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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00073 Feb 2008

 
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SrI:
SrImathE Gopaladesika Mahadesikaya nama:

Dearest all, 

Today is Maasi Punarpoosam ? Kulasekara AzhwAr
Thirunakshathram. 

KumbhE PunarvasuBhavam KeraLE ChoLa PattaNE
Kaustubhamsham DharAdeesham KulashekaramAshrayE

Let us remind ourselves of utilizing our limbs and
parts of our body to pay our obeisance to our most
merciful Divya Dampathi. 

Vaikuntham puhuvadhu maNNavar vidhiyE? [Thiruvaymozhi
10.9] 

We the human beings on this earth also can attain that
Srivaikunta and enjoy in as much as those Nithyasuris
do. Yes. It is certainly possible. It is indeed our
very birth right. That is the very reason and cause
for which the most merciful Lord Sriman Narayanan has
created us. We were lying dormant during dissolution /
deluge [praLaya] like the golden particles sticking to
the wax of goldsmith, we were lying with all our
knowledge hidden and covered- says Vedas. We had lost
the worldly pleasures as well as the Absolute Bliss at
the upper world, Srivaikuntam. Due to our past karmas
[actions] that we had performed prior to this
dissolution [praLaya], we have been pushed into this
horrendous samsaaric ocean. Due to His limitless
grace, He takes pity on us some day due to some
unknown smallest past good deed of ours, He makes us
born in this birth and grants us an opportunity to get
this human body, the intellect, and thus all the tools
to realize Him. 

He enables us to have an access to all the wonderful
works of preceptors, Vedas and saasthras for us to get
the right knowledge, understand the means to attain
the goal namely the Srivaikunta, i.e. moksha anandham.
He enables Azhwars, acharyas to take birth for
blessing us with the right way and the goal. He
enables us with the wonderful epics, and puranas to
understand the right and wrong. His upakaarams
(helpful deeds) thus are innumerable. It is all due to
His grace. The very existence and survival of ours is
His grace. When we go to sleep, who takes care of us?
Who ensures that we get up the next day? It is all due
to His grace. It is He who grants us the body, mind
and the intellect to us. 

If we don?t utilize the tools, namely the senses, the
body, the mind, the intellect, to perform such actions
in order to attain Him, how will we ever be able to
cross the ocean of samsaara? How will we ever be able
to attain Srivaikunta and the absolute, immense,
permanent pleasure? 

How will we ever be able to get rid of further
horrible births and accumulated sins after sins? If
someone has given us a boat to cross the turbulent
river, and if we choose not to oar the sails, and to
the contrary, relish the way the boat is tormented by
the river current and rocking here and there, how will
we ever be able to cross at all safely? Not only will
the boat get broken to pieces, the passenger will also
be doomed. Unlike him, the boatman, let us oar our
boat (the body and the associated instruments) in
right way and in correct direction, to reach the
destination namely Srivaikuntam. What are the right
ways? How do we do that? ? we don?t know? No worries.
Kulasekara, who immersed himself in Rama bhakti, shows
the path and the way- the means and the tools. 

jihvE kIrtaya kESavam mura-ripum cEtO bhaja SrI-dharam
pANi-dvandva samarcayAcyuta-kathA: SrOtra-dvaya tvam
SRNu |
kRshNam lOkaya lOcana-dvaya harEr
gacchAnghri-yugmAlayam 
jighra ghrANa mukunda-pAda-tulasIm mUrdhan
namAdhOkshajam || 

16th verse of Mukunda maala. 

Oh tongue! Sing the name of Kesava! Oh mind! Think of
Muraari! Oh hands! Perform archana to Sri
Mahalakshmi?s consort Sridhara! Oh ears! Hear always
the wonderful stories of dark hued cloud coloured most
merciful Lord! Oh eyes! See KaNNan?s most beautiful
form at all times. Oh legs! Take me to His temple. Oh
nose! Smell the fragrance of the Thulasi leaves of
Mukundan. Oh head! Bow down to the Paramathma! 

Kulasekarar entreats all his senses - tongue, ears,
eyes, legs, nose, head and mind to engage in the
service to Lord Sriman Narayanan. 

[From Sri Satakopan Swmai?s wonderful write up] 

The first appeal goes to SrI kulaSEkharar's tongue -
He asks it to praise Lord kESavan. The name kESava has
three meanings covering dushTha-nigraham, svAmitvam
and saundaryam of SrI ranganaatha.
In the aspect of destruction of the unrighteous
(dushTha-nigraham) he refers to the Lord slaying an
asura by name "kESi" - therefore the name kESava. 

