[Poygai Azhwaar] [pEy Azhwaar] [Nammazhwaar]
[Thirumangai Azhwaar] [Swami Desikan]

Four Azhwaaars have dedicated fourty-seven Paasurams to Him and have received His Anugraham. Nammazhwaar, in his song, describes the Lord as "Than oppillathavan Oppiliappan" (He who has no comparision). Other Azhwaars who sang in praise of the Lord were Peyazhwaar, Poigaiazhwaar, and Thirumangaiazhwaar. Swami Desikan summarizes the ten verses of Nammaazhwaar in his Tatparya Ratnavali.

[poygai Aazhwaar]

vEnkadamum "viNNagarum vehhaavum
akkaatha poongidankil
neeL kOval ponnagarum
naankidaththum ninRaan irunthaan.

Here poygai Aazhwaar confirms this kshEtram as SriVaikuNdan in Ninra sayanam.

[pEy Aazhwaar]

When pEy azhwAr refersto viNNagram in his sixty-second pAsuram he lists vinNagaram prior to other divya dEsams and describes that the kalyAna gunAs of Lord thiruvikraman who folded His palms to receive the kamandala jalam from king mahAbali and therey by accpet the yAgadhAnam and claimed the "title" over one and all from there on.

There are two different kamandala jalams here that paved way for this proclamation of ownership over all jivans who have ever since been created and thrived on this earth. The first one, the kamandala jalam of King mahAbali, was the one He washed His hands with, while the second one, the kamandal jalam of brahma, was the one He washed His holy feet with.
This reminds one of the thirumanchana sEvai at this temple.

paNdellaam vEnkadam paaRkadal vaikuntham
koNdaaNG kuRaivaarkku "kOil pOl"
vaNdu vaLankiLaru neeL sOlai vaN poonkadaigai
iLankumaran than "viNNagar".

Here pEy azhwaar confirms that He is ever young and always present.

[Nammazhwaar]

When Nammazhwaar arrived here, he was also pondering over eighty of his own paasurams that he had already delivered, as he himself was not clear about certains aspects of their meaning.

It was here, in ThiruvinNagar Kshetram, that the Lord hurried to appear before Nammazhwaar, who was about abandon him with anger, for being insensitive to his request of Darsanam. Our Lord could not bear with the thought of losing His Parama Bhaktha and rushed to his side and made the Azhwaar enjoy His Ananta Kalyaana Gunas and His unmatchable beauty. The Azhwaar felt thoroughly appeased and specially blessed to have Darshan of the five forms of the Lord and declared :

Ennappan Enakkayigulaai Ennai Perravalaai
Ponnappan Maniappan Mutthappanenappanumaai
Minnapponmadhil Soozh Thiruvinnagar Sernda Appan
Tannoppaarillappan Tantanan Tanathaal Nizhaleh
 

The Azhwaar describes the Lord as Panchavataaran here and states that the Lord travelled to ThiruvinNagar in search of him to remove his dejection and united with him and gave him the comforting and cool shade of His lotus feet as his solace and refuge.

The Lord not only cleared his doubts on such paaurams that had "munnukkum pinnukkum muranaana poruL" in it and also made him realise that He is present in those paasurams as antharyaamim. Hence namaalwaar sung in praise of him as "sEraatha poruLkaLellaam sErththa perumaL".

The Lord was overjoyed and hugged and embraced azwaar here and pOkaathaoorkaLin (Divya Desams) sevaiyellam saathithaar. i.e. the Lord also offered nammazhwaar the darshan of various other kshEkthrams that Nammazhwaar had not yet visited.

kaaNminkaL ulakeer enRu kaNmukappE nimarntha
thaaLiNaiyanRannaik kurukoor sadakOpan
sonna aayiraththuth thiruviNNagar paththum vallaar
kOnaiyinRi viNNOrk kenRum aavar kuravarkaLE
 

"kAnmin ulageer ! enak kaN mugappE nimirntha thaaL" ie "It seems Lord's holy feet said to bolooga vaasees during vaamana avathaaram, that "O folks of this boolOgam, watch this!" and while saying it seems the Holy Feet also grew and rose to reach beyond the vaan ulagam. (Thirumangai Aazhwar continues this sentiment). Nammaazhwaar equates himself to This holy feet in this verse saying "kan mugappE nimirntha thaaLiNaiyan" i.e. if you chant these 10 verses delivered by me " who is the equal (me)to such Holy Feet of Lord thiru viNNagaraan that rose in front of the eyes of boolOga vaasees".

the azhaar also asks us to look at His majesty, and as he "thaaLinaiyan", assures us that one who worships Hmwill surely become a member of the elite group of viNNvar's leaders. This being Lord Oppiliappan or thiru viNNagaraan

[Thirumangai Azhwaar]

Thirumangai has delivered 30 paasurams on Lord Oppiliappan with uncomparable references to thiruvikrama avathAram.
Thirumangai Aazhwar expresses all the attributes of This Lord in three chapters and swears that he does not want his samsaaram if this Lord will not bless him with His grace.

aandaay unaik kaaNbathOr "arUL" enkku arULithiyEl
vEdEn maNai vaazhk kaiyai viNNagar mEyavanE

It is believed that, during vaamana avathaaram, after booLogam was used for one foot, all the dEvaas and anthanaas of vaaNulagam were standing ready for the thiruvadi sErvai, so that all their "vinais" would be washed away, the instant His Feet were placed on their world. Thirumangai Aazhwaar sings this in his paasurm "paNdai nam vinai keda enRu andarum amararum...". The Aazhwaar emphasizes that one will get the same grace here when they worship the Lord with these paasurams.

[Swami Desikan]

Swami Desikan in his Tatparya RatnaavaLi summed up brilliantly the ten verses of Nammazhwaar this way and offered his MangaLaasAsanam to Sri Vaikunta Naathan of Oppiliappan Koil:

Sampat Dhaaridrya Bhaavaat
Asukasukakruteh: Pattana Graama Bhaavaat
Punyaapunyaadhi Bhaavaat Kapataruchutayaa
Sarvalokaadhi Bhavaat : I
Divyaadivyangavatvaat
Suradhitijagana
Snigdha Chatrutva Keerthyaa
Chaayaacchayaadhi Bhaavaat Aagatitha Gatanam
Praaha Krishnam Sataari : II

Here, Swami Desikan tersely summarizes tersely Bhagavad Anubhavam of Nammazhwaar at this Divya Desam. He says:

ThiruvinNagarappan is the antharyaami of opposing concepts (Dvandhvam)
such as poverty-wealth, sorrow-happiness and paapam-punyam. He rules over both the city and the village . He is the antharyami and reconciler of polar opposites such as Kapatam and righteousness. He is the indweller of all chetanas and Achetanas . He has the splenderous lustre and yet has even the lowly worlds as a part of his body .He is the unfailing protector of the Prapannas and destroys those , who cause harm to his Bhakthaas. He is of the form of both the cooling shade and the scorching heat and thus has the unique power to unite normally irreconcilable tattvaas.

Swami Desikan echoes the statement of Nammazhwaar that the Lord is
both Nimmittam and Upaadhaanam, He is both Praapyam and Praapakan.
He is one adorable principle that has spread in many ways and shines in
every corner of His universe.

Last modified on Thursday, February 1, 2001