paramanin aruL-arunagiri nadar.

[Guest guest]

Srimathe ramanujaya nama:

Dear Bhagavatas,

 

now our Mr.chandrasekar has talked about arunagiri nadar and thirupukaz.

 

infact any person (incl. srivaishnavas) would appreciate if one reads

works in tamil by saivaite nayanmaras and esp. works by ramalingaswamy

etc.

 

here one should remember that, the philosophy of nyanmars and other

saivaite followers were not that of "ADVAITA"

 

like srivaishnavas, they also outrightly rejected advaitin beliefs.

 

the main difference between saivaites and sri vaishnavities could be of

who is the para brahman.

 

further, with specifc ref to arunagiri nadar, he also composed hymns on

Sri varadaraja and tirumal eugulising his paratva.

 

can the learned memebers in the group throw light on the same?

 

regards

 

K.M.Narayanan

 

 

 

____

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

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri NarAyaNan KazhiyUr ;

 

As a part of my general studies on all

siddhanthams that are relevant to appreciate

the greatness of Sri VisishtAdvaitham , I have read

extensively the works of Saiva NaayanmArs and

SekkizhAr as well as all the siddhars including

Raamalingha SwamigaL , who composed a

moving poem on ThiruveLLUr Sri VeerarAghavan .

 

AruNagirinAthar's brilliant works including

Thiruppukazh known for its literary excellence

and TaaLa intricacies are a class by

themselves , when it comes to anubhavam of

a ShaNmugha Bhaktha. He paid ample tributes

to the uncle of ShaNmughan , Sri MahA VishNu .

Many of his poems end with the address ," PerumALE ".

He was originally from a Bengali family ,

who settled down in Tamil Naadu and became

adept at composition and filled with Bhakthi

after he was saved by Murughan , when

he (the despondent Arunagiri) threw himself from

the temple power at ThiruvaNNAmalai .

Until then , he had run after women and

led a life chasing siRRibham .

Murughan blessed the bhakthan with

His ShadAkashara manthram and gave him

the power of composition and sangItha JnAnam

and opened his eyes to pErinbham .

 

The Thiruppadi sevai at ThirutthaNi is

the place to be on a new year's day for

ShaNmugha BhakthAs and the students of

AruNagiri Naathar's Thiruppukazh , his

major work .In the past , a great bhakthA

by the name of "THiruppukazh MaNi" led

the BhakthAs step by step up the hill

to the temple of ThiruthtaNi Murughan

and on eaxh step sang one Thiruppaukazh

to the accompaniment of hand cymabals

and TaaLam . Kandar Alankaaram ,

Kandar AnubhUthi et al are his

other beautiful works drenched in

Bhakthi for his UpAsanA mUrthy .

 

The chantham in AruNagiri Nathar's

Thiruppukazh is some what similar to

the chantham in the Thirucchantha Viruttham of

Thirumazhisai AzhwAr . This AzhwAr

was once a SivA worshipper and gave it up

to become the Parama BhakthA of Sriman NaarAyaNA .

He explains the hierarchy of the lineage

of MahA VishNu in his great work ,

Naan mukhan ThiruvanthAdhi and recognizes

and salutes Him as THE GRAND SIRE .Swami Desikan's

Chanthams ( rhythmic structure rooted in TaaLam)

as evidenced in his Desika Prabhandham

works are THE most moving and is a proof

of his Sarva Tanthra Swathanthravam

with the layaa ( TaaLam ) aspects .

 

Among the 63 NaayanmArs , the four ,

Appar , Sambhandar , Sundarar and

MaaNickka Vaachakar are the most well known

and their works were recovered from Chidamabharam

after many years of being lost . White ants had eaten

quite a bit of the palm leaves and whatever was left

were codified by a great VinAyaka BhakthA and

are available today to us . Like Prabhandha

GhOshti on Divya Prabhandham ,the OduvArs GhOshti sing

these beautiful ThevAra Pathikams set to ancient

PaNNs in uthsavams at great Saivite Temples

such as Lord NatarAjA at Chidambharam , ThiruvArUr

et al . They are moving to hear as recited by

the strictly trained OdhuvArs trained in classic

centers like Dharmapuram in ChOLa nAdu .The sound

of hand cymbals beating rhythym is most appealing .

 

Among the 4 NaayanmArs referred to above ,

Sambhandhar of SeerkAzhi and Appar were

contemproariries of Thirumangai . Our

Thirumangai AzhwAr coming from a small village

close to SeerkhAzhi( ThirukkurayalUr) defeated Sambhandhar ,

the teen ager in a poetic contest and gained the

title of Naalu Kavi Pulavar. Sambhandhar lived only

for 16 years and is said to have to taken his

parents and friends with their bodies to KailAsam

at the end of his earthly existence. Appar was a grand

old man and was a convert from Jainism by his devout Sister

into Saivism . He is affectionaltely hailed as

ThirunAvukkarasar or the King of the scared tongue.

 

MaaNiccka Vaachakar was like the Rama Bhakthar ,

BhadrAchala Raama Das in that he diverted the King's

money for God's service and was saved by the Lord

in his time of travail , when the angry king was ready

to punish him .MaaNickka Vaachakar's ThiruvAchakam

is a beautiful set of poems in Tamil literature

dealing with Bhakthi , but he has some Veera saivam

aspect sneaking in some of these pathikams

that mars this spirit of the total effect .

His ThiruvempAvai has some similiarity to

ThiruppAvai except that the girls who are

being awakened in the early morning of

Margazhi are asking for the blessing

of having husbands , who are Siva BhakthAs .

ANDAL on the other hand asked for the Nithya

Kaimkaryam to Sriman NaarAyaNA and Him alone

in her ThiruppAvai .

 

Sri VaishNavAs know Lord SivA as a great

BhakthA of His grandfather, Sriman NaarAyaNA

and the author of Manthra Raaja Padha Sthothram on

Lord Narasimhan . The worship of SivA

reaches our Lord NaarAyaNaa as indicated by the story

in MahA Bharatham , where ArjunA's Siva Pujai

ends up at the feet of Lord KrishNA .

 

The Saivite NaayanmArs are fond of LingOthbhavar

story to establish the superiority of their

Ishta Dhaivam . But the source of that incident

is from Siva PurANams and it is not corroborated

elsewhere .Some of the sthala purANams of

VaishNavite Divya Desams relate to this incident ,

when they celebrate Sriman NaarAyaNA as

Hara Saapa Vimochanan . Haran ( Sivan ) had

the curse from His father , BrahmA for plucking

one of His five heads in anger for lying . The kapaalam

stuck to the palm of the Kapaali and Brahma Hatthi dhOsham

resulted from such an act . At ThirukkaNdiyUr

divya desam , Sriman NaarAyaNA filled the kapaalam

stuck to the hand of His grandson with His own blood

and that led to the Kapaalam getting detatched from

the hand of Sivan (Haran ) and the Saapam (curse )

was removed ( vimOchanam).

 

Lord SivA's salutation to Sri VishNu in

Sri VishNu Sahasra Naamam ( Sahasra naama

tatthulyam Raama Naama varAnanE ) is the ancient

PramANam . Adhi SankarA elcted to write commentary

for Sri VishNu sahasra naamam .

 

You are absolutely correct in your assessment

that the NayanmArs are not "Advaithins" , but

SaguNa Brahma UpAsakars of Lord SivA with

great Bhakthi .

 

Hope these comments provide additional perspective ,

 

V.Sadagopan

 

 

At 05:00 AM 9/7/98 PDT, you wrote:

>Srimathe ramanujaya nama:

>Dear Bhagavatas,

>

>now our Mr.chandrasekar has talked about arunagiri nadar and thirupukaz.

>

>infact any person (incl. srivaishnavas) would appreciate if one reads

>works in tamil by saivaite nayanmaras and esp. works by ramalingaswamy

>etc.

>

>here one should remember that, the philosophy of nyanmars and other

>saivaite followers were not that of "ADVAITA"

>

>like srivaishnavas, they also outrightly rejected advaitin beliefs.

>

>the main difference between saivaites and sri vaishnavities could be of

>who is the para brahman.

>

>further, with specifc ref to arunagiri nadar, he also composed hymns on

>Sri varadaraja and tirumal eugulising his paratva.

>

>can the learned memebers in the group throw light on the same?

>

>regards

>

>K.M.Narayanan

>

>

>

>____

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

>

>

[Guest guest]

>Re: paramanin aruL-arunagiri nadar.

 

At 04:09 PM 9/7/1998 -0400, I had written (VS):

>>Lord Narasimhan : The worship of SivA

>>reaches our Lord NaarAyaNaa as indicated by the story

>>in MahA Bharatham , where ArjunA's Siva Pujai

>>ends up at the feet of Lord KrishNA .

 

A dear friend had invited my attention to

the following Thiruvaaymozhi

paasuram 2.8.6 of NammAzhwAr and wondered

whether the account described by me

was at variance with NammAzhwAr's vaakku :

>

>thIrththan ulagaLandha sEvadimEl poondhaamam,

>sErththiyavaiyE sivanmudimEl thaan_kandu,

>paarththan theLindhozindha paindhuzaayaanperumai,

>pErththumoruvaraal pEsakkidandhathE

>

In this paasuram , Arjuna sees the flowers

he placed at the feet of the Lord ending up

in the head of Siva.

 

I was quoting my version from memory in

the context of what I rememberd from

the MahA Bhaaratham section , where

ArjunA was instructed by KrishNA to

do penance to get PaasupathAsthram from

Sri Rudran . I do not have access to the original

text of MahA Bharatham . Hence I can not vouch for

my leaky memory .In this context , I recognize NammAzhwAr's

words as not only authentic , but even more

inspiring in terms of the vision of Sri Rudran

as the author of Manthra Raaja Padha SthOthram .

 

V.Sadagopan