Inputs for CD ROMs : Part XI.1 -->Swamy NammAzhwAr

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NamO NaarAyanAya!

 

Dear BhakthAs: adiyEn will cover the life and

Sri Sookthis of Swamy NammAzhwAr , our Kula pathi

in this posting.

 

The Vaibhavam of Swamy NammazhwAr: AvathAram

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Among the AzhwArs, NammAzhwAr is considered

as the Master.All the others are considered

as his limbs (avayavams). He is the amsam of

VishvaksEnar , who is the commander-in-Chief

of Sriman NaarAyaNan.

 

He was born in Pandya Naadu at ThirukkuruhUr on

the banks of TamraparaNi river during a VaikAsi

VisAkam day.His father was KaariyAr and His mother

was Udaya Nangai from the MalayALa dEsa Thiruppathi

of ThiruvaNN ParisAram. Both the parents belonged

to vELALa kulam . During one of the occasions , when

KaariyAr was traveling with his wife to her birth place,

the couple stopped at ThirukkuRunkudi .There , KaariyAr

prayed to the Lord for the boon of progeny and the Lord

responded through His archakar that a son will be born

to them soon .ThirukkuRunkudi PerumAl commanded

VishvaksEnar to incarnate as NammAzhwAr on the 43rd day

after the start of Kali Yugam at ThirukkuruhUr.

He also commanded AdhisEshan to incarnate as

the divine Tamarind tree inside the temple of

Polinthu-ninRa PirAn of ThirukkuruhUr to protect

the infant NammazhwAr from the Sun and the rain.

On a BahudhAnya ( BhaudhA+anya) VaikAsi VisAka

PourNami day , AzhwAr was born in KaavyavAsara

Karkataka lagnam.

 

AzhwAr's growth

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

The child born to KaariyAr and Udayanamgai

was unlike other infants in that it did not

partake of Mother's milk and yet grew with

dhivya tEjas. It did not cry; it did not open

its eyes. The concerned parents named their

unusual child as Maaran , since it was different

in behavior ( mAri iruppathAl) from other children.

They took MaaRan to PerumAL Sannidhi and placed Maaran

in a golden cradle under the tamarind tree there .

For sixteen years, Maaran , who drove away the Sata

Vaayu with a hoonkAram kept his eyes closed and

observed Mounam . PerumAL instructed VishvaksEnar to

teach Sakala SaasthrArthams to Maaran SatakOpan

so that he in turn can redeem the people of

the world with His dhivya prabhandhams.VishvaksEnar

thus served in the role of AchAryan for SatakOpan.

 

Madhura Kavi's arrival at ThirukkuruhUr

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An older Brahmin by the name of Madhura Kavi

from the neighboring ThirukkOLUr was visiting

northern dhivya desam of AyOdhyA , when SatakOpan was

reching the age of sixteen.At night , Madhura Kavi

saw a splendid jyOthi in the southern sky and

tracked it to see where it was coming from.

His journey concluded at the foot of a tamarind

tree at ThirukkuruhUr , where SatakOpan was seated

with His eyes closed in deep dhyAnam. Madhura Kavi

wanted to test SatakOpan's hearing and dropped a

pebble near him. SatakOpan woke up from his Yogic

samadhi and looked at Madhura Kavi. Latter wanted

now to test whether SatakOpan can speak . Madhura Kavi

posed the question of " Setthathin VayiRRil siRiyathu

piRanthAl , yetthai thinRu yenghu kidakkum?". SatakOpan

responded : "atthai thinRu angE kidakkum". Madhura Kavi

recognized instantly the greatness of SatakOpan and chose

him as his AchAryan and performed prapatthi at SatakOpan's

sacred feet. Swamy NammAzhwAr accepted Madhura Kavi as his

dear disciple . At that instant , Sriman NaarAyaNan

appeared on the back of Garudan before Swamy NammazhwAr

and blessed him. Swamy NammazhwAr was filled with bliss

over the darsana soubhAgyam of the Lord and His dayaa and

expresed his anubhavam in four prabhandhams containing

deep tathvArthams in chaste Tamil language.

 

The Four Prabhandhams of Swamy NammazhwAr

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These four prabhnadhams of SatakOpan are consdiered

the essence of the Four Sanskritic Vedams . Yajur Vedam

has seven cantos. SatakOpan composed ThiruvAsiriyam

with seven paasurams to seve as the essence of Yajur

Vedam. He blessed us with Periya ThiruvandhAthi

(87 paasurams)as the saaram of AtharvaNa Vedam.

Thiruviruttham (100 paasurams)contained the essence

of Rg vedam and ThiruvAimozhi's "thousand" paasurams

(actually 1102 Paasurams) served to distill the essence

of the thousand-branched Saama Vedam.SatakOpan taught

them all to Madhura Kavi, who propagated them in all

eight directions to eulogize the glory of his AchAryan's

dhivya Sookthis for redeeming the people from samsAric

afflictions.AzhwAr used to wear the VakuLa Pushpa Maalai

worn by Polinthu NinRa PirAn of Thirunahari( ThirukkuruhUr)

and was therefore called VakuLAbharaNar .The fragrance of

those VakuLA flowers are contained in SatakOpan's prabhandhams.

After a few years more in the Lord's LeelA VibhUthi, SatakOpan

was eager to return to his Swamy's nithya VibhUthi

to perform nithya kaimkaryam there . SatakOpan ascended hence

to parama Padham thereafter . Madhura Kavi performed

prathishtai to Swamy NammAzhwAr's vigram at AzhwAr Thirunahari

and spent the rest of his life singing his AchAryan's prabhandham

every where and teaching them to all people .Madhura Kavi

composed the marvellous prabhandham of "KaNNinuNN

SiRutthAmpu" to immortalize his AchArya Bhakthi .

 

Swamy NammazhwAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

RaamAnuja Daasan, Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SatakOpan