Naaraar indai Naanmalar koNdu - 3

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Dear All,Pranams!Continuing from where we left in the last posting,

let us enjoy the following part of the pasuram with which the last

posting ended:kandu konden kaiga Laara nin_thirup paadhangaLmEl, endi

saiyu muLLa pookkoN dEththi yugandhugandhuNammazhwar talks about

offering flowers from all the eight directions in this pasuram. How

could it be possible for Azhwar to accomplish this task when he is

always present under the Thirupuli Azhwan (the tamarind tree)? Here

again, our Acharyas attribute a beautiful explanation.A person who is

really hungry will not be able to calculate the amount of food he

needs. Rather, he will be interested in eating many varieties or more

quantity of the food(s) that he likes. Nammazhwar was also in the

similar situation (in terms of performing pushpa kaimkaryam) when he

was singing on Perumal. In order to satiate his joy of performing

pushpa kaikaryam he says that he wants to bring flowers from all the

directions to offer at the Thirvadi of Perumal. Let us look at the

same pasuram line in different context that our PurvAcharyas have

enjoyed. Azhwar does not quote any particular flower in the pasuram.

In this context, Nanjeer had a good conversation with Swami Parasara

Bhattar. Nanjeer raises a doubt as to how could it be possible when

sastras say that kandakAlikA pushpam should not be offered to Perumal

for which Bhattar gives following explanantion:Perumal never wants to

see his bhagavatha suffering by any means. KandakAlikA pushpam has

thorns in it. Hence, when a bhagavatha wants to offer it to Perumal,

the thorn might pierce his fingers. This is the main reason why that

pushpam is not offered to Perumal. If we look further in to the

pasuram that we are discussing, Azhwar specifically says endi saiyu

muLLa pookkoN dEththi. He refers to the number 8. Nammazhwar is not

the only one azhwar in the goshti to quote the number 8. There are

other Azhwars who also

have mentioned the count of 8 while referring to pushpa kaimkaryam.

Let us enjoy that in the follwoing positings, and conclude this

posting in the series with the following Periya Thirumozhi

pasuram:pEsuminthirunNaamamettezhutthum sollinNinRu, pinnarum,

pEsuvaarthammaiyuyyavaangkip piRappaRukkum piraanidam,

vaasamaamalarnNaaRuvaar pozhilsoozhtharumulagukkellaam,

dhEsamaaytthigazhummalai thiruvEngkadamadainNeNYchamE!

(1.8.9)aDiyEn,ramanan