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Sri Nrusimha Jayanthi 1998 : Part 2

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sadagopan • May 16, 1998 


Dear Friends : I will write another 18 articles in celebration 
of Sri Nrusimhan in support of the 18 Brick Kaimkaryam for
Sri Ranganatha Temple and make an earenst appeal for helping
Sri RanganathA Tmple construction brick by brick .I will cover
the Nava NarasimhAs of AhObilam , Thirumangai's Paasurams and 
the SaraNAgathi of Adi Sankara at the Lotus feet of 
Sri Lakshmi Narasimhan appealing to Him to give His hand and to
lift him out of his sufferings ( dEhi KarAvalampam ).I will cover 
the shatpadhi sthOthram on another occasion outside this kaimkaryam .

First SlOkam of Sri Lakshmi Nrusimha SthOthram by Adi Sankara
***************************************************************

Srimath payOnidhi nikEtana chakrapANE 
  bhOgeendhra  bhOgamaNi ranjitha puNyamUrthE 
Yogeesa sAsvatha SaraNya bhavAbdhipOtha 
  LakshmI Nrusimha mama dEhi KarAvaalampam 

(Anvaya kramam /Prose order) : Srimath PayOnidhi NikEtana !
ChakrapANE ! BhOgeendhra BhOga maNi ranjitha puNya
mUrthE ! Yogeesa! Saasvatha ! SaraNya ! BhavAbthipOtha! 
Lakshminrusimha ! mama karAvalampam dEhi .

Each of the words chosen by Adi Sankara is precious and
powerful . The waves of thoughts associated with them 
are profound in the context of Vedams , Upanishads and 
Bhagavadh Vishayam .Let us enjoy the deeper meanings of 
the 8  namaskArams or naamArchanais that Adi Sankara
performed during his appeal for protection  .

1 .Srimath PayOnidhi nikEtana : As all auspicious pronouncements 
about the Lord have to begin with the Sri sabdhaham , Adi Sankara
follows this ancient custom embedded in the dhvaya manthram 
( Sriman NaarAyana charaNou SaraNam prapadhyE ) and addresses
the Lord as Srimath or the One who possesses all the wealth 
and riches possessed by Him as a result of the auspcious glances
of MahA Lakshmi , which in turn identifies Him as 
LakshmI Narasimhan , LakshmI Hayagreevan ,
LakshmI NarayaNan , Sriya: pathi , MaalOlan ,
SrIdharan et al . 

He has Srimath Gaambheeryam as well ,as He sits 
in the court of His bhakthAs and BhaagavathAs .
He has that Srimath Gaambheeryam ( auspicious majesty )
because of Her presence next to Him . She is " MaanAtheetha
prathitha vibhavA , MangaLam mangaLAnAM ( She is of limitless
glory and is the inner auspicious power of all auspicious
entities ) . Her BhUmA (wealth ) extends from Sri Vaikuntam
to the Milky Ocean and the lotus forests of the Earth ,
which She elects as one of Her places of residence besides 
the Lord's chest . Adi sanakara seems to suggest ,

" SrEyOmUrthim Sriyam AsaraNa: tvAm SaraNyAm prapadhyE 
( I who has no other refuge perform my saraNAgathi at 
Your auspicious feet ). 

The second word of this first namaskAram is 
( Srimath ) PayOnidhi nikEtana . The Lord of
LakshmI is visualized here as the resident of the
Milky Ocean  where the waves striking His holy feet
break up into white pearl-drops as described by
Sri Kulasekara In his his beautiful Mukunda MaalA. 
There He rests with His consort on the bed of AdisEshan .
This is the VyUha state of the Lord.The VimAnam here is 
AshtAnga VimAnam .There are 51 paasurams for this divya desam 
that we can not see in our bodily state .
 
PeriyAzhwAr addresses this KsheerAbdhi naathan as 
" Paarkadal VaNNA !, PaaRkadaluL paLLi koLhinRa
parama mUrthy ! ". ANDAL salutes Him as " pARkadalUL
paiyaatthuyinRa paraman " in Her Thiruppaavai and 
" Pongiya PaaRkadal paLLIkoLvAn "  in Her NaacchiyAr
Thirumozhi . Kulasekara salutes Him as " pARkadaluL
thuyilum MaayOn " . " Naaga mUrthy sayanamAi nalam kadal 
kidanthu " is the MangalAsAsanam of Thirumazhisai .
Thirumangai addresses Hima s " ParamanE pARkadal KidanthAnE " .
NammAzhwAr salutes Him as " pARkadal pAmpaNai mEl
paLLIkondu aruLum seethanai " . The Lord's VyuhA state is 
thus adequately saluted by Adi SankarA in the line 
of the AzhwArs .

2 . ChakrapANE ! The Lord with the shining disc ,
Sudarsana chakram , is revered here .The hand of 
the Lord holding the divine disc is addressed 
endearingly as ChakrapANE . Our Lord Uses His 
chakram resting in His hand as PrayOga chakram to 
use against the enemies of His BhakthAs or as 
SamAsrayaNa chakram to imprint the seal of Disc
on the right hand shoulders of humans to initiate
them into the fold of Sri VaisshNavAs as he did at
the divya desam of NaacchiyAr Koil , when He initiated
Thirumangain Mannan and conferred Sri VishNava Sri on him .

NammAzhwAr salutes this ChakrapANi in his Thiruvaimozhi 5.1.1:
" KaiyAr chakkarathen karumANikkamE --" . Here AzhwAr 
concedes that the dear One shining like a gem holding
Sudarsana Chakram in His hand was won over notwithstanding
his hypocisy in devotion to Him .That is the power of
ChakrapANi . 

Sudarsanan is hailed as AayudhEsvara
( the Lord of the weapons of Sriman naarAyaNan ) .
ChakrapANi is the SarvEsvara, the Lord of the Lord
of Weapons . He has an esteemed place on the right hand
of the Lord and gives him the name ChakrapANi .

3.BhOgeendhra BhOga maNI ranjitha puNya mUrthE !
This is the third namaskaraNam . BhOgeendhran is 
the Lord of Serpents , AdisEshan . On his thousand
hoods are sparkling rathnams that illuminate the dark
blue body of the auspicious Lord , which shines with 
an extraordinary red hue. 

In his very first verse of PerumAL Thirumozhi ,
Kulasekara AzhwAr  describes this beautiful scene
at Srirangam , where the red rays emanating from 
the rubies on the thousand hoods of AdisEshA cast
their unparalleled glow on the body of the Lord .

4. yOgeesa ! The tribute here is to YogAnandha Narasimhan ,
who sits in Yogic posture as at AhObilam ,ThiruvELukkai ,
Sholigar divya desam and ThiruvallikkENi . 
This Yoga Nrusimhan taught Yogic secrets 
to His parama Bhakthan, PrahlAdan . He invited PrahlAdan
with aahlAvana mudhrA and sat him on His lap and taught him 
the intricate Yoga saasthram . 

Swami Desikan in the fifth verse of KamAsikhAshtakam 
salutes this Yogeesan :

"-- paryanka sthira dhAraNA prakatitha prathyak 
mukha avasthithi: , prAyENa praNIpEthushAm 
prabhurasou YOGAM NIJAM SIKSHAYAN --KamAsikhA KesarI " .

Swami Desikan had saluted earlier the RamaNeeya ParyankAsaanam,
Bhanthum akilasya JanthO: Bhanthura paryanka bhandara RAMANEEYAM .
(Sriman Sudarsanan has commented beautifully on this slOkam 
earlier ).In the fifth slOkam , Swami Desikan describes 
the AhAryan aspect of Yoga Nrusimhan seated with Yoga Pattai 
teaching Yogam ( dhyAnam about Him )to all those , 
who approached Him for such instruction . This group is led 
by PrahlAdan . 

5. Saasvatha ! He is eternal and the Sarva Seshi .
He is the Ucchishta Brahmam , who is the enduring 
principle . 

6. SaraNya ! He is the Loka SaraNyan . He is the home for
PrapannAs . With MahA VisvAsam about the Lord's
SaraNYa rakshakthvam , the prapannAs thru AchArya Mukam 
perform their prapatthis at the lotus feet of the SaraNyan
and He keeps after His vow of protecting them as 
the Sarva janthu SaraNya mUrthy . The reference is to 
the Charama Slokam of Srimadh Bhagavadh GitA , Abahaya
PradhAnam by Sri RamachandrA and the assurance given by 
Sri Lakshmi Varahan to PrapannAs .

7. BhavAbhdhi pOtha ! He is the boat to transport us 
safely across the turbulent and fearsome ocean of 
SamsArAm . He is " YugyyAna Cinthyan " or the object
of DhyAnam by Yogis to attain freedom from the cycles
of births and deaths ( SamsAram or Bhavam ) . He is
Vara GuNa arNavan ( the ocean of auspicious attributes) .
He takes the form of a secure boat to transport us across 
BhavArNavam to His parama padham .Therefore , he is the 
BhavAbdhi pOthan . The whole concept of the Divya 
desam , ThirunAvAi in KeraLA is about this Naavam 
(NoukA )aspect of the Lord .

8. Lakshmi Nrusimha ! ( mama dEhi karAvalampam ) :
Here in a spirit of utter helplessness ( aakinchanyam
and KaarpaNyam ) , Adi Sankara appeals to the Lord 
LakshmI Nrusimhan to rush to his rescue as the flames 
are engulfing his body . Thrice has Adi sanakra 
has been saved by the grace of Sri Lakshmi Nrusimhan .
Here , Adi SankarA  asks the Lord to give His 
hand to lift him out of his miseries.The spirit of 
Adi sankarA's prayer is covered by Swami Desikan 's
KamAsikAshataka slokam ( #3 ) :

aakuntam aadi Purusham Kanteeravam upari kuntitha arAthim 
vEgOpakantasangAth Vimuktha Vaikunta  bahumathim upAsE 

( Meaning ) : Our Lord Narasimhan's body structure is
awe inspiring and mysterious . From head to His neck , 
he has the usual form of Sriman NaarAyaNan . Above the neck , 
He has the head of a Lion ( Simham ).With this mysterious
form , he took the role of kapata Narasimhan to destroy
HiraNyan and bypass the power of his boons . Appreciating 
the special beauty of the banks of the Vegavathi river , our 
VaikuntanAthan has put a lower priority on the soukyam 
of residing in parama padham and has decided to stay
instead at ThiruvELukkai divya desam near Kanchipuram  . 

Sri LakshmI Narasimham yeedE !
Oppilaippan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan