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thiru viN Nagaram - part 5 - thAL iNaiyan than kurukoor sadagopan

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sampath Rengarajan • July 22, 1997 


Part 5 : thAL iNaiyan thankurukoor sadagopan




Nammaalwaar

kaaNminkaL ulakeer enRu kaN mugappE nimirntha
thaaL iNaiyan Rannaik kurukoor sadakOpan
sonna aayiraththuth thiruviNNagar paththum vallaar
kOnai yinRi viNNOrk kenRum aavar kuravarkaLE

"kAnmin ulageer ! enak kaN mugappE nimirntha thaaL" i.e. "It seems
Lord's holy feet *said* to bolooga vaasis during vaamana avathaaram,
that "Hi folks of this boolOgam, watch this" and while saying it seems
the holy feet also grew and rose to reach beyond the "vaan" ulagam.
i.e.., It grew so much that for those eyes of the boolOga vAsis then,
the holy feet crossed their limits and vertically beyond the rim of
their eyes (i.e. kaN mugappE). One can wide open their eyes and see the
horizon all around while standing on a plain land or on a sea shore.
However this 'area' of human perception on the horizon is dictated by
earth's curvature.(horizon is literally the place where land and sky
seemed to meet each other and live in union as per a tamil kavi). When
looking at this scenario of thiruvikkrama avathAram with a rational
mind and with some scientific thinking, one may conclude that, when
this feet was placed on the whole of the earth first, the contact patch
of this holy feet with the earth must have been on the northern crown
of the spherical globe. According to some observers  this part must
have been the only land that was inhabited then.

	As per vAmana purANam, this feet "blacked out" the whole earth
then. Like everyone, Emperor mahAbali could not even see the
thiruvikkrama avathAram as he was also trapped under this feet that
enveloped the whole area over the earth.  Later he pleaded to Lord to
show him this magnificient sight and the Lord obliged him and offered
HIS thiruvikrama avathAra darshanam once again in thiruk kOviloor.
(When nammAzhwAr concluded in his decade on the 10th pAsuram on the
holy feet that enveloped this earth, Thiru mangai continues this
sentiment by discussing the next event of this avathAram i.e. placement
of the "second step" using the other holy feet at the "ether world", in
his *first* paasruam on this Lord Oppiliappan as "paNdai nam vinai keda
enRu thoNdarum amaraarum" i.e. the Devas anticipating this holy feet
for yugAs waited to cleanse their sins as this holy feet was placed on
their lOgam - this will be dealt in the next paragraph).

	 Coming back to this verse by Nammaazhwaar, he equates himself
to this holy feet in this verse saying "kan mugappE nimirntha thaaL
iNaiyan".  We all have been knowing/reading that  "nammAzhwAr" is being
called as "sadAri" and being equated to "HIS Holy feet" in many
literatures including Sri RanganAtha pAdhuka sahasram. In "sri
sampradhAyam" he is equated as the contact link (achAryAL) between us
and the Lords holy feet that we seek to belong.  The basis for such
litertures is provided by Sri NammAzhwAr himself through these verses
on Lord Oppiliappan and hence these 10 pAsurams are of very great
importance to all Srivaishnavs of "Sri" sampradhAyam. Azhwaar also asks
us to look at HIS majesty (in thiruvikkrama avathAram as seen in thiru
viN Nagaram)in this pAsuram. In this last pAsuram azhwAr says " if you
chant these 10 verses delivered by me "self, who is equal to such Holy
feet of Lord thiru viNNagaraan that rose in front of the eyes of
boolOga vaasis , (and as the "thaaLinaiyan", assures that) one who
worships HIM will surely become a member of the elite group of
viNNvar's achAryALS or leaders.

	This being Lord Oppiliappan or thiru viNNagaraan (Vin - sky ,
nagaran - city ; in Sanskrit this lord is prayed as vyOma pureesan-
VyOma - ether; puri eesan - the Lord of ether space or vAn ulagam) is
the same as Lord thiruvikkraman who connected boolOgam and vaaNulagam
with his two holy feet alone. Here the same is seen in the moolavar
sannidhi where Sri boomaadevi (representation of boolOgam) and thiru
viNNagaraan (lord oppilaar appan or vyOma pureesan) are in kalyaanak
kOlam symbolizing this instant of thiruvikrama avathaaram.  The moment
Lord placed HIS holy feet on the earth, all the earth's souls and
creatures that were ever created on earth and thrived using the earth's
resources belonged to HIM from then on.  This is the feeling one must
get prior to having baranyAsam, ie.,  all our souls were HIS property
and owned by HIM and that the main purpose of life is to serve Sriman
NArAyanA only. (Please read my post on my baranyAsam for more
details).  The kalyAna ursavam for this Lord is a very special offering
one can perform, as this kalyAna ursavam symbolises this holy moment of
thiruvikkrama avathAram each time it is performed. It is conceived that
 as similar to dEvas, we can get our sins removed instantly at this
moment if we pray to this Lord in "kalyAnak kOlam".

thaL iNaiyan kurukoor sadagOpan thiruvadikaLE charaNam
Sri Boomi Devi nAchchiyAr samEtha Sri Oppiliappan
thiruvadikaLE charaNam.
Sampath Rengarajan


Addendum to the previous part:

In this part, the aspect of this Lord was discussed as the same Lord
who gave "charanaagathi" to boomidevi in varaahaa avathaaram. This is
symbolised by the posture by which mother Sri boomi devi is seated in
front of the Lord with folded legs and praying our Lord, and the Lord's
abayahastham pointing towards HIS holy feet that was placed on the
earth. This Lord has a unique prapatti slokam delivered for him as
similar to Lord RanganAtha.