Sri MadhavakkaNNan's Special Kaimkaryam

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs of Sriman NaarAyaNA :

 

What a delight it is to read the beautiful

and moving postings of Sri MadhavakkaNNan

on Swami NammAzhwAr's sacred Thiruvaimozhi .

The speed , fecility and the transparnet

bhakthi with which he writes can not but

amaze any one . We are fortunate to have

additional serious students of Thiruvaimozhi

in the Bhakthi group , who are helping

in their own way to make sure that these

great commentaries are preserved for

future generations .

 

The clarity , devotion and the special svAnubhavam

with which this special BhakthA from Srirangam /simhapuri

lets us enjoy these paasurams of SatAri sUri

is a great bhAgyam for us all . There is no limit

to the enjoyment of the AzhwAr's unparalled experience

of his SARVAM . Even people , who read and write

Tamil as their mother tongue can not fully succeeed

in comprehending the layers and layers of meanings

behind the words and passages enshrined as devotional

outpouring by Swami Sri NammAzhwAr . To make them

easy to comprehend without losing the sense and essence

of these paasurams is an assignment that Sri MadhavakkaNNan

has undertaken and is carrying out brilliantly with

the blessings of the divya dampathis of Sri Rangam .

The " lightning speed " with which he breezes

thru never fails to amze me .May his efforts

thrive and prosper !

 

His postings kindle many thoughts and I will

take the liberty of sharing my response to

this decad stimulated by Sri MadhavakkaNNan's

current posting . Please accept

them in the spirit in which they are

presented (viz): like waves spreading

from throwing a stone in a still pond .

 

There are so many nirvAhams ( intrepretations and insights )

to the great paasurams of NammAzhwAr . This 4.3 decad alone

has commentraies on particular paasurams by Thirumalai Nampi ,

EmpAr , Bhattar , Namjeeyar beyond the ones by

Thirukkuruhai pirAn PiLLan , Periya VaaccchAn Pillai

and others in our achArya Santhathi such as UttamUr Swami .

 

What Sri MadhavakkaNNan is doing is to absorb many of these

streams of thoughts and distill them in a a paragraph or two

while resisting the temptation to get lost - like myself -

in the most enjoyable wealth of details . It is so very easy

to make a complex statement , but , to get to the essence of

the matter and describe it clearly is a great gift

that results only from AchArya Bhakthi and unalloyed

devotion to the SaraNya dampathis .

 

Each one of NammAzhwAr's paasurams ( Tamil MaRai )

contain the distilled essence of the ancient Vedic passages

as revealed to us by the great commentators .

The third paasuram of the fourth decad is a classic

case in point :

 

yEkamUrthy irumUrthy moonRu mUrthy pala mUrthyyaahi

ainthu bhUthamAi irandu sudarAi aruvAhi

nAhamERi nadukkadalUL thuyinRa NaarAyaNanE, unn

aahamuRRUmahatthadakki aaviyallal mAithathE

 

Our Lord is yEka mUrthy , singular , unsurpassed

one before whom nothing or no one existed .

Upanishad celebrates that yEka mUrthy as

" SathEva sOmyEthamagra aaseeth ". You alone were

present then at the time of srushti . This is the

reference to the parathvam of the Lord .

 

Then He became of the form of the two tattvams :

prakruthi and Mahath .This twin mUrthams has also

been interpreted as the two VyUha mUrthis .According to

VaikAnasa Saasthram , the twin mUrthys are

VishNu and Satyan .According to Paancha rAthram ,

the twin mUrthys refer to the RakshaNa duties of

Aniruddha and the destruction duties of SankarshaNA .

 

Next came the three murthys : three types of ahankArams

or the three vyUha mUrthys including Pradhyumnan .

The three became many ( KesavAdhi vibhava mUrthys ).

According to the VaikAnasa AagamA , the three

mUrthys are Achyuthan , Purushan and Aniruddhan .

The triad of mUrthys has also been intrepreted as

the Dhruva , Kouthuka and Bali bErams worshipped

in archAvathAram celebrated by the AzhwArs .

..

The three ahankArams of the yEka mUrhty created

the multitudes of mUrthys ( pala ) such as manas ,

five Jn~Endriyams , Five karaNEndhriams , pancha

bhUthams , the Sun and the Moon et al . You entered

them all as abstract (aru ) after creating them and stayed

as antharyAmi Brahmam ( Tath srushtvA TadhEvAnupravisath ) .

