Bhakti List Archives

Fifth Day of the trip: Following AchArya RaamAnujA's sacred steps : Trips to SriperumbhUdhUr and Kanchipuram, Feb 9 ,2000: Part III

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sadagopan • Fri Mar 03 2000 - 19:13:05 PST 


Sri Lakshmi Nrusimha ParabrahmaNE Nama:

Dear BhakthAs : 

It is adiyEn's humble opinion that there is no match
to Swamy Desikan in the understanding of 
Sri VaradarAja Tattvam . His choice of words to address 
the Lord , his appeals to the Lord of Hasthigiri in
his many Sri Sookthis in Tamil and Sanskrit 
are marvels depicting the bhAndhavyam ( uRavu) 
between Swamy Desikan and His Sarva Seshi .

We will illustrate their unique relationship
to serve as a  model for us , when we stand before 
Lord VaradarAjan and His divine consort .These are
some of the thoughts that flashed across adiyEn's mind 
during the sEvai of the KarumANikka PerumAL of Kaanchi.
With two days after adiyEn's own SaraNAgathi at
the sacred feet of asmath AchAryan , it is no wonder
that the Bhara SamarpaNam related passages of
Swamy Desikan's Sri Sookthis were very much 
on my mind.Here are a few thoughts :.

(1)Sri VairAgya Panchakam 
**************************

" Naasthi pithrArjitham kimchith na mayA kimchithArjitham
  asthi mE HasthisailAgrE VASTHU PAITHAAMAHAM DHANAM "

(meaning ): adiyEn does not hold claim to any wealth
bequeathed to me by my father. adiyEn however has 
in my posession the greatest of wealth bequeathed 
to me by my great grand father ( BrahmA ).That is 
the  incomparable and priceless wealth revered as
PeraruLALan , who stands on top of Hasthigiri. 
Why then would adiyEn need any vanishing wealth ? 

This upadEsam of Swamy Desikan kept ringing in my 
head as adiyEn stood before the boon-conferring 
Lord known for His bewitching smile . 

(2)Adaikkala Patthu
********************

Swamy Desikan's performance of SaraNAgathi at
the sacred feet of Lord VaradarAjan through
the ten beautiful paasurams of Desika Prabhandham
made adiyEn stand in awe at the Lord's sannidhi.

The very last paasuram , the quintessence of 
the Vedic rk ( PraNavO dhanu: --tanmayO bhavEth)
cited below reminded one of the unquestioned 
supermacy of the dhivya dampathis and our 
ultimate goal in life (viz)., the performance of 
our Prapatthi : 

"ThirumahaLUm Thiruvadivum ThiruvaruLum TeLLaRivum 
arumai ilAmayaum uRavum aLappu ariya adi arasum
karumamum aLippum amaippum kalakkam ilA vahai ninRa
aruL Varadhar nilai ilakkil ampena naann amizhinthEnE "

(Meaning): PeraruLALap PerumAl never leaves the side 
of His PirAtti even for a fraction of a second. He has 
the subha tanu and dhivya soundharyam ( physical beauty)
that enchants every one . He has limitless mercy for 
those , who seek refuge in Him . He is all knowing .
He is easy of access to those , who worship Him. 
He has the chEthanams and achEthanams as His body 
(sarIram ).He has no beginning and rules justly over  
His universe . He is the creator as well as the destroyer
of every thing in this Universe. These attributes 
never ever leave Him. AdiyEn performs Bhara SamarpaNam
(Prapatthi) at the sacred feet of such an illustrious One. 

(3)NyAsa Dasakam :
******************

In this moving echo of Adaikkala Patthu in Sanskrit , 
Swamy Desikan showed us the way to perform
SaraNAgathi at the lotus feet of the Lord of Kaanchi.
Swamy declared loud and clear :" Srimann ! abhIshta Varadha !
thvaam asmi SaraNam gatha:" ( Oh Lord never separated
from Your PirAtti ! Oh Boon-giving Lord ! adiyEn
is seeking refuge at Your sacred feet ).

AdiyEn is totally committed in servitude 
to You ( thvath sEsahthvE sthira dhiya :);
adiyEn considers the sole purpose of my
life is to enjoy Your beauty and limitless
kalyANa guNams ( thvath prApthi yEka prayOjanam ).

"maam madhIyam cha --sva kaimkarya upakaraNam 
sveekuru "( Oh VaradhA ! Please accept through 
Your sankalpam adiyEn's aathmA , possesions and
every thing as instruments for serving You ).

"nithyam niraparAdhEshu kaimkaryEshu niyunkshva maam "
( Please command adiyEn to be engaged always in 
blemishless kaimkaryam to You ). "Kshamasva nikhilam
dEva PraNathArthihara PrabhO " ( Oh Lord, who destroys 
the sufferings of any one , who prostrates before You !
Please forgive all my trespasses and bless me !).

In the last slOkma , Swamy Desikan states that 
the KaaruNAmoorthy Varadharaajan executed through His 
own sankalpam adiyEn's Bhara SamarpaNam at His holy feet.
As a result , adiyEn is totally free from any
worries and fear about my protection from here on .

