geethA sAstramum nedunthAndaka sAstramum-20

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Sri Parthasarathi thunai

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

Sri Vara Vara munayE Namaha

Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha

 

Sri gOdhA nAchiyar in her wonderful nAchiyar thirumozhi says, “semmai

vudaiya thiruarangar paniththa meimaiperuvArthai vittuchittar kEttu

eruppar” (11-10). Here ‘meimai peruvArththai’ refers to Srimad

bhagavat geetha only and that was given by thiruarangar who is none

other than parthasarathi. Andal here says ‘vittuchittar

kettueruppar’ it is not an expression of doubt but she establishes

that her dear father practiced the words of the geethacharyan.

Vittuchittar, Periazhvar kettu-listened to the divine words of

geethacharyan eruppar-and practiced the same in reality. Andal is

referred to as “Anju kudi koru sandhadhi” these words she expressed

about her father is applicable to all the azhvars. The greatest

positive in our sampradayam is that all our azhvars and acharyas

preached only what they practiced and hence it is not amazing to see

the reflection of the words of geethacharya in the arulicheyals of

azhvars. In this series of posting we are trying to exactly enjoy

only a tit bit from the anubhavam of the kadai kutti azhvar. As per

our acharyas, whatever thirumangai azhvar says is only a recollection

of the previous azhvars who followed the vedas and geethAcharyan and

gave the same with a base of anubhavams. The vedas, upanishads and

geetha sastramum are filled with tattvas and hence spread the

fragrance of knowledge whereas the azhvars spread the same fragrance

in the form of a beautiful flower of bhakthi to the divine feet of

emperuman. Hence the arulicheyal of azhvars are celebrated as

‘tattvadarisi vachanam’. From the life history of thirumangai azhvar

we see that vayalAli manavalan attracted azhvar with his beauty first

and then only gave him the knowledge via the thirumanthram. After

obtaining the thirumanthra upadesam azhvar says, “nalam tarum sollai

nAn kandu kondEn nArAyana ennum nAmam”. Here azhvar says

kandu-kondEn I first saw and then obtained. In a similar way azhvar

expresses his joy of seeing in his thiruvallikeni padhigam. At the

end of each and every paasuram in this decade azhvar says,

“thiruvallikeni kandEnE”. Did azhvar only see parthasarathi in

thiruvallikeni? Yes the very sight gives the knowledge; the

geethAcharya roopam itself drives the divine intricate meanings of

bhagavat geetha into our minds.

 

The first chapter of geetha starts with the sound of panchajanyam and

ends with the utterance of charama slokam. Sri Venkata krishnan in

thiruvallikeni holds the divine conch in his right hand and the left

hand shows us his divine feet indicating “sarva darmAn parityajya mAm

Ekam sharaNam vraja aham tvAm sarva pApEbhyO mOksha ishyAmi mA sucha:”

The rest of the thirumeni of emperuman covers the rest of geetha.

That is why thirumangai azhvar jumps with joy and sings “Oh! I have

seen in thiruvallikeni” what? Not only the beauty of emperuman but

the whole Srivaishnava tattvam, hitam and purushArtham. Let us now

proceed to enjoy the thirunedunthAndaka paasuram.

 

(punarluruvAi) After talking about the greatness of emperuman azhvar

now proceeds to talk about his sowlabhyam (easily accessibility). If

emperuman has such greatness then is it that we cannot even go near

him? No he is sarva sulaban like the water in a river that is

accessible to both great rishis like vasista and the lowest of the

lowest born chandAla emperuman is common to all. Again thirumangai

azhvar saw this also in thiruvallikeni. While the moolavar stands

filled with gAmbeeryam like a divine warrior the utsava moorthi

stands with the wounds in his face due to the arrows of bheesma that

emperuman accepted happily for the sake of his dear bhaktha arjuna.

This indicates that emperuman who is undoubtedly the master of all

will go to the extend of even becoming a charioteer to save his dear

bhaktha and work like his slave. What a great sowlabhyam!

 

(analuruvil thigazhum) If emperuman becomes so easily accessible then

will not his enemies try to harm him? Azhvar now due to his great

love for emperuman starts to fear about his safety. That brings to

his memory the words of the sastras. He might be sarva sulabhan that

is only due to his sankalpam (wish). If people come in front of him

with hard feelings wanting to hurt him then he becomes like a fire to

them. Mostly emperuman has so much krupai that he forgives all the

mistakes committed to him considering everyone to be his

son/daughter. But one thing emperuman cannot forgive is

bhAgavatAbhachAram. Emperuman burns those who do

bhAgavadhAbhacharam. So he is like a fire to his enemies (enemy to

his devotee as emperuman considers even ravana to be his brother,

being the brother of vibeeshana) and as cool as a cucumber to his

devotees. Sastras declare soorya and chandra to be the two eyes of

emperuman. With one eye he burns his enemies (nigraham) and with the

other he gives a soothing look to his devotees (anugraham). How is it

possible to do both at the same time? Periyavachan pillai explains

the same with an example. A lion feeds its cub even while it fights

vigorously with an elephant. With respect to the elephant the lion

behaves as an enemy whereas at the same time it shows its motherly

love towards its cub. Similarly emperuman took narasimhAvatara to

kill hiranyA and at the same time shower his love on bhaktha

prahlAda. So both punaluru and analuru is emperuman.

 

(jOdhi) The glitter of all the lamps in this world is due to

emperuman. He is the ultimate power. In geetha emperuman declares

his vibhootis in the tenth chapter where he says, “AdhithyAnAm aham

vishnu: jOdhishAm ravi ramsumAn” (10-21) and Arjuna in the very start

of the adhyAyam celebrates emperuman as “param brahma param dhAma

pavitram paramam bhavAn” (10-12) Here param dhAma means the supreme

glitter (jOdhi). Following the words of arjuna kaliyan calls

emperuman as ‘jOdhi’. In the previous posting itself we enjoyed the

same usage by swamy nammazhvar in his divine thiruvaimozhi.

 

In the next posting we will enjoy how azhvar explains his relationship with the paramAtma.

 

(To be continued)

 

Azhvar EmperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam

 

Adiyen ramanuja dAsee

Sumithra Varadarajan