You pervaded the chidh and achith ( anEna jeevEnAthmanA

anupravisya ) .

 

The metaphors to our Lord's glories are abundant in

every one of the Four VedAs and the 108 upanishads .

God's glory ( Brahma prakAsanam ) is magnificently celebrated

for instance in Purusha Sooktham found in every one

of the four VedAs and special sections such as

PaarshNi sooktham of Atharva Vedam ( X.2 ):

 

Atharva Vedam :X.2.18

 

" Who has bedecked the Earth ? Who has encompassed Heaven ?

Who through His might has covered the mountains ?

Through whose help does man perform deeds ?

( the answer to this rhetorical Question follows

in the 25th hymn )

 

Atharva Vedam X.2.25:

 

" By God was this earth disposed; By God is Sky

arranged above. By God is this expanse of air lifted

on high and stretched across .

 

Atharva Vedam X.2.32:

 

Swami NammAzhwAr deep in the lore of Brahma VidyA

( parA ) knows that adorable Para VaasudEvan .

It is He , who dwells in the multipowered soul

that hath three spokes and three supports as

mUnRu MUrthy . ( The reference to the three

spokes are the triad : sthAnA /capacity, nAamA /token

or sign and Janma /existence .The reference to

the three supports are the triad : KarmA ( Action ) ,

upAsanA ( contemplation-worship ) , Jn~AnA ( Knowledge).

This again is another reference to mUnru mUrthams.

 

Iru sudars , the Vyashti Sun and the Moon came next

( Soorya chandramasou dhAthA yathaa pUrvamakalpayath )

after the mUnru and Pala ( diverse ) mUrthys that

the Lord entered as VishNu .

 

Afterwards , the Lord got up on His serpent bed in the milky

ocean and entered into Yoga nidhrA as Sriman NaarAyaNan ,

the inner being of all the chidh and achith that

He created .He rested there to come to the rescue of

the DevAs and BrahmA , when they were affected and became

RaamA and KrishNA to help them as Vibhava mUrthys .

 

In this paasuram pregnant with such depths of

meanings , Swami Sri NammAzhwAr explains to

the Lord , His creator and pervader that he

is reflecting on what the Lord did for the

Universe at every level . Then the AzhwAr

continues : Independent of all , what You

did for this universe , You appear to be ecstatic

in getting out of me all bhoga upakaraNams

like sandal paste , flower garlands , garment

and abhAraNams . That seems to make You very

happy and that experience of Yours makes me

contented . Both YOUR soul and my souls,

are now evidently satisfied .

 

In the fifth Paasuram , Swami Sri NammAzhwAr

uses another richly resonant nAmA to salute

our Lord . He addresses our Lord as

KaalacchakkaratthAn , KaNNan EmpirAnemmAn .

The Lord is addressed as the Master , who wields

the disc of Time ( Kaala chakram ) .He is the Lord-

Controller of Time , which is the Sudarsanam in His hand .

Again the PaarshNi sUkthams of Atharva Vedam

celebrate this atribute of the Lord in the following

manner :

 

Brahma srOthriyam aapnOthi BrahmEmam ParamEshtinam I

BrahmamEmagnim PurushO Brahma SAMVATHSARAM mamE II

--Atharva Vedam X.2.21

 

Through the correct knowledge of the VedAs does one

acquire the Knowledge of Brahman , the Controller

of Time ( who wields Time in His hand ). For acquisition

of that Vedic Knowledge , One approaches a learned AchAryA .

Through such acquisition of the Vedic Knowlege does

he gain this Lord Supreme . Through such a Vedic

study does he visualize paramAthma seated in his

heart cavity .

 

AzhwAr in his great anubhavam of samslEsham

( union ) with the Lord says in the eighth

paasuram :

 

" unnnathennAviyum yennathunnathAviyum

innavaNNamE NinRai yenruraikka VallanE "

 

( Meaning ) : I can not beleive the good fortune

that has come my way . " My Soul is Yours ; So Your

soul is also mine ! In just the same manner .

By mutual agreement , as though ! " .

 

This is the VaishNava Sri that Swami Sri

NammAzhwAr enjoyed and shares with us .

 

AzhwAr , AchAryan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan