67 days to go for Srimath Azhagiya Singar's SathAbhishEkam ; Special series on Ubhaya Vedams / Part 5 of 70

[Guest guest]



 

SrI:

 

 

Dear followers of Tamil and Sanskrit VedAs :

 

After yesterday's coverage of ThiruvAisiriyam ,

adiyEn will focus on Thiruviruttham , the First of

the Four Prabhandhams of Swamy NammAzhwAr ,

which is considered to echo the thoughts of Rig Vedam

 

In our Ubhaya VedAntham tribute , we shall focus on

Thiruviruttham . adiyEn will identify the Eika Kantyam

( statement in one voice ) of Selected Rig Veda Mantrams

and Paasurams of Thiruviruttham .

 

adiyEn mentioned that 500 Veda AdhyApAkAs will assemble

at Srirangam for 10 days before the SathAbhishEkam day and

recite three Vedams in Samhitha , Krama , JaDai , Ghanam versions.

Invitations are being sent out .

 

We need 225,000 $ or One crore Rupees For this Veda SamrakshaNam

and for Loka KshEmam in the context of the SathAbhishEkam .

 

$50,000 has been pledged as of today . We need 175,000 more to

meet the expenses for this giant auspicious event at Srirangam .

Please contribute as much as you can to close the gap . You can

send your Tax deductible SamarpaNams to :

 

Sri Hari Raghavan

Ahobila Matam NA

231 Dixon Landing Road, Apt 150

Milpitas, CA 95035

 

Please keep me advised also of your pledges to keep

track of how we are progressing over the next 60 days .

Thanks .

 

 

Tribute to NammAzhwAr : Thiruviruttham/ Part I

Traditonal view holds that the four Sanskritic Vedas correspond to the spirit of the four Prabhandhams of NammAzhwAr ( Tamizh MaRais) . Thiruviruttham is relatedto Rig Vedam , ThiruvAsiriyam to Yajur Vedam ,Periya ThiruvandhAthi to Atharva vedam and Thiruvaaimozhi to Saama Vedam . There is a common thread that runs across the four Sanskritic Vedamsthat are mirrored in the four Prabhandhams of NammAzhwAr . We will focus on them without emphasis on tight matching the individual Vedams to their counterpart prabhandhams in these postings . Wherever appropriate , we will quote the Veda Mantrams that would have a close kinship to the spirit of the paasurams of ThirukkuruhUr SatakOpan .Artha Panchakam : Jn~Ana and ajn~Ana Panchakams *************************************************In an earlier postings during the celebrations for ANDAL , we covered the topic of artha panchakam in the context of the messages in Thiruppaavaipaasurams ( Bhakthi Archives ) . We will take off from there and focus on the pentads of jn~Athavya(that which should be known ) ajn~Anam and jn~Anam .NammAzhwAr instructed us that Bhagavadh Vishayamis important and samsAram is unimportant . He wanted us to have the vivEkam (discriminating Knowledge)about the sorrows of samsAram and the blessednessof Bhagavadh anubhavam .VedAs are described as " traiguNya VishayA vedA : ".ther topics are (1) thyAjyam (2) upAdhEyam and (3) niradhisayAnandham .ThyAjyam deals with items that have to be cast aside , shaken off .upAdhEyam is associated with the acts that make us firmly hold onto the most important entities and principles such as BhagavAn's sacred feet thru mUla Manthram , dhvayam and carama slOkam ( Rahasya thrayams ) as revealed to us by ourAzhwArs and AchAryAs . NiradhisayAnandham( anthamil pErinbam ) is the bliss of Mokshamresulting from saraNAgathi with its five angAs that incorporates ThyAjyam , UpAdhEyam and leads to niradisayAnandham . Five Jn~Athavya ajn~Anams ( Panchakams )***************************************

Ajn~Anam is made up of either ViparItha Jn~Anam

( distorted understanding of tatthvams) or ignorance

about the Tatthva Thrayams . Let us study the 5 kinds of ajn~Anams.1. PARASVAROOPA AJ~NAANAM : Forgetting the Lord and His consort through samsAra klEsams( Bheethis ) as referred to by NammAzhwAr ," maRanthEn unnai munnam " .2. AATHMA SVAROOPA AJ~NAANAM : " NammAzhwAr's paasura vaakhyams describing this category ofajn~Anam are : " yaanE yennaiaRiyahilAthE " .3. VIRODHI VISHAYA AJN~AANAM : SatakOpan's aruLiccheyal vaakyams in this context are :" Odiya muzhanRum uyirkaLE konREn uNarvilEn " 4. UPAAYA VISHAYA AJN~AANAM : Lack of knowledge about the means is referred to here . PaarAnkusA's blessedwords are : " piRavi nOyh aRuppAnENilEnirunthEn " .5. PURUSHAARTHA VISHAYA AJN~AANAM : Here the reference is to the wrong kind of knowledge that leads one astrayand results in not eulogizing the SaraNYan . AzhwAr'sanguish is expressed as : " Azhiyankai ammAnai yEthtAthayartthu " . The artha panchaka ajn~nams result from the rajO and tamO guNAs .GeethAchAryan has elaborated on them in His instructions to ArjunA in the SamsAric battle field of KurukshEthram . The dominance of Satthva guNam leads to Jn~Anam characterized by its pentad .JN~ATHAVYA JN~AANA PANCHAKAMS *****************************************NammAzhwAr instructs through his prabhandhams ,the five branches of Jn~Anam that should be knownby the seekers of liberation from the samsAric terrors.1. PARASVAROOPA JN~AANAM : the abhyAsam ( ways of practise)to recognize Him as being seated in one's heart cavity ( " ninnai nenjil uyyum vahai uNarnthEn " ).2. AATHMA SVAROOPA JN~AANAM : The development of discriminating knowledge to know the nature of that , which is seated in one's heart cavity asantharyAmi brahmam ( " ninRa onRai uNarnthEnukku " ).3. VIRODHI VISHAYA JN~AANAM : An understanding of the enemies that stand in the way of aathma svarUpa jn~Anam ,the chathrus or VirOdhis and an understanding of them is referred to here . AzhwAr's words are : " ahaRRanee vaittha maayavallaimpulankaLAmavai nankaRinthanan ".When this knowledge is possessed by the prapannan ,then he fully comprehends the nature of the five sensesthat drag him away from Bhagavadh Vishayam .4.UPAAYA VISHAYA JN~AANAM : The knowledge of the means to avoid the cycles of births and deaths through the practise of Bhakthi yOgam or PrapatthiyOgam . The prayer for knowledge of the means to avoid rebirth is couched in AzhwAr's moving words:" iruL tarumaa gyAlatthuL inippiRavi vEndAm " . 5. PURUSHAARTHA VISHAYA JN~AANAM : The right knowledgethat it is throughb His KrupA that we become blessed and the mahA visvAsam in Him as the never-failing saviour is referred to here . AzhwAr's word-clue is :" avanathu aruLAl uRal poruttu yennuNarvinuLLE irutthinEn " . The predominance of satthva guNa prAchuryam leadsto the blessed state of acquisition of Jaathavya panchaka jn~Anam through performing SaraNAgathi under a qualified AchAryA . This way , one getsthe katAksham of Madhusoodhanan at the time of birth ( jaayamAna kaala katAksham ) and becomes imbued with Satthva svarUpam and becomes mumukshu . TWO KINDS OF SAMBHANDHAM**********************************One is achith sambhandham and the other isNaarAyaNa sambhandham .The former produces haani and danger by invoving us in the afflictions ofsamsAram . The latter ( NaarAyaNa Sambhandham )showers us with auspiciousness that are lasting and underlines our unchangable relationship to our Lord ( " ThirumAlE naanumunakku pazhavadiyEN ")and leads to Moksham .The two categories of people , who overcome the ajn~namsand become enriched with the five kinds of Jn~Anams are : (1) karma khAnda nishtars and (2) BhagavathAs/Thondars . They are called alternatively as anthaNar maRayOrkaL and adiyAr thondarkaL/saara vitthukkaL .The anthaNar maRayOr is saluted by AzhwAr as ," theeyOmpu kaimmaRayAr , thuNai nool maarvinanthaNar" .The NaarAyaNa paarAyaNAs or the Thiru nAraNan thondars are called Koyilil vaazhum VaishNavan or " aNi aranganThirumuRRatthu adiyAr , Thiru NaaraNan thondar " . NammAzhwAr describes himself as the Thiru NaaraNan murratthu adiyaar .The thirst for KaNNan ( KrishNa thrushNA ) of SatakOpan is saluted by Parasara Bhattarthis way : " rishim jushAmahE KrishNa thrushNatattvamivOdhitham " . Using the Vedic analogy , ParAsara Bhattar compares NammAzhwAr , the Rishi doing yaj~nam as the embodiment of Bhagavadh prEmai in his Sri RangarAja sthavam . NammAzhwAr and AchArya Hrudhayam **************************************NammAzhwAr is the VaguLa bhUshaNa bhasakarOdhayam in the words of the AchAryA ,who blessed us with AchArya Hrudhayam . He is the sunrisethat dispels ajn~nam and nourishes the artha panchakajn~Anam in us through his aruLiccheyalkaL . He is our pramAthA . His birth was hinted by SukAchAryA in Bhaagavatham through his never -failing words as a Rishi ( Aarsha pramANam ) .He said that in kali yugam ,several NaarAyaNa paarAyaNAL will incarnate onthe banks of TamraparaNee river , KruthamAlA river,Payasvinee river , CauvEry river and MahA nadhi inDramida dEsam . The birth of NammAzhwAr at ThirukkuruhUron the banks of Taamraparanee river is alluded to here .The salutations of AchArya Hrudhaya grantha karthA***************************************************This great pramAthA ( NammAzhwAr ) , who used pramANam ( saasthrAs ) to establish the supremacy of Sriman NaarAyaNA as pramEyam ( the one to be understood asthe jagadh kaaraNam ,RakshaNamm and SamhAram ) .The exact words in AchArya Hrudhayam are : "SataraiOttimathAvaliptharkku ankusamittu , nadAviya kooRRamAi "ninRavar SatakOPar .These words break into following four subdivisions :1.SataraiOtti (2) Mathavaliptharkku(3) ankusamittuand (4) nadAviya kUrramAi .He is SatakOpar , one who angrily drove away the satavaayu or Satars , who engaged in propagating darsanamsof their own , which used sushka tarkams that wont standup before the parathvam of Sriman naarAyaNA .Therefore ,he engaged in the relentless effort to set things straight and drove away kudhrushtis /Satars frompropagating ajn~Ana panchakam . This is the meaning of"SataraiOtti " , which SatakOpa stands for . Mathavaliptharkku and ankusamittu : Being ParAnkusA ,he controlled the rampaging elephants running aroundcausing destruction thru their spread of vipareetha Jn~Anam with the use of ankusam (goad ) .nadAviya kooRRamAi : He was the mrthyu ( kooRRam or samhAra mUrthy ) to the samsAric afflictions of chEthanAs , who was in the range of his eye sight or those who read his prabhandhams and declared ," tvadh paadha mUlam saraNam prapadhyE " in recognition of him as the divya PaadhukhA of the Lord .AzhwAr's samslEshams and VislEshams ************************************(To be continued ) , Daasan , Oppiliappan LOil V.Sadagopan