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"ThirunAvAi"

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sadagopaniyengar • January 15, 2003 


                           
Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya Nama:

                ThirunAvAi

       Quiet flows the BhAratapuzhA, its pace sedate and tranquil, like a mature person, the years of frenetic activity and furious efforts in pursuit of materialistic pleasures behind him. The river has journeyed over hill and dale, irrigating thousands of acres of land turned golden with fertility, rushing headlong into valleys when laden with freshets. The longest river in Kerala State, it is verily the Provider for thousands of agriculturists living along its picturesque banks spread over hundreds of miles. It is their source of happiness, its waters unfailingly assisting them in their husbandry, year after year.

 Among the thousands who have made the banks of the BhAratapuzhA their home, is one Farmer too. One might ask what is so special about this Farmer, when there are thousands of others. The important difference between this cultivator and others is in the crop they raise. While others grow crops like paddy, maize, plantain, sugarcane, etc., this farmer specialises in agriculture of unimaginable proportions, raising Jeevatmas implanted in the soil of Karma. He proudly watches over His growing crop day by day, ever vigilant against the damage that the rodents of Maya and the allied pests of KAma, KrOdha, etc. can cause to the fledgling nursery. He applies in adequate measure the fertilisers of Sathya and Dharma and sprays insecticides of just punishment. He and His Wife, equally concerned about the welfare of their human crops, tend to them with anxiety, burning a lot of midnight oil. When the crops grow knee high and sway gracefully in the wind, the Farmer and His Wife stand on the raised piece of land above th

As the day of harvest approaches, the Divine Farmer and His Consort grow more nervous, hoping against hope that their crop would retain its good health till the end. However, as Providence would have it, the crops, imbibing some dormant disease of long standing from the soil of Karma, start withering away gradually, leaving a field of decayed stems where there stood healthy sprouts weighed down with golden ears of corn. The Farmer and His wife are heart-broken that their innumerable days and nights of hard toil has failed to yield the bountiful harvest they looked forward to. However, they are not the ones to give up. They clear the field of the dead crop and make it ready for another crop, ever optimistic (despite repeated failures) that each batch would yield them at least a few sacks of corn (the mahatmas who surrender to the Lord with the realisation that He is indeed everything).

The Lord is indeed hopeful from each batch of Jeevas turned out from the factory of Creation, that they, at least, would not go the way of their forebears, and would definitely rise above the pestilential influences of the Six Enemies (KAma, Krodha, Lobha, MOha, Mata and MAtsarya). In their infancy, the Jeevas do display signs of promise. They look set to tread the path of liberation that the Lord wants them to traverse. However, the unbreakable shackles of Karma prove too strong for most of them and they change directions midway, switching to the path leading back to the abyss of Samsara, from which they had emerged with a lot of effort. Slowly but surely, they are sucked once more into its swirling vortex, helpless and beyond help. Only a few are brave and steadfast enough to disregard the wrong pointers they come across on the path and stick to the well-trodden trail to eternal happiness and deliverance, gladdening the hearts of the Lord that at least this many could be saved out of the total production.
The Lord is thus an Eternal Farmer ("KrishIvala:"), raising one batch of human crop after another and providing them all that is required to overcome the bonds of Karma. Though only a negligible portion of the total crop survives and makes it to the gates of Paradise, the Farmer never gives up and persists with the process of Creation, in the fond hope that one day, hopefully not too distant in the Cosmic Future, every single Jeevatma would share with Him the immeasurable bliss that He and those He has saved, enjoy for ever. He employs ever-watchful Acharyas to turn errant souls in the right direction, but many a time Jeevas listen to the Acharyas with apparently rapt attention, but go their own delinquent ways thereafter, while the fortunate few who retain the preceptor's homilies build upon them to emerge successful in surmounting the innumerable obstacles on their path to Paradise.

Coming back to the BhAratapuzhA and the Eternal Farmer, we find that the latter has chosen to locate His farmstead on the banks of this glorious river. Much in the fashion of the Ganga and the Cauvery, the Bharatapuzha too practically washes the holy feet of the NavA Mukundan (as the Keralites call Him fondly), the presiding deity of ThirunAvAi, a divyadesam sung with verve by two of the most prolific Azhwars, Sri Satakopan and Sri Thirumangai Mannan. While the latter makes a mere passing reference to this Emperuman at the fag end of Periya Thirumozhi in a pasuram addressed jointly to ThirukkOttiyur and ThirunAvai, Sri Nammazhwar devotes all of ten pasurams to this Lord. Curiously, however, neither Azhwar makes a mention of the Bharatapuzha, which is indeed puzzling, considering Azhwars' propensity for painstakingly vivid description of the locales of each divyadesam. Though we find Sri Kalian singing paeans of praise in favour of the Ganga (while eulogizing the Lords at Badarikashramam, Thiruppiridhi, etc.)

