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Sri AparyApthAmrutha dhyAna sOpAnam ; Slokam 5

From the Bhakti List Archives

V. Sadagopan • February 15, 1998 


Dear BhakthAs of Sri AarAvamudhan of Thirukkudanthai :

In the fourth slOkam , Thirukkudanthai Desikan enjoyed 
the unique beauty of the thighs of Hema Rangan .  In the fifth
slOkam , he describes the object of his gaze as his eyes moved
upward and settled on the waist region of the Lord of Thirukkudanthai .
The luminous waist belt , the golden chain tied around the waist to 
hold His peethAmbaram and the shining peethAmbharam adorning that 
waist become the objects of his attention . He enjoys paramAnandham 
from the experience of his anubhavam of the waist region of the Lord
resting on His bed of Adhi SeshA at Thirukkudanthai . 

The fifth slOka vAkhyams are as follows :

Spurath kaancheenaddham kanaka kati sUthrENa cha vrutham 
visAlam vistheerNa pravaraguNa peethAmbharayutham I
katee dEsam Saarnga pravara dhanushO lOchana yugam 
mamAlOkhya prEmnA niravadhi mahAnandham abhajath II

( Anvaya kramam ) : spurath kaanchee naddham , kanaka kati
sUthrENa cha vrutham ,  visAlam vistheerNa pravara guNa peethAmbhara 
yutham , Saarnga Pravara dhanusha: katee dEsam , mama lOchana yugam 
prEmNA aalOkhya , niravadhi mahAnandham abhajath .

(Meaning ) : My eyes  attained the highest of Anandham through 
the sEvai of the waist region of SaarngapANi , the Lord of 
Thirkkudanthai adorned with the golden belt , golden waist chord 
and the broad , beautiful peethAmbharam of auspicious 
attributes . 

Commentary
**************
*** This is a unique anubhavam of Thirukkudanthai Desikan .
Both ThiruppANAzhwAr in AmalanAdhipirAn and Swami
Desikan skipped the anubhavam of the waist region of
Sri RanganAtha ( Kasthuri Rangan ) in their eulogies.

Thirukkudanthai Desikan , the aparAvathAram of Swami
Desikan made up for his oversight in the earlier avathAram 
( in his Bhagavad dhyAna sOpanam ) and stopped to enjoy 
the beauty of the waist region of Hema Rangan of Thirukkudanthai .
That is why , Sri AapryApthAmrutha DhyAna sOpAnam has 
13 verses ( one extra ) compared to the 12 verses of 
Sri Bhagavdh DhyAna sOpAnam of Swami Desikan . 

*** Spurath kanchee naddham : In the previous slOkam ,
Thirukkudanthai Desikan referred to " kaanchee niryath
kiraNa ruchiram peetha kousEya jushtam " . He was celebrating 
the beauty of the thighs of the Lord there , where the effulgence 
originating from the golden and gem-studded waist belt 
fell on the peethAmbharam covering the Lord's thighs  and enhanced 
their beauty . In this slOkam , Our AchAryan comes back to the source
itself (viz)., the golden waist embellished with the navarathnams .
He says that beautiful waist is bound ( naddham ) by the shining 
(spurath ) waist belt ( Kaanchee ) .

*** Kanaka Kati sUthrENa cha vrutham : 

Below that golden belt , our AchAryan comes across 
the beautiful katee sUthram , which is used to hold 
the peethAmbharam . In TamiL , katee sUthram is 
known as " arai nANN " . PeriyAzhwAr has enjoyed 
the beauty of the katee sUthram of Bala Gopalan 
( Thirukkudanthaik Kovalan ) in his paasurams this way :

" ponnarai nANodu maNiccka kiNN kiNi tannarai aada "

The golden waist chord has little golden bells attached 
to it . As the most beautiful BalagOpAlan moves around , 
the bells jingle with sunAdham . PeriyAzhwAr enjoys the sounds
originating from the waist region . 

Elsewhere , PeriyAzhwAr invites our attention to the golden 
arai nANN and asks us to enjoy its lustre and the golden bells
in the form of the mAthuLai mottu(pomegranet Bud )
attached to that golden waist chord  :

" arayil tangiya ponvatamum tALa nan mAthuLayin poovodu 
pon maNiyum "  

The thiruvAbharaNams on the waist are saluted by 
Thirukkudanthia Desikan a la periyAzhwAr , since 
Lord of Thiukkdanthai has been enjoyed as GopAlan
by AzhwArs . NammAzhwAr 's enjoyment of this arai--
nANN of AarAvamudhan is contained in the following 
paasura portion : " AarAvamudhamAyallAviyuL kalantha 
kArAr karu muhil pOl yenammAn KaNNanukku --nANN , 
pinnumizhai palavE " 

*** VisAlam vistheerNa pravara guNa peethAmbharayutham :

The glory of the unmatched lustre of the peethAmbharam 
has been repeatedly saluted by our purvAchAryAs and AzhwArs .

During KrishNAvathAram , the Lord was born in the dark
prison of kamsA with PeethAmbharam on His waist 
and its lutre removed the darkness of the dungeon . 

Sukha Brahmam has celebrated the Lord adorning
the red peethAmbharam and appearing like the new Manmathan
winning the old Manmathan in beauty :

peethAmbharadhara: sragvee SaakshAnmanmatha manamatha : 

" Araicchivantha aadai " is the salutation of ThiruppANar .
Our Lord's hue is dark blue . The red peethAmbharam 
has the quality of adding to the beauty of His hue as 
parabhAgam ( complimentary ) . That combination looks 
like a red lotus that has just blossomed on the blue waist
(waters ) of the Lord ( KousEya pushpitha tatam ) .  

NammAzhwAr has enjoyed the beauty of the red peethAmbharam 
on the bluish hued waist of the Lord as " sekkAr maamuhil udutthu " .
Elsewhere , NammAzhwAr has queried the Lord about 
the relation between the lustre of peethAmbharam and
the beauty of the waist that adorns it :

" padic chOthi aadayodum palkalanAi nin 
paimpoRk katicchOthi kalanthathuvO " .

Thirukkuanthai dEsikan describes this beautiful 
peethAmbharam as visAlam ( broad ) , vistheerNam 
( extended ) and pravara guNayutham , Saarnga
pravara dhanusha: katee dEsam ( that waist of 
SaarngapANi , adorned by the peethAmbharam 
of auspicious guNAs )

What is the auspicious guNAs that Thirukkudanthai dEsikan 
is referring to here ? One is the bhOga LeelA of the Lord .
KulasEkarar refers to the use of the PeethAmbharam by 
the Lord to hide a Gopi ( bhakthai ) and rushing her to His
abode during the dark hours of the night without attracting 
the attention of anyone . But a friend of the girl catches the Lord
and describes it with affection this way :

minnottha nuNNidayALaik kondu
veenkiruLvAi yenthan veethiyOdu
ponnottha vAdai kukkUdalittup--
pOhinrapOthu naan kandu ninREn--
      ------------PerumAL Thirumozhi 6.5 

Even in the darknes of the night , the lustre of 
the peethAmbharam gives away the Lord rushing
to His abode . He had covered his head and that of 
the beloved with a " mukkAdu " made from His 
peethAmbharam and was detected by the friend
of the Gopi . Later in the evening the Lord rushed to 
the side of the friend , who had seen him rushing
off with her girl friend . This annoyed friend asks the Lord,
" I caught You running off under the cover of Your 
peethAmbharam . Why are You now coming to me after 
abandoning my innocent friend ? Please return to
the side of my friend , who is broken hearted about 
Your deception " . 

That is the Mahimai of the PeethAmbharam 
adorning the waist of our Lord of Thirukkudanthai .

Our AchAryan recalls this scene and his eyes become 
dimmed  with tears of prEmai , (mama lOchana Yugam 
prEmNA aalOkhya ) and reach the state of limitless joy
( niravdhi mahA Aanandham abhajath ) .

This slOkam in celebration of the beauty of Katee
dEsam /tiruk kati sthAnam ( waist region ) of the Lord 
has a relationship to the anubhavam of NammAzhwAr 
of a MalayALa divya Desam revered as ThirukkatitthAnam .

This divyadEsam is 23 miles from AmbalappuzhA 
and the Lord here has the name of Adhbhutha 
NaarAyaNan . NammAzhwAr has performed 
mangalAsAsanam of this Lord with 11 pasurams
( Thiruvaimozhi 8.6 decad ) .NammAzhwAr has a special 
affection to the Lord of this divya desam reminding of
His beautiful waist region ( katee dEsam ) as revealed 
from those 11 paasurams dedicated to the Lord 
Adhbhutha NaarAyaNan of ThirukkatitthAna divya dEsam .

NamO NaarAyaNA ,
Sri AparyAptha Para BrahmaNE Nama:
Thirukkudanthai dEsikan ThriuvadigaLE SaraNam
Swami Sri Desikan ThiruvadigaLE saraNam 

Oppilaippan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan