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TherazhundhUr Paasurams : Part 6

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sadagopan • March 7, 1999 


Dear BhakthAs :

We will focus in this posting on Kaliyan's
salutations to Amuruviyappan as Sakala Veda
Moorthy .

The endearing names by which Kaliyan addressed
the Lord in Periya Thirumozhi Paasuram 7.7.2 are :

ChandhOgA PouzhiyA TaitthirIyA Saama VediyanE 

These names have Veda Sambhandham . Let us look 
at them one by One. 

CHAANDHOGAA : SAMA VEDA SVAROOPI
*********************************
The Lord of TheruzhundhUr is addressed as
ChandhOgya Upanishad SvarUpi .The ChandhOgya 
Upanishad is a  Saama Vedic Upanishad . One of
the important passages in this upanishad is :

yO vai bhUmA tath sukham naalpE sukhamasthi
BhUmaiva sukham BhUmA tvEva vijij~nAsithavya 
ithi BhUmAnAm BhagavO vijij~nAsa ithi 

(Meaning); The Brahman (Infinite ) is Bliss .There 
can not be any bliss in some thing other than 
this infinite Brahman .This infinite Brahman should be 
the goal of our serious learning .Rest of them are Bhinna 
vasthus (asampUrNa tattvams) , the study of which can not 
yield bliss . There is no learning that is higher than 
the study (inquiries/vichArams) about this Infinite Brahman .

The Vedic Scholars of TherazhundhUr meditate upon this
ChandhOgya Upanishad passage and worship Sri Gosakan .
Such a Lord evoking reflections of the ChaAndhOgya 
Upanishad"s noble passages is recognized by Thirumangai
as " ChaandhOgan ".The Lord , who blesses such scholars
skilled in ChaandhOgya Upanishad's teachings is
recognized as ChaandhOgan .

Thirumangai starts with a Saama Vedic Upanishad ,"ChandhOgA "
and ends up his vedic salutations with the namaskAram
" Saama VediyanE " that is  consistent with the declaration of 
Gosaka-ParthasArathy Himself that He is personified by 
Saama Vedam among the four VedAs .

POUZHIYAA (RG VEDA SVAROOPI)
***************************** 
Next , Kaliyan thinks about the Vedic Scholars ,
who worship the Lord of TherazhundhUr thru Rg Vedic
Rks . These Vedic sholars are not only Jn~Anis , but
they are also great anushtAthAs skilled in conducting
Yaagams and Yaj~nams during the three sandhyAs and
parvAs . The Lord saluted by the following Rg Vedic Rk
is immensely pleased with their worships and accepts 
their Havis as Rg Veda SvarUpi . Rg Vedam is  known 
also as Pouzhiyam and hence Kaliyan addresses Gosakan
as " PouzhiyA ". These Rg vedic scholars eulogize 
the Lord , who with His two powerful wings ( DharmAchAram
and anushtAnam ) motivates , protects and nourishes 
the Universe and its beings :

sam baahubhyAm dhamathi sam pathathrairdhyAvA 
BhUmi janayan Deva Yeka:-- pathirbhabhUyAsamO 
visvasya bhuvanasya RaajA -- ya Yeka idh vidhayathE
Vasu marthAya DhAsushE --Rg Vedam 

The above Rg Veda Rk recognizes Him as the omnipotent
Lord protecting and nourishing His creation out of
His infinite mercy and carrying out such tasks tirelessly 
because of His unmatchable strength and valour . With His
compassion and generosity , He performs His duties as 
the Supreme Lord of all and blesses His worshippers 
with undecaying wealth ( Brahma Jn~Anam ). 

TAITTHIRIYAN : YAJUR VEDA SVAROOPI
***********************************

Here at TherazhundhUr , the Vedic Scholars conversant
with yajur Vedam recognize His Yajur Veda SvarUpam
through meditation on the following Yajur Vedic 
Passage :

TadhEvAgnis tadhAdithyas tadhvaayus tadhu chandhramA,
tadhEva Sukram tadh Brahma thaa aapa: sa PrajApathi:

Taittiriya Saakhai is a branch of Yajur Vedam and 
the majestic TaittirIya Upanishad deals extensively 
with the Bliss of worshipping Sriman NaarAyaNan in
BrahmAanandha  Valli . It stands in awe of His majesty
and declares : 

yathO vaachA nivarthanthE , aprApya manasaa saha
Aanandham BrahmaNO vidvAn , na BibhEthi kuthascchanEthi

(Meaning) : He who knows this bliss of Brahman , from which all
words return without reaching it ( beyond description by
mere words ) and who is not graspable by mental efforts
alone is no more afraid of anything .

This profound passage of Yajur Vedic Upanishad
reminds us that  Speech can not define , mind can not 
feel and the intellect can not completely comprehend 
this bliss of Brahman , which presents itself as 
SaguNa Brahmam at TherazhandhUr with the naamam of
Gosakan( Aamuruviappan ) . 

That this Omnipotent Brahman is the Supreme Swami
behind all that functions from His command is the 
theme of another famous Yajur Vedic pssage :

bhIshAsmAth Vaatha; pavathE , bhIshA udEthi Surya:
bhishAsmaath AgnischEndrasccha , mrithyurdhAvathi 
panjama ithi 

(Meaning ): Through fear of His omnipotence ,
the wind blows ; through fear of His incomparable
strength rises the Sun ; through obedience born out 
of the fear of Him , Fire and Moon , and lastly the 
Fifth , Death, perform their respective duties .

This passage unambigously points out that the movement
of air , the rising of the Sun, the heat of the Agni ,
the light of the Moon and fifthly , the very principle
of decay and death is the immense vyApAram of the dynamic
of the divine power , which executes its will and
establishes as well as protects the Dharmams (r*tham ).

This powerful and yet merciful Lord presiding over
The TherazhundhUr divya desam is recognized by
Yajus Saakhis as " Taitthiriyan " as per Thirumangai's
mangalAsAsanam .

AAMURUVIAPPAN AS SAAMA VEDA SVARUPI
***********************************

AzhwAr addresses the Lord of TherazhandhUr 
in his paasuram as :

ChAndhOgA ! PouzhiyA ! TaitthiriyA !
Saama VediyanE ! nedumAlE , anthO !
ninn adi anRi maRRu aRiyEn !
AzhundhUr mEl disai ninRa ammAnE !

After saluting the Veda SvarUpam as
Rg and Yajur svarUpam , Kaliyan concludes
his salutation to Gosakan as Saama Veda SvarUpi .

Aamuruviappan is the Naadha Brahma SvarUpi .
The birth of saptha svarams from Saama Vedam
has been well documented . He is thus , the Saama-
Veda NaadhAchala dheepa PrakAsan . He is the bright 
lamp on top of the Saaama Veda mountain 
illuminating with His radiance the world 
as a beacon for obseving AchAram and anushtAnam .
 
With His divine Saama VeNu ghAnam , He enchanted 
all the worlds and its beings .In his Periya 
Thirumozhi decad (3.6) PeriyAzhwAr describes 
the power of the naadham of this Saama veda 
SvarUpi:

amparam thiriyum ghaandhapparellAm 
AMUDHA GEETHA VALAYAAL SURUKKUNDU ,
namm ParamanenRu naaNi mayangi --ninRanarE

vaanavarellAm --seviyuLL naavin suvai
koNdu mahizhnthu Govindhanai thodarnthu 
YenRum vidArE 

That is the power of the Naadha BrahmAnandha 
SvarUpan of Gosakan of TherazhundhUr . Hence the 
Saama Vedis have a special claim to Him and 
worship Him with the 1875 Saamans starting with ,

" agna Aaa yaahi vIthayE gruNAnO havya dhAthayE----
and ending up with --- Svasthi na IndhrO vruddhasravA:
Svasthi na PushA Visva Veda: , Svasthi nasthArkshyO
arishtanEmi: Svasthi nO Brahspathir dadhAthu ,
Svasthi nO Brahaspathir DadhAthu . 

In the spirit of these powerful Vedic Saamans ,
Kaliyan appealed to " the Saama Vediyan " at
ThErazhandhUr and declared that he has no one else as 
his Rakshakan but the Lord of this Divya Desam ,
where He is being worshipped by chathur Vedhis 
around the clock . AzhwAr declared his MahA VisvAsam
and ananya gathithvam with the prayer : " Antho! 
ninnadi anRi maRRu aRiyEn , AzhundhUr mEl disai 
ninRa AmmAnE " . AzhwAr thus performed his Praaptthi .
He begged the Lord to free him from the prison 
of KarmEndriyams and to bless hiim through empowering
his Jn~Endhtiyams to visulaize Aamuruviappan and Sengamalavalli
at his heart lotus . He seeks the boon of worshipping
that " Thiruvukkum ThiruvAhiya Selvan " and Sengamalavalli
inside the temple of his heart . AzhwAr declares further 
that nothing other than the lotus feet of the SaraNya Dampathis 
has any significance for him in this karma BhUmi .

In the subsequent paasurams of this decad , Azhwar 
addresses Gosakan as " Iyaa " and restates his MahA
visvaasam : " Nin aDi anRi maRRu aRiyEn ". Kaliyan 
continues with more moving appeals : ninnayE ninainthu 
inghu iruppEnai --adiyEnai paNi koNdu koll , YenthAi "
With your blessings , I have escaped now from the prison of
the five senses and have arirved at Your sacred feet . From
here on , I trust you utterly to protect me with the comforting 
shade of your cool feet and to accept my Kaimkaryams as
your humble servant . herearound , AzhwAr gets restless , 
since he has not gotten any response ( aamOdhanam )
to his appeal . He becomes desparate and appeals 
yet again with a voice choked by tears :

------- PunithA ! PutkkodiyAai! nedumAlE !TheevAi NaahaNayil-
thuyilvAnE ! ThirumAlE! Inic cheyvathonraRiyEn ,
aavAvenRadiyERkkirangAi ! AzhundhUr mEl disai ninRavammAnE

Oh the Holiest among Holy ones ! Oh Lord with Garudan 
in Your Flag (Dhvajam )! Oh Lord resting on the bed of 
Adhi Seshan weaving a blanket of fire made up of 
flames from his breath to scare and drive away Your enemies ! 
Oh Sriman naarAyanA ! I do not know what to do anymore !
Please take pity on my sufferings and bless me 
to become the object of Your protection . 

Lord Aamuruvi and His divine consort were moved
by the intensity of AzhwAr's Bhakthi and mahA
VisvAsam and accepted immediately AzhwAr's prapatthi . 
The SaraNya dampathis blessed the AzhwAr 
with DasAvathAra Sevai as their response. Kaliyan 
went into raptures and described the sevA BhAgyam 
of Sriman NaarAyaNA to us at TherazhundhUr 
as VarAhan , Narasimhan , Vaamanan ,Raaman , 
KrishNan , Veda mUrthy HayagrIvan and 
Gajendra Varadhan , who rushed to the lotus pond ,
where His Bhakthan was crying out to be rescued from 
the jaws of SamsAram ( Crocodoyle ). 

We will focus on this Periya Thirumozhi decad ( 7.8)
in the next posting .

TherazhundhUr Divya dampathigaL ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam
Thirumangai Manna ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam
Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan