THE DIVINE LOOT BY AZHWAR AT SEERKAZHEE IN TAMILNADU

Near Seerkazhee in Tamilnadu ,  few hundred years ago there lived a patriotic Army General  of  Chozha  king who earned the king's goodwill and respect with his devoted work.  He was  blessed with a  handsome  male child, whom the parents  named Neelan , due to his dark (neela mEga) colour.



Neelan  appeared  during the auspicious karthiga month ( November-December ) on  kritigai nakshathram,  a full moon day. Legend reveal  the child  was an incarnation of the Lord's Sarngam (Divine bow).



Neelan grew up as a shrewd  boy, learning tamil and sanskrit . Well versed in sword fight, horse and  elephant riding, as required for  protecting the kingdom which made people like  him very much. As Neelan's father was not able to continue his services due to his old age , the Chozha  king, having heard about Neelan, appointed him as the Army General . Neelan being  dynamic captured the neighboring states with tact and impressed the King with his  valor .



 The king ,  immensely pleased with him  presented  a small portion of his kingdom, a place named  Thirumangai, as a tribute and made him a  TERRITORY  KING! (Thus he came to be known as "Thirumangai mannan".

 

That was his first success as a army general . The royal life that he enjoyed made him slip  from  devotional practices   and  as normally seen ,   pride went on  to his head. He took to all vices due to the position and  caught in seeking sensual pleasures.  The sudden change in his behavior  made his  parents wonder. They  were helpless and could do nothing  except  to  pray  Lord to correct their dear   kaliyan .



All compassionate Lord Sriman Narayana  did listen to their prayers . A divine pastime was about to happen ...



  In the same kingdom Tirumangai , a gandharva who was previously  cursed  by kapila muni appeared  as the most beautiful daughter of a local doctor named  Kumudhavalli   . It was the  divine will for her to play a role of mending  Neelan ( Kaliyan ) .



 Being an incarnate of devalokam , she was exquisitely pretty and could attract even a recluse.  Thirumangai mannan heard of her alluringly feminine beauty and wished to see her immediately. He went on a ride to her place and was  captivated by her darting glance at him and  fell head over heels for her.  As a King , he  proposed to marry her.

Kumudhavalli  pleased with his proposal ,  stipulated two prerequisites to qualify for marrying her.



 She wished   her husband should become a  srivaishnava and  feed 1000  bhagavathas  daily   . Kaliyan , being intoxicated by her looks, agreed after listening to her conditions immediately. They got married.

With a bright Thirumankaapu , thulasi maalai , he paid obeisance's to LORD  and started  serving  Mahaprasada  for   bhagavathas daily as promised .



 Slowly  the infection  to serve  bhagavathas  day by day got charged up and   Kaliyan  was turning  into a true, sincere devotee of the Lord. He was getting tremendous satisfaction from serving   the devotees daily.

While this divine kainkaryam  was going on,  as expected , the entire treasury  was invisibly being spent for   AnnadhAnam kainkaryam.  As a territorial King he could not even send the "tax" which  was supposed to reach the Chozha  king every year.

The Chozha  King sent a message  to Kaliyan  asking him pay the taxes that was collected  at the earliest which he has been  ignoring . As there was no proper response the  king got wild  and  sent  his soldiers to  rough him up .



Kaliyan sent them back effortlessly with his fighting skills. Amused , the  king himself came with a heavy army and attacked Thirumangai mannan. Even though Thirumangai mannan's army was small, he fought and won the battle.

 With gratitude to the King , Thirumangai Mannan went to the royal highness  and submitted !




Your highness ! I accept my fault in overlooking  your  command and utilised the funds to perform this special  service . But , please accept that the tax money was  spent for  a bhagavatha kainkaryam which is a essential rajadharma . When this noble service was rebuted by your men ..  How can I  remain mute   and allow them  to imprison me?" That was the reason I was forced to retaliate .


The Chozha  king  replied...... 

dear  Kaliyan !!! 

"I made you a king of this  territory  that  gave you all these luxuries.  You have overstepped the royal command and  fought with me, too" and become ungrateful . I feel  really very very sad ...

 

Kaliyan  was upset with the Kings remark calling him  "ungrateful" . Without loosing any time , Kaliyan threw away his sword and bowed down before the king and  submits .....



Oh Highness  !! Am I ungrateful? was not these kingdoms  I captured for you.

OK ! Now I am standing in front of you as the same Neelan . Go ahead and do what you wish to do with me". 



Seeing Kaliyan's obedience , the king melted and was moved with his behavior .

He hugged Kaliyan  and said  dear kaliyan ..... I am convinced ......



  But ! the royal commandments  cannot be overlooked . Hence please arrange to send all the tax money in a period of three days And till then, you will be imprisoned in  this  temple.

Kaliyan was  sad . There was no way he could get any money and hence, he surrendered to  the Lord to help him. The  all compassionate Lord was kind to his services . The Lord appeared in his dream and suggested him to go to the banks of river vedhavathi near kanchipuram where he could find a big treasure . 



Overjoyed , He narrates the  divine dream to the king. Kaliyan is released and he along with few ministers travel up to kanchi, and  find a   BIG TREASURE   near  the   vedhavathi river banks .

Having heard this news,  the  king  personally meets Kaliyan and bows to him for his devotion  .    My dear Kaliyan " I have done a great mistake of taxing a great  devotee like you . Please take all this treasure and let me send you back with full Royal honors for you to carry out the  divine service which pleases you  .



The  residents  of Thirumangai are  thrilled .  Kaliyan  revives the service  for 1000 bhagavthas  more aggressively as usual. Over a period of time  they find themselves left with no wealth for continuing  the  service .

With a view to keeping  his promise to his beloved wife,  Kaliyan  resorts to highway robbery from rich people who seldom care about bhagavathas.



 With the booty, he continues the   services once again .

 To enlighten  Kaliyan , Lord out of abundant mercy appear on the highway as a"just married" couple with  lots of jewels adorned on  them.  Kaliyan  is overjoyed to loot this new wedded couple  Looking at them with so many jewels  he thanks LORD  for the booty  to be robbed .

Kaliyan marches before them on his horse  demands  them to surrender all they have .  Lord  pretends and do  precisely what is  instructed to them . They put all their ornaments on a piece of cloth as commanded. When  Kaliyan  tries  to lift the bundle of ornaments  he is not able   to move it a bit!



He was shocked and perplexed as to why it was so difficult to move it! The bridegroom has a mischievous smile . Kaliyan with a fierce look into  the bridegrooms  eyes ,  asks him

 Hey You !!!!! Tell me .....

What is the  spell ...that  manthram you have for lifting this bundle?.

Tell me, else......................................"



 He draws the  sword near him . The divine parents have a gentle smile  .They ask  Kaliyan to purify himself in the nearby   kaveri tributary  flowing there .

Kaliyan purifies himself and gets attracted to the divine couple who are full of opulence ..He comes  near the Lordships  .



 Lord  all compassionate and all merciful whispers near his right year the nectarian Ashtaakshari  mantra . 

 Having heard those EIGHT SYALLABLES (AshtAksharam) MANTRA right from none other than LORD ( SRIYA: PATHI HIMSELF ) himself.....

 his mind, his heart became PURE! instantly .

 All his  material dirt disappears !  He prostrates fully at their Lotus feet with eyes full of tears at their mercy to bless him despite his shortcomings and negative qualities.



Kaliyan  realises  the purpose of his birth and pours  out tamizh pAsurams on the Lord as if it comes from just opened dam ("madai thirandha veLLam pOl"). He looked at the sky and kept on crying ceaselessly for their dayA on his lowly self. His hands and the legs were shivering with tremendous amount of bhakti and love for the Lord.






He came back galloping on his horse named ADALMAA to narrate the ENTIRE EXCITING INCIDENT to his beloved kumudhavalli. Kumudhavalli, before he started even, asked him as to why his face looked so bright, serene, divine and beaming .



He said "kumudhA, I have reached the purpose of my manushya janmam kumudhA. I have seen NARAYANA, kumudhA.

(nAn kaNdu koNdEn NARAYANAnai).

He was too excited to even complete his statements in a coherent manner. (After all, he has been initited by SarvEswaran Himself!). Kumudhavalli said, "Then, I have also reached the purpose of my deputation (by Lord through kapila muni)" and she narrated her story.

Our AzhwAr became all the more blissful and happier to know that The Lord Sriya: pathih sent Kumudhavalli only to set him right from his wrong path and corrected him. He could not control his tears and sobbed heavily at the Lord's mercy on him repeatedly .

His outburst of HIS BLISS was shared through HIS pasurams and visited almost about 86 temples . He also took efforts to construct Temple walls of Srirangam without affecting ThoNdaradippodiAzhwAr's nandhavanam.

("pAdi pAdi paraparappAi thirinthAr")

His compositions were  Periya thirumozhi ,  Periya thirumadal ,  SiRiya thirumadal , Thiru nedunthANdakam ,  Thiru KurunthANdakam,  Thiru vezhuk kurrirukkai.

Here is one of his periya thirumozhi pasurams recorded at the venue

vAdinEn vAdi varundhinEn manatthaal/ perun thuyaridum idumbaiyil piRanNdhu/ koodinEn koodi iLaiyavar thammOdu/ avar tharum kalaviyE karudhi/ OdinEn Odi uyvadhOr poruLaal/ uNarvenum perumpadhan therindhu

/ naadinEn nAdi nadi nAn kaNdukoNdEn/ nArAyaNA vennum nAmam.

Being born into this body, a reservoir of profound sorrow, I am repenting, melting and crying, I am filled with pathos and self-pity;I have let myself run after beautiful women, seeking the sensual pleasures from their union; Through the grace of our Lord I have now realized that there is a greater goal and That will deliver me into eternal happiness

.....I have been searching for this state and have now found it IN THE SWEET NAME NARAYANA.

This pASsuram will bring tears to the eyes of any Vaishnava for AzhwAr'sBhakti and love and his heart longing for the lotus feet of our Lord Narayana. The clip was taken 2 years back during adiyens pilgrimage..

All glories to Azhwar

Fortunate are those devotees participating in Azhwars Thiruvedipuri Utsavam day on 10th  and  11-04-2017..

Adiyen Ramanuja dasan