NammAzhwar's Tirunakshatram

[Guest guest]

Dear Bhaktas,

 

Sriman Madhavakannan Swamin has blessed us with a shower of nectar

from the outpourings of NammAzhwar on the Lord of Seven Hills

on the occassion of the Azhwar's Tirunakshatram. I join him in

paying obeisance to this great Mahan who blessed us with our

wonderful Sampradayam. The SharaNagati to the Lotus feet of Lord

Srinivasa was brought out with consummate effect. Among the three

Rahasya Mantras, Tiruvenkatan denotes the Charma Shlokam.

NammAzhwar's unconditional surrender to the Lord Srinivasa

brilliantly illustrates the the six Angas of Prapatti. Another

important feature of the Azhwar's outpourings is that the thousand

verses composed by him contain the essence of the Sama Vedam.

 

Sri Madhurakavi Azhwar, an ardent disciple of NammAzhwar,

was a Brahmin belonging to the Sama Shaka. As a result, he posed a

number of questions to NammAzhwar pertaining to the Sama Vedam. In

reply, the Azhwar composed 1000 verses in chaste Tamil beautifully

bringing out the essence of the Sama Vedam. Further testimony in

support of this fact can be found in the Sanskrit Taniyan for the

Azhwar-the key reference being "Sahasra ShaakE". It is also instructive

to observe that Rg, Yajur and Atharva Vedam contain

references to other deities with the implicit assumption that the

tribute is for their indweller-Lord Narayana. However, the thousand

Shakas of Sama Vedam are devoted exclusively to the glorification of

Lord Narayana, which perhaps points to Lord KrishNa's Bhagavad-Gita

declaration "VedAnAm SAma VedOsmi".

 

Swami Desikan acknowldeges the extraordinary contributions of NammAzhwar

in both the Daya Shatakam as well as the Padhuka Sahasram.

Much has been written about these works in the past in this forum.

Therefore, I shall not engage in a repititive exercise.

 

NammAzhwar TiruvadigaLE SharaNam,

 

Muralidhar Rangaswamy

 

 

 

____

Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com