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Experiencing Swamy Desika -- #67


SrI:
Shrimate Shri Lakshmi Nrusimha Parabrahmane Namaha:
Shrimate Shri Seetha Ramachandra Parabrahmane Namaha:
Shrimate Shri Ramanujaya Namaha:
Shrimate Nigamantha Maha Desikaya Namaha:
Shrimate Shrivan Satagopa Shri Narayana Yateendra Mahadesikaya Namaha:

"SrimAn VenaktanAthArya: kavithArkika kEsarI!
VedAnthAchArya varyO mE sannidhatthAM sadhA hrudhi"!!

After Swami Desika's realisation of Garuda and Hayagriva in
Thiruvahindra puram, Swami stayed there for a decade and then
proceeded to TirukkOilur, the shrine sanctified by the visit
of the mudal alvars. We all know the unique anubavam of
the mudal alvars, where they had the greatest opportunity of
having had the Lord with them listening to their paasurams.
dEhali is the corridor of a house which immediately
adjoins the front door and leads to the inner apartments.
In tamil it is known as 'rEzhi'. Our Lord associated himself
with the mudal alvars in the dEhali and is hence addressed
as dEhaleesa means the Lord of dEhali.

dEhaleesa PerumAL is none other than Lord Trivikrama. But
what distinguishes this Lord from others is his exploits in a
small dEhali of TirukkOilur which has resulted in the advent
of Divya Prabandham to us.

The First three alvars are designed as mudal alvars. In the
same way the three prabandams that they sang should also be
understood and enjoyed as one unit. This is evident from the
very first verse of each of them taken together.

Shri D. Ramaswamy Ayyangar explains it thus:

"vaiyam tagaliyA" paasuram deals with Prakriti or Achetana
tattva, "anbEtagaliyA" with chetana or individual soul (which is
jnana by nature) and "thirukaNdEn" verse with the Paramachetana or
the Lord. Tattvatraya is thus depicted.

Similarly Tattva, Hita and Purushartha as also Parabhakti, Parajnana
and Paramabhakti and such like triple sets are all derivable
from the 3 anthadis which can be referred to as vaiyanDhadi,
anbandAdhi and thiruvandAdhi respectively with reference to the
first word in each.

"satkurvatAm tava padam caturAnanatvam
pAdOdakam ca shirasA vahatAm shivatvam !
yEkatravikramaNa karmaNi tat dvayam tE
dEhalyadEsha yugapat prathitam pruthivyAm !!"

-- dEhaleesa stuti (12)

Swami Desika states that only in the TrivikramAvatARam, the
Lord demonstrated his supremacy beyond controversies.
When the Lords uplifted foot reached the satyalOka, the
four faced Brahma worshipped Lords foot by offering argyam,
pAdhyam etc. This pAdhyam, offered respectfully to wash the
Lord's foot flowed as Ganga. This was inturn received by
Siva on his head.

In nAnmugan TiruvandAdi, Tirumazhisai Alvar expresses
similar points.

"kurai kondu nANmugan kundigai nIr paidhu
marai konda mandirattatAl vAzhtti - surai konda
sundattAn seni mElErakkazhuvinAn
aNdattAn sEvadiyaiyAngu."

Tirumazhisai Alvar explains that he who worshipped the foot
of our Lord is Brahma and he who received that paadyam
on his head is Siva.

>From this it is clear that "chaturAnanatvam" and "Sivatvam"
as used by our Swami are earned by washing our Lord's foot
and receiving the water on the head respectively.

There is pun in the words "charAnana" and "Siva".
In addition to positions like Brahma and Siva, the Capacity for
clever speech and auspiciousness can also be acquired by washing the
feet and receiving that water on the Head.

The Lord is addressed as dEhalyadheesa by Swami Desika. Swami
states that the Lord who was once a Trivikrama of cosmic proportions
now reveals in confining himself to a small dEhali. Our Lords
sowlabyam is evident here. Our Lord being a bhakta vatsalan
comes down to any extent for the sake of his devotees.

The Lord was proud to associate himself with the mudal alvars and to
assume the name dEhaleesa (the lord in the narrow passage).

Swami Desika has sung the dEhaleesa stuti in praise of the Lord
where in he portrays the Lord as a Sugarcane. The three Alvars
are pictured as the instrument to crush the sugarcane and the
resultant juice is the three noorandhAdhi's. The essence of these
three noorandhAdhi's is the sweet sugar-candy, namely dEhaleesa!!!

"Kavi Taarkika Simhaaya Kalyaana guna SaalinE!
SrimatE VenkateshAya VedAnta Gurave nama !!"

...To be continued!


dEsikan tiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

Praveena nAmni Ramanuja dasi