Thirumazhisai"s Prabhandhams --Part 2

[Guest guest]

Isavara Samvathsaram , Thai month 4th day

KrishNa Paksha Panchami , Utthira Nakshittharam

January 17 , 1998

 

Dear BhakthAs :

 

In his fourth paasuram , Thirumazhisai had saluted

Sriman NaarAyaNA as Sarva Vaachaka sabdhan . He

points out that there is no match for him in this attribute :

 

--- vERoruvar illAmai ninRaanai yemmAnai

yepporutkkum sollAnai SonnEn tohutthu

 

vEroruvar illaamai ninRAnai = One who stood in all

yugAs and KalpAs as the matchless one ( tannoppArilappan )

 

YemmAnai = of my Lord

 

yepporutkkum sollAnai = as the object of connotation of every

word and being the subject of all predicates ( sarva vAchaka

Sabdhanai , Sriman NaarAyaNanai )

 

SonnEn Thohutthu = I described in a cohesive manner .

 

He talks about the relationship that he has with the Lord

in a most moving way in paasuram 7 , which reminds us

of ANDAL's declaration " KuRaivonrumillA GovindhA ,

UnRannOdravEl namakkingkozhikkavozhiyAthu " :

 

inRAha nALayEyAha inicchirithu

ninRAha ninnaruL yenpAlathE --nanRaaha

naanunaai anRiyilEn kaNdAi NaaraNanE

neeyennaiyanriyilai

 

( Meaning ) : Oh NaaRayaNA ! I may become the object of Your

krupA today or it may happen tomorrow or it may happen even after

that passage of time. It does not matter. I know that Your special

Krupai belongs to me . I do not exist without You and neither do You

exist without me. " Unnai anri naan ilEn; yennai inri nee ilai " . What

a powerful and penetrating statement on the relationship that he

had with Sriman NaarAyaNA !

 

He celebrates the precious Lord and explains to us His

supreme status in the 13th paasuram of NT :

 

--- ----veedAkkum

meypoRuL thaan vEda mudaRporuL thaan viNNavarkku

naRporul thaan NaarAyaNan

 

AzhwAr asks us to pay attention and describes to us who

this Sriman NaarAyaNan is ! He qualifies his Lord in three

ways : (1) veedAkkum meyporuL = the siddha purushan ,

who grants us Moksham (2) vEdam mudalp poruL = the one

who is understood by the VEdAs ( vEda vEda vEdhyan ) and

eulogized by them as Sarva vAchaka Sabdhan (3) viNNavarkku

naRpporuL= the parama prApya svarUpan for the dEvAs , mukthAs

and the nithya sUris .

 

The seventeenth paasuram is another beautiful one that

describes the parathvam of Sriman NaarAyaNan . Here , he

describes the relationship between DakshinAmUrthy ( Lord

SivA sitting under the pupil tree and explaining sakala--

sAsthrArthams with His silence to the four rishis , Dakshar ,

Agasthyar , Pulasthyar and MaarkanDeyar ) and Sriman NaarAyaNan .

 

The picture of " DaakshiNya RamyA Girisasya Murthy "

( DakshiNamUrthy Sivan ) sitting under the shadow of a pupil tree

in a previous yugam and instructing the four Rishis

is a beautiful one . AzhwAr describes as to what that

silent instruction on dharma maargam (aRa neRi)

was all about . AzhwAr states that Lord DakshiNAmUrthy made the rishis

aware of the method of His worship of Sriman NaarAyaNan as

Trivikraman ( gyAlam aLanthAnai ) , KsheerAbdhi Saayee ( Aazhi

kidanthAnai ) and as Vatapathra Saayee ( Aal mEl vaLarndhAnai ) .

AzhwAr points out that Lord DakshiNAmUrthy performed upadEsam

on the way in which he worshipped His Lord , Sriman NaarAyaNan

( thAnn vaNangum aaRu uraitthAn ) :

 

Aala nizhark keezh aRa neRiyai naalvarkku

mElai yuhatthu uraitthAn meytavatthOn--gyAlam

aLanthAnai Aazhik kidanthAnai Aal mEl

vaLarnthAnait thAn vaNangum AaRu

 

In his 19th paasuram , the AzhwAr asks in wonderment ,

" O Lord with the Sudarsana Chakram in Your Hand !

Are n't You the One who protects us with joy for performing

SaraNAgathi unto You ! Are N't You the One , who blesses

every JeevarAsi with the boon of residence in Sri Vaikuntam

when they seek the shelter of Your sacred feet ?

