SaTAri Satakam -10 (A lamp is lit)

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrImahtE SaTakOpAya nama:

SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama:

SrImathE nigamAnta mahA dESikAya nama:

 

Dear srI vaishNavAs,

Happy AzhvAr-day!

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`uyarvaRa uyarnalam uDayavanin tuyaraRu suDaraDi tozhudezhen

mananE' - nammAzhvAr

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Details presented in this post:

1. Prabhandam- pAsuram 1

2. Additional thoughts

 

SS-1

aruTpAt tiramagalAi * anbadil neiyAi *

iruLagaRRa untiriyAi iTTu – teruLsuDarAi *

tEsuviLak kERRinAr tERRamAi vaNSaTAri *

dESikanAr tALaDaiyat tErndu.

 

The prabhandam starts the very way nAlayira divya prabhandam starts.

NammAzhvAr lit a lamp, which is different from the lamps lit by the

first two AzhvArs. Those AzhvArs used the universe and love as lamps

to see the Lord and thus were fondly called as the wonderful pearls,

with whose association, tirukutandai became a wonderful

place.nammAzhvAr calls them `the greatest poets who sang the

sweetest songs'. Although they were great gyAnis, who sung their

songs in sentamizh, their lamps were more helpful to them only. But

the lamp lit by nammAzhvAr is helpful even to us. While those lamps

were lit using insentient things, nammAzhvAr's lamp uses sentient

thing. While those lamps showed bhagavat kaimkaryam, this lamp shows

the best way which includes AchArya kaimkaryam.

 

NammAzhvAr has taken us as the base (agal) of the lamp. His love on

us that ignores our faults became the fuel ghee. He took our mind

away from worldly subjects and used it as the wick. The light lit

was `brahma gyAnam' which has `bhAgavata SEshatvam' as its

essential part. `tERRamAi' distinguishes this lamp from others.

This great upakAram of AzhvAr comes as a result of our surrendering

to his sacred feet.

 

 

 

Additional thoughts

 

· It is our first custom to lit a lamp before starting any

mangaLa kAryams. The same way, this first pAsuram is a lamp by itself

· To see the black-hued Lord hiding inside the Upanishads,

which are indeed dark caves for ordinary mortals, we need a bright

lamp which is none other than AzhvAr's tiruvAimozhi. To remind this,

this first pAsuram is set as a lamp.

· Vishnu sahasrnamam first slokam starts with `vi' and ends

with `bhu' which shows that Lord Vishnu is `vibhu'. Likewise,

here the first pAsuram starts with `akAram' which is the first

letter of praNavam and which itself indicates SrIman nArAyaNA. The

first pAsuram ends with `du'. Together they make the word `adu'

which is `tat' in Sanskrit, and we know the famous quote`tatvam

asi'. So, this pAsuram brings out that SrIman nArAyaNan is

parabrahmam.

 

We shall continue the prahandam in the next posting..

 

aDiyEn

Mukundan rAmAnuja dAsan

(Camp – Mumbai)