and Kanchipuram, Feb 9 ,2000: Part IV

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sadagopan • March 4, 2000 


Sri Lakshmi Nrusimha ParabrahmaNE Nama:
Dear BhakthAs : 

As AdiyEn had the sEvA bhAgyam of the Lord 
of Hasthigiri , the outpourings of the anubhavam
of Thirukkacchi Nampi's Sri DevarAjAshtakam,
Swamy Desikan's Sri VaradarAja PanchAsath and 
Sri MaNavALa Maamuni's Sri DevarAja MangaLam 
slOkams served asa balm for my mind . AdiyEn has writeen 
extensively about the eulogies of Thirukkacchi Nampi
and Sri MaNavALa MaamunigaL earlier in Bhakthi list 
Postings and hence adiyEn will focus mostly on
Swamy Desikan's anubhavam .

Thirukkacchi Nampi's Sri DevarAjAshtakam 
*****************************************
Thirukkacchi Nampi ( Sri Kaanchi PoorNar )
is known as "VaradhAngri SadhA sangha 
rasAyana PaarAyaNar "(i-e)., One , who is 
always engaged in affectionate sevai/kaimkaryam
to the sacred feet of the Lord VaradharAjan .
He has been hailed as "DevarAja DayA Paathram "
or the One , who was the object of the special
affection of Sri Varadhan . 

The salutations to the PraNathArthihara Prabhu 
of Hasthi Sailam starts with Thirukkacchi Nampi's
prapatthi in the  first slOkam of this ashtakam :

" namasthE HasthisailEsa Srimann! ambhuja lOchana
  SaraNam thvAm prapannOsmi PraNathArthihara achyutha "

In the next slOkam , Thirukkacchi NampigaL expresses 
his fear of trespasses and includes a powerful word 
( amaryAtham) from His AchAryan's (AlavandhAr's -
sthOthra rathnam )to show his nirvEdham :

" paapIyAmsam amaryAtham paahi maam Varadha PrabhO !"

The overflowing affection of this special Bhakthar
of the Lord is housed in his moving prayers :

"DevarAja DhayA sindhO ! Deva Deva ! JagathpathE !
 kaaruNyAmrutha AanIthai: SeethaLi: abhishincha Maam "

(meaning ) Oh Ocean of DhayA ! Oh DevarAjA ! Oh 
the supreme Lord of the Universe ! Please banish my 
samsAric thApams through your kataaksha-amrutham
soaking me !

The Lord broke His archA silence and spoke to 
Thirukkacchi Nampi and looked forward to his Fan
service ( ThiruvAlavatta Kaimkaryam )and sent His
six words to AchArya RaamAnujA through him .

RamyajAmathru Muni's ( MaNavALa Maamuni's)MangaLam 
***************************************************

Sri MaNavALa MaamunigaL focuses on the dhayA 
svarUpam of the Lord of Kaanchi and salutes 
the PEraruLALa Tattvam in the very first slOkam :

" VaradhAya DhayAdhAmnE DheerOdhArAya MangaLam "

Here Sri MunigaL recognizes the Lord not only
as the embodiment of DhayA , but also as 
the Dheeran and oudhAryavanthan ( the most generous 
one as PEraruLAlan ). 

Sri MaNavALa Maamunigal salutes the Lord as 
" VaarijAkshan " ( SenthAmaraik KaNNan ) and
AbhIshta Phala DhAyakan ( vENDum Varam Vaari Vaari
Koduppavan) , PuNyakOti NivAsakan ( One who resides 
under the PuNyakOti VimAnam ) . The  essence of 
ThiruvAimozhi Passage ( Kaachina PaRavai oornthu
ponmalain meemisaik kaarmuhil pOl ) has been 
captured in the following slOkam section : 

" Kaanchanaachala SrungAgra KaaLamEgAnusAriNE  "

The Lord is visulaized here as the dayA-laden dark cloud 
on top of the golden mountain of Hasthigiri.

He concludes this MangaLaasAsanam of the Lord with
a moving acknowledgement of Lord Varadhan's abundant
Krupai :

" MathangajAdhri ThungAgrassrunga srungAra VarshmaNE
 MahAkrupaaya math rakshA dhIkshithAyAsthu MangaLam "

(meaning ): adiyEn's  pallANDu to the Lord who is like 
a jewel adorning the high peak of Hasthigiri ! Hail to
the Most merciful Lord , who has taken the dheekshA of
blessing adiyEn with His protection .

These are indeed moving MangaLAsAsanam passages
from Sri MaamunigaL's Sri DevarAja MangaLam .

Swamy Desikan's adoration in Sri VaradarAja PanchAsath
********************************************************

Sri Hasthi Saila SikarOjwala PaarijAtham , Sri VaradharAjan
captivated the mind of Swamy Desikan so much that he confessed 
that he prefers the Lord's ArchAvathAram at Kaanchi over
the sevai of Parama Padha Naathan at Sri Vaikuntam ( Sathyam
sabhE VaaraNa saila Naatha Vaikunta vaasEpi namEabhilAsha:).

Swamy composed a SuprabhAtha SlOakm for the Lord . He  also
described the ever changing beauty of the Lord during His
thsavam days and concluded :

thvam chEth prasIdhasi tavAsmi samIpathascchEth
thvayyasthi bhakthiranagA KarisailnAtha 
samsrujyathE yadhi cha dAsa jana: thvadheeya:
SamsAra yEsha Bhagavann apavargha yEva 

(Meaning ): Oh Lord of Hasthigiri ! You are the ocean
of auspicious attributes (anantha kalyAna guNArNavam).
This sad samsAric world will verily become Moksha KshEthram
(aanandha nilyam ), if Your face shows pleasure on seeing 
diyEn displaying special bhakthi for You , while being near 
You in the company of Your dear BhakthAs .

Swamy salutes Lord VaradhrAjan as PanchAvathAran
( Param , vyUham , Vibhavam , archai and antharyAmi
Brahmam ) and also as DasAvathAran . Finally , he
exclaims in wonderment : kim naama na asi ? Is there 
anything that You are not (nee yethuvAhatthAn illai?).

Swamy Desikan salutes the Bhaagavatha GhOshti assembled
to have His sevai and declares that these BhagavathAs
are dhanyAs ( the blessed Ones ) :

" Varadha Tava vilOkayanthi DhanyA : "

Swamy sings ThirupaLLIyezucchi to the Lord and
prays for Him to reside in that SuprabhAtha kOlam
in his heart always:

"paNipathi sayaneeyAth utthithasthvam PrabhAthE
 Varadha Sathatham antharmAnasam sannidhEyA :"

Swamy reminds the Lord that it is His Sankalpam
that is the mightiest help for his protection :

"sankalpa yEva BhavathO nipuNa: sahaaya:"

Swamy pleads with the Lord and says: You have
brought me safely upto this point (yEthavathIm 
gamayithu: padhavIm dhayAlO: ).What trouble is there 
to guide my path for the remaining small period 
of my life here ? None. ( seshdAhvalEsa nayanE ka iva 
athibhAra: ?). SwamY Desikan also acknowledgs that
it is the BhagavAn's katAksham , which results
in the SadAchArya PrApthi . He also reveals through
His dialog with the Lord of Hasthigiri that the Lord 
alone serves as the bridge (sEthu) to attain Him
( thvAmEva ganthumasi sEthu: abhangurasthvam ) .
Elsewhere , Swamy Desikan explains to us 
the tattvam of Sri Varadha sEthu and the blessings
arising from that sEthu darsanam :

" thamm veekshya sEthum adhunApi SarIravantha:
  sarvE shaDUrmi bhauLam jaladhim taranthi "

Swamy points out that even the sight ( veekshaNam ) of 
this most merciful sEthu (Varadhan )is sufficient 
to cross safely the terrifying ocean with the six kinds 
of gigantic waves ( Kaamam , kOpam, lObham ,mOham , 
madham and Maathsaryam ).

adiyEn will conclude this visit to Sri VaradharAjan Sannidhi
with the recitation of a slOkam from the VaradhAbhimAna
Sahasram :

 prapanna Jana  samrakshA dheeksithAya nirantharam
>  Sri VaishNava sriyOttheepdha VaibhavAya asthu MangaLam "

(meaning ): Hail to the Lord of Hasthigiri , who has 
taken the permanent vow of protecting well those , who 
has performed prapatthi at His sacred feet ! Hail to
the Lord , who has the reputation of enhancing
the VaishNava Sri of His bhakthAs and BhaagavathAs !

In the next set of postings realting to the sixth ,
seventh and eighth days of this journey , aadiyEn
will cover the KarnAtaka dEsa Yaathrai in and 
around Melkote( ThirunArAyaNapuram ).

Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,
Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan





     

  
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