ATHIMAANUSHA STHAVAM OF SRI KOORATHAAZHWAN
Part 4 (Slokas 16 and 17)
(ANBIL RAMASWAMY)
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SLOKAM 16
Tvan nirmitaa jaTaragaa cha tava trilOkee
Kim bikshaNaadiyamrutE bhavataa duraapaa? /
madhyE kadaa tu na vichakramishE jagachchEt
tvad vikramai: kathamiva sruti ranjitaa syaat? //

?Oh! Emperumaan! You created all the three worlds. You kept them in safe
custody in your tummy. Could you not think of any way other than begging
Mahaabali to get back your own property? If you had not measured the worlds
with your feet at some ancient times, how could the Vedas recount your
glories as Trivikrama and your exploits that you enacted on earth? May be,
it is with this in mind, you sought to measure the world under the pretext
of receiving from Mahaabali by begging?

NOTES:
? Viswakarma Sooktam says that the Lord created all the worlds by his
very
wish (Sankalpam)
?ya imaa viswaa bhuvanaani juhvata?
? Sruti says that at the time of deluge, the Lord gulped the worlds as
easily as swallowing a small rose apple (Jambu)
?grasEt samhaara samayE jagascha badaraaNDavat /
leelayaa yastu Bhagavaan thum gachcha saraNam Harim?
? KaTavalli describes how the Lord swallowed the worlds as if they were
just
handful of cooked rice (Annam) with Yama as a pickle to go with it.
?yasya Brahma cha Kashtram cha ubhE bhavata Odana:/
Mrityu: yasya upasEchanam ka ithaa vEda yatra sa:?
? The Vedas have declared that all that was, is and will be are yours
?yad bhootam yat cha bhavyam, uda amrutatvasyEsaana? and ?asyEsaanaa jagatO
vishNU patnee?
? This being the case, could you not have wrested your property from
Mahaabali, without resorting to begging?
? Did not Azhwar say:
?seeraai pirandu sirappaai vaLaraadu
pEr vaamanan agaakkaal pEraaLaa!- maarbaarap
pulgi nee uNDu umiznhnda bhoomi neer yErparidE?
Sollu nee yam ariya soozhndu?
MEANING:

? The whole of VishNU Sooktam makes special mention about how the Lord
measured the worlds and how far his third step went and how by this act all
the worlds became purified proving him to be the Supreme being (Paramaatma),
how the waters of Ganga flows from his feet, how the water could transform
ordinary deities into celestials capable of bestowing boons on other beings.
That is why KoorEsar uses the word ?anjitaa? which means ?glorious?
? Vedas are like departmental stores where under one roof you can get
anything you want. It provides for means to achieve trivial gains as well as
great ones and the greatest one of ?mOksha?. If the vEdas had not sung the
glory of the Lord and thus shown the supreme maarga also, it would have
become an exercise in futility.
? What is meant by the term ?Veda??
pratyakshEna anumityaa vaa yah tu upaayO na gamyatE /
yEnam vidanti vEdEna tasmaat vEdasya vEdataa //
It is because they reveal the means (upaayas) that are beyond physical
perception (pratyaksha) and by mental comprehension or inference (anumaana),
it is called VEDa. Otherwise, they would lose their ?VEdatvam? itself.
Perhaps to ensure VeEdatvam to Vedas that the Lord took the Trivikrama
Avataara, so that they could bring out his glory for all to see and attain
his feet, says Azhwaan.

SLOKAM 17:

Etat katham kathaya yat mathitas tvayaa asou
Hitvaa svabhaava niyamam prathitam trilOKhyaam /
Aswa apsarO visha sudhaa vidhu paarijaata
Lakshmee aatmanaa pariNata: jaladhir babhoova //

?Oh! Lord! We know that it is in the nature of things to change into
another. But, how is it, that the milky ocean that you churned went beyond
and changed into many different things all at once ? like Uchaisravas, the
horse, Ramba, MEnaka and other divine damsels, Haalaahala, the most potent
poison, the just opposite nectar (amrita), various medicinal herbs, the
Moon, the Kalapaka (the wish yielding tree) and Periya PiraaTTi herself!
Only you can explain this strange phenomenon. Please explain?

NOTES:
? We have seen milk turning into yogurt, threads turning into fine
textiles,
mud becoming pots etc. But, it is strange that so many different things
could emerge from the milk in the Ksheeraabdi when the Lord had it churned.
? Vedas describe the churning episode thus:
?vaayurasmaa upaamanthat pinashTi smaakunannamaa/
kEsee vishasya paatrENa yad rudrENaapibat saha?
? Sri VishNu PuraaNam, Srimad RamayaNam, Sri Bhaaratam, Sri VishNu
dharmam
and other scriptural texts allude to this ?churning of the milky ocean?
elaborately.
? They describe how good and bad, immobile and mobile (JaTa and ajaTa),
male
and female, solids and liquids, big and small, exalted and mean things
emerged from the milky ocean. This is possible only due to the superhuman
feats (Athimaanusha ChEshTitam) of the Lord.
? They describe how the Lord made the Mantara Mountain as the
churndashery,
Vaasuki, the serpent as the churning rope etc.
? ILango ADigaL in his ?Aaaychiyar kuravai? also describes this incident
as
follows: ?vaDavaraiyai mathaakki vaasukiyai naaN aakki?
? When the mountain wobbled, the Lord took the form of a tortoise and
bore
the mountain on his back and took another form to press it down to stop it?s
wobbling.
?KsheerOda madhyE Bhagavaan koorma roopi svayam Hari: /
manthaanaadrEra adhishTaanam bhramatO abhoot, mahaa munE!? //
? It would appear that the Lord took the form of a dEva on the side of
dEvas
and as a Daanava on the side of Daanavas and pulled the rope.
?roopENa anyEna dEvaanaam madhyE chakra gadaa dhara: /
chakarsha naaga raajaanam ditya madhyE aparENa cha // (Paraasarar)
? He also empowered Vaasuki with his tEjas to relieve Vaasuki of the
breathlessness he suffered in the process of churning.
?tEjasaa naagaraajam thum tathaapyaayitavaan hari: /
anyEna tEjasaa dEvaan upabrimhitvaan prabhu: // (Paraasarar)
? He let go the elder sister (moodEvi) and chose to wed the younger one
who
came after her (pinnai). And became ?pinnaimanaaLan? I.e. Periya PiraaTTi.
VishNu puraaNam describes this:
?pasyataam dEva dEvaanaam yayou vakshasthalam harE:?
? Not only this. In order to show that the one with the bull on his flag
(Siva) and Brahma, Indra and the rest were incapable of administering the
curative for the ailment of Samsaaram, he himself appeared as the divine
physician ?Dhanvantari?
? eruthukkoDiyaanum piramanum indiranum marrum oruttarum ip piravi ennum
nOikku marundu arivaarum illai? and He himself is the ?maruttuvanaai ninra
maa maNi vaNNan?
?tatO Dhanvantarir dEva: swetaambaradhara: svayam / bibrat kamaNDalum
poorNam amrutasya samuthita: //
? Thus, he proved that all others were merely instruments but He himself
did
all the works connected with the churning.
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Slokas 18 to 32 relate to the exploits of the Lord in his Avataara as Sri
Rama. Azhwaan challenges Sri Rama?s claim ?aatmaanam maanusham manyE? by
cataloguing the events in which the Paratvam of the Lord got betrayed much
against the said claim. This is one of the most interesting parts of this
Athimaanusha Sthavam. We will commence studying them in the forthcoming
postings