Thirumaalai-17

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Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

 

“ Mattrondrum vEinda Maname Madhilarangar

Kattrinum meitha kazhalinai keezh- uttra

Thirumaalai paadum seer Thondaradipodi Emperumaanai

Eppozhudum peesu”

 

“ Srimat Krishna samahvaya Namo yaamuna soonave

yetkadAkshai kalakshyAnAm sulabha: Sridara: sadaa”

 

Pranams,

 

Sri Thondaradipodi alwar, who in the fourth paasuram talked about roopa dyanam

not being a anga of nAma keertanam now in the next paasuram proceeds to

establish the vaishnava philosophy. Even periyazhvar in his paasuram advices

all of us to keep the nAma of bhagavan to our kids. Thereby we call the names

of bhagavan quite often. Alwar says, even though we intentionally do not call

bhagavan still he gives the palan. He says “malamudai ooththayil pirandha oru

malaooththaikku GovindA endru pErittu azhaithakkAl nAranan than annai naragam

pughAl”(Even if you name your son ‘Govinda’ you become the mother of the lord

by the nAma govinda and hence the mother of the lord will never go to narakam).

 

If we have to prove that our views are right it is common that we have to

disprove the other views. Similarly alwar before establishing vaishnava

philosophy he indulges in disproving all the other philosophies which had their

prominence during alwar’s time. First alwar says the demerits of the other

philosophies and then goes to explain the superiority of vaishnava philosophy.

Sri PVP in his vyakhyanam gives a small hint about the various philosophies

condemned by alwar. In Ramanyana, when vibheshana came to surrender to Sri

Ramachandra moorthi, the people in Rama’s side like sugreeva and others said

that due to various reasons vibheshana should not be accepted. Sri Rama

listened to all the views and finally criticized the view points(without

criticizing the persons who came out with it) and finally said that he had

decided to accept the saranAgathan-vibheshanazhvan. Hereto Sri Rama first

didn’t say his opinion instead he gave reasons against the other’s views and

then only gave out his own view. Even Veda Vyasa in his Sariraka Mimamsa(chap

2) refutes all other philosophies like sankya matham etc before establishing

vaishnava matham. We may get a doubt that why is it essential to condemn other

philosophies when our main aim is to establish our own philosophy. The first

reason is only when one looses prominence the other can get into the minds of

the people and the main reason being that if we be quiet and careless the other

philosophies will invade us. If weeds come in between the cultivated crops will

a farmer keep quiet? If he does, then the cultivativation will end futile

because the nutrients will be taken by the unwanted weeds. Similarly, if we

leave the other philosophies in between our philosophy(cultivated crop) then

the weeds will gain prominence and spoils the crop. That is why our azhvars

and acharyas condemned the other philosophies and concentrated on establishing

our vaishnava philosophy which will take us all to moksham and saved us from

the other philosophies which will confuse and distract us from the facts.

 

The first and foremost matham which was condemned by alwar was LokAyatha matham.

The people following this philosophy are indifferent to bhagavan and bhagavat

vishayam. They don’t believe in god and they confuse people with their own

theologies. They say that they will believe only whatever they see and that

only this birth is true. They don’t believe in papam or punyam or rebirth.

They say as long as we are enjoying all the luxuries in this world, the world

itself is svargam and when we face the miseries it becomes narakam. So they do

anything to make the world svargam to them.

 

We will see how alwar condemns this philosophy in the next posting.

 

AzhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasyai

Sumithra Varadarajan

 

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