 

-- AazhiyAi --uvanthE Yemmaik kAppAi nee , kaapathanai AavAi nee

Vaikuntham YeepAyum yevvuyirkkum nee anRO ?

 

In the thirty second paasuram , the AzhwAr connects

the RaamAyaNa , Bhaaratha IthihAsams and Saadhvika

PurANams such as Bhaagavatham to the Lord wiht the statement

" kathaip poruL thAnn KaNNan ThiruvayiRRnuLLE " .

AzhwAr reveals to us that all " the Kathais " and their meanings

and the the universes that get created , protected and destroyed

in every yugam are inside the Vatapathra Saayee's tiny stomach .

We had some discussion recently about the fact or fiction

aspects of IhtihAsams and PurANams . For our AzhwAr , these

questions do not arise . He suggests that these are real as the Lord

Himself , since He holds them in His stomach during the mahA praLayam

and denying them will be tantamount to denying Him .

 

AzhwAr's comparison of himself as being more fortunate than

Sriman NarAyaNA Himself is contained in Paasuram 51 :

 

yenakkArAvar oruvarE EmperumAn

tanakkAvan thAnE marallAl --punakkAya

VaNNanE ! unnaip piRaRiyAr yenn mathikku

ViNNellAm UndO Vilai ?

 

( Meaning ) : For me, who has no interest in the fruit

of my karmAs , there is only One , which is everything .

VaasudEva : sarvam ) . That is Sriman NaarAyaNan ,

who has no equal . Those who are focussed on fruits

of their karmAs would not understand Your mahimai

as Visvapathi and AathmEsvaran ( pathim VisvasyAthmEsvaram) .

For my mind , which has gone after You and got affixed on

Your Lotus feet , there is no price that matches its value ; yes ,

not even the value of the objects of Svargam will become

equal to it .

 

He describes the pitiable state of the men and women , who

do not understand the mahimai of our compassionate Lord

in his 52nd paasuram :

 

" Evil ones become slaves for money ; collecting sins through

receiving gifts and and experience those sins . They walk as

human sacrificial animals in exchange for (another's ) head .

Such ignorant ones not engaging in the salutation to the Lord

( VenkaTan-0ne who destroys sins) will multiply their sins ( katams ).

They eat the sins as fruits and sink in the soft sand of ajn~Anam " .

 

Being a Parama KaaruNika Azchaaryan , Thirumazhisai does

not stop with his condemnation of the ones , who have strayed ,

but he points them out the way to attain salvation through his upadEsam

contained in Verse eleven :

 

" Let thy mouth praise , let thy eyes adore , let thy ears hear

nAma sankeerthanam about Him . Do thou offer fragrant and fresh

flowers after prostrating to Him in reverence and let thy hands

be united in anjali mudrA to Him and let thy ever-wavering mind

stay fixed on the Lord wearing the fragrant Tulasi garland and

high crown , who is attached to me from the beginningless time " .

 

In the 61st verse , he repeats this upadEsam and assures

the doubters that no anguish will cross the mental threshold

of one , who accepts Lord MadhusUdhanA as sole refuge , for

Madhusudana-NaarAyaNan is man's wealth of every kind .

 

In the 56th verse , he points out the greatness (saulabhyam and

souseelyam ) of Sriman NaarAyaNA : " avar ivar yenrillai

anangavEL ThAthikku yevarum yethirillai kandeer ! " .

Here the AzhwAr states that for the Lord , there is no

vaishmyam that this one is little and the other one is big .

He is sarva sulabhan for His BhakthAs . Those , who resist Him and

engage in enimity perish like fire fly in the fire and they

do not last out . Because of these unique attributes , there is none ,

who can match Him in KalyAna guNAs .

 

The AzhwAr tells us that he practises , what he " preaches "

and explains to us as to how he spends his time in paasuram 63:

 

unnai teritthu yezhuthi vAsitthum kEttum vaNangi

vazhipattum poositthum pOkkinEn pOthu

 

( Meaning ) : I spend my time on Your earth to comprehend

correctly Your svarUpa VisEsham , anantha KalyANa guNams,

writing about them , listening to others speaking about them ,

performing aarAdhanam and kaimkaryams to You . I have made

devotion to You my sole vocation .

 

AzhwAr confesses how blessed he has been to sing about

Sriman NaarAyaNA and perform nAma japam in the 69th verse :

 

sevikku inbamAvathuvum SenkaNNmAl nAmam

bhuvikkim bhuviyathuvE kandeer -- kavikku

niRaiporuLAi ninRAnai nErpattEn , paarkkil

maRaip poruLm atthanyE

 

( Meaning ) : What is amrutham for the ear are the Lord's names .

For the denizens of this earth , it is also their protection ( Taaraka

pOshaka nAmam ) . I have been blessed to use as lakshyam for my

paasurams such a Lord , who is the supreme Brahamam .,

On deep reflection I comprehend Him as the hidden and

profound meaning of the ancient vEdAs , which sing about His

svarUpa rUpa guNa vibhavams .

 

After making Sriman NaarAyaNan the subject of his paasurams ,

AzhwAr states categorically that he will never ever sing about

any human being ( Naakkondu maanidam paadEn ) and his

poetry will be only on Sri VaikuntanAthan ( Vaikunthac chelvanAr

sEvadi mEl paatu ) .

 

In the next ( 76th ) paasuram , AzhwAr reveals that the paasurams of

mudal AzhwArs ( Paattum ) , the paancharAthra- vaikAnasa

aagamAs (murayum ) the IthihAsa purANAs ( padu kathayum ) ,

the meanings of vEdAs ( sruthi maRai naankum ) , Manu smrithis

(kEtta Manuvum ) , the samashti tEjas ( eettiya theeyum ) ,

the broad sky ( iru visumbum ) and every thing is a direct product

of the Lord's mysterious and wonderous power .

 

In the 81st paasuram he thanks the Lord for his anugraham

that resulted in the birth of his Tamil prabhandhams this way :

 

vidhai aaha naRRamizhai vitthi yenn uLLatthai nee viLaitthAi

kaRRa mozhiyAhak kalanthu

 

( meaning ) : You made my heart the field for the cultivation

of the Bhakthi crop by planting the seed of glorious Tamizh mozhi

and making what I had learned about Your kalyANa guNams as

the kernel inside those seeds and entered my mind and produced

this rich crop . ( He refers to the importance of the mind since

it is the sole factor in people sinking in samsAram or getting

out of it and gaining mOksham -- mana yEva manushyANAm

kAraNam bhandha MokshayO : " ) .

 

AzhwAr talks further to his mind and tells it that the shADguNya

ParipUrNa prabhu , the SaraNyan , ever exists in the mind of

those , who meditate on Him wiht devotion . He becomes visible

to these ardent devotees and asks his mind to reflect on it ( uLLuvAr

uLLatthu uLan kanDAi -- tannappan thAnAi uLan ) .

 

In the 88th paasuram , AzhwAr celebrates such blessed souls ,

who are able to experience the Lord through their dhyAna

samAdhi . He states that those lives are well-lived lives

( seyal theerac chintthitthu vAzhvArE vAzhvAr ) .

 

In the 89th paasuram , AzhwAr salutes such blessed bhagavathOtthamAs

and states aasrayaNam of them will immerse one in brahmAnandham

and let them even reject parama padham .

 

As for himself , he declares that he has never forgotten the Lord

( dhruva smruthi ) starting from his time of conception as a pindam

and the Lord's protection of him . He adds : " Ninrum irundhum yenrum

maRanthu aRiyEN " . Whether he was standing , sititing , he never forgot

about the Lord as his protector

 

In the final ( 96th ) paasuram , AzhwAr sums up what he has learnt

from his deliberations and research and what he has etched in his

mind :

 

ini aRinthEn Isarkkum Naanmuharkkum Dhaivam

ini aRinthEn EmperumAn Unnai --ini aRinthEn

KaaraNan nee kaRRavai nee naRkkirisai

NAARANAN NEE nankaRinthEn naan

 

( Meaning ) : My sarva Swami ! YajamAnA ! PrabhO ! VibhO !

I have now understood You as the Lord of BrahmA and SivA .

I have comprehended You as the kaaraNam for their

activities . Whatever I have learned sofar is only YOU .

Whatever I am going to learn from now on is going to be YOU .

O Lord of auspicious actions ! O NaarAyaNA ! All of this ,

I have comprehended fully .

 

AzhwAr , who was born on Thai Maham proved the Parathvam

of Sriman NaarAyaNA and declared in the words of Swami

Desikan : " dhaivam maRRilllai yena uraitthA vEdac Chezum porUL

Naanmuhan thoNNRaaRRUp paattu " . This conclusion was arrived at

by " Mazhisaip pirAn " through a rigorous examination of many

religions & Gods ( samayangaL pala terinthu MayOnallAL dhaivam maRRIllai

yena uraitthAn ) and rejecting all of them in favor of the only Dhaivam ,

Sriman NaarAyaNan , the Aadhi dhaivam and sarva KaaraNa bhUthan .

 

Mazhisaip PirAn thiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan