Bhagavad Ramanuja Vaibhavam- 1.26- Kula Pathi's Sweet sishya- Madhurakavi AzhwAr

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SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika Mahadesikaya nama:

 

Sri Madhura Kavi Azhwaar’s birthday falls on Chitthirai Chithrai (today).

 

As already mentioned in " NammAzhwAr " post, AzhwAr Madhurakavi is the

one who helped us by compiling the outpourings of NammazhwAr; Not just

that, he also sang 11 beutiful " andhAdhi " style pAsurams starting with

" kaNNinun siRutthAmbhu " which do not have any parallel to any other

pAsuram/slOka for AchArya Bhakti. He sang these pasurams only in praise of

his AchArya " nammAzhwAr " and claimed, in the end, that one can attain

mOkshA certainly and definitely after reciting just these 11 pAsurams. It

is also told that Nathamuni, who compiled 4000 pAsurams of AzhwArs, was

blessed with a darshan of nammAzhwAr and was given a set of all 12 AzhwArs'

pAsurams (by NammAzhwAr himself) after he recited Madhurakavi's 11

bhakti-laden pAsurams on nammAzhwAr 12000 times. (Brothers, that is the

dynamite packed power of Madhurakavi's pAsurams). Let us ber blessed by the

biography of this mahAn.

 

Madhurakavi (meaning in sanskrit the sweet poet), a vainathEya (divine

bird) incarnate, was born in the year Easwara, chitrai month and in chitrai

nakshatram at ThirukkOLoor. He learnt Tamizh and sanskrit and became a

great scholar in both the languages. He was a great BhaktA of Sriman

NarAyaNa and had an excellent conduct.

 

He was on visits to the North India and obtained divya Darshans of AyodhyA,

gayA, Badri, DwArakA etc., and He chose to stay at AyOdhyA as he could not

resist being attracted by the Holiness of Sri RAMA's birth place.

 

From there, he was dragged by an unconrolled desire to follow the new Southern

BRIGHT Star/Light appeared in the sky (as seen only by his eyes at night) and

found himself at the feet of the Greatest AzhwAr " NammAzhwAr " .

 

After a brief encounter (Please read the post on NammAzhwAr for details), he

prayed to NammAzhwAr requesting him to protect and accept him as his disciple.

From then on, he stayed with NammAzhwAr and complied all pAsurams of NammAzhwAr.

Madhurakavi was so much devoted to NammAzhwAr, his AchAryA, that he held him

equal to (higher than) Lord Sri nArAyaNa (You will agree that the Lord asks for

that BhAgavatha Bhakti more than Bhagavadh Bhakti).

 

After NammAzhwAr departed from this earthly world, he was blessed with a

Golden vigraham of NammAzhwAr which he cosecrated and performed

ThiruvarAdhanA and uthsavams in his honour. He was impressed by

nammAzhwAr's works so much that wanted to stage NammAzhwAr's works in front

of other scholars. the sangam poets objected to such claims and praises

NammazhwAr who had no connection with Sangam ( a big deal!). Madhurakavi,

it seems was saddened by this protest and was weeping literally.

NammAzhwar, appeared as an old Brahmin and consoled him saying " Do not

woory about these petty issues, my child, You just place this pasuram of

" kaNNan kazhaliNai... " on a boat (sangap palagai) and watch the fun " and

disappeared. Madhurakavi did the same and the boat, it is told capsized

throwing out all the jealous, haughty poets while it retained only the leaf

containing " kaNNan kazhaliNai.. "

 

It is also told that each one of those poets struggled to reach the shore

and composed a verse dedicating to NammAzhwAr. And when they were about to

publish their verses, they were simply AMAZED to find that each one wrote

the same verse in same words; (What a marvel! what a divine AzhwAr and

Divine Disciple!-simply made for each other)

 

The sangam chief says " NammAzhwAr's works are superior and other poets are

like flies compared to Garudan (that is NammAzhwAr); fire flies (minmini)

in the presence of sun; dogs in front of the ferocious tiger; wolf before

the Lord NrsimhA, ugly clumsy dwarfs dancing before the havenly beautiful

OOrvasi- All their works are not equal to even one utterance of

nammAzhwAr. "

 

Madhurakavi's eyes were full of tears for his (his AchAryA's) success; The

eleven pAsurams are counted as part of 4000 verses simply because the whole

of 4000 pasurams is claimed to be Bhagavadh vishayam while Madhurakavi's is

on his AchAryA which is the central gem that sheds lustre on the other jems

of the garland (so says MaNavALa mAmunigaL). It is the work that holds the

key to the treasure of other pAsurams.

 

" Here is one who knew none other than Nammalwar; the one who made it his

mission in life to sing the Tamizh upanishadam of Nammalwar; The one being

overwhelmed by Nammalwar held him as his very God; Let such Madhurakavi

fill my heart " (our hearts, too).

 

Let us enjoy thaniyans and other details in next post.

 

AzhwAr ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo Narayana

dAsan