Sri Ramanuja Journal Volume 3, Issue 3

12-24-2006, 12:00 AM

*SrimathE rAmAnujAya namaH*

*SrimathE varavaramunaye namaH*

**

*Margazhi, Vyaya
Azhvar 3, Acharya 3*

*TvamEva matvA paravAsu dEvam*
*RangEsayam rAja vadarhaneeyam*
*PrAbhodhakeem yogruta sookthi mAlAm*
*BhakthAngrunEham bhagavantha meedE*

*The moment we hear about the month "mArgazhi" the unparalleled composition
of our GodhA pirAtti, thiruppAvai engulfs our mind. Behind the scenes, this
month boasts of hosting the births of three other divine personalities in
the kEttai thirunakshatra namely: Sri ThonN-aradippodi azhwAr, sri periya
nambigal and sri koora nArAyana jeeyar.** *

*
**
ThirumaNdangudi a small village near the divyadesam thirupullambhoothamgudi,
roughly 40 kms from the famous temple town kumbakonam, is the birthplace of
the first in the above esteemed list, Sri Thondaradippodi azhwAr. He was
born in a chaste Brahmin family on mArgazhi kEtai day. Elders on seeing his
greatness compare him to be an amsa of vaijayanthi (vanamAlA of the lord).
The original name given to this AzhwAr as given by his parents is "
vipranArAyana". He grew up to be an expert in the vEdAs and the vEdAntas.
It was said that sri vishwaksEnar appeared from srivaikunta and performed
panchasamskaram to him. On learning the divine meanings of thirumantram,
vipranArAyana slowly started developing detachment towards the worldly
affairs and a deep interest towards the Supreme Being. He immediately
started his journey towards various divyadesams and first reached Srirangam.
***

*Vandinam muralum sOlai, mayilam Alum sOlai*
*Kondal meedhanavum sOlai, kuilinam kOOvum sOlai*
*AndarkOn amarum sOlai ani thiruvarangam.*

(Thirumaalai-14)

*Having performed managalAsasams to periya perumAl, he got immensely
attracted to the divine beauty of Him and decided to spend rest of his
lifetime in Srirangam itself by doing pushpa kainkaryam like periAzhwAr. ***

*Kudadisai mudiyai vaiththu gunadisai pAdham nEEti*
*Vadadisai pinbukAti, then disai yilangai knOkki*
*Kadalnirak kadavul endhai* *aravanai tuyilumAk kaNdu**

*

(Thirumaalai-19)

*He developed a full-fledged garden for performing pushpa kainkaryam to
periya perumAl on a daily basis and lived on the biksha (alms) given by the
people as per his varnasrama dharma. ***

*
Peculiar, are the ways of the lord in conducting this leelA vibhUthi. One
fine day, a damsel by name dEvadEvi from the adjacent town urAiyUr visited
Srirangam and she happened to pass through this garden along with her
sister. She offered her respects to vipranArAyana by prostrating him. He
was so immersed in his pushpa kainkaryam, that he hardly took notice of her
action. Failing to see his reciprocation, she felt insulted and vowed to
her sister that she would turn the tables towards her by making
vipranArAyana fall for her beauty. Though her sister warned her of adverse
reactions because of his saintly character, it only fell on her deaf ears.
After this incident, she enacted a beautiful drama before vipranAryana by
making a request to him to offer her a share of the kainkaryams, which he is
doing to the lord. The latter fell into her trap and in due course, got so
attracted towards her that whole of his attention turned towards dEvadEvi
away from lord Ranganatha. ***

*Seeing the sorry state of affairs of vipranArAyana, our ever-compassionate
piratti made a purushakaram (recommendation) to perumal to bring back his
dear devotee back in the track of kainkaryam. Periya perumAl appeared as a
servant of vipranArAyana in front of dEvadEvi's house and offered her a
golden vessel as given by his master vipranArAyana. The very next day, the
news spread to the king that one of the golden vessels from the temple
was missing and on enquiry, it was found in dEvadEvi's house and
was explained to the courteers as given by the servant of vipranArAyana.
Immediately, vipranArAyana and dEvadEvi were jailed in spite of them
pleading innocence. ***

*Again due to pirAtti's request, lord appeared in King's dream and said that
all the happenings are due to his leela and all the sufferings of
vipranArAyna so far, are due to his karma. The king realized his mistake
and released them. On his release, vipranArAyana also realized his mistake
and felt very bad for what all had happened. He took the sripAtha theertham
of the devotees and got himself purified from the sins he had
committed. Thereafter,
he cherished himself being the dust in the feet of the lord's devotees and
hence he was celebrated as thondar adip podi AzhwAr*.

*Compositions of Thondar adip podi AzhwAr*

**

*Thirupalliezhucchi:* *The lord after the pralaya, awoke all the jeevathmas
and gave them the required senses (karna kalEbara) to live in this leela
vibhUdhi. After this the lord settled down into a yOga nidhrA (divine
sleep). Thondar adipodi AzhwAr stands out in the AzhwAr goshti, since he
awakens the lord by this composition of 11 pAsurams.*

*ThirumAlai:* *There is a famous tamil saying "thirumAlai ariyAr thiru mAlai
ariyAr" (people who don't know this divine composition Thirumalai, don't
know thiru mAl (lord Vishnu)). Not just stopping with poo mAlai (flower
gArland) he composed this divine pAmAlai of 45 pAsurams which gives the
whole srivaishnavic essence. *

*Salient features*
**
*Paasuram 2: BhUloka vaikundam vs parmapadam : Achuvai peRinum
VEANDEAn-Immersed
in beauty of Thiruvarangan, Sri ThoNdaradippodi preferred bhUlOka vaikunTAm
to paramapadham. *

*Paasuram 4: ThirunAma magimai: 'moitha val vinaiyuL ninRu' highlights the
efficacy of ThirunAmam*
**
*Paasuram 9: Supremacy of Emperuman : 'mathumOAr dheivam vuNDEan' -This
paasuram unequivocally indicates that He is the Supreme and points to the
fact that He is sulaban (filled with saulabhyam) 'kaTrinam mEaitha endhai
kazhaliNai paNiminErEA'-Lord KrshNA *
**
*Paasuram 19: The archAvathAram is highly commended in the pAsuram 'kuda
disai mudaiyai vaithu' and EmperumAn's beauty is devoured. Since,
vibhavAvathAram has gone long long back, AzvAr advocates for
Thiruvarangam 'vaNdina
muralum sOlai' and the beauty of arangan in 'kudadhisai mudiyai vaithu' . *
**
*Paasuram 23: Purity :If yamunA is pure because of Sri krshNa sparisam
(touch of krishna's divine body), kAvEri is pure because it surrounds the
Lord - and so naturally becomes purer than GangA - GAngaiyil puNidhamAya
kAviri naduvu pATTu. *

*Paasuram 29:* *Thiruvarangan TheUltimate Refuge*: *AzvAr talks of The Lord
as his refuge and has no other relatives 'vuravu maThoruvar illai' -Oh! Lord
You are my only relative and Your divine feet is my refuge **'pAril nin
pAdha mUlam paTRu' .*
**
*Paasuram 38: DhvayArtham:* *That Lord EmperumAn is upAya/upEyam is
underscored in the pAsuram 'mEamporuL pOgavittu..vAzhum sOambarai vugathi
pOlum'. * *Like Srimad bhagavat geetha to Mahabharatha and charama sloka to
Srimad bhagavat geetha this paasuram is the essence of thirumaalai. mEamporuL:
The nature of soul to Look at Him for refuge and He has to lift us up. This
is crystallised as pAsuram 'mEam poruL pOga vittu'
*

*The fundamental principles of SrevaishNavisam being 'Birth is not the
criteria but devotion to Sriman NarAyaNA is' spelt out in the pAsuram-s
following the mEmporuL pAsuram *

*mEamporuL mEAliR pATTil visadhamAgak kANaLAm. (Srivachanabhooshanam 227)*

*The bhAgavatha shEshathvam is highlighted in these pAsuram-s and AzvAr thus
came to be known as the speck of dust of devotee's divine feet - anbar thAL
thUli- ThoNDar aDip podi. *

** * *

*This azhwAr has another uniqueness since he performed mangalAsAsanam only
to Srirangam and no other divyadesam. Due to this, Srirangam attained the
'Number One position' among all the srivaishnava divyadesams, having the
uniqueness of having the mangalasasanams from all the 10 AzhwArs. *

*kOthaNdE jyEsta nakshatrE mandangudi purOthbhavam*

*chOLOrvyAm vanamAlAmsam bhakthabhatrENumAsrayE*

**

**

*Thondaradipodi Azhvar ThiruvadigalE sharaNam*

*VaravaramunidasargaL*

12-25-2006, 12:35 AM

Swamin,
Nice Journal.Pl keep it posted regularly.

