Search:
Bhakti List Archives

Fw: "The Well-dressed Gentleman" Part II

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sadagopan • March 3, 2003 


SrI:

Dear  Devotees:

adiyEn is deeply  grateful to SrImAn Sadagopan Iyengar
Swamy of India for his MahOpakAram in writing a  special 
article in quick response to the ongoing efforts 
for presenting a RathnAngi for Lord DhaivanAyakan of 
ThiruvahIndhrapuram. 

adiyEn is sure that you will enjoy this brilliant
article as much as I did .

namO NaarAyaNAya,
Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan 



Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

                         The Well-Dressed Gentleman-2

                        We saw how the Lord is an impeccable dresser, and
 likes to adorn Himself with the finest of apparels. Just as people wear
 different types of clothes for different occasions and reserve their
 finery for parties and other social events, the Lord too likes to put on
 beautiful clothes on festival days, when He expects a large number of 
 devotees to congregate. Much like a child, Emperuman too likes to show off 
 His clothes, especially when He has a huge audience. This is why we find 
 Him bedecked in all His finery during utsavams and on His days out. If He 
 can wear silk,  He doesn't wear cotton.

 There are some unique dresses, which the Lord wears just once or twice 
 a year. They are so grand that even He likes to use them sparingly, 
 on major occasions. On the rare occasions that He does, it is no
 wonder that bhaktAs flock to see Him attired in these special costumes,
 for the sight is so exceptionally beautiful, that the devotee knows not
 whether the finery adds to Emperuman's appeal or whether it is the Lord who
 makes the costume look great. What would look good on an ordinary person 
 looks extraordinarily gorgeous on the Lord-it is thus clear that is 
 the wearer who makes the difference and not the cloth.

                Some of these stunning clothes are the Mutthangi and the
RatnAngi. The former consists of beautiful pearls sewn closely into a
coat of velvet or equally enhancing fabric, while the latter has dazzling
diamonds and gorgeous gems set into the golden-Silver base . These garments 
are exceedingly beautiful, as those who have seen these would attest. 
The Mutthangi is so closely adorned with brilliant white pearls that it
appears to be a dress made solely out of pearls, and not merely of pearls 
in fabric.

If pearls themselves could be so beautiful, need we say anything about
the RatnAngi? The splendorous precious stones studding the shiny golden 
coat give off a luster that takes your breath away. Each nugget throws up 
a kaleidoscope of colours and the combined effect of all the gems is
indeed stupendous.

           Clothes are clothes and jewels are jewels. They enhance
the looks of the wearer in different ways. The uniqueness of the Mutthangi
and the RatnAngi is that they double as coats and ornaments too. They are
"angi"  studded with pearls or precious stones, and, as such, afford the
advantages of both. While no cloth can independently account for so much
splendour, gems too cannot be worn on one's body (though they are worn,
set into jewels, around the neck, on the ears and as rings and bracelets on
the fingers and arms). A RatnAngi affords opportunity for both cloth and
diamond to combine and produce a scintillating effect worthy of the Lord.
When Sri Nammazhwar describes Emperuman's innumerable adornments,("pala
palavE AbharaNam, pErum pala palavE") he must have had items like the
RatnAngi in mind , which perform kainkaryam in several ways to the
Lord-they  serve as garments and as adornments too.

                 If the angis themselves are so beautiful, what about the
wearer? The Paramapursha is acclaimed to be the sole repository of all
magnificence, awash with natural brilliance and beauty. He loses none of
His splendour in any of His forms, be it the ParaVasudeva svarupam, the
Vibhava avataras like Sri Rama and Sri Krishna, the arcchavatara or the
beautiful images He inhabits in various sannidhIs on earth or as antaryAmi.

              The combined effect of the lustrous Lord and the radiant
RatnAngi is a sight fit for the eyes of the celestials. However,
Namperumal lets us mortals too have a brief taste of the blissful vision, 
on the day of Vaikunta Ekadasi. As always with the Lord, we are 
unable to concentrate on His whole form at once, for its breath-taking
magnificence  is too much for our frail faculties. We have to take in part
by beautiful part of His tantalizing tirumEni and the radiant RatnAngi and
even after ogling at the stupefying sight for long, we return unsatisfied
with the
adequacy of our visionary intake. We also feel that the nitynsUrIs must be
staring unblinkingly ("sadA pasyanti") at this very RatnAngi sEvai of the Lord,
for there could be no other sight so impressive as to make us apprehensive of
losing a moment's bliss through winking.

              We may think, why should the Lord need such adornments,
which must cost a fortune? Would it not be enough if we offered to Him
good, sturdy and clean apparel? Does he insist on such ostentation or 
has some of humanity's monopoly-vanity-rubbed off on Him too? If He is 
indeed lustrous, what difference would a RatnAngi make on Him?

               A doting mother likes to dress her child in a variety of
garments every day. She is never satisfied with the vast wardrobe she
has accumulated for the kid and would like him to look his best, always. 
For her, all the gorgeous garments in the cloth store appear to have been
made specifically for her son, and she spends all that she can afford 
to make him look impeccable. She is thus concerned with making her child 
look not merely well-dressed, but exceptionally impressive, though 
the child might be naturally beautiful and in need of no such 
enhancements.

    Similar is the predilection of the bhakta. He wants all that is best
in the world for his Lord. He knows fully well that the naturally
magnificent Lord needs no RatnAngi to augment His good looks, but would 
still like to adorn Himself with the best of perfect pearls, gorgeous 
gems and dazzling diamonds, much in the fashion of the mother described 
above. 

To the Lord who has given us this beautiful world all the great things in
it, who lavishes so much attention on each of us as His own children, forgives 
our every grave transgression as a mere lapse, provides us with Shastras 
and Acharyas to ensure that we are guided well on the narrow and difficult
path to liberation- is it not our duty to pay Him back at least in some 
meager measure to show our gratitude for all His immeasurable love, 
though He would be the last person to expect any quid pro quo? All these 
baubles are but small recompense for His unlimited affection and
protection-"chattrallavO munnam pettradarkkE!"

There is an endearing kainkaryam currently under way-that of adorning
Sri DeivanAyakan of Tiruvaheendrapuram with a RatnAngi. It would be no
exaggeration to say that it is this Emperuman who is dearest to the
heart of our Thooppul VaLLal, who might have been born at Thooppul, 
but made "ayindai" his second home, due to his overwhelming devotion for 
Sri Devanathan. DEvanAyaka PanchAsat and Achyuta Satakam are standing
testimony to the Acharya's unmatched devotion to the Emperuman of this
divyadesam, who is glorified variously as "DAsa Satyan", "adiyavarkku 
Meyyan" etc.

The RatnAngi kainkaryam would be dear to the Acharya's heart. Piratti
too would be extremely pleased to see Her Lord resplendent in 
a gem-studded garment. Anything that pleases His Consort and 
his favourite Acharya would be automatically pleasing to the Lord. 
Thus, by participating in the RatnAngi kainkaryam by contributing 
our mite, we would be able to earn the appreciation of not merely 
the Acharya but also that of the Divya Dampati.And appreciation 
or not, it is our "svaroopam", as enlightened Bhagavatas to involve 
ourselves whole-heartedly in any such endeavour. In the days
past, there were devoted Kings who built towering temples and adorned
the Lord with any number of precious ornaments, unmindful of the cost. 
Alas, there are no such people today, singly endowed with so much wealth, 
and even if there are some, they lack the inclination. Under the circumstances,
participative kainkaryam is perhaps what we can afford, so that the per
capita share is quite light. The munificent and well-endowed among us
can contribute sizeable sums, the not so fortunate can chip in with their
mite, however little, and those unable to do even that can spread 
the message by word of mouth and otherwise. 

Though the fund-raising effort of Shri Oppiliappan Koil Satakopan Swami 
has been quite encouraging so far, yet in view of the target date 
(Purattasi Shravanam-Oct 5,2003) being not all that far off, 
the assistance of every one of us is required in this magnificent 
and mighty effort, much in the fashion of every single devotee in town 
turning up to pull the Lord's "thEr". 

May the Lord bless us with the opportunity to be a part, big or small, 
of this glorious kainkaryam!

Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri
Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:
Dasan, Sadagopan





--------------------------------------------------------------
           - SrImate rAmAnujAya namaH -
To Post a message, send it to:   bhakti-list@yahoogroups.com
Group Home: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bhakti-list
Archives: http://ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/
 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/