Thiruvaimozi of nammazvar-1-1-1

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BhakthAmrtham viSvajanAnumOdhanam

sarvArThadham SriSatagopavAngmayam

sahasraSAkhOpanishadsamAgamam

namAmyaham dhrAvidavEdhasAgaram.(Nadha munigaL)

 

Thiruvaimozi of Satagopa (nammAzvAr) is the ocean of Tamil scripture, veda itself in Tamil.I bow down to this which is like nectar to devotees,delight of all people in the world,and comprises of all the truths and the essence of the upanishads.

 

Thiruvaimozi is the work of NammAzvar also known as Satagopan because he was not born in the natural way but manifested himself and hence not influenced by the SatavAyu which destroys the memory of previous births before the embodied soul is expelled from the womb of the mother.He manifested in the month of viSakha and the star of viSAkha in Thirukkurugur.He never ate or drunk anything since his manifestation and nor talked and while young he sat in meditation under a tamarind tree in front of the temple in Thirukkurugur.

ThiruvaimoZi is supposed to be equal to the vedas and expounds the meaning of dhvaya manthra and arThapanchaka.It contains more than thousand pasurams, divided into ten parts of ten sections each,and

rich in meaning.We will enjoy the nectar of Thiruvaimozi in these pages.

 

PartI

 

Section I- The nature of the Supreme Being

 

I.I

uyarvaRa vuyarnala mudaiyavan yavanavan

mayarvaRamadhinalam aruLinan yavanavan

ayarvarum amarargaL adhipath yavanavan

thuyarRu Sudradi thozudhezen manane

 

Oh mind, rise up bowing to the glorious feet, which destroys all grief, of Him who has no one higher than Him in nature and qualities, who gives the knowledge that removes delusion and who is the Lord of the immortal devas.

 

UyarvaRa-none higher to him.

 

In Bhagavatgita Arjuna says on seeing the visvaroopa, cosmic form of the Lord, 'na thvathsamO asthi abhyadhikaH kuthaH anyaH, there is no one equal to you and hence who can be higher? Upanishad declares the supremacy of the Lord by 'yathO vAchO nivarthanthE aprApya mansA saha,'(Taitt-Anandhavalli)the speech returns without reaching Him along with the mind, meaning that He is beyond description and beyond conception. His unparalleled excellence is svabhAvika, natural and not acquired.

 

uyarnalam udaiyavan- He has infinitely auspicious qualites. Abode of infinite bliss and power or glory.This denotes His anantha kalyANa guNathvam as well as hEyaprthyaneekathvam, absence of blemishes of any sort.

 

Yavan-He who is described as such, avan- He, is the one who has given aruLinan, wisdom and devotion madhinalam, which is devoid of ignorance and delusion, mayarvaRa. The word mayarvu means jnAna anudhaya, absence of jnana which gives way to anyaTHA jnAna or vipareetha jnana, misconception. Azvar was endowed with jnana and bhakthi from birth and he says 'aruLinan,' because it was due to His grace which was ahaithukam, without any reason except His mercy. Ramanuja says in Sribhashya mangala sloka "let me have wisdom born out of devotion," 'SEmushee bhakthiroopA.'

 

AyarvaRu amarargaL adhipathi- The eternal souls, nithyasooris who never had loss of memory about their real nature.

 

thuyaraRu- One who removes all sorrow.

 

Sudaradi-even though only the feet are mentioned the implication is about His dhivyamangalvigraha, the divine auspicious form.

 

thozudhu ezu -rise above the transmigration by knowing His real nature and worshipping Him.

 

mananE-the mind is addressed thus because the mind is the only cause of bondage.'mana Eva manushyANAm kAraNam bandhamokshayOh.'

 

 

The meaning of PraNava has been made out in the first syllables of the three lines of the first pasuram, namely, U,M and A. The order is changed according to the belief that the vedamantra should not be said as it is, in contexts other than veda.

 

UyarvaRa uyarnalam means the Lord has Sri who is the highest and best.Therefore He is mayarvaRa madhinalam aruLinan, because His mercy is only due to the influence of the divine mother.He is also ayarvaru amarargaL adhipathi because He is Sriyahpathi.Hence one should surrender to His feet, which is capable of removing sorrow, thuyaraRu Sudaradi thozudhezen mananE.

 

The first line speaks about His soulabhyAdhi, (that is easy accessibility etc.) attributes, kalyana gunas which made Him take His abode in the milky ocean in order to protect the world.

 

The second line denotes Him as the antharyAmi, the inner self of all, who gives the real knowledge.

 

The third line describes His parathva, supremacy as residing in Vaikunta , as the master of the eternal souls.

 

Sinilarly the three lines also refer to Thirumala,Srirangam and Kanchi.

UyarvaRa uyarnalam denotes the highest of the Divyadesas , Thirumala where the Lord descended from Vaikunta.Udaiyavan is Venkatesa, also known as ThiruvEngatamudaiyan.There He is Anadhamaya and the vimAna is AnandhavimAna.

 

PraNava , the source of all vedas is the one which gives wisdom and i Srirangam the vimAna is praNavAkAra.Through PraNava bhakthi is attained.Therefore mayarvaRa madhinalam aruLinan means Arangan, RanganAtha of Srirangam. The Lord has further descended from Thirumala in order to guide us through knowlegde and devotion.

 

The word AmarargaL adhipathi means Devaraja of Kanchi.

 

The last line thuyaraRu Sudaradi refers to all His luminous archavatharas which when worshipped removes all grief due to samsara.

 

Thus pasuram is considered as the synopsis of the SAreerakSAsrhra, that is, Brahmasuthra. The first line describes the nature of Brahman which is the topic of the first adhyaya of Brahmasuthra. It shows the samAbhyadhikarahithathva, the unequalled and unexcelled nature (uyarvaRa uyarnalam udaiyavan) of Brahman.The second line denotes the contents of the second adhyaya, namely, the refutation of all that is against the knowledge of Brahman (mayarvaRa madhinalam) and the third line describes the means of attainment of Brahman, that is, through bhakthi marga, which is outlined in the third adhyaya of Brahmasuthra and the last line is about the attainment, mukthi, the subject matter of the fourth adhyaya.