Search:
Bhakti List Archives

Addendum to SudarshanAzhwAr Sannidhi at Pomona RanganAthan Temple; Part II at the request of Sri Lakshmi Narasimhan of Boston

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sadagopan • May 14, 2001 


Dear BhakthAs:

AdiyEn mentioned that some of the Sudarshana ArchA 
Moorthys have Eight hands and others have Sixteen hands.
Swamy Desikan pays tribute the Eight-handed and the Sixteen-
handed Sudharsana Moorthams in one of His profound prabhndams 
revered as Paramatha Bhangam . The first paasuram is
about the Eight-handed Sudarshanan and the last paasuram 
is about the Sixteen-handed Sudarshanan .

Why did Swamy Deikan pay such extraordinary attention to
Sudarshana BhagavAn ? It is because of this great AchAryan's
belief in the prowess of Sudarshana BhagavAn in destroying 
all philosophies and Mathams that misled people and committed
them to endless wanderings in the samsAric forest without any
hope for release from the cycles of repeated births and deaths.

Swamy Desikan was invited once to a debate with Para Matha Vaathis 
in front of Lord DevanAthan of ThiruvahIndhrapuram on the banks
of PeNNai river. Swamy prayed to Lord Suadrshanan rotating in 
the hands of Lord DevanAthan and also in the hands of Sri HayagrIvan
sitting on a throne at the tip of his tongue . Lord Sudarshanan
took over and burnt to ashes the siddhAnthams of Para matha Vaadhins 
through Swamy Desikan.

Swamy Desikan pointed out gaping holes in the philosophies of
SaaravAka , Bhouddha, Adhvaitha , Jaina ,BhAskara-Yaadhava, 
VaiyAkaraNa , KaNAda, Goudhama, MeemAmsaka , Saankhya , Yoga,
and Paasupatha  mathams and established the superiority and
soundness of VisishtAdhvaitham over all of them. Sudarshana 
BhagavAn staying in the hand of the Lord was instrumental
in Swamy Desikan's victory in this fierce and decisive debate . 
Swamy Desikan was recognized by Lord DevanAthan for the kaimkaryam
that he rendered for our sampradhAyam that day. 

In Paramatha Bhangam , Swamy Desikan spoke about the glories of
Paancha Raathra Saasthram and the Svaroopam of Prapatthi and
showed the way for Moksha Siddhi . He praised the power of 
the sixteen hands of Sudarshana BhagavAn at the end of 
this Prabhandham that led to his victory.

Swamy Desikan's Prayer to the eight-handed Moorthy
***************************************************
At the very beginnig, Swamy eulogized Lord Sudarshanan
and visualized His ThirumEni inside the Sudarshana Yanthram.
There Swamy saw the Lord in aashta-daLa-Padmam ( eight petalled
lotus)containing six triangles inside which , he shone with 
eight hands bearing Disc, Conch , Bow, Axe, Pestle, Ankusam ,Mace 
and a lotus-shaped weapon.

The first paasuram of Parama Padham visualizing the Sudarsha-
Moorthy of unimaginable lustre inside His yanthram takes this form:

YeNN taLa ambhuyatthuL ilangum aRu-kONamisai
  VaNN PaNilam Thikiri VaLai Vill VaLai Vaai musalam
thiNN kaiyil ankusam seer thihazhum Gadhai Senkamalam
  yeNN paDai yEnthi ninRAn Yezhil Aazhi IraivanE

" Yezhil Aazhi IRaivan--YeNN padai YEnti NinRAN ".
(The most beautiful Sudarshana BhagavAn presented
Himself with His Eight weapons in His Eight hands).

The Sixteen-Handed Sudarshana Moorthy
**************************************
The day of debate with opponents from other Mathams
was the fifth day of Thai Month , when Lord DevanAthan of
ThiruvahIndhrapuram even today has an Uthsavam on the banks of 
PeNNai River , a few miles from ThiruvahIndhrapuram. 
Swamy Desikan had accompanied DevanAtha perumAL as 
a member of the Prabhandha GhOshti . At that time ,
the opponents of Sri VisishtAdvaitham challenged
Swamy Desikan for a debate to proove the superiority 
of their Mathams over Sri VisishtAdhvaitham . 

Swamy prayed to Lord Sudarhsanan , engaged in the debate
and defeated his opponents soundly . That gist of the debate 
is covered in the Para Matha Bhanga Prabhandham . At the end
of this Prabhandham , Swamy Desikan salutes Sudarshana
BhagavAn profoundly and says :" Oh Susdarshana!You are 
the veritable embodiment of the tejas (JyOthi ) of Lord
RanganAthan . In Your sixteen hands , the entire universe
is strung together like the beads in a necklace ( SoothrE 
maNigaNA: iva).Those sixteen hands are in a great hurry to 
give succor (abhaya PradhAnam ) to BhaagavanthAs wishing 
Bhagavath Kaimkaryam just like AdhisEshan .Those sixteen hands 
compete with one another to destroy the asura kulam ,which 
attempts to steal the wealth of the DevAs.They destroy all
dushtAs , who cause harm to BhAgavathAs. With their Tejas,
they banish the darkness of Ajn~anam and cause great Kshemam
(Moksha Sukham )to the Lord's devotees. It is impossible to
adequately describe the greatness of the power of Your 
Sixteen hands holding sixteen weapons."

Swamy Desikan is very diplomatic and praises AdhisEshan
for whom the dhivya Desam of ThiruvahIndhra Puram is named.
AhIndhran ,means Adhi SEshan ; He built the well to produce
the water to quench the thirst of the Lord of this Dhivya Desam. 
After referring to the JyOthi of Sri RanganAthan taking
the form of Sudarshanan (" Thihazh aravu aNai Arangar tEsu yenna 
Manniya Sudharisanar" ) , Swamy pays tribute to AdhisEshan
associated with the sthala purANam of ThiruvahIndhrapuram:
" Adiyum aru-karuNayumAm Aravu yenna ninRu adi adayum adiyarai 
anbinAl anjal yenpathum ". Here, Swamy Desikan says that 
Sudarshanan is like AdhisEshan --the bed and Paadhukais of the Lord--
who assures abhaya pradhAnam to bhakthAs of Sriman NaarAyaNan ,
who perform saraNAgathi at the feet of His Lord.Deftly, Swamy
Desikan Pays tribute in one paasuram to AhIndhran (AdhisEshan) 
dear to AhIndhrapura NaaTan ( Lord DevanAthan) of Tiruayinthai , 
Sri RanganAthan and His Tejas , Sudarshana AzhwAn .He concludes
this last paasuram with sixteen lines ( PathinARu seer chandha
Viruttham ) to remind us of the powers of those Sixteen handed
Sudarshana Moorthy adorning Sixteen weapons :

" Thihazh aravu anai Arangar tEsu yenna manniya 
  Thiri-Sudarsanar seyyaveer YeNN BhuyankaLE ".

" Thihazh aravu aNai Arangar " = The Lord of Srirangam 
with the bed of the tEjOmaya AdhisEshan 

" Arangar tEsu yenna manniya" = Appearing like the enduring 
tEjas of  Sri RanganAthan 

" Thiri-Sudarsanar" = The brilliantly rotating Disc form
of Sudarshanar invoking Jagath and Kaala Chakram inside

"seyya eer YeNN BhuyankaLE" = Those sixteen red hands 
of Sudarsanar are indeed the ones that gladden the hearts of
DevAs by providing protection from asurAs; they are the Ones
eulogized by the VedAs and defeat all the enemies of 
Veda-Baahya mathams and Kudhrushti mathams;those hands
are the Ones that spread in all eight directions and 
with their radiance banish the darkness of Ajn~Anam .

In the first four lines of the 16 lined Paasuram ,
Swamy Desikan pays tribute to the Sixteen weapons
that compete with one another to come to his rescue 
in the debate with para matha Vaadhins:

Thihiri mazhu uyar Kuntham ThaNDu ankusam poRi-
  sithaRu satha-mukha angi VaaLL vEl amarnthathum
Thezhi PaNilam Silai KaNNI Seeerangm sevviDi
  sezhiya gathai musalm thisoolam Thihazhanthum ---

All the sixteen weapons from the Disc to the Trident 
of ShOdasAyudha Sudarshanan are saluted in the above
four lines of the last paasuram of paramatha Bhangam
by Swamy Desikan.

The glory of kavi ThArkika Simham shines forever 
in His Tamil Paasurams and Sanskrit slOkams and
illumines our path always.

Swamy Desikan ThiruvadigaLE Saranam,
Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil varadAchAri SatakOpan     

      

 

 
 


--------------------------------------------------------------
           - SrImate rAmAnujAya namaH -
To Post a message, send it to:   bhakti-list@yahoogroups.com
Archives: http://ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/
 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/