Madhurakavi Azhwar Thirunakshatram

[Guest guest]

Respected Ramanuja Bhaktas,

 

Today is Chittirai-Chittirai, the thirunakshatram (holy appearance

day) of Madhurakavi Azhwar, one of the twelve mystical poets of the

Srivaishnava faith.

 

Madhurakavi's unique contribution to the Ramanuja spiritual tradition

is that unlike his eleven other counterparts, whose Divine experience

expressed itself in rapturous mystical poetry to the Lord Himself,

Sri Madhurakavi expressed his outpouring of devotion solely to his

Teacher, the greatest of the Azh:wa:rs and the only one to also be

recognized as an Acha:rya, Nammazhwar.

 

In ten beautiful verses of Kaninun SirithAmbu - the Short Knotted

String - Madhurakavi describes how Nammazhwar's love for the Lord is

analogous to the pure love felt by Yashoda for her son, Sri Krishna.

This love is so enchanting to the Lord that He virtually becomes a

slave to the one can feel it for Him. So much so, in fact, that He

allowed Mother Yashoda to tie Him up with thin thread to a mortar so

that she could playfully punish Him for His micchievous pranks. This

same love, says Madhurakavi, is what Nammazhwar feels for the Lord;

and it is this level of love that Madhurakavi feels, not for the

Lord, but solely for his Teacher. It is this love for the Teacher,

that makes Madhurakavi taste sweet ambrosia on his tongue everytime

he utters his Acha:ryas name.

 

Such a level of devotion to one's Acha:rya serves as the paradigmatic

example of the kinship that has extended through the centuries

between Teacher and Student in the Ramanuja Tradition. It is the

very lifeline that connects us through the age-old SriVaishnava

tradition, through Bhagavad Sri Ramanuja and Nammazhwar back to the

Lotus Feet of Sriman Narayana Himself.

 

On this day, let us take a moment to reflect on our Spiritual

Teachers, and let us pray that we can be blessed with at least the

smallest desire to serve them in the way that Madhurakavi served his

Teacher.

 

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan

Mohan