bhOgyAmrutam - 29 - bhUtAdihi

July 26, 2003

bhUtAdihi - The One who is the most desirable to the bhUtAs. The One who has the beginning related to the bhUtAs. = bhUtaih AdIyatE upAdIyatE iti

pASuram: tiruvAimozhi - 4-2-11 (NammALwAr tiruvaDigaLE SaraNam)

samanvayam: 'The One who has the beginning related to the bhUtAs'.

He is the only refuge for all the bhUtAs. Also, He is the only capable One of making all His seekers realize Him. He is the Only capable One of giving the bhUtAs a status that is equal to the nityAs. He is the One who can give that highest status (beginning) to the bhUtAs.

For granting us such a status our ALwAr had graced us with this dasakam (4-2) of the great TiruvAimozhi. Those who have absorbed the meanings of these ten pASurams are considered as close relatives by the nitya sUrIs. And they get the highest status of sitting along with the nitya sUrIs in the front row reserved for them. nitya sUrIs are considered to be the beginning of the bhUtAs (the highest ones - Adi). He has and grants such a beginning to the bhUtAs. Hence He is known by the name bhUtAdihi.

pASuram:

meliyanOi tIrkum nam kaNNan kazhal kaLmEl

Dedicated to the divine feet of Our Krishna, which are the only cure for all sickness

mali pukazh vaN kurukUr cchadakOpan Sol

Sung by our SatakOpan, the one of highest fame from the beautiful kurukUr

oli pukazh Ayirattu ippattumE vallavar

These decad among the thousand songs on the famous qualities of the Lord; Those capable ones who sing them...

mali pukazh vAnavarku avarnal kOvaiyE

become the kinsmen of the highly famed celestials.

Detailed Interpretation:

1) The Only cure for all diseases (sickness):

The main sickness that is troubling all of us is the entrapment in this samsAra. It is taking us away from our Lord. Just as the sunflowers wilt on being distanced from the sun, we are loosing our svarUpam as we are being taken away from our Lord. To cure such a disease, the only refuge is the feet of our Krishna. Our ALwAr is the one who adorns those SrI pAdams on his head. Through such NammALwAr Our Lord blessed us with this medicine called TiruvAimozhi. He has given us a way to get to the highest position among the bhUtAs; He has shown us the way to get to His loving embrace. He is the supreme refuge for all the bhUtAs - The One seeked by the bhUtAs and He Himself holds the key for pulling all of them towards Him. That key is this TiruvAimozhi.

2) The feet of Our Lord: Those SrI pAdAms also represent the mad love that Our Lord has for us. They are instrumental in bringing Our Lord to us. This great TiruvAimozhi describes the vyAmOham that our Lord has towards us, in an unparalled way.

3) Our SatakOpan, the one with unparalled fame from the beautiful Tirunagari:

Sri NammALwAr is the One whose fame is ever increasing when it comes to the love he has for our Lord. Such great AlwAr has blessed us with this medicine called TiruvAimozhi. Even AlwAr’s birth place Tirunagari attained immense prominence due to his fame. The real definition of fame and glory is being great in the eyes of the Lord. Our nitya sUrIs are the ones with such a highest fame.

By understanding properly these pASurams of TiruvAimozhi we will also be blessed with such a fame. We will also become famous in the eyes of the Lord.

4) Of these thousand songs blessed by SrI SatakOpan:

Each and every pASuram of this TiruvAimozhi describes vividly the mad love of our Krishna and the great qualities of our AlwAr who had developed an even bigger vyAmOham towards the Lord. This TiruvAimozhi has the power to make us seek the Lord with the same madness as our AlwAr did.

5) Those capable ones who can recite these ten pASurams (4-2) of the thousand:

What is the essence and greatness of these ten pASurams?

Any thing that has a bhagavath sambandham is extremely dear to me. Take a tulasi daLam for instance. What great puNyam that soul could have earned!!. It made the tulasi as its body and got decorated at the SrI pAda dvayam of our Lord through the SrI hasthams of our AchArya. It has reached an abode that is extremely desirable to our mother SrI. How blessed is that soul! – For how many ages could that soul have done penance!. What great bhAgavatha kainkaryam it could have done!. I feel like taking the tulasi as my idol.

Similarly blessed are the various items, flowers, vessels etc which serve the AchArya in worshipping our Lord. Who knows which AchAryAs / AlwArs / muktAs have made these parikarams as their bodies to serve the Lord?

To those revered ones, we shall continuously sing pallAnDu. We should worship such revered souls as our idols. Isn’t it?

Those who cherish these divine thoughts are to be considered as the capable readers of these pASurams. They are the true seekers of the Lord. Such great souls are blessed with the following status.

6) They become the kinsmen of the highly famed celestials:

The love that the nityAs (who are the greatest among His seekers) have towards the Lord is always on the increase. So they keep gaining more and more fame in the eyes of the Lord.

If we can understand and inculcate these thoughts of TiruvAimozhi, our love towards the Lord and bhAgavatAs will be continuously on the rise. Then we will be considered as close relatives by the nitya sUrIs. They accept us as their kinsmen and give us a position equal to them. They will make us sit with them and serve the Lord along with them. In this way we get to a rank which is treated as the beginning of all the bhUtAs (pre-eminence among all the bhUtAs).

Our Lord who gives us such a sAyujyam is non other than our Tirumala SrInivAsa.

(I was entering the Tirumala queue on 13/07/02 when my father finished writing this nAma. So he dedicated this nAma to our SrInivAsa).

JAI SRIMAN NARAYANA