Naann Mukhan ThiruvandhAthi

[Guest guest]

SrI:

 

Dear BhakthAs:

 

Srimathy Sumitra Varadarajan is posting a series of excellent

and well researched articles on Thirumazhisai AzhwAr's Dhivya

Prabhandham of Naann Mukhan ThiruvandhAthi .

 

Here is an introductory article on the above Dhivya Prabhandham

that I posted earlier .

 

Daasan , V.Sadagopan

 

|| sadagopan.org ||

Dhivya Prabhandam

|| ThirunarAyaNapuram & Naanmukhan ThiruvandhAdhi ||

 

 

It was a great joy to learn that Thirumazhisai AzhwAr"s prabhandham

revered as " Naanmukhan ThiruvandhAdhi " is the only prabhandham that

is recited at Melkote during the Lord"s Vaira Mudi Servai uthsavam.

I was also thrilled to hear that Acharya RamAnujA's olai suvadi is

present at this Divya Desam for all of us to offer our salutations

even today and transport us back to his blessed times. The other

relic associated with Sri RamAnujA's limbs is as most of you know is

at Madhuranthakam temple. I am referring to the silver disc and conch

used by Periya Nambi for Sri RamAnujA's samasrayaNam. Those holy

symbols of the Lord"s sudarsanam and Paanchajanyam are kept at the

sannadhi of Periyanambhi at MadhurAnthakam.

Coming back to Vairamudi sevai, I wondered why the sampradhAyam of

reciting Naanmukhan ThiruvandhAdhi (NMT) is observed during the

occasion of the most important festival at Melkote. I went and reread

this prabhandham consisting of 96 paasurams with immense depth of

meaning for Sri VaishNavAs. I began to see the connection between the

recital of the extraordinary prabhandham establishing the parathvam of

Sriman NaarAyaNan presiding over this divya desam aptly named as Thiru

NaarAyaNa Puram. On the holiest of the holy days at

ThirunArAyaNapuram, it seems appropriate to recite NMT only to pay

homage to "the sharp tongued AzhwAr", who unequivocally established

the supremacy of Sriman NaarAyaNa following the Vedic and Upanishadic

way.

Thirumazhisai's NMT Paasurams echo the various manthrAs of MahA

NaarAyaNOpanishad celebrating the supermacy of Sriman NaarAyaNA. The

sixteenth mantram of the above upanishad uses the following passage

from Atharva Vedam II .1 .1-3:

sa nOh bandhurjanithA sa vidhAthA dhAmAni vedha bhuvanAni visvA

Iyathra devA amrutham aanasAnA: trutheeyE dhAmAni abhyairayantha II

(meaning) : "Through whose (Sriman NArAyaNA's) power the gods who have

attained immortality in the third region of heaven got allotted their

respective places, He is our friend, father and ordainer. He knows

the proper places of each because He understands all beings created

by Him."

The reference here is to Dhyu Lokam (the third world). This can be

extended to Satya Lokam , the universe inhabited by the four-faced

BrahmA (Naanmukhan) , the son of Sriman NArAyaNA

In yet another famous manthram of the Vedam beginning with the rare

word " VasuraNvO ", the supreme staus of the Lord is celebrated this

way:

" O Supreme , Thou art the giver of the wealth of supreme knowledge to

us. Thou hast become all. Thou unitest the individual souls in the

sutrAthman . Thou pervadest the Universe. Thou art the giver of the

lustre to fire . Thou art the giver of light and heat to the Sun .

Thou art the bestower of riches of light to the moon. Thou art taken

in the UpayAma vessel as SomA juice for oblation. We worship Thee ,

the supreme who art such for the the manifestation of light ".

We hear the echoes of these and other Veda ManthrAs in the pasurams of

Thirumazhisai as he convincingly establishes the parathvam of Sriman

NArAyaNA and' shows the hierarchy of relationships starting from Him

that includes the four faced BrahmA and His son SankarA.

In these paasurams of NMT, the AzhwAr celebrates Vibhava AvahtArams,

ArchA murthis at 14 divya desams and gives us upadesam on the glory

of BhagavathAs that are close to Sriman NarAyaNA in all their living

moments. These are moving Paasurams and I will share the joy of

writing about them in subsequent postings on NMT and the Parathvam of

Sriman NaarAyaNA.

Thirumazhisai AzhwAr is known as one , who learned the tenets of

Jainism , Bhouddham , Saiva Aagamams and discarded them as not

appropriate for Moksham and chose Sriman NaarAyaNan as the one and

only supreme Lord , who alone can bless one with the boon of Moksham.

He declares his struggles and the insight born out of these efforts

this way:

saakiyam kaRROm samaN kaRROm , SankaranAr,aakkiya Aagama nool

aarainthOm bhakiyatthAl senkatkkariyAnai sernthOm yaam theethilamE

yengatkkariyathonRil

Here AzhwAr declares that after his futile efforts to understand the

supreme principle of the universe through studies of religions such

as Jainism, Buddhism and Saiva AgamAs created by Lord Sankara, he was

blessed with insight by Sriman NaarAyaNa and took refuge at he Lotus

feet of Sri Devi and has been spared form any misfortunes since then.

He became an exemplary Sri VishNava AcharyA based on his acceptance

Sriman naarAyaNa as the supreme Lord of all other Gods. He spent 700

years according to hagiography at ThiruvallikkENi practicing Yogam

and meditating on the ArchA murthy revered as Venkata KrishNan. In

his 35th paasuram of NMT, he salutes Venkata KrishNan"s divya Desam

and goes from there to offer His homage to VenkatanAthan 11

bhakthi-laden paasurams.

I will continue the coverage in the next posting on NMT.

Thirumazhisai AzhwAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNamYadhugiri Valli ThAyaar and

Sella Pillai ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan

 

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