Thirumaalai(28)

Sri Parthasarathi thunai,

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

 

“ Mattrondrum vEinda Maname Madhilarangar

  Kattrinum meitha kazhalinai keezh- uttra

  Thirumaalai paadum seer Thondaradipodi Emperumaanai

  Eppozhudum peesu”

 

“ Srimat Krishna samahvaya Namo yaamuna soonave

  yetkadAkshai kalakshyAnAm sulabha: Sridara: sadaa”

 

Pranams,

 

We Srivaishnavas consider 108 divyadesams to be very important to us
though there are many more temples where the lord resides.  We call the
temples which have been sung by the alwars as divyadesams, since they
have the mangalAsAsanams of the divyasooris, the alwars.  Even among
these divyadesams some have the importance because of the perumal there and
in some the emperuman came to that place due to the magimai of the
divyadesam itself.  For instance, in Srirangam, lord ranganatha decided to
stay in this place attracted by the beauty of the divyadesam.  When
vibheeshanazhvar was carrying lord ranganatha, gifted to him by sri rAma,
to lanka, while passing srirangam lord ranganatha was very pleased with
the kaveri river and the beautiful flora in the area that he decided to
stay over there.  In thirupathi, we find that the seven hills
themselves are very sacrad and that the sins of who ever goes to the seven hills
are washed out.  This has been quoted even in rAmayanam.  When sugreeva
sent his men to search piratti in various directions, he instructed
them not to go to the seven hills since if they go there then there
punyams and papams will be nullified and they will attain moksham.  That is
why kulasekara alwar says “emperumAn ponmalai mEl Edenum AvEnE”. 
Considering the importance of the seven hills, alwar here wants to take any
birth in thirumalai.  It may be an animal birth, an insect birth or a
flower as long as it is in Thirumalai.  Such is the importance of the
divyadesam and that is why even the famous venkateswara perumal selected
this to be his abode.  Similarly when we see thiruvallikeni, this
divyadesam was initially a tulasi forest, where various rishis did their
tapas.  When the king sumathi asked thirupathi perumal to give darshan to
him like in krishnAvatAram, emperuman replied ‘ Go to the sacrad place
BrindAranyam near the kairavini pushkarini where many other rishis are
doing tapas and if you too do tapas over there then your wish will be
fulfilled’.  Generally the rishis do not do tapas in any place, they
select the most sacrad place to do tapas where they can peacefully meditate
on the god.  In BrindAranyam already many rishis where doing tapas and
hence thirupathi perumal directed sumathi also to the same place.   So
attracted by the charm and beauty of the divyadesam and the magimai of
the place due to the number of rishis meditating on the lord making it
a purely a sattvika place made lord, come over here.  Since the rishis
meditated on different forms of the lord the lord gave them darshan in
the form they liked the most(“ye yatAmam prapatyanthE thAm thathaiva
bhajAmyaham” says sri Krishna in bhagavat geetha) and stayed in the same
forms  and hence now we all have the bhakyam to have darshan of the
various perumals in various sannadhis, without any tapas or dhyanam.  So
we find that these places did not become divyam because emperuman came
here but the emperuman’s came here because these desams were already
divine. 

 

You may all be wondering why adiyen is telling all these without going
to the explanation of the meanings of the next paasuram.  This
introduction has been given to clarify why alwar is suddenly singing about the
natural beauty of Srirangam like other ordinary poets.  We all know
that alwars are not bothered about anything else other than the lord then
why should they sing about the natural beauty?  The alwars, mainly
thirumangai alwar, does mangalAsAsanam to both the divyadesam and the
perumal because he feels everything in a divyadesam is divine and praise
worthy.  In similar strands, thondaradipodi alwar also enjoys the beauty
of Srirangam and says among this beautiful scenary we find another
beauty reclining, the lord ranganatha and then he finally comes back to the
same old story feeling for the people, who do not enjoy all these and
put themselves to miseries, running at the back of worldly pleasures.

 
Paasuram-14
 

“vandinam muralum sOlai mayilinam Alum sOlai

  kondal meedhanavum sOlai kuyilinam koovum sOlai

  andarkOn amarum sOlai anithiruvarangam ennA

  mindarpAyindhu vunnum sOttrai vilakki nAykku edumineerE”

 

vandinam muralum sOlai mayilinam Alum sOlai:  Srirangam is filled with
number of beautiful gardens.  Those gardens are filled with beautiful
and sweet smelling flowers which have honey in them.  We find number of
bees in these gardens which are attracted by the fragrance and beauty
of the flowers.  That’s what alwar says here ‘vandinam muralum sOlai’,
the gardens filled with bees flying from one flower to another.  In this
pleasant place there are number of peacocks which dance with joy. 
Alwar imagines that the sound made by the bees to be a praise to the lord
and that to that music the peacocks dance.

 

  kondal meedhanavum sOlai kuyilinam koovum sOlai:  The kaveri river is
flowing and the plants are flourished, seeing the richness of this
place the clouds have appeared on the sky.  The trees in these gardens are
so well grown that they almost touch the skies.  And  the cuckoos in
these gardens sing sweetly with joy.  As andal says ‘kootil erundu kuyil
govinda!govinda! endrazhaikkum’.  In srirangam if the parrots which
have been kept inside a cage, can sing happily the name of the lord then
wont the birds which have been left freely in the beautiful gardens sing
with joy the praise of the almighty?  Even Sri Bhagavatam says, that
even the bees in brindavam always sing the praise of Sri Krishna only. 
So the gardens in srirangam, are filled with the cuckoos which happily
sing about the lord and the bees hum the music and the peacocks dance to
this and the clouds appear to be a spectator to this grand music
performance.

 

  andarkOn amarum sOlai:  Still now alwar sang about all the other
beauties in Srirangam.  Now alwar says, the beauty which gave beauty to
anything else in this world has also come to stay in this divyadesam.  Any
other beauty in this world is only a part of the emperuman’s beauty. 
That emperuman, who is the king of kings and one who is the supreme, he
also stays in this place.  Sri PVP says like the bees, cucukoos,
peacocks and the clouds which got attracted to the beauty of this place the
emperuman also got attracted to this divyadesam and stayed here.  It is
no wrong in equating the parAtparan with these ordinary jeevans, since
this is only to show the magimai of the divyadesam.

 

anithiruvarangam ennA  mindarpAyindhu vunnum sOttrai vilakki nAykku
edumineerE:  Inspite of all these importance, people refrain from even
uttering the name of this divyadesam.  Many places people say are
beautiful, even if we are unable to go there we imagine the beauty of that
place and enjoy.  But the unfortunate part is Srirangam is the most
beautiful place in this world, still people do not even think of it or feel
bad that we are unable to go there.  They cease to accept the importance
of this divyadesam but are only concerned about their wordly pleasure. 
How can people be so stupid?  Alwar’s anger is raised thinking about
such people and hence he goes to the level of cursing them.  He says grab
the food, which these people jump to eat and throw it to a dog since a
dog which stays in srirangam is worth living than such people who do
not even utter the nAma of the bhagavan and his divya desam.

 

AzhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasyai

Sumithra Varadarajan