Sri Alavandhaar's SthOthra Rathnam- verse 2- Obesiance to Sriman nAThamuni declaring his feet as the refuge here and at Paramapadham

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SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya namah:

Dearest Srivaishnavas,

 

Earlier, jnAnam (knowledge) on all matters, devotion

(bhakti) on the Lord alone were described on Sriman

NAthamuni. Bhakti is contemplation or meditation mixed

with love. Here, AzhwAr touches upon a bit about the

life of Sriman nAThamuni through which he describes

the limitless jnAnam and bhakti of Acharya and thus

explains he is part of the Guru parampara for him

(Alavandhar) and others in Srivaishnava sampradaya in

this second sloka.

 

thasmai namO maDhujidh anghri sarOja thathva

j~nAna anurAga mahima athishayantha sImnE |

nAThAya nATha munayE athra parathra cApi

nithyam yadhIya caraNau sharaNam madhIyam || - SR 2

 

thasmai- Such [as described earlier the one who is the

embodiment of jnAna, vairAgya, bhakti]

madhujith- of Bhagawaan who conquered Madhu asurA

angrisarOja- the lotus feet

tattva- true nature’s

jnAna anurAga- knowledge and intense love

mahimAdhisaya- glorious [peerless] greatness

antha seemnE- the zenith [of above- namely, jnAna,

anurAga, mahimAdhisaya]

nAThAya nAtha munayE- to The Master [nAThan] of

Srivaishnavas- Sriman nAthamuni

nama: my obeisance;

yadhIya charaNou- whose [sriman nAThamuni] Feet;

athra pathra api cha- in this world [leelA vibhUthi]

and in this SrI vaikuNta [paramapadham where there is

no need for the upAyam- means]

madhIyam charaNam- my refuge- upAyam [the way] and

upEyam [the Goal]. [thasmai- such…]

 

For Sriman NAthamuni, the jnAna vairAgya, bhakti were

inherently in him in wonderful, marveloous manner

[athyAscharyam]- such greatest Acharya is now

described as the ultimate pinnacle of its height of

jnAna, vairAgya, bhakti in him in this verse. How? It

implies: Sriman Narayanan alone is Supreme entity

[iswara] and thereby the Parathatthvam; the other

philosophies like Advaita are incorrect and do not

explain the overall scheme of things per Vedas and

saasthrAs – Thus Sriman nAThamuni blessed us with such

unparalleled crystal clear concepts with his

nyAyatattva grantha [work]- says Swamy Desikan. Thus

compatible with such great qualities, he had complete

detachment [vairAgya] towards the worldly pleasure and

materialistic pursuits and thus he was resplendent

with greatest amount of bhakti [intense love and

devotion] for the Lord Sriman Narayanan. Being blessed

with the power of meditation, yoga, he focused on the

Lord with the intense love and devotion i.e. bhakti.

Through Karma, jnAna yoga, he could visualise and

realise the jeevathma’s glories and swaroopam and

knowing and realising that only through the divine

thirumEni- dhivya mangaLa vigrham of Sriman Narayanan

alone, he was able to attempt to have saakshAthkAram

[could enjoy the Lord literally within] and thereby

the bhakti grew exponentially day and by day.

 

That’s the time our blessed Acharya was blessed by the

Lord through few Srivaishnavas in KattumannarkOil

where they recited ArA amudhE – eleven pAsurams from

NammAzhwAr Thirumaynozhi [5.8]…

 

ArA amudhE.. He immersed in the Lord’s insatiable

beauty when he heard these verses; Aaraa anudhE!

AdiyEn udalam ninpaal anbaayE " - Aaaraa amudhE! Oh

insatiable nectar! EmperumaanE! What a Divinely

Beautiful form is Your body! However many times I

enjoy that naver satisfies me, Lord! You are giving me

immense satisfaction that is limitless and unbounded.

Due to my love for You, my physical body also has been

melting along with my heart longing to see You. Oh

ThirumaalE! You have been literally killing me with

Your azhagu; I have been blessed to enjoy here at

Thirukkudanthai by seeing Your Most Beautiful form;

 

en naan seygEn? yaarE kaLaigaN? Ennai en seyginRaay?

