nAnmugan thiruvandhAdhi-15

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Sri Parthasarathi thunaiSrimathe Ramanujaya NamahaSri Vara Vara MunayE

NamahaSri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha

 

Paasuram-8

 

“elaituNai mattrennenjE Esanaivendra

silaikoNda senkaNmAl sErA- kulaikoNda

eerain thalaiyAn elangaiyai eedazhiththa

kooranbha nallAl kurai”

 

Oh! Azhvar like a few who are adamant that we will eat only when

cooked in our house or else will remain hungry throughout why are you

acting foolishly saying “nAnunnaiyandri elEn kandAi nAraNanE” why

don’t you get your wishes satisfied with the help of others? Azhvar

answers in this paasuram stating that no one other than the senkAnmAl

(sriya:pathi Sriman Narayanan) can become our saviour. Moreover not

stopping with being unable to help us they also prevent emperuman

from coming to our help instructs azhvar to his mind.

 

(elaituNai mattru) More than understanding that emperuman is the only

saviour it is more important to realize that others can never take

that role. It is very important for a Srivaishnavaite to remain away

from anyasEshatvam (servitude to anyone other than emperuman)

“thiruvadi than nAmam marandhum puramthOzhA mAndhar”. On the same

lines, we have to get to our memory the aphorism of pillai ulagariyan

in mumukshupadi, “adhilum anyasEshatvam kazhigaiyE pradhAnam”

 

(en nenjE) Oh! My mind you are suitable for me to give this divine

rahasyam. You are not like the other’s mind that has a number of

confusions (“sanjalam he mana:”)

 

Why do you say that others cannot be the saviour? That is because he

alone is the paramAtma. But there are references that state even

rudra to be the paramatma? Let’s see how their paratvam remains

continues azhvar,

 

(eesanai vendra silai koNda senkaNmAl) the emperuman holds the bow

which was obtained on winning rudra. This particular incident is

found in Sri Ramayana Baala kAndam where parasurAma narrates the

incident to Sri Rama Piran. “Oh! Rama These two bows that belong to

the devaloka where well created by vishvakarma. They are world

famous, strong, marvellous, and powerful. Among these one was given

to rudra who wanted to do tripuradahanam. Only that bow which was

handy in burning the tripura was broken by you in the janaka sabhai.

This powerful second bow was gifted to mahavishnu by the devas. This

vishnu danus has equal power with the siva danus. At that time the

devas wanted to test the power of Siva and Vishnu and hence they

requested the same to brahma. That Brahma who was chief among the

brahmajnAnis created a conflict between rudra and Vishnu. So a big

war started between rudra and Vishnu. At that time the great bow of

Siva that did many big jobs cracked a little just due to the

‘hoonkAram’ (a sign of anger) of Vishnu. And Siva fainted. Later

due to the request of the rishis and devas Vishnu and Siva calmed

down. At that time the rishis who visualised the cracking of Siva

danus due to the anger of Vishnu realized the supremacy of Vishnu,”

says the Valmiki rAmAyana. This incident has been reminded by azhvar

in the above line.

 

(eesanai vendra silai) So not emperuman his bow itself won over Rudra.

That shows that even emperuman’s divya ayudhAs (weapons) have power

to win over other devatas. Then how can they be considered equal to

emperuman? Or otherwise it can be read as “eesanai vendra senkaNmAl”

 

(silai koNda) Emperuman just held the bow that won over Rudra. It was

not necessary for emperuman to put any other effort other than just

holding the bow the rest was done by the bow itself. That shows that

each and every thing belonging to emperuman has special powers. That

even includes bhagavatas. So the anya devatas never come near

bhagavatas or they show their special regards to the bhagavatas.

 

(senkaNmAl) Emperuman has reddish eyes that indicate his supremacy.

“kapyAsam pundareekamEva aksheenee” (he has two eyes that are like

the lotus that has blossomed due to the rising of the sun). Sem kaN

mAl can also refer to Sri rAmapiran with reddish eyes that indicate

his love to his devotees. “rAmO rAjeeva lOchana:” “rAma kamala

patrAksha:” “Sem kaN” refers to wealth and love whereas “mAl” refers

to supreme and lover.

 

(elai tuNai mattrennenjE eesani vendra silai koNda senkaNmAl) Will

the emperuman who won over Rudra become the sarva rakshakan or will

the defeated Rudra become the saviour?

 

(senkaNmAl sErA) Not joining the ghosti of rAma who is the incarnation

of the pundareekAkshan, sarvEshvaran rAvana says,

“dvithA bhajjEyamapyEvam.....svabhAvO dhuradhikrama:” (Even if I am

cut into two I will not prostrate anyone. This is a quality born

with me and hence cannot be changed)

(senkaNmAl sErA) Even after seeing the beautiful lovable eyes of

emperuman can anyone be without falling to his feet?

(eesanai vendra....senkaNmAl sErA) But when even Rudra who is a

devotee of emperuman (anukoolan) suddenly due to the increase of

thAmasa guna wages a war against emperuman what to say about a person

who is always in the opposite army (prathikoolan). Who is that?

 

(kulaikoNda eerainthaliyAn) He is none other than ravana who has a

bunch of 10 heads. “koththuthalaivan kudikeda thOndriya” says

periyAzhvar (1-9-3)

(eerainthalaiyAn elangaiyai eedazhiththa) “lankAm rAvaNa pAlithAm” the

lanka was protected by a great warrior, rAvana. But even that lanka

was shattered by emperuman.

 

(kooranbhanallAl kurai elai tuNai) None other than rAmapiran who has a

strong arrow in his hands can solve our problems and protect us.

 

PeriyavAchAn pillai’s vyakhyanam

 

“EmperumAnAr sri pAdhaththai Ashsrayiththavargal achEtanamAna kriyA

kalApaththinudaiya koormaiyai vishvashittirArgal. Chakravarththi

thirumagan ambin koormaiyaiyAyittru thanjamAga ninaiththiruppar”

 

>From the above it has been very clearly stated that for Srivaishnavas

who have fallen to the feet of Swamy emperumAnAr anya sEshatvam has

to absolutely abandoned and only the ultimate faith in emperuman is

essential.

 

Note: If we want to be in the emperumAnAr ghosti then it is absolutely

essential for us to give up anya devata worship. At this point we

have to get to memory the great kooraththAzhvan who gave up even

darshan of namperumal to uphold his status as the disciple of swamy

emperumAnAr. Being a disciple of that great acharya is more

essential than even emperuman himself that has been shown by all our

acharyas. Get to memory the acharya bhakthi of vaduga Nambi. So it

is our prime duty to follow them and get uplifted.

 

Saint thyagaraja, in one of his krithis beautifully says, “nithichAla

sukamA rAma sannithi sEva sukama” What is crores of wealth going to

grant us will it ever equal what the service to emperuman will

actually grant us?

 

(To be continued)

 

Azhvar emperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharaNam

 

Adiyen ramanuja dAseeSumithra Varadarajan