Sri Krishnaya Namah!
Dear Swamin,
Humble Pranams!
This engrossed me for sometime and many thanks for the same.
The sentence - "The entrance to the right (from the onlooker's viewpoint)
reveals the breath-taking tirumukham of the Lord, with its long, shapely
nose ("kOla neeL kodi mookku")", reminds me of Sri Chennakesava Swamy at
Ryali at Rajahmundry, AP. Lord here, looks beautiful which once seen
bhakthas never forget in their life time, with specific reference to His
eyes and nose which stands out in terms of shapely curves, though the deity
is in standing pose(beautiful bent posture), and not reclining as Sri
Adikesava.
The sentence -- "Near the Lord's tiruvadi is a Sivalingam, in contrast to
the one at Tiruvananthapuram, over which Sri Ananthapadmanabha extends His
palm in benediction." made me curious to know as I am ignorant with
respect to divyadesams.
You are saying 'in contrast to Tiruvananthapuram' , how it will be in
Tiruvananthapuram, where is Shivalingam placed there and is there any
specific mention in the sthalapuranam on the reason as to why shivalingam
being placed there.
Also, I have been to Srirangapatnam near Mysore, Karnataka and visited
Sriranganatha temple there, which has also three entrances with the deity
is almost 15 ft with a reclining posture. Lord has two hands only in this
temple and I hope it is only two in Thiruvattar also. If I am not wrong
the deity at TiruvallikkENi is Venkatakrishna.
Thanks for your time.
Sukumar
Sri Krishnaparabrahmane Namah!
-----Original Message-----
From: sadagopaniyengar [SMTP:sadagopaniyengar@xxxxxxxx]
Sent: 09/07/2003 9:31 PM
To: SriRangaSri; malolan_net@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; tiruvengadam; Oppiliappan;
radha jagannathan; j.srinivasan; cs.srinivasan; sukanya Murali; mythily
ramadesikan
Subject: [Oppiliappan] ThiruvattAr
Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:
ThiruvattAr
All abodes of the Lord are inherently beautiful. They are not
mere buildings made of brick, mortar and stone, but built by devotees with
floors of devotion, walls of love and roofs of overwhelming care and
concern. They are standing symbols of dedication to the divine cause, of
His votaries' unlimited adoration and of man's heart-felt need for
proximity to and strong wish to visualise the Divine Being. When ordinary
houses men build for themselves crumble and fall apart after two or three
score years, if the lofty temples built thousands of years back still stand
majestically, towering head and shoulders above ordinary constructions, it
is not only due to their Inhabitant Extraordinaire, but also due to the
labour of love and devotion that have gone into their creation. When the
materials used for people's homes and the Lord's are practically the same,
the durability and interminable life that characterises the temples housing
Emperuaman are solely due to the aforesaid factors. Even granting the
periodical restorations that these edifices undergo, many of these temples
and their towers have been standing tall and proud, when their secular
counterparts are nowhere to be seen. While the palaces of the Chozha
Emperors are long gone, having crumbled to dust centuries ago, the several
abodes of God that they built still stand, braving the threats and ravages
of time and nature, seemingly invincible and indestructible.
Of the countless temples devoted to deities of all hues and kinds,
the ones earmarked for Emperuman SrimanNarayana occupy the pride of place.
And of these too, those sanctified by the songs of Azhwars (those wandering
minstrels who went from one glorious temple to another, enjoying the Lord
and His beauty as also the scenic locales surrounding these temples) are
placed ahead of those places of worship not fortunate enough to have found
a mention in the pasurams of these peripatetic poets. An analytical study
of these outpourings reveals that the Azhwars devoted as many worthy words
to the description of the Lord's vibhUti, consisting of the kaleidascope
of fabulous flora and fauna of these locales, as to the magnificence of the
Lord of the divya desam. If two lines of a pasuram are about Emperuman, the
other two would, more often than not, depict the picturesque locale.
Most of the divyadesams have lost the character of natural beauty,
as described by Azhwars. For instance, TiruvallikkENi was such a densely
wooded jungle during Sri Tirumangai Mannan's times ( with tall manors
coexisting with fertile foliage and towering trees), as to prevent sunlight
from filtering to the ground-"Kadiravan kiraNangal nuzhaidal seidu ariyA
Tiruvallikkeni". The present day "Triplicane" too is a jungle, but a
concrete jungle, with nary a tree, leave alone a dense wood. Even now,
sunlight finds it difficult to penetrate parts of the locality, mostly
because of the sky-scraping residences. The erstwhile bewitching scenic
beauty of the place has been flattened by ubiquitous flats, springing up
like mushrooms from the tiniest nook and cranny. With rare exceptions, this
is the lot of almost all the divyadesams today, with nature having been
defiled beyond description by man, in his unending quest for infrastructure
and creature comforts.
