geethA sAstramum nedunthAndaka sAstramum-20

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Sri Parthasarathi thunai

 

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

 

Sri Vara Vara munayE Namaha

 

Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha

 

 

 

Sri gOdhA nAchiyar in her wonderful nAchiyar thirumozhi says, " semmai vudaiya

thiruarangar paniththa meimaiperuvArthai vittuchittar kEttu eruppar " (11-10).

Here 'meimai peruvArththai' refers to Srimad bhagavat geetha only and that was

given by thiruarangar who is none other than parthasarathi. Andal here says

'vittuchittar kettueruppar' it is not an expression of doubt but she establishes

that her dear father practiced the words of the geethacharyan. Vittuchittar,

Periazhvar kettu-listened to the divine words of geethacharyan eruppar-and

practiced the same in reality. Andal is referred to as " Anju kudi koru

sandhadhi " these words she expressed about her father is applicable to all the

azhvars. The greatest positive in our sampradayam is that all our azhvars and

acharyas preached only what they practiced and hence it is not amazing to see

the reflection of the words of geethacharya in the arulicheyals of azhvars. In

this series of posting we are trying to exactly enjoy only a tit bit from the

anubhavam of the kadai kutti azhvar. As per our acharyas, whatever thirumangai

azhvar says is only a recollection of the previous azhvars who followed the

vedas and geethAcharyan and gave the same with a base of anubhavams. The vedas,

upanishads and geetha sastramum are filled with tattvas and hence spread the

fragrance of knowledge whereas the azhvars spread the same fragrance in the form

of a beautiful flower of bhakthi to the divine feet of emperuman. Hence the

arulicheyal of azhvars are celebrated as 'tattvadarisi vachanam'. From the life

history of thirumangai azhvar we see that vayalAli manavalan attracted azhvar

with his beauty first and then only gave him the knowledge via the

thirumanthram. After obtaining the thirumanthra upadesam azhvar says, " nalam

tarum sollai nAn kandu kondEn nArAyana ennum nAmam " . Here azhvar says

kandu-kondEn I first saw and then obtained. In a similar way azhvar expresses

his joy of seeing in his thiruvallikeni padhigam. At the end of each and every

paasuram in this decade azhvar says, " thiruvallikeni kandEnE " . Did azhvar only

see parthasarathi in thiruvallikeni? Yes the very sight gives the knowledge; the

geethAcharya roopam itself drives the divine intricate meanings of bhagavat

geetha into our minds.

 

 

 

The first chapter of geetha starts with the sound of panchajanyam and ends with

the utterance of charama slokam. Sri Venkata krishnan in thiruvallikeni holds

the divine conch in his right hand and the left hand shows us his divine feet

indicating " sarva darmAn parityajya mAm Ekam sharaNam vraja aham tvAm sarva

pApEbhyO mOksha ishyAmi mA sucha: " The rest of the thirumeni of emperuman covers

the rest of geetha. That is why thirumangai azhvar jumps with joy and sings

" Oh! I have seen in thiruvallikeni " what? Not only the beauty of emperuman but

the whole Srivaishnava tattvam, hitam and purushArtham. Let us now proceed to

enjoy the thirunedunthAndaka paasuram.

 

 

 

(punarluruvAi) After talking about the greatness of emperuman azhvar now

proceeds to talk about his sowlabhyam (easily accessibility). If emperuman has

such greatness then is it that we cannot even go near him? No he is sarva

sulaban like the water in a river that is accessible to both great rishis like

vasista and the lowest of the lowest born chandAla emperuman is common to all.

Again thirumangai azhvar saw this also in thiruvallikeni. While the moolavar

stands filled with gAmbeeryam like a divine warrior the utsava moorthi stands

with the wounds in his face due to the arrows of bheesma that emperuman accepted

happily for the sake of his dear bhaktha arjuna. This indicates that emperuman

who is undoubtedly the master of all will go to the extend of even becoming a

charioteer to save his dear bhaktha and work like his slave. What a great

sowlabhyam!

 

 

 

(analuruvil thigazhum) If emperuman becomes so easily accessible then will not

his enemies try to harm him? Azhvar now due to his great love for emperuman

starts to fear about his safety. That brings to his memory the words of the

sastras. He might be sarva sulabhan that is only due to his sankalpam (wish).

If people come in front of him with hard feelings wanting to hurt him then he

becomes like a fire to them. Mostly emperuman has so much krupai that he

forgives all the mistakes committed to him considering everyone to be his

son/daughter. But one thing emperuman cannot forgive is bhAgavatAbhachAram.

Emperuman burns those who do bhAgavadhAbhacharam. So he is like a fire to his

enemies (enemy to his devotee as emperuman considers even ravana to be his

brother, being the brother of vibeeshana) and as cool as a cucumber to his

devotees. Sastras declare soorya and chandra to be the two eyes of emperuman.

With one eye he burns his enemies (nigraham) and with the other he gives a

soothing look to his devotees (anugraham). How is it possible to do both at the

same time? Periyavachan pillai explains the same with an example. A lion feeds

its cub even while it fights vigorously with an elephant. With respect to the

elephant the lion behaves as an enemy whereas at the same time it shows its

motherly love towards its cub. Similarly emperuman took narasimhAvatara to kill

hiranyA and at the same time shower his love on bhaktha prahlAda. So both

punaluru and analuru is emperuman.

 

 

 

(jOdhi) The glitter of all the lamps in this world is due to emperuman. He is

the ultimate power. In geetha emperuman declares his vibhootis in the tenth

chapter where he says, " AdhithyAnAm aham vishnu: jOdhishAm ravi ramsumAn "

(10-21) and Arjuna in the very start of the adhyAyam celebrates emperuman as

" param brahma param dhAma pavitram paramam bhavAn " (10-12) Here param dhAma

means the supreme glitter (jOdhi). Following the words of arjuna kaliyan calls

emperuman as 'jOdhi'. In the previous posting itself we enjoyed the same usage

by swamy nammazhvar in his divine thiruvaimozhi.

 

 

 

In the next posting we will enjoy how azhvar explains his relationship with the

paramAtma.

 

 

 

(To be continued)

 

 

 

Azhvar EmperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam

 

 

 

Adiyen ramanuja dAsee

 

Sumithra Varadarajan