geethA sAstramum nedunthAndaka sAstramum-12

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Sri Parthasarathi thunai

 

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

 

Sri Vara Vara munayE Namaha

 

Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha

 

 

 

There is a type of grammar in sAnskrit called as " sAmAnAdhikaranam " - 'Bhinna

pravriththi nivruththAnAm sabdhAnAm A-kasmin arthE vriththi:' To put it in

simple words, this is a case where many adjectives are attributed to a single

nown (a single vishEshyam but many vishEshanams). For example, " Rama is a tall,

beautiful, intelligent person " Here tall, beautiful and intelligent are

adjectives that talk about the same person. Similarly in his very first

paasuram of thirunedunthAndakam, thirumangai azhvar uses a number of adjectives

to the very same nown, the paramatma, Sriman Narayanan. He says, minnuruvAi,

vEdam nAngAi, vilakkoliyAi, mulaiththu ezhundha thingal thAnAi and so on about

the same emperuman. This sAmAnAdhikaranam is a very important concept in our

sampradayam as emperumAnAr himself, has used this in many of his commentaries to

establish our sampradayam. We are all parts of that emperuman; sareera-sareeri

bhAvam is the lifeline of our rAmAnuja darshanam. We are all his attributes.

 

 

 

(MinnuruvAi-munnuruvil) As already seen, munnuru denotes the objects visible to

our eyes, all the insentient objects (including our body). Thirumangai azhvar

says that these insentient objects are like the lightning. The same has been

expressed by Swamy nammazhvar also ( " minnin nilai ella mannuyir Akkaigal " ).

Swamy Nammazhvar says that the lifetime of this body is worse than a lightning.

How is that? We see that a lightning exists only for a few seconds. But all of

us know that it will exist only for seconds but none of us can say when this

body will actually fall. Such is the temporary nature of our body. While

compared to the mountains and rocks the period the body exists is very short.

So the azhvars call this body to be 'minnuru'. Now that we have accepted the

body to be temporary like the lightning the very next question will be how can

this be attributed to the paramAtma who is a nithyan. Though the soul is

nithyan it is common to say that our life is short, though only the body falls.

Similarly since we are all parts of that paramatma it is not wrong to call him

also " minnuruvAi " .

 

 

 

An atma takes this body only to spend its prArabhda karma and after completing

the same it sheds this body like we throwing a worn out shirt and taking a new

one to adorn our body. The same is expressed by Krishna as follows:

 

 

 

" vAsAmsi jeernAni yathA vihAya navAni kruhnAti narOparANi I

 

thathA sareerAni vihAya jeenAni anyAni samyAthi navAni dEhee II " (2-22)

 

 

 

One another sloka of geethAcharyan that reverberates the same artha is,

 

 

 

" antha vantha emE dEhA: nithyas yOkthA: sareeriNa: I

 

anAsinO apramEyasya thasmAt yudyasva bhAratha II " (2-18)

 

 

 

[Oh! bhAratha (born in the bharata kula) know that this body that is seen by you

is taken by that atma (soul), which is neither created nor destroyed and that

which enjoys and that which is different from all those insentient objects that

are enjoyed, in order to spend its karmas and hence will be abandoned by the

soul as soon as the prArabhdam (poorva karma) is over and hence don't hesitate

to fight the war.]

 

 

 

Here emE is the body (munnuru); dEha: - that which looses weight gradually

(minnuru)

 

 

 

Swamy Periya vAchan Pillai (PVP) in his thirunedunthAndaka vyakhyanam says as

follows:

 

 

 

" bhOjanArthamAga angeegariththa kalamum bhOjanAndharam asprushyamApOlE, edhuvum

kAryAntharam tyAjyamAgakkadavadhu "

 

 

 

We all use plastic plates to eat. Do we preserve them after eating? No we

throw them off. Similarly, the soul enters this body to spend its karma and

after completion of the same it leaves this body and enters a fresh body. So it

is seen that the body has a temporary life and the soul is permanent though it

keeps moving from one body to another. How to get out of this cycle? We will

see in the next postings.

 

 

 

(To be continued)

 

 

 

Azhvar EmperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam

 

 

 

Adiyen ramanuja dAsee

 

Sumithra Varadarajan