SrI: SrImathE satakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
vyAsa and parAsara come back to ANdAL pAtti’s house after playing with their friends. They find ANdAL pAtti arranging fruits, flowers and nuts in a plate:
vyAsa: pAtti, whom are you arranging these fruits and flowers for?
ANdAL pAtti: vyAsa, It is time for srIranganAthan’s procession and he visits us on the way. When someone visits us as our guests, especially elders, it is our duty to take care of them, while they are with us. That too when a grand eternal king visits us, we need to ensure that he is taken care of thoroughly.
parAsara: Oh sure, pAtti. Then, I will give the fruits to srIranganAthan, when he arrives.
ANdAL pAtti: That’s so nice of you, parAsara. Come, let’s wait at the entrance for his arrival.
namperumAL (srIranganAthan) arrives in front of ANdAL pAtti’s home. parAsara is found gleaming at the propect of providing the fruits and flowers to srIranganAthan
parAsara : pAtti, What does he hold on his left hand?
chakram (disc) in right hand, sanku (conch) in left hand – above his shoulders,
abhaya hastham (posture giving protection) in right hand, mace in left hand – below his shoulders
ANdAL pAtti: He holds a mace in his left hand, parAsara. In the archAvathAram of srIranganAthan, he has four hands. On the other left hand over his shoulder, he holds a conch and on the hand seen above his right shoulder, he holds a sudharsana chakram. He shows his weapons to inform us, that he is always around to take care of us and to destroy our difficulties.
vyAsa: What does the right hand signify, pAtti?
abhaya hastham – posture of hand giving us protection
ANdAL pAtti: That’s a nice question. His right hand is directed affectionately towards us to say that “I am here to take care of you, so don’t fear” and also to let us know his affection for all of us. Just like how a cow runs to a calf, when the calf needs her, no matter how the calf might have behaved before.
tall crown (supremacy) and smiling face (simplicity)
vyAsa: Ok, pAtti. Then, what does he have over his head?
ANdAL pAtti: It’s a crown, vyAsa. It shows that he is the owner of everything in this world.
parAsara: The crown looks very good, pAtti. It fits very well with his adorable face
ANdAL pAtti: Yes, he has the most adorable face. He is always happy being with us, that too when he is between children like you, he is even happier.
parAsara: Yes, pAtti. I saw him from a very close distance. I could also see him smiling and his feet even closer.
ANdAL pAtti: Oh, that’s nice parAsara. We usually say “lotus feet” due to its tender and beautiful nature. His smiling face indicates that he is easily he has descended joyfully to be with us. His lotus feet are so firmly placed over the pItam (lotus flower base), which means that he has come down for us and he will not leave us. So, today, we have seen some of his main auspicious qualities in his archAvatharam form namely vAthsalyam (motherly forbearance – him showing his hand in protecting us), svAmithvam (supremacy – long crown), sauseelyam (mixing freely with us – ever-present smile in his beautiful face) and saulabhyam (easy approachability – his lotus feet which is easy to hold on to).
vyAsa and parAsara stand in awe and their eyes follow the procession as it goes past them.
Author: jayakrishNan rAmAnuja dAsan – edited by sArathy rAmanuja dAsan
It is really really wonderful even for elders to read about His glory and simplicity as if it is for the first time we are reading and knowing about Him the Almighty. Only our LOrd can be as fresh to us as a just blooming lotus turned toward us smiling and glistening. Oh! Its a superb initiative and i pray to Peria Perumal and Peria Piratiyar to get this across to as many young ones as possible.
adiyen Ramanuja dasi
Excellent! Reminds Emberumaanaar’s Gadyam especially the last pargraph. Kireetam and Abhaya hastam close up very excellent. Even when I visited Srirangam I didn’t see with such clarity. I will repeatedly visit here to see them. Thiruvadi close up is essntial. Please add pictures for every description. Like Mace. It is not visible in the picture. Abhaya Hastam is prominently displayed. That’s how all others – paadaadi kesam.
Very easy to read the website and place lot of demands. Very difficult to get this executed. Please forgive me giving work to you.
thanks for the feedback. Mace is in the left hand – yes in this picture its not so prominently visible.
adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan