nAnmugan thiruvandhAdhi-23

[Guest guest]

Sri Parthasarathi thunaiSrimathe Ramanujaya NamahaSri Vara Vara MunayE

NamahaSri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha

 

Paasuram-16

 

“nilaimannum ennenjam annAndRu dEvar

talaimannar thAmE mARRAga-palamannar

pOrmALa venkadhirOn mAyappozhil maRayath

thErAzhiyAl maraiththArAl”

 

In the previous paasuram, azhvar talked about the incapability of

those who were unable to save even those who fell to their feet. In

this paasuram, azhvar talks about the greatness of emperuman who goes

to the extent of even sacrificing himself for the sake of his

bhakthas.

 

(nilaimannum ennenjam) “sanchalam he mana: krishnA pramAdhi palavat

drudam I tasyAham nigraham manyE vAyOriva sudushkaram II “ [geetha

6-34] Oh! Krishna this mind doesn’t stay in a place it wanders from

one place to another when it comes to satvishayams but goes and

stands steady in unwanted places. It is highly difficult to control

this mind. It is like controlling vayu (air). Azhvars call this

mind as “nindravA nillA nenju”. But to our amazement this mind has

now come to a stop. It has got fixed steadily at one point. Where?

 

(tErAzhiyAl maRaiththArAl .... nilaimannum ennenju)

 

“na thE roopam na chAkArO nAyudhAni na chAspadham I

tadhApi purushAkArO bhakthAnAm tvam prakAshasE II”

[(Your) divya svaroopam, divya mangala vigraham, divya Ayudams,

Srivaikundam, all these are not for you but they exist for the sake

of the bhakthas. Though you are bhakthaparAdheenan still you remain

the paramapurushan] thus states the jitantE stOtram.

“parijanapariparhA bhooshaNan AyudhAni

pravaraguNakaNascha jnAnasakthyAdhayasthE I

paramapadamadhANdAnyAthma dEhas tathAtmA

varada! sakalamEdath samsridhArththam sakarththa II”

[Oh! VaradA All your parijanas (vishvaksenar, adhiseshan and others),

all your parisadas (chatra sAmaram and others) all the abharanAs and

ayudhas, jnanam, sakthi and other crowd of divine qualities,

Srivaikundam and all the andAs (worlds), your divya mangala vigraha

and divyAtma svaroopa all these have been bestowed by you on your

bhakthas] thus goes the sloka in VaradarAjastavam of Sri

KooraththAzhvan.

 

Listening to all these my mind which kept wandering from one place to

another, now stands still like placing a weight on top of flying

cotton. This is the state that should be attained by me after

reaching the divine abode of emperuman. But it is my fortune that I

have achieved the same in this very world. How?

 

(annAndru) Oh! There was one time (during the bharatha yuddha) when

emperuman landed to this leela vibhuthi easily accessible by one and

all (pennum pEdhaiyum kAnalAm padi) and worked for the welfare of his

bhakthas. Azhvar celebrates that time.

 

(dEvar thalai mannar thAmE) this was done not by a ordinary person but

the king of kings (dEvAdhidEvan) “thameeshvarANAm paramam mahEswaram

tham dEvAnAm parancha deivatham (sve-6-7), “rAjAdhirAjas sarvEshAm

vishnur prahmamayO mahAn I Eshvaram tham vijAneemas sa pithA sa

prajApathi: II” (mahabharatham) This job was done by that “ayarvaru

amarargal adhipathi” Oh! What a divine grace celebrates azhvar.

 

(thAmE mARRAga) Emperuman considered the gauravas as his own enemy

though they had enemity only towards the pandavas. Krishna himself

declares,

“dvishathannam na bhOkthavyam dvishantham naiva bhOjayEth I

pAndavAn dvishasE rAjan mama prANA hi pAndavA: II” (bha-vut-24-27)

[it is not good to eat the food of your enemy. Nor should you feed

your enemy. Oh! King you consider pandavas to be your enemy.

Pandavas are like my pranan (my life)] If one hates the body then

naturally he becomes an enemy to the atma too. Emperuman is the

sareeri and pandavas (all jeevatmas) are his sareeram. “jnAnee

tvAthmaiva mE matham” says geethacharyan.

 

(palamannar pOr mAla) Many kings who were filled with ego and pride were killed in the war.

 

(venkadhirOn mAya) Even the sun whose brightness cannot be stopped

from spreading in all directions with any object was covered.

“bheeshOdhethi soorya:” due to his obedience to the ever supreme lord

the sun never fails to rise/fall daily at the scheduled time. But now

even that sun had to fall in an unscheduled time.

 

(pozhil maraiya) Not in one place the sun lost its brightness

throughout the world. When there is sunrise in one part of the world

the sunsets in the other but now due to bhagavat sankalpam there was a

sunset in all parts of the world.

 

(tErAzhiyAl maraiththArAl) The lord covered the sun with the

chakrAdhudhA (rathAngam) that had brightness equal to crores of suns.

When there is sudden flash of bright light our eyes close

automatically not being able to withstand the brightness. We are

unable to see a single sun with our eyes directly what will happen if

a crore of suns appear suddenly? Our eyes will be blindfolded and that

is what happened explain our acharyas. Some also say that the chakra

obtained a curse from durvAsa during the ambhareesha episode and due

to which it obtained the black colour and with the same covered the

sun.

Arjuna took a vow to kill jayadradhan, who killed his son abhimanu

using false yuddha procedures (cheating) before sunset or else kill

himself falling into the fire. The gauravas kept jayadradhan inside

and put strict security around him. In order to save his bhaktha and

fulfill his promise krishna who had earlier vowed not to take any

ayudha (weapon) during the war broke the same and sent his

chakrAyudham to cover the sun. Emperuman didn’t mind leaving his

promise for the sake of his bhaktha. What to say about his grace!

 

(dEvar thalai mannar thAmE tErAzhiyAl maRaiththArAl – nilai mannum

ennenjam) The lord of the nithya soori who is celebrated as

“sathyakAma sathyasankalpa:” [one who is filled with true qualities

and who has a true sankalpa (thought)] by the vedas themselves now

didn’t mind to make his promise false for the sake of making his

bhaktha’s words true. Even after coming to know of this how can my

mind wander from one place to another? Now I am least bothered about

what good qualities I have but my mind always stands still at the

divine feet of that supreme lord who is filled with vatsalyam towards

his bhakthas.

 

(To be continued)

 

Azhvar emperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharaNam

 

Adiyen ramanuja dAseeSumithra Varadarajan