In the aspect of svAmitvam, kESava stands for SrI
ranganaatha being the master of brahma and rudra.  In
the aspect of saundaryam, kESavan means one with
beautiful hair. Through the invocation of the name
kESava, SrI kulaSEkhara implies that the kalyANa
guNa-s of the Lord are countless and his tongue will
not run out of kIrtana-s to sing about Him.

The second appeal of SrI kulaSEkhara - hE "cEta:
mura-ripum bhaja!" ? goes to his mind. He asks his
mind to meditate on the Lord who is the destroyer of
an asura by name "muran". By this meditation one will
see Him clearly inside oneself, says the AzhvAr. He
probably has the following verse from
brahma-bindu-upanishad in mind:

ghutamiva payasi nigUDham bhUtE ca vasati viGYAnam |
satatam manthayitavyam manasA manthAnabhUtEna || "

The upanishad verse says that Lord SrIman-nArAyaNa is
hidden in all cEtana's hearts like ghee in milk. Just
as one churns the milk with a wooden instrument (ie
mattu, in tamizh) to release the butter, so should one
use one's mind to witness SrIman-nArAyaNa in one's
heart.

Then the AzhvAr asks his two hands to do arcana with
tulasi leaves and flower petals. He wants his hands to
do arcana to SrI-dharan with perfection appealing -
"pANi-dvandva SrI-dharam samarcaya (samyak arcaya)".  

He wants his hands to do arcana not only to nArAyaNa
but also to SrI-dEvI by choosing the name, SrI-dhara.
The divya-dampatI-s are inseparable.

SrI svAmi dESikan later followed the AzhvAr's thought
when he bowed to the divya-dampatI's
Eka-SEshitva-yOgam in his SrI-stuti and declared:

 "yuvAm dampatI daivatam na:" (ie dampatI yuvAm na:
daivatam) SrI dESikan amplified the thought behind
SrIdhara: by stating that both mahAlakshmI and
nArAyaNa, shining as matchless couple, serve as
Supreme and unified God in one inseparable form.

After the appeal to his hands, SrI kulaSEkhara turns
his attention to his ears. He asks them to hear
(SrOtradvaya tvam acyuta kathA: SRNu !) stories about
acyutan. The name acyutan symbolizes His total resolve
to come to prapannas' rescue without fail. By invoking
acyuta, SrI kulaSEkhara reminds his ears about
SaraNAgati-vratam and abhaya-pradhAna-guNam of
SrIman-nArAyaNa reclining on Adi-SEsha at SrI-ranga
kshEtram.

AzhvAr says to his ears that hearing of the kathA-s of
acyutan such as
vibhIshaNa-SaraNAgati, kAkAsura-SaraNAgati,
draupatI-mAnasamrakshaNam, gajEndra-mOksham,
ambarIsha-caritram etc. can only assure one of the
secure and delectable experience of tasting the
nectar-like SaraNAgata-rakshaNa anubhavam. 
sAtvata-samhitA echoes AzhvAr's thought as follows:

      "sankalpAdEva bhagavan tattvatO bhAvitAtmAnAm |
       vrtAntamakhilam kAlam sEcayatmRtEna tu || "

The samhitai verse states that SrI acyutan blesses
those who worship Him with the nectar-like experience
of association with Him throughout their earthly lives
and gives them the refuge of His cool feet by driving
away afflictions.

SrI kulaSEkharar next calls on his pair of eyes to
enjoy the beauty of SrI ranganaatha in His avatAra as
SrI kRshNa. 

His appeal is "kRshNam lOkaya lOcana-dvaya:"

To witness and enjoy the beauty of SrI kRshNa
bhagavAn, he asks his legs to go to temples where His
arca-mUtIs are enshrined. The AzhvAr advises his legs
as follows : "anghriyugma harE: Alayam gaccha".
   
AzhvAr then asks his nose to smell the sweet perfume
of tulasi leaves that adorned the holy feet of SrI
kRshNa - "hE kRshNa, mukunda-pAda-tulasIm jighra".

Finally, he asks his head to bend and offer its
namaskAram-s to Lord ranganaatha - "hE mUdhan
adhOkshajam nama". 

Sarvam SrI kRshNArpaNamastu.... 

Let us place our heads at the lotus feet of Sri
Kulasekara perumAn.

AzhwAr ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam
Regards
Namo narayana
dAsan 



      
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