REJECTING THE LORD

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REJECTING THE LORD

 

There has been a discussion going on in this forum regading sri

rAmAnuja being more compassionate than the Lord HImself. This has to

be seen from two angles. One is that this being dealt in irAmAnusa

nURRandhAdhi and it is but natural that the poet talks high regarding

the subject matter of the poem. The Second fact is that the Lord feels

happy on showering praise on His devotees which is the fundamental of

our faith. bhAgavatha shEshathavam.

With this background, I recall two irAmAnusa nURRandhAdhip pAsuram to expalin this point.

 

thirukkuRaL says " inia vuLavAga, innAdha kURal, kani iruppak kAi

kavaRndhaRRu" Talking ill is akin to rejecting the fruit when it is

available.

 

Can anybody reject fruit, when it is available? The Lord is the

supreme fruit. Is there any precedence of HIm being rejected?

 

Yes. nam AzhwAr has rejected HIm. He rejected parathvam preferring the

Lord of thiru-vARan viLai. This is a case of preference of

arfchAvathAram to parathvam. This is also understood from AchArya

Hrdyam sUthram 171 -parathva vimugam Akkum- indifference towards

parathvam occurs for AzhWar who is turned towards this dhivya dhEsam-

sindhai maRRondRin thirathadhallAl thanmai -thiru voi mozhi 7-10-10.

 

Is there any other precedent of rejecting the Lord. Yes. sri

madhurakavigaL preferred nam-AzhwAr to the Lord. "dhEvu maRRaRiyEan"

were his words. He did not have any other Lord other than nam-AzhwAr.

This is our philosophy -bhAghavatha shEshathvam.

 

Extending this principle thiru arangathamudhanAr in his irAmAnusa

nURRandhAdhi in two of his pAsuram-s prefers sri rAmAnujA to i.

archai Lord and ii. vibhavam.

 

" seiththali sangam sezhumutha mEnum, thiruvarangar

kaithalathAzhum sangamum yEandhi,nangaNmugappEa,

moithalaithu vunnai vidEAn enRu irukkilum,nin pugazhEA

moithalaikkum vandhu, irAmAnusa ennai muRRum ninREA" irAmAnusa nURRandhAdhi 75

 

 

Even if the Lord of thiruvarangam with His dhivyAyudham-s sangam and

chakkaram appears in person and challenges that I will not leave you

-still only sri rAmAnujA's auspicious qualities will weigh heavily

on me.

 

The point here is, even in the event of Lord being available

readymade, only sri rAmAnujA is preferred. A case of rejection of

archai-thiruvarangam-Lord preferring AchAryan.

 

The next pAsuram taken up here is

 

"kayil kani enna kaNNanai kAttith tharinum, vundhan meyyil piRangiya

sEranRi vENdilan yAn...." irAmAnusa nURRandhAdhi 104

 

Even if Lord krishNa is presented on a silver salver I want only the

dhivya mangaLa vigrahA of sri rAmAnujA. Only the splendour of His

thirumEani attracts me. It reminds me of his auspicous qualities.

This is a clear case of rejection of Lord KrishNA in preference to

our AchAryan.Here a question is raised that the LOrd who is the means

and end is being rejected and whether this is correct?

Though Lord krishNA had delivered sermon, gave the sacred bhagavadh

gEthA, charioted and so on, there was no immediate effect.However,

history says that even a dumb person attained salvation on

surrendering unto sri rAmAnujA's thirumEani. Is it then wrong to

prefer him over the Lord?is the justification coming forth.

 

The point emphasised here is the fundamental of our philosphy is

dhathEya shEshathvam that is being subservient to the devotees.

 

I conclude this with the thiru mozhip pAsuram

"....vuRRadhum vun adiyArku adimai. maRRellAm pEAsilum nin thiru

ettezhuthum kaRRu nAn kaNNapurathurai ammAnE" periya thiru mozhi

8-10-3

 

There may be so many explanations for the eight term thirumandhiram.

Whatever we discuss the essence is that one has to be subservient to

His devotees. This is what I have learnt as the real and true meaning

of thirumandhiram.

 

 

vanamamalai padmanabhan