Periya Thirumozhi 1.6- Oh My Father! The Lord of naimisaaraNyam

From the Bhakti List Archives

• February 11, 1999


Sri:

Dearest Sisters and Brothers,

Let us proceed to NaimisaaraNyam Divya Desam along with Thirumangai 
mannan. In this sthalam of Naimi, Bhagawaan shows Himself as the araNyam 
itself (araNyam means: Forest- Remember AraNya kaaNdam of Ramayana). 
Once, few sages went to BrahmA and asked him "In this vast world, which 
place is the best place for thapas (penance)?". BrahmA took few thruNam 
(dharbhaippul- grass) and joined them to make a circle. BramhA rolled 
the circular (nEmi- circular) dharbhai on the ground and said "Wherever 
this nEmi stops, let that be the best place for performing thapas". And 
it rolled .. rolled and rolledÂ…. & finally stopped at this sthalam of 
dense forest; and hence, thereafter called NaimisaaraNyam. It is in the 
banks of the river Gomathi and is reported to be the place where Veda 
vyAsa maharishi performed his thapas (penance) for very many years. This 
sthalam is situated on the way between Calcutta and Dehradoon. Moolavar: 
Devarajan- Sri Hari. NinRa thirukkOlam (Standing posture). Thaayaar: Sri 
Harilakshmi (PuNdareeka valli). Prathyaksham to Indran, Sudharman, 
Devarishi, SoothapurANikar, and VedavyAsar. There is also a place called 
VyAsaghatti, where Sukhabrahmam narrated Srimad Bhagawtham, Bharatham  
to King ParIkshith. There is also another temple in this place, called 
PurANa mandhir wherein Sukhar's bronze vigraham with parrot nose is 
consecrated and besides this temple, there is a Hanumangatti temple, 
where HUGE HanumAn shows himself in standing posture carrying Sri Rama, 
Lakshmana on his shoulders.   

ThirumangaiAzhwAr sings on this Emperumaan as "thEnudaik kamalatth 
thiruvinukku arasE!" (the King of PiraaTTi, who is born on honey 
dripping Lotus flower!) and performs sarangathy to Divya Dampatis, with  
PiraaTTi for Purushaakaaram (recommendation). It is an excellent set of 
pAsurams describing AzhwAr's outpourings on his naicchiyam again, 
lamenting on his past trespasses and running behind women seeking carnal 
pleasures.  Yet another emotional outpour from AzhwAr. 

1. Oh my father! The Lord of NaimisaaraNyam! This stupid self lowly 
self- I- was considering and seeking only the bright beaming smile, the 
small forehead, the shoulders and the tender breasts of women as my 
destination and refuge for a long time. Till this time, I had never 
thought and understood/realised that this is a blunder and never gave 
any thought to get rid of this birth and death cycle. Now I (am blessed 
by You to) have realised. I hate those carnal desires now! I am terribly 
embarrassed and ashamed of what I was till this date. I have surrendered 
to Your Feet here! 

2. Those beautiful legs that wore anklets,- those dark, long eyes of 
women were the only targets for my mind and I forgot all dharmA; I ran 
only after sensual enjoyment to the greatest extent as the only 
pleasure; I have wasted all my days! DevAdhi dEvA! (Chief of all DevAs!) 
The One who has long Hands that can grant huge biggest fruits 
limitlessly and unbounded! The Most wonderful Lord! My Father! The Lord 
of NaimisaaraNyam! Today, I have reached Your Lotus Feet that are always 
worshipped by NithyaSooris lovingly and devotedly.

3. Oh My Master! The One who churned the Ocean for DevAs! My father! The 
Lord of NaimisaaaraNyam! I gambled; I stole people as a highway robber; 
I ran amuck after sensual desires and went behind women; I loitered as a 
vagabond; Such lowly I- now have come to Your Lotus feet, with a spine 
chilling fear from those Yama dhUthars (Yama's attendants) and pains 
from their cruel punishments.

4. When people, who ignore and desert their beautiful dark- fragrant 
flowered-long haired spouses, and seek others' wives and others' 
properties, die, the servants of Yama drag them, torture them with 
severe punishments; Then, they are pushed to a corner; and are shown a 
red hot burning statue of a woman. The yama dhUthAs shout at them, 
angrily.. "HmmmmÂ… Now go and hug this statueÂ… Go aheadÂ…" and punish 
them. Oh No! I am scared of such severe tortures; I have heard that You 
are so compassionate and merciful and save any one who surrenders to 
You, in spite of ALL THEIR UNWORTHY PAST DEEDS; I have heard that You 
forgive once someone surrenders to You completely and You are so 
credible and reliable ("nambhanE".. says AzhwAr). Oh my father! The Lord 
of NaimisaaraNyam! I have now surrendered to Your Lotus Feet.

5. "AiyA! (Sir!)  Please offer me one handful of food" poor people, when 
they begged me like that for food, I simply ignored and even shouted at 
them with an emphatic "no". Such a "neechan"- lowly self -I, had never 
thought of the fruits of my misdeeds. Now I am terribly scared and have 
got great fears of Yama dhUthAs' punishments and cruel words and actions 
at me; My father! The Lord of NaimisaaraNyam! I have now surrendered to 
Your Feet! (Save me!).

6. Oh ParamanE! The Lord who reclines on PaaRkadal (Milk Ocean)! My 
Father! The Lord of NaimisaaraNyam! With my mind, bent upon going only 
towards committing wrong deeds; Performing actions totally adharmic 
(wrong and unsaasthric) towards others- Rejoiced hunting (going around 
with my "pet" dogs) and killed animals with no sense of vivEkam; - Such 
a lowly self- I have now (been blessed by You to have) realised and 
longed for Your Lotus Feet and completely destroyed even an iota chance 
of my going to Yama's hell.

7. Oh Lord, the One who, under the pretext of getting the fruits 
(viLAmpazham) hit the asurA (who had come in the guise of a calf) 
against the tree and destroyed the asurA! Oh DevAdhidevA, the One who 
has entered into my heart and refuses to leave the same (in spite of), 
which is full of cruel thoughts only! Oh my Father! The Lord of 
NaimsaaraNyam! Those who think of doing only wrong and adharmic acts 
(for material pleasures), who talk only ills and wrong things, who do 
only misdeeds- and listening to the sufferings and tortures such people 
undergo in the hell after their demise from this earth, I get terribly 
scared! Oh Lord! I have surrendered to Your Lotus Feet.

8. Oh My Father! The Lord of naimisaaraNyam! The Lord of 
ThirukkuRu~nkudi! The Ocean coloured Lord! Kalipurushan has sent all 
five servants of his (namely the sense organs) on me to torture me and 
drag me to sensual desires for aggravating my samsaaric ills. Is there 
any way he can win? No. I am (blessed by You to succeed in) getting rid 
of their influence. With my tongue, I am able to utter Your Sweet Divine 
Names and perform my ArAdhanA offering  these flowers of pAsurams 
praising Your Feet. I have come here surrendering to Your Feet.  

9. (A lovely pAsuram!). Oh King of Periya PiraaTTi, the One who is born 
from the Honey dripping Lotus Flower! ("thEnudaik kamalatth thiruvinukku 
arasE!") Oh Lord, who reclines on the wavy, huge vast milk ocean! My 
father! The Lord of NimisaaraNyam! Keeping the flesh and muscles as the 
walls in between, having the bones as pillars for support among those 
flesh, covering these bones an fleshes with hairs, providing nine holes 
in this hut of this sarIram (body)- and when my jIvan leaves this 
sarIram, at the time of death, I need to meditate only on Your Lotus 
Feet for my protection- this alone is my thought. I am blessed to have 
realised this, due to Your enormous grace, and I have now come here 
surrendering to Your Lotus feet. 

10. "If we think that sorrows dare not come near us, then let us go to 
NaimisaaraNyam and pay obeisance to Him"- says Indran to his DevAs and 
they all have come to NaimisaaraNyam- About Such Greatest NaimisaaraNya 
Emperumaan, Thirumangai mannan has sung these pAsurams, thinking of Him 
with tremendous bhakti. Those who recite them (or read these meanings), 
will first rule this huge world surrounded by Oceans here on this earth 
before joining Nithyasooris in Paramapadham for performing eternal 
service to the Lord.

Thirumangai mannan ThiruvadigaLE saraNam

Narayana Narayana

Narayana dAsan Madhavakkannan 

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