Sri Srinivaasa Vaibhavam- PoigaiAzhwAr anubhavam of ThiruvEnkatam- 10 [mudhal thioruvanthAthi-99th verse]

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya namah:

Dearest Srrivaishnavas,

 

Let us continue to enjoy the anubhavam of Poigai

muni’s on ThiruvEnkatam. The next and last verse of

Poigai azhwAr’s on ThiruvEnkatam is: 99th verse

 

uLan kaNdaay nan nenjE! utthaman enRum/

uLan kaNdaay, uLLuvaaruLLath- thuLan KaNdaay/

veLLatthinuLLaanum vEnkadatthu mEyaanum/

uLLatthin uLLaan enRu Or. (99).

 

Oh good supportive and cooperative Mind! Realise that

there is One; who is the Greatest of Greatest virtuous

Lord! Those who contemplate on Him in their hearts of

His Supremacy and His Lordship, He resides in them (in

their hearts willingly and lovingly). He is the One

who is on Milky Ocean (on AdhiSeshan); He is the Same

One who is at ThiruvEnkatam. He is the One who

manifests as antharyaami (in all beings).

 

Thirumazhisai azhwAr refers to the same words in his

naanmukhan ThiruvanthAthi 86th verse:

 

Oh My dearest supporting mind! (uLan kaNdaay! nan

nenjE!.. utthaman

enRum uLan kaNdaay! uLLuvaar uLLatthu uLan kaNdaay?

Without expecting anything in return, Emeprumaan-

PurushOtthaman- is here -right here- to save us and

protect us; At all times, and at all places, He is

always there to save us; He always resides permanently

in the minds of those who just show their inclination

to think of Him. See!, Emperumaan, who has NONE EQUAL

TO HIM, who is Equal to HIM ONLY, is here as my

rakshakan, for me (who has NO OTHER REFUGE EXCEPT

HIM), and others (like me) who have NO OTHER MEANS TO

ATTAIN HIM. Realise that Completely and firmly, my

mind!

 

He is Utthaman – Not just Utthaman- PurushOtthman-

 

In the Purushoththama Yogam (15th chapter of Bhagavath

Gita), BhagavAn SrI Krishna says:

 

dvAvimow purushow lOkE ksharaschAkshara Eva cha |

kshara: sarvANi bhUthAni kUtasthOakshara uchyathE ||

The types of jIvAtmans is mentioned here..

 

Uththama: purushasthvanya: paramAthmEthudAhrutha: |

yO lokatrayamAvishya bibharthyavyaya Iswara: ||

 

ParamAtma is described as to being different from all

chit and achit entities.

 

yasmAthksharamatIthOhamaksharAdapi chOththama: |

athOasmi lokE vEdE cha prathitha: PURUSHOTHTHAMA: ||

 

Vedas and saatshras confirm that the God (ParamAtma)

is Purushoththama:

 

yO mAmEvamasammUDO jAnAthi purushOththamam |

sa sarvavidbhajathi mAm sarvabhAvEna bhAratha ||

 

He who understands clearly that the one and only God

is Purushoththama: SrIman nArAyaNa:, knows everything.

Krishna says: One who udnestands me thus: is the

knower of everything.

 

ithi guhyatamam sAstramidamuktham mayAnagha |

EthadbudhvA buddhimAnsyAthkruthakruthyascha BhAratha||

 

He who knows this secret of Purushoththama: which is

the essence of vEda, becomes truly wise.

 

Apologies for digression.

Poigai AzhwAr – why does he say in the 99th verse that

He is here in the mind; He is PurushOtthaman etc… Does

he not know that before?

 

He does of course.

His prabandham is coming to a close. He has sung 99

verse and next is 100th. When the mind is so fickle,

wavers at all material poursuits and goes behind

worldly pleasures, the body and sense organs go behind

leaving the intellect and discrimatory powers

[vivEkam] alone and not support the vivEkam. More

often than not- the mind wins as it has strong

influence on the senses.

 

Krishna himself says: [when Arjuna laments that it is

diffuclt to control mind as it always wavers-

sanchalam hi mana: Krishna.. ]

 

Asmasayam mahaabhaahO: vaayOriya dhushkrutham |

abhyAsEna thu kaunthEya vairAgyEna cha gruhyathE ||

 

The mind runs faster than the air; There is no doubt.

Only abhyAsam (consitent and constant practice) and

vairAgyam {detachment) will enable you to slowly put

it on right track.

 

When AzhwAr finds that his mind has been so

co-operative so long to complete the 99 verses; he

pats the mind (on its back} nannennjE…

 

It is because of Him, who has been so merciful on us –

He stands at Divya Desams; sits there; reclines there;

walks outside; takes avathArams; comes in front of our

homes during Utsavams; - all this He does only in

order to enter into our hearts finally. That is His

objective.

