“Marra Prabhuhu”… the Lord of trees …..

Lord Krishna  in Guruvayoor stands out and has enticed everyone the most.  The beautiful stature of Lord Guruvayoor attracts the devotees to come in large numbers  and imagine to  hug the Lord.

Guruvayoor is located in Trichur district in Southern India.

Sri Narayana Bhattatri composed the beautiful Narayaneeyam, containing thousand slokas which is sung in most of the houses in India .

Guru and Vayu  adorned  the  deity  of Lord  Krishna to Narayana Saras and  ParamaShivan  was residing in a temple. On seeing  Lord  Krishna, it is said that  Shiva moved out of the temple and shifted to a place called Mammiyoor.

So  ParamaShiva gave his own place to Lord Krishna and that is verily where Guru and Vayu consecrated Krishna.

The little Krishna stands there as “Guruvayurappa” even today. ParamaShiva’s temple in Mammiyoor is about a kilometer away from the Guruvayur temple. It is believed that  Shiva looks at Lord Krishna and is doing penance in Mammiyoor.

Poonthanam was a great devotee of Lord Guruvayurappan . (Kerala ) . He was an ordinary and simple man . He was not familiar with Sanskrit . He used to sing praises of the Lord in Malayalam which was his mother tongue. 

Out of sheer love he wished to chant Sri Vishnusahsranamam  .

He  started  reciting Vishnu Shahasarnamam .

Among the 1000  holy names  at one particular place ,  instead of reciting the Holy name  as “Amara Prabhuhu” he recited it as “Mara Prabhuhu”.

Amara connotes Devas and Amara Prabhuhu means the ‘Lord of all Devas’.

Another great devotee of Lord Krishna ( Guruvayurappan ) Bhattathiri   a Sanskrit scholar the author of the epic Srimad Narayaneeyam , who was passing by  , heard Poonthanam reciting the nama as Mara Prabhuhu.

The next day, Poonthanam again recited the name as Mara Prabhuhu. Bhattathiri who was passing by  became  upset  hearing Poonthanam’s recital of Vishnu Shasarnamam He walked near to his place and roughed him not to  chant Vishnu Shasarnamam since he had not learnt it properly. Poonthanam was sad for the offence .He pleaded LORD to forgive for his poor knowledge in Sanskrit.

That very night, the all compassionate Lord  Krishna  arrived in Bhattathiri’s dream  and commanded  him that he was pleased with Poonthanam’s  devotion more than Bhattathiri’s scholarliness.

He also clarified that the holy name  he chanted was correct and  is indeed “Mara Prabhu” which connotes “Lord of all human beings, plants and animals”.  Lord  says my dear child ,  I am the bhagawan of amarars, then are you are the prabhu of trees. Because It is I who created the marars themselves. If a child is reading, don’t you know the meaning of it, being a maha pandit.

 Asvatthah sarva-vrikshanam (10.26), have I not told you in the Gita,

Among trees, I am the sacred Ashvattaha!

Why dont you say so?

Therefore I don’t need your vibhakthi, but I need Poonthanam bhakthi only,

‘Coming to terms ,  Bhattadri realises the offence he had committed .

The very next day, Bhattathiri  rushed to  his house and prostrated unto Poonthanam and that “Amara Prabhuhu” and “Mara Prabhuhu” are indeed correct and requested him to continue chanting the nama verse as “Mara Prabhuhu”.

It was indeed a divine play of the Lord to show that he was indeed “Mara Prabhuhu”.

There was a follower  of Poonthanam who would string garlands to  Lord Guruvayurappan. She would offer the garland to the Lord every evening.

One day she was running a little late as she had some chores to complete. By the time she reached the temple,  the Dolotsavam  was  over  and the temple was closed.

There was no one else in the temple and she saw Poonthanam, who was the last person to come out of the temple. She offered her obeisances  to Poonthanam and  expressed her  sadness  that she was not able to get the garland Lord  on time

Poonthanam took her near a tree before the temple  and asked to offer the same .This  tree called “Manjulal”  is housed outside Lord  Guruvayurappan temple.

One would first have the darshan of the  holy tree before entering the temple.

Since the Lord was “Mara Prabhuhu” who is the Lord of trees [Mara], Poonthanam requested the girl to offer the garland to this  tree. She implicitly obeyed Poonthanam and offered the garland to Manjulal.

 The next morning, when the priest  opened the temple to wake up the Lord, they saw the same garland around the Lord’s neck. Such was the Lord’s compassion on that little girl who verbatim obeyed  a devotees words.

Narayana Narayana Narayana Narayana  Narayana

Adiyen Ramanuja dasan

Pics : Courtesy Google pics and social media