Sri Rama Amrutam is designed to enable people understand the methodology of performing pooja as per agamas in a proper manner. It also address the need and importance of each and every upachara (steps in pooja) followed, thereby bridge the gap between reasoning and ritual, this will ultimately result in aiding the devotee to attain the true goal of life (eternal bliss).
Every sunday the entire set required to conduct pooja alongwith the statutes of Sri Seeta-Lakshman-Hanumat sahita Sri Ramchandra Parabramha are brought to the desired devotee house and abhishekam is performed as per agamas in the devotees house. After abhishekam, Sri vishnu sahasranam, Sri Rama Raksha Stotram, Sri Hanuman chalisa, Sri Nama Ramayanam and Sri Rama Nama sankertana are sung in the praise of Lord.


The ideology behind this program is to enlighten the need and significance of performing pooja, the importance of agamas and sastras, the joy in reciting lord's leelas and thereby helping people to lead peaceful and contented life.

SRI RAMA RAKSHA SARVA JAGAT RAKSHA

LOKA SAMASTA SUKINO BHAVANTU


To participate in "Sri Rama Amrutam" or to perform "Sri Rama Amrutam" at your house call Sri Moksha at 9951539814 or email us at sriramaamrutham@googlegroups.com

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Periyapuranam - mUrgga nAyanAr

The pallava kingdom was famous for the scholors. Its capiatal kAnychi was very famous for its institutions which attracted students from throughout bhAratham . In that kingdom on the north bank of the river pAli is the town thiruvERkAdu situated. In that town which is sung in the thEvAram born the mUrgga n^AyanAr. He came in an agricultural family which found its heart and service in the feet of the divine with three eyes.
In his childhood, In his youth, from the day he could think he had the firm faith on the Father of this universe and limitless love for His devotees. The love generally manifests as service. He had the priciple of having his food only after giving feast to the devotees who depend only on the Oldest young God. In the rice that is brighter than the stars, the ghee will flow like the glacier over the mountains. The best vegetables of the town will get added taste when n^AyanAr serves them with care to the devotees. Whatever be the need of the devotees that will be fulfilled once it is noted by the n^AyanAr.
His courtious service with wholehearted love brought a lot of devotees to his house. He continued to offer flawless service to them and spent his entire wealth in that. He was not left with a piece of property. A person renounces the principles he has been following when he is pushed to a situation of continuing trounbles. It is the quality of great persons to stand for their discipline and principle and stands in the history as beacons to save the ships that requires direction. mUrgga n^AyanAr was not worried about loosing the property. For him the property achieved its goal, serving the servants of shiva. But he was very much bothered about the lack of resources for the continuation of his holy job of hosting the devotees. He could not find any other alternative to earn in that town.
He had learnt the techniques of gambling long time before that. In the absence of any other alternative he decided that it is better than not serving the devotees. He started travelling to many towns, anointed the Lord shankara in those towns with the scented water of his heartful love. He stood by his service using the money he got from gambling. He saluted the Lord in thiruvArUr on his way to thirukudan^dhai (kumbakONam) . He considered his victories in the casino of thirukkudan^dhai as the blessings of the Lord and used that money for providing feast to the devotees. He used to loose the first game to encourage the opponent and would win the games that follow and get more money. He was quite strict in following the rules of the game. He won't cheat but if somebody cheats and refuses to pay then he will stab him with a knife. So he was called n^aRchUdhar mUrggar (principled gambler fierce person).
The service for devotees continued with the money from gambling. He won't touch the material till the devotees eat to their satisfaction. He will eat in the last round after all the devotees had their food. This happened then on throughout his life in this world like the relentless tides of the sea. The Artist for whose dance the dhEvAs, gaNAs sing and play, that Lord greeted him in His abode. Let the strong stand of the mUrgga n^AyanAr on his service even in the troubled circumstances stay in the mind.

 

Periyapuranam - dhaNdiyadigaL nAyanAr



The birth in thiruvArUr is celebrated by chun^dhara mUrthi n^AyanAr for that land fertile for the thoughts on the Destroyer of Three cities, inspires the devotion for that Almighty. In that renowned town dhaNdiyadigaL was born. As if he wanted to meditate only in the Lord shiva who is voidlessly present in his self and not wanted to see other things outside, he was seeing impaired by birth. His bodily sight was impaired but not the ability to see the Truth. He saw the Lord in His love; He saw the service to offer; Hence saw the bliss. For the Lord of thiruvArUr he offered himself. He would salute, circumambulate and sing namach chivAya in the ArUr abode of Attributeless.
The devotee was quite anxious to note that the western tank of the temple was encroached by the Jains. The bad state of that area dedicated for the Destroyer of the daemon chalan^dhara, drew the selfless sincere slaves concern. He wanted to do the service to the society by salvaging the tank. He put a pole in the crater, wound that with a rope to the column on the bank. With the help of the rope he would slowly with struggle come to the tank, dig the sand, and holding the rope dump the sand on the bank - all with the Name of the Lord of the great in his tongue and thoughts. The Jains who occupied the place were irked by the devotee's deeds. They started shouting that it would affect the small creatures living there if he dig. The devotee told that he was doing the service for the Lord with the Moon crown. The occupiers maligned him whether he lost his hearing ability too not to hear the morals. The devotee whose personal impairments were highlighted by the mannerless, replied that he saw the Light though he was blind, but they dwelled in ignorance even while having the sight. What would they do if he gets the sight and they lose it by the grace of the Strange Lord, he added. The Jains replied that they would leave the area if it so happened by his Lord's grace and grabbed away the rope and poles.
The devotee, angry with the blasphemers obstructing his noble service, prostrated in front of the decorated abode of the God of lords and prayed to bless him to come out of the disgrace they did against him. He reached his mutt, lamented and cried over the incompletion of the service and slept in that tiredness itself. The Lord who is love and who is the only hold for the devotees who was delighted with the service the devotee did ignoring his inabilities appeared in his dream. He consoled him that he would get to see and at the same time the senseless obstructors would lose their sight. The Lord came in the kings dream too and told him the disturbances the Jain did to the dhaNdiyadigaL. The king shocked praising the Floral Matted Haired Lord reached the spot. He asked the devotee about the problem. n^AyanAr told him the way they disturbed his service, maligned him, took away the spade, rope and other equipments and their vow that they would not stay in the town if he got the sight and they lost. The king enquired the Jains and they agreed that what he heard was true.
The devotee, king and the hurdle-makers reached the bank of a temple pond. The king requested the devotee to show that he could get the sight by His grace. The devotee said, if I was a true slave to the shaN^kara, I will get the sight and these maligners would lose their sight and it would be proved that the ultimate truth is Lord shiva, and took a dip in the water. The devotee rose up with his eye clearly seeing the things. The Jains were unable to see and started struggling. The king declared the Jains of bad intentions bad. He ordered them to leave the town. The ignorance that was in the thinking now darkening their eye-sight too the intruders ran away falling down and creeping away dropping their mat and materials. The king driving them out saluted the devotee and left. The determined devotee who caught hold of the Feet that are covetable to even brahma and vishNu, completed the sacred task he started. Completing the renovation of that pond, he lived in the enjoyment of chanting the Holy Five Letters and finally resided in the compassionate feet of the Lord. Let the dhaNdiyadigaL n^AyanAr's determination to serve even when he was not able to see and even above that when others disturbed him, stay in the mind.

Periyapuranam - thirumUla n^AyanAr



In the Growing-moon crowned Lord's mount kayilai being the lead of that very ancient abode of Lord showing the righteous path to the vishNu, braHma, indra and others is the n^an^dhi. One of his disciples, vEdhAs learnt sage who attained the eight great achievements beginning from aNimA wanted to visit and stay with sage agasthyar at the podhikai mountains in thamiz land. Worshiping the Lord at kEdhAr the sage praised the pashupati at Nepal. He reached the banks of the holy river ga.nga which as a small stream falls from His vast matted Hair glittering like the lightning. Bathing in the river he saluted the Lord's avimuththam abode and proceeded towards the South. Saluting the shrishailam of sha.nkara, he reached thirukkALaththi. Praising the enchanting Everlasting Lord at thirukkALaththi entered His dancing field Alavanam and bowed down to His raised foot. He came to kAnychi worshipping Lord EkAmbaranAthar. Involving in discussions with the yOga munis of that city he left in his journey and bowed down to the Black-throated Mercy at thiruvadhikai. He arrived in the Master of Dance's thillai. With his heart brimming with love he saw the dance of the Golden Beauty that acts making the matters to exist. Staying and saluting the Lord there for some time he came to the banks of river kAviri.
Bathing in the chill refreshing water of river kAviri he went into the Lord's abode AvaduthuRai. The yOgi praised in undiminishing love the Lord of pashus there. In spite of a feeling of not leaving that holy place emerging strongly he went out of the town continuing his journey towards podhikai. But in a short distance he saw the cows crying on the Cauvery bank. mUlan a herdsman who used to take care of the cows of the village chAththanUr died when he brought the cowherds for grazing on the banks of the river. The cows out of their affection for their herdsman went around his body smelling him, licking him and crying. The yOgi who told the world that Love is Lord shiva felt he would remove their suffering by His grace. Realizing that only if mUlan came alive the cows would get consoled, he, a splendid sidhdha fortified his body and introduced his soul into the body of the herdsman through air. He rose as thirumUlar. The cows relieved of their gloom licked him in joy, went around happily grazing on the riverbanks. The merciful n^AyanAr safeguarded them till they grazed enough and returned after drinking water from the river. As the sun red in the heat went to have a dip in the ocean the cows thinking of their calves started walking back towards the village. The sage who showed a supreme path to the world calmly followed them to chAththanUr.
He waited till all the cows entered their respective houses. Wife of the herdsman mUlan saw him delaying to enter the house. Anxiously she went to touch him, but he refused saying there was no relation between them and went into a common mutt. The lady who had no offspring or relatives could not sleep throughout the night. She cried and lamented to the elderly people of the town about his new behavior. Those people of well analyzing capacity told the girl that he was neither mad nor had he any other association. He staying beyond the skewedness of mind, in the crystal clear shivayOga, in the height of glory unmeasurable for any human would not fit into relationship she had, they advised her. The sage thirumUla n^AyanAr in such a wonderful state got up and returned the way he came following the cowherd. The sage could not find the body he had kept it safe. He realized through his vision of spiritual wisdom that it was God's grace that way in order to give in thamiz through his words the supreme AgamAs that the Cool-matted haired Lord gave for this world to follow and get enlightened. He explained to the relatives who continued behind him the non-continuation of the bonds. After they all left thinking the holy feet of the Lord of Bull flag n^AyanAr went with great enthusiasm to salute the Supreme at thiruvAvaduthuRai. Sitting under the shade of arachu tree in ultimate shivayOgam he gave the holy thiruman^dhiram (1) a marvelous medicine for the illness of incarnation. Starting from 'onRavan thAnE' he completed the thamiz garland of three thousand flowers for the Lord who charmingly wears the horn of the boar. Staying on this earth for those three thousand years, a blessed time for the upbringing of humankind he reached in non-separation the holy feet of the Almighty. Let the coveted wisdom of shiva yOga of thirumUla n^AyanAr stay in the mind.

Periyapuranam - EyarkOn kalikkama Nayanar

In the chOza kingdom renowned for its fertility, is the town thirup peru maN^galam green with fields, white with flags displaying fertility. Seen with huge crowds that show to Heaven how better the latter could be more happy chanting the holy names of the Eldest Lord, that town appeared like the abode of Lord shiva. In that bright town born the brilliant general of the state army by name kalikkAmar in the tradition of Eyar . Ornated with the glittering gem of affection for that Almighty, he served the devotees of that sweet Stain-throated Lord with pleasing modesty. He did excellent services to the Lord - Giver of refuge, taken abode in the town thiruppunkUr .
The devotee chun^dharar perumAn (1) never used to plead to anybody but asked only the Lord - the Giver of Self, everything he wanted. For him the Lord went as messenger to his wife paravaiyAr . Hearing that chun^dharar without any fear sent the Lord as a messenger to a girl, the devotee EyarkOn kalikkAmar who propitiated the Lord in all his feelings with peeking love and adoration, was appalled, felt hurt, lamented and furied. "What a slavery is this where the slave commands the Master ! That is for consoling a girl ! What a sin, even after hearing this unbearable deed I am not dead ! Even if the Lord who was unexplorable even to vishNu and brahma was ready how was he not hesitant to ask for such an favor?! What will happen if I ever happen to see him ?", he blasted. He was not able to digest the happening. His love was so great that it was pricking as thorns the way the softer than flower feet of the Lord walked in the streets of thiruvArUr in a night between chun^dharar and paravaiyAr's homes. He wanted an answer to this. He pleaded to the Lord all these everyday.
God who was dipped in the delicacies of the two different but both unparalleled great love of chun^dharar and EyarkOn, wanted to show to EyarkOn the sincerity in the love and slavery of chun^dharar. He made the painful chUlai disease to appear in EyakOn's stomach. With the pain poking like the head of the spear he held the feet of the Dancing marvel and cried. The Lord said that it could not be cured by anybody other than chun^dharar. He screamed, "Oh Lord, while we for so many generations trust only on you, depend only on you, worship you as the only Master, somebody who asked you to work for him is going to heal this illness ! What a pity ! If that is the case than getting cured by him it is better if it tortures me." "Oh Graceful ! You made it sure that the position of chun^dharar is right !", he lamented. The Lord obscured Himself to him and went to chun^dharar and asked him to cure the chUlai of EyarkOn. Saluting the Lord obediently chun^dharar sent message to EyarkOn and started to his place.
EyarkOn who was pain-ridden in the stomach, frustrated by the Lord's words heard with gloom that chun^dharar was coming to cure him. He did not want him to heal his painful disease. Rather he decided before chun^dharar could come there he would pierce and cut his own stomach that had the sinful chUlai disease. He took the sword and cut his stomach apart bringing the life to end and curing the chUlai ! His loving wife who had very great respect for the devotees was about to sacrifice herself along with her husband but then heard that chun^dharar had reached at their residence. Serving the devotees was the highest priority even in her pain stricken mind. That exclaimable woman asked others not to cry or show any sign of what happened, hid the body of her beloved husband and went to welcome the saint with all good omans. Accepting their warm welcome with a smiling face chun^dharar perumAn went inside the house and sat. Accepting their salutations he conveyed his anxiety and eagerness to cure the painful disease of the devotee EyarkOn. On the order of that great lady the people there told him that EyarkOn was alright and was sleeping inside. But chun^dharar insisted that at least to satisfy his self he should see EyarkOn. Unable to persuade they took him to show the EyarkOn who was floating in the flood of blood.
The true devotee chun^dharar who had immense adoration for the Lord and His devotees due to which he reiterated in most of the hymns that he was the slave of the slave of the slaves of the gaN^gadharan, was stricken with gloom on seeing the devotees body and determination. He raised the dagger to sacrifice himself too. At that moment by the act of that Merciful Master, EyarkOn got life, rose to stop chun^dharar - now realizing his real flawless love. chun^dharar fell on EyarkOn's feet prostrating him. EyarkOn kalikkAmar fell on his feet. The world wondered and praised this marvel. Who can command the Omniscient for whom the earth became the chariot, the Sun and Moon the wheels of it, the mountain the bow, the Lord of protection the arrow and the entire dEva crowd in His service, but burnt the three daemons just by His smile ! It was because of the untainted wholesome ever-flowing love of chun^dharar that the Lord out of His mercy went as a messenger. His grace is unlimited ! His name be hailed !
Out of the feeling of very good friendship the two devotees hugged each other, went and praised the Wet-matted-haired Lord of thiruppunkUr. chun^dharar sang with all devotion the song an^dhaNALan praising the grace that the Lord showed and mentioned the greatness of EyarkOn in it. Then for some days there were together in thiruvArUr worshiping the Mighty in the ant-hill. Later EyarkOn 'alikkAmar returned back to his town to perform his wonderful services and resided finally under the cool feet of the Lord who comes on the red eyed Bull. Let the caring love and adoration for the Golden-bodied Lord that EyarkOn kalikkAmar perumAn had stay in the mind.
NOTE:
cundharar thEvAram at thiruppunkUr also gives one more detail about this great devotee. EyarkOn kalikkAmar donated grand amount of land in the service of God, in an occasion when there was drought to get rains for the benefit of the people. When it rained it really flooded out. (Probably God thought for the request of this devotee things should be given without any "holding back" ! Then kalikkAmar gave another 12 vEli measure of land to Lord shiva praying to avoid the flooding due to excess rain. God enjoying his offering, blessed so.

Sri Rama Amrutam Schedule (Sixth)

Host                     Pramod

Date                     28th January 2012

Venue                   Nampally

Timings                 9:30 AM to 1:00 PM

Telugu calendar:   Sri Khara Nama samvatsaram aa
                             Uttarayanam, Sasira ruthu,
                             Magha Masam,
                             Shukla paksham, Panchami Tithi,
                             Uttara Bhadra nakshatram

Join us at sriramaamrutham@googlegroups.com

Sarvam Sri SeetaRamachandraparabramha aarpanamastu

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Benefits of feeding animals

Feeding Cows results in Better Conjugal Relations And Health Of Wife.

Feed Crows or fishes will cause Better Health to their Mothers, it also enhances financial Prospects

Feed Monkeys would Improve Financial Condition, it also helps Getting Favours From The Government.

Parvati Swayamvara Mantra


Om Hreem Yoginim Yogini Yogeswari Yoga Bhayankari Sakala Sthavara

Jangamasya Mukha Hridayam Mama Vasam akarsha Akarshaya Namaha

Remove obstacles - delay in Marriage,

Remove problems in couples and Improve relationship and help in conceive baby and to avoid Divorce

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Periyapuram - thirunyAnachampandha nAyanAr


