thozhuthezhu en mananE!!! (part-1)

[Guest guest]

Sri Parthasarathi thunai

SrimathE rAmAnujaya Namaha

Srimad Vara Vara munayE Namaha

Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha

 

“mEshE chittA samuthbhootham pANdyadEsE kaNamsakam I

SriparAnkusa sathbhaktham madhuram kavimAsrayE II”

 

“Bow your head,” instructs the father to the kid. He may be an agnAni

(Ignorant soul) or a staunch Srivaishnate the blessing of the lord is

equal to all. The archaka places the divine feet of emperuman, the

Sri SaTakOpam on top of all our heads. Why is the divine feet called

as Sri SaTakOpam/Sri satAri? It is to honour the very close devotee of

emperuman, prapanna jana koodasthar, Sri Nammazhvar who longed for the

divine feet of emperuman and sung beautiful paasurams about the divine

lord. The divine prabhandams/paasurams of azhvar (when we say just

azhvar it refers only to nammazhvar in sampradayam) always reserves a

special position in the mind of all Srivaishnavas. He is the azhvar

who plays a major role in our guru paramparai.

 

MAmunikal in his upadesa ratina mAlai says, “namperumal nammAzhvar

nanjeeyer nampillai enbar avar avar thamettraththAl anbudaiyOr sARRu

thirunAmangal tAnendru nannenjE eththadhanai sollu nee endru” –50

[Due to their special greatness namperumal, nammAzhvar, nanjeeyer and

nampillai have been adorned with great love, with the corresponding

names]

 

What is special about nammAzhvar?

Azhvar himself answers this question in his very first paasuram in

thiruvAimozhi – “mayarvaru madhinalam arulinan” [i have been blessed

with unblemished bhakthi and jnana by the lord out of his mere grace,

nirheduka krupai]. So is azhvar not great if emperuman himself choose

azhvar among the infinite number of souls to bestow his krupai on him?

Azhvar was blessed with deep bhakthi and ultimate knowledge (jnanam

kanindha bhakthi) that led azhvar to rise through steps of

parabhakthi, parajnana, and finally reach the ultimate step of

paramabhakthi. So it is foolishness for nAyinEn (the lowest of the

lowest soul) to try to talk the greatness of azhvar. But the lord

cherishes hearing about his devotee even if it is in broken language

filled with ignorance (‘elaiya pun kavidhaiyELum empirArkku

eniyavArE’) . Didn’t the lord question kambanAttAzhvar if he has

sung about azhvar (nam satakoparai padineerO?) and make him sing the

“satakOpar andhAdhi”? It is the belief of our poorvacharyas that

even if we utter the name “vakulAbharanan” emperuman starts smelling

us considering us to be a close associate/disciple of swamy

nammazhvar.

 

With whatever has been told till now you all may have jumped to the

concrete conclusion that this posting is going to be purely about the

greatness of Swamy Nammazhvar. But No, adiyen is now going to go one

step higher and talk about a personality who is regarded with greater

esteem even more than nammazhvar himself in our sampradayam.

 

Who is that?

He is none other than the great disciple of nammazhvar, Sri Madurakavi

Azhvar. Again you may all ask me “What is so great about Madurakavi

azhvar? He has sung only 10 paasurams that too not about the lord”

That is exactly his greatness. Madurakavi azhvar didn’t sing even a

single paasuram about the lord but sung only about his perumal, swamy

nammazhvar. Anjaneyar tore his chest and showed perumal and piratti

residing inside his heart. Madurakavi azhvar placed nammazhvar

inside his heart and sang, “devu maRRariyEn” In Periya thiruvandhAdhi

nammazhvar challenged the supreme lord, “yan periyan nee periyai

enbhadhanai yAr arivar” It is said that only due to this paasuram,

the prabhandam obtained its name. Azhvar says, “Lets see who among

us is great. You have placed the worlds inside you but I have kept

you inside my heart so now tell me who is great!” or otherwise,”yAn

periyan-nee periyai enbhadhanai yAr arivar” “Iam great- who knows

about your greatness?” If azhvar attained his greatness by placing

emperuman inside his heart then doesn’t madurakavi azhvar who placed

azhvar inside his heart reserves a higher position?

 

In kAnchipuram, nammazhvar is beautifully seated with his right hand

indicating his heart. Elders say that it is the indication as sung

by azhvar in the first paasuram of thiruvaimozhi, “thozhudhu ezhu en

mananE” instructing his mind to fall to the divine feet of “amarargal

adhipathi” devAdhirajan. But do you all know that madurakavigal is

seen in the same posture in one another divya desam?

 

Where?

 

Thiruvallikeni kandEnE!

 

Thiruvarangath amudhanar in his divine ramanuja nootrandhAdhi

celebrates the existence of all the divya desa emperuman inside Swamy

emperuman’s heart and that swamy happily residing inside his heart,

“eruppidam vaikundam vEnkatam mAlirunchOlai ennum poruppidam

mAyanukkenbar nallOr avaithannodum vandhiruppidam mAyan erAmAnusan

vandhiruppidam endhanedhayaththullE thanakkinburavE” (106)

 

Similarly, emperuman placed the worlds inside him, nammazhvar placed

emperuman inside him whereas madurakavigal placed nammazhvar inside

his heart and due to the grace on all of us shows where he has hided

azhvar inturn emperuman and all the worlds by indicating towards his

heart in thiruvallikeni (madurakavigal-moolavar). Emperuman

cherishes his existence inside his devotee’s heart

(nammazhvar/ramanuja), whereas nammazhvar/ramanuja cherish living in

the hearts of their disciples’ madurakavigal/amudhanar. In our

sampradayam “madhurakavi bhavam” reserves great importance as the

acharya is the one who uplifts us from this samsAram to the divine

abode of emperuman. So more than the emperuman acharyas shower more

grace on us and come to our rescue in the high priority period.

Even though elder in age and born in a high caste madurakavi azhvar’s

acharya nishtai is beyond words. That is why his prabhandam has been

given a very special postion equal to the “nama:” padam in

thirumanthram. The same nishtai was expressed by ananthAzhvan

towards swamy emperumAnAr.

 

MAmunikal in his arthi prabhandam says, “manniya seer mAran kalai

vunavAgap peRRom; madurakavi sol padiyE nilaiyAga peRRom” So it is

highly essential for each and every Srivaishnava to follow the

footsteps of madurakavi Azhvar.

 

Earlier we saw that our elders attribute the existence of nammazhvar

in kanchi with right hand indicating his heart to show that the first

paasuram of thiruvaimozhi being a mangalasasanam to devaperumal. Then

what does madurakavi azhvar’s special posture in thiruvallikeni

indicates? Why is this not seen in the other divya desams? We will

try to find the reasons in the next posting. Till then let us all

place madurakavi azhvar into our hearts and remain in peace.

 

Azhvar emperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharaNam

Adiyen ramanuja dAsee

Sumithra Varadarajan