STORY OF SRIRANGAM.
PART 3.
THREE SOUTH—LOOKING GODS.
BALANCE BETWEEN SAIVAM AND VAISHNAVAM.
Vigneshwara’s father Sri Parameswara faces towards south when He takes the forms of Dhakshinamurthy and
Nataraja. Now He has installed His uncle also facing south! Dhakshinamurthy sits in deep meditation oblivious
to the whole world. Nataraja, on the other hand conducts the whole business of the world as a dance drama,
and dances gloriously! Perumal, as a ‘sleeping’ God, is in the same state of meditation as Dhakshinamurthy.
But Perumal’s is not called ‘Samaadhi’ but is called as ‘Nidhra’ (sleep). Why? He plays all sorts of illusory
games, which we do not understand, is it not? Therefore, remaining in the state of ‘sleep’, He performs the job of
Creation of Prapancha and Life, as His own imagination, as we perform a lot of jobs in our dream! Therefore
this was considered as His Dream. Dream will occur in sleep only, is it not? Therefore His ‘Samaadhi’ is called
‘Nidhra’ or Sleep. Another reason for saying this is that He, instead of sitting and ‘dreaming’, lies down fully.
But His ‘Nidhra’ is not like our ‘Sleep’ and so it is named as ‘Yoga Nidhra’. Unlike our awarenessless sleep, He
sleeps with awareness and conducts the business of Creation. Hence that sleep is aptly named அறிதுயில் in
Tamil. அரி செய்வது அறிதுயில்!
When father’s job of ‘Deep Meditation’ ( Dhakshinamurthy) and the job of conducting the world
(Nataraja) are both done, facing south, uncle, who does both the jobs, should also face
south, is it not? Vigneshwara might have thought in these lines! So now when He confiscated
the Rangaraja Vigraham from Vibeeshana ( Periava laughs and says, “like customs officials
confiscate some items to prevent them from being taken abroad”), in order not to deprive him of the
Anugraham, He decided to install It facing south, simultaneously satisfying His own wish of installing His uncle the
same way like His father faces. It seems so!
To be continued………..
PART 3.
THREE SOUTH—LOOKING GODS.
BALANCE BETWEEN SAIVAM AND VAISHNAVAM.
Vigneshwara’s father Sri Parameswara faces towards south when He takes the forms of Dhakshinamurthy and
Nataraja. Now He has installed His uncle also facing south! Dhakshinamurthy sits in deep meditation oblivious
to the whole world. Nataraja, on the other hand conducts the whole business of the world as a dance drama,
and dances gloriously! Perumal, as a ‘sleeping’ God, is in the same state of meditation as Dhakshinamurthy.
But Perumal’s is not called ‘Samaadhi’ but is called as ‘Nidhra’ (sleep). Why? He plays all sorts of illusory
games, which we do not understand, is it not? Therefore, remaining in the state of ‘sleep’, He performs the job of
Creation of Prapancha and Life, as His own imagination, as we perform a lot of jobs in our dream! Therefore
this was considered as His Dream. Dream will occur in sleep only, is it not? Therefore His ‘Samaadhi’ is called
‘Nidhra’ or Sleep. Another reason for saying this is that He, instead of sitting and ‘dreaming’, lies down fully.
But His ‘Nidhra’ is not like our ‘Sleep’ and so it is named as ‘Yoga Nidhra’. Unlike our awarenessless sleep, He
sleeps with awareness and conducts the business of Creation. Hence that sleep is aptly named அறிதுயில் in
Tamil. அரி செய்வது அறிதுயில்!
When father’s job of ‘Deep Meditation’ ( Dhakshinamurthy) and the job of conducting the world
(Nataraja) are both done, facing south, uncle, who does both the jobs, should also face
south, is it not? Vigneshwara might have thought in these lines! So now when He confiscated
the Rangaraja Vigraham from Vibeeshana ( Periava laughs and says, “like customs officials
confiscate some items to prevent them from being taken abroad”), in order not to deprive him of the
Anugraham, He decided to install It facing south, simultaneously satisfying His own wish of installing His uncle the
same way like His father faces. It seems so!
To be continued………..