Search:
Bhakti List Archives

Re: vithuvakottu ammaan and kulasekara azvar

From the Bhakti List Archives

Madhavakkannan V • March 20, 2002 


SrI:
Dearest Srivaishnavas,
Sriman Satakopan mama had written in 98 on this great set of ten PAsurams by 
Kulasekara AzhwAr. It is very sweet and highly deep in meanings. AzhwAr 
performs his Saranagathi at the lotus Feet of PerumAL of VitthuvakkOdu Divya 
Desam.
Enjoy.
Regards
Namo Narayana
aDiyEn dAsan
=======================================================

http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/mar98/0034.html

Dear BhakthAs : It gives me great pleasure to join
on this sacred day of Sri Kulasekara AzhwAr's birth
( Maasi Punarvasu ) to pay my tribute to the great
Saint-King from KeralA-Paandya desam . This is also
the day in which Sri RanganAtha Swamy Temple foundation
stone is being laid at Pomona , NY following the divine
blessings of Sri Maha Lakshmi and the 44th Jeeeyar , His
Holiness Sri Vedantha Desika MahA Desikan , the builder
of the Southern Gopuram of Sri Ranganathan . May this effort
thrive and May the object of Sri Kukasekara AzhwAr's
deep desire come to reside here on the Banks of Hudson
river in New York and bless us all for times to come .

A Tribute to Sri Kulasekhara
*****************************
Srimans MadhavakkaNNan and MuraLi Rangaswamy
have paid wonderful tributes already this morning .
I will follow from there and focus on the deep
and profound statements of MahA Viswasam of
KulasekharA enshrined in his salutations and
prayer to Sri VitthuvakkOttu AmmAn of MalayALa
divya desam ( PerumAL Thirumozhi : 5th decad )

The Divya Desam of VitthuvakkOdu
********************************
The name VitthuvakkOdu comes from the
joining of two words : VidhwAns + Kodu
or koodiya Idam ( the place of assembly ) .

Vedic Scholars , Experts in Kaavyam , Naatakam ,
Alankaara Saasthram , Tarkam , MeemAmsam and
Yogam used to assemble here as residents and
gave the name of VitthuvakkOdu to this thiruppathi .
They were very respectful of each other and
developed deep friendship ( Mithra BhAvam ) .
Hence , this Thiruppathi is also known as
MitthirakkOdu , the place of assembly of
friends .

Location of VitthuvakkOdu
*************************

This Kshethram is at a distance of 10 miles
from ShoranUr on the GuruvAyUr-ShoranUr road .
It is on the bank of BharathappuZhA river
and can be reached from PattAmbhi train station .
The garbha graham is semi-circular similar to
the traditional ones of KeraLa divya desams.

The method of worship is neither VaikAnasam
or Paancha Raathram , but Taantric . There is
no chatAri usage .Only Sandal Paste and
Tulasi leaves are given as  PrasAdam . Potti
( pOtthi ) Brahmins perform Abhigamanam with
wet cloth and continue with the daily aarAdhanams
devoutly as in the case of GuruvAyUr . There is a
temple for the grandson of the Lord ( Lord SivA )
infront of this temple .

The ArchA Moorthys of VitthubvakkOdu
**************************************

The Lord's name at this Thiruppathi is Uyya Vantha PerumAl .
ThAyAr's name is Thiru VitthuvakkOttu Valli .
The name for the Lord  is intriguing . Instead
of Uyya Vaikka Vantha PerumAL , He is
called Uyya Vantha PerumAL or the Lord ,
who came to be redeemed . Perhaps , he acknowledges
the moving SaraNAgathi paasurams of His dear
BhakthA , who deservedly earned the suffix of
PerumAL after his name of KulasekharA . Our
predecessors have rightfully stated : " PerumALai
aRiyAthAr PerumALai aRiyAthArE ". The meaning of
this statement is : "One who does not understand
the Paasurams of KulasekHara PerumAL would not
know about PerumAL ( Sri RamachandrA ) , who
performed AarAdhanam to Periya PerumAL ,
Sri RanganaathA , during His avathAram as the
son of DasarathA . Perhaps Sriman NaarAyaNa
who is Bhaktha Paaratantryan felt that
he should take this name as one who came to be redeemed
in the spirit of VaishNava Nampi of Thirukkurungudi ,
who came to attend KalakshEpams of Sri RaamAnuja
on the banks of TamraparaNee river .