The rare exceptions to this cold-blooded murder of natural beauty, are
to be found in Kerala. It is in this state that Nature still reigns
supreme, man having been gracious and understanding enough to have arrived
at a fair compromise between the need for development and preservation of
ecologyin all its pristine purity. We often forget the truth in the "Simha
gupti nyAya"-the jungle being protected from destruction by the menacing
presence of the lion, and the lion, in turn, staying alive and beyond the
reach of hunters, because of the protective cover the jungle affords. Man
and Nature are similarly complementary, each contributing to the welfare of
the other, the fortunes of each inextricably interlinked with that of the
other. This beautiful truth has been realised in full measure in Kerala,
with most of the divyadesams (but for those located in big towns) retaining
their bewitching beauty as portrayed by Azhwars, thousands of years ago.
One such is TiruvattAr, nestling amidst shady groves and plantations.
Situated on a raised platform, the temple looks very much like an
impregnable fortress that it is-there is no way impure thoughts or actions
can enter the Lord's abode, for He is the "akhila hEya pratyanIka:", the
antithesis of anything bad or demeaning. This temple is noteworthy for its
size too, encompassing, as it does, a thousand-pillared mandapam that runs
around the sanctum sanctorum. On all the principal pillars of the inner
prAkAram are the beautiful stone images of damsels, whose joined palms have
been ingeniously fashioned into lamps, into which oil is poured and flames
lit. It would be indeed a treat to watch all these lamps aglow
simultaneously, casting a magical glow through the length and breadth of
the temple premises.
Opposite the sanctum sanctorum is a mini-madapam, with exquisitely-carved
wodden pillars incorporating minute figurines. One wonders at the divine
inspiration that must have endowed the sculptor's hands with the requisite
degree of intiricacy and precision. On the rootop, staring down at us with
eyes dripping with devotion for the Lord are the navagrahAs, apparently
assuring everyone that they are indeed the servants of Emepruman, with
their writ confined to non-adherents to the Lord's dicta. In a side
enclosure are figures depicting the ten glorious avataras.
The sanctum-sanctorum itself conforms to the other proportions of the
temple. Instead of the single door that is usual in all places of worship,
this sannidhi has three doors, and with good reason. The tirumEni of the
Lord, in a reclining posture, is so huge that it cannot be viewed through
the principal entrance alone, which affords a view of just the Lord's
torso, from the midriff downwards, upto the knees. The entrance to the
right (from the onlooker's viewpoint) reveals the breath-taking tirumukham
of the Lord, with its long, shapely nose ("kOla neeL kodi mookku"), the
broad and beautiful forehead with the arched eyebrows ("puruvam irundavA
kANeerE"). The magnificent headgear ("Kireeta, makuta, choodAvathamsa..Adi
aparimita divya bhooshaNa:"), symbolising Supremacy, is visible only
partly, most of it disappearing into the deep, protective hood of Sri
Adisesha, only one of whose heads is visible to the devotee. One huge, long
arm is thrown to the side, adorned with all sorts of intricately-carved
ornaments, adding distinction to themselves due the fabulous fortune of
assocaiation with the glorious tirumEni of the Paramapurusha. The other arm
is raised in a YOga MudrA, signifying that the Lord is not in any ordinary
slumber, but in eternal penance, thinking at all times of ways and means to
emacipate errant humanity and to afford them unimaginable bliss in His
exalted company, bringing to mind Azhwar's beautiful lines, "uranguvAn pOl
yOgu puNarnda oLi maNi vaNNan KaNNan".
>From neck-down upto the ankles, the Lord's torso is hidden
by yellow-silk, the peetAmbaram, which contrasts well with His pitch-black
tirumeni. Probably the all-enveloping cloth is draped around the Lord to
prevent people from ogling at and envying the perfectly-proportioned ,
broad chest, the perennial abode of the Divine Consort, the beautiful navel
from which the entire creation consisting of myriad beings originates, the
handsome thighs resembling the trunks of tall elephants and the slender
waist adorned by the "udara bandham",of which Sri PAN Perumal has so much
to say. All these hidden beauties can be viewed from the central, principal
entrance.
The third entrance to the left gives us a glorious view of the
Lord's tiruvadi, the mere sight of which destroys all sins hidden in the
nooks and corners of our heart, after viewing which the mind looks askance
at any other sight of professed allure. It is these tiruvadis which
measured the entire worlds and from which the all-purifying Ganga had its
origins. A single gesture of obeisance to these tiruvadis, even if made
with incorrect posture, mindset, etc. can bestow on us all that is
spiritually good and eliminate all that is not, says Sri Alavandar-
"tvat anghrim uddisya kadApi kEnachit
yathA tatA vApi sakrit kritOnjali:
tataiva mushNAti ashubhAni asEshata:
subhAni pushNAti na jAtu heeyatE".
Near the Lord's tiruvadi is a Sivalingam, in contrast to the one at
Tiruvananthapuram, over which Sri Ananthapadmanabha extends His palm in
benediction. The Divine Consorts, Sri Devi and Bhoodevi, are seated on e
ither side of the Lord, but lower down, drenching the Lord with their
constant glances of adoration. On a lower pedestal is the beautiful Utsava
Murthy, with four hands holding the Shankha, Chakra, Gada and Padma
respectively, resplendent with ubhaya nAcchimAr.
All these enchanting features are to be gleaned carefully, as our eyes,
unaccustomed to the homely light provided by the oil lamps with which the
sancum sanctorum is lit, may easily miss important characteristics. The
lamps provide an illumination full of magic, at once revealing and
concealing the divine features, leaving a lot to imagination. The play of
light and shadows on the Lord's tirumukham bestows it with a plethora of
expressions, making it smile or frown, according to the onlooker's state
of mind. What a contrast from the glaring and garish spot-lights focussed
with absolute lack of concern on the Lord's unprotesting tirumEni, as is
found at various divyadesams! In most of the Keralite shrines, lighting is
subdued, whether by accident or design we do not know, resulting in our
having to peer carefully in the semi-gloom, for a rewarding glimpse of the
Lord and His bewitching beauty. In the process, however, we are forced to
concentrate more on His form, than otherwise.
Is it then any wonder that Sri Nammazhwar reserves the choicest words of
adulation and adoration for this enchanting AdikEsava Perumal? Azhwar
reveals that it is indeed this Emperuman who is in a hurry to reclaim
Azhwar to the Nitya Vibhuti of Sri Vaikuntam, unable to put up any more
with the separation from the Divine Bard-"viNNulagam taruvAnAi
viraigindrAn". It is also this Lord who shows Azhwar the well-trodden path
to Liberation, viz., Prapatti-"vAnEra vazhi tanda VAttAttrAn". Concurring
with our own impressions of the Lord resembling a huge, black mountain in a
recumbent state, Azhwar says, "mai nindra varai pOlum tiruvuruva
VAttAttrArkku". The savant also teaches us the way to be rid of mundane
shackles, exhorting us to seek refuge in the glorious tiruvadi described
above-"VAttAttrAn adi vaNangE". And it is the Lord Himself who shows us the
pathless path and relieves us of the necessity of an endless sojourn in
hell, for that is where we are destined, if we are left to our own
devices-"kAtti tan kanai kazhalgaL kadu narakam pugal ozhitta VattAttru
Emperuman". The blissful experience of nAma sankeertanam, extolling the
innumerable names of the Lord, is also highlighted in another
pasuram-"naNNinam Narayananai, nAmangaL pala solli". Sri Satakopa Muni also
reveals a closely-guarded secret---that it is none other than the Lord of
this divyadesam who was responsible for the composition of the thousand and
odd verses of Tiruvaimozhi, using Azhwar as a mere output device-"en
nenjattuL irundu ingu irum Tamizh nool ivai mozhindu". Azhwar confirms that
whatever the Lord might do to others (those who stay away from Emperuman),
He would do only good to us, who are His ardent devotees, His infinite
mercy finding ready recipients-"nannenjE nam perumAn namaku aruL tAn
seivAnE". Once we invite Him into our souls, the Lord takes up permanent
residence in us and wouldn't leave even if we push Him out, says
Azhwar-"nilai peyarAn en nenjattu eppOdum Emperuman".
The Adikesava Perumal of TiruvattAr lies patiently in wait for us, to
ensnare us with His captivating glances, seeking the slightest excuse to
enter our souls and take up permanent residence, curing us forever of the
apparently chronic affliction of births and deaths ("mAgyAla pirappu
aruppAn") and affording us eternal bliss not a bit less than that He
Himself enjoys. His half-closed eyes, resembling the petals of a closed
flower, open wide like a lotus in full bloom, at the mere sight of another
devotee come to visit Him. He may appear asleep, but is the most wakeful
person in the whole Universe, beset with consuming worry at the ways of
errant and incorrigible humanity. He lies awake forever, devising newer and
newer strategies for uplifting His progeny wallowing in the mundane morass.
For the information of intending visitors, ThiruvattAr is a five to six
kilometre diversion from MArthAndam, which is a small town on the National
Highway between Kanyakumari and Trivandrum.
Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana
Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:
Dasan, sadagopan
<< File: ATT00000.html >>
|
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia |
oppiliappan-subscribe@yahoogroups.com To subscribe to the list |