The Foreword for Sri VenakatEsA Home Pages
From the Bhakti List Archives
• January 13, 2000
Dear BhakthAs : Today is the day before BhOgi Pandigai. Today is the day of " SiRRam SiRukAlE vanthunnai Sevitthu , Unn PoRRAmarai adiyE poRRum poruL kELAi" ThiruppAvai dinam . The team that is creating the home pages for Thirumalai-appan is rushing towards completion of the work towards the next phase release on Makara sankarAnthi day . The recent postings that You all saw about Sri VenkatEsa Prapatthi, MangaLam and SthOthram are SamarpaNams for those home pages , which will contain exquisite images of the Lord assembled by Sri haresh Balasubramanyan of Simhapuri . AdiyEn is sure that these home pages will grow and delight the SrinivAsa BhakthAs . Today , I am having the prerelease of the textual section of the Foreword for these home pages .We will provide more particulars on makara SankarAnthi day about other contents. Daasan , OppilA-appan Koil SadagOpan SRI VENKATESA VAIBHAVAM ************************ Thirumalai SrinivAsan is a timeless treasure for human beings everywhere . His vaibhavam has been celebrated by the ten AzhwArs through 205 exquisite paasurams . His anantha KalyaNa guNams have been saluted by a host of AchAryAs belonging to Vaidhika Mathams .Many great NadhOpAsakAs like ANNamAcharyA , Purandara DaasA , Mutthuswamy Dikshithar , Saint ThyagarAjA sat at the holy feet of the Lord and offered gems of krithis as Naama KusumAnjalis. AzhwAr's moving Tributes ************************** Ten out of the twelve AzhwArs with the exception of ThoNdaradippodi and Madhura Kavi have performed their MangaLAsAsanams through 205 exquisite Paasurams brimming with Bhakthi and Bhagavath anubhavam . The number of paasurams associated with each of the ten AzhwArs are: Thirumangai:62 , NammAzhwAr:54 , PEy AzhwAr :19 , ANDAL:16 , Thirumazhisai:15 , KulasEkarar:11 , Poygai:10, Bhutham:9 , PeriyAzhwAr:7 and ThiruppANar 2 in a Prabhandham devoted mostly to Sri RanganAthan . PEy AzhwAr's Vandhanams ************************* The AzhwArs celebrated the exquisite , indescribable beauty ( avAngh mansa kOchara soukumAryam ) of the Lord of Thirumalai. PEy AzhwAr saw Him seated inside his heart space and declared " uLLatthin uLLE uLaN -- kaNDai nannenjE " (svacchandha Hrudhaya sadhanan). Elsewhere in his MoonRAm ThiruvandhAthi , PEy Azhwar explained to us that Sri VaikunTam and Thiruppatthi are one and the same ( ThirumAl VaikunthamE TaNN Thiru VenkatamE). Poygai AzhwAr's salutations **************************** Poygai AzhwAr revealed to us that ThiruvEnkatam is the most endearing dhivya dEsam for Sriman NaarAyaNan ( VenkatamE VeNN sankham Oothiya Vaai Maal uhanthavoor ). There , the Lord destroys the ancient sins of ours and blesses the devotees with anugrahams such a sIsvaryam, Kaivalyam and Moksham ( ThozhuvAr manacchudarai nathuvikkum VenkatamE). AzhwAr enjoyed the true svarUpam of the Lord of Seven hills as insatiable nectar ( athrupthi amrutha roopan/aparyApthAmruthan). BhUthatthAzhwAr's tribute ************************** The third of the first triad of AzhwArs explained to us that the worshippers of Sri VenkatEsan attain the state of exquisite equalibrium between Sukhams and Dukkams as Sthitha Praj~nAs as attested by GeethAchAryan ( sama dukka sukam dhIram sOmruthathvAya kalpathE). AzhwAr asks us to recite and reflect on the 1000 names of the Lord for our salvation as we climb up the seven hills to offer our worship at His lotus feet( -MaNi Venkatavn malar adikkE sella aNi Venkatavan pEr aaynthu ). Thirummzhisai AzhwAr's celebration *********************************** Thirumazhisai at one time could not find the sacred clay ( ThirumaNN) for wearing and Lord VenkatEsA appeared in his dream and showed the place , where ThirumaNN was available for this Parama VaishNavan . Thirumazhisai asked us to reach the sacred feet of the Lord at ThiruvEnkatam and attain salvation ( Venkatam adaintha Maal paadhamE adhianthu naaLUm uyyminE). PeriyAzhwAr's enjoyment of the Lord ************************************ As YasOdhA pirAtti , AzhwAr enjoyed the Baala kreetais of Govindhan and performed Govindha Naama Sankeethanam at Thirumalai.The adhbutha rasa varNanam filled paasurams of PeriyAzhwAr are exquisite. AzhwAr invited the Baala GopAlan , who was running away from him to come near him : " Vedap PoruLE Yenn VenkatavA VitthahanE inghe pOtharAyE " ( Oh my child , the essence of Veda manthrams !Oh clever one ! Oh VenkatEsA ! Please do not run away from me . Please come near me ).In another of his moving paasurams , PeriyAzhwAr reveals his special blessings that made it possible for him to store to his heart's content the auspicious VenkatEsa tatthvam just as filling a pot with the nectar churned out of the milky ocean . ANDAL's love for ThiruvEnaktamudayAn ************************************* Her father adored the Lord as his son, Baala KrishNan .ANDAL adored the Lord as Her bridegroom .She begged the nightingale in Her garden to sing and call for the Lord's arrival at Her side ( KuyilE! Thenn Venaktavan varak koovAyE ). Her prayer to the clouds rushing towards Thiruvenkatam was to let the Lord know of Her sufferings from separation