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ThiruviNNagarappan as Veda NaarAyaNan: part 3( Final )

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sadagopan • September 21, 1998 


6.THIRUVINNAGARAPPAN IS VISVATHOMUKAN 
**************************************

ThiruviNNagarappan recognized by Thirumangai
as His one and Only Lord ( MaRROr dhaivam piRithaRiyEn )
is SarvathOmukan ( Omnippresent ). That Parabrahmam with
garlands on His crown made up of just blossomed flowers
( pOthalar nedumudip puNNiyan ) , who is the sweet naadham
in the Veda manthrams ( irukkil innisai aanavan) is 
saluted by the ancient Rg Veda manthram as follows :

tvamhi visvathOmuka visvatha : paribhUrasi , apa:
na sOsuchadhagam

(Meaning ) : O veda NaarAyaNA ! O ChandhOgA 
( celebrated by the Saama Veda Upanishad, ChAndhOgyam ) ! 
O PouzhiyA ( Saluted by Rg Vedam )!, O TaittiriyA 
( adored by Yajur Veda manthrams) !, O Lord of ThiruviNNagar!
Thou art the all pervading , Omnipresent , Omniscient One! 
Please remove our sins in its entirety .

O TannoppArillappA ! Thou art the One , who consumed 
the seven oceans, seven kula parvathams and the seven 
Universes and kept them safely in Your stomach during
the destructive time of PraLayam ( kaarkezhu kadalkaLum 
malaikaLumAyErkezhu ulahamumAhinavan) ; during those
times of MahA praLayam , You devoured the Sun , the Moon and 
the stars and kept them in Your stomach ( as amithAsanan) ,
You became then , " nilavodu veyil nilavirusudarum ulahamumuyir-
kalum unDavan ") . After this miraculous feat , You shone 
as the YekAksharan ( PraNava mUrthy/ aarkezhu vayiRRiniladakki
ninRangOrezutthOru uruvAnAi ).In the spirit of Yajur Vedam's
salutation , 

Brahma yaj~AnAm prathamam purasthAdhvi 
seematha: suruchO vEna aava: 
sa budhnyA upamA asya vishtA :
sathascha yOnimasathascha vi va: 

(Meaning ) : O Veda NaarAyaNA ! Thou created ,
protected and consumed all of these sentients
and the insentients . Thus Thou shineth as 
SarvOtthaman , Parama Poojyan and shine as 
the indweller (antharyAmi Brahmam )and direct
them . You are recognized therefore as Sarvaj~nan 
and Param JyOthi .

7. FOREVER RESPLENDENT MANIVANNAN SHINING EVERYWHERE
*****************************************************

O ThiruviNNagarappA ! Yajur Vedam recognizes You as
the power behind the Agni through Your Svayam JyOthi , 
incandescent Suryan's power to warm , the pervasive 
wind (as Vaayu) the energy principle behind the cooling
rays of the Moon , the aadhAram for the purity of Sukran  
the gigantic principle understood as Brahman and the 
protecting doctrine supporting PrajApathi . Thus Thou art 
forever resplendent based on the Yajur Veda Manthram:

tadhEvAgnis tadhAdhithyas tadhvAyus tadhu chandramA :
tadhEva sukram tadh Brahma thaa aapa: sa PrajApathi :

Thou art sarvakaala svarUpi. All divisions of Time 
spring from Thee, the resplendent paripUrNan . No one
hath comprehended Thee from above or across or in the middle.

Yet another Yajur Veda Manthram says:

sa nO bhandhurjanithA sa vidhAthA 
dhAmAni Veda bhuvanAni VisvA 

(Meaning ): He is our only relative ; He is our 
protective Father; He is the great One , who generated
us; He is the One , who understands every one and 
every thing ( Sarva~Jnan). 

Another Yajur Manthram points out that He is the One,
who blessed us with the differnet Vedams and revealed
their esoteric meanings and became Veda NaarAyaNan :

ruchO naamAmsi yajugumshi naamAsmi
saamAni naamAmsi 

8. ALL PERVASIVE GOLDEN LORD (PONNAPPAN )
***************************************** 

The Lord of ThiruviNNagar , who is present every where 
as " palavahaiyum Parantha PerumAn " is witness to
all happenings ( Sarva Saakshi ). Atharva Vedam salutes 
His Sarva Saakshithvam as follows :

aa pasyathi prathi pasyathi parA pasyathi pasyathi
divamantharikshamAdh bhUmim sarvam tadh dEvi pasyathi 

(Meaning) : He sees every thing in front ; He sees 
everything behind Him ; He sees everything far and wide;
He sees all that is in AkAsam , BhUmi and anathariksham . 

