nAnmugan thiruvandhAdhi-20

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Sri Parthasarathi thunaiSrimathe Ramanujaya NamahaSri Vara Vara MunayE

NamahaSri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha

 

Paasuram-13

 

“veedAkkum peRRi aRiyAdhu meivaruththik

koodAkki ninruNdu konduzhalveer!-veedAkkum

meiporulthAn vEda mudalporuL thAn viNNavarkku

naRporuL thAn nArAyaNan.”

 

Azhvar in the previous paasuram declared that it is very easy to

attain perumal by obeying perumal and falling to his feet but those

who have always been used to doing hard jobs to attain the same

result were unable to accept the same for which azhvar answers in

this paasuram as follows:

 

(veedAkkum peRRi aRiyAdhu) Azhvar wonders seeing the ignorance of the

people who believe that the achEtana temporary methods will grant

them moksha and they refuse to accept the actual upaya, the

paramachetanan emperuman to be capable of granting them moksha.

 

(meivaruththik koodAkki) In the process of trying to attain moksha by

doing many hard jobs like yagnas and vrathas these people strain

themselves and cause illness to their body. Their body looses all

its flesh and is like a skeleton.

 

(nindru) Still they spend many days in the same manner

 

(vundu) After this they spend few happy days enjoying the fruit of all

the strong tapas they have done.

 

(konduzhalveer) You think that in the same manner you can attain

moksha also. Otherwise when read as ‘kondru vuzhalveer’ it means

that they are living straining themselves.

 

(aRiyAdhu meivaruththi...vuzhalveer) If the same physical strength is

used for kainkaryam then the same work will pave the path for moksha

and also will give us utmost happiness (“susukam kartum” that which

is pleasant to do - geetha 9-2). Instead putting the body to all

these difficulties considering it to grant us moksha is foolishness.

 

Oh! Azhvar if we are ignorant about the mokshOpAyam why don’t you, a

well learned person let us know the same? Azhvar answers,

 

(veedAkkum meiporuLthAn nArAyaNan) The very name of the lord

indicates that he is the one capable of granting moksha. Have you

not heard the pramana verse: “nArasabdhEna jeevAnAm samooha:

prochyathE pudhai: I gadhirAlambhanam thasya thEna nArAyaNa: smrutha:

II” [The jeevas are referred to by the word ‘nAra:’ Being the prApyam

and upAyam to those jeevas HE is called as nArAyaNan]

 

(veedAkkum meiporuL thAn) whatever karma you do, the result is

obtained only by his sankalpam. So those karmas can never become

the direct way to attain moksha emperuman alone is the direct upayam.

So understand that all those karmas are not ways to attain moksha

instead consider them to be kainkaryam to please the lord who alone

can grant moksha.

 

Is there a proof that he alone is the mokshOpaya? Azhvar answers-

 

(vEda mudalporuL thAn)”nArAyanam....parAyaNam” [He is the supreme way

(ultimate upaya)] “udAmruthathvasyEsAna:” [paramapurusham is the king

of moksha] “amrudhayaisha sEdhu:” [He is bridge to take us to the

moksha] Thus declares the vedas that nArAyaNan is the ultimate

supreme.

 

If he is the way that leads us to moksha then what is the result

obtained? Is it different? The answer follows-

 

(viNNavarkkum naRporuL thAn) He is the prApyam for even in the nithya sooris in paramapadam.

 

(vEdamudal poruL thAn viNNavarkkum naRporuL thAn) “thatvishnO: paramam

padam sadApasyanthi sooraya:” “yO dEvEpya Adhapathi I yO dEvAnAm

purOhitha:” [the one who exists for the sake of the nithyasooris

(viNNavar) and one who remains as the fortune (naRporuL) of the

nithyasooris.] “saraNam gathir nArAyaNa: [prapagam and prApyam both

are nArAyaNan]

 

Who is that supreme who remains as both the way to attain and that which has to be attained?

 

(nArAyaNan) That supreme is the lord specially called as nArAyaNan.

Usually the azhvars have a practice to give the meaning of the

nArAyana nAma in front and back of the thirunAmam. Here azhvar does

the same in the last half of this paasuram and the first half of the

next paasuram. Let us enjoy some similar paasurams from other

azhvars srisookthis:

 

“enperukkannalath thoNporul eerilavaNpugazh nAraNan”

“nAraNan muzhuvEzhulagukkum nAdhan”

“kArAyina kAlanan mEniyinan nArAyaNan”

“nArAyaNanE namakkE parai tharuvAn”

“naNNithozhumavar sindhai piriyAdha nArAyanA”

“nAnunnai andriyilEn kandAi nAraNanE nee ennai yandri elai”

 

(To be continued)

 

Azhvar emperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharaNam

 

Adiyen ramanuja dAseeSumithra Varadarajan