Guest guest Posted March 22, 2002 Report Share Posted March 22, 2002 Sri: SrImathE Ramanujaya namah: Dearest Srivaishnavas, [Thanks to many BhAgawathas who have written to me to bless aDiyEn and the kaimkaryam]. When Vishunu Chitthar saw the Lord , he was overwhelmed with the beauty , youth and laavaNyam of the Lord and broke out spontaneously .. ne engadaa inga vandhE.. (Why have You come here? This place is full of evil, and with such beauty epitomized, the people will cast evil glances on You.. ). He bursts out like an affectionate caring Mother with full of vaathsalyam on the Lord.. With his mangaLAsAsanam (praise) of the Lord using the bells on the neck of the elephant as taaLam. He started singing ¡§pallANdu¡¨ (hundreds of thousands of years of the Lord¡¦s well being. ) This Vaaathsalyam that burst out on PeriyAzhwAr is called as ¡§pongum parivu.¡¨- which generally is found in all our mothers when they are concerned about their children. That is why the AzhwAr (who considered the role of a mother to the Lord Himself naturally as if it is the original one which bursts out.. ) is called PeriyAzhwAr.. Sri Manavala maamunigaL¡¦s UpadEsa Ratthina maalai says: (from SrI Satakopan mama¡¦s translation) mangaLAsAsanatthil maRRuLLa AzhwArkaL tangaL aarvatthu aLavu thaan anRi--pongum parivAlE VilliputthUr Bhattar PirAn peRRAn PeriyAzhwAr yennum peyar.........(18) (Meaning ): Bhattar PirAn, who incarnated (as an amsam of GarudA ) at Sri VillipputthUr received the name of PeriyAzhwAr as a honorific title. Why So ? This is because of his intensity in bhakthi (abhnivEsam ) for eulogizing Sriman NaarAyaNan exceeded (exhuberantly ) that of all the other AzhwArs PeriyAzhwAr had the rare distinction of being recognized as the eldest among fellow AzhwArs ( Periya Aazhwaar).Why did this title stick to him ? He was not the eldest among them . Poygai and the other two Mudhal AzhwArs were older than him ( incarnated earlier than him).NammAzhwAr and Kaliyan had larger number of Prabhandhams than him .Other AzhwArs had ruchi ( intense desire ) for MangaLAsAsanam of the Lord as well that poured out of them as moving paasurams.Yet they did not earn the title of PeriyAzhwAr ? Why so ? MM points out that Bhattar PirAn won the title of PeriyAzhwAr becuase of the ghanam and intensity of his concern for the welfare of the Lord that got crystallized as PaLLANDu . Swami Desikan's salutation of PeriyAzhwAr is moving indeed: "Aani tannil, perunjyOthi tannil thOnRum PerumAnE !" [The One who incarnated during the Aani, when the great constellation of SvAthi was in ascendance as perumAn / periyAzhwAr]. http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/jun99/0173.html - Read aDiyEn¡¦s rambling on why is he called PeriyAzhwAr? And the thread for further reading/ reference. During Sri Anand Karalapakkam¡¦s visit to Singapore about three years ago, he delivered an upanyasam on Thiruppavai first pAsuram. From his speech (as far as I could remember) and from his article: Sri PeriavAcchAn piLLai says that when compared to AzhwArs, rishis are like dust / aNu and AzhwArs are like mountains (in glories/greatness). Then within AzhwArs, all other AzhwArs are like aNu in comparison with PeriAzhwAr's greatness which is like mountain. PeriAzhwAr's greatness was that while PerumAL Himself gave the sEvai in garuda vAhanam (with pirAtti ) , after AzhwAr firmly establishing about the supremacy of Sriman nArAyaNA, not only AzhwAr, but all the people were able to have that divine sEvai ; and in that very instance PeriAzhwAr delivered the glorious "pallAndu". This is known as the "mangaLAsAsanam" - a very esoteric concept in itself. People ask so many things from PerumAL. Even NammAzhwAr in tiruviruttam says "meininru kEttaruLAi adiyEn seiyyum vinnappamE " i.e. even when PerumAL gives the sEvai, nammAzhwAr wants Him to listen to his upanyAsam. But, PeriAzhwAr is PERIYA AZHWAR. He was in total shock as to why did the most purest Pristinely Beautiful PerumAL come to this samsAra sAkkadai and was deeply worried about the evil glances of the people towards Him (dhrusti pattudum ) !!! Out of great affection towards PerumAL, PeriAzhwAr sung PallAndu (Long Live). We may say: why should AzhwAr sing ¡§Long live? Does he not know that PerumAL is omniscient, All powerful. How can evil glances fall on Him? Doesn't PeriAzhwAr know all these things? Obviously AzhwAr knows. In the debate, (sadhas) PeriAzhwAr without any problem defeated all the opponents and established the true imports of the vEdAs quoting relevant sections of Vedas to establish the Supremacy of the Lord Sriya: Pathi Sriman Narayanan, in unamibiguous manner that made the bag of gold coins bend automatically. But, the "jn~Anam" of PeriAzhwAr has turned out into "bhagavad prEmai" which is a great ornament for that "jn~Anam". The ajnAnam resulting from not knowing about the actual realities established in the sAstrAs is not at all a desired thing. But, the "ajnAnam" which occurs due to bhagavad prEmai is very much a desired oneƒº [i too have lot of anjnAnam; but due to ignorance.. ] Sri PiLLai lOkAchAryar beautifully says in Srivachana bhUshanam that one should get proper jn~Anam in the first place and should then acquire this bhagavad prEmai which should stand on top of this jn~Anam. The illustrious AchArya Sri vAtsya VaradadESikar who was the greatest expert in SribAshyam ( well evident from SrutaprakAsikA) was very much upset when PeraruLALan was served hot boiling milk. This AchArya very well knows that Varadan is the antaryAmi of that hot boiling milk also and nothing can affect Him etc etc. But, when this AchAryA lovingly made Varadan drink the milk in the optimum temparature (as fit to be given for a child - kutti kannan), PerumAL spontaneously reciprocated and fondly called the AchAryA "yen ammA" - " Oh My Mother ! " and from then, the AchAryA came to be known as "ammAL" ie. nadAdUr ammAL- the one who truely had the feeling of giving milk to PerumAL and not doing something mechanically. Now, the reason for PeriAzhwAr singing pallAndu is due to the great love - bhagavd prEmai. This is a natural feeling that arises with respect to very beloved ones. PerumAL was the most beloved one to PeriAzhwAr and when AzhwAr saw PerumAL appearing in this samsAram, his anxiety grew exponentially and in order that no evil things should touch/affect PerumAL ( who is now in danger !! ) , AzhwAr started performing the mangaLAsAsanam - "pallAndu pallAndu ..." -- very very esoteric indeed to comprehend!! [The above is from Sri Anand¡¦s upanyasam and his article- thanksƒº ] This ThiruppallANDu is recognized as PraNavam for the Tamil Vedams .In ThiruppallANDu , the noble codes of behavior and the tatthvams of Sri VaishNavam are enshrined beautifully. Sri Manavala manunigaL¡¦s upadesa rathina malai.. kOthilAm AzhwArkaL kooRu kalaikku yellAm Aadhi ThirupallANDu aanathuvum --Vedatthukku Om yennu madhu pOl uLLathekku yellAm surukkaai thaan mangalam aathalAl.......(19) (Meaning):Among all the Prabandhams of the blemishless AzhwArs, ThiruppallANDu took the top (first) place. Why so? Just like PraNavam became the essence of the meanings of all VedAs , ThiruppallANDu stayed at the top of all Prabhandhams of fellow AzhwArs , since it is the most auspicious quintessence ( saarArtha Nidhi) of all Dhivya Prabandhams. uNDO ThiruppallANDukku oppathOhr kalai thaan uNDO PeriyAzhwArkku oppu oruvar --taNDamizh nool seytharuLum AzhwArkaL tammil avar sey kalayil paithal nenjE nee uNarnthu paar.....(20) (Meaning ): Oh my mind ! Among the AzhwArs , who blessed us with the different Prabandhams , is there One , who is equal to PeriyAzhwAr in stature ? (No). Is there one prabandham of all these AzhwArs , which is superior to ThiruppallANDu ? (No).Oh my poor mind ! please reflect on these questions and learn about the correct answers to them . Before venturing into Pallandu let us enjoy and get to know who are other AzhwArs? why first is PeriyAzhwAr Thirumozhi in 4000? what constitutes 4000 and then the podhu thaniyans and thaniyans on PeriyAzhwAr in the subsequent posts. Regards PeriyAzhwAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam Namo Narayana aDiyEn dAsan _______________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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