GITA 10.32

GITA 10.32

SRI PUNDAREEKAVALLI THAYAR

Today's [9th September 2008] lecture is from the sannidhi of Sri Thayar of Tiruchithirakoodam, Sri Pundarikavalli Thayar. Kulasekara Alwar praised the Lord as Sri Rama. Sri Rama went to the forest along with Sri Sita. After killing Ravana and coronating Vibheeshana as the King of Lanka, Sri Rama came to Ayodhya with Sri Sita, by flying in Pushpaka vimanam and became the King of Ayodhya. Kulasekara Alwar says that he worshipped the same Sri Rama in this Kshetram. Therefore, we can say that Sri Sita is Sri Pundarikavalli Thayar here. This is the place of the Mother of all. It happens to be the place of the lecturer's [Sri UVe Velukkdi Krishnan swami] mother's place. Tirumangai Alwar after worshiping Sri Deivanayaka Perumal at Tiruvahindrapuram came to this place. On the way, he noticed lots of Siddhas and other Yogis doing penance or tapas. Alwar asked them as to why they were undergoing such difficulties. They replied that they were seeking Moksham. The Alwar wondered why all these hardships were necessary when by worshiping the Divine image of the Lord in Tiruchithirakoodam, same Moksham could be obtained. Telling this, immediately he came to this place. In the Ten pasurams on this Kshetram, he finds no reason to voluntarily suffer by performing severe tapas to get Moksham; but by worshiping the Lord here, one could achieve the same result. The Lord here is in bhoga sayanam and acted as a judge. Moolavar Sri Thayar is large. Utsavar is showing abhayam by the right hand and the left hand is pointing to Her feet, for us to surrender. Two elephants on the sides are serving and Sri Thayar graces with a smile and with all ornaments on. She is also called Sri GajaLakshmi. Narada's disciple sage Pundarika was on his way from the Himalayas. Wherever he saw lotus flowers, he performed pooja to the Lord with those flowers. Here also, he saw lotus flowers and collected them for pooja. But the Lord was not there. He prayed and then Sri Thayar on a lotus flower and the Lord on Garuda appeared to accept the pooja. Once there was a competition between lord Shiva and Sri Parvati, on who was the better dancer. They searched for a proper referee to decide and requested the Lord, an expert dancer Himself, to be the judge. The competition was severe. At one time, lord Shiva lifted one of his feet up and performed oorthva thandavam [ஊர்த்வ தாண்டவம்]. Being a female, Parvati could not perform that act and so the Lord ruled that lord Shiva as the winner. Now sloka 32:

sarganam adir antas ca
madhyam caivaham arjuna
adhyatma-vidya vidyanam
vadah pravadatam aham

"Of all creations, I am the beginning and the end and also the middle, O Arjuna. Of all sciences, I am the spiritual science of the self, and among logicians, I am the conclusive truth."

Sarganam = during creation, adi = beginning, anta = end, ca = and, madhyam = middle, aham = I [Sri Krishna] am, arjuna =Arjuna. The Lord is the Cause of all the beginning, the sustaining of all created and the destruction of all created. Adhi means the beginning. That is, He is the Leader of all Creators. Similarly, He is the Leader among all those who protect and Leader among all those who destroy [samharam - ஸம்ஹாரம்]. In the sloka, the order appears to be changed. Instead of saying beginning, middle and end, the Lord says beginning, end and then middle. Perhaps to emphasise He was the middle or referee here. Vidyanam = among the knowledge or education to achieve Moksham and all other knowledge, adyatma vidya = the knowledge about atman and Paramatman. We learn so many things, but they are of little use. Only learning Paramatman and reaching Moksham is proper learning. Pravadatam = among arguments, vada = vadam. Arguments are of many types:

• Jalpam = To argue points favourable to us and argue points against the opposite party.
• Vithanda = Only talking of the opponent's shortcomings, loudly.
• Chalam = Elaborating a point not told by the opponent and maintaining that for arguments.
• Vadam = Without resorting to what the two opposing parties told, but to argue the true and just points in any suit. To search for truth with open-mindedness and argue with the proper perspective.

In Mannargudi, while worshiping Sri Rajagopala Swami, it was mentioned that the Lord appears in 32 forms corresponding to 32 vidyas or learning. Dhahara vidya, sandilya vidya, kuhara vidya, vaiswanara vidya, etc are all very noble learning. Of these, the Lord says He is adyatma vidya. Atma denotes sou,l and adyatma refers to the Lord or Paramatma. Learning of atman and Paramatman is considered the best. We will now take leave of this Kshetram.

                                                                                                   (continued)