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 called
Srirangam 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 the
physicalbody is named ?antharyami?, the fourth stage in the order, and His
presence in the form of images installed and conscrated in the temples by 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 communion with 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. For this 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 time in 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 avowed mission in
life. The flowers possessed extra fragrance by his touch and they were cheerful
over reaching the Lord?s resplendent body and also be of service 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 without permission,
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 of her 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 questioned Her
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 owing to 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 did not 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 Vipranarayana to
his former fold and in execution thereof, He, with an appearance of a
Vaishnavite Brahmin from Srirangam knocked at the doors of Devadasi and gave
her 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 bounds
and 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 the archaka 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@xxxxxxxxx
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