Tiruviruttam and the Lord's GuNa Part -1

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TIRUVIRUTTAM

And

THE AUSPICIOUS QUALITIES OF THE LORD

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INTRODUCTION

 

Tiruvaimozhi is a treatise on NammAzhvAr's

enjoyment of the auspicious qualities of the Lord,

SrIman nArAyaNa. SwAmi Desikan has shown the quality

of the Lord as revealed in every verse in this work,

in his dramidopanishad tAtparya ratnAvaLi and

dramidOpanishad sAram. Those who have studied

Tiruvaimozhi along with these two Sanskrit works of

SwAmi Desikan, would have had a glimpse of the depth

of the AzhvAr's enjoyment of the Lord's guNa's.

NammAzhvAr's works include Tiruviruttam. When one

tried to find out how the AzhvAr would have enjoyed

the Lord's attributes in this work, he had a wonderful

insight. SwAmi Desikan was able to record the

revelation he had in regard to Tiruvaimozhi in

beautiful Sanskrit verses. Whether he had done a

similar work on Tiruviruttam is not known.

When this author ventured to go into the verses of

Tiruviruttam with help of commentaries available, he

got some clues about the Lord's guNa dealt with in

each of them. That discovery developed into this

write-up which is before you. According to the

author's finding, while many of the verses directly

throw light on the Lord's qualities, some, however, do

so indirectly.

Like Tiruvaimozhi, Tiruviruttam is also set in a

sequence known