The Unqualified Azhwar

[Guest guest]

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Srimate SrivanSatakopa

Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

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yes">                                The Unqualified Azhwar

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">         We are all aware of Sri Nammazhwar’s

life story. He was born at TirukkurugUr as an entirely unique child, the likes

of which the world has never seen and would never see. Whereas every mortal

child emits a cry immediately upon emerging from the mother’s womb (in fact

this is supposed to be one of the vital signs of normalcy in a newborn), the

child of KAri and udayanangai never let out even a whimper, not only at birth,

but never even later. Why do infants cry? Normally because they are hungry,

sleepy or have some ache or pain. Since the Satakopa sisu was beyond these

mundane wants or botherations, he did not cry. We see infants perceptibly

thinning, when they miss even a single feeding and become extremely cranky when

they miss their beauty sleep. However, this extraordinary baby never emitted a

single sound of complaint nor did he appear in any way affected by staying off

any form of intake and not closing its eyes even for forty winks. It was this

distinct difference from normal infant behaviour that gave the child the name,

“MAran”( one who is different).

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">   These were not the only aspects of

uniqueness in Sri Nammahwar. Normal children insist on running about and

engaging in mischief once they are mobile and are usually difficult to control,

being carbon copies of Denis the Menace. Sri 

Nammazhwar gave his parents no anxious moments on this count and

confined himself entirely to the hole in the Tamarind tree on the premises of

AdinAtha PerumAL sannidhi at TirukkurugUr. The child never walked, never ran,

never moved out of his apparently permanent perch in the tree. This continued

for sixteen long years, till Sri MadurakavigaL recognised the unusual teenager

as an apostle extraordinaire and became an ardent disciple. Even after this,

Azwar did not move out of his tree-home and it was the Emperumans of all the

divyadesams who came running to the Tamarind tree, for obtaining adulation by

the unmoving Azhwar.

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">   It is clear therefore that Azhwar did not

engage in any of the activities ascribed to normal human beings, either as an

infant or after growing up. He was not affected by adoloscence or the normal

teenage troubles. Far from courting delightful damsels, he preferred his own

company and that of the Lord, who was his constant companion in thought and

formed his all—“uNNum sOru, parugum neer, tinnum vettrilai, yAvum KaNNan”.

Wealth in any form had no meaning for him, having been blessed with the

foremost of all riches—Bhagavat anubhavam.

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Thus, without engaging in

any human activity, without going out anywhere from the tall tamarind tree,

without courting any sort of  human

company, without apparently learning anything in the formal sense, Azhwar must

have been totally ignorant of the ways of the world. He could not have known

the intensity of love that a girl could have for her beloved, nor the depth of

emotion carried by a devoted husband for his wonderful wife. He could not have

known the infatuation some people have for ladies, in and out of wedlock. He

could not have imagined the overwhelming love some people have, not for their

human counterparts, but towards wealth and riches in any and all

forms.  He could not have known the extents to which

people perjure themselves for amassing wealth, praising skyhigh, idols with

feet of clay. He could definitely not have had an inkling of how mercenary

people are, surrounding the death-bed of a person, in the fond hope of

benefiting from the fortune he would leave behind, hovering about like vultures

which have sighted pray. Nor could he have known the ways of the oldest

profession, which discards its customers after sucking out all that they have

to offer. Thus the Azhwar, confined to his tree-home throughout his life,

without anyone to tell him anything either about the world or of anything else,

bereft of human company whch he wantonly eschewed, could have hardly known any

of the aforesaid and a hundred other things which mundane mortals become aware

of at the appropriate points of time in life, either through personal

experience or through others.

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Thus, if there is anyone

totally unqualified to speak about or comment upon the ways of the world, it is

Swami Nammazhwar, who put into actual practice what Sri Kulasekhara Perumal

vowed to do—“uNdiyE udayE ugandu Odum im maNdalam tannodum kooduvadillai

yAn”—and kept entirely away from polluting human company. Other Azhwars like

Sri Vishnuchitta, Sri Kalian, Sri Tondaradippodi etc. might be more qualified

in this regard, having lived among frail mortals like us, moved as one among us

and been witness daily to some human failing or the other, but not Sri Satakopa

Muni.

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Despite this apparent

lack of worldly knowledge, we find Sri Nammazhwar spaeaking  quite knowledgeably, at times even

cynically, about the ways of the world and its mortal inhabitants.

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Describing the mercenary

attitude of relatives and friends, he points out, as if personally affected by

their attitude, as to how they surround one when one is affluent, sucking one’s

wealth away like leeches and caring not for one when one is in penury or dire

straits—

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">“tuNaiyum sArvum AguvAr

pOl suttratthavar pirarum

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"> aNaya vanda Akkam uNdEl attaigaL pOl

suvaippar”

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">“poruL kai uNdAi sella

kANil pOttri endru Ettri ezhuvar

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"> iruL koL tunbatthu inmai kANil ennE enbArum

illai”.

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Azhwar categorically

rules out any permanence in the so-called pleasure we hanker after, with all

the authenticity of one who has experienced them and found them to be puerile—

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">“illai kaNdeer inbam

andO!”

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Not having had even a

negligible experience of female company, Azhwar is still  able to speak with authority on the plight

of those who delight in it to the exclusion of all others—

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">“paNimin tirvaruL ennum

amseetha paipoom paLLi

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"> aNi men kuzhalAr inba kalavi amudu uNdAr

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"> tuNi munbu nAla pal Ezhaiyar tAm izhippa

selvar”.

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Without having earned or

saved a penny for himself or for others, not having even a nodding acquaintance

with business or commerce, Azhwar still gives a graphic description of the

impermanence of wealth and prosperity, pointing out how exalted monarchs are

often reduced to the state of penniless paupers and the lack of any guarantee

in this life of continued affluence and power—

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">“andru mudal indru

arudiyA

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">vAzhndArgaL vAzhndE

nirpar enbadu illai”

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">The tendency of poets and

others to extoll the praises of the wealthy and powerful, in the hope of

benefiting from their largesse and heaping on them totally undeserved paeans of

hypocritical praise, comes in for caustic comment by Azhwar, who paints these

scenes so realistically as if he had been witness to them—

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">“mAri anaya kai mAl varai

okkum tiNdOl endru

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"> pAril Or pattraiyai pacchai pasum poigaL

pEsavE”

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Azhwar’s portrayals of

the pleasures of the flesh that the Lord can afford to those who desire the

same, leave us wondering as to how such detailed knowledge on the subject could

have been acquired by this celibate saint. This is especially true of the

decads “VEy maru tOLiNai meliyumAlO”, 

“Malligai kamazh tendral eerumAlO” etc., where Azhwar describes both the

pleasures of physical union as well as the distress occasioned by separation

from the beloved.

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">We are therefore left

wondering as to how Azhwar could exhibit knowledge, that too in such intricate

detail, about phenomena he could never have come acroos, having eschewed all

human company and confined himself all his life to a hole in a tree.

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">The solution to this

apparently inexplicable riddle is provided by Azhwar himself , that too in the

opening decad of Tiruvaimozhi, in the very first verse thereof—

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">“uyarvara uyar nalam

udayavan yavan avan

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"> mayarvara madi nalam aruLinan yavan avan”

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Azhwar tells us that it

is the Lord who has blessed him with unblemished wisdom. It is this wisdom that

enables Azhwar to perceive matters mundane in true light, unaffected by eyes

jaundiced by sensual pleasures. While the actual players in a drama would be

unable to detect any defects in their action, dialogue delivery etc., an

onlooker is instantly able to perceive such shortcomings. Similarly, Azhwar

too, in his role as a non-participating observer, is able to clearly perceive

and mirror the frailties in human conduct. Thus, even though he never had an

occasion to be an actual player in the Great Human Tragedy, he is proficient in

perceiving vividly the faults and foibles of the human race, due to the divine

wisdom bestowed on him by Emperuman. And he sees them all in his mind’s eye,

just as Sanjaya did. It was as if Emperuman told Azhwar too, “divyam dadhAmi tE

chakshu:” (I endow thee with superhuman eyes, capable of perceiving not only

what happens in the immediate vicinity, but the world over, as clearly as if it

is occurring right in front of your eyes).

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Apart from the blessing

of blemishless wisdom, Azhwar’s tirunamam itself tells us how he was able to

divine the erratic and wayward nature of the world, without ever being an

integral part thereof. The name “SathakOpa:” refers to someone who vented his

anger on “Satham”. We are told that all babies, on being born, retain full

memories of their previous births and also the wonderful wisdom accumulated

over innumerable births. However, the moment they emerge from the protective

confines of the mother’s womb, an ill-boding wind known as “Satham” strikes

them with such force that the infants instantly forget all that is stored in

their grey cells and begin to cry in fear at the strange and unfamiliar

environs they have been thrust into.  In

the case of Azhwar, however, this cruel draught could not succeed in its

mission, with the saint just shooing it away. Thus, he retained all his wisdom,

thereby able to recollect the wicked ways of the world, without ever setting

eyes on a human being.

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">A third explanation is

also to be found in Tiruvaimozhi, for Sri Nammazhwar’s apparently unlimited

knowledge about people and their behaviour. In more than one verse, Azhwar puts

the entire credit for the composition of Tiruvaimozhi at the lotus feet of the

Lord, telling us time and again that it is He who actually authored the songs,

with Azhwar acting just as an output device—

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">“ PaNnAr pAdal in kavigaL

yAnAi tannai tAn pAdi

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">   tennA ennum en ammAn TirumAlirum sOlayAnE”

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">“tannai tAnE tudittu”

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">“en nenjattuL irundu ingu

irum Tamizh nool ivai mozhindu” etc.

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Hence, when Azhwar speaks

in a worldly-wise manner, as if aware of the entire gamut of emotions human

beings are capable of , despite being a total stranger to human society, it is

actually Emperuman speaking from within the Azhwar, making fun of us, showing

us up to be the hypocrites we are, exhorting us to stay away from paths of

peril, telling us to keep our senses under strict control, lest they lead us

astray from the narrow and straight path to Paradise and so on.

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Azhwar’s state reminds us

of that of Sri PrahlAdAzhwan, who too, despite his tender years, was well aware

of the human race’s predilection for sensual pleasures and its thirsting for a

variety of desired objects, without its wants ever being satisfied fully, as

one satisfied desire immediately gives rise to another. Therefore he prays to

Sri Nrsimha to bless him (Prahlada) with the sort of attachment to the Lord,

which ordinary mortals have towards various objects of puerile pleasure they

covet—

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">“yA preeti: avivEkAnAm

vishayEshu anapAyinI

0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"> tvAm anusmarata: sA mE hridayAt mApasarpatu”.

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Srimate Sri

LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra

Mahadesikaya nama:

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