The third and the fourth lines of the Pasuram

"Kaayttha vaahai neRRu olippa kall athar vEynkazhai pOy
tEyttha theeyAl viNN sivakkum SingavEL KUnRamE"

AzhwAr says that this is the SingavEL KunRam, where even today one has to climb the hills with difficulty due to its challenging terrain. Here, the dry bamboo plants rub against one another as a result of the strong winds at Ahobilam and generate forest fires that reach sky high. The dried up fruits hanging on the many Vaahai trees burst open in the encompassing fire and shoot out their seeds noisily all around. The fire spreading from the dense bamboo bushes reminds one of the fires that shot up to the skies during the time of destruction of HiraNyan by Lord Narasimhan.

"ViNN sivakkum" sandhyA Kaalams must be wonderful to experience at the Ahobilam hills (SingavEL KunRam) as described by Thirumangai Mannan many hundreds of years ago.

 

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PASURAM 9

nallai nenjE naamm thozhuthum nammudaya namperumAn
alli mAthar pulha ninRa aayiram thOLan-idam
nelli malhik-kalludaippap-pul ilai aarntu atharvaay
silli sill yenRu oll aRAtha SingavEL KunramE (9)

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS

This is a moving one!

Lord Narasimhan has completed His avathAra Kaaryam. He sat on the throne of HiraNyan to cleanse it of its dhOshams and to consecrate it for the coronation of PrahlAdhan as the next asura king. Brahma and Siva concluded their sthuthis of the Lord. Our Lord's anger had still not subsided. DevAs requested MahA Laskshmi to appear before the Lord to calm Him down.

She saw Her Lord in a form that She had not heard about or seen before and wondered what this gigantic form with the head of a lion and the body of a human was. Out of wonderment and fear, She did not choose to go near the angry Narasimham sitting on the throne. Srimad BhAgavatham (7.9.2) describes this scene as:

SaakshAth SrI: prEkshithA dEvai: dhrushtvA tanmahadhadhbhutham adhrushta-asrutha poorvathvAth Saa nOpEyAya sankithA - (Sri. BhA - 7.9.2)

Brahma was now at his wit's end. He thought of an idea. PrahlAdhan was standing next to him and told PrahlAdhan: "Oh dear Child! Go near and appease the Lord, who is still mighty angry at your deceased father". The child PrahlAdhan responded positively and slowly came close to the Lord and prostrated before the Lord with folded hands.

The most compassionate Lord lifted the child that was prostrating before Him and embraced the dear one and placed His lotus soft hands on the child's head in benediction. PrahlAdhan was now rid of all his sins from the Lord's kara sparsam and shed tears of happiness. He meditated on the sacred feet of the Lord in his heart lotus. With a trembling voice choked with emotions, PrahlAdhan began to praise the Lord.

Here are some slOkAs from Srimath BhAgavatham (Translations are from Sri P.N. Krishnaswamy Iyengar of Coimbatore):

Srimath BhAgavatham: 7.9.9 " Oh Lord Narasimha! I think that mere riches (dhanam), family (abhijanam), beauty (roopam), penance (Tapas), skills (Srutha), strong will (Ojas) and bodily appearance (dEha Kaanthi), fame (PrabhAvam), strength of body (Pourusham), Balam, bravery, intelligence (Buddhi) and yoga practise — all these twelve are not useful for the worship of You,the Lord, if wanting in Bhakti. Was it not You, the Lord, pleased with the worship offered by a wild elephant (GajEndhra) which was devoid of all these?

SlOkam 7.9.10: "Oh Lord! I think that a chandaaLa, with Bhakti, is far superior to a Brahmin, who is possessed of all of the above 12 attributes but wanting in Bhakthi. For that ChaNdaaLa with Bhakti, he purifies himself and his whole clan; whereas that proud Brahmin does not purify even his own self ".

Portion of SlOkam 7.9.14: "Oh Lord! Please control Your anger! Let this avathAra of Yours be hereafter the object of meditation for men to get rid of all fears in their lives (roopam Nrusimha vibhayAya janA: smaranthy)."

Portion of SlOkam 7.9.15: "Oh Lord! You are invincible. I am not afraid of Your appearnace. These Brahma and other gods may be afraid of seeing You in this form after samhAram of my father. But, I am not afraid ".

SlOkam 7.9.24: "Oh Lord! Knowing as I do that all the long life, wealth and prosperity that are enjoyable from Brahma downwards are transient and fleeting. Those worldly pleasures are all subject to You. Hence, please take me in the assembly of Your servants (nijabhruthya paarsvam maamm upanaya)".

SlOkam 7.9.50: "Oh Lord! There are six ways to attain that Bhakti towards You. They are:

1. Prostration

2. Praising You

3. performing aarAdhanam for You

4. keeping dharmAs

5. Meditation of Your sacred feet

6. Hearing stories about You.

These are the ways of real devotes or BhaktAs or SanyAsis. Except by such sevA, it is not possible to reach the path of such sanyAsis or to become Your BhakthA."

Lord Narasimha was immensely pleased with the delightful and yet humble eulogy of PrahlAdhan and spoke to the child with bent knees in front of Him:

Vathsa PrahlAdha bhadhram tE preethOham tE asurOtthama
varam vruNeeshva abhimatham kaamapUrOasya aham nruNAm

"Oh Child PrahlAdha! All auspiciousness to You! Ask me of any boons. I am immensely pleased with thee. I am the fulfiller of all the prayers of the devotees of Mine".

PrahlAdha Sthuthi concludes with Sukha Braham's statement that PrahlAdha, even though tempted by the Lord Himself with the choicest of boons, which would have naturally enticed common folk did not desire any such boons even from the Lord Himself, since all his concentration and dhyAnam was on Lord Bhagavaan Himself and not on any other.

Lord Narasimhan was touched by the great bhakthi displayed by PrahlAdhan and became completely tranquil and approachable to MahA Lakshmi and the Deva samooham.

Thus after giving us a ring side seat to enjoy the happenings after HiraNya SamhAram viz. the fear of the DevAs, BrahmA's astute act to request Bhaktha SirOnmani, PrahlAdhan to approach the Lord first, to nullify the residual anger of the Lord and transform Him from the state of Ugra Narasimhan into the most compassionate DayALu and Soumya Moorthy, PrahlAdha Varadhan, Thirumangai next covers what happened thereafter at Ahobilam in this ninth Paasuram.

yogAnandha narasimhan [picture]

This signature Paasuram of Thirumangai Mannan is a nithyAnusandhAna Paasuram at Sri Matam. On hearing this Paasuram from the ThiruvAkku of Srimath Azhagiya Singar, "nammudaya NamperumAL, alli Maathar pulha ninRa aayiram thOLan" moves a little forward on His svarNa dOlai and blesses His

PadhukA Sevakar, SrivaNN SaThakOpa Sri NaarAyaNa Yathindhra MahA Desikan. Empowered by that Kusala Pracchnam, our NadamAdum Narasimhar places the SaThAri on the heads of AdhyApAka GhOshti. (Note: A very moving write-up on the daily routines of the SrI Matam AchAryAs written by Sri. Dileepan Parthasarathy Swami, interspersed with beautiful pictures can be found at: http://www.sundarasimham.org/ebooks/ebook79.htm)

Here is the Paasuram dear to Sri Nrusimha BhakthAs since the time of RasOkthi Saarvabhoumar, Kaliyan's time: