Sriman RanganAthA and the AzhwAr Paasurams: Part III
From the Bhakti List Archives
• December 27, 1999
Uniqueness of Sri RanganAthan and Srirangam (Continued ) ********************************************************* (2) Sri Appayya Dikshithar , a great admirer of Swami Desikna gives us an insight into the uniqueness of SriranganAthan and His dhivya dEsam . The pertinent slOkam is : idham cha Rangam thyajathAm-ihAngam na vidhyathE angam yadhi jaathuchAngam PaaNou rathAngam sayanE bhujangam yaanE vihangam charaNEmbhu Gaangam Sri Dikshithar reminds us first that it is the unique Srirangam that he is referring to ( idham cha Rangam ). For those ,who shake their mortal coils here ( thyajathAm iha angam ) ,there are no more births or bodies constituted by the limbs ( na vidhyathE angam ). If for arguments sake , some one is born again with limbs (Yathi jaathu cha angam ) , after passing away at Srirangam , then these will be their features : (a) paaNou rathAngam ( will have Chakram in their hands) (b) sayanE Bhujangam ( will have snakes as their beds) (c) yaanE Vihangam ( will have the brahmini kite for their transport) (d) CharaNAmbhu Gaangam ( will have the waters of the sacred river GangA flowing from their feet ) Sri Dikshithar states that those who breathe their last in Sriranam will have SaarUpya Moksham .The main message is that " iha angam thyajathAm , angam na vidhyathE " ( they will not have any rebirths as stated by the last Brahma Soothram , " na Punar aavarhtathE , na punar aavarthathE ". Third reference for Srirangam's Uniqueness ******************************************* Here Sri RanganAthA presides with Sriranga Naayaki , in a sadas with AchAryAs and BhagavathAs just as He gives His darsanam at Sri Vaikuntam . This is the sevai decribed as , " kuzhumit thevar kuzhaangaL kai thozhac chOthi- veLLatthin uLLE yezhuvathu oru uru " .This form has been saluted as " Aadhiyam sOthiyuru ". This is the form which is seen directly (prathyaksham ) by Nithya Sooris and MukthAs ( prathyaksham Paramam padham ). The corresponding slOkam is: VaikuntE thu parE lOkE SriyA-saardham Jagathpathi: asthE VishNu: achinthyAthmA Bhakthiar Bhaagavathai: saha (Meaning ): In Sri Vaikuntam (nithya VibhUthi), The Lord presents Himself with His divine Consort ;that Lord, whose glory is impossible to fully comprehend manifests Himself in the company of BhakthAs and BhaagavathAs . The purport of this slOkam is extendable to Srirangam , the BhUlOka Vaikuntam (LeelA VibhUthi)as well . Here , He is giving His sEvai with Sriranga Naayaki and is surrounded by adoring AchAryAs , BhakthAs and BhaagavathAs ( Bhakthai: BhAgavathi: saha ). This KshEthram is unique in that it is densely populated by AchAryAs , who do prathakishaNam around the Lord as indicated by Thirumazhisai AzhwAr in one of his Srirangam Paasurams : " sirreyiRRu muRRal Moongil moonRu dhaNdar onRinar aRRa paRRar suRRi vaazhum anthaNIr ArangamE " Here "Moongil MoonRu dhaNdar" refers to thridaNdi SanyAsis like Srimath Azhagiya Singar , Srimath Andavan of PeriyAsramam , Srimath PoundarIkapuram Andavan and other AchAryAs representing every facet of Sri sampradhAyam . These ThridaNdi sanyAsis ( holding the three bamboo sticks held together with a flag at the end) circumambulate around the Yeka DhaNdi ( SenkOl mannan , Sri RangarAjan ) for receiving His anugraham . The situation is similar to the child , which runs round and round its Mother as She moves around the house on her chores . This situation is also similar to the SishyAs circumambulating around their AchAryAs. The child seeks the love of the Mother and the SishyAs seek Jn~Anam and sadhupadEsam through their closeness to their AchAryAs . They in turn try to live as close as possible to the Lord of Srirangam to intercede with Him on behalf of their sishyAs . All these soubhAgyams are abundantly present at Srirangam .Poet Kamban refers to this uniqueness this way : " sErAthana uLavO ThirucchErnthArkku ". Those residents of Srirangam are garbha SrimAns and there is precious little that is beyond their reach .There is nothing that they can not attain . The reference here from a garbha SrimAn's point of view is the Srirangam Paasuram of Poygai AazhwAr describing his gaze as he lay in the womb of the golden- lotus at YathOkthakAri Sannidhi pushkaraNi at Kaanchi: onRum maRanthilEn Odha Neer VaNNanai naan , inRu maRappEnO YezahikAL ,-anRu karuvarangatthut kidanthu kai thozhuthEn kaNDEn ThiruvarangamEyAn thisai Poygai points out here that he has never for a moment forgotten the ocean-hued Sri RanganAthAn and even as an embryo inside the womb of the Kaanchana Padhmam in the pushkaraNi at TiruvehhA , he turned His head in the direction of Srirangam to gaze at the ancient ParamjyOthi at Srirangam . Such is the uniqueness of ThirucchErntha Rangam . Fourth reason for the Uniqueness of Srirangam ********************************************** Great Sri Sookthis from AzhwArs (247 paasurams) and AchAryAs ( Gadhya thrayams , Sri RangarAja Sthavam , PaadhukhA Sahasram , NyAsa Tilakam ) were born here. The uniqueness of this KshEthram is celebrated therefore by Swami Desikan as , " AarAtha amudham potintha Kovil , theerAtha VinaikaL yellAm theerkkum kovil--". In SrirnaganAtha PaadhukhA sahasram , Swamy salutes the Lord's PaadhukhAs as Swamy NammAzhwAr , who blessed us with the thousand verses of ThiruvAimozhi . Sri ParAsara Bhattar described these 1000 paaurams are ALL ABOUT SRIRANGANATHAN: " MathiL Arangar VaNN pukazh mEl aanRa Tamizh Aayiram " The insightful SiRiya Thirumadal paasuram of Thirumangai adduces another reason for the uniqueness Of Srirangam by describing it as " AarAmam soozhntha Arangam " . Superficial meaning for "AarAmam Soozhntha Arangam " is the City of Srirangam full of beautiful gardens . As PeriyavAcchAn PiLLai has commented , these words of Thirumangai have much deeper meanings. He comments : " uhantharuLina desangal yellAm pahal irukkayaai , aasritha rakshaNatthirkku EkAntha sthalam yenRa kOililE nithyavaasam paNNuhiRaay irukkirathu ". (meaning ): All other dhivya dEsams chosen by the Lord are like the day resorts for a king on travel ; Srirangam however is for Him , the unique sthalam for protecting those , who sought refuge at His sacred feet and here He resides permanently. The Fifth Reason for the Uniqueness of Srirangam ************************************************** This is the Dhivya Desam , where Thirumangai initiated the Thiru AdhyayanOthsavam by bringing Swamy NammAzhwAr from ThirukuruhUr for the pahal Patthu, Iraa Patthu Uthsavam. Naatha Muni, AaLavandhAr , Thiruvarangap PerumAl aRayar , EmperumAnAr and their sishya paramparai carried out the Thiru Adhyayana Uthsavam tking the cue from Kaliyan . There are so many more reasons for the uniqueness of Srirangam that we will celebrate in the Paasurams of AzhwArs on Sri RanganAthan . We will pay our homage to selected paasurams form the 11 AzhwArs , who peformed MangaLAsAsam for the Thiruvarangacchelvan in the remaining postings of this series . SrimathE RanganAthAya nama: Daasan, O.V.Sadagopan
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