geetha sAstramum nedunthAndaka sAstramum-2

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"vAzhi parakAlan vAzhi kalikandri vAzhi kurayaloor vAzhvEndan

vAzhiyarO mAyOnai vAlvaliyAl mandhiram kol mangaiyarkOn thooyOn

sudarmAna vEl"

 

"pEdhai nenjE endrai perumai arindhilaiyO A-dhu perumai endraikku

endrennil OdhuginrEn vAiththa pugazh mangayarkOn mAnilaththil

vandhudhiththa kArthigaiyil kArthigai nAl kAn"

 

"mAran paniththa thamizh maraikku mangaiyarkOn Arangam koora

avadhariththa veerudaiya kArthigaiyil kArthigai nAl endrendru

kAdhalippAr vAiththa malar thAlgal nenjE! vAzhththu"

 

This year this great day, kArthigaiyil kArthigai nAl, the

thiruavathara dhinam of our dear kaliyan, thirumangai mannan,

arulmAri, arattamukki, adaiyArseeyam, kalikandri falls on Dec.7th.

As celebrated by Swamy Manavala mamunikal in the above quoted upadesa

ratina mAlai paasurams this is the very day on which our kadaikutti

azhvar (last in the group of Azhvars) took avatharam. MAran,

nammazhvar took avatharam on vaikasi visAkam day to give the thamizh

marai (vedas in tamil) and following him thirumangai mannan took

avatharam on this great karthigaiyil kArthigai nAl to give the six

angas viz., Periya thirumozhi, thirukurunthAndakam,

thiruvezhukootrirukai, Siriya thirumadal, Periya thirumadal and

thirunedunthAndakam, to the 4 vedas of nammazhvar, viz.,

Thiruviruththam, thiruvAsiriyam, Periya thiruvandhAdhi and

thiruvaimozhi. ThirunedunthAndakam is the charama (last) prabhandam

of thirumangai azhvar in which azhvar sings with joy after having the

bhagavat

sAkshAtkAram. In our sampradayam, the words of tattva darshis

(Azhvars) have more value than even the words of emperuman himself.

Before diving further into the topic, let us get to mind one another

greatness of this very day. This is the day on which one of our

great acharyas, kalikandri dAsar, Sri Nampillai took avatharam (he

was regarded as the punaravatharam of thirumangai azhvar). In the

first avatharam thirumangai azhvar gave only the six angas to the

vedas of nammazhvar but in his avatharam as nampillai he did a even

greater job of given the unparalleled commentary to the thiruvaimozhi

of nammazhvar, the Eedu ('Eedu enaiyillAdha Eedu'). Let us all sing

the praise of these two great mahans on this karthigaiyil kArthigai

nAl.

 

"kalandhathiruk kArthigaiyil kArthigai vandhOn vAzhiyE kAsiniyil

von kurayaloor kAvalOn vAzhiyE nalanthigazh Ayiraththenbhaththu

nAluraiththAn vAzhiyE nAlaindhu maraiaindhu namakkuraiththAN

vAzhiyE elankezhu kootrirukkai eru madaleendhAn vAzhiyE immoondril

erunootrirubhadheendhAn vAzhiyE valan thigazhum kumudavalli manavalan

vAzhiyE vAtkaliyan parakAlan mangaiyarkOn vAzhiyE"

 

"kAdhaludan nanjeeyer kazhal thozhuvOn vAzhiyE kArthigaiyil

kArthigai vudhiththa kalikandri vAzhiyE pOdhamudan Azhvar

sorporuluraippOn vAzhiyE poodhoorAn pAdiyaththai pugazhumavan

vAzhiyEmAdhagavAl evvuyirkkum vAzhvaliththAn vAzhiyE madhilarangar

Olakkam valarthittAn vAzhiyEnAthamuni Alavandaar nalam pugazhvOn

vAzhiyE nampillai thiruvadigal nAdOrum vAzhiyE".

 

Coming to our topic, in the last posting we saw the greatness of the

geethA sastram. As it has already been seen, thirunedunthAndakam is

the last prabhandam of thirumangai azhvar. Now you may all be

wondering why then did adiyen name it as thirunedunthAndaka sAstram.

Can a prabhandam be called as a sastram? Yes it has been considered

to be a sAstram by our poorvAcharyas. Sri parasara bhattar won over

nanjeeyer, earlier called as vedanthi, only using this sAstram.

Since this prabhandam was sung after azhvar's bhagavat sAkshAtkAram

it is filled with upanishadic meanings and hence there is nothing

wrong to call it as a sAstram by itself. Swamy emperumanar had a

deep involvement in 30 paasurams among the 4000. Which were those?

They were the beautiful thiruppavai paasurams of nachiyar but Sri

parasara bhattar, son of kooraththAzhvan and andal, regarded as a

foster son of Sri Ranganachiyar had his deep involvement in another

30 paasurams. Those were none other than the great paasurams of

thirumangai azhvar, thirunedunthAndakam.

 

Sri Parasara bhattar went to mEl nAdu, to win over the famous vedanthi

over there. Some people over there told bhattar that it was not

possible to meet the vedanthi with the intention of arguments

(tarkkam) so easily. Since before meeting him, bhattar will have to

win over all his disciples. They also gave him an idea. The

vedanthi used to do annadhAnam daily. Bhattar went to that place and

stood infront of the vedanthi who had come to supervise the

activities. While bhattar stood infront of him, the vedanthi

directed him towards the place where food was given but bhattar

refused the same and said he had come for tharkka bhiksha.

Immediately the vedanthi understood that the person in front of him

was none other than the great bhattar who he had heard about before,

the one who knows the thirunedunthAndaka sastra (which was the only

sastra the vedanthi hasn't learnt). After long arguments finally the

vedanthi surrendered to the

divine feet of bhattar and became his devoted disciple.

 

In this way, Sri Bhattar showed the greatness of kaliyan's charama

prabhandam to the world. As soon as bhattar returned back to

srirangam, ranganatha eager to know the result enquired about the

same to bhattar. Bhattar replied that his journey was a success and

that he had got the vedanthi into the sampradayam. Ranganatha was

eager to know how bhattar won over the vedanthi. Bhattar then told

ranganatha the way he won over using the thirunedunthAndaka paasurams

and that event of bhattar's victory and ranganatha's joy is celebrated

even today every margazhi month in srirangam as 'ThirunedunthAndaka

thirunal' the day just before the commencement of adhyayana utsavam.

At this point, it has to be got to memory that the adhyayana utsavam

itself was started by thirumangai azhvar only with the help of

thirunedunthAndakam.

In the next posting we will further enjoy the greatness of this excellent prabhandam/sAstram.

 

Azhvar EmperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam

 

Adiyen ramanuja dAseeSumithra Varadarajan

 

 

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