The AzhwArs recognize ThiruviNNagarappan as the essence 
of the four VedAs ( Veda NaarAyaNan )and plead with Him for 
the boon of nithya kaimkaryam in His Parama Padham and 
to banish the two kinds of vinais ( paapams and puNyams ).
The Atharva Veda Manthram containing these thoughts is :

yaj~nam bhrUmO yajamAnamrucha: sAmAni bhEshajA 
yajUgumshi hothrA bhrUmastE nO munchanthvamhasa: 

(Meaning ) : We recite with svaram , the Rg veda manthrams 
for eulogizing , Saama veda manthrams for singing about 
Your glories , Atharva veda manthrams for removing
all kinds of afflictions , physical and mental , 
and Yajur veda manthrams for the performance of 
YaagAs and pray to You to banish all of our 
accumulated karmAs of both kinds .

Yet another Atharva veda manthram prays to the omnipotent
(sarva sakthan ) Lord of AkAsanagaram to bless the supplicants
with undiminishing wealth of nithya kaimkarya soubhAgyam 
as the Creator, Protector and Dissolver of this Universe
and its chEthanams and achEthanams :

Vrushabham vAjinam vayam pourNamAsam yajAmahE 
sa nO dadhAthvakshithAm rayimanupadhasvatheem 

9. SALUTATIONS TO MUTTHAPPAN
*****************************

At the end of the Atharva vedam , there is a manthram
that begs the Lord to make the supplicant's dhyAnam , 
upAsanai and Kaimkaryam fruitful by standing on 
their side as a friend and guide them :

yogE yogE tavastaram vAjE vAjE havAmahE
sakhAya IndrammUtayE 

AzhwArs as supplicants placed all of their Bhakthi-laden
paasurams at the sacred feet of their Lord . In the rahsyArtham ,
mutthukkaL (pearls) refer to AzhwAr's paasurams . Bhagavan of
hiruviNNagar accepts these pearls strung together as 
pearl garlands and earned the name of Mutthappan . These
garlands are known as MukthAvaLis .They shine at His 
chest , neck and at His ankles as nUpura AbharaNam .
There , they stay shining and with their sacred lustre
remove the Kali dhOshams of all chEthanams , who bow unto 
these lotus feet of the Lord .Swami Desikan refers 
to the power of the mukthAvaLis in banishing all 
the accumulated karmAs this way in one of the slokams
of the MukthA paddhathi of Sri Ranganatha divya PaadhukA
sahasram :

prachurakiraNapUrA: PaadhukhE ! samsrithAnAm
kali kalushamasEsham kshALayanthiva mukthA :

The Lord at ThiruviNNagar blesses us with His sevai
as Mutthappan wearing the mukthAvaLis of AzhwArs
on His subha Tanu and grants MokshAnugraham
to those , who seek His sacred feet as their
sole refuge.

10. THIRUVINNAGARAPPAN IS JAGADHAADHARAN
*****************************************

The most sacred part of the four Vedams is
Purusha Sooktham . The key passage in Purusha
Sooktham is " Purusha yEvadhagum SARVAM " .
He is the One , who pervades every chEthanam and
AchEthanam both inside and outside . ThiruviNNagarAn 
has the combination of Bruhathva-BrumhaNathva attributes.
He is the grandest and the largest in svarUpam (bruhathvam).
Through His anantha kalyANa guNams , He has 
BrumhaNathvam .He is filled with endless glories .
He is the One , who empowered BrahmA with the powers of
creation .He is the supreme jyOthi (ParamjyOthi),
the light of lights . He is worshipped as ParadEvathai
by all the DevAs as their supreme Lord. He is the most sacred 
of sacred doctrines ( pavithrANAm pavithram ) and 
the most auspicious among auspicious entities ( mangaLAnAM
cha MangaLam ). He is the One with the unmmatchable 
glories of His sacred feet pointed to us by the Mantra
rathnam , the Dhvaya Manthram . As revealed to us
by the Mutthakam of AchArya RaamAnujA ( anathikramaNeeyam
hi charaNa grahaNam ) , when we hold firmly His sacred
feet , He will not shake us and run away from us because
of His infinite DayA for us .The limitless compassion
that He has for us is summed up by the last Saaman of 
Saama vedam :

