ATHIMAANUSHA STHAVAM OF SRI KOORATHAAZHWAN
Part 3
(Slokas 11 and 12)
(ANBIL RAMASWAMY)
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SLOKAM 11: ?MASTER SEEKING A BOON FROM HIS VERY SERVANT?

yam paatakaat sumahata: apiudashaarayatvam
tvadpaada vaari paripoota siraas cha yObhoot /
tam vandasE kila, tatascha varam vriNeeshE!
kreeDaa vidhir bata vilaksaNa lakshaNas tE //

?How come! You seem to have bowed to and sought a boon (for begetting a son)
from the very same Siva whose sin of having nipped the head of his own father
(Brahma), was wiped out by the holy waters flowing from your feet??

COMMENTS:
? As per the Matsya puaNa (Chapter 182), once upon a time, Brahma, the
creator had 5 heads like Siva. They looked alike. Once when Siva had gone out,
Brahma came to Siva?s place. Parvati, wife of Siva mistook him to be Siva and
offered the usual courtesies. Unexpectedly, Siva barged in, saw what was going
on. In a fit of rage, he plucked one of the heads of Brahma.

Brahma cursed Siva that since Siva had harmed him thus; Siva would become a
mendicant roaming about with the skull of the head he had plucked.

Yasmaat anaparaadhasya sira: chinnam tvayaa mama /
Tasmaat saapa samaayukta: kapaalee tvam bhavishyasi //

Consequently, the skull stuck to his palm would not fall off.
Siva himself boasted: vaama ankushTa kara agrENa chinnam tas sirO mayaa?

Siva proceeded to Badarikaasramam and surrendered to Sriman Narayana for relief
from the curse. Emperumaan made an incision in his body and filled the skull
with the blood oozing out from there. Thereupon only, the skull got broken into
a thousand pieces and fell off from Siva?s palm. He narrates this incident and
confesses to his wife, Parvati, that he felt relieved as if he had gained a
great treasure while in a dream, thanks to the grace of Lord VishNu.

vishNuprasaadaat susrONi! kapaalam that sahasradhaa/
spOTitam bahudhaa yaatam svapnalabdam dhanam yathaa??

Varaaha PuraaNa, however, mentions the same story but instead of blood, it says
that the Lord filled the skull with his perspiration.

? SrimushNam Sthala PuraaNam mentions the same story and says that the
sweat from the Lord?s body became what is known as ?SwEda nadi (River of sweat).

? The question arises as to how blood and sweat could come out of Lord?s
body which is known as ?apraakritam?

Swami Desika gives an answer to this question:
The Lord is known as ?maayee?, one who works wonders. We have to take it that
the blood and sweat from the Lord?s Divya MangaLa vigraham was also created by
virtue of his ?maayaa?

? apraakritE bhagavad vigrahE yuddhaadishu atra cha
rudira swEdaadikam maayaasrushTam mantavyam?

? A reference to this incident can be gleaned from Srimad Vaalmiki
RamayaNam. Bharata swears to Kousalya that if he had been guilty of being
instrumental in sending Sri Rama to exile, he himself would roam the earth like
a crazy mendicant with a begging bowl in hand in the manner in which Siva
roamed. From this, it is clear that the act of cutting the head of one?s father
who doubled as Achaarya, one who had mastered the Vedas and Vedantas and that
too when one was innocent- was a serious crime.

?kapaalapaaNi: prithveem aTataam chera samvrita:/
bhikshamaaNO yatha unmatthO yasya aaryO animate gata:
(Valmiki Ramayanam Ayodhyaa khaaNDam 75-40)

Tirumangai Azhwar also refers to this thus:
?piNDiyaar maNDai yEnti pirar manai tiritandu uNNum
uNDiyaan saapam theertha oruvanoor ulagamEttum
kaNDiyoor, arangam, meyyam, kachi pEr mallai??

? Further,Veda declares that the holy waters flow from the feet of
Emperumaan
?VishNO: padE paramE madhva utsa:?

? Eeswara Samhita describes how Siva wore in the locks of his matted hair
on his head this holy waters flowing from Lord?s feet.
?tadambu parayaa bhaktyaa dadhaara sirasaa harah/
paavanaartham jaTaa madhyE yOghyOsmee iti avdhaaraNaat //?

? In Harivamsa, KrishNa is reported to have requested for a child from
Siva.

? Koorathaazhwaan wonders why the Lord who is so superior with status of
a powerful master to one and all (including Brahma and Siva) would seek a boon
from the same Siva, who, after all, was a minor deity (kshudra dEvata) and that
too for begetting a son!

? Varaaha PuraNa says that Rudra requested Narayana as follows:
?Please grant me a favor. In one of your Avataras, you should appear to pray to
me and ask for a boon, so that I can command some respect in the world? Sriman
Narayana agreed. That is why in KrishNa Avataara, he requested Rudra for a
child, just to keep up his promise.

? The less known fact, however, is that soon on granting the favor, Rudra
declared in the same Varaaha PuraaNa thus:

?KrishNa out of his simplicity only, came to me for a child. But, he is the
source of all beings. He is the protector of all. He is the supreme Tattva. He
alone gives mOksha?

(Vide page 65 of ?A dialogue on Hinduism? by Sri V.N. Gopala Desikan pub: Sri
VisishTadvaita Research Centre, Madras)

? The word ?kila? denotes that it was not really necessary for the Lord
to have begged for a boon but that he did so, just by way of enacting a play.
This does not detract from the Paratvam of the Lord but only reveals his
?Souseelyam? ?exhibiting his humility in spite of his Lordship (VilakshaNa
loakshaNas tE)

? This is one of those instances in which the Lord showed his
?Souseelyam? like for example, his being bound to a mortar by his mother,
YasOda,
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SLOKAM 12: ?MULTI HEADED MONSTER AND THE MAJESTIC LION?

kreeDaavidhE: parikaras tava yaa tu maayaa
saa mOhinee na katam asya tu hanta! jantO:!
Hi! Martya simha vapus tavat tEjasOmsE
Sambhur bhavan hi sarabha: salabhO babhoova //

?Oh! Lord! Your maaya indeed benumbs the intellect of all living beings. Did
not Siva who took the form of a strange and mighty animal (supposed to have
eight legs and wings) called ?sarabha? got burnt down in just one small spark
of your rage like a moth (viTTil poochi) that perishes in the blaze of fire??

COMMENTS:
? When the Lord took Nrisimha Avataara, the celestials were so scared of
his half-man, half- lion form. Siva assured them that he would take a stranger
form and confront Nrisimha thinking that the Lord would be scared. Over powered
by the ?maaya? of the Lord, Siva took the form of a strange winged animal
called ?Sarabha? with two heads, broad, powerful wings, sharp nails, eight legs
four of them protruding upwards, and other limbs looking like a cow and a bird
all at once and tried to fight Lord Nrisimha. In the process, the Lord
destroyed the animal and reduced it to ashes, as he did to
HiraNyakasipu.

? This is narrated in Varaaha PuraaNa thus:
hantum abyaagatam roudram sarabham narakEsaree /
Nakhair bidaarayaamaasa hiraNyakasipum yathaa //

? KoorEsar is not surprised at this because he knows that the Lord?s
?maaya? is capable of performing mind altering feats even among such great
masters of wisdom like Siva, Brahma etc. because all of them are subject to
their respective karmas (karmavasya)

? Sri Parasara says (5-30-7):
Brahmaadhyaa: sakalaa dEvaa; manushyaa: pasavas tathaa/
vishNu maayaamhaavarta mOhaandha tamasaa vrutaa: //

? Bhagavaan Himself has said in BG
Deivee hi Eshaa guNamayee mama maayaa duratyayaa /
maamEva yE prapadhyantE maayaam yEtaam taranti tE//

? A great Sanskrit scholar, Sri Srinivasacharya swami quotes an ancient
SlOkam on these lines:
namOstu narasimhaaya lakshmee sthiti jitakudE /
yad krOdaagnou puraa roudra: Sarabha: salabhaayatE //