mazhisai paranadiyE vAzhththu!

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“makAyAm makarE mAsE chakrAmsam bhArgavOtbhavam maheesAra

purAdheesam bhakthisAra maham bhajE”

 

Among the 12 azhvars we cherish in our sampradayam, each one of them

have their own speciality. One cannot be compared with the other

though all of them stressed the very same point and remained as “Eka

kandargal” (people with single mind and speech). The mudal Azhvars

took avatharam first and paved path for the flourishing ghosti of

Azhvars. But they were not called “periyAzhvars” (Periya-big/first).

The same name was given to vishnuchiththar, the celebrated father of

our gOdhA nachiyar. Swamy mAmunikal gives the reason in upadesa

ratinamAlai as, “pongum parivAlE villiputtur pattarbiran pettrAn

periyAzhvar ennum peyar”. What the other Azhvars had on perumal is

‘parivu’ (soft corner) but periyAzhvar had “pongum parivu” (a very

deep flooding love). Swamy nammazhvar is adorned as “krishnatrishnA

thattvam” (one who was in the deep thirst to attain lord Krishna) but

even more celebrated is his disciple Sri Madurakavi Azhvar who lived

as

“dEvumattrariyEn” (I know no other lord other than Swamy nammazhvar).

Kulasekarar shed his entire kingdom to obtain the thilakam for his

thirunettri (“van ponnippErAru pOl varum kannaneer kondu arangan kOil

thirumuttram sEru sei thondar sEvadi sezhunsEru ensennikkanivanE”).

ThiruppanAzhvar took avatharam to prove to this world that it doesn’t

matter in which kulam you are born it is only the devotion in the

inner minds which really matters and thondaradipodi azhvar showed to

the world the difficulties faced due to lowkika kAma (pleasures) and

the happiness the ultimate bhagavath anubhavam fetches. Thirumangai

azhvar was a man of action. One who is involved in kainkaryam cannot

have his own anubhavam and the vice versa since if one is involved in

his own meditation then he cannot do kainkaryam physically but

kaliyan disproved this fact. He did not stay in one place like

nammazhvar but went from one divya desam to the other and sung

beautiful

mangalasasanams on all the emperumans. Not stopping with this he did

madhil kainkaryam and many more kainkaryams to the divya desa

emperumans. He is one azhvar who got the arthas not with vinayam

(politeness) but vigour directly from perumal. He is the azhvar seen

with a knife in all divya desams even today but do you know! Not

kaliyan but one other azhvar reserves the name of “uraiyil edAdhavar”

(one who doesn’t place his knife into its cover)?

 

Yes. Thirumazhisai azhvar is adorned as “uraiyil edAdhavar”. But in

all divya desams including azhvar’a avathara stalam “thirumazhisai”

bhakthisArar is seen only with folded arms and not holding a knife.

In case of thirumazhisai azhvar his knife is his own tongue. Azhvar

is never frightened to express his views. He doesn’t want to pacify

others but puts forth his points in a very straightforward way and

his words cut through the arguments of veda bAhyas (one who doesn’t

accept the vedas) and veda kudrishti’s (one who accept the vedas and

give wrong interpretations) like a knife without any halt. Doubt may

arise in the words of nammazhvar when he says, “muniyE nAnmuganE

mukkanappa” etc but thirumazhisai azhvar’s pasurams gives no room for

any such confusions. Why is azhvar so strong? It is because he has

plunged into all the philosophies. “samanam kattrom, sAkiyam kattrOm

sankaranAr Akiya Agama nool kattrOm” and finally he was

brought to the path of vaishnavism by a great acharya, Peyazhvar.

Moreover, thirumazhisai azhvar declares that he is the single soul to

understand the divine qualities of emperuman since he was blessed with

the same by emperuman himself. (“Arum ariyAr avan perumai” “appil

aruporulai yAn arindha vAru”). To get our minds clear of the doubts

about the parathvam of emperuman and other such issues it is wise to

go through the staunch words of thirumazhisai azhvar who is not only

well versed in vaishnavic philosophy but also in all other

philosophies in this world. The life history of thirumazhisai azhvar

also shows that though born in a brahmana kulam he was brought up by a

velAlan and hence did not get the right to learn the vedas but azhvar

did know all the vedArthas due to the divine grace of emperuman. The

incident with the Brahmins stopping the vedas while azhvar passed that

way and how they forgot the place they stopped and how azhvar reminded

them of

the same etc are known to all.

Moreover thirumazhisai azhvar had the greatness of making perumal

himself walk at the back of him (“painAgappAi surittikol”) and till

today that perumal in kanchi is adorned as “sonna vannam seitha

perumal” (perumal who obeyed the orders, yathOththakAri) and

arAvamudan emperuman in kudandhai literally started to sit up on

hearing azhvar say, “ezhundirundhu pEsu” and stayed in the same

position (uttAna sAyee) on hearing “vAzhi kEsanE”. It is said that

from that day perumal and azhvar exchanged names and hence we say

thirumazhisai pirAn and ArAvamudAzhvan. Such was the speciality of

thirumazhisai pirAn.

 

In the next posting we will enjoy the brief about his prabhandams and

then will try to understand the great prabhandam of thirumazhisai

pirAn, Nanmugan thiruvandhAdhi with the divine vyakhyanam of Sri

Periya vAchan pillai and its easy explanation by Sri sudarsanar.

 

Alwar EmperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam

 

Adiyen rAmAnuja dAseeSumithra Varadarajan

Azhwar emperumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigalE saraNam

Adiyen rAmAnuja dAsan/dAsee

Varadarajan/Sumithra

 

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