The Greatness of KulasEkharA
****************************
Our AzhwAr  is considered as the amsam of the Kausthubham
gem adorning the chest of Sriman NaarAyaNan .
KulasekhaRA was a king of Kolli Naadu in those
days , when there was the joint kingdom of
Keralaa and Paandya desam . He was born under
the star of Punarvasu , the same one under which
Sri RamachandrA was born as KausalyA suprajA .
Like Chakravarthi Thirumahan , he gave up his
kingdom too for dhArmic reasons .He wanted to
emulate Ilaya PerumAl and wanted to serve always
the Lord ( Bhagavad Seshathvam ). Like BharathA ,
he wanted to have Paarathanthryam and wanted
to perform PaadhukhA PattAbhishEkam . Like
SatrugnA , KulasekharA stood for Bhagaavtha
Seshathvam celebrated in the Thiruvaimozhi
Paasurams of decad 3.7 summarized
recently by Sri MadhavakkaNNan .SatrugnA is known
as  Nithya Satrugnan : The Forever foe
of anything that stood in his way to serve BhagavathAls
like Bharathan , his  brother . In a similar spirit ,
KulasEkarA defended BhagavathALs in his court , when they
were falsely accused of stealing the AabharaNams
of his AarAdhana Moorthy . KulasekharA put his
hand into a pot containing Cobras to attest
to the purity of BhagavathALs and won .Such is
the greatness of KulasekharA , who dreamed and
sung daily about his pilgrimage to Srirangam
so that he can be near to Sri RanganAthA .

Our PurushArtham is Bhagavadh Kaimkaryam.
That is Mudal kOdu ( the first step).
The kadaisi kOdu ( the last step ) is
CharamAvathi Bhagavatha Kaimkaryam of the kind
celebrated by NammAzhwAr in Thiruvaimozhi 3.7.10:

"--adiyAr adiyAr tammadiyAr tamakku
adiyAr adiyAr tammadiyAr adiyOngaLE "

( Meaning ) : " Myself and mine are servants to
the servants of the servants of the servants of
the servants of the servants of the servants of
this lovable Lord "

He declared : " Inbamarum selvamum ivvarasum
yaan vEndEn " and spent his days in Bhagavadh/
Bhagavadha KAIMKARYAM . He followed the traditional
SaraNAgathi maargam established by the Divya Dampathis
and spent his last days at Srirangam and ascended
to Parama padam from there .

In his VitthuvakkOttu paasurams , he expressed
his understanding and practise of the profound
meaning of PraNavam with particular emphasis on
the letter " U" in the combination of the triad ,
A,U and M . The Letter "U " stands for AnanyArha
Seshathvam asserting that the Jeevan is Seshan to the Lord
and the Lord alone . AzhwAr's MahA Visvaasam and
aathma SamarpaNam in the true spirit of SaraNAgathi
is etched in these verses .

I will comment on the individal paasurams
in the subsequent posting(s) .

KulasEkhara AzhwAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam
Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan


Here are the ten Pasurams are their translations by sri Satakopan Mama.
http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/mar98/0035.html
http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/mar98/0036.html

==================================================

----Original Message Follows----
From: Mani Varadarajan 
Reply-To: Mani Varadarajan 
To: bhakti-list@yahoogroups.com
Subject: vithuvakottu ammaan and kulasekara azvar
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2002 08:09:14 -0800


>From another list -- can members answer these questions?

geetha_rangarajan2000 writes:
 > Dear respected members
 >
 > adiyen has got a couple of doubts  from kulasekara perumal's 'perumal
 > tirumozhi'.  the first is on vithuvakottu ammaan.  Azhvar has
 > composed 10 pasurams on this perumal.  Would the members know where
 > this temple is?
 >
 > 2) while reading the pasurams, I found that the  azvar has
 > consistently been asking for attachment to the perumal inspite of the
 > hardships given by HIM.  For instance 'nee vendaaye aayinum'.  i
 > would be grateful if anyone could give me the background of the
 > pasurams and what hardships the azhvar is referring to and why the
 > azhvar feels the rejection of the perumal
 >
 > adiyen
 > geetha


_________________________________________________________________
Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com



--------------------------------------------------------------
           - SrImate rAmAnujAya namaH -
To Post a message, send it to:   bhakti-list@yahoogroups.com
Archives: http://ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/
 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/