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pEy AzhwAr Birhtday & concluding tribute to ThirukkOvalUr

From the Bhakti List Archives

V. Sadagopan • November 9, 1997 


Dear BhakthAs :

This day is for the rememberance of  the third thiruvandhAthi 
of pEy AzhwAr . I will select four verses to offer at
the feet of the Lord of ThirukkOvalUr as the concluding
samarpaNam on this series on Sri DehaLeesa sthuthi .
These four verses are :

1. 58th verse of Poygai AzhwAr
2. 77th verse of BhUthatthAr
3. 81st verse of pEy AzhwAr 
4. Thirumangai's ThirukkOvalUr paasuram( 2.10.2)

1 . Pygai AzhwAr's Mudhal ThiruvandhAthi Paasuram (58)
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thozhuthu malar kondu dhUpam kaiyEnthi
yezhuthumezhuvAzhi nenjE --pazhuthinri
manthirangaL karpanavum maaladiyE kai thozhuvAn
antharamonrillaiyadai 

Word By word Meaning :

nenjE yezhu  = O, my mind ! please wakeand get up !

dhupam kai yEndhi thozhuthu yezhuthum = let us
carry the flowers for worship in our hand , prostrate
ourselves before our Lord and attain salvation . 

vAzhi = may thou live long !

pazhuthu inri karpana manthirangaLum
Maal adiyE kai thozhuvAn = the manthrams 
like Ashtaaksharam that we receive in the proper
manner from  faultles AchAryAs  through upadEsam
are indeed for meditation on  and the worship of 
our Lord's sacred feet . 

antharam onru illai = there is no delay thru following
other routes such as karma, j~nana  and Bhakthi 
yOgams . they cause distracting delays that you do 
not need to brook with . Prapatthi margam is implied
here . 

adai = may thou receive that bhAgyam of truptha prapatthi ,
where you perform all the services and deeds prescribed 
for one in the life after prapatthi .

This is one of the maanasa sambhOdhanam paasurams.

2 .BUthatthAr Paasuram : second ThiruvandhAthi--77
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urumkandAi nannenjE utthaman naRpaadham 
urumkandAiyoN kamlam tannAl
yEtthi paNinthavanpEr eer iyjnooRu yeppozhuthum 
saatthi uraitthal tavam 

nal nenjE = O my mind filled with auspicious traits 
as a result of pUrva janma sukruthams !

nal paadham urum kandAi = The purushOtthaman's
holy feet will of its own accord will become accessible to you .
other distractions wont happen to you . By his own 
anugraham , you will have the praapthi (realization )
of worshipping His lotus feet .

oNN kamalam tannAl urum kandAi =you will be blessed
with the kainkarya Sri of offering beautiful lotus flowers 
at those sacred feet . That will happen too !   

yEtthi paNinthu sAtthi avan pEr eer innUru yeppozhuthum 
uraitthal tavam urum kandAi = you will be blessed with
the fruit of austerities (viz)., eulogising Him with His thousand 
names at all times ,  prostrating before Him and offering
Him the fragrant and beautiful lotus flowers at those holy
feet of our Lord . 

AzhwAr engages in mAnasa SambhOdhanam and
assures his mind that the ever-compassionate  Lord 
out of His bhaktha vAthsalyam will make all of these 
desired events happen for the prapannA . MahA viswasam
in the Lord as SaraNAgatha vathsalan is the undertone 
of this paasuram .

pEy AzhwAr : third thiruvandhAthi --paasuram 81
*****************************************************

nenjAl ninaippu ariyan yElum nilai peRREn 
nenjamE pEsAi ninaikkumkAl --nenjatthup
pErAthu niRkum perumAnai yen kolO 
OrAthu niRpathuNarvu 

yen nenjamE = O my dear mind ! 

nenjAl ninaippu ariyanElum nilai peRRu 
pEsAi = even if the Lord is not easy to be
realized in His full glory by meditation , please
root yourself in the sankeerthanam of his names 
and become tranquil . May thou steadfastly 
eulogize Him ! 

ninaikkum kaal nenjatthu pErAthu niRkum 
perumAnai uNarvu OrAthu nirpathu yen kol ? =
why is it that you are distracted to other subjects ,
when the object of your dhyAnam , the Lord is 
accessible to you without separation even  when 
you think of Him once ?

AzhwAr admits that it is not easy to control the mind 
from straying to other subjects than the Lord . He suggests
that his mind to shift to naama sankeerthanam as an aid ,
when the dhyAnam is interrupted . He also points out that 
it is an error to stray away from this bhaktha sulabhan .
That uNarvu ( ceaseless dhyAnam and dhruva smruthi ) 
is suggested  elsewhere in the divya prabhandham as
" tAmaraiAL kELvan ORUVANAYE nOkkum UNARVU ".
That our Lord , the consort of MahA Lakshmi should be 
the one and only object of our dhyAnam is the upadEsam
of the AzhwAr , who saw the divya dampathis with his tapas .

4 .Thirumangai"s thirukkObvalUr paasuram 
( Periya Thirumozhi :2.10.2 )

kondalarntha naRunthuzhAi saanthum dhUpam
   dheepam kondu amarar thozha ppaNankoL paampil ,
santhaNI menmulai malarAL dharaNi mangai
   thAmiruvar adi varudam tanmaiyAnai 
vandhanai seythu isai yEzhu aaRu angam iynthu
  vaLar vELvi naan maRaigaL moonRu theeyum 
chintanai seyuthirpozhuthumonRum selvat-
  thirukkOvalaUrathanuL kandEn naanE 

Thirumangai desribes the scene that he saw at 
the sannidhi of hte Lord of  THirukkOvalUr  . He witnessed 
the elaborate and traditional worship prescribed 
by the agamAs and sAsthrAs . Who was performing
this aarAdhanai ? Amarars were peforming this aarAdhanai .

PeriyavAcchAn PiLLai intreprets amarars as the DevAs 
including BrahmA ( brahmAdhigaL ) . Namjeeyar intreprets
the word amarar to mean nithya sUris . 

The celestial beings arrive at Gopapureesan's sannadhi 
carrying fragrant flower garlands , sandal paste , lamps ,
incense and worship the Lord resting on the multiheaded 
AdhisEshan , while his lotus feet are being pressed by 
the soft hands of His two dEvis ( Sri and BhU devi ) with
sarvAlankArams .

Thirumangai describes the glory of ThirukkOvalUr , where 
the dEvAs have assembled to perform their ArAdhanai .
He hears divine music based on the saptha svarAs ,
vedha ghOsham , recitation of the six limbs of the vEdAs .
He sees the tall flames rising from the five mahA yaJ~nams 
and the three base agnis like gharhapathyam maintained 
for the vaidhika karmAs . He sees these achaara , anushtAna
sishtAs , who ceaselessly think of the Lord as sarvantharyAmi .
In short , the abundance of Vaidhika Sri is witnessed and 
recorded by Thirumangai at ThirukkOvalUr as the proper 
background for the moving aarAdhanam performed by 
the nithya sUris and the dEvAs .

May the paripUrNAnugraham of the pUmkOval NaacchiyAr
sametha Aayan--Thrivikraman of ThirukkovalUr standing 
under the shade of Srikara Vimanam on the banks  of
Sri KrishNa theertham fall on all of us and bless us
to gain an understanding of the thiruvandhAthis of
the three mudhal AzhwArs ! 

AzhwAr AchAryAL thiruvadigalE SaraNam 
Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan
Isvara samvathsaram Iyppasi Dasami , 
Sathaya Nakshthram .