thaiyil magam endru dhAraniyeer!!!

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Sri Parthasarathi thunai

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

Sri Vara Vara MunayE Namaha

Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha

Thaiyil magam endru dhAraniyeer!!!

 

“thaiyil magam endru dhAraniyeer Ettram endha

thaiyil magaththukku sAttruginrEn-thuyyamadhi

pettra mazhisai pirAn pirandha nAlendru

nattravargal kondAdum nAl.” (URM-12)

 

Today is thaiyil magam, the thirunakshatram of thirumazhisai Alwar. This alwar,

a disciple of pEyAzhvar was born in the place called thirumazhisai. This place

by itself has a lot of greatnesses. Many divya desams gain their greatness due

to the perumal, piratti over there or due to the alwar or acharya born in that

place. But thirumazhisai is a place, which has its own greatness,

 

“vulagum mazhisaiyum vullunarindhu* thammil

pulavar pugazh kOlAl thookka*- vulaguthannai

vaiththeduththa pakkaththum* mAneer mazhisaiyE

vaiththeduththa pakkam validhu”

(Some scholars placed the greatness of thirumazhisai in one of the plates of a

balance and then the rest of the world in the other plate and found that the

plate in which thirumazhisai was placed was heavier than the rest of the world)

 

and hence this alwar has been named after the place in which he was born as

THIRUMAZHISAI ALWAR. This alwar is otherwise called “bhakthisArar” (a name

given by siva perumAn himself to this alwar pleased with the bhakthi of alwar).

Our acharyas praise this alwar as “vuraiyil idAdhavar” (one who never places the

sword inside the cover). One doubt may arise in our minds now. We have seen

only thirumangai alwar with a knife and never thirumazhisai alwar with a sword

or knife then how does the acharyas call him like that? In case of

thirumazhisai alwar the sword is nothing but his own tongue. Alwar never keeps

his mouth shut when it comes to argue against other philosophers and establish

our sampradayam. Since thirumazhisai alwar has learnt all other philosophies

(“samanam kattrOm, sAkiyam kattrOm, sankaranAr Akkivaiththa Agama nool kattrOm”)

and then finally became a vaishnavite he is the best judge to say that there is

no other philosophy as great as vaishnavism and hence alwar talks staunchly

without any hesitation. That is why he is regarded as vuraiyil idAdhavar.

Thirumazhisai Alwar’s nAnmugan thiruvandhAdhi and thiruchandha viruththam are

great proof for the above.

 

The greatness of thirumazhisai alwar is beyond words and there are many

instances in his own life history where emperuman himself has proved it to the

world as in the incident with kanikannan and “sonna vannam seidha perumal” and

also the incident at perumpuliyur. Since all these legends are known to all of

you, adiyen stops without elaborating the same. Let us now enjoy the greatness

of this day thaiyil magam as expressed by Sri Manavala mAmunigal in the above

pAsuram in upadesa ratna mAlai-12 (the meaning is given based on the vyakhyanam

of pillai lOkam Jeeyer).

 

In this paasuram (URM-12) mAmunigal explains the greatness of this day, thaiyil

magam, the birthday of thirumazhisai Alwar to everyone in this world.

 

thaiyil magam endru : This is the tamil month of thai (“thaiyoru thingalum”

regards andal).

 

dhAraniyeer: Oh! The blessed ones, who have the bhakyam to be born in this world

where thirumazhisai alwar was also born.

 

Ettram endha thaiyil magaththukku sAttruginrEn : Only mAsi magam is considered

to be mahA nakshatram then why do you say that thaiyil magam is a important day?

If you have this doubt then listen, I will tell you the greatness of this very

fine day.

 

thuyyamadhi pettra : This is the day, which is celebrated by great mahans (who

are enriched in good penance)as a day in which thirumazhisai alwar who,due to

the divine grace of emperuman, has been blessed with clear and absolute

knowledge (“mayarvara madhi nalam arula”pettra) took birth. Thirumazhisai alwar

himself wonders, “enmadhikku vinnellAm vundO vilai” (Will the space become a

price for my intelligence?).

What is purity for mind? “mananakamala marakazhuvi” To remove the thought of the

devathAnthara parathvam. That is considering sriman nArAyanan alone to be the

supreme master and all others to be under him. Azhvars purity in mind is thus

reflected in his following verses:

“thAdhulAvu kondrai mAlai thunnu senchadai sivan needhiyAl vanangu pAdha”

“pOdhil mangai bhoodhalak kizhaththi dEvi”

“vEda nool Odhugindradhu vunmai yalla dillai mattru vuraikkilE”

“vulla nOigal theer marundhu vAnavarkkaliththa em vallalArai yandri mattrOr

deivam nAn madhippanE”

“seermiguththa ninnalAl Or deivam nAn madhippanE”

“nAnmuganai nArAyanan padaiththAn nAn muganum thAn mugamAi shankaranai thAn

padaiththAn”

“pidhiru manamillEn pigjakan thannOdu ethirvanavan enakku nErAn”

“kallAdhavan ellangai kattazhiththa kAguththan allAl oru deivam yAnilEn”

“eni arindhEn Esarkkum nAn mugarkkum deivam eni arindhEn emperumAn vunnai”

 

In this way, all through his prabhandam alwar has shown the clarity in his words

and proved to be “uraiyil idAdhavar”.

 

mazhisai pirAn pirandha nAlendru: This is the day in which Thirumazhisai alwar

(mazhisai piran) took birth blessed with great jnanam and hence has had

punarjanma.

 

nattravargal kondAdum nAl: Since this alwar was born to a rishi, all the other

rishis celebrate this day and hence mAmunigal says nattravargal kondAdum nAl.

 

Which is ‘pirandha nAl’? As per thirumazhisai alwar’s verses “andru nAn

pirandhilEn” I was not born earlier. “pirandha pin marandhilEn” here alwar

refers to the birth with bhagavat sambhandha jnanam (knowledge about the

relationship with emperuman) as the actual birth and rest to be equal to not

born at all. Thus this great day in which this great intellect took birth is

considered special by great mahans.

 

What is ‘thavam’? prapaththi. “sArvE thavaneri”. So the prapaththi, which is

done under the divine feet of emperuman as an act of surrendering one’s self

under the holy feet is referred to as ‘nattravam’ here. AcharyAbhimAna nishtai

is referred to as, “mattravarai sAththiyiruppAr thavam”. Examples for

acharyAbhimAna nishtai are kanikannan, perumpuliyuradigal and others. So from

this it is seen that this day is to be celebrated by all acharyAbhimAnis.

 

Any mistake is due to adiyen’s lack of knowledge and ignorance and hence shall

please be pardoned by the other bhagavatas.

 

Alwar EmperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam

 

Adiyen rAmAnuja dAsee

Sumithra Varadarajan

 

 

 

 

 

 

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