(4)Aruttha Panchakam 
**********************

In this Tamil Prabhandham , Lord VaradarAjan 
becomes the object of adoration for Swamy Desikan .
Swamy salutes the pancha GuNams of the Lord of 
Hasthigiri as (1) Sathyathvam (2) Jn~Anathvam
(3) Ananthathvam (4) Aanandhathvam and (5) Amalathvam 
in the spirit of the Upanishads : " sathyam jn~Anam 
anantham BrahmA ". 

In every one of the ten paasurams , Swamy Desikan
salutes Lord VaradarAjan as the inseperable consort
of PerumdEvi ThAyAr .The examples of such moving
salutations to the dhivya dampathis are :

" Kamalai udan arasALum Karigiri mERk Kaavalan "
( The protector of Atthigiri , who rules over
the universe with His divine Consort )..Paasuram 1

" ThiruvudanE  VaLLal AruLALar yenum vAraNa 
veRRpu IrayavanE " ( The Lord with His divine
consort standing on top of  Hasthigiri as 
the most generous boon giver )...Paasuram 2

" --Kamalai udan kaNDu uhanthu ViLayADum
thEn yeduttha sOlaikaL soozh Thiru AtthiUrAnE "
( Oh the auspicious Lord of Hasthi Giri ,who
has the leelA rasaam to enjoy with Your Divine
Consort , the games of the Jeevan enjoying 
its karmAs !).. Paasuram 3 

"ThirumAl Vezhamalai mEyavanE "( OH Lord of
Atthigiri, who is enchanted by the beauty 
of Your divine consort , PerumdEvi !)..Paasuram 5

" ThirumAl Thiruvatthi NaharAnE " ( Sriya: Pathi
presiding over Thiru AtthiUr )..Paasuram 6

"AmbhuyatthAL AaravamudhE " ( Oh insatiable nectar 
of the Lotus Lady , PerumdEvi !)..Paasuram 7

"PankayatthAL ahalahilEn yenRu uRayum Atthigiri
aruL muhilE !" ( Oh the DayA-soaked cloud on top
of Atthigiri , who declares that He is incapable
of being seperated from Your dear consort , PerumdEvi)
.. Paasuram 8

" ThiruvODu uyar AtthigiriyAnE "( Oh Lord united with
Your dear consort matching You in every aspect of
Isvaryam and KalyANa guNams and standing tall on
Hasthigiri ! )...Paasuram 9

After the series of salutations excelling each other 
in their depth of Bhakthi and Bhagavath anubhavam ,
Swamy Desikan summarizes in the tenth paasuram 
the blessings resulting from the Prapatthi accepted
by the Dhivya Dampathis of Hasthigiri:

The great PeraruLALan ruling over the bliss-filled
Srivaikuuntam with PerumdEvi PirAtti 
as the embodiment of Aanandham unites
the Jeevan-- that performed prapatthi at their
feet-- with the nithyAs and MukthAs and blesses
the Jeevan to engage in nithya Kaimkaryam , which
was interrupted until then because of Karma sambhandham .

This thrilling message for us all from
Swami Desikan's own anubhavam of Prapatthi
at the SaraNya Dhampathi's sacred feet at
Hasthigiri can not but uplift us and hasten
us to our AchAryan's holy feet .

(5)Thirucchinna Maalai
************************

The glories of Lord VaradarAjA during 
His processions is saluted here with
great feeling . The choice words selected
by Swamy Desikan are the most moving ,
when it comes to Bhagavath anubhavam .
Some examples are :

"Vyyaham VaazhvitthAr vandhAr "( the One who
brought life to this earth has arrived ).

"vaNmai udan Varam taruvAr vandhAr "
(The One , who showers us with the most
generous boons has arrived ).

" VaanERa Vazhi tanthAr  vandhAr thaamE "
( The Lord , who showed us the way /
revealed the upAyam to Srivaikuntam through 
His Charama slOkam has indeed arrived ).

In celebrating the meaning of NaarAyaNa sabdham ,
Swamy Desikan describes the Lord's arrival here 
as:

 " Ulahu udampAit ThAmm UyirAi ninRAr vandhAr "
      yellArkkum gati aanAr vandhAr thAmE "

(Meaning ): The Lord , who has all the chEthanams and
the achEthanams as His body has arrived ; 
the Lord , who is the upAyam and upEyam/Phalan 
for all has indeed arrived .

The chantham of this prabhandham and the deep meanings
enshrined in every line of these Tamil ashtakams
are without parallel in Bhagavath anubhavam . 

(6)Panniru Naamam
******************

In this Tamil Prabhandham , Swamy Desikan 
points out that the twelve Naamams (PunDrams)
worn on the body of a Sri VaishNavan are
representations of the sacred feet of 
Lord VaradarAjan . The twelve murthys --
Kesavan ,NaarAyaNan , Maadhavan , Govindhan , 
VishNu ,Madhusoodhanan , Thrivikraman , Vaamaan ,
Sridharan HrishIkEsan , PadmanAbhan and 
DaamOdharan-- are invoked in specific places 
of the upper torso of a Sri VaishNavan daily 
and recognized as living there in the form 
of PuNDram . This is  another beautiful
prabhandham brimming with the affection
of Swami Desikan for Lord  VaradarAjan .

adiyEn will conclude this series on the visit 
to Lord VaradarAjan's temple at Kaanchi with
one more post based on the anubhavam of
the Lord enshrined in Sri VaradarAja PanchAsath .

Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam
Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan  
   
 
         


 

 

    
   



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