SrI UpakAra Sangraham Part - 35

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srI:

SrI upakAra sangraham – 35

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adikAram – 1

poorva upakAra paramparai

(The Foremost Series of Favours)

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SECTION – 5 (6)

(27 Favours of the Lord leading to the means for

MOKSHAM)

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SwAmi Desikan has been listing various favours

conferred by the compassionate Lord and so far

referred to five favours. Now we shall take up the

sixth favour of the Lord: --

 

(6) " AzhvArkaLaiyum AchAryarkaLatyum koNdu,

vEda-tattvArtta-prakAshanam paNNinatuvum; "

 

Illuminating the essential truths of Vedic scriptures

through AzhvArs and AchAryas is another favour done by

the Lord.

 

AzhvArs and AchAryas are two sets of personalities

who made their contributions in highlighting the most

essential truths embedded in VedAs and other connected

scriptures.

 

First, AzhvArs. They are twelve in number:

Poykai-AzhvAr, BhootattAzhvAr, pEyAzhvAr, Tirumazhisai

AzhvAr, nammAzhvAr, maturakavi AzhvAr, kulashEkara

AzhvAr, periyAzhvAr, ANdAL, tondaridippodi AzhvAr,

TiruppANAzhvAr and Tirumangai AzhvAr.

 

1. Poykai AzhvAr, the first Azhvar, appeared on a

lotus flower in a pond adjoining the yatOtkAri temple

in TiruvehA of kAnci city, in the dvApara yuga. He is

considered as the incarnation of SrI pAncajanyam, the

Conch held by SrIman nArAyaNa. He sang 100 verses, the

collection of which is named " The First TiruvantAdi " .

He was a highly held devotee of the Lord. His birth

Star is shravaNam of aippasi month.

 

2. Bhootat tAzhvAr, the second AzhvAr to appear. He

appeared in a flower of a kind of slender tree,

(geortnera racemosa), in mahAbalipurm, on the

following day of PoykaiAzhvAr's appearance. His

collection of 100 verses is named, " irandAm

TiruvantAdi " . He is considered to be an incarnation of

the Mace held by the Lord. His birth Star is

shravishta of aippasi month.

 

 

3. PEyAzhvAr, (mahadAhvya), the third in the line,

appeared on the next day of the appearance of Bhootat

AzhvAr, on a red flower in a well, near the temple of

SrI Adi kEsava, in Mylapore (in Chennai city). He

also recited 100 verses, which are named " mOOnRAm

TiruvantAdi " . He was the incarnation of the Lord's

sword, SrI nandaka.

His birth Star is Shaadaya in aippasi month.

These three AzhvArs are known as " ayOnijas " , as they

were not born from mother's womb.

 

All the three met at the temple town of tirukkovaloor

in a hermitage where they sought shelter during a

rainy night. Their Tamil prabanda appeared at that

time, when, Poykai AzhvAr lit the lamp with the earth

as the container, the ocean as the oil and the sun as

the light. Following him, BhootattAzhvAr lit another

lamp, made of love as the vessel, enthusiasm as the

oil and lovable thought as the wick and knowledge as

the light. This enabled them to have the darshan of

the Lord with His Consort, Lkshmi. It was left to

PEyAzhvAr to describe the appearance, beginning with

SrI, Lkshmi, the golden body of the Lord along with

His beautiful colour and the fierceful Wheel

(Sudarsana) and the Conch in His hands.

In their three works of 100 verses each, the three

AzhvArs brought out the essence of the Vedas: The

Ultimate Reality is nothing but SrIman nArAyaNa, who

is the source of the entire creation, His different

states of appearance as Paratatva, in SrI VaikuNtam,

VyUka incarnation before the start of creation, His

taking various incarnations in the world to protect

the virtuous and to destroy the wicked and His playful

deeds, His eternal presence as the innermost soul in

every being and finally, His incarnations as idols for

worshipping Him in temples. His birth star in makham

in the month of Tai.

 

Following these three AzhvAs, appeared the fourth,

Tirumazhisai AzhvAr. According to the legend,

Tirumazhisai had studied various religious

philosophies and finally chose Sri Vaishnavism as the

only religion which develops in the followers bhakti,

devotion, for the Ultimate Lord who is no one but

SrIman nArAyaNa. This AzhvAr, though belonging to

lower caste, had a thorough knowledge of all the Vedas

through his intuition. He has left us two valuable

works, Tirucanda-Viruttam and nAnmukan TiruvantAdi,

containing the essence of Vedic scriptures.

 

The fifth AzhvAr was Sri nammAzhvar. He is also known

as Shatakopan, since he, even while taking birth from

his mother's womb, drove away the encircling shata-gas

which hides the knowledge of earlier births of the

soul. Normal human beings cannot remember their

earlier births, as that memory will stand in the way

of smooth life starting afresh.

nmmAzhvAr's birth star is vishAkam of the month of

vaikAshi. He was an incarnation of VishvaksEna, the

Chief Body-guard of the Lord.

 

nammAzhvAr is held in high esteem as our first

AchArya at the human level. He was the AchArya of Sri

Nathamuni who learnt from him the entire works of all

the Azhvars hundreds of years later.

 

nammAzhvar was discovered by Madurakavi AzhvAr, as a

young boy sitting in penance under a big banyan tree

in a city down south, which later got the name, AzhvAr

Tirunagari. He recorded all the four works of

nammAzhvAr, which were expressions of the AzhvAr's

vision of the Lord in various forms and His playful

deeds during his various incarnations in the earth.

However, nammAzhvAr's outpourings were full of

expressions of his intensive devotion for the Lord.

His experience of the Lord was direct in different

ways. These include his reactions as AzhvAr himself,

as a lady-love, as the maid-friend of the lady-love

and as the mother of the lady-love. The verses were

the expressions of his joy of being with the Lord, his

deep love for Him, his pangs of separation from Him

and advice to others to develop deep devotion towards

the Lord saying that He is the only Resort for all

beings. On three occasions, nammAzhvAr went in to

trance as He witnessed the Lord's humility during His

incarnations. He wondered how the highest Lord who has

neither equal nor a superior to Him, could come down

to the lowest level of existence and move with

ordinary human beings, even when they are of the

lowest of the castes, or even if they are considered

by other human beings as untouchables.

 

nammAzhvar's Tiruvaimozhi is a treasure containing

the highest philosophy describing various Vedic truths

including the guidance for the mankind to attain the

Ultimate goal which is nothing but being with Him for

ever in SrI VaikuNtam.

 

His works are considered divine gifts to ordinary

folks who have no knowledge of Vedic or other

scriptures. An ordinary person need not go after the

Upanishads, PurANas or any other scriptures, if he has

the works of nammAzhvAr in his possession after

learning them through a proper teacher.

 

Of the four works of nmmAzhvAr, the first one is

Tiruviruttam of 100 verses, the first verse of which

being the subject matter of this rahasya-granta of

SwAmi Desikan now under our study. The second,

TiruvAciriyam with seven verses is the description of

the form and he auspicious qualities of the Lord. The

third work, Periya TiruvantAdi, containing 87 stanzas

in VeNbA meter, describes the AzhvAr's deep devotion

for the Lord in His various forms. Lastly,

Tiruvaimozhi of over 1000 verses is an outstanding

work left to us by the AzhvAr with all his compassion

for the ordinary souls like us wandering in the world

in deep ignorance. Only a few among the human beings

seem blessed to have the rare opportunity of studying

this scripture which is nothing but Veda itself in

Tamil language. Though all the works of the eleven

AzhvArs are regarded as Tamil maRai (Tamil Veda),

Tiruvaimozhi is a bright gem among the entire bhakti

literature in Tamil, we can declare.

 

nammAzhvAr cannot be remembered without Madurakavi

AzhvAr who, though much senior in age than nammAzhvAr,

became the first disciple of him and got his

outpourings recorded for the posterity. He has sung 11

verses, the collection of which is known as

KaNNinuNciRuttAmbu, eulogizing nammAzhvAr, his

AchArya, saying that he will not even turn towards the

Lord when he has got the grace of nammAzhvAr as his

guru.

 

It is the practice to recite KaNNinuNcirutAmbu

preceding and following the recital of Tiruvaimozhi,

in all the Vaishnavite temples and in SrIvaishnavites'

dwellings.

 

 

(To continue)

dAsan

Anbil S.SrInivAsan

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