MadhurakaviAzhwAr Thirunakshathram today- Chithraiyil Chithhirai

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrImathE SaTakOpAya namah:

SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya namah:

 

Dearest Srivaishnavas,

Today is Chithrai Chithrai Thirunakshathram

[constellation of Chithra star] - Sri Madurakavi

AzhwAr – disciple of SrI SaTakOpar- NammAzhwAr. One

can dwell and enjoy for ages on the divine works of

Madhura kavi AzhwAr who composed the grand

KaNNinunchiRuthAmbhu [11 verses on his acharyan -

NammAzhwAr- Sri SaTakOpar]

 

Madhuram itself means honey. This AzhwAr himself

writes verses (prabandhams) which are like honey; and

if he says, the name of NammAzhwAr itself is sweet and

gives us instant everlasting sweetness which is

sweeter than the Lord's name, then where is the

question of denying it?

 

Madhurakavi AzhwAr being a great devotee of the Lord

Sriman Narayanan, went on a pilgrimage trip to North

India. He went to ayOddhi, and from there he could

have desired to go to dwaraka. He describes the Lord

KrishnA first.

 

kaNNinuN chiRutthaambinaal kattuNNap paNNiya peru

maayan- en appan..

en appan- My Swamy- My Father; My Lord- who is the

Mysterious Lord (maayan)- who is the primordial Chief;

Supreme Lord- Lord of all; - He out of His greatest

sowlabhyam, and sowseelyam (neermai - in Tamil),

[easily accessible nature of His] stooping down to an

ordinary cowherd boy of an illiterate YasOdhA PiraaTTi

(the blessed mother). Angered by His mischief of

stealing eating butter, she threatened him with a

stick, and grabbed a rope to tie Him down to a mortar.

The rope was short of the circumference of His

ThirumEni (divine Body) and she (wondering- as to how

the rope can be shorter than this little boy's body-

when she knew that it is longer), took another longer

rope and attempted. Again, it became smaller than the

body.

 

The Boy was standing with His mouth and lips

quivering, tears rolling down cheeks, eyes full of

water; Hands shutting the mouth not to let the cries

heard by His mother (then she gets more angry); and He

does this mystery of making the rope shorter than His

body circumference.

 

She gets fed up.. Kutti KaNNan crying externally (and

smiling inside), could not digest his mother getting

troubled anymore and makes Himself available and

accessible for being tied down to the mortar. YasOdhA

now smiles when the rope (at last- not knowing it is

due to KaNNan's sankalpam only) is just nice. She ties

Him tightly with that thin, slender rope with strands,

to the mortar. The Lord, who is never bound by

anything, is now bound by a simple rope, tied by a

simpler human being. (NammAzhwAr faints adoring the

sowseelyam of this Lord's, when he sings.. etthiRam

uralinOdu iNaindhiandhEngiya eLivE.... - How and what

sowseelyam to be tied down to the mortar!]

 

In the world, generally people run to human beings

(bosses, chief, kings and others) and devathas for

material benefits and worldly pleasures. The Lord of

Devas is sought by few knowledgeable people to seek

what they need in this world. Knowing his Parathvam

unambiguously, and realizing his greatest sowseelyam

and sowlabhya kalyANa guNas in its entirety, there are

rare few who consider Him alone as the means as well

as the end and nothing else do they aspire for. Our

Madhurakavi AzhwAr being one among those rare few went

everywhere and finally landed at AyOddhi where he saw

a light in the sky from the south. Wondering that rare

and uncommon light in the sky, he traced to reach at

Thirukkurugoor (the light was not seen by anyone else-

is to be noted..). Thus, he skipped going to Dwaraka

and landed at Thirukurugoor where NammAzhwAr (at the

age of 16) was in his trance.

 

NammAzhwAr had not spoken since birth and now when

Madhurakazi AzhwAr came and stood, AzhwAr opened his

eyes and answered the query from NammAzhwAr (first

time he opened his eyes and spoke...)

 

Read NammAzhwAr's life in

http://members.tripod.com/~sriramanujar/ and click on

AzhwArs menu.

 

This NammAzhwAr has become Parama bhOgyam now for me-

says Madhurakavi AzhwAr. That does not mean that I

have not realized about the Lord's greatness. I know

that He is Sarva dEvathA Saarvabhouman. He is the

Swamy for all and for me too. Look at His sowlabhyam

and sowseelyam (and that's why I mentioned the tying

the rope incident). When one thinks of such greatest

Lord with such accessible nature of His, how can one

not get sweetness.. Sure-one can get the utmost

sweetness. But when I saw this Kurugoor Nambhi,

NammAzhwAr, the divine utterance of His name (AzhwAr's

name) itself has become sweet instantly. At the very

moment of uttering his name makes it (the utterance)

sweeter than anything else. The tongue which is

blessed to recite the Divya SrI Sookthis of this

AzhwAr has now been relishing the sweet nectar flowing

therein by uttering his name.

