AzhwAr's Influence in Bhagavad RAmAnuja's writings

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SrI:

SrI Lakshminrusimha ParabrahmaNE namaha

SrI Lakshminrusimha divya pAdukA sEvaka SrIvaN SatakOpa -

SrI nArAyaNa yateendra mahAdESIkAya namaha

 

Dear devotees,

namO nArAyaNa.

 

We know that BhAshyakAra (ie. Bhagavad RAmAnuja) followed

the teachings of AzhwArs. Our YatirAja didn't quote any

verse from AzhwArs in his works because its not a valid

pramAna for other vaidika schools and thus we can't claim

to have established a caertain issue in vEdAnta, by merely

quoting a verse of AzhwArs. Moreover, all works of BhAshyakAra

was in Sanskrit.

 

But, BhAshyakAra certainly wrote directly the teachings /

interpretations of Azhwars in some places of his commentries,

apart from following the teachings in general.

 

This is to just give a sample (as adiyEn learnt from

SrI U.Ve. KarunAkaran SwAmi) :

 

In the " vibhUti yOga " ie.10th chapter of Bhagavad GIta,

BhAshyakAra comments for the word " dEvadEvA " of 15th

verse as

 

dEva dEva :

" daivatAnAm api parama daivata, yathA manushya-mruga-pakshi-

sarIsrupAdeen Soundarya-Sowseelyadi-kalyANa-guNagaNaihi

daivatAni ateetya vartantE tathA tAni sarvANi daivatAni api

taihi taihi guNaihi ateetya vartamAna "

 

 

ie. " The Supreme Deity even of all divinities ! Just as

the (demi)gods surpass men, animals, birds,

reptiles etc in beauty (Soundarya), condescension

(Sowseelya) and the host of auspicious qualities,

You O Lord, in the same manner, transcend all these

(demi) gods in all these attributes !

 

< Refer Trans. by SrI AdidEvAnanda >.

 

What a beautiful and enjoyable commenty to the word

" dEvadEva " in sweet and simple sanskrit, really bringing out

the greatness of our PerumAL !! Lets see the original

source of inspirartion for BhAshyakAra as well.

 

This is exactly the direct commentry of the word " dEvadEva "

by NammAzhwAr during his outpourings (ThiruvAimozhi 8.1.5 ) :

 

" aaruyirO! .... manisarkuth dEvar pOla dEvarkku dEvAvO ... "

 

" .......You are the Lord of dEvas like how dEvas are lord

of humans .... " .

 

Lets now enjoy the nectarian commentry by our dear PiLLAn, for

this anubhavam of Azhwar :

 

" ...aathmaguNangaLAlum rUpaguNangaLAlum manushyariR kAttil

dEvargaL yetthanai vilakshaNarAyiruppAr, appadiyE dEvargaL

manushyar yennumpadi andak guNangaLAl vilakshaNanAi .... "

 

The only change in the GIta BhAshya is that, instead

of the term aatmagUNa, " sowseelya etc aatmaguNAs " is present

and addition of animals,repltiles etc alongwith humans.

What a beautiful way in which PiLLAn follows his AchArya

Bhagavad RAmAnuja in his commentry ! Ofcourse the commentry

of PiLLAn is filled with many a typical outpourings of

Bhagavad RAmAnuja in nectarian sanskrit that mesmerizes the

reader and making him/her engorssed in the kalyANa guNas of

SrIman nArAyaNa _without fail_. This is because, of the

direct influence of the traditional kAlakshEbam (discourses)

and the divine grace of Bhagavad RAmAnuja.

--------------------------------

 

SwAmi dESIkan actually goes a step ahead in His outstanding

commentry to Bhagavad RAmAnuja's GIta BhAshya, viz. GIta

TAtparya Chandrika. SwAmi dESikan must have felt that, only

the tamil songs of Azhwars can't be quoted in Sanskrit

works, but why not translate the tamil song into Sanskrit

and quote it !!

 

In the gloss for verse 17.10 in bhagavad gIta, SwAmi dESIkan

quotes the following verse as that of BhaktAn~grirENu's

(Thondar-adip-podi Azhwar, literally meaning " Dust of Feet of

devotees " ) work, which is actually the translated version of

the 41st verse of Thondaradip-podi AzhwAr's ThirumAlai :

 

" divyairavEdyavibhavEti yadi bruvanti -

mAdhvImanOjn~yatulaseeka yadIti cAhuhu |

OonakriyA api parAnapi kArayantO bhuktAdhikam -

dadati tEd nanu (nana) tat pavitram ||

 

Please refer to the analysis of SrI abhinava dESIka

UttamUr swAmi in his commentry to this 41st pAsuram

of ThirumAlai, for further details on the " Ucchishtam "

referred to in ThirumAlai and the gIta bhAshya.

 

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,

anantapadmanAbhan,

KrishNArpaNam.