Translated by Sri Ramanan Rajagopalan

The Real Protector ... continued

engirapadiyE than urukeduthu vErruru kondu thAy mugam kAttiyum insollu solliyum brAthAkkalum barthAkkalum negizhak kaNdu thAn nErittuk koNdu kazhuththilE Olai kattik koNdu thoodhu pOyum, puruvam neriththa idaththilE thErai nadAththiyum mArbilE ambEtrum sAvAmal nOkkiyum, seththArai meettum nArAyana prayukthaththAle udhara tharippAle agavAyilE nindru saththaiyai nOkki niRkaiyAlE rakshagan AvAn..

There are lots of instances where Sriyapthi has taken different forms to protect a soul. In fact, he also has come down to live in Divya Desams in various forms accepting the request of bhaktas. He is the one who shows complete motherly nature to all the souls. Initially we saw that even a mother cannot protect a soul. That instance refers to parental nature that leads one in the wrong direction.

kazhuthilE Olai kattik koNdu thoodhu pOyum
He has in fact indulged in lowly activities to just protect his bhakta. He went as a messenger for Pandavas by wearing the garland with olai. His kalyaNa guNam is more visible in the fact that He resides as Pandava Dhoothan in a Divya Desam for current day bhaktas.

puruvam neritha idathilE thErai nadAthiyum mArbilE ambEtrum sAvAmal nOkkiyum
He did not stop with this act. He won the battle for pandavas just by driving the chariot. Pandavas did not win the battle by their valour. He protected Arjuna from the rain of arrows by accepting them on His body. Again He shows His kalyana gunam with the same Thirumukhamandalam, as Parthasarathy in ThiruvallikkEni Divya Desam. He stood by His promise of not taking the weapon in His hand before the battle. Thirumangai Azhwar refers to this in his pasuram as..

paRRalar veeyak kOl kaiyil koNdu pArththan than thEr mun ninRAnai,
siRRavai paNiyAl mudi thuRandhAnaith thiruvallikkENik kaNdEnE
(Periya Thirumozhi 2.3.1)

Krishna also protected Arjuna from Agni asthram by making him get down the chariot first. Initially, Arjuna was hesitant to get down first, but Krishna requested him to get down.

seththArai meettum
He also protected the pandavas from yaksha and broght them back alive after they had consumed poisonous water. In other instance, Krishna brought back the son of His guru Sandipini from the clutches of an asura. This is referred to by Thirumangai Azhwar in his pasurams on Srirangam Perumal...

Othu vAymaiyum uvaniyap piRappum unakku mun thandha andhaNan oruvan,
kAdhalenmagan pugalidam kANEn kaNdu nee tharuvAy enakkenRu,
kOdhil vAymaiyinAn unai vENdiya kuRai mudiththavan siRuvanaik koduththAy,
AdhalAl vandhun adiyiNai adaindhEn aNi pozhil thiruvarangaththammAnE
(Periya Thirumozhi 5.8.7)

Azhwar refers to another instance where Krishna borught back the newborn babies of a rishi from Thayar in Paramapadam. Thayar had took those babies to just make Krishna come to paramapadam and show some of His leela.

vEdha vAy mozhi andhaNan oruvan enthai nin saraN ennudai manaivi,
kAdhal makkaLaip payaththalum kANAL kadiya theyvangoNdoLikkum, enRazhaippa
EdhalAr munnE innaruL avarkkuch seydhun makkaL maRRivarenRu koduththAy,
AdhalAl vandhun adiyiNai adaindhEn aNi pozhil thiruvarangaththammAne
(Periya Thirumozhi 5.8.8)

nArAyana prayukthathAle udhara tharippAle agavAyilE nindru sathaiyai nOkki niRkaiyAlE
His very name, Narayana refers to the fact that He is the one from whom everything arises and He is the one who sustains and protects us all. Hence, this relationship is similar to that of a baby's relationship with its mother's womb.

Swamy Pillai Lokacharyar continues with Akinchanyatvam and hence shows us that Narayana is the one and only protector for all the souls. We will look at that in the next posting, which will be the concluding one.