While all the other children in the world cry to get their needs, one child cried to get the Parent of the world; while other children were in the complete dependence on their parents, this child elucidated to all the people the independence from worldly bonds; while others' fumbling speech gave happiness to their parents, it with its flowing fascinating words made splendid hymns those make the entire world - whoever is blessed with interest - blissful; while others were directed by the elders what to do and what not, it, elder in knowledge, kindled a huge population not only its contemporaries but people for so many centuries to meditate on the marvelous luminous mahEsha ; It lighted the hearts with the vEdic knowledge and shaivite philosophy driving away the half-cooked faiths; It was a container of the unlearnt knowledge of the Truth; It was saluted by great scholars and elderly people; It was an outstanding prodigy. Let the highly graceful God forgive for calling that reverend exclaimable devotee thirunyAnachampan^dhar perumAn - the child of God as it.
In the ancient chOza kingdom is the town chIrkAzi situated which was renowned with twelve names to adorn it and where the Lord with His consort gauri came on a boat to bless and reside during a deluge. That prospering land was blooming with flowers as well as floral tributing devotees by the brightness of whose smeared Holy ash the town was glowing even in the night like the day. With the seekers who offer the ghee at the yAga fire, it was fertile with palm trees whose ripe fruits like the ghee, flow through the leaves to flow into the fields red like fire with the lotus flowers. In that gracious town lived in the nice tradition of chanting vEdas belonging to kavuNiyar ancestry the blessed shivapAda hR^idayar whose great penance benefited the entire human community. His better half bhagavathiyAr was well matched in quality and love to him. He was worried for the ignorant world which forgetting the holy shaivam was lured in the religions that does not lead to obtaining the grace of God, enlightenment, liberation.
By the mercy that the Lord showed on this world he got a child with his wife that is a pearl of shaivam. The wonderful child was born to emphasize the truth of vEdas, uphold the discipline of sanAtana dharma, spread the fragrance of shaivam, centralize devotion in music, take the high philosophies of scriptures to the masses, show the world the grace of the Lord shiva thus putting it in peace and happiness. Happy at the good omans that beautified the time the good people of the town were celebrating the birth of the child. They did the first ten days rituals for the newly born kid as said in the holy texts. His father, the person having the feet of Lord in his heart, feeling unworthy of all other ornaments put the Holy ash as the protection mark on the child's forehead. The child grew up with the happiness of the kith and kin.
He was three years old when one morning he was adamantly crying to go with his father to the pond where he was going to take bath before doing the worship. Unable to convince the child he took him along to the pond. Seating him on a bank he went into the pond and did all the rituals saluting the Lord of thiruththONipuram . When he had a dip in the water, the child worried at not seeing his father cried loudly looking at the tower of the Lord of chIrkAzi "ammE appA" (mother! father !). The Parents of the Universe who are just love in wholesome, appeared on the Bull there. Giving a graceful look at the weeping child the compassionate Father told the Mother to feed the child with Her holy breast milk. Having blessed so by the Lord the caring Mother who gave birth to the worlds took the milk from Her breast in a golden bowl fed the child the milk with the knowledge of unexplorable shiva, sweeping the tears of the child. With the Parents of every creature thus blessing the child became the son of God and the admirable chivanyAna champan^dhar . He got the knowledge of prosperous thinking of the Asutoshas feet, the knowledge of liberation from the incarnation cycle, the knowledge of unparalleled art, the knowledge of the Truth in that situation. He rose realizing that 'everything is made by the Isha only' and the greatness of devotees, to smash the ego of the ignorants who think always self-centered.
The shivapAda hR^idayar after completing the rituals saw the young sun standing with great feeling. That honest disciplined father angrily asked, who gave him the milk food, and took a stick. Raising his leg, with the tears of unlimited joy surfacing in his eyes, with a hand pointing to the beautiful Lord with the pretty pArvati , beginning with the first vowel (o) of holy vEdas, starting to sing with the holy ear of the Lord that would hear and bless the hymn, he sang the thiruppadhikam - "thOdudaiya cheviyan" ( "One with ornated ear" ) stating that, "He is the Lord who did like this to me". In that thirup padhikan to indi'ate that even if the people who did mistakes, when surrender to God they would get His grace, he sang the blessing of God to the daemon rAvaNan when he sang pleasing music and saluted after being suppressed under the mount kailaash as a result of his egoful try to lift the mount. He showed that the Lord blesses only those who worship by saying the inability of brahmA and vishNu to reach the Lord as a bird and pig respectively when they tried trusting their own strength, but where blessed when after the disgusting failure, realizing the supremacy of Lord they tried to salute Him with love. He admonished the world about the religions -Jainism and Budhdhism, which without realizing the God take the self-centered philosophies that they would lead only to misery. He sang in the last hymn the fruit of praising the glory of God ( thiruk kadaik kAppu ).
The dEvas and heavenly people showered the rain of flowers. The sound hara echoed in the sky. Everywhere the praise of the Lord was heard. The Lord proceeded to His abode at thiruth thONipuram. Seeing the Thief who stole his heart going inside the abode the small magnificent child over the stream of eagerness and love followed. His blessed father though unable to see the Lord understood the grace of God and the happenings from the meaning of the hymns. He followed with excitement and love his wonderful child. The chanters of the vEdas who came there were astonished to note the event. Going to the abode where the Lord is with the consort on the boat the prodigy said that the Lord who blessed him was there with umA . When he started from the temple prostrating to the Lord his father took him on his shoulders. There was an ocean of devotees who praised their boon thirunyAnachampan^dhar who at the age of three having blessed recited remarkable songs. With the ruby like lips still wet with the nectar he ate that child of honey like words entered his home amongst the thunder of drums and shells. The night he spent completely reminiscing the Lord. In the next Sunrise he went to the temple to salute the Parents of thiruth thONipuram who poured the love on him.
He went in the eagerness to salute the Lord's abode thirukkOlakkA . He praised the Essence of the vEdas with the hymn madaiyil vALaikaL pAya . When he was singing the thirup padhikam clapping his tiny little hands, the kind Father caring for the bud like child of strong love gave a pair of golden cymbals(percussion plates) with His holy five letters engraved in it. Accepting His grace by his head the young great completed doing thiruk kadaik kAppu to the padhikam. The distinguished musicians of the heaven like thumburu, n^Aradhar praised the child. All the devotees saluted the blessed beacon like child. Unable to bear the young feet walking when he was returning back to chIrkAzi his father took him over his shoulders. He went to the temple of thiruth thONipuram to salute the Lord after reaching chIrkAzi. Then the mother who gave birth to that boon of the world, along with the devotees came and saluted her loving son - the saint thirunyAna champan^dhar. The entire town was pleased to salute and see the superior devotee.
The devotees of thirun^anni paLLi came to salute the dawn of thamiz land thirunyAnachampan^dhar and they requested him to grace them by coming to their town and worship the Moon-haired Lord. Accepting their invitation champan^dhar left chIrkAzi worshipping thiruthONiyappar to bow his head to the Lord in many other abodes. His father took him on his shoulders to thirun^anni paLLi. The prodigy sang his salutations to the River-flowing giant haired Lord of thirun^annipaLLi on the way with the beautiful commentary on the fertility of the town. Accepting the warm welcome he went and prostrated to the Lord at thirun^annipaLLi. He then worshiped the God at thiruvalampuram, pallavanIchcharam, pukAr chAykkAdu, thiruveNkAdu, thirumullaivAyil with the tiny hands saluting over the head and tears of love to appear like the wet blooming bud on the feet of the Lord. After returning back to chIrkAzi bowing down to the umAmahEshwara he saluted with sweet songs the abodes mayEn^dhirapaLLi, kurukAvUr, thirumullaivAyil enlightening all the classes of people about the way of getting spiritual upraisal.
While the young champan^dhar was pleasing the Lord of chIrkAzi with his honey like songs, one day thirun^IlakaNta yAzpANar(1) along with his wife madhaN^ka chULAmaNiyAr, the couple who were living the worship of the Lord who is the sound of praNavam with music as their life, came to chIrkAzi. Coming forward to welcome them champan^dhar took them to the temple and asked them to play the yAz ( a string instrument very famous in ancient thamiz land) in the ears of the Lord. The attractive music that came with superior devotion accompanied by their melodious voice could make even the bees to stop and listen for a moment. Even the gan^dharva and vinychaiyars started to play along with them. champan^dhar was pleased with their talence. He hosted them and took care of them. They played his rich padhikams in the nice yAz music. They requested to stay with him and play his unsaturating hymns in yAz forever. He accepted it as the grace of God and they lived with great affection and respect for each other.
Yearning to get the dance of the Lord to see, champan^dhar conveyed his wish to go to chithambaram to his devotional father. He happily agreed and they along with yAzpANar and other devotees went to the highly praised land chithambaram that is surrounded by beautiful gardens. When he arrived at the southern entrance of the temple the town was there to welcome him with the raising rhythm of vEdas and musical instruments. Prostrating the seven stage tower of the temple he entered temple with the sky scrapping eagerness to salute the Dancing beauty. He saw with joy flooding mind, head upholding the folded patel like hands, eyes exhibiting the explanation-beyond expressions from inside, the Lord who dances as the wholeness of wisdom in the hall of his heart, dancing in that abode visible for even bare eyes to see and rejoice. He danced, delighted in His dance, drowned himself in the nector praising the simplicity of the bliss of Lord shiva which beyond analysis comes straight in the feelings, appeared in the form tangible for even the senses to feel and worship. Praising the worship of the priests of the abode he sang the glory of the God kaRRAN^keriyOmbi.
Staying in thillai-chithambaram the saint went and worshiped the nearby abodes of the Homeless God, thiruvEtkaLam, kazippAlai, thiruvuchchi singing the Ultimate Wisdom that sang the shR^itis. yAzpANar was wondering at the boon the priests of thillai got to be close to the King of Dance. When he was returning to thillai from thiruvEtkaLam along with champan^dhar the Lord showed to them the holy priests of thillai as the leaders of shiva's army (gaNan^Atha). They went to the ruby hall (ratna sabha) to adorn the Dancing marvel with the song AdiyAy n^aRun^eyyodu pAlthayir. Prostrating very many times they took inseparable departure from the Lord of thillai. On the request of yAzppANar they went to thiruerukkaththampuliyUr, the birth place of the melodious musician yAzpANar. The prodigy told, "Oh reverend! For you to be born this place should have done sincere penance". They worshiped the Father of Lord kumara with wet heart and eyes to get blessed. Praying the places of the Lord of daughter of mountain they reached in thirumudhukunRam (virudhdhAchalam). Singing the Lord who reside on the bank of river muththARu with many words of love that flowed like a river, including murachadhirn^dhezum, stayed there for many days. Then thirunyAna champan^dha n^AyanAr proceeded to peNNAkadam to salute the Lord on thiruththUN^kAnai mAdam.
The Remover of reincarnation for one who repeats His holy five letters had the healing abode in thiruvaraththuRai where champan^dhar was going to. Unlike the previous travels when he was taken by his loving father on his shoulders this time out of high enthusiasm to bow down to the Lord he with his delicate flower like young feet with uncompromising determination in that tiny age walked ahead followed by his father and other devotees in the hot Sun. With the sacrad name of Lord and His heart-stealing form stamped in the mind he went ahead with salutations and without any botheration of his physical pain. How great is the Lord's grace and how great is the craze of His devotees for Him that this young child who in the age of putting his feet only on silk like carpets walks over the stone and thornful paths without hesitation ! When they reached a place called mARanpAdi the hot Sun fearing about the fatigue of the fame-mount like devotees reached the western horizon. All the devotees stayed there for the night in the hospitality of the local loveful. How can the Lord - the loving mother of one who depend only on Her, overlook the hard efforts of the child ? He appeared in the dream of the devotees of thiruvaraththuRai to order them to take palanquin, carved umbrella and symbols to blow musically made of pearls from Him and receive the thirunyAnachampan^dha who was coming to Him.
Surprised at this they rushed to the temple. When they opened the temple to pray in the dawn worship to their wonder saw the shining pearl made palanquin, umbrella and symbols. Praising the enlightening God of lords they went with all music reverbrating the sky to welcome the young devotee. While this was happening the Lord came in the dream of the saint and asked him to accept those things as His blessings. champan^dhar told the grace of the Lord to his father and other devotees. As it became morning they got up adorned themselves with the holy Ash after completing the duties of the morning. By then the vEdic chanters and devotees of thiruvaraththuRai came and saluted the saint and bowed to him to accept the things the Lord gave pleased. Thanking and holding His uncomparable merciful feet on his head the young poet sang His praise. Chanting the unforgettable honey of the Holy Five Letters he boarded the beaming bright pearl palanquin, the great saint who came to enlighten the entire world.
The ocean of devotees who bathed in the flood of tears of joy with the vibration of the percussion instruments hailed the fame of the child slave of Lord shiva which appeared to be echoed back from the heavens. That ocean of devotees moved on the winds of devotion on earth to come to the center of the thiruvaraththuRai where the Mount of mercy was blessing. The small peerless saint prostrated down to praise the Lord of the grace of considering even him as worth. That humble devotee circumambulated the abode saluting It again and again. On the days that he was in thiruvaraththuRai he went to n^elveNNai to wonder the Wonderful Lord of the weak. With the form of the perinniel Couple of thiruththONipuram attracting him he wished to come back to chIrkAzi. He humbled himself before the Lord of thiruvaraththuRai and started his journey on the palanquin. He sang hymns rich in the music with the blend of appealing combination of the seven swarams saluting the Lord in thirup pazuvUr, thiruvichayamaN^gai, vaikAvUr, thirup puRampayam. On reaching thiruch chEynyalUr feeling high about that abode of the Lord worshipped by 'ka.ndha for the great deed of chaNdIsha n^AyanAr(2) he got down from his palanquin to prostrate and enter the town. He worshiped the Lord of splendid lovers and went ahead to salute the Lord at thiruppanan^thAL, pan^dhaNai n^allUr, OmAmpuliyUr, vALkoLip puththUr, kadambai, n^AraiyUr, karuppaRiyalUr and many other abodes and reached in chIrkAzi.

Sarvam Sri SeetaRamachandraparabramha aarpanamastu

Periyapuram - naminandhi adikaL

In the kingdom where the river kAvEri flows through beautifully was the town Emap pERUr. The town where the houses wear the mango leaves indicating good deeds, the fumes of vEdic rites that forms the clouds, the red lotuses in the pond that look like the flame in the rite with surrounding ghee offering, was heard echoing the knowledge of the vEdas. In the tradition of vEdic chanters who live in the unique shaivite discipline, came the ardent devotee of snake ornated Lord by name n^amin^an^dhi adikaL. He was like the fire that is grown with truth of the vEdas, firmly believed in the sacredness of Holy Ash, stood blissfully in holding up the feet of the Black-throated Lord who sings music.
He with a great eagerness to salute the Lord of thiruvArUr went there. He worshiped the only hold for the devotees the Lord who has the feathers decorated matted hair who has taken abode at the ant-hill. Very many days he spent saluting the the Supreme who smashed the three cities into heaps of ash. Then he went to serve the Lord at the araneRi abode. With his heartful of love, mind full of mahEsha he prostrated many times the Lord and stood up in the interest of lighting the lamps thus serving the Kindling flame. By then the time was already evening, and he went to a nearby house to ask for some ghee for the lamps. The house he entered happened to be a house of a Jain. The people in the house mocked at him saying while the God Himself had the fire in His hand why unnecessarily he needed to put the light. No ghee was available if he wanted he could pour the water form the pond to light the lamps, they laughed in the ignorance of half shuttered realization. n^AyanAr felt bad, left to the temple and cried to the Lord.
There rose a voice ordering him to shed the sorrow and pour the pond water in the lamps and lit them. Praising the Lord who has the Sun, Moon and fire as the Three eyes, he brought the water from the pond and put it on the cotton plaited thread. With the world wondering, vengents whispering down, the White-Ash smeared Lord blessing, he lit the lamp that glowed till the dawn. He lit the complete sets of lamps the same way to illuminate the abode fantastically. While the absolute Source of energy is with, what other source could be hurdle ?! As he had the principle of worshiping the Lord shiva at his house everyday, he left the same night to his town and did the worship. The next morning he returned to the temple at thiruvArUr, did all the required services inside and outside the temple with the joy of working for the Greatest Master. In the evening he decorated in his way the abode of the Light with luminant lamps. This continued for many days. By then because of the great love and deed of dhandiyadigaL(1) Jains lost their faith and left the area. The shaivite discipline prospered. The king donated and organized many endowments for the service of the Lord.
The festival town of thiruvArUr geared up for celebrating the auspicious paN^guni uththiram(2). The Street Dancing Lord with the inseparable shakti on the victorious Bull came blessing all the way to thirumaNalai as part of the festivities. There the crowd that mingled with the chanting of the traditionless Lord's fame was without any caste and creed barriers. What barrier, caste, creed, age, sex, race, language or any form of life, could be there while the pashupati is there to salvage every creature. Along with them our n^AyanAr praised the God of nature. He returned home and was sleeping in the darkness of night on the outside corridor of the house. His wife came out and enquired why he did not do the Lord's worship by growing fire that night and skipped the food. When he was in the festival crowd everybody was present so the impurity followed him, he replied. He further asked his wife to bring water to bathe and then start the pUja. As she left, by the wish of God or by tiredness who knows, he slept immediately. The Lord came as if He comes to the pUja, and enlightened him that those who were born in the thiruvArUr belong to His squad. The devotee woke up shivering and with realization. He felt bad for not doing the night worship of the Ultimate Source. Did the worship, told the wife the happenings and rushed to thiruvArUr in the wake of dawn. As he entered thiruvArUr he saw everybody living there to have the form of the Stain-throated Gold like bodied God. He, fearful, fell down on the ground saluted them and rejoiced.
He saw the scene changed again with people back in their normal form. He begged for excuse from the Lord who showers the grace, who shines in everything. He lived doing a great splendid service to the God. He served the devotees of the Ash smeared Lord with many needful things with a rising fame and got praised in the thEvAram of thirun^Avukkarachu n^AyanAr(3). His service to the Lord, to His truthful slaves continued as he was praised by the sage of service. With the world praising his service he entered the luminance of the shade of the Lord of thiruvArUR. Let the thirst to serve the hara in spite of the non-conducive circumstances stay in the mind.

Sarvam Sri SeetaRamachandraparabramha aarpanamastu

Periyapuram - thirunIlanakka nAyanAr


In the chOza kingdom is the town thiruch chAththa maN^gai. In that town hailing from the tradition of singing vEdhAs, born the lover of the shri nIlakaNTha by name n^Ila n^akkanAr. Knowing the vEdhAs he derived that the wisdom is to serve the River crowned Lord and His devotees and he followed it with a loving heart. He would do everyday with deep humbleness the worship of Lord shiva. Then he would host feast for the devotees and do all the needful for them. Catching strong this discipline he went in the way of the Perfect Lord.
One auspicious Adhirai(1) day after performing the prayers as said in the worship scriptures at home, he went along with his loving wife, with all the substances for the worship in abundance to the temple of the Lord of ayavan^thi. He offered the Lord the flowers and other holy substances and prostrated in front of Him. Completing the pUja with an unsaturated love he circumambulated the abode and was meditating with the Holy Five Letters. At that time a spider slipped on the Sound bodied Lord. n^AyanAr's companian in life who was standing nearby, like a mother who blows off the spider on a young child, blew to drive away the insect. She was loving so much the Lord that she did it quite instantly. n^AyanAr appalled by his wife's deed, asked her in a shivering voice, what she did. She replied that as the spider fell on the Lord she had to blow the spider off. n^Ilan^akkar said it was against the Agamic teachings, she should have used some other means than blowing from mouth as saliva could fall on the Lord. He made consecretion worships to plead for forgivence for her deed. He left his wife there in anger.
The Sun went down in the West horizon. n^AyanAr went asleep in his house. His wife who did the act of love on Lord, unable to refute n^AyanAr's order stayed back in the temple. In that night the Lord who is pleased more with love than with rituals, appeared in his dream. That Painless Lord showed His body and said, " Look ! This is where she blew and this part is quite alright whereas the other side is swelling because of the spider". Who knows the act of God who is beyond body or form shows up a swelling in order to help His loving devotee !! trirun^Ilan^akkar shocked by what the Lord told, praised Him, danced and yelled. The next dawn he rushed to the abode of the Lord of ayavan^thi fell down on His rescuing feet, adored Him and brought his loving wife back home. He continued his service to the Lord and the devotees with complete love.
Hearing the marvelous songs of thiunyAnachampan^dhar(2) and his marvels, n^Ilan^akkar developed a great wish to see him and serve him. He got the information that champan^dhar along with thirun^IlakaNda yAzpANar(3) and a group of devotees coming towards thiruch chAththa maN^gai worshiping many abodes. Hearing that boon like message he decorated the way with flowers and leaves. He went forward dancing and singing His praise to welcome the young saint. He hosted the devotees in his house. In the Sunset thirunyAnachampan^dhar requested thirun^Ilan^akkar to give a place of yAzpANar and his wife. Our great n^AyanAr gave the place where the sacred fire is grown in vEdhic worship, to that devotional music couple. The falseness of birth dependent humiliation of people was thwarted off. When people have dedicated themselves to that Raceless Lord , what is there in between them to consider high or low ? The ritual fire at that central hall where yAzpANar along with his wife resided glowed very bright.
thirunyAnachampan^dhar sang in his hymn mentioning the great devotee thirun^Ilan^akkar. Later when champan^dhar left the town, unable to break his order n^AyanAr stayed back. But he lived praising His grace and the marvel of champan^dhar. At the time of champan^dhar's wedding he played major role in the rituals (pouring the rice that is fried in the ritual fire). He saluting the Lord's perumaNam merged in the shiva jyOti that appeared in the wedding celebration to reside under the Feet that is praised by holy scriptures. Let the service and equality in the vision of this great thirun^Ilan^akka n^AyanAr stay in mind.

Sarvam Sri SeetaRamachandraparabramha aarpanamastu

Periyapuram - appUdhi adikaL nAyanAr

If one wants to know how an entire family should work with the service motto, the best example is the life of appUdhi adikaL n^AyanAr. adikaLAr lived in a village called thiN^kaLUr , the place where the Moon worshipped the Lord. Devotion to the Lord who stopped the poison in His throat was adikaLAr's determination. Anger, lie, deception, infatuation and low quality thoughts do not reside with him as the fog can not approach the Sun. He came in the tradition of chanting the sweet vEdas. Though never seen before tied himself mentally to the feet of the king of words thirun^Avukkarachar (1), hearing about his devotion and the grace the Lord made for him.
His love for thirun^Avukkarachar was so much that he became slave of his name. He named the kids, the cows, the cooking vessels, everything one sees in his house as thirun^Avukkarachu . Probably if one had asked what his name was, He could have said thirun^Avukkarachu . He had never seen his form but always remembering his name and his service to the Lord. He founded a lots of inns, digged ponds, installed many tents where cool water and drinks were served to the passers by travelling in the severe heat, much much more for the benefit of the slaves of shambhu . All these were bearing the name of only thirun^Avukkarachar, and no where his own name seen.
While his service continued in the name of the servant of the shankar , that great thirun^Avukkarachar, chanting of whose wonderful words could be the greatest boon to one's tongue, after worshipping and doing the uzavArap paNi (Removing the pests and plants that cause disturbance near the temples by a small instrument ) in the town called thirup pazanam , came in the way to thiN^kaLUr as he wished to pray the Lord in other nearby towns. Under the heat of the hot Sun that was like the mental saffocation of the jealous, he saw a water shelter that was like the peace of mind that God offers to the devotees. He arrived in that shelter to have some water, the thing more worthy than even the food. He was surprised by the name thirun^Avukkarachar beautifully written all over there. That most humble sage asked the people there who was running that service in that name. They told him that it was one among the services that a person by name appUdhi adikaLAr who does the worship growing fire everyday for the well being of the entire world.
thirun^Avukkarachar arrived at appUdhi adikaLar's doorsteps. As soon as appUdhi adikaLAr heard that there was a devotee of the Lord who holds the holy river ganga in His head, arrived in his house, he rushed forward to welcome him. Without knowing that he was the man he had been worshipping all along, he prostrated to that devotee who prostrated to him even before he did. When appUdhi adikaL asked what was the big austerity he did to recieve a man of well grown love to the Lord. The marvellous sage, thirun^Avukkarachar who always thinks only about the service to the Lord told him that he saw the nice water shelter and heard much about the other services as well that he did but was wondering why in place of his name he wrote some other name . Irked by his reference to the name of his adoration as "some other name", appUdhi adikaL shouted, what a statement you gave, is the name of one who won the sabotage of the silly among the jains combined with the king by the marvel of his holy service some other name for you? The world knows the fame of that flawless for whom the rock that he was tied to and put in the sea became a boat out of his love for Him. In the holy dressings you told this unpleasent words, Who are you, Where do you come from ?
The humblest of the humble, thirun^Avukkarachar knowing his love told, "Am the silly person who without realising the greatness of Lord shiva joined some other religions and enslaved by the mercy of the lord by giving a severe stomach pain." Shocked, speechless, petrified was appUdhi adikaLar when he realised that that devotee was thirun^Avukkarachar. Fell down and held his feet on his head with stammering words. He felt like a poor getting heap of gold. He sang danced in happiness, brought the entire family, friends and relatives to salute the great sage. Sprinkling the water on themselves with which they washed the feet of the king of the tongue the entire family rejoised. He appealed to accept the feast at his house. When thirun^Avukkarachar accepted it he felt it was a boon much more than his good karma and must be the grace of Almighty only. His wife prepared plenty of pleasing food varities. The couple asked their eldest son by name mUththa thirun^Avukkarachu (eldest thirun^Avukkarachu) to get the banana leaves to serve the food on. That boy was fast in action thinking he got this covetable opertunity by the order of a good mother and father. When he cut the leaves a snake bit him in the hand. That young immense devotee hastened up to hand over the leaves to his parents before the speed of the poison could kill him with the determination not to reveal the snake bite as it would delay the feast to the devotee. Should the father be praised for bringing up such a nice child or is it the child for living for the principles of the father ? Anyway the entire family excelled.
The parents found out from the son who fell down dead after handing over the leaves that he was dead by snake bite. With the enthusiasm to host the devotee occuping the mind they covered their loving son in a mat and obscured it from the sight. He rushed to the sage as it was getting delayed for his feast. After appUdhi adikaLAr washed his fet, before having the food thirun^Avukkarachar blessed the couple and their children with the holy ash. Then he asked where the eldest son was to have the holy ash. Not willing to tell what happened, adikaL said, "He won't be of use now". With something striking his heart thirun^Avukkarachar asked him to tell what happened. Though didn't want to miss the hosting of feast to the devotee, unable to conceal it against his principles as he had asked for the fact, appUdhi adikaL told him the incident. Apalled by his action thirun^Avukkarachar prayed to the God in his magnetic words with the thEvAram onRu kolAm avar chin^dhai uyarvarai to bring the child back to life. For the man of sincere service Almighty will do anything. While the town exclaimed at the kid's survival, adikaL was little worried that he disturbed the feast little bit !
thirun^Avukkarachar came to his house for accepting his feast and doing away with his disappointment. appUdhi adikaL arranged the banana leaf beautifully for the food. The sage asked him and the children to have food along with him. Devotees yearn for having food along with other devotees. That feast was more than satisfying for that family and so was it for the sage. After staying with him for some days the emperor of simple sweet words left for thirup pazanam to recite hymns on the Lord where he adored the love of appUdhi adikaLar in one of the thEvAram. With the love for the God and slavery for thirun^Avukkarachar mutually promoting one another resided under the dancing feet of the Lord. Let the selfless service of appUdhi adikaL n^AyanAr and his family stay in the mind.

Sarvam Sri SeetaRamachandraparabramha aarpanamastu

Periyapuram - kAraikkAl ammaiyAr


kAraikkAl ,the cradle of ocean, is the town in the east coast of thamizakam (thamizn^Adu). It being one of the important ports those days it was florishing with the international traders bringing in lots of wealth. thanathaththanAr the leader in the trade at kAraikkAl, got a girl child - a boon out of his austerities. punithavathiyAr , that goddess of wealth like beautiful child, learnt to do slavery to the Lord even when she started learning to walk. She started talking opening her patel like lips to talk all the time about the dance of the Lord who transcedes the reach of words. Like the bud that blossoms she grew up. She was as beautiful as the flowers at the feet of the flawless God.
A famous trader of n^AgappattiNam by name n^idhipathi had a son called parama dhaththan . His relatives came to thanathaththan to propose paramadhaththan for punithavathiyAr. Both the sides agreed with pleasure for the marriage and decided an auspicious date. The wedding happened in the ritual way to the pride of both families. thanathaththan didn't want to live away from his only daughter who was his life. So he with consent and support from n^idhipathi set up a house in kAraikkAl itself for the couple and provided them with a lot of wealth. paramadhaththan with his efficiency multiplied that money with the chaste, loving, devotional wife taking care of the family. She did the duty of family life - to support sages who are independant, providing those devotees food and material with the overwhelming love for the Form of Love.
One day some people who came to paramadhaththan gave him two mango fruits. He asked his men to send it to his house. His wonderful wife received and kept them in the house. At that time a servant of the Lord wearing serpant came to the house with heavy hunger. To remove the hunger of the devotee she served him the food after welcoming. To compensate the absence of the side dish, she served one of the mangoes out of the two her husband had given to keep as she felt that serving the devotees could be the greatest boon. Blessing her for her service the devotee who had a nice food and mango to remove the fatigue because of his old age and peak hunger, went off. After some time in the noon her loving husband came for home. After taking bath he sat for lunch. She served him with her love the nice food she had prepared along with the remaining mango. The exotic taste of the fruit made him ask her to bring the other one also. She went away from that place as if she was getting the other one also.
She was anxious. What could she do ? She prayed to the Lord who helps His slaves whenever wherever they plead to Him. By His grace there appeared a mango marvelous in taste, in her hand. She brought it to her husband. Surprised by the taste of the mango that was delicious than the nector, he asked her where she got that mango from which was unthinkable to get in the world. She couldn't tell because the grace of God is not explainable to understand, but felt it was not good to stand without answering husband's words. Finally determined to tell the truth, she praying the pleasing feet of God in her heart told him evrything. Unable to accept that it was Almighty's grace he asked her to prove it by getting one more fruit from the Lord. Pleading to the Lord who ponders in the cemetries that if He didn't give again her words would be considered false. Immidiately a mango came to her hands. When the shivering paramadhaththan received it in his hands it disappeared. With fear and respect mixed in the emotions he didn't touch her then on. He planned and left with the fellow traders saying that he wanted to earn a lot. He earned a lot in his voyage and settled in the pANdiya kingdom marrying a girl of the local merchant. With his thoughts always remembering with respect punithavathiyAr, he lived there without anybody else knowing about it. He considered her as the worshippable goddess and gave the kid whom he got with his new wife, her adorable name.
While he was living there, in kAraikkAl his chaste wife expecting his return continued the adorables deeds of serving the devotees. Then she came to know that her husband was living in pANdiya kingdom after making a lot of money. The relatives decided to take her to him. They went to the town where he lived and informed him in advance about their arrival. With the fear of reverance he along with his wife and kid rushed forward to salute her. They three prostrated at the feet of the young deer like punithavathiyAr and he told that the life he was living was her blessing and his kid had her praisable name. punithavathiyAr was shocked and moved away. To the relatives who were shocked by his deed he told that she was not an ordinary human being, she was adorable, worshippable, that is why he named his child after her, that is why he saluted her and asked all of them to worship her as well. While the relatives were petrified at his words, the beautiful young lady of excellent love prayed to the God who got a blue throat saving the universe from the poison that this being his decision, let thy grace give me the form of the ghost that praises you always changing my beauty of flesh.
With the mercy of the mR^ityu.njaya she lost her pretty body and got a skeletal body that is worshipped by the world and Heaven. The relatives who were present were frightened; they prostrated to kAraikkAl ammaiyAr and left. With the spring of knowledge that unifies the soul with shiva raising up she composed then the aRpudhath thiruvan^dhAthi , sang that she became one in the gaNas that praise the lotus patal like feet of the Lord. She sang the irattai maNi mAlai an^dhAdhi (100 songs with alternate songs being same type of poem) later. With the enthusiasm to enter the range of mount kailAsh where the Lord who endangered the three forts of pAcham reside, she proceeded. While the people scared looking at her skeletal form ran away, that great devotee said that if the Lord of lords blesses me why to bother what the people in the darkness of ignorance thin' of this form. She reached at the surroundings of the holy peak. Unwilling to put her feet on that abode of the Almighty she climbed with her head.
The shakti, the mother of the Universe the devotee who never leaves the side of the Lord, saw with surprise and love her devotional deed and told to the great Lord of great slaves, "What a love it is, of that skeletal body that climbs the holy hill with its head!!" The Lord said, "She who comes is like the mother in taking care of Me. She worshipped and got this form of fame.", came to the devotee and said with the lips that originated the holy vEdas, "ammaiyE !" (a word meaning mother, this word is used to refer to women folk in general) for the entire world to get blessed. kAraikkAl ammaiyAr fell down on His blooming feet praising, "Oh Lord ! my Father!!" The Lord asked her what she wanted. She asked for the immortal blissful love for Him, that is ultimate for the devotees. She further asked, "liberate from taking birth again. Even if there is a birth bless me with never forgetting Thee. Also I want to stay under your holy feet when you dance my Lord!" The Lord gave her the boon she asked and asked her to stay in the bliss by singing Him when He dances in the south town thiruvAlaN^kAdu . Taking His order ammaiyAr came to thiruvAlaN^kAdu walking with her head. When she saw the dance of the Lord transceding the Universe, she sang in bliss the mUththa n^aRpadhikam starting, koN^gai thiraN^gi . The dance of shiva with the matted hair that is wet with the honey of fresh flowers put her in eternal happiness under His holy feet, she sang another thiruppadhikam etti ilavammIkai and resided in that most safe and superior place forever. Let the immortal blissful love of kAraikkAl ammaiyAr stay in the mind.
(This highly respected mother, lived before saint thirunyAnachamban^dhar. It is this lady who first sang in the construct called padhikam and put the signatural mark at the last hymn of the padhikam. This has been followed by many later. Hence the padhikams given by this devotee are called mUththa thiruppadhikam (elder thiruppadhikam).

Sarvam Sri SeetaRamachandraparabramha aarpanamastu

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Periyapuranam - Perumizhalaik Kurumba nAyanAr

Surrounded with the fields where the bunches of bananas sleep on the green leaf bed sheets is the town perumizalai in the mizalai kingdom. The town was rich with people whose knowledge of the Truth brought chastity to their hearts, which was the reflection of the white Holy Ash on their forehead. The head of the town peru mizalaik kuRumbanAr was the head of devotion and slave of the slaves of Matted haired Lord. The man of exclaimable wisdom utilized his knowledge in serving the servants of the Serpent clad shankara even when they did not explicitly ask for it. He was looking forward to serve them; It was the pleasure he was looking for; it was his prime duty. The two feet of the Lord that are softer then the petals of the rose resided on the lotus of his heart enjoying the fragrance of his love.
Host of many admirable characters he hosted the devotees of the Lord holding Dreadful axe, providing them limitless food and wealth. Still he was humble and pleasant to those unattached devotees. The selfless ceaseless service introduced him to the great devotee who asks everything only to the God, sun^dhara mUrthi n^AyanAr(1). Knowing that it is the association with the good that evolves into the liberation, he held that great devotee in his thoughts whose thoughts always pondered around the paramEshwar. Following that splendid devotee he attained the eight great powers. For him above all those powers were the peerless Holy five letters and chanting them with the tears of joy rolling down raising up the devotion. His love, yoga and service continued unperturbably.
Meanwhile the slave of the Beautiful Lord, sun^dhara mUrthi n^AyanAr went to the capital of chEra kingdom koduN^gOLUr ruled by chEramAn perumAL n^AyanAr(2). sun^dharar by the splendid blessings of the Lord of thiruvanychaikkaLam, got the white elephant to come to the Lord's abode thirukkayilai . The great perumizalaik kuRumba n^AyanAr who had wonderable spiritual vision and wisdom felt this great event in his heart. When his eyelike sun^dharar perumAn is proceeding to the great Mount, he did not want to stay on the earth. He wanted to reach that blissful place that day itself by yOga. With the four karaNam s coming together in absoluteness of good knowledge, the air proceeding strictly in the brahma n^Adi to the center of the skull, with the secret door opening there, n^AyanAr reached ahead the thirukkayilai to reside in the Eternal feet of the Lord shiva. Let the splendid yogic wisdom of the perumizalaik kuRumba n^AyanAr, got by serving the Lord and Its devotees stay in the mind.

Sarvam Sri SeetaRamachandraparabramha aarpanamastu

Periyapuranam - KulachiRai nAyanAr


kulachchiRaiyAr was born to raise the name and fame of the village maNamERkudi, which raised the crops in its fields to treat the worst of all illness - the hunger. It was in the pANdiya kingdom.
His intelligence and immunity to dishonesty, false praise and unholy activities impressed the pANdya king n^edumARan and the king made him the prime minister in his court. Though the king was valorous under his rule shaivam and the devotees had troubles from jainism as the king was a follower of jainism. In spite of that kulachchiRaiyAr practiced the shaivam faith without any hesitation. He was an ardent devotee of the Lord sun^dhrEshvarar in Madhurai. He, being the prime minister who should guide the king in the right path, was worried on the atrocities of jainism in the pANdiya kingdom and was looking forward eagerly for a solution to that.
He welcomed, wished, prostrated and was humble and honey like in his expressions to anybody who has the love for the Lord. Irrespective of their social background (tradition), irrespective their status, irrespective of the fact whether they follow their tradition or not, if they have in their thoughts the kind paramEshwarar, then kulachchiRaiyAr would do any service to those devotees to their satisfaction and above their expectations. If the devotees come alone or in group he fell in their feet and made them feel as if they are in a oasis. Let them be praised by the world as genius or mocked as ignorants, praised for helpfulness or mocked for horrifying others, if they smear the body with the holy ash and the mind with the Holy five letters then he worshiped them offering the delicacy of his love. The devotees used to have the feast at his house and his feast was his feeling of Lord Shiva. Everyday he was at this service and every minute he spent with the thinking of the Lord.
He along with one other marvelous devotee maN^gaiyarkkarachiyAr (1) who was a boon given to the pANdiya kingdom by the chOza kingdom, who became the queen of the king n^edumARan. They who had the concern for the betterment of the king took many steps for the restoration of shaivam in the pANdiya kingdom. Their prayers brought the ganga - thirunyAna champandhar (2) and he made that land fertile with shaivam. kulachchiRaiyAr played a major role in purifying and guiding the mind of the king in the correct path of shaivam raising him from an ordinary king to n^inRachIr n^edumARa n^AyanAr (3) and he removed the darkness by replacing the jainism by the light of shaivam in pAndiya kingdom. He and his service is praised by thirunyAnachampan^dhar in the "maN^gaiyarkarachi" thiruppadhikam which he sang as soon as he entered the pANdiya kingdom. Let the faith in the path of shaivam that kulachchiRaiyAr had due to which even when the king, who was his best companion too, was against shaivam he stood by his principle of praying the Lord and his devotees and with which he lit again the lamp of shaivam in the kingdom stay in the mind.

Sarvam Sri SeetaRamachandraparabramha aarpanamastu

Periyapuranam - thirun^Avukkarachu n^AyanAr

Who can explain perfectly the life full of limitless love and selfless service of deep determination of the great, adorable sage who was called "the king of the tongue" ( thirun^Avukkarachar ) by the Lord Himself who gave the holy vEdas, and who is saluted by the child prodigy thirunyAnachampan^dhar (1) as appar with great devotion.

With the flow of the river thenpeNNai the kingdom called thirumunaippAdi , situated in the central part of thamizakam, was fertile with lots of water and soil resources. Is there anymore words needed to portray the greatness of this kingdom when the sage of service thiru n^Avukkarachar and the superior slave of devotees sun^dharar (2) were born in that kingdom ! Among the prosperous towns of that kingdom, due to its spreading of the fragrance of shaivam the town called thiruvAmUr , is outstanding. In that land covered by green paddy clothing, there lived a couple of good hospitality pukazanAr and his wife mAdhiniyAr in the profession of removing the world's hunger - agriculture. That blessed couple gave birth to the wealth - a girl by name thilakavathiyAr (3). After a few years they got a son - a sun to drive away the ignorance from the hearts of people by his magic words of complete love - and named him maruNIkkiyAr (remover of illusion). He grew up with all the festivals like removing the hair of the kid done in a nice way. He started learning the arts in the right age and grew up like the growing moon without blackspots.
When thilakavathiyAr completed twelve, the colonel of the king by name kalippakaiyAr who had a lot of love for the Lord who has umA in His left part, wanted to get married to thilakavathiyAr. With the both sides accepting happily to the marriage the procedures started. At that time kalippakaiyAr had to go on the request of the king to the warfield to fight against a king of north. So he went before getting married. Meanwhile pukazanAr fell sick and reached heaven and mAdhiniyAr followed him unable to bear the shock. By the time the children thilakavathiyAr and maruNIkkaiyAr were consoled by the relatives they got the message that the valiant kalippakaiyAr became martyr in the battlefield. thilakavathiyAr felt that when her parents decided to get her married to him, then itself she had become one for him. So she did not want to live without him.
maruNikkiyAr held the feet of his sister and cried that he was still surviving after their parents' passing away only because he was able to salute her and live, if she also decided to leave him alone in the world then he would prefer to die first. That merciful soft-hearted lady made up her mind for her loving brother. She lived an austerous life away from all the lures of the world with pure love for all the lives. maruNikkiyAr trying to come out of the gloom involved himself in doing charities, set up inns, water shelters and hosted the hungered. He started thinking about the uncertainty in life and analyzed the religions. For realizing the Truth above all one should have His grace. For drinking water just thirst is not sufficient but there should be water source as well. As the Lord did not show him the truth then, he was attracted by the glitter of non-violence of Jainism while its philosophies were incomplete and impractical.
He went to a place called pAtalIpuththiram (kadalUr) which was famous for the Jain institutions. He learnt the scriptures of that religion with the real spirit and was praised for his knowledge by the Jains over there. He was given the title dharma sEnar by them. He won the Budhdhists in the debates on philosophy. The entire Jain groups were happy to have such a superior leader. During this period thilakavathiyAr stayed away from all the relations with the relation of all the lives - the Lord shiva in the holy place thiruvadhikai . She did all the services in all humbleness to the Lord who burnt three cities of impurities like a piece of straw. That woman of pure heart prayed to the God many times to rescue her younger from the ignorance and show him His grace. She was more than a mother for maruNIkkiyAr, she not only brought him up but also praying day and night for him to realize the truth in life - she became her guide and philosopher too. The Light of the Universe appeared in the dream of that sage and blessed her not to worry, He would bring maruNIkkiyAr to the right path, who was doing austerities in the previous births to reach Him, by giving the chUlai (a terrible stomach pain).
Like the mother who beats the kid not to punish but to correct the Lord gave the unbearable pain in his stomach. dharma sEnar rolled down and screamed unable to tolerate the terrible pain. No medicine was useful to mitigate it because it required a medicine called mahAdEva . Appalled by the severity of the disease the Jains who torture themselves in the name of attaining liberation, chanted all the mantras they knew and gave the water thus obtained to him. Instead of alleviating the pain it amplified. They touched throughout his body with the peacock feather. It did not stop him from screaming. Frightened and confused the Jains gave up their efforts. With raising pain and nobody to help, maruNIkkiyAr remembered his loving relation - the adorable sister. He sent a person to convey his pain to thilakavathiyAr. She though felt pity for her brother conveyed back to him out of her strong determination for seeking his permanent betterment and not just the curing of this illness that she would not come to the place of Jains.
There was the grace of God for maruNIkkiyAr to come to a decision that he would leave the company of Jains and submit himself to his sister. He left all the symbols of Jainism there itself and proceeded to thiruvadhikai. There was darkness outside in that night, but it was going to meet a bright morning. He clad himse'f in a white cloth and reached the hut of thilakavathiyAr. Like a rooted out tree he fell on her feet with the pain pricking his stomach. Praising the glory of Lord shiva she upraised him and told, "It is the grace of that matted haired Lord. Surrender yourself to Him who smashes down the painful bonds of His asylum seekers and serve Him". That sage gave him the Holy ash chanting His Holy five letters, before taking him to the abode in thiruvadhikai. Accepting humbly the Holy ash of the Lord who owns all the wealth, he thought he got the real prosperity in life.
With both the darkness inside and outside getting wiped out, in that blooming morning she took him to the temple with the service instruments for the thirupaLLIezuchchi (first worship in the temple). Prostrating to the Lord who never folds hands for worship, he got the feelings of singing that Mercy like a spring whose eye is just opened. He finally came to Him who is the king of all the medicines including for the illness of bonds and births. He sang the thEvAram " kURRAyinavARu vilakkakilIr", that should even melt a stone like heart. The God who is satisfied very easily when there is devotion immediately removed his illness. Thrilled with happiness he thanked the Lord who took him out of the ocean of suffering and darkness of ignorance. By the grace of the Lord there rose a voice, "As you sang the beautiful hymns enriched with nice words of excellent meaning, let your name be praised in the worlds as n^Avukkarachu " (the king of the tongue).
All the creatures surrounded by pAcham (Bond) are subjected to ignorance, illusion and the effects of the past deeds. There could be hardly few exceptions to this. It is the quality of the great that once they get a thread to come out of this situation they raise to the peaks of knowledge and not only that they stand like the full moon that reflects the light of the Sun - like that of the God, to the world that is in complete darkness. In one song if the God says to him that he is the king of words, what a great transformation in his mind would have achieved it. There needs no explanation of the excellence of his love and humbleness for the Lord for people who have read this peerless hymn "kURRAyinavARu". He is so great and a huge mass of devotees would be always expressing their gratitude to him for the unparalleled words of devotion he has expressed in his hymns. Great is the Lord who gave us the Holy vEdas. Great is His devotee thirun^Avukkarachar perumAn who brings Him to us once we sing his hymns with real feelings.
The king who ruled the words giving us the highly adorable hymns on the King of all arts - the Lord, saluted the God in all his humbleness exclaiming the immense grace the Lord showed on him who was in the darkness of his misdeed, by praising Him for blessing even the rAvaNan who also did misdeed. With all the devotees surrounding him filled with joy for the grace thirun^Avukkarachar got benefiting the entire world, that great sage whose heart and words were flowing with truth and love, with a nondeviating mind, undisturbed flow of words of praise and hands holding the handplow ( uzavAram to clean the abode of the Lord removing the plants that grow in disturbing fashion) involved his body and mind completely in the holy service to that Hero who stands alone after everything is reduced into Him.
While thirun^Avukkarachar perumAn was enjoying in the path of shaivam the Jain sages of pAtalIpuththiram on hearing the cure he got through the grace of God were bewildered and worried that their big following was about to go down. They were very much bothered with the fact that their victorious leading philosopher who established and brought up the principles of Jainism as against that of many other religions had renounced that path. They all met in a place and felt that if the king is also enlightened with the truth he would also become a shaivite and that would block their prosperity. Those people who were supposed to be adherent to the truth dared to lie to the king that dharma sEnar acting as if the stomach pain was not cured went to the shaiva fold and did criticism and blasphemy of Jainism.
They went to the pallava king mahEn^dhira varma . He being a follower of Jainism came immediately for their help. They kindled his anger that dharma sEnar lied and doing blasphemy of his religion. Taken the stand of non-violence but filled with lie and cruelty they asked the king to punish him severely. The king of blind faith without analyzing the facts ordered the soldiers to bring thirun^Avukkarachar without informing that he wanted to punish him. The ministers and soldiers went to thiruvadhikai and asked him to come to the king. For the true devotees Lord shiva is the Emperor, all the lives the citizens and the entire Universe is the kingdom. Why should the devotee be afraid of the mortal king ? The king of words sang an elegant hymn "n^AmArkkum kudiyallOm" to convey the king that because he had taken secure shelter under the comforting feet of the Lord who never bows down to anybody, he need not bow down to any order. He is the example one should follow. He was very very humble, saluting and servicing the Lord and His devotees, at the same time being a true believer of Almighty he was not a coward to get scared even for the order of the king. He continued his services peacefully trusting that Lord is there to take care of all the repercussions.
Hearing the determination of the great sage the Jains who forgot their own principles asked the king to put him in the lime kiln. The kings men put him in the burning kiln added lot of fuel and sealed it. What will the terrible heat do when the Lord for whom the fire itself is an eye is blessing ?! The sage sang the shelter of Lord's feet is like the nice breeze on the bank of a beautiful pond in a spring ( "mAchil vINaiyum "). After the seventh day the king and the Jains were shocked to see the seer inside the kiln without any harm, smiling in the bliss that shaN^kara gives. Hiding their surprise the beasts who were determined to do sin told the king that because of the practices he did in the Jainism he survived this and asked the king to feed him with strong poison. Saying the poison is also a nectar for one who has taken refuge in the Immortal the sage ate the milk food containing poison. What is there to be surprised to know that the poison was powerless on him when the Lord of all creatures who stopped in His throat the huge terrific poison that came to destroy the Universe, is blessing !! Petrified, the misdeedful convinced the king that he was alive because of the ma.ntras he learnt in Jainism and if the king didn't kill him it is going to be fatal for the philosophy as well as his rule. They asked the king to tramp him under the elephants foot.
The merciless king ordered to send a fierce elephant on the devotee. The provoked elephant came like a storm destroying things on its way in all its fury. The kings men directed in on the sage who was there as the form of peace. He praised the Lord holding the sharp shUla and said "We are the slaves of the Lord of thiruvadhikai . We are not afraid of anything. Nor is there anything that could scare us." ( "chuNNaveN chan^dhanach chAn^dhum" ). The elephant circumambulated him, saluted him instead of hurting him. It turned back with an uncontrollable ire and tramped the kings men and the Jains creating chaos and frantic cries. With their strength completely smashed the Jains fell in the feet of the king and suggested, ditching their holy philosophies of non-violence, to drown the sage into the sea binding him with a rock. The king who ditched the justice and neutrality ordered so to his men. The miscreants executed the order pushing him in the deep sea with a rock binding him. The true devotee who had an unshakable faith in the Great Rescuer was determined to praise the Lord with the wonderful hymn that would nurture determination to one who sings it "choRRuNai vEdhiyan" and sang in that chaste words with overwhelming love namaH shivAya , the great Holy Five Letters of the Lord. The Holy five letters that brings up the creatures from the ocean of source of suffering, no doubt made the rock itself a boat to uphold thrirun^Avukkarachar perumAn on its head. The bond with the rock was broken as the bonds are broken for one who bows down to the Lord who has the mountain as His bow. The ocean of great peerless love floated over the what looked in comparison a small sea. The sea dhEva was blessed to hold the great sage over him. The sage who crossed the limits of what one considers impossible deeds arrived on that rock to the town of Lord thiruppAdhirippuliyUr .
He prostrated down to the crescent ornated Lord there praising It as the invisible companion of the devotees in the hymn. Out of the love to salute the Lord of thiruvadhikai vIrattam he proceeded to thiruvadhikai. On the way he saluted and sang in love the God in the towns of thirumANikkuzi and thiruththinain^agar . The entire town thiruvadhikai was in the mood of festivity to welcome the great sage who won all the sinful deeds of the ignorants and exhibited the greatness of shaivam. The sage smeared in holy ash, gold like in appearance, with the holy rudhrAksha bead ornament, mind fixed on mahEsha , eyes wet with the tears of complete love and tongue praising the Lord giving the entire world beautiful hymns on which it can stand on, entered the town. The people who saw him could not resist thinking how did the Jains dared to do the cruelties to this sage of love. Surrounded by the devotees the seer entered the abode of the Lord and cried in all humbleness, "How did I, the poor in knowledge, maligned this great Graceful Lord in the past ?!". The king by now realizing the Truth and repenting for his sins denounced the Jains and surrendered to the sage who won without wars. The king built a temple for the Lord there called guNaparavIchcharam . The sage immersed himself in the service of the Lord shiva.
The sage who won the evils by love, undertook many pilgrimages to salute, sing and serve the strange Lord shiva in His abodes. He got the blessings of the God in thiruveNNai n^allUr, thirukkOvalUr . He went to thiruth thUN^kAnai mAdam of the Lord with wide matted hair. He requested that Golden feet to put the emblems of the Lord - thrishUlam and holy bull - on his shoulders as a mark of his slavery to the God and thus side lining the comments of his earlier bad association. (" PonnAr thiruvadikku "). Accepting the prayer of his pure heart which had the Lord in an indelible marvelous fashion, the Lord made one of His soldiers to place those holy marks on him. The great and humble sage submitted himself to the Supreme and thanked from the bottom of the heart for blessing his request. While serving the Lord there, he worshiped the nearby abodes thiru araththuRai, thiru mudhukunRam . Praying the other abodes and proceeding towards the east he prostrated to the Lord in thiru n^ivAkkarai .
Yearning to see the thiruth thillai (chithambaram) where the Lord magnificently dances by which movements the entire world functions, the mount of knowledge thirun^Avukkarachar arrived there. He reached there crossing the fertile fields flowing with water that appeared like the fields melted at the marvelous lovely form of that seer. The devotees of that coveted town came to salute the sage. With them he entered the town where the harmony of reciting vEdas heightens the thinking and the service of the slaves of God is superior as they try to do them in the ideal way - flawless. Saluting the seven stage western tower of the temple, with the thrust to pray the dancing Lord going up he entered to see the kanaka sabhai and the God was dancing in his heart. Hands were up on the head folded; Eyes showering tears of joy; The blessed body kept prostrating; The hairs in the body stood up in the height of emotions; The love and interest crossed the limits on seeing the feet that are synonymous with beauty that were not found by even brahma and vishNu. The spring of his wonderful words came out with nectar as he sang many hymns on Him there. Doing the service of cleaning the temple with deep love, he went and worshiped the Lord at thiruvEtkaLam, thiruk kazippAlai .
Thinking of the mind stealing Dancing God of thiruth thillai he came back singing "How can I, the slave, forget the dancing marvel even for the smallest denomination of time ?!". While he was doing determined service to the Lord there, he came to hear the gem like hymns of thirunyAnachampan^dhar (1) through the devotees. He wanted to salute the great small child who had the milk of the mother of the world and sang pointing to the God, "He is my Lord" in the budding age. Immediately he started off from there saluting the Lord of thiruth thillai. He worshiped the God in thirun^AraiyUr and arrived at the abode where the Lord came in a boat at the time of a deluge - chIrkAzi . On hearing that the old respectable sage, the king of God, thirun^Avukkarachar was coming with the bunch of devotees the son of God, thirunyAnachampan^dhar with a huge interest to prostrate him came forward. The sage fell down on the prodigy's feet with unfalling love, the immense kid prostrated to him back in all obedience and called with great respect, "apparE" (Oh! father!) to which the sage responded, "I, thy slave". The God had shown the greatest boon on the devotees who were present there to worship the two greatest unparalleled saints.
The two wonderable saints who are like the two eyes of shaivam arrived in the abode of the eight armed Lord. Subduing to the tower of the Lord in chIrkAzi they went in to worship the Wonder with woman to His side. The prodigy requested appar perumAn to sing a song on the Lord. With deep devotion he sang on the Lord. They stayed with growing love for each other for many days in that town. appar wanted to pray the God in various places on the banks of river kAvEri . The great kid accompanied him to thiruk kOalakkA and returned with great love and respect for him.
appar continued his travel to worship the lovely places of the Lord thirukkaruppaRiyalUr, thiruppunkUr, thirun^IdUr, thirukkuRukkai, thirun^inRiyUr, thirun^anippaLLI, thiruchchemponpaLLI, mayilAduthuRai, thiruththuruththi, thiruvELvikkudi, thiruedhirkoLpAdi, thirukkOdikA, thiruvAvaduthiuRai, thiruvidaimarudhUr, thirun^AgEchchuram, pazaiyARai. In thiruchchaththimuRRam he prayed to the Lord to grace by placing His holy feet on his head before the dreadful death can approach. The Lord who won the death asked him to come to thirun^allUR . There He put His vEdas praised feet that resides in the minds of the devotees on the head of the great sage to his ecstasy. He sang, "The Lord of thirun^allUr placed His holy foot which is wet with the honey that drips from the blooming selected good flowers that dhEvAs offered, on my head". ( n^inain^dhurukum adiyArai ). He was happy like the poor who got the indiminishing wealth and did the services to sha.nkara . He saluted thirukkarukAvUr, thiruvAvUr, thiruppAlai and was worshiping the Lord of thirun^allUr all the times.
Receiving the blessings of the Lord he went to serve the luminant Lord at the town thirup pazanam who dances in the dark forests. Worshiping the wonderful temples of the Thunder Haired around thiruppazanam he reached thiN^gaLUr . He heard and saw the superb services of the devotee who is superior among who chant vEdas, called appUdhi adikaLAr (2). He was doing all the services in an adorable fashion in the name of thirun^Avukkarachar. appar went to his house and humbly told that he was the person who was rescued by the mercy of the God from the ignorance of Jainism. appUdhi adikaLar was shocked with joy to see the sage he salutes. He pleaded to the seer to accept the feast at his place. He appeared like a person who got the greatest boon when the sage accepted it. His family prepared the most delicious food and fine arrangements for the feast. When everything was ready appUdhi adikaLAr asked his son who had the name of the sage himself to get banana leaf for serving the food. The fate that was waiting as a snake in the garden bit the boy. But the young great boy who was in no way less in devotion to the Lord and devotees rushed back to his mother to give the leaves. The couple of unthinkable dedication hid their loving son's body and proceeded to host the feast. Coming to know all the things that happened appar was appalled by their sacrifice. He prayed to the Source of everything and got the child back to life out of Its grace. He made appUdhi adikaLAr happy by having food at his place who was feeling bad for delaying the seer's feast. appar praised the his greatness in the hymn he sang as they went to thiruppazanam.
He prayed the Lord in the places near thiruchchORRuththuRai , continued the services at thirup pazanam. He came to the southern bank of river kAvEri to prostrate to the Lord of thirun^allUr. While serving the God there he wanted to worship thiruvArUr the abode of thyAgEsha . He went to thiruvArUr worshiping the Lord including in the places pazaiyARai, thiruvalanychuzi, thirukkudamUkku, thirun^AlUr, thenthiruchchERai, thirukkudavAyil, thirun^aRaiyUr, pAlUr, thenthiruvAnychiyam, peruvELUr . With the roar of the devotees to welcome the sage who floated on the sea winning the sabotage of some Jains, he arrived there. He entered thinking him as a servant of those servants of God. He saluted the dhEvAchiriyan and went to worship the Lord in the anthill - the altar of the temple. With the tears of joy showering from the sacred eyes he saluted the Lord and sang His fame. He stayed in dhEvAchiriyan with adiyArs cleaning the surroundings of the temple praising It always. He sang the service of n^amin^an^dhi adikaL (3) and saluted the thiru araneRi . He worshiped the God in thiruvalivalam, kIzvELUr, kanRAppUr and returned back to thiruvArUr. He worshiped the thiruvAdhirai festival (4) when the Lord comes in procession blessing the dEvas, sages and one who salutes. He stayed there for many days unable to part the Lord of thiruvArUr.
The king of God, thirun^Avukkarachar keeping the holy feet of the Lord of thiruvArUr wanted to worship the God at pUmpukalUr . At the same time at the muruga n^AyanAr (1) monastery, the young prodigy thirunyAnychampan^dhar (2) was there after worshiping many abodes of the Lord. He along with the devotees came to receive appar. With the huge number of sacred hearted devotees the meeting was like the meeting of two oceans. When asked about the festivities in thiruvArUr appar sang "muththu vidhAnam" that described the magnificent thiruvAdhirai(3) festival. Attracted to worship the God of thiruvArUr, thirunyAnachampan^dhar told appar perumAn that he would salute thiruvArUr and come back to stay with him. appar praised the Lord sweeter than honey residing at pUmpukalUr with melting heart and stayed there serving Him. He worshiped thiruchcheN^kAttaN^kudi, thirun^aLLARu, ayavan^dhi, thirumarukal and returned back to thiruppukalUr. Meanwhile thirunyAnachampan^dhar returned after praising the Lord of thiruvArUr. Then two more great devotees chiRuththoNdar (4), n^Ilanakkar(5) also joined them. Nothing can be said other than great for such an assembly of great devotees. When great people meet they talk only great, they at the monastery of muruga n^AyanAr talked about the Great Lord on the great white kailAsham .
Later appar left pUmpukalUr along with thirunyAnachampan^dhar to sing the other abodes of God leaving other devotees. They saluted the Supreme at thiru ambar and proceeded to thirukkadavUr vIrattam the place where the Lord kicked the death to death for the devotee. At the kuN^kiliyak kalaya n^AyanAr (6) monastery they accepted the food along with other devotees. They worshiped thiruk kadavUr mayAnam, thiruvAkkUr and reached at thiru vIzi mizalai . With emerging emotions of extreme love they prostrated to the Premier Lord of thiruvIzimizalai and sang beautiful poetry. After some time due to the failure of monsoon and drought in river kAvEri there was not enough food resulting in a famine. While the people were suffering due to the famine the Lord with deer and axe appeared in the dreams of the two saints and told them that though they were beyond getting suffered due to famine, for the benefit of the devotees who salute them, the Lord would give a solution. From the next day they were getting a coin each on the eastern and western dais of the temple by the grace of God. Those selfless service minded devotees used that golden coin to feed the entire public whoever salutes the hunger removing Lord shiva. Those true devotees did not stop at elevating themselves but made efforts with sincere motive to alleviate the pain of all others by the grace of God. While shiva Itself is the form of love how can the dedicated devotees who never stray away from Him overlook the pains of others ? The sage of flawless, faithful service got flawless golden coins from that flawless Mercy. Thus they both killed the killing famine there. When the planetary motion became normal and the rain showered making the people rejoice bringing the awesome famine to an end, the two devotees thought of worshiping the other abodes of the Blue-throated.
Praying the Lord of thiruvAnychiyam they arrived at thirumaRaikkAdu . Circumambulating the temple the king of God and son of God arrived in front of the altar of the God. The historic big door through which once upon a time the great vEdas went and worshiped the Heart of vEdas, was sealed by the vEdas after the worship. The two saints saw all the devotees using a sideway door to enter the temple and worship. The saint of chIrkAzi requested appar perumAn to sing to open the door so that they can enter the temple through the door facing the abode. On his words thirun^Avukkarachar sang a padhikam starting "paNNInEru moziyAL". Probably the Lord was so involved in his wonderful praise that the door did not open even after the tenth hymn ! Then he sang "irakkam onRillIr" (You have no mercy) upon which the Lord immediately opened that giant door. Amidst the roaring devotees upon this marvel they went in. Worshiped the Warrior on earth chariot with wholeness of devotion. After coming out appar asked thirunyAnachampan^dhar to sing to close the door. As soon as he started to sing the door closed itself. Exclaiming the grace of God he completed the padhikam . Then on that famous door was used by the local people everyday for worship. Later in the mutt wondering the simplicity of champan^dhar's hymn upon which the door closed immediately, the humble most appar perumAn was afraid that he did not understand the grace of the Lord. With this thoughts he slept in a corner.
In the dream of that sincere servant the Supreme appeared to say, "Will be there in vAymUr, come along". Surprised the sage got up and left the thirumaRaikkAdu. The Source as guide led him. The Lord showed a beautiful temple and got obscured in the temple. appar followed Him but could not catch Him. By this time champan^dhar also hearing about this came there. Worried if he against the idea of God opened the door, he was yearning to see the Lord. Then the Lord showed His graceful form unexplorable by even brahma and vishNu to champan^dhar and to appar perumAn also making him sing that God. Then they went to thiruvAymUr to pray to the Lord with perennial love. Praising the Lord of thiruvAymUr to their satisfaction to the world's satisfaction to the Lord's satisfaction and keeping His holy feet in the mind they returned back to the vEdas praising thirumaRaikkAdu. Then some messengers for champan^dhar from the pANdiya minister kulachchiRai n^AyanAr (7) sent in presence of the queen maN^gaiyarkkarachiyAr (8) came. To the prodigy who enquired about the well-being of those two marvelous devotees, they replied they were happy praising the feet of champan^dhar who came to establish the greatness of shaivam and told that the bad deeds of Jains go beyond the limits of tolerance in their kingdom. Determined to enlighten the king and the people of shaivam champan^dhar raised to go to the pANdiya kingdom. The sage of superior affection, appar did not wanted to allow him as he was anxious about the tortures those merciless people would do to the child champan^dhar. But the saint of chIrkAzi was determined to exhibit the supremacy of shaivam and decided not to do anything else before that. When appar wanted to go and prove the greatness of the grace of shiva and the love for Him himself instead of young champan^dhar, champan^dhar was strong that he would go himself. With appar perumAn unable to hold him back champn^dhar proceeded to pANdiya kindom.
After worshiping thirumaRaikkAdu appar perumAn wanted to worship the Lord of thiruvIzimizalai again. He went there saluting the shrine in n^AgappattiNam . From thiruvIzimizalai he went to thiruvAvadu thuRai sang the grace of God and proceeded to pazaiyARai . There the Jains obscured the very old abode of the Lord and claimed the place to be theirs. The humble but cannot be humbled, the courteous but not coward, fighting for the justice but not adopting violence as the default way, the soft but determined sage sat in fast next to the shrine saying he would not leave till he gets to worship the Omnipresent Almighty taken abode there. The caring Lord appeared in the dream of the king and instructed him the location where the Jains have hid the abode. Awakened in surprise the king rushed with his courtmen to the site following the marks told by the Lord and removed all the barricades raised by the Jains saluting the sage. The king made a nice altar with tower. Then the victorious valiant sage worshiped the God who can not be obscured the transience.
He traveled on the banks of the river kAvEri worshiping the Lord in the abodes on both the banks. He saluted thiruvAnaikkA, thiruveRumbiyUr, thiruchchirAppaLLi, kaRkudi, thirupparAyththuRai and other abodes doing his great service with the hand plow and proceeded towards thiruppainynyIli . The journey was tiring making him thirsty, hungry and fatiguous - the three major recurring physical deficiencies to quench which the human strives hard. The sage holding the feet of the Absolute with non falling spirit went ahead on his way of determination to thiruppainynyIli. Can the Mercy on the mountains which responded even to the cry of the piglets, bear the trouble Its truthful slave was undergoing ? It appeared in the form of an ash smeared chanter of vEdas on his way with food waiting for the devotee to arrive. He told him to have the food He has, drink the chill water from the pond nearby and come out of fatigue. appar ate the food the Lord who gave the nectar to the dEvas gave and felt quite pleasant. The Lord in some other form asked him where he was going to. To the saint who said he was going to thiruppainynIli He - the company of whom the great sages desire to cross the ocean of disturbances said He too is going there and accompanied him. As they reached thiruppainynIli the Lord disappeared. The sage stricken with wonder and admiration fell on the feet of the Lord of thiruppainynyIli to praise the immense grace He showed for him.
He traveled towards north to reach thiruvaNNAmalai to rejoice in the worship of the Lord making even the life better than liberation itself ! He proceeded to the pallava kingdom then. He first prostrated to the Lord of thiruvOththUr . As he was coming towards the city kAnychi , the entire city ornated itself to receive the sage who traversed the ulterior disturbances victoriously with the grace of the yOganatha . Saluting the ocean of saluting devotees he went to worship the Lord who dissolved in the devotion of the mother of the Universe at thirukkachchi Ekampam and poured the holy water of his tears of love. Worshiping often at the place where an immense love was shown to the world Ekampam he worshiped the Lord in thiruk kachchi mayAnam, thiruk kachchi mERRaLi, thirumARpERu and many other abodes in kanychi a city famous for its innumerous shrines. He continued to north to serve in the abodes thirukkazukunRam, thiruvAnmiyUr, mayilAppUr to salute and stay at thiruvoRRIyUr for some time. He further worshiped the shrines thiruppAchUr, thiru AlaN^kAdu, thiruk kArikarai . He went ahead to salute the golden haired Lord's abode thirukkALaththi where He showed the greatness of simple love of the hunter devotee kaNNappa n^AyanAr (1).
Yearning to see the beautiful and holy most abode of the Lord kailAsham he continued his journey towards north. He worshiped the thirupparuppadham (shri shailam) , traveled then in karnataka, maharashtra, madhya pradhesh and arrived finally in vAraNAsi . He saluted the Lord having ga.nga in His matted hair taken abode on the banks of ga.nga in vAraNAsi with whole hearted devotion. Leaving back the other pilgrims there he continued his pilgrimage to mount kailAsh. He proceeded to the Himalayan forests where even dEvas would be afraid to go alone. In those days when there was no proper means of transport for traveling such a long distance - thousands of kilometers - can be considered to be an achievement. He traveled in the rough and tough surfaces of the mountains without anybody's help without any vehicle to carry him. All he had was only two things. One was devotion and the other was determination. Those two for him were not in small amounts but were as giant as the mountain he was climbing. Walking day and night his lotus like feet were worn out, but his eagerness to worship the Lord with His consort on the mount was not. With his hands he leapt forward to continue his journey. With the wrists broken after some time he with an undiminishing love he crept forward with his body. The bones in chest broken, with the flesh coming out, he was not able to do that even. Even at that situation his determination was not reduced even by the size of a bead. He rolled ahead in his journey towards Him. The entire body was torn and was not able to roll even. Still he tried to push his body forward and move. Immense is his determination ! If one says it as strong as a rock it may exaggerate the strength of the rock.
Blessing the world to have some more of the honey like hymns of appar the Lord came in the form of a sage and asked appar why he was toiling like that. When appar told that he wanted to worship the Lord on kailAsh He told it is not so easy a task and asked him to return back. But appar perumAn was firm that he would not return without seeing the Lord at kailAsham. The Strength of the devotees looking at the strong dedication of the devotee disappeared in the horizon and raised the voice, "Oh great king of words! Raise ! Have a dip in this pond and see us in the form we are at kailAsham raising from the pond in thiruvaiyARu .". With all the wounds vanished he rose with a luminant body to salute the Almighty with the grace of that Grace. With the hands folded on the head keeping the order of the Lord on his head he entered the pond. To the surprise of the entire world, by the grace that can not be measured by anybody he appeared in one of the ponds in thiruvaiyARu . He saw everything in thiruvaiyARu reflecting the principle of shiva and shakthi. He came praising them in front of the shrine of the Lord in thiruvaiyARu. The temple appeared as the mount kailAsh with the praise of vishNu, brahma, indra and other dEvas, and the sets of different people like devAs, daemons, sages, ga.ndharvas present, the dancing women of Heaven like ramba, Urvasi performing, all the rivers including ga.nga worshiping, the great servant n^aN^dhi dEvar guarding the abode, saw on the mount of silver with the creeper of emerald, the shining beautiful ruby hill like on the Holy Bull with the Goddess of the mountain the Generous Great God. Saluted Him, sang unable to find words, danced in ecstasy, with the hair standing throughout the body he cried. Who can tell the state of that highly dedicated sage when he saw the Lord! He got the reward for his determination. He was in that bliss for quite a long time. Then the Lord changed the scene to make everything look normal in their usual way. Consoling himself that it was God's grace appar sang the scene unseen by others in beautiful hymn "mAdhar piRaik kaNNIyAnai" . He explains admirably the unparalleled kailAsha scene he saw. He stayed in thiruvaiyARu serving, saluting and singing the Lord different kinds of songs thiruththANdakam, thirukkuRun^thokai, thirun^Erichai, thiruviruththam .
Worshiping the wide matted haired Lord of thiruvaiyARU appar traveled to the abodes near that wonderful town. He saluted the Lord in thirun^eyththAnam, thirumazapAdi and reached in thirup pUn^thuruththi . Praising the Truth smeared in white ash with a pearl like body coming on the white bull, the sage who never forgot to do service to the Lord was very much willing to stay in that place always worshiping the Three-eyed Wonder. With His grace he founded a magnificent monastery there to sing the Lord who sang the holy vEdas and serve that Lord who enjoys in the Self. He recited a lots of hymns on the Lord staying there. While he was in thirup pUn^thuruththi, the child in appearance but magnificent in actions who established the path of shaivam in southern pANdiya kingdom, straightening up the back of the king and his justice - thirunyAna champan^dhar (1) came there. Hearing that the king of God is in thirup pUn^thuruththi he rushed there to meet the sage he revered so much that he did not want to call him even appa (father) but gave even much more respect by calling him appar .
Hearing that the young victorious saint was coming, old sage of matured love with an increasing eagerness to salute the prodigy mingled without anybody's notice in the huge crowd that was assembled to welcome the young saint. The great men are more and more humble. The sage who would be admired always for his service and devotion, appreciating whose devotion the Lord showed even the kailAsham at thiruvaiyARu humbly went and carried the pearl pallack (palanquin, litter) of thirunyAnachampan^dhar feeling that as a boon. When the pallack reached thiruppUn^thuruththi thirunyAnachampan^dhar enquired where the great sage appar perumAn was. To that the modest marvelous sage replied, "Thy slave got the great boon of carrying thy feet and am here." Appalled to see this thirunyAnachampan^dhar jumped out hurriedly from the pallack to prostrate to the great sage and asked with shivering words why did that revered great sage did that. The sage saluted him in all love and said how else he could serve the great thirunyAnachampan^dhar. The entire ocean of crowd roared to see the meeting of those two huge oceans of devotion.
Those two beacons of flourishment of shaivam went to worship the flawless Father of the Universe at thirup pUn^thuruththi. The king of words eagerly heard from the devotees came along the splendid deeds of resurrection of pANdiya kingdom in shaivam by the prodigy. Hearing the affection of the queen maN^gaiyarkkarachiyAr and the devotion of kulachchiRaiyAr , he wanted to go for pilgrimage in that thamiz kingdom. Hearing about the pretty most abodes of the Lord in thoNdai kingdom from the king of words the prodigy left to worship them. Soon appar perumAn went to pANdiya kingdom first to thirup puththUr . Then he went to the abode of the Eldest the great famous thiru AlavAy (madhurai) . With folded hands and converging mind he enjoyed the bliss that the honey like Lord offers. He was worshiped by the three wonderful devotees who served for the flourishment of shaivam in pANdiya kingdom the king n^inRa chIr n^edumARa n^AyanAr (2), the queen maN^gaiyarkkarachiyAr (3), the prime minister kulachchiraiyAr (4). He praised the Lord in thiruppUvaNam and went to salute the Lord who blessed the famous king of ayOdhya, the avatAr of mahA vishNu shri rAmachan^dhra at rAmEshwaram . He prostrated the shrines at thirun^elvEli, thiruk kAnappEr and many other abodes of Lord shiva.
After worshiping the abodes in pANdiya kingdom he came back to the chOza kingdom to the town called pUmpukalUr . Serving the Supreme there with melting heart everyday he sang a lots of his famous thiruth thANdakam s and many other songs. The God who grants the sea of grace wanted to show to the entire world the undisturbable mentally blissful state of the sage. He made gold and gems to appear along with the sand and stone in the temple premises. Considering them as valuable as the rolling stones on the path when doing the cleaning service in the abode he through them along with normal stones with his hand plow into the pond. He was too rich - he had the great wealth shiva who is the Lord of everything with him - to treat gems superior to pebbles. To that sage who had won one major distraction of desire for wealth the beautiful girls of the Heaven on whose beauty even the valiants who could face any number of perils fail. They used to dance, sing, pour flowers on him and did all the tricks to infatuate him. But the thirun^Avukkarachar perumAn was minding the service to God only with the mind never off tracking from the unparalleled parallel feet of the Blissgiving Beauty singing, "What do I require from you ? Am the slave of the Lord of thiruvArUr. Don't strain yourselves". Unable to distract the immense devotee inseparably involved in the God, they saluted him and returned back. If the blessings of the Lord who burnt the lust is there even the unfailing arrows of the cupid will fail.
That form of devotion, the king of words was staying in that coveted blissful state enjoying His grace for some time. Then he sat under the perennially blissful feet of the Attributeless in the form of the knowledge of the bliss of Lord shiva singing "puNNiyA ! unnadikkE pOdhukinrEn" (Oh Good deed ! am going to your feet) with the shower of flowers that Heavenly people did and with the praise of many sages on the day of chadhayam in the month of chiththirai. His fame is beyond the reach of covering. Great is the God, marvelous was this sage, superior was his service, kindling are his hymns. Let the unthinkably devotional, determined, flawless service of thirun^Avukkarachu n^AyanAr stay in the mind.

Sarvam Sri SeetaRamachandraparabramha aarpanamastu