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Thirup paaNaazhwaar and Swami Desikan

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sampath Rengarajan • November 26, 1996 


This is *part* of last year's post by me, repeated as requested by
some friends and bAgawathALs.

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"amalaanaathipiraan thantha adikalE pORRi,
 uyar thiru thamizh maRai chaarum thantha uththama muniyE pORRi,
 maRaiththu MaRai poruL thantha, maRaa thirup pugazh sEr paanaazhwaar
                                               -  thiruvadikaLE pORRi

Sampath Rengarajan

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In continuation of the information  that thirup  paanaazhwaar's  thiru
nakshthram is coming,  there were some thoughts that may now be shared
with the group.  Our elders Sri  Vaishnavas  have  believed that swami
desikan had a special place in his heart for thirup paanaazhwaar among
all the other aazhwaars.

	Thirup  paanaazhwaar's  thiru nakshthram and Lord Sri Krisha's
thiru  nakshthram  are same and is  "rohini"  (though the month's  are
different).  Kannan is the  supreme  being in playing  the flute.  Our
Aazhwaar  having been brought up by  "paanars"  also  mastered  music.
Swami  Desikan  mentioned in the chapter  "guru param paraa saaram" of
Srimath Rahsya Trasaaram that "sarvechwaran  paraangusa  parakaalaathi
roopaththaalE  abinavamaaka oru thasaavaathaaram  paNNI ..."  implying
that the "Lord of all" created yet another  dasaawathaaram through the
aazhwaars.  In  conjunction  with this  statement of Swami Desikan and
the  thiru  nakshthram  of  aazhwaar,  one can  conclude  that  thirup
paanaazhwaar  is  a  revisit  of  krishnaa  avathaaram.  Sri  krishnan
offered us the supreme  nectar of Srimath  bagwath  geetha while being
on  the  platform  of  his  charriot  or  thiruth   thEr,  and  thirup
paanaazhwaar  delivered  the  essence  of the  vedaa  in  "amalanaathi
piraan" as seated on the thiruth thOL of " loka saaranga  muni" and in
a posture or  "abinava".

	Aahwaar's birth comes in the middle of the kaarthigai festival
when the place is decorated  with jyothi mayam all around.  Some refer
to him as "kaarthigaiyil uthiththa jothi".  In a similar context Swami
Desikan   delivered    "bagwath   dyaana   sObaanam"   starting   with
"antharjyOthi  .."  and  referred  to the  Jyothi in Sri  Rangam.  The
reference for "bagwath dyaana  sObaanam" is such that it is "based" on
thirup  paanaazhwaar's   "amalanaathi   piraan".  Swami  Desikan  also
delivered a rahasya grantham named  "munivaahana  bOham", as a detiled
elaboration or "vyaakyaanam" for "amala naathi piraan".  It is in this
rahasyam that Swami Desikan  expalins the unique style and composition
of the "amala naathi  piraan" that the first letter of the first three
songs starts with the  pranavam  syllabals  "a", "vu" and "ma".  Swami
Desikan  also  empahsised  that  these ten songs has the  esssence  of
"thamizh  maRai"  (4000),  and hence the  essence of all the vedas, &
contain the essense of all the vedaanthaarthangaL.

	Some of the Swami Desikan (abimaanis)  devotees even feel that
it is this  eedupaadu or  "exclusive  mental  association  with thirup
paanaazhwaar"  being the  reason  that swami  desikan's  thiru  vullam
engaged in delivering the "Sri paathukaa  sahasram on Lord ARangan and
Sri  Dasaavathaara  sthothram on the  dhasaavatharaa  moorthy's at the
sannithi  east of  Arangan's  koil.  Sri  paadukaa  sahasram is also
equated to composition of the 1000 names of Lord Vishnu or "pEraayira
mudaiyaan" (ie it is equated to the popularly chanted vishnu sahsranamam).
However, the contents of paduka sahasram itself is in 32 pathathis (ie 32
steps placed by the paadhukai that decorates the holy feet of Sri Ranganatha
and in essence it is conceived that these 32 padhdhathis reflect the
32 brahma vidhdhais. It is also  considered by many that Dasaawathaara
 sthothram  is the popular relief or sarva nivaarani from all the
planetary  doshams or navagraha dhoshangaL.

	 It is  believed  that, If some  one  would do a  dhyaanam  on
Aazhwaar  and  Swami  Desikan  and read or  chant on this  holy day of
rohini,  swami  desikan's  "bagwath  dyaana  sObaanam" and  aazhwaar's
"amalanaathi  piraan",  it is certain  that this will pave way for the
"aNYNYaanam" to leave and "aathyaathma nYaanam" to come in for them.
There was an extensive analyses conducted  in these 10 pasurams of
amalanaathi piraan and *part* of that was posted by me as an anlysis
last year during his thirunakshaththiram. For this year though, I shall
leave it with this repeat post.

thirup paanaazhwaar thiruvadikaLE saraNam
Swami deiskan thiruvadikaLE saranam
Sri Sri Ranganaayika samEthara Sri RangnAtha padhukaa charanam

Sampath Rengarajan