form Her Lord and to intercede on Her behalf for union with Him. She prayed to Kaama devan and begged him to unite Her with the JyothisvarUpa ChakrapANi at ThiruvEnkatam . Her exquisite anubhavam of SamslEsha Aanandham (Bliss out of union with Her Lord) and VislEsha dukkham ( Pangs of sorrow over separation from Him ) and the undescribable joy rsulting from Her insepaerable union with Him are described beautifully by Her in the exquisite verses of NaacchiyAr Thirumozhi. KulasEkara AzhwAr's prayers **************************** This king of Kolli dEsam begged the Lord to bless him with the anugraham of being any thing , sentient or otherwise, in the Lord's hills so that he can be near the Lord to enjoy Him . ThiruppANar's links to Sri VenkatEsan ************************************** In his AmalanAdhipirAn prabhandham , BhaNa Naathan decides to enoy the beauty of Lord RanganAthA from His lotus feet (Kamala Paatham ) to His crown . In the very first verse itself , Sri Venkatesan squeezes in for MangaLAsAsanam : "--vimalan ViNNavarkkOn VirayAr Pozhil VENAKTAVAN ". In the third paasuram , BhaaNa Naathan makes a passing salutation to the Lord of seven hills : " manthi paayi Vada Venkata Maamalai " and recognizes the sacredness of the mighty mountains , which are purified by the sambhandham with Lord VenkatesA. Thirumangai's multi-faceted Tributes ************************************** AzhwAr takes on the role of ParakAla Naayaki and begs for the Lord's love ( ThiruvEnkata PoruppA ! ninn kaathalai aruL yenakku). She appeals to Her mind to reach Thiruvenkatam -TeLLiyAr VaNangum malai ThiruvEnakatamadai nenjE ). AzhwAr salutes the Lord as the conferrer of Bhakthi , Mukthi , while He resides as AntharAtma svarUpi ( Bhakthi Mukthi pratha daharAkAsam).AzhwAr salutes the bliss conferring , pervasive lotus feet of the Lord standing eternally on top of the venkatam hills ( sathatham akhaNda SacchidhAnandham , Moksha SaamrAjya pratha CharaNAravindham ). Thirumangai appalingly converses with the Lord and tells Him that as a lowliest one , he has arrived at ThiruvEnkatam with a longing to have the darsanam of the Lord ( unaik kANpathOr aasayinAl --nAyEn vanthadainthEn). AzhwAr describes to the Lord the samsAric afflictions that he faced and his travails and begs the Lord to bless Him ( alanthEn, vanthu adianthEn, ADIYAANAI AATKKONDU ARULE ).AzhwAr describes his total dependence (ananya gathithvam) on the Lord of seven hills and appeals movingly to the Lord to remove his unbearable sufferings (aNNA ! adiyEn idaraikkaLayAyE -- Venkatamaamalai mEya Aayan adi allaathu maRRaRiyEnE ). NammAzhwAr's SaraNAgathi at ThiruvEnkatam ******************************************* NammAzhwAr presented 54 paasurams at the sacred feet of ThiruvEnaktamudayAn and performed His Prapatthi at those lotus feet of the Lord. In one paasuramof Periya ThiruvandhAthi , AzhwAr revealed that Sri Venkatesan stays in his heart permanently ( --NediyAn uLL puhunthu neengAn adiyEn uLLatthaham ). In Thiruviruttham , AzhwAr transforms himself into PadmAvathi ThAyAr and tightly questions the Lord about His intent .Then Azhwar takes on the role of parAnkusa Naayaki and describes her sufferings over sepaeration (VislEsham) from her Lord .ParAnkusa Naayaki sends the clouds as messengers to Her Lord to unite her with Him . In ThiruvAimozhi's sixth decad , the Mother of ParAnkusa Naayaki (in Kaliyan's words) describes the immense injustices made by the :Lord of ThiruvEnkatam (Kattezhil sOlai nall VenkatavANan) to her dear daughter .ParAnkusa Naayaki could not take in the condemnation of the Lord by Her mother and explains to Her mother and friends that the Lord is " aaRRA nall vahai kaatum AmmAn , mEvi ninRu thozhuvAr vinai poha mEvum PirAn " and celebrates Him with MahA ViswAsam. Naayaki begs the Lord to reveal when She will reach His sacred feet ( ThiruvenkatatthAnE ! unn paadham sErvathadiyEN yennALE ?). The Lord accedes to the moving prayr of NammAzhwAr and blesses him with Prapatthi anugraham and the AzhwAr bursts forth in joy and thanks the Lord for granting the greatest boon through the most famous SaraNAgathi Paasuram (AhalahillEniuRayum yenRu AlarmElmagai uRai maarbhA !). Through another famous paasuram , he enjoins us to join in performing nithya kaimkaryam to the Lord of ThiruvEnkatam ( Ozhivil KaalamellAm udanAi manni, vazhuvila adimai seyya vENDum naam , --yezhil koLL sOthi Yenthai Tanthai TanthaikkE). The ruchi from the enjoyment of the aanandhAnubhava paasurmas of the Ten AzhwArs on ThiruvEnkatamudayAN reminds us of the famous Upanishadic Paasage in TaittirIyam :" yadh vai sukrutham, rasO vai saha: rasamhEvAyam labdhvA aanandhI bhavathi " ( This which was self-manifested--that is verily sweet . For only after perceiving this sweet can anyone experience Bliss. Who could breathe if that Bliss / parabrahmam existed not in the daharAkAsam ? For that Bliss alone causes Blessedness) . To Be continued...
- Next message: schakrav_at_gators.de.sc.ti.com: "Sri. Sadagopan"
- Previous message: Venkat Nagarajan: "Quintessential Profound Idealist vs the Quintessential Pedestrian Dilettante"
- Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] [ attachment ]