 

When the name itself is so sweet granting, how can one

talk of the sweetness of having the darshan of

SaTakOpar (Sri nammAzhwAr)? Indescribable. Also, down

the ages, people will not be able to see the vibhava

avatar of this AzhwAr and can relish the sweetness by

simple utterance of his name.. realize that oh folks!

That's why I have been uttering his name (sweetness

for myself and for you all to follow the same.)

 

En appanil- From my Swamy- Father (leaving Him)I have

come to this AzhwAr. Is that correct? Can one leave

the Lord and come to Acharya as everything? Is that

correct? One can get such doubts.

 

Swamy Desikan says: It is strictly in accordance with

saasthras. It is oldest ancient tradition (thol vazhi)

and the correct, most accurate tradition and practice-

nal vazhi to surrender at the feet of Acharya. Like

the life can not sustain without food, the means of

Bhakti yoga and Prapatti will not hold water without

AcharyasrayaNam. This way of surrendering at the feet

of Acharyan is the way (old way through which many -

our Poorvacharyas - have walked and hence well laid

out and reaching destination is certain) and it is the

correct way in line with saasthrAs (nal vazhi). Those

who have realized this understanding the meaning of

KaNNinunChiRuthaambu are the intelligent and brave

ones (DhIrA:) who have taken this path which is

ancient and correct. Swamy Desikan has not just given

his interpretation on his own. He has followed (as

always) the sruthis and smurthis to mention this. The

word DhIrA: is referred in MuNDakOpanishad where it

mentions

" AcharyaasrayaNam alone can grant all fruits and those

who do that are DhIrA " says the Upanishad.

 

sa vEdhaithath paramam bhramha DhAma yathra viswam

nihitham bAthi Subram |

upAsathE purusham yE hyakAmA: thE

SukthamEthadhathivarthanthi DHEERAA:

Sathyaki Tantram gives us the same message , when it

says: " GurO: Gurutaram naasthi " ( There is nothing

more sacred than one's AchAryA) . Upanishad asserts :

" AchArya dEvO Bahva " .

 

In the second slOkam of Sri NyAsa Vimsathi , Sri

NigamAntha MahA Desikan gives us the reasons for

worshipping the AchAryan as equivalent to SarvEsvaran.

He also states emphatically in the spirit of Saathyaki

Tanthram that no one can ever pay back the debt of

gratitude to one's AchAryA for their mahOpakAram. It

is for this reason that , Swami Desikan says that we

have to worship our AchAryAs as the Lord Himself (

AchArya : sadhbhi: aprathyupakaraNa dhiyA dEvavath

upasya: syAth).

 

Swamy says: Achaaryaadhiha dEvathAm samadhikaam

anyaamna manyaamahE.. We will never ever consider

anyone as Superior to God than The Acharyan. (In line

with Madhurakavi's dhEvu maRRaRiyEn.. (I do not know

any God other than NammAzhwAr- my AchArya).

 

Swami Desikan has pointed out that it is impossible to

pay back in any

manner to The AchAryA, who lights the lamp of

knowledge in our minds and banishes the nescience and

vibhareetha JnAnam that occupied our mind before. The

only service that we can do is to praise His kalyANa

guNAs and reflect on them and to spread the message of

the great help that he gave us ( Gurum prakAsayEth):

 

yERRi manatthu yezhil jnAna viLakkai iruL anaitthum /

mARRinavarkku oru kaimmAru Maayanum kANahillAn /

pORRi uhapathum punthiyil koLvathum pongu puhazh /

sARRi vaLarpathum saRRallavO munnam peRRathaRkE

 

Swami Desikan states authoritatively that even the

Lord can not find a

proper way to return the gratitude for the AchAryan

who lit the JnAna deepam in our minds and chased away

the darkness of ajnAnam.

 

SrI Manavala maanuigaL also mentions about this way of

worshipping Acharyan equal to the Lord (if not more)

in Artthi prabandham:

 

thennarangar seeraruLukku ilakkAga peRROm/

thiruvarangam thiruppathiyE iruppAgap peRROm

manniya seer maaRan pugazh uNavaagap peRROm

MADHURAKAVI SORPADIYE nilaiyaagap peRROm

 

Let us recite KaNNinunChiRutthambu today as many times

as we can and pay our obeisance to Sri Madhurakavi

AzhwAr today and to his Acharya- Prapanna jana

santhAna kUtasthar SrI SaTakOpar- NammAzhwAr.

 

References: (1) Sri uttamUr swamy's Prabandha Rakhsa

on KanninunchiRutthambu and

(2)Sri Periya Parakala Swamy and Sri Thirukkudanthai

Desikan's manipravala commentary on

KaNNIinunchiRuthaambhu (released by Srimad

Poundarikapuram Andavan Ashramam)- anything good

-credit goes to these original excellent commentaries.

All mistakes are only my lack of misunderstanding (and

no understanding)

Please forgive aDiyEn for the same.

AchAryan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo Narayana

dAsan