Raman

--- In ramanuja (AT) yahoogroups (DOT) com, "Varavaramuni Dasargal"
wrote:
>
> *SrimathE rAmAnujAya namaH*
>
> *SrimathE varavaramunaye namaH*
>
> **
>
> *Margazhi, Vyaya
> Azhvar 3, Acharya 3*
>
>
>
> *TvamEva matvA paravAsu dEvam*
> *RangEsayam rAja vadarhaneeyam*
> *PrAbhodhakeem yogruta sookthi mAlAm*
> *BhakthAngrunEham bhagavantha meedE*
>
>
>
> *The moment we hear about the month "mArgazhi" the unparalleled
composition
> of our GodhA pirAtti, thiruppAvai engulfs our mind. Behind the
scenes, this
> month boasts of hosting the births of three other divine
personalities in
> the kEttai thirunakshatra namely: Sri ThonN-aradippodi azhwAr, sri
periya
> nambigal and sri koora nArAyana jeeyar.** *
>
> *
> **
> ThirumaNdangudi a small village near the divyadesam
thirupullambhoothamgudi,
> roughly 40 kms from the famous temple town kumbakonam, is the
birthplace of
> the first in the above esteemed list, Sri Thondaradippodi azhwAr.
He was
> born in a chaste Brahmin family on mArgazhi kEtai day. Elders on
seeing his
> greatness compare him to be an amsa of vaijayanthi (vanamAlA of the
lord).
> The original name given to this AzhwAr as given by his parents is "
> vipranArAyana". He grew up to be an expert in the vEdAs and the
vEdAntas.
> It was said that sri vishwaksEnar appeared from srivaikunta and
performed
> panchasamskaram to him. On learning the divine meanings of
thirumantram,
> vipranArAyana slowly started developing detachment towards the
worldly
> affairs and a deep interest towards the Supreme Being. He
immediately
> started his journey towards various divyadesams and first reached
Srirangam.
> ***
>
>
>
> *Vandinam muralum sOlai, mayilam Alum sOlai*
> *Kondal meedhanavum sOlai, kuilinam kOOvum sOlai*
> *AndarkOn amarum sOlai ani thiruvarangam.*
>
>
> (Thirumaalai-14)
>
>
>
> *Having performed managalAsasams to periya perumAl, he got immensely
> attracted to the divine beauty of Him and decided to spend rest of
his
> lifetime in Srirangam itself by doing pushpa kainkaryam like
periAzhwAr. ***
>
>
> *Kudadisai mudiyai vaiththu gunadisai pAdham nEEti*
> *Vadadisai pinbukAti, then disai yilangai knOkki*
> *Kadalnirak kadavul endhai* *aravanai tuyilumAk kaNdu**
>
>
> *
>
> (Thirumaalai-19)
>
>
>
> *He developed a full-fledged garden for performing pushpa
kainkaryam to
> periya perumAl on a daily basis and lived on the biksha (alms)
given by the
> people as per his varnasrama dharma. ***
>
> *
> Peculiar, are the ways of the lord in conducting this leelA
vibhUthi. One
> fine day, a damsel by name dEvadEvi from the adjacent town urAiyUr
visited
> Srirangam and she happened to pass through this garden along with
her
> sister. She offered her respects to vipranArAyana by prostrating
him. He
> was so immersed in his pushpa kainkaryam, that he hardly took
notice of her
> action. Failing to see his reciprocation, she felt insulted and
vowed to
> her sister that she would turn the tables towards her by making
> vipranArAyana fall for her beauty. Though her sister warned her of
adverse
> reactions because of his saintly character, it only fell on her
deaf ears.
> After this incident, she enacted a beautiful drama before
vipranAryana by
> making a request to him to offer her a share of the kainkaryams,
which he is
> doing to the lord. The latter fell into her trap and in due
course, got so
> attracted towards her that whole of his attention turned towards
dEvadEvi
> away from lord Ranganatha. ***
>
>
>
> *Seeing the sorry state of affairs of vipranArAyana, our ever-
compassionate
> piratti made a purushakaram (recommendation) to perumal to bring
back his
> dear devotee back in the track of kainkaryam. Periya perumAl
appeared as a
> servant of vipranArAyana in front of dEvadEvi's house and offered
her a
> golden vessel as given by his master vipranArAyana. The very next
day, the
> news spread to the king that one of the golden vessels from the
temple
> was missing and on enquiry, it was found in dEvadEvi's house and
> was explained to the courteers as given by the servant of
vipranArAyana.
> Immediately, vipranArAyana and dEvadEvi were jailed in spite of
them
> pleading innocence. ***
>
>
>
> *Again due to pirAtti's request, lord appeared in King's dream and
said that
> all the happenings are due to his leela and all the sufferings of
> vipranArAyna so far, are due to his karma. The king realized his
mistake
> and released them. On his release, vipranArAyana also realized his
mistake
> and felt very bad for what all had happened. He took the sripAtha
theertham
> of the devotees and got himself purified from the sins he had
> committed. Thereafter,
> he cherished himself being the dust in the feet of the lord's
devotees and
> hence he was celebrated as thondar adip podi AzhwAr*.
>
>
>
> *Compositions of Thondar adip podi AzhwAr*
>
> **
>
> *Thirupalliezhucchi:* *The lord after the pralaya, awoke all the
jeevathmas
> and gave them the required senses (karna kalEbara) to live in this
leela
> vibhUdhi. After this the lord settled down into a yOga nidhrA
(divine
> sleep). Thondar adipodi AzhwAr stands out in the AzhwAr goshti,
since he
> awakens the lord by this composition of 11 pAsurams.*
>
>
>
> *ThirumAlai:* *There is a famous tamil saying "thirumAlai ariyAr
thiru mAlai
> ariyAr" (people who don't know this divine composition Thirumalai,
don't
> know thiru mAl (lord Vishnu)). Not just stopping with poo mAlai
(flower
> gArland) he composed this divine pAmAlai of 45 pAsurams which gives
the
> whole srivaishnavic essence. *
>
>
> *Salient features*
> **
> *Paasuram 2: BhUloka vaikundam vs parmapadam : Achuvai peRinum
> VEANDEAn-Immersed
> in beauty of Thiruvarangan, Sri ThoNdaradippodi preferred bhUlOka
vaikunTAm
> to paramapadham. *
>
> *Paasuram 4: ThirunAma magimai: 'moitha val vinaiyuL ninRu'
highlights the
> efficacy of ThirunAmam*
> **
> *Paasuram 9: Supremacy of Emperuman : 'mathumOAr dheivam vuNDEan' -
This
> paasuram unequivocally indicates that He is the Supreme and points
to the
> fact that He is sulaban (filled with saulabhyam) 'kaTrinam mEaitha
endhai
> kazhaliNai paNiminErEA'-Lord KrshNA *
> **
> *Paasuram 19: The archAvathAram is highly commended in the
pAsuram 'kuda
> disai mudaiyai vaithu' and EmperumAn's beauty is devoured. Since,
> vibhavAvathAram has gone long long back, AzvAr advocates for
> Thiruvarangam 'vaNdina
> muralum sOlai' and the beauty of arangan in 'kudadhisai mudiyai
vaithu' . *
> **
> *Paasuram 23: Purity :If yamunA is pure because of Sri krshNa
sparisam
> (touch of krishna's divine body), kAvEri is pure because it
surrounds the
> Lord - and so naturally becomes purer than GangA - GAngaiyil
puNidhamAya
> kAviri naduvu pATTu. *
>
> *Paasuram 29:* *Thiruvarangan TheUltimate Refuge*: *AzvAr talks of
The Lord
> as his refuge and has no other relatives 'vuravu maThoruvar illai' -
Oh! Lord
> You are my only relative and Your divine feet is my refuge **'pAril
nin
> pAdha mUlam paTRu' .*
> **
> *Paasuram 38: DhvayArtham:* *That Lord EmperumAn is upAya/upEyam is
> underscored in the pAsuram 'mEamporuL pOgavittu..vAzhum sOambarai
vugathi
> pOlum'. * *Like Srimad bhagavat geetha to Mahabharatha and charama
sloka to
> Srimad bhagavat geetha this paasuram is the essence of thirumaalai.
mEamporuL:
> The nature of soul to Look at Him for refuge and He has to lift us
up. This
> is crystallised as pAsuram 'mEam poruL pOga vittu'
> *
>
>
>
> *The fundamental principles of SrevaishNavisam being 'Birth is not
the
> criteria but devotion to Sriman NarAyaNA is' spelt out in the
pAsuram-s
> following the mEmporuL pAsuram *
>
>
>
> *mEamporuL mEAliR pATTil visadhamAgak kANaLAm.
(Srivachanabhooshanam 227)*
>
>
>
> *The bhAgavatha shEshathvam is highlighted in these pAsuram-s and
AzvAr thus
> came to be known as the speck of dust of devotee's divine feet -
anbar thAL
> thUli- ThoNDar aDip podi. *
>
> ** * *
>
> *This azhwAr has another uniqueness since he performed
mangalAsAsanam only
> to Srirangam and no other divyadesam. Due to this, Srirangam
attained the
> 'Number One position' among all the srivaishnava divyadesams,
having the
> uniqueness of having the mangalasasanams from all the 10 AzhwArs. *
>
>
>
> *kOthaNdE jyEsta nakshatrE mandangudi purOthbhavam*
>
> *chOLOrvyAm vanamAlAmsam bhakthabhatrENumAsrayE*
>
> **
>
> **
>
> *Thondaradipodi Azhvar ThiruvadigalE sharaNam*
>
>
>
> *VaravaramunidasargaL*
>