svasthi na IndrO vruddhasravA : svasthi na
PooshA Visva vEdA , Svasthi nasthArkshyO ArishtanEmi: 
svasthi nO Bruhaspathir dadhAdhAthu , svasthi nO
Bruhaspathir dadhAdhAthu 

(Meaning ) : May the Master of vast knowledge,
May mighty God bless us with prosperity ! May
the nourisher of All , the author of All vedAs 
bless us with prosperity ! May he , the giver of All 
comforts like the horse and  cattles bless us with 
prosperity ! May Veda NaarAyaNan , the Lord of All
elements of nature vouchsafe us prosperity ! May 
the same Veda NaarAyaNan standing as ThiruviNNagarAn , 
the Lord of All the elements of nature vouchsafe us 
prosperity ! 

11. BHUMI NAATHAN IS THE BHUMAN OF UPANISHADS
**********************************************

The ChAndhOgya Upanishad passage saluting the blissful 
svarUpa visEsham of the Parabrahmam recognizes Him 
as the Infinite Bliss principle underlying His creations .
This revelatory passage of ChAndhOgya Upanishad is :

yO vai BhUmA tath sukham naalpE sukamasthi 
Bhumaiva sukam BhumA tvEva vijigyAsithavya 
ithi BhUmAnam BhagavO vijigyAsa ithi 

The above passage from the Upanishad of 
The Upanishads states that " the Brahman 
(Infinite ) is bliss . There can not be any
bliss in something other than this Infinite 
Brahman . This Infinite Brahman 
should be the sole goal of our serious learning .
Rest of them are all bhinna vasthus and can not 
lead to bliss " .

Rg Vedam salutes this Infinite Brahman standing
as ArchA at ThiruviNNagar at His leelA vibhUthi 
and as Parama Padha Naathan at His divine abode
this way :

sam bAhubhyAM dhamathi sam pathatrairdhyAvA 
BhumI janayan DEVA YEKA:-- VISVASYA BHUVANASYA
RAAJAA ---

This sole and supreme Lord of Lords is our 
SaraNyan , Our father , Mother , Bhandhu
at ThiruviNNagar and everything . He is anaadhi 
as explained by the Upanishad : " sa yEva saumya 
idam agrE aasith ".By knowing Him , " yena asrutham 
srutham bhavathi" . This is purushArtha vivEkam 
that leads us to " sUri tulya svAtanthryam ".

12. SUMMARY OF THE FRUITS OF THIRUVINNAGARAAN'S SEVAI
******************************************************

The last slOkam of Swami Desikan's Parama Padha sOpAnam
summarizes beautifully the fruits of the enjoyment of
ArchAi and the anubhavam of the Sri Sookthis of AzhwArs
and AchAryAs on ThiruviNNagarAn . This  slOkam is :

balAdh aakarshidhbhi: bahubhi: aparAdhai: vihitayA 
parAvrutthyA nithya bhava jaladhi pankE nipatathAm I
prathimnA sampannA Bhagavadhanukampaika vapushA 
pratheechee dhrushDEyam Paramapadha sOpAna padhavee II

(Meaning ) : For us , who are pulled powerfully 
by the many of our aparAdhams and turn us away from BhagavAn 
that land us deep in the mud of samsAram , the glory of
His KrupA pulls us out of these miseries and aligns 
us to climb the steps of the ladder of His Parama
Padham . This has been asserted by the Veda PramANams 
as the Truth .

May we offer our soulful prayers to Sri Bhumi Devi
SamEtha ThiruviNNagarappan with all humility on
the occasion of this AbharaNa samarpaNa Kaimkaryam 
and seek the blessings of the SaraNya Dampathis  
to lead us to Their Parama Padham ! 
Sri Bhumi Devi sametha ThiruviNNagarappan 
ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam 

Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan