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Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha
Sri Nikamantha Maha Desikaya Namaha
Sri Adi Van Satakopa Yatheendra Maha Desikaya Namaha
Sri Van Satakopa Sri Narayana Yatheendra Maha Desikaya Namaha
 
 
Five forms in One

Lord Narayana manifests himself in five stages, viz., ?Param? ,?Vyuham? 
?Vibhavam?, ?Antaryami?, ?Archai? in different forms and places. Many a writers 
have narrated in detail about the significance of these divine appearances of 
Sriman Narayana. Hence it would be redundant to dwell on what had been already 
said and written.

 

As an exception to this conception and in support of it we find that the five 
stages of Lord Sriman Narayana are well concentrated in one place 
calledSrirangam and lets us see how it is ubiquitous.

 

Paravasudevar

On the Pranavakara Ranga Vimanam of Lord Ranganatha can be seen Paravasudevar, 
the first form of Sriman Narayana viz. ?Param?. His reclining on Adisesha 
depicts the second forn called ?Vyuham?. His pervading the universe and 
residing in the hearts of His creations as soul, independent of thephysicalbody 
is named ?antharyami?, the fourth stage in the order, andHis presence in the 
form of images installed and conscrated in the templesby the devotees for the 
worship is called as Archa, the fifth in the order. This is considered to be 
the most suitable for the mortals in the ?Kaliyuga? to evoke His grace. The 
devotees centralize their thoughts on the charm of the idols and remain dumb 
founded in a meditative mood in communionwith the Almighty.

With a view to establishing that Lord Ranganatha in Archa coexists with 
?vibhavam? could be found from the episodes in which He appeared in ?Vibhavam? 
also as aforesaid and of his many such manifestations,three have been taken to 
substantiate the existence of it.

 

Episode I: Vipranarayana whose native place was ?Thirumandangudi? in Tanjore 
district migrated to Srirangam to serve Lord Ranganatha by undertaking to make 
garlands out of fresh fragrant flowers to adorn Him everyday. Forthis purpose, 
he raised a flower garden on the banks of the Cauvery.

He was devoted in this service to Lord and derived an inexplicable ecstatic 
pleasure there from. Not a day would pass by, without his presence in the 
precincts of the great temple more particularly in the sanctum sanctorum with 
basket full of flower garden dangling down his shoulders. Lord Ranganatha and 
Pirrati Ranganayaki were happy to find a devoted soul having an unflinching 
faith in them. However, the Lord desired to play His part by demonstrating to 
the world His omniscience and omnipotence and to install faith in te worship of 
?Archamurthy?. Vipranarayana spent more timein the meticulous maintenance of 
the garden so as not to allow a lapse from his sacred duty.

It was after the dusk of a day when clouds gathered it rained cats and dogs 
with thunder and lightening. Vipranarayana came out of his dwelling and went to 
the garden to clear the water logging as his concern was the upkeep of the 
plants that gave him flowers to carry out his much avowedmission in life. The 
flowers possessed extra fragrance by his touch and they were cheerful over 
reaching the Lord?s resplendent body and also be ofservice to Him in this 
process.

While in the garden a lurking silhoutte of a person caught the eye of 
Vipranarayana and out of curiosity he went near and found it to be that of a 
young beautiful belle with contours of her frame palpably visible owing to 
drenching. The intruder was hesitant to enter the premises withoutpermission, 
when Vipranarayana came close to her and enquired about her and learnt that she 
was a ?Devadasi? by name Devadevi and that she was returning from Uraiyur. She 
sought a temporary asylum there, to change her wet clothes. Seeing her 
predicament and out of sympathy he acceded to her request by permitting her to 
enter his cottage. Alas! Her sparkling eyes, aquiline nose, chubby cheeks with 
a dimple, voluptuous lips and the symmetry ofher body created in the mind of a 
pious Vipranarayana erotic sensation which resulted in infatuation and a slip 
from his clean and blemish less life.He fell prey to Devadasi?s antics and had 
to sacrifice his celibacy and the dancing girl her
chastity. A victim of circumstances Vipranarayana forgot his garden that he so 
nicely got up and endeared, and with it his service to Lord Ranganatha. He 
followed Devadevi to her residence where he lived with her enjoying the 
ephemeral pleasured that were provided by her.

In the great temple of Srirangam Pirrati Ranganayaki questionedHer divine 
spouse as to why such a devoted soul should suddenly fall down from the 
pinnacle of lofty ideals of his mission to the nadir of leading a life with a 
lecherous lady. Lord replied that he desired to exhibit to the world how even 
devoted persons would succumb to the worldly pleasures owingto quirk of fate 
and return to senses when such a life ended in a debacle.He replied Pirrati to 
wait and see the developments whereby Vipranarayana would be retrieved from the 
quagmire of mundane pleasures and attachment.

Vipranarayana lost all his possessions including his self-respect and the 
reverence he commanded and the harlot drove him out of her house. He continued 
to remain outside the closed doors with a slender hope that she would take him 
back out of sympathy. Meanwhile the plants and flowers in the garden withered 
without anybody to tender them and they felt unfortunate and looked mournful 
over the adverse change that had taken place in their not being able to adorn 
the Lord and His consort. As the suffering of the devotee became acute Pirrati 
could not contain herself and pleaded again with the Lord and to see that 
Vipranarayana got free from the tentacles of the evil designs of Devadasi. Here 
we observe the essential ingredient of Vaishnavism in that Pirrati with 
Compassion overflowing recommends to her Lord to pardon the sinners whatever be 
the magnitude of the sin is, and to bring them back to righteous path. After 
the cessation of the hostilities didnot Sita appeal to the
monkeys not to harm the demonesses even when she was subjected to both physical 
and mental torture?

Lord Ranganatha designed a strategy to bring back Vipranarayanato his former 
fold and in execution thereof, He, with an appearance of a Vaishnavite Brahmin 
from Srirangam knocked at the doors of Devadasi and gaveher a golden vessel 
disclosing that he was sent by Vipranarayana with instructions to hand it over 
to her, as a present. Her happiness knew no boundsand Devadasi received the 
guest with reverence. Before she could extend her hospitality the Brahmin had 
abruptly disappeared from the place.

When the ay dawned and the doors of the Sannithi of Lord Ranganatha were opened 
for ?Vishwaroopa seva?, to utter consternation and dismay of the Archakas it 
was found that one golden vessels forming part of the pooja articles was 
missing. The matter as reported to the temple authorities. As it was but 
natural for anybody to put blame on the archaka on duty in such circumstances 
he was admonished and asked to express the truth to which he pleaded ignorance. 
The archaka was remanded to custody until the investigations were completed. 
After a long search it was found that the stolen vessel was in possession of 
Devadevi who in order to save her skin disclosed that it was given as a present 
by a Brahmin calling himself as one from Srirangam and had come as a messenger 
of Vipranarayana. This revelation not only besmirched the fair name of 
Vipranarayana but also made him and thearchaka scapegoats to undergo 
intolerable physical torture by the authorities.

As Pirrati Ranganayaki could not anymore keep quiet when the devotee was put to 
untold suffering, she requested the Lord to vindicate the truth immediately and 
to prove Vipranarayana?s innocence in this incident. Lord Ranganatha through 
the Archakas narrated the entire episode and the part played by Him to rescue a 
Bhaktha who deviated fro sometime from the righteous path. Vipranarayana 
repented for his temporary departure from the high sense of mortality by clear 
expressions of penitence through his verses in praise of Lord Ranganatha. He 
called himself as servant of those who served Lord Ranganatha ardently and he 
desired to collect the dust their feet and smear it on his head thereby to be 
name ?Thondar-adipodi? 

To be continued........

This article was written by Late Sri L.P.Sampath Iyengar

Comments and feedbacks are welcome to suprajaiyengar@xxxx

 

 

            

 



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