nAnmugan thiruvandhAdhi-9

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Sri Parthasarathi thunai

SrimathE rAmAnujaya Namaha

Sri Vara Vara MunayE Namaha

Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha

 

(vEroruvar ellAmai nindrAnai) Emperuman is the supreme. There is no one to

equal or surpass his greatness. “aham krishnasya jagatha: prabhava: pralayas

thathA I maththa: paratharam nAnyat kinchidhasthi dhananjaya II” declares

emperuman himself in his bhagavat geetha (7-6,7) [i am the sole creator and

destroyer for this whole universe there is no one greater than me]

“yasmAth ksharamatheedhOham aksharAthapi shOththama: I

athOsmi lOkE vEdhE cha prathitha: purushOtama:” (15-18)

[since I am greater than the kshara and akshara purushas I am regarded as the

purushOtaman by the sruthis and smrithis]

To further establish emperuman’s words the rishis have declared as follows: “ na

deivam keshavAth param” “na param pundareekAkshAth”. The Vedas declare the same

meaning in the verses, “paramam prabhum nArAyanam” “na dhath samaschApyadhi

kascha drushyathE”.

 

Who is this supreme? Azhvar answers,

 

(emmAnai) The one who is my leader. Thirumazhisai azhvar is celebrated, as

“marandhum puram thozhA mAndhar” even by mistake azhvar will not fall into any

other devathas feet. So azhvar credits emperuman to be his lord (his leader).

Else it can be stated that in the front and back azhvar has talked about the

greatness and hence to add more beauty here he talks about the simplicity

(sowlabhyam) of emperuman in the middle. Emperuman has so much grace that he

purposely comes and showers his nirheduka krupai (unconditional grace) on me.

 

[instead of having the same colour beads throughout the chain it will be nicer

to add a contrasting bead in the center. At this stage the great rAsa nAtyam

comes to our memory. The gopikas formed a chain during the divine dance with

Krishna in-between two gopis. There was one Krishna with two gopikas on the

sides and vice versa. Here azhvar decorates his paasuram with the kalyana guna

of parathvam on two sides and neermai (sowlabhyam) in the centre]

 

But again there are Vedic verses that declare one with the names Sivan, rudran,

Esan, Eswaran, maheswaran etc to be the paramathma. Then how do you say

narayanan is the only paramathma? Azhvar answers

 

(epporutkum sollAnai) By whatever names the Vedas may call nArayanan alone is

the paramathma who bears all these various names viz., AkAsam, prAnan, jyOthi,

indran, vuriththiran, Sivan, Esan, Eswaran, mahEswaran, purushan,

purushOththaman, uththama purushan, Vishnu, hari, achchudhan, ananthan,

nArAyanan, thiruvikraman, vAmanan etc.

(epporutkum sollAnai) ‘porul’ refers to the sabdha which refers to a thing.

Emperuman is only referred to by all the sabdhAs-sarvasabdhavAchyan.

(epporutkum sollAnai) the one who is referred directly by all sabdhas(words) and

also indicated by the meanings of the words being the antharyAmi of all things.

For instance, let us consider the word/name “sivan”. This word means purity.

NArayanan has this purity by nature. So we can consider the verse, “siva Eva

kEvala:” to indicate to narayanan directly. Whereas in some Upanishads like

adharvasiras some identities of rudra have been quoted with the usage of the

word Siva but indirectly indicate towards narayanan who remains as the inner

conscience (antharyAmi) of rudran. In this way, narayanan becomes the meaning

for all the words.

(epporutkum sollAnai) Like the sivarudra shabthas other names like AkAsa,

pranan, Indran etc also refer to narayana in many Vedic verses. If we try to

establish the supremacy of Sivan then it is quite natural to say that even the

Akasa, prAnan etc have supremacy. But since it is a known fact that these have

some impurity it also holds good for Sivan (ArusadaikarandhAn). Thereby it is

quite wise to understand that all these refer only to narayana.

 

Why don’t we consider that narayana nama refers only to Sivan? No it cannot be

done so. Since both by sabdha and artha narayana nama has its own prominence.

According to the sruthis and smritis it is a well-known fact that the Sivan

known to all was created, and is one who hasn’t overcome his sins and has more

faults and hence narayana nama cannot be considered to refer to Sivan. Only the

vice-versa will fit properly. “sAshvadham sivamachchudham” “vishvAksham

vishvashambhuvam” “voordhvarEtham viroopAksham” “ya: paras sa mahEswara:” states

the Vedas. “EsAna: prANatha: prANa:” “sarva: sharva: shiva: stANu:” “AdhidEvO

mahAdEva:” “rudrO bahu sirA bhabru:” states SriVishnusahasranAmam. With all

these quotes it is clear that the names rudra, Siva etc refers only to

narayanan.

 

(epporutkum sollAnai) He is the leader for everything. Without any

differentiation between a non-living thing and the great brahma rudras (top most

over the living things) He is the leader (swami) of all. Then how can we equate

any one else with his supremacy? “pathim vishvasya nArAyanam”

 

(thoguththu sonnEn) Here I have given only the crux of emperuman’s parathvam and

sowlabhyam.

 

[For further details dive deep into the following paasurams in this prabhandam

and azhvar’s another divine prabhandam thiruchandha viruththam]

 

(To be continued)

 

Alwar EmperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam

 

Adiyen rAmAnuja dAsee

Sumithra Varadarajan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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