One thing that appeals most to Sri Nammazhwar is the dense flower-filled groves and gardens of ThirunAvAi, which he remarks about repeatedly, no less than five times in ten pasurams-

"KondhAr malar sOlaigaL soozh ThirunAvAi"

"VandAr malar sOlaigaL soozh ThirunAvAi"

NediyAn urai sOlaigaL soozh ThirunAvAi"

 NeeLAr malar sOlaigaL soozh ThirunAvAi"

Veri thaN malar sOlaigaL soozh ThirunAvAi" 

According to the locals, this Lord Mukunda of ThirunAvAi, true to His tirunAmam, is capable of bestowing Paramadam on His devotees. This is in tune with the Azhwar's thiruvuLLam too, for he says that all sins are destroyed, once we fix our minds on the Lord of ThirunAvAi-"arukkum vinai Ayina, Agatthu avanai nirutthum manatthondriya chintayinArkku". Not only does this Emperuman remove all our Karmas which stand as obstacles in our spiritual progress, but He also endows us with unblemished wisdom, enabling us to realise clearly our own svarUpam, that of the Lord's, and the strategy we have to adopt for lifting ourselves up from this mundane morass and for attaining eternal bliss in the company of the Lord and His devotees. This is brought out by Azhwar's sreesokti,"MaruLE indri unnai en nenjatthu irutthum teruLE taru then ThirunAvAi en dEvE!".  From this, it is clear that when Azhwar acknowledges Emperuman's mercy in endowing him (Azhwar) with all-encompassing wisdom in the very first pasuram of Thiruvaimozhi 

The Lord, in His arcchAvatAra (the forms He assumes in various temples) is none other than the Paramapurusha. For the benefit of devotees who may have a doubt in this regard, Azhwar repeatedly addresses the Lord of ThirunAvAi as the Supreme Being Sriman Narayana, emphasizing their identity-

"nAvAi uraigindra en NAraNa nambI!"

"ViNNALan virumbi urayum ThirunAvAi"

"navai il ThirunAraNan sEr ThirunAvAi"

"Moovar mudalvan oru moo ulagAli

  dEvan virumbi urayum ThirunAvai"

It is thus clear that the Lord of ThirunAvAi is no different from the Lord of Sri Vaikuntam, the Supreme Lord of all Creation. The purport behind all this is to emphasize that this Mukunda can indeed deliver from us samsara and afford us eternal bliss.

 ThirunAvAi has another colourful feather in its cap, one that perhaps no other divyadesam can boast of- it is a place where the Lord is happy to reside in. He takes pleasure in being a resident of ThirunAvAi, according to Sri Nammazhwar, who says this not once but twice, for good measure-

"dEvan virumbi urayum ThirunAvAi"

"ViNNALan virumbi urayum ThirunAvAi"

 It would be apparent from the second quote that the Lord takes greater pleasure in residing at ThirunAvAi than at Sri Vaikuntam. The reasons for His preference are not far to seek. The bewitching natural beauty of the place, surrounded by dense flower groves and gardens, with the beautiful BhAratapuzha flowing at a stone's throw from the sanctum sanctorum, the fragrant breeze, laden with the heavy scent of flowers from the opposite shore tickling His nostrils pleasantly and the wholesome and serene atmosphere of divinity and pure devotion that characterizes the place-all these add up to an extremely tranquil scenario, which makes for an ideal abode for the Lord.

The name of the divyadesam too is unique- "nAvAi" means a boat: this, however, is no ordinary boat. It can ferry us far, from these mundane shores to those of Paradise, navigating quickly and safely on the sea of samsara filled with dangerous predators. Another feature of distinction here is the separate sannidhi for "Malarmangai nAcchiar", as the divyadesams in Kerala do not have separate shrines for Piratti. This Lord is supposed to have blessed Gajendra, in commemoration of which the statue of an elephant stands near the Lord's flag mast. Performance of pitru kAryAs here is supposed to ensure salvation to one's forefathers.

The bewitching tirumEni of the Lord at this place fills one's minds long after one has taken leave of Him, after a satisfying and rewarding mangalAsAsanam. And its peace, calm, tranquillity and divinity stay etched in one's mind.

The mind hankers after another glimpse of this Lord, after the Azhwar's own experience-" kaNNAra kaLikkindradu ingu endru kol kaNgaL?".

For intending visitors, this divyadesam is well connected by road and rail, though only the slower trains stop at ThirunAvAi (pronounced "ThirunAvAya" by the locals). The neighbouring Kuttipuram is a major town on the national highway to Calicut and plenty of buses/cabs are available from and to all major destinations. Further details are available on Sri (Bahrain) Venkat's website www.srivaishnavam.com, which is of great help in planning journeys to MalainAdu divyadesams, apart from affording a wealth of information on all aspects of our Sampradaya.

Srimate Sri LakshmInrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya Nama:

Dasan, sadagopan

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