Unnal allAl yaavaraalum onRum kuRai vENdEn.. To hold

Your Lotus Feet, there is

nothing that I can do; what is the link between the

action and me? Who is the support for me except You?

 

dhariyEn iniun chaaraNam thandhu en sanmam

kaLaiyaayE..

when he had heard all these sweetest great pAsurams,

his heart was melting with devotion and anubhavam and

he longed for the rest of the pAsurams as he heard

them saying at the end that these ten out of 1000…

[AyiratthuL ivai patthum], he realised that he will be

immensely benefited if he gets them all.

 

Thus he could reach the Ultimate zenith of devotion…

kaNNinunchiRutthambu was made available to him. He

uttered the 11 pAsurams of KanninuchiRutthambu of Sri

MadhurakaviAzhwAr [who had sung in praise of his

acharya NammAzhwAr] 12000 times without interruption;

Sriman nAryanan decided to save the world thorugh this

Acharya and instructed NammAzhwAr to be the Acharya

for Sriman nAThamuni and thus Sriman nAThamuni was

blessed to receive, enjoy the grace of Sri SaTakOpar-

NammAzhwAr- and receive not just his 1000; but all

4000 of all AzhwArs in addition to initiating him with

manthra, tattvArthams. Though he [sriman nAThamuni]

had the capacity to perform bhakti yoga, SrI

nammAzhwAr instructed him to perform prapatti

[saranagati] with five angas uttering the greatest

esoteric Dwaya mantra as such a perfroamnce in

accordance with saasthrAs would yield mOkshaanubhavam

at the end of the same life unlike bhakti yoga [where

one may have to take few more births].

 

Thus his anurAgam [intense love] has reached the

ultimate point. The Lord has greatest love for his

devotees - priyO hi jnAninOthyarttham aham sa cha mama

priya: and blessed them with the best arrangement to

make their devotion increase exponentially. Who else

would have been blessed by the Lord like Sriman

nAThamuni? Probably none at all. Thus he was blessed

with Parathatthva jnAnam, Parama hitham (Prapatti);

and Parama purushaartham. Thus he became the pinnacle

of jnAnam too. It was indeed to help us, the suffering

jeevans, that Nathamuni performed this thapas and had

the darsanam of NammAzzhwAr , who blessed Natha Muni

with the nAlAyira Divya Prabhandham and the sakala

SaasthrAs as well as the knowledge along with the

performance of Prapatti and also about the life

history of the other AzhwArs (AzhwAr paramparai).

 

That jnAnam is complete and reaches its crescendo only

when one realises that the best way is Prapatti at the

Lotus feet through utterace of Dwaya mantra and that

is mentioned with the word angri sarOja tattva- [The

Lotus Feet]- writes SrI UttamUr Swamy very clearly and

beautifully. prApyam and prApakam are both Lotus Feet

thus.

 

Thus granting such jnAnam reminds [one of the First

and Prime Acharya] Sri Hayagrivan- Madhusudhanan- the

One who conquered and killed Madhu asurA and hence

refer Him as madhujith.. Now I have realised that it

is SwEthASwatharOpanishad which states: mumukshurvai

SaraNamaham prapadyE.. and thiNkalzhal sErE.. and

thuyaraRu sudar adi.. all mention His Lotus Feet. Thus

Sriman nAThamuni was blessed to be shining with the

jnAna anurAgam [knowledge and intense love].

 

With the relevant jnAnam and the way to reach Him

through Prapatti with no further births made him great

sadAcharya for others who became his sishya and thus

he became nAThan for all.

 

when upAyam was not clear, only athra (here in this

world); and after getting upadesam from Manakkaal

nambhI through the instruction (niyamanam) of Sriman

nAThamuni – Sri Uyyakkondaar- now, it is paratha cha

api.. in Paramapadham as well.

 

Also yadheeya charaNou- may be interpreted as :

yadheeya- may infer UyyakkoNdaar and charaNou- his

sishya- namely maNakkaal nambhi.. thus mentioning his

acharya [implied] in this verse- enjoys SrI UttamUr

Swamy.

 

Alavandhar ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo narayana

dAsan