nAnmugan thiruvandhAdhi-9

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(vEroruvar ellAmai nindrAnai) Emperuman is the supreme. There is no

one to equal or surpass his greatness. “aham krishnasya jagatha:

prabhava: pralayas thathA I maththa: paratharam nAnyat kinchidhasthi

dhananjaya II” declares emperuman himself in his bhagavat geetha

(7-6,7) [i am the sole creator and destroyer for this whole universe

there is no one greater than me]“yasmAth ksharamatheedhOham

aksharAthapi shOththama: I athOsmi lOkE vEdhE cha prathitha:

purushOtama:” (15-18)[since I am greater than the kshara and akshara

purushas I am regarded as the purushOtaman by the sruthis and

smrithis]To further establish emperuman’s words the rishis have

declared as follows: “ na deivam keshavAth param” “na param

pundareekAkshAth”. The Vedas declare the same meaning in the verses,

“paramam prabhum nArAyanam” “na dhath samaschApyadhi kascha

drushyathE”.

Who is this supreme? Azhvar answers,

 

(emmAnai) The one who is my leader. Thirumazhisai azhvar is

celebrated, as “marandhum puram thozhA mAndhar” even by mistake

azhvar will not fall into any other devathas feet. So azhvar credits

emperuman to be his lord (his leader). Else it can be stated that in

the front and back azhvar has talked about the greatness and hence to

add more beauty here he talks about the simplicity (sowlabhyam) of

emperuman in the middle. Emperuman has so much grace that he

purposely comes and showers his nirheduka krupai (unconditional

grace) on me.

 

[instead of having the same colour beads throughout the chain it will

be nicer to add a contrasting bead in the center. At this stage the

great rAsa nAtyam comes to our memory. The gopikas formed a chain

during the divine dance with Krishna in-between two gopis. There was

one Krishna with two gopikas on the sides and vice versa. Here azhvar

decorates his paasuram with the kalyana guna of parathvam on two

sides and neermai (sowlabhyam) in the centre]

 

But again there are Vedic verses that declare one with the names

Sivan, rudran, Esan, Eswaran, maheswaran etc to be the paramathma.

Then how do you say narayanan is the only paramathma? Azhvar answers

 

(epporutkum sollAnai) By whatever names the Vedas may call nArayanan

alone is the paramathma who bears all these various names viz.,

AkAsam, prAnan, jyOthi, indran, vuriththiran, Sivan, Esan, Eswaran,

mahEswaran, purushan, purushOththaman, uththama purushan, Vishnu,

hari, achchudhan, ananthan, nArAyanan, thiruvikraman, vAmanan

etc.(epporutkum sollAnai) ‘porul’ refers to the sabdha which refers

to a thing. Emperuman is only referred to by all the

sabdhAs-sarvasabdhavAchyan.(epporutkum sollAnai) the one who is

referred directly by all sabdhas(words) and also indicated by the

meanings of the words being the antharyAmi of all things.For

instance, let us consider the word/name “sivan”. This word means

purity. NArayanan has this purity by nature. So we can consider the

verse, “siva Eva kEvala:” to indicate to narayanan directly. Whereas

in some Upanishads like adharvasiras some identities of rudra have

been quoted with the usage of the word

Siva but indirectly indicate towards narayanan who remains as the

inner conscience (antharyAmi) of rudran. In this way, narayanan

becomes the meaning for all the words. (epporutkum sollAnai) Like

the sivarudra shabthas other names like AkAsa, pranan, Indran etc

also refer to narayana in many Vedic verses. If we try to establish

the supremacy of Sivan then it is quite natural to say that even the

Akasa, prAnan etc have supremacy. But since it is a known fact that

these have some impurity it also holds good for Sivan

(ArusadaikarandhAn). Thereby it is quite wise to understand that all

these refer only to narayana.

 

Why don’t we consider that narayana nama refers only to Sivan? No it

cannot be done so. Since both by sabdha and artha narayana nama has

its own prominence. According to the sruthis and smritis it is a

well-known fact that the Sivan known to all was created, and is one

who hasn’t overcome his sins and has more faults and hence narayana

nama cannot be considered to refer to Sivan. Only the vice-versa

will fit properly. “sAshvadham sivamachchudham” “vishvAksham

vishvashambhuvam” “voordhvarEtham viroopAksham” “ya: paras sa

mahEswara:” states the Vedas. “EsAna: prANatha: prANa:” “sarva:

sharva: shiva: stANu:” “AdhidEvO mahAdEva:” “rudrO bahu sirA bhabru:”

states SriVishnusahasranAmam. With all these quotes it is clear that

the names rudra, Siva etc refers only to narayanan.

 

(epporutkum sollAnai) He is the leader for everything. Without any

differentiation between a non-living thing and the great brahma

rudras (top most over the living things) He is the leader (swami) of

all. Then how can we equate any one else with his supremacy? “pathim

vishvasya nArAyanam”

 

(thoguththu sonnEn) Here I have given only the crux of emperuman’s parathvam and sowlabhyam.

[For further details dive deep into the following paasurams in this

prabhandam and azhvar’s another divine prabhandam thiruchandha

viruththam]

 

(To be continued)

 

Alwar EmperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam

 

Adiyen rAmAnuja dAseeSumithra Varadarajan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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