stOtra ratna

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srImathE saTakOpaya namah

srImathE rAmAnujAya namah

srImathE anantArya mahAguravE namah

srImathE vara vara munayE namah

 

dear bhagavathAs,

 

Smt. Sheela Belur is doing a great service in posting

translations of svAmi ALavandAr's stOtra ratna slOka

by slOka. We all owe a debt of gratitude to her for

doing this service.

 

I would like to add a few posts here and there on

stOtra ratna. A few of us learnt stOtra ratna with its

meaning from our teacher Dr.Rangachari (babu mAmA),

and the meanings he exposed to us were profound and

very enlightening. These posts will be based on what

he taught us, in accordance with the vyAkhyAnam of

svAmi periyavAccAn piLLai on stOtra ratna. svAmi

vEdAnta dEsika also has written a commentary (in

sanskrit) on stOtra ratna, and I will bring in parts

of his commentary as well in some instances.

 

In the introduction to his commentary(called

"avathArikai"), svAmi periyavAccAn piLLai

clearly makes the case for the influence of AzhvArs'

on svAmi ALAvandAr writing stOtra ratna.

 

He says the following:

(note: I am paraprhrasing and summarizing - Varadhan).

 

The Lord revealed to nammAzhvar His nature, His guNAs

and His various forms due to His causeless mercy

(nirhEthuka krpa), and in a manner such that there was

no defect in the knowledge revealed (mayarvu ara

madhinalam aruLinan).

 

Due to this, nammAzhvAr obtained his true nature, and

the essence of his true nature which is service to the

Lord. Such an AzhvAr gave us the dramidOpanishad

rahasya (thiruvAymozhi). This thiruvAymozhi was

obtained by svAmi nAthamuni, and came in disciplic

succession to svAmi ALAvandAr. svAmi ALavandAr learnt

the inner meaning (rahasya) of thiruvAymozhi and

practiced its teachings. Because of such practice,

svAmi ALavandAr could not contain his desire for the

Lord, and could not bear to see the suffering people.

He wanted to avoid the suffering people losing the

inner meanings of thiruvaymozhi which are the guide to

them. Due to that compassion, he composed this stOtra

which brings the inner meanings of all the upanishads

(that is difficult to obtain - "durgnyEyamaana

arthaththai") easily to the people.

 

Varadhan's additions hereafter:

 

>From the above, it is very clear that svAmi ALavandAr

wanted the true religion as conveyed by the AzhvArs to

reach everyone - not just people who had familiarity

with tamizh. Even for those who have familiarity with

tamizh and the divya prabhandham, it is very

difficult to understand the true purport of the

AzhvArs' teachings, and this stOtra is a precise,

clear summary of their teachings.

 

In fact, many of the slOkAs in this stOtram contain

direct translations of AzhvAr pAsurams in their

entirety, or in parts. The purport of stOtra ratna is

completely in line with what our AzhvArs repeat often,

and it would not be an exaggeration to say that stOtra

ratna is basically the essence of our sampradAya,

conveyed by svAmi ALavandAr in a precise form to those

that have not had exposure to the AzhvAr works.

 

The reverence that svAmi ALavandAr had for the

teachings of our AzhvArs is clearly seen from the fact

that the thaniyan for svAmi nammAzhvAr (covered by

Smt. Sheela Belur in her post on sloka 5) - "mAthA

pithA yuvathaya:..." that we use daily is from this

stOtra.

 

 

AzhvAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam,

 

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan,

varadhan

 

 

 

 

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