periya thirumadal question

[Guest guest]

Sri. MaNi writes -

 

-----start quote----

Where exactly in the PTM (periya thiru madal) does

thirumangai aazhvaar go into detail about why dharma,

artha, and moksha are inferior to kaama? And what,

in brief, is his justification for the first two

(I know about moksha from reading siRiya thiru madal)?

 

Learned bhaktas are requested to respond.

------end quote-----

 

Though I am not learned by any means, here is my

explanation -

 

In siriya thirumadal the AzhvAr says

'ipppArOr solappatta mUnRanRE

ammUnRum ArAyildhAnE aRam poruL inbam enRu -

ArAr ivaRRin idai adhanai eidhuvar

sIrAr irukalaiyum eidhuvar'

 

there are 3 purushArthams for the people of this

earth - dharmam, artham (poruL, wealth) and kAmam -

ArAr ivaRRin edai adhanai eidhuvar should be read as

ivaRRinidai adhanai eidhuvar ArAr sIrAr iru kalaiyum

eidhuvar

i.e. of the three, those who have obtained kAmam

would have obtained dharmam and artham.

 

then he goes on to say that there are some people

who say that there is yet another purushArtham - mOksham

and he goes on to discount mOksham in favour of

archAvathAram - 'ErAr muyal vittuk kAkkaip pin pOvadhE'

 

In periya thirumadal, AzhvAr continues in the same

vein - (In both the madals, AzhvAr's intent is to

perform madal Urdhal for emperumAn because of his

kAmam for emperumAn)

 

AzhvAr begins periya thirumadal with description of

perumAL, with the beautiful lotus flower on his

nAbhi; then he goes on to say that perumAL created

brahma on this lotus, and brahma created the 4 vEdas.

 

now is the part that is of concern to maNi's question-

 

ammaRai thAn mannum aRam poruL inbam vIdu enRu ulakil*

nal neRi mEmpattana nAnku anRE*

 

Those vEdas tell us that there are 4 purushArthams that

are siRappu in this earth - aRam (dharmam) poruL (artham)

inbam (kAmam) and vIdu (mOkshm).

 

A question may arise here - in siriya thirumadal, AzhvAr

says 'ammUnRum ArAyil dhAne aRam poRuL inbam anRu' -

here he says 'ammaRai thAn mannum aRam poruL inbam vIdu'.

So, is he contradicting himself? No. In siriya thirumadal,

AzhvAr goes on to say about mOksham and discounts it.

He does the same here in the following lines

 

'uLadhennil mannum kadun kadhirOn mandalaththin nannaduvuL*

annadhOr illiyin Udu pOy* vIdennum thon neRikaL senRAraich

solluminkaL sollAdhE* annadhE pEsum aRivil siRu manaththu*

Angu annavaraik kaRpippOm yAme adhu niRka*

 

if there is a something called mOkaham, show me somebody

who has gone through the hot rays of the sun to mOksham

and has come back! for those who cannot show me somebody

who came back, but keep telling me that the sAstrAs

say that there is a mOksham, I cannot clear their mind

of that thought {literally, I cannot teach them that

mOksham does not exist}!

 

adhu niRkamunna nAn sonna aRaththin vazhimuyanRa

annavarthAm........

let mOksham be there - let us see what the people who

follow the dharmam get - AzhvAr goes on to describe

that those who follow dharmam go on to enjoy the fruits

of that anushtAnam by going to the lOkam of indra and

spending time with beautiful apsarAs.

 

then he says

'idhu anRE anna aRaththin payan Avadhu*

 

After the description of the indralOkam and the apsarAs,

aZhvar says 'this is indeed the fruits of aRam (dharmam)'.

he goes on to say 'ONpoRuLum anna thiraththathE' - the

same is the fruit of artham.

 

The conclusion here is that both dharmam and artham lead

to a fruit that basically is kAmam.

 

he then says

'AdhalAl kAmaththin mannum vazhi muRaiyE niRRum nAm'

 

(Since both dharmam and arththam lead to kAmam), I

will (let us) adopt kAmam - He qualfies kAmam here by

'mannum vazhi muRaiyE'. mannum - nilai niRkum - something

that lasts - so, the kAmam that AzhvAr refers here is

that kind of kAmam that lasts forever - bhagavath vishaya

kAmam.

 

 

AzhvAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam,

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan,

Thirumalai Anandanpilai Varadhan