Nammazhvar & Emberumanar (Swami Ramanuja) - by TA Varadan

[Guest guest]

Sri:

 

Humble pranam to all devotees:

 

Sri. TA Varadan wrote this very moving article that adiyEn wanted to share with

all devotees. (So we can all enjoy the Anubhavams together)

 

GREAT SAINTS AND TEACHERS --- TA Varadhan

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To tell us about the great concern that the Lord has for all of us, our elders

liken his uninitiated grace to water (just as water is essential for all life,

and just as water brings comfort and coolness to the body, the Lord s grace is

essential for everything, and brings comfort and coolness to the soul). They

compare Sri Nammazhvar, the leader of all devotees, to the rain bearing clouds

that absorb the water, waiting to pour it on the lands where people need water.

The mountains gather all the rains produced by the clouds and accumulate it into

streams so that the water can reach people wherever they are. Svami nAthamuni is

that mountain. The streams of water are the two teachers who followed Svami

Nathamuni uyya-k-koNdAr and maNakkAl nambi. The small streams join together and

form a boundless river abundant with the source of life water. Such a big river

is Svami ALavandar. The river flows, and the water may not be useful if all the

water flows to the ocean. So, we make channels from the river and divert the

water to a lake where we can have the water whenever we need it. Such channels

are the five teachers who succeeded Svami AlavandhAr. They channeled the

teachings and blessings arising from the grace of the Lord, given to them by the

clouds that are Svami Nammazhvar, accumulated into streams that are Svami

Uyyakondar and Manakkal Nambi by the mountain that is Svami Nathamuni, joined

together into an abundant flowing river that is Svami Alavandar, channelized by

the five teachers following Svami Alavandar that are

 

(i) Svami periya nambi

(ii) Svami periya thirumalai nambi

(iii) Svami thiru-k-kOshtiyUr nambi

(iv) Svami thiru-aranga-p-perumAL arayar and

(v) Svami thirumAlai ANdAn.

 

 

The lake that holds all this water for us is our dear Ramanuja. And the gates

that allow the water to reach everyone in the area are the 74 great leaders that

Svami Ramanuja appointed for that purpose.

 

Svami Nammazhvar:

 

It will not be an exaggeration if one said that if Svami Nammazhvar were not

there, there would be no way for salvation for us. This Azhvar is called

“prapanna jana kUtasthAr” the emperor of all the devotees of the Lord. He is

the one who makes us understand the Lord’s grace. He is the one who, out of his

concern for our welfare, provided the revealed scriptures that are the Nalayira

divya prabhandham to Sriman Nathamuni. And, He is the one who shows us the

essence of our faith sing about the great qualities of the Lord, and serve ALL

of his devotees.

 

This Azhvar was born in a place called thiru-k-kurugUr. This is presently called

Azhvar thirunagari, and is about 20 kilometers from the town of ThirunelvEli in

deep South of the state of TamizhnAdu, in South India. He was born to a family

of devout devotees of the Lord. It is said that he was born under the blessings

of the beautiful Lord at the temple of thiru-k-kuRungudi, whose name is Sri

Vaishnava Nambi! The parents named their child as “parAnkuSan” and “SaTakOpan”.

The child mARan was very unique. He did not drink milk, cry or do the things

that a child does. So, on the 12th day after his birth, his parents took him to

the temple at Azhvar thirunagari (where one can worship the beautiful, wonderful

Lord AdinAthan literally meaning the “source of everything” in tamizh), where

the child received the Lord’s blessings. The parents also started calling the

child as ‘mARan” (one who is opposite to others, tamizh word). They also placed

the child on a thottil (pram) under the sacred tamarind tree in the temple (the

tree was none other than the Great Holy snake anantAzhvAn, which is the bed for

the Lord when He sleeps, the throne for the Lord when He sits, the umbrella for

the Lord when He walks, the footwear for the Lord when He stands, the light on

the way wherever the Lord goes, the sacred robes for the Lord, and everything

that the Lord needs), and dedicated the child as the property of all, and as the

cherished belonging of the whole society. It is said that, at this time, the

Lord sent His chief of staff sEnai mudhanmaiyAr (Sri VisvaksEna), and performed

initiation of the child by providing the most supreme knowledge necessary for a

soul. This is a prime example of the Lord’s uninitiated grace. This is why the

Azhvars are known as “mayarvu aRa madhi nalam aruLa-p-peRRavargaL” the ones who

were blessed with unblemished knowledge that they can never tire of, or forget.

 

The child mARan did not speak anything, eat anything, or even move from the

place under the holy tree. On his 16th birthday, another great Azhvar

madhura-kavi-Azhvar (the Azhvar who sings sweet songs!), came to mARan, and in

their ensuing conversation, it became apparent to everyone that the child mARan

was a blessed soul, blessed for the purpose of giving all the world the revealed

scriptures that the Lord’s chief of staff revealed to him. At this time, the

Lord, who has out of His own concern for His people made many places on this

earth (the holy cities the divya desams, of which there are 106 on this earth)

as His abode in different forms, revealed Himself in all the glory and splendour

and beauty in *Each* one of those forms to MARan under the holy tree. The Lord

of Srirangam ordained him as “OUR” Azhvar “nam Azhvar” (The Lord’s special

“OUR” is visible in the name of the Lord of Srirangam “nam perumAL” our

perumAL. Then He gave the name “OUR” Azhvar to Nammazhvar. He also gave the

“OUR” honour to two other teachers nam jIyar and nampiLLai, who adorn the great

lineage of teachers described in the Jan 2003 issue). Nammazhvar is the ONLY

person to whom the Lord came in ALL his forms from the holy places.

 

Nammazhvar then took the revealed knowledge that He had been blessed with, and

provided it to us in the form of four great prabhandhaas (poem forms in tamil)

Thiruvaimozhi, thiru-viruththam, thiru-Asiriyam and periya thiruvandhAdhi. These

four scriptures given to us by the Azhvar are commonly understood to be the

essence of the Sanskrit form of the revelations the four Vedas namely sAma

vEda, rg vEda, yajur vEda and atharva vEda. The Azhvar spent all his living days

on earth in the thought of the Lord and His qualities. Many devotees gathered

around him, and together they celebrated the great qualities of the Lord. To the

devotees, Nammazhvar revealed in a verse in Thiruvaymozhi, the fact that the

whole world will be saved, and the sins of the world will be demolished, by the

birth of a great teacher. This teacher is none other than our dear Ramanuja.

 

When we go to a Vaishnava temple today, after worship, the priest normally

places a conical object on the devotee’s head. People generally accept this

blessing with great veneration. That is for due reason. This object called

“SatAri” or “Sri SaTakOpan” represents Nammazhvar. Just as Nammazhvar spent

every moment of his existence under the feet of the Lord, thinking about His

qualities and serving Him, the SatAri also spends every moment of its time under

the feet of the Lord of the temple. The SatAri is the representation of none

other than Svami Nammazhvar. When our head comes into contact with the SatAri,

it is believed that we get blessed by this greatest of devotees of the Lord, and

the blessing he gives us is basically the good sense of mind so that we can

become pure devotees of the Lord.

 

Svami Nammazhvar was born in the tamizh month of vaikAsi, in the star of

visAgam. It falls on June 12th this year.

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Article is also in the Current Issue of Vedic Magazine:

http://www.vedics.net/magazine/index.html