Sri RanganathA and AzhwAr Paasurams : Swamy NammAzhwAr--Part IV

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri RanganAtha BhakthAs :

 

After the limited coverage of the aspects of

the uniqueness of Sri Ranganathan and His dhivya Desam ,

adiyEn will start the salutations to the 11 AzhwArs ,

who blessed us with 247 Paasurams . These 247 are :

 

1) PeriyAzhwAr : 35

2) AndaaL : 10

3) KulasEkarA : 31

4) Thirumazhisai : 14

5) ThoNDaradippodi: 55

6) PaaNa naathan : 10

7) Thirumangai : 73

8) Poygai AzhwAr : 1

9) BhUthatthAzhwAr: 4

10)Pey AzhwAr : 2

11)NammAzhwAr : 12

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Total Paasurams: 247

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Many lives would be needed to understand the layers

and layers of meanings of these 247 Paasurams on our

Aadhirangan .There are a few scholars on this sathsangam ,

who have more acumen to do justice to these beautiful

AzhwAr Paasurams steeped in parama Bhakthi for Sri RanganAthan.

Adiyen requests them to come forward and add their inputs

to expand the reach of our anubhavam of these Kula Dhanams .

As for adiyEn's part , the goal of these postings is to

provide an overview by focusing on selected paasurams

from the MangaLAsAsanams of the AzhwArs .Please bear

with adiyEn's insufficiencies in this well meant Kaimkaryam

to pay homage to Sri RanganAyaki SamEtha Sri RanganAtha

Para Brahmam .

 

We will start with the anubhavam of Swamy NammAzhwAr ,

since all the other AzhwArs are considered to constitute

the limbs of Swamy NammAzhwAr .

 

The Twelve Paasurams of Swamy NammAzhwAr :

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One of the twelve paasurams on Sri RanganAthA

is housed in Thiruviruttham ( 28th Paasuram )

and the remaining 11 are found in ThiruvAimozhi 7.2

section ( Kangulum Pahalum KaNDaRiyAL -- decad ).

 

The Thiruviruttham Paasuram

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Thiruviruttham has 100 paasurams . One of them

(28th Paasuram ) is about Sri RanganAthan .Thiru Viruttham

is the first of the 4 Prabhandhams of Swamy NammAzhwAr ;

it is considered as the essence of Rg Vedham .Here ,

AzhwAr reminds the Lord that He is his Swamy and

he (AzhwAr )is the "nithya Daasan " to Him .

 

In this Prabhandham ,where Swamy NammAzhwAr assumes

the role of ParAnkusa Naayaki (upto 88th Paasuram )

and begs the Lord , her Naayakan to listen to her

appeal ( mey ninRu kEttaruLAi adiyEn seyyum ViNNappamE ).

Nayaki's appeal is for obtaining the Lord as

the Parama PurushArtham as a direct result of

the banishmnet of obstacles associated with Prakruthi

( Prakruthi sambhandham )with His grace .Parankusa Naayaki

prays for the boon of freedom from DehAthma Bramam ( mistaking

the body to be the AathmA ) , ahankAram , viparItha Jn~Anam

that leads one to think that Jeevan has Svathanthram .

The very first Paasuram of Thiruviruttham is recognized by

some AchAryAs as a referral to artha panchakam ( Isvaran,

Jeevan , UpAyam for prApthi , Phalan and the VirOdhi

for PrApthi).

 

In the 28th paasuram (TaNNam ThuzhAi vaLai koLvathu--),

Paraankusa Naayaki begs the Lord of Srirangam

to instruct her on the truth about some thing that

confuses her .THis paasura Pahuthi is :

 

" YeNNam thuzhAvum idatthu paNDum inna anna

uLavO aruLAi ".

 

Nayaki asks : " Oh Lord of Srirangam ! My mind

inquires as to whether such things(this and that)

happened in previous times . Please instruct me on

the truth about their happenings in the past ".

 

The "inna " (ippadippattavai / of this nature )

and " anna " (appadipattavai/of that nature )

that troubles the Nayaki are :

 

The Lord does not tolerate His BhakthAs to be

troubled by those , who have no connection to Him

( Bhaktha RakshaNam and Dushta Nigraham ). He does

not also put up with His own devotees insulting those

who are dear to Him ( Bhaagavatha apachAram ).

These are the "inna " and anna" items .Nayaki hints :

If the Lord does not practise these cardinal

vows that He has taken and does not come to

the rescue of His Bhaktha Janam , then there will be

haani(harm) to His reputation . Naayaki says further

that her mind is confused on these matters and begs

the Lord to reveal the truth on these matters .She asks

Him:

 

" Has it ever happened in ancient times that You

slacked from Your vratham of Prapanna Jana

SamrakshaNam ?".This dialog of ParAnkusa

Naayaki with Her Lord , Sri RanganAthan ,

is housed in this Thiruviruttham Paasuram .

 

Swamy NammAzhwAr's ThiruvAimozhi Paasurams

*******************************************

In the 7.2 decad , Swamy NammAzhwAr speaks to us

through the mouth of ParAnkusa Naayaki's mother ,

who is utterly distraught about the heartless

way in which Sri RanganAthan has treated

her daughter . Our AchAryAs have said that

ParAsara Bhattar was overcome with intense

emotion on reflecting on this decad

and is said to have observed :

 

" We are not fit to appreciate the AzhwAr's intensity

of love (for the Lord) nor can we fathom his(AzhwAr's)

yearning and desire (Bhagavath Kaamam ) for the Lord.

We are simply reciting these verses without understanding

even an iota of AzhwAr's true feelings ".

 

The bridal mysticism and the intensity of suffering

from separation from her ( Parankusa Naayaki's)

Lord are moving indeed as we hear the helpless

mother describing the plight of her young and

beautiful daughter . The mother appeals to

the Lord of Srirangam to have a heart , to take

pity on the tender sapling of a daughter of hers .

We will study this decad and select paasuram 7.2.5

for additional commentaries as experienced by

some of our PoorvAchAryALs .

Sri RanganAyaka parabrahmaNE Nama:

Daasan , O.V.Sadagopan