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The color of the Lord's Body

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sadagopan • Fri Feb 22 2002 - 18:25:41 PST 


SrI:

SrImathE RaamAnjAya nama:

Dear BhakthAs :

In today's posting on the 662nd naamam of Lord Vishnu
from His Sahasra Naamam , Sriman N.Krishnamachari 
identified the Paasuram of Thirumangai AhwAr. 
The passage relating to the hue of the Lord in different 
yugams  is covered here by Thirumangai AzhwAr.That description
salutes the indefinable form (and hue) of the Lord: 
 

>662. aniedeSya-vapuh - a) He of indefinable form 

>(PraNavam ) anirdeSya-vapushe namah.

>SrI kRshNa datta bhAradvAj gives the derivation thus:  na nirdeshTum
>Sakyam vapuh yasya iti anirdeSya-vapuh - He is anirdeSya-vapuh because
>He has a body that is beyond the reach of the mind, words, etc.
>
> Those who have realized Him give up after struggling for words in
>their description of Him, as evidenced by the pASuram-s of AzhvArs.  
>The thought is poured out by tiruma'ngai AzhvAr in his 3rd pASuram in
>tiruneDunTAnDakam (referenced by SrI v.v. rAmAnujan): 
>
>" karu vaDivil Se'nkaNNa vaNNan tannai, kaTTuraiyE yAr oruvar
>  kANgiRppArE?"
>
>"By nature, He who has immense Mercy towards His creation is dark like
>the water-laden clouds; in tretA yugam, He is known to have a reddish
>color; in kRta yugam His complexion is white like that of the conch. 
>In each yugam devotees can worship Him in whatever form(s) He chooses
>to present Himself in, but beyond worshipping, we cannot precisely
>understand His true form.  People can describe this nIla megha SyAmalan
>with lotus-like reddish eyes as they want, but none can describe Him in
>the form in which He has revealed Himself to me".

This is  a wonderful PramANam .

Swamy Desikan in His SrI RanganAtha PaadhukA Sahasram
refers to the different colorsof the Lord's ThirumEni
(SlOkam 532): 

maNibhi: sitarakthapeetha krishnai:
bhavathI kaanchana paadhukE ! vichithrA
yuga bhEdha vikalpitham MurArE:
yugapadh dharsayathIva VARNA BHEDHAM

(Meaning): Oh Paadhukai of the Lord RanganAthA ! 
On YOur body ,adiyEn finds of colored gems .That 
reminds me of the different hues of the Lord  displayed in 
the four yugams: White In Krutha Yugam , when the Dharmam
is at its highest peak; red in ThrEthaa Yugam, Yellow
in DhvApara Yugam and "black" in kali Yugam, where the dharmam 
is at its lowest point .

The color black is really a very dark green (Ghana 
ShyAmalam ). It is also described as TamAlam ,
which is the dark green color of the Tamala tree.

In the first slOkam of Acyutha Sathakam ,
Swamy Desikan refers to the Tamala Vruksham
color aspects ( pacchai Maamalai pOl mEni
description of the earlier AzhwAr):

The  second half of the first slOkam 
contains the reference to the dark hue (Tamaalam)
of the Lord in Kali Yugam:

Garuda nadhi taDa tamAlam ahIndhra-
nagara OushadAchala yEka gajEndram 

Swamy Desikan salutes here as the  lovely
tree with dark green leaves standing on the banks 
of Garuda Nadhi like a mighty elephant .
Swamy Desikan compares the hue of the Lord 
to the Oushada Giri , which is full of Pacchilais
(dense green medicinal herbs and plants):
as the mighty elephant roaming on the dark
green hills matching His color .That is His 
svAbhAvika VarNam ( hue or color).Thirumangai
goes on to say that we can worship Him in
any number of colors but beyond worshipping Him 
that way , we can not precisely understand HIs
true for, In short , His Vapu (Body) is 
indescribable ( anirdEsyam ).

Thanks to SrIman Krishnamachari for 
the key reference,
V.Sadagopan 

 





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