ThirunarAyaNapuram & Naanmukhan ThiruvandhAdhi

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends :

 

It was a great joy to learn that Thirumazhisai

AzhwAr"s prabhandham revered as " Naanmukhan

ThiruvandhAdhi " is the only prabhandham that is

recited at Melkote during the Lord"s Vaira Mudi Servai

uthsavam .

 

I was also thrilled to hear that Acharya RamAnujA's

olai suvadi is present at this Divya Desam for all of us to offer our

salutations even today and transport us back to his blessed

times . The other relic associated with Sri RamAnujA's limbs

is as most of you know is at Madhuranthakam temple.

I am referring to the silver disc and conch used by Periya

Nambi for Sri RamAnujA's samasrayaNam .Those holy

symbols of the Lord"s sudarsanam and Paanchajanyam

are kept at the sannadhi of Periyanambh at MadhurAnthakam .

 

Coming back to Vairamudi sevai,I wondered why

the sampradhAyam of reciting Naanmukhan

ThiruvandhAdhi (NMT ) is observed during the occasion of

the most important festival at Melkote . I went and reread

this prabhandham consisting of 96 paasurams

with immense depth of meaning for Sri VaishNavAs .

I began to see the connection between the recital of the extraordinary

prabhandham establishing the parathvam of Sriman NaarAyaNan

presiding over this divya desam aptly named as Thiru NaarAyaNa Puram .

On the holiest of the holy days at ThirunArAyaNapuram , it seems

appropriate to recite NMT only to pay homage to " the sharp

tongued AzhwAr " , who unequivocally established the supermacy

of Sriman NaarAyaNa following the Vedic and Upanishadic way.

 

Thirumazhisai's NMT Paasurams echo the various manthrAs of

MahA NaarAyaNOpanishad celebrating the supermacy of Sriman

NaarAyaNA . The sixteenth mantram of the above upanishad

uses the following passage from Atharva Vedam II .1 .1-3 :

 

sa nOh bandhurjanithA sa vidhAthA dhAmAni vedha bhuvanAni visvA I

yathra devA amrutham aanasAnA: trutheeyE dhAmAni abhyairayantha II

 

(meaning ) : "Through whose (Sriman NArAyaNA's) power the gods

who have attained immortality in the third region of heaven got alloted

their respective places, He is our friend, father and ordainer. He knows

the proper places of each because He understands all beings

created by Him ."

 

The reference here is to Dhyu Lokam (the third world ). This can

be extended to Satya Lokam , the universe inhabited by the four-faced

BrahmA (Naanmukhan ) , the son of Sriman NArAyaNA

 

In yet another famous manthram of the Vedam beginning with

the rare word " VasuraNvO " , the supreme staus of the Lord

is celebrated this way :

 

" O Supreme , Thou art the giver of the wealth of supreme

knowledge to us. Thou hast become all .Thou unitest the individual

souls in the sutrAthman . Thou pervadest the Universe.

Thou art the giver of the lustre to fire . Thou art the giver

of light and heat to the Sun . Thou art the bestower of

riches of light to the moon. Thou art taken in the UpayAma

vessel as SomA juice for oblation . We worship Thee , the

supreme who art such for the the manifestation of light " .

 

We hear the echoes of these and other Veda ManthrAs

in the pasurams of Thirumazhisai as he convincingly

establishes the parathvam of Sriman NArAyaNA and'

shows the hierarchy of relationships starting from Him

that includes the four faced BrahmA and His son SankarA .

 

In these paasurams of NMT , the AzhwAr celebrates Vibhava AvahtArams ,

ArchA murthis at 14 divya desams and gives us upadesam

on the glory of BhagavathAs that are close to Sriman NarAyaNA

in all their living moments. These are moving Paasurams and

I will share the joy of writing about them in subsequent postings

on NMT and the Parathvam of Sriman NaarAyaNA .

 

Thirumazhisai AzhwAr is known as one , who learned the tenets

of Jainism , Bhouddham , Saiva Aagamams and discarded them

as not appropriate for Moksham and chose Sriman NaarAyaNan

as the one and only supreme Lord , who alone can bless one

with the boon of Moksham . He declares his struggles and

the insight born out of these efforts this way :

 

saakiyam kaRROm samaN kaRROm , SankaranAr,

aakkiya Aagama nool aarainthOm bhakiyatthAl

senkatkkariyAnai sernthOm yaam theethilamE

yengatkkariyathonRil

 

Here AzhwAr declares that after his futile efforts to

understand the supreme principle of the universe

through studies of religions such as Jainism ,

Buddhism and Saiva AgamAs created by Lord Sankara ,

he was blessed with insight by Sriman NaarAyaNa and

took refuge at he Lotus feet of Sri Devi and has been

spared form any misfortunes since then . He became

an exemplary Sri VishNava AcharyA based on his acceptance

Sriman naarAyaNa as the supreme Lord of all other Gods .

He spent 700 years according to hagiography at ThiruvallikkENi

practising Yogam and meditating on the ArchA murthy revered

as Venkata KrishNan . In his 35th paasuram of NMT , he salutes

Venkata KrishNan"s divya Desam and goes from there to

offer His homage to VenkatanAthan 11 bhakthi-laden paasurams.

 

I will continue the coverage in the next posting on NMT.

 

Thirumazhisai AzhwAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Yadhugiri Valli ThAyaar and Sella Pillai ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

 

Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan