SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
kulaSEkarAzhwAr was born in thiruvanjikkaLam – near thirumUzhikaLam– a malayALa dhivya dhESam. His star is punarpUsam, in the month of mAsi. Since he was born in SrI rAma’s star punarpUsam, he was deeply engrossed in SrI rAmAvathAram. He spent all his time listening to SrI rAmAyaNam. He arranged for discourses on rAmAyaNam by experts and kept on listening to it. He was born in kshathriya clan. He was the king of kings. But he considered himself a servant and that made him feel fortunate. He was very devoted to SrIrangam and desired to visit SrIrangam every day. He had strong bhakti and faith on bhAgavathas.
kulasEkarAzhwAr vAzhi thirunAmam:
anjana mAmalaip piRavi AdhariththOn vAzhiyE
aNi arangar maNath thUNai adaindhuyndhOn vAzhiyE
vanji nagaram thannil vAzha vandhOn vAzhiyE
mAsi thanil punarpUsam vandhudhiththAn vAzhiyE
anjalenak kudap pAmbil angai ittAn vAzhiyE
anavaradham irAma kadhai aruLumuvan vAzhiyE
senjol mozhi nURRanjum seppinAn vAzhiyE
sEralar kOn sengamalath thiruvadigaL vAzhiyE
Simple meaning
anjana mAmalaip piRavi AdhariththOn vAzhiyE
anjana mAmalai means thirumalai. He longed for a birth in thiruvEngada (thiruvEnkata) hills. He was very much desirous to be born as anything in thiruvEngada hills. He graced ‘UnEru selvaththu’ padhigam in his perumAL thirumozhi, a special padhigam for thiruvEngadamudaiyAn. In that padhigam, AzhwAr wanted to be born as something that had some connection with the Lord. He wished to be born as a crane or heron in the kOnEri pushkaraNi. To be a fish in a lake in thirumalA hills. When they offer arghya, pAdhyams (offering water for washing the divine hands and feet) to perumAL, AzhwAr wanted to be there as the person who carries the golden vessel that takes the water in. He wanted to be born as that golden vessel. He wanted to be born as a sheNbaga tree; he wanted to be a pillar there. He either wanted to be a step or the path that leads to thiruvEngada hills. AzhwAr wanted to be in thirumalA in some form where perumAL stands permanently. Our pUrvAchAryas have elaborated perumAL thirumozhi beautifully with deep meanings.
ananthAzhwAn is one of the well-known pUrvAchAryas. He came to know about the greatness of emperumAnAr and surrendered to him. He became a disciple of aruLALap perumAL emperumAnAr as desired by emperumAnAr. He went to thirumalai to serve thiruvEngadamudaiyAn by the order of emperumAnAr. He created a beautiful garden and a pond; and was doing pushpa kainkaryam (garland making) to thiruvEngadamudaiyAn. He was of the opinion that even if he was thiruvEngadamudaiyAn himself, it was good. He should be some kind of a thing in thirumalai. He may be thiruvEngadamudaiyAn himself, or may be in any form – no matter what form – he may be a slave to emperumAn, but he should be in thirumalai. His presence in thirumalai was important to him.
parASara bhattar, when he chanted ‘perumAL thirumozhi’, felt that kulaSEkara AzhwAr wanted to be ‘a thing’ in thirumalai – it may be an invisible stone or a log – nobody should recognize him including dhEvathAs, human being etc.. He didn’t expect anyone to recognize or celebrate him. But, his very presence in thirumalai is what he desired. These are some of our pUrvAchAryas’ great feelings while chanting ‘perumAL thirumozhi’.
Likewise, kulaSEkara AzhwAr prays to emperumAn to become a stepping -stone outside perumAL’s sannidhi – ‘padiyAik kidanthu un pavaLa vAi kANbEnE’ – he considered this status to be of higher level. A stepping stone is an ‘achith’ –. lifeless, sense-less thing. It doesn’t possess any knowledge about paramAthmA. In spite of that, he wanted to enjoy perumAL’s thirup pavaLangaL (thiru adharangaL – divine lips) and the smile that blossoms on his lips. This is what he prayed to thiruvEngadamudaiyAn at the end of ‘UnEru selvaththu’ padhigam. This is the reason, even today, we call the step-stone near perumAL sannidhi as ‘kulasEkaran padi ‘. May this AzhwAr, who wanted to attain this very highest level in thirumalai, live long!
aNiyarangar maNath thUNai adaindhuinthOn vAzhiyE
There are two pillars in front of periya perumAL in SrIrangam. They are called thirumaNath thUNgaL (auspicious pillars). AzhwArs and AchAryas used to rest their back on these pillars when they did mangaLAsAsanam (wishing auspiciousness to the Lord). We can even say that they would take support of those pillars while having dharSan of perumAL. Because when they see perumAL, his beauty would make their heart and body melt and they were unable to stand. These pillars would help them to hold on to it and prevent them from falling unconsciously.
If we take refuge at these pillars, we can attain a greater birth. May this AzhwAr, who at the end of his life, went to SrIrangam and attained a greater status as he wished, live long!
vanjinagaran thannil vAzha vanthOn vAzhiyE
This AzhwAr was born in thiruvanjikaLam. He had a very high level of involvement in SrI rAmAvathAram and he reached SrIrangam. May this AzhwAr live thousands and thousands of years!
mAsi thanir punarpUsam vanthuthiththAn vAzhiyE
May this AzhwAr, who was born in mAsi month, punarpUsa star, livethousands and thousands of years!
anjalena kudappAmbil angaiyittAn vAzhiyE
This AzhwAr put his hand in a pot where there were many poisonous snakes. This is an interesting incident that took place when AzhwAr was deeply involved in bhakthi. He was very kind to SrI rAma bhakthas. He was very involved and devoted to the bhAgavathas as they were very innocent and pure. The ministers thought that it was not right for a king to be like this (attached to the bhAgavathas). To divert his mind from these bhAgavathas they hid some of perumAL’s jewels (thiru AbaraNangaL) and blamed the SrIvaishNavas as thieves. AzhwAr strongly believed that they had no need to hide the jewels as they believed in emperumAn and they were innocent.
AzhwAr was very sure that these SrIvaishNavas were not thieves. He wanted to prove this. He ordered his ministers to bring a pot full of poisonous snakes. He took an oath that if the SrIvaishNavas were thieves, the poisonous snakes would bite him when he put his hand into the pot. If not, the ministers should accept their guilt. In those days, it was believed that, whoever wanted to prove the truth, should put their hand in a pot of snakes.
When he put his hand inside the pot, the snakes didn’t bite him. The ministers apologized to AzhwAr.
anavaradhamirAma kathai aruLumavan vAzhiyE
This AzhwAr always used to listen to SrI rAma’s stories. while listening to SrI rAmayanam, he would imagine that he was also in that yuga (time). One time, the upanyAsakar was explaining how sIthA was kidnapped by rAvaNa and AzhwAr, forgetting the time and place, ordered his army to get ready to assist SrI rAma to bring back sIthA from rAvaNa. After seeing this, upanyAsakar told him that SrI rAma won the battle against rAvaNa and that sIthA was safe. Only then, AzhwAr regained his senses and realized that he was in a different period of time. May this AzhwAr, who was deeply involved in SrI rAmAvathAram, live long!
senjolmozhi nURRanjum seppinAn vAzhiyE
In sampradhAyam, SrI rAma is referred to as perumAL, since AzhwAr was intimately attached with SrI rAma, he came to be known as kulaSEkarap perumAL to reflect his attachment to perumAL.
May this AzhwAr, who graced this world with 105 pAsurams containing beautiful words as ‘perumAL thirumozhi’, live long!
‘sEralarkOn sengamalath thiruvadigaL vAzhiyE’
May the reddish, lotus-like feet ( thiruvadigaL) of the king of sEra dynasty, live forever!
adiyen ranjani rAmAnuja dAsyai
adiyen chitra rAmAnuja dAsyai
Source: https://divyaprabandham.koyil.org/index.php/2020/12/vazhi-thirunamams-kulasekarazhwar-periyazhwar-andal-tamil-simple/
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