 

AzhwAr says: See, my great mind! He is here inside our

heart; he is the One at ThiruvEnkatam; at Milky ocean;

who is there in the hearts of sages, devotees. He is

there at those places in order to come to our heart… -

AzhwAr rejoices.

 

On the same token NammAzhwAr also addresses his mind

in Thiruvaaymozhi Sudaradi thozhudhu yezhu en mananE..

 

One needs to talk to his mind and address the same to

tell what it should do and to do to good to us for our

well being and betterment; for our uplift. And not

listen to the mind and go behind where it goes. Only

beasts do..

 

Sri Satakopan Swamin wrote wonderfully:

Maanasa sambhOdhanam or a conversation with one's mind

(manas or nenju or heart ) is common with AzhwArs and

AchAryAs . They routinely appeal to their minds to

cooperate with them , beg the nenju not to go astray

or be tempted by avaishNavaa doctrines or by Veda

Baahya Mathams.

 

For instance, in the very first paasuram of

ThiruvAimozhi(TVM), Swamy NammAzhwAr has a serious

appeal to his nenju or Manas:

 

" ThuyaraRu Sudaradi thozhuthezhan mananE " -TVM:1.1.1

 

(Meaning of the whole paasuram ): Oh My Mind ! Worship

the matchless holy feet of the Lord , who is the Sarva

Rakshakan, Sarva Aadharan, SarvantharyAmin, Sarvaj~nan

and Sarva Sakthan. NenjE ! Worship those parama

paavana ThiruvdigaL for being lifted out of the

SamsAric sorrows ! Lord DEvarAjan will

remove our sufferings . He is the One , who possesses

anantha kalyANa guNams that can not be excelled .He is

the One , who will bless us with Jn~AnA and Bhakthi to

overcome the deficencies of the intellect , which has

doubts , confusions on the true tatthvams and goes

astray . Oh My Mind! Elevate Yourself out of the

SamsAric mire by worshipping Lord VaradarAjan , the

Lord of DevAs !

 

In TVM 1.1.7 , Swamy NammAzhwAr points another

fundamental vaishNavite doctrine to his nenju ,which

is the corner stone of VisishtAdvaitham:

 

paDar poruL muzhuvathumAi avaiyavayavaai thORum

uDan misai uyirenak karanthengum paranthuLan

 

Here AzhwAr tells his mind that the entire prapancham

(Jeevans and Prakruthi) is Sathyam (real) and the Lord

with His anantha KalyANa GuNams is its aadharam(base)

.. He points out that the Lord as the " uyir " and is

present pervasively in all chethanams and achEthanams

as antharyAmi Brahmam (Yasya sarvANi bhUthAni SarIram

, Yasya pruthvI sarIram --BruhadhAranya Upanishad). He

advises his mind to have

this Sambhadha Jn~Anam (sEshathva Jn~Anam ).

 

This sambhandha Jn~Anam has to be explained by an

AchAryan. As an AchAryan , Swamy NammAzhwAr explains

therefore to us this central doctrine of

VisishTaadhvitham using his mind as a vyAjam just as

GeethAchaaryan did in the battle field of

KurukshEthram using ArjunA as a vyAjam to bless us

with the Charama slOkam .

 

nenjamE nallai nallai unnaip peRRAl --1.10.4

 

(Meaning ): Here the pleased AzhwAr gives a vote of

thanks to his nenjam tha thas cooperated with him . He

says: " Oh my sweet mind ! well done! You have

commenced worship of our Lord , even before I have

started. I am fortunate to have you , my mind (heart)

cooperate with me.

 

In the TVM 1.10.6 , Swamy NammAzhwAr's conversation

takes an intensively sweet touch :

 

neeyum naanum innEr niRkil mEl maRROr

nOyumc chArkodAn nenjamE sonnEn

thAyum tanthaiyumAi ivvulahinil

vaayumeesan MaNivaNNan yenthayE

 

(Meaning ) : Oh My mind ! our Lord does dear things

to us like a caring Mother. He does hitham to us like

an affectionate Father. This blue-gem hued Lord has

enslaved me and caught me under His spell. He is

indeed my Prabhu and Rakshakan . If You and me join

together in praising this most merciful Lord , no

inauspiciousness will come our way . Diseases like

desire, anger will not torment us. He will chase them

all away.

 

These paasuram passages of NammAzhwAr are the highest

level of Maanasa SambhOdhanam of AzhwAr with

SarvEshvaran.

 

AzhwAr ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

Sri PadmavathI samEtha Sri Srinivasa ParabrahmaNE

Namah:

Regards

Namo Narayana

dasan