SrI sArasAram -- I (9)

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SrI sAra sAram – I (9)

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I – ThirumantrAdhikAram

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The Arrangement of Syllables in the Thirumantra

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SwAmi Desikan described the greatness of the Thirumantram as spoken by the

scriptures and AzhvAras. He also stressed that the mantra has to be learnt from

an AchArya. Now, he takes up the mantra to explain its various aspects:

“ithil padangkaLai Or aksharamenRum, iraNdu aksharamenRum, ainthu

aksharangkaLenRum SrutikaL vakutthana.â€

“ithil†– In this, i.e., the Thirumantra.

“padangkaLai†-- the words in the mantra.

This mantra contains three words. They are described as:

“Or aksharamenRum†– A word consists of only one syllable.

“iraNdu aksharamenRum†– another word contains two syllables.

“ainthu aksharangkaLenRum†– The third has five syllables.

SwAmi Desikan says, this division of the mantra is known from the scriptures:

“SrutikaL vakutthana.†– The Vedas have categorized the eight letters.

Explanation:

The Thirumantra contains three words. The first one is a single-letter word,

that is, praNavam. The middle word, namah, consists of two syllables. The last

word has five letters -- nArAyaNaya. This formula is stated by the Upanishad

itself.

SwAmi Desikan continues further:

“ithu, ‘nADu nakaramum nankaRiya namO nArAyaNAya’ enRum, ‘nal vakaiyAl

namO nArAyaNA’ enRum collukiRapadiyE, praNava-rahithamAna pOthum

ashTAkshara-mAmpadi ‘tatrOttarAyaNasyAdih’ enkiRa nAradeeya vacanatthAlE

siddham.â€

SwAmi Desikan says that even after dropping the praNava, the mantra remains

consisting of eight syllables. He supports this statement with two quotes from

the verses of SrI PeriyAzhvAr and from a SlOka uttered by Sage nArada. Let us

first consider the Tamil verses:

The first quote is from the PeriyAzhvAr Thirumozhi, (1-1-4):

“EDu nilatthil iDuvathan munnamvanthu engaL kuzhAm pukunthu

kooDumanamuDaiyeerkaL varampozhi vanthu ollaik kooDuminO

nADum nakaramum nakaRiya namO nArAyaNAyavenRu

pADumanmudaip - pattharuLLeer vanthu pallANDu kooRuminE.†(PeriyAzhvAr

Thirumozhi, 1-1-4)

SrI PeriyAzhvAr calls upon persons who desire to join the group of Sri

Vaishnavites to immediately join them before they lay down their bodies, and

sing ‘namO nArAyANAya’ in such a manner as it is heard well by the ignorant

people of the country-side and the scholarly people of the cities. Here, a

section of Vaishnavites interpret that the AzhvAr gives this call to those who

are after ‘kaivalya’ (enjoying one’s own self), as if they attain kaivalya

mOksham, they will not be able to attain mOksham.

But, SwAmi Desikan’s view is that even kaivalya is impermanent just as worldly

pleasures. Those who attain kaivalya can attain mOksham after experiencing

kailvaya for some time.

The other quote mentioned by SwAmi Desikan is “nal vakaiyAl namO

nArAyaNa†– uttering the ashTAkshara in the best manner.

Let us study the verse in full:

“alvazhakkonRumillA aNikOTTiyar kOn abhimAna thungkan

celvanaip pOlath thirumAlE nAnumunakkup pazhavadiyEn

nalvakaiyAl namO nArAyaNAvenRu nAmam palaparavi

palvakaiyAlum pavitthiranE unnaip pallANDu kooRuvanE.†(PeriyAzhvAr

Thirumozhi, 1-1-11)

(Oh Consort of SrI! Who is the most auspicious! I am also Your servant of long

standing, just like Selva Nambi , the Chief of ThirukOshTiyoor. I will pay

homage to You uttering Your many names and the ashTAkshara in various ways.)

SwAmi Desikan has mentioned these two quotes which carry the Thirumantra

without the praNava. This is also considered as ashTAkshara, having eight

syllables even without the praNava. In support of this view, he gives a quote:

“tÇaeÄray[syaid>†, “tatrOttarAyaNasyAdih†– This is from

nAradeeyam.

Let us consider the SlOka in full:

“tatrOttarAyaNasyAdih bindumAn vishNurantatah /

beejam-ashTAksharasya syAt tEna ashTAksharatA bhavEt //†(nAradeeya Kalpam,

1-57)

(The syllable ‘a’ in the latter part of the word nArAyaNa (i.e.) ‘ayana’

denotes VishNu. If the nasal sound of the vowel ‘m’ (anusvara) at the end of

the word ‘ayana’ be added to it, it becomes ‘am’ and this ‘a’ with

the ‘m’ becomes the germ (beeja) of moolamantra. By this addition, the

mantra comes to consist of eight letters.)

SwAmi Desikan’s intention to mention this is to assure that even without the

praNava, this mantra still remains ashTAkshara – eight lettered; as those who

are not eligible to utter the praNava, can utter the Thirumantra this way and it

will still remain an eight-lettered mantra. He gets the support for this from

Sage nArada whose SlOka to show how the mantra remains ashTAkshara

(eight-lettered) even without the praNava.

 

(To continue)

dAsan

Anbil S.SrInivAsan

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