thozhuthezhu en mananE!!! (part-1)

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Sri Parthasarathi thunai

 

SrimathE rAmAnujaya Namaha

 

Srimad Vara Vara munayE Namaha

 

Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha

 

 

 

" mEshE chittA samuthbhootham pANdyadEsE kaNamsakam I

 

SriparAnkusa sathbhaktham madhuram kavimAsrayE II "

 

 

 

" Bow your head, " instructs the father to the kid. He may be an agnAni (Ignorant

soul) or a staunch Srivaishnate the blessing of the lord is equal to all. The

archaka places the divine feet of emperuman, the Sri SaTakOpam on top of all our

heads. Why is the divine feet called as Sri SaTakOpam/Sri satAri? It is to

honour the very close devotee of emperuman, prapanna jana koodasthar, Sri

Nammazhvar who longed for the divine feet of emperuman and sung beautiful

paasurams about the divine lord. The divine prabhandams/paasurams of azhvar

(when we say just azhvar it refers only to nammazhvar in sampradayam) always

reserves a special position in the mind of all Srivaishnavas. He is the azhvar

who plays a major role in our guru paramparai.

 

 

 

MAmunikal in his upadesa ratina mAlai says, " namperumal nammAzhvar nanjeeyer

nampillai enbar avar avar thamettraththAl anbudaiyOr sARRu thirunAmangal

tAnendru nannenjE eththadhanai sollu nee endru " -50 [Due to their special

greatness namperumal, nammAzhvar, nanjeeyer and nampillai have been adorned with

great love, with the corresponding names]

 

 

 

What is special about nammAzhvar?

 

Azhvar himself answers this question in his very first paasuram in thiruvAimozhi

- " mayarvaru madhinalam arulinan " [i have been blessed with unblemished bhakthi

and jnana by the lord out of his mere grace, nirheduka krupai]. So is azhvar

not great if emperuman himself choose azhvar among the infinite number of souls

to bestow his krupai on him? Azhvar was blessed with deep bhakthi and ultimate

knowledge (jnanam kanindha bhakthi) that led azhvar to rise through steps of

parabhakthi, parajnana, and finally reach the ultimate step of paramabhakthi.

So it is foolishness for nAyinEn (the lowest of the lowest soul) to try to talk

the greatness of azhvar. But the lord cherishes hearing about his devotee even

if it is in broken language filled with ignorance ('elaiya pun kavidhaiyELum

empirArkku eniyavArE') . Didn't the lord question kambanAttAzhvar if he has

sung about azhvar (nam satakoparai padineerO?) and make him sing the " satakOpar

andhAdhi " ? It is the belief of our poorvacharyas that even if we utter the name

" vakulAbharanan " emperuman starts smelling us considering us to be a close

associate/disciple of swamy nammazhvar.

 

 

 

With whatever has been told till now you all may have jumped to the concrete

conclusion that this posting is going to be purely about the greatness of Swamy

Nammazhvar. But No, adiyen is now going to go one step higher and talk about a

personality who is regarded with greater esteem even more than nammazhvar

himself in our sampradayam.

 

 

 

Who is that?

 

He is none other than the great disciple of nammazhvar, Sri Madurakavi Azhvar.

Again you may all ask me " What is so great about Madurakavi azhvar? He has sung

only 10 paasurams that too not about the lord "

 

That is exactly his greatness. Madurakavi azhvar didn't sing even a single

paasuram about the lord but sung only about his perumal, swamy nammazhvar.

Anjaneyar tore his chest and showed perumal and piratti residing inside his

heart. Madurakavi azhvar placed nammazhvar inside his heart and sang, " devu

maRRariyEn " In Periya thiruvandhAdhi nammazhvar challenged the supreme lord,

" yan periyan nee periyai enbhadhanai yAr arivar " It is said that only due to

this paasuram, the prabhandam obtained its name. Azhvar says, " Lets see who

among us is great. You have placed the worlds inside you but I have kept you

inside my heart so now tell me who is great! " or otherwise, " yAn periyan-nee

periyai enbhadhanai yAr arivar " " Iam great- who knows about your greatness? " If

azhvar attained his greatness by placing emperuman inside his heart then doesn't

madurakavi azhvar who placed azhvar inside his heart reserves a higher position?

 

 

 

In kAnchipuram, nammazhvar is beautifully seated with his right hand indicating

his heart. Elders say that it is the indication as sung by azhvar in the first

paasuram of thiruvaimozhi, " thozhudhu ezhu en mananE " instructing his mind to

fall to the divine feet of " amarargal adhipathi " devAdhirajan. But do you all

know that madurakavigal is seen in the same posture in one another divya desam?

 

 

 

Where?

 

 

 

Thiruvallikeni kandEnE!

 

 

 

Thiruvarangath amudhanar in his divine ramanuja nootrandhAdhi celebrates the

existence of all the divya desa emperuman inside Swamy emperuman's heart and

that swamy happily residing inside his heart,

 

" eruppidam vaikundam vEnkatam mAlirunchOlai ennum poruppidam mAyanukkenbar

nallOr avaithannodum vandhiruppidam mAyan erAmAnusan vandhiruppidam

endhanedhayaththullE thanakkinburavE " (106)

 

 

 

Similarly, emperuman placed the worlds inside him, nammazhvar placed emperuman

inside him whereas madurakavigal placed nammazhvar inside his heart and due to

the grace on all of us shows where he has hided azhvar inturn emperuman and all

the worlds by indicating towards his heart in thiruvallikeni

(madurakavigal-moolavar). Emperuman cherishes his existence inside his

devotee's heart (nammazhvar/ramanuja), whereas nammazhvar/ramanuja cherish

living in the hearts of their disciples' madurakavigal/amudhanar. In our

sampradayam " madhurakavi bhavam " reserves great importance as the acharya is the

one who uplifts us from this samsAram to the divine abode of emperuman. So more

than the emperuman acharyas shower more grace on us and come to our rescue in

the high priority period. Even though elder in age and born in a high caste

madurakavi azhvar's acharya nishtai is beyond words. That is why his prabhandam

has been given a very special postion equal to the " nama: " padam in

thirumanthram. The same nishtai was expressed by ananthAzhvan towards swamy

emperumAnAr.

 

 

 

MAmunikal in his arthi prabhandam says, " manniya seer mAran kalai vunavAgap

peRRom; madurakavi sol padiyE nilaiyAga peRRom " So it is highly essential for

each and every Srivaishnava to follow the footsteps of madurakavi Azhvar.

 

 

 

Earlier we saw that our elders attribute the existence of nammazhvar in kanchi

with right hand indicating his heart to show that the first paasuram of

thiruvaimozhi being a mangalasasanam to devaperumal. Then what does madurakavi

azhvar's special posture in thiruvallikeni indicates? Why is this not seen in

the other divya desams? We will try to find the reasons in the next posting.

Till then let us all place madurakavi azhvar into our hearts and remain in

peace.

 

 

 

Azhvar emperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharaNam

 

Adiyen ramanuja dAsee

 

Sumithra Varadarajan