AhalahillEn Paasuram Musings : part 2

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs :

 

We started this series of postings on the Isvara

Vaikaasi Visaakam day , which has been celebrated by

Sri MaaNavALa MaamunigaL as " Vedam Tamizh seytha

meyyan yezhil Kuruhai Naathan avatharittha nALL " .

VaikAsi VisAkam day is indeed the day devoted to

saluting the Master of the beautiful Thirukkuruhai ,

who transformed the rigorous Sanskritic VedAs in to

DrAvida BhAshai . It is very appropriate that MaNavALa

MaamunigaL goes on to wonder :

 

uNdO vaikAsi VisAkatthuk koppuru nALL ?

( Is there any auspicious day that matches the glory of

the VaikAsi VisAkam day ? No.)

 

uNdO SatakOparkkopporuvAr ?

( Is there anyone that can match the illustrious

glory of our Kulapathi , NammAzhwAr ? No. )

 

uNdO ThiruvAimozhikkoppu ?

( is there any divya prabhandham that can match

the magnificience of ThiruvAimozhi ? None )

 

tenn KuruhaikkundO oru paar tanil okkumUr ?

( are there any divya desams that match

the auspiciousness of ThirukkuruhUr that

gave birth to our Kulapathi ? No ).

 

These rhetorical inquiry and the answers

implicit in these questions soundly establish

the utter sacredness and the extraordinary

bhakthi yogam of NammAzhwAr that culminated

in the performance of his SaraNAgathi at the lotus

feet of ThiruvenkatamudayAn , which are covered

up to His ankles with the most fragrant flowers

used by the DevAs during their aarAdhanams .

At this divya desam linked with the charama

SlOkam and saraNAgathi , AzhwAr elected appropriately

to perform his SaraNAgathi .

 

At the Thirumalai divyadesam , AzhwAr showed us

what is hEyam ( that to be detested and pushes aside )

and what is upAdhEyam ( that to be desired and

welcomed ) . He had been discussing ealier as to

what is thyAjyam ( to be abandoned ) and what is

upAdhEyam( to be acquired) . He repeatedly explained to us

that being engaged in worldly pleasures and siRRinbam

is paramAvathi dukkham ( the limit of sorrows ).

 

He instructed us that the engagement in kshudhra

vishaya laabham ( gains realized from engagement

in lowly and alpa vishayams) only produces klEsam

( anxiety and loss of tranquility ) . The arrogance

that comes from pursuit of paltry activities leads

to a state (gharvam ) that stands in the way of

enjoying "anthamil pErinbham " , which is the charamAvathi

Sukham ( end limit of aanandham ) arising from

being part of a bhAgavatha ghOshti engaged in

bhagavad guNAnubhavam .That is niradhisayAnandha

hEthu , which is just the opposite of anantha klEsa

hEthu .

 

As a result of the ascendance of the RajO and TamO guNams ,

the samsAri develops the five fold ajn~Anam that

NammAzhwAr instructed us to stay away from :

 

" maranthEn unnai munnam " --ParasvarUpa ajn~Anam

 

" yAnE yennai aRihilAthE "-- aathma svarUpa ajn~Anam

 

" Odiyum uzhanRum uyirkaLE konREn uNarvilEn "--VirOdhi

vishaya ajn~Anam

 

" piRavi nOy aRuppAnEaNilEn irunthEn " --upAya Vishaya

ajn~Anam

 

" aazhiangankai ammAnai yEtthaathu ayartthu " -- PurushArtha

vishaya ajn~Anam

 

These five ajn~Anams ( Jn~Athavya pancha ajn~nams )

made the aathmA forget the Lord ( maRanthEn ) .

 

After overcoming this five fold ajn~Anam thru

the development of Jn~Athavya panchaka jn~Anam

as instructed by the seeker of mOksham , one

attains nirasthAdhisaya aahlAdha sukha bhAvam

( anthamil pErinbham or limitless joy and tranquliity ) .

AzhwAr himself alludes to the acquisition of the five

types of Jn~Anams this way in his paasurams :

 

" ninnai nenjil uyuum vahai uNarnthEn "-- Para svarUpa

JN~Anam

 

" ninRa onRai uNarnthEnukku " --aathma svarUpa jn~nam

 

" ahaRRa nee vaittha mAyavallai eimpulangaLAmavai

nankaRinthanan "-- VirOdhi Vishaya Jn~Anam

 

" avanatharuLAlural poruttu yenn uNarvin uLLE

irutthinEn "-- upAya Vishaya Jn~Anam

 

" aam parisu aRinthukondu "-- PurushArtha vishaya Jn~Anam

 

The acquisition of these pentad of Jn~Anam led to

the niradhisAyanandham . As Azhagiya MaNavALa PerumAL

NaayanAr summarized for our benefit in his AchArya

Hrudhaya Saara sUthram , " karma krupA bheejam poy

ninRa aruL purintha yenkira avidyA souhArthangaL " .

Karma bheejam is the avidhyai ( poy ninRa-rooted in untruth);

KrupA bheejam is the souhArtham ( aruL purintha - blessings

resuting from the Lord's grace) .Our Lord is the mUlam

for both the karma and krupA bheejams .When the aathmA

realizes and declares its ancient and timeless NaarAyaNa

sambhandham ( " adiyEn adainthEn muthal munnamE " ),

the krupA bheejam and the SouhArtham come into play.

This NaarAyaNa sambhandham is the opposite of achith

sambhandham that immerses one in avidhyA and samsAram

with anAthi klEsam .Artha panchaka jn~Anam leads to

satthva guNa pUrthi (perfection of satthva guNam )

and ends up in the anubhavam of mOksha sukham .

 

NammAzhwAr was like the thousand-rayed Aadithyan

thru his thiruvAimozhi upadEsam . His avathAram has

been saluted as the VakuLa bhUshaNa bhaskarOdhayam

( the Sun rise with the fragrance of VakuLA blossoms

adorning him ). He is the BhAskaran and yet differs

from the regular DivAkara-Bhaskaran in that the latter

can only remove the external darkness ; the VakuLa

BhUshaNa bhAskaran however removes both the inner and

the outter darkness ( ajn~Anam).

 

His love for the SaraNyan was sahajam (natural )

as he himself pointed out :" tazhuvi ninRa kaathal

tannAl " .It has been compared to the inseparable

parimaLam of thirut thuzhAi .His bhakthi was not

one that was earned or granted as a boon .

It was of the sahajaa variety or that was intrinsic

to him from the jaayamAna katAksham .This is the krishi palam

( the fruit of the harvest of the Lord ) of BhagavAn .

That is the entire outcome of the nirhEthuka krupA

of the Lord ( ThirumAlirum chOlai malai yenRennat ThirumAl

vandhu yenn nenju niRayap puhunthAn ) . The most merciful

Lord ( " aaRa nalvahai kAttum ammAn " )grew the Jn~Anam

of the AzhwAr by union with him and increased the bhakthi

of the AzhwAr by separation from him ( samslEsham-VislEsham:

kalavi and pirivu ) .The experience of the AzhwAr thru

these avasthAs ( modalities of anubhavams of union and

separation ) has been compared by the AchArya Hrudhaya

suthrakAraar as being similar to the experience of

SithAp Piraatti in Srimadh RaamAyaNam .

 

Experiencing the heights of aanandham during the Union

with the Lord and suffering profoundly from the separation

from Him , AzhwAr celebrated the guNa pUrthi of the Lord

blessing him at each of the divya desams . He pointed out

to us that Archaavatharam witnesses the guNa pUrthi

( the perfection of the auspicous atributes of the Lord

reaches its pinnacle in Archai in contrast to the other

four states of His existence ) .He arived at Thirumalai

and declared that ThiruvEnkata KshEthram is the treasure

for both the humans and the celestials ( TaNNaruvi VEnkatamE

vAnOrkkum MaNNOrkkum vaippu ) . He saluted the Lord as

" niharil puhazhAi " with great vaatsalyam .He revealed

that the DayAsindhu at Thirumalai is the father , mother

and the sustaining force for times past , present and

future ( pOhinRa kaalangaL pOya kaalangaL pOhu

kaalangaL thAi Tanthai uyir aahinRaai ).He gratefully

acknowledged the unique vaathsalyam of the Lord of

Thirumalai and saluted Him as " Yenkat paasam vaittha

Paramsudar chothi "and " Niharil puhazhAi ThiruvEnakatatthu

EmperumAnE " .

 

AzhwAr then performed his dheerga SaraNAgathi at

Thirumalai in his " ahalahillEn " paasuram.

SaraNAgathi has been described as the ealboration

(vivaraNam ) of the essence of dhvayam ( DhvyArtha

VivaraNam ) by Sri PiLLai LOkAcchAr in his work

revered as "Saara sangraham " . This SaraNAgathi

led to the state of " avidhyA nivarthaka , jn~Ana

pUrthi pratha , Bhagaavth prasAdhOthitha Moksha lAbham ".

In the next posting , we will go deeper into the word by

word meaning of the AhalahillEn Paasuram as per our

pUrvAchAryAs .

 

AzhwAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Oppiliappan koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan