geetha sAstramum nedunthAndaka sAstramum-2

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Sri Parthasarathi thunai

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

Sri Vara Vara munayE Namaha

Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha

 

" vAzhi parakAlan vAzhi kalikandri

vAzhi kurayaloor vAzhvEndan vAzhiyarO

mAyOnai vAlvaliyAl mandhiram kol mangaiyarkOn

thooyOn sudarmAna vEl "

 

" pEdhai nenjE endrai perumai arindhilaiyO

A-dhu perumai endraikku endrennil OdhuginrEn

vAiththa pugazh mangayarkOn mAnilaththil vandhudhiththa

kArthigaiyil kArthigai nAl kAn "

 

" mAran paniththa thamizh maraikku mangaiyarkOn

Arangam koora avadhariththa veerudaiya

kArthigaiyil kArthigai nAl endrendru kAdhalippAr

vAiththa malar thAlgal nenjE! vAzhththu "

 

This year this great day, kArthigaiyil kArthigai nAl, the thiruavathara dhinam

of our dear kaliyan, thirumangai mannan, arulmAri, arattamukki, adaiyArseeyam,

kalikandri falls on Dec.7th. As celebrated by Swamy Manavala mamunikal in the

above quoted upadesa ratina mAlai paasurams this is the very day on which our

kadaikutti azhvar (last in the group of Azhvars) took avatharam. MAran,

nammazhvar took avatharam on vaikasi visAkam day to give the thamizh marai

(vedas in tamil) and following him thirumangai mannan took avatharam on this

great karthigaiyil kArthigai nAl to give the six angas viz., Periya thirumozhi,

thirukurunthAndakam, thiruvezhukootrirukai, Siriya thirumadal, Periya thirumadal

and thirunedunthAndakam, to the 4 vedas of nammazhvar, viz., Thiruviruththam,

thiruvAsiriyam, Periya thiruvandhAdhi and thiruvaimozhi. ThirunedunthAndakam is

the charama (last) prabhandam of thirumangai azhvar in which azhvar sings with

joy after having the bhagavat sAkshAtkAram. In our

sampradayam, the words of tattva darshis (Azhvars) have more value than even

the words of emperuman himself. Before diving further into the topic, let us

get to mind one another greatness of this very day. This is the day on which

one of our great acharyas, kalikandri dAsar, Sri Nampillai took avatharam (he

was regarded as the punaravatharam of thirumangai azhvar). In the first

avatharam thirumangai azhvar gave only the six angas to the vedas of nammazhvar

but in his avatharam as nampillai he did a even greater job of given the

unparalleled commentary to the thiruvaimozhi of nammazhvar, the Eedu ('Eedu

enaiyillAdha Eedu'). Let us all sing the praise of these two great mahans on

this karthigaiyil kArthigai nAl.

 

" kalandhathiruk kArthigaiyil kArthigai vandhOn vAzhiyE

kAsiniyil von kurayaloor kAvalOn vAzhiyE

nalanthigazh Ayiraththenbhaththu nAluraiththAn vAzhiyE

nAlaindhu maraiaindhu namakkuraiththAN vAzhiyE

elankezhu kootrirukkai eru madaleendhAn vAzhiyE

immoondril erunootrirubhadheendhAn vAzhiyE

valan thigazhum kumudavalli manavalan vAzhiyE

vAtkaliyan parakAlan mangaiyarkOn vAzhiyE "

 

" kAdhaludan nanjeeyer kazhal thozhuvOn vAzhiyE

kArthigaiyil kArthigai vudhiththa kalikandri vAzhiyE

pOdhamudan Azhvar sorporuluraippOn vAzhiyE

poodhoorAn pAdiyaththai pugazhumavan vAzhiyE

mAdhagavAl evvuyirkkum vAzhvaliththAn vAzhiyE

madhilarangar Olakkam valarthittAn vAzhiyE

nAthamuni Alavandaar nalam pugazhvOn vAzhiyE

nampillai thiruvadigal nAdOrum vAzhiyE " .

 

Coming to our topic, in the last posting we saw the greatness of the geethA

sastram. As it has already been seen, thirunedunthAndakam is the last

prabhandam of thirumangai azhvar. Now you may all be wondering why then did

adiyen name it as thirunedunthAndaka sAstram. Can a prabhandam be called as a

sastram? Yes it has been considered to be a sAstram by our poorvAcharyas. Sri

parasara bhattar won over nanjeeyer, earlier called as vedanthi, only using this

sAstram. Since this prabhandam was sung after azhvar's bhagavat sAkshAtkAram it

is filled with upanishadic meanings and hence there is nothing wrong to call it

as a sAstram by itself. Swamy emperumanar had a deep involvement in 30

paasurams among the 4000. Which were those? They were the beautiful

thiruppavai paasurams of nachiyar but Sri parasara bhattar, son of

kooraththAzhvan and andal, regarded as a foster son of Sri Ranganachiyar had his

deep involvement in another 30 paasurams. Those were none other than the great

paasurams of thirumangai azhvar, thirunedunthAndakam.

 

Sri Parasara bhattar went to mEl nAdu, to win over the famous vedanthi over

there. Some people over there told bhattar that it was not possible to meet the

vedanthi with the intention of arguments (tarkkam) so easily. Since before

meeting him, bhattar will have to win over all his disciples. They also gave

him an idea. The vedanthi used to do annadhAnam daily. Bhattar went to that

place and stood infront of the vedanthi who had come to supervise the

activities. While bhattar stood infront of him, the vedanthi directed him

towards the place where food was given but bhattar refused the same and said he

had come for tharkka bhiksha. Immediately the vedanthi understood that the

person in front of him was none other than the great bhattar who he had heard

about before, the one who knows the thirunedunthAndaka sastra (which was the

only sastra the vedanthi hasn't learnt). After long arguments finally the

vedanthi surrendered to the divine feet of bhattar and became his devoted

disciple.

 

In this way, Sri Bhattar showed the greatness of kaliyan's charama prabhandam to

the world. As soon as bhattar returned back to srirangam, ranganatha eager to

know the result enquired about the same to bhattar. Bhattar replied that his

journey was a success and that he had got the vedanthi into the sampradayam.

Ranganatha was eager to know how bhattar won over the vedanthi. Bhattar then

told ranganatha the way he won over using the thirunedunthAndaka paasurams and

that event of bhattar's victory and ranganatha's joy is celebrated even today

every margazhi month in srirangam as 'ThirunedunthAndaka thirunal' the day just

before the commencement of adhyayana utsavam. At this point, it has to be got

to memory that the adhyayana utsavam itself was started by thirumangai azhvar

only with the help of thirunedunthAndakam.

In the next posting we will further enjoy the greatness of this excellent

prabhandam/sAstram.

 

Azhvar EmperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam

 

Adiyen ramanuja dAsee

Sumithra Varadarajan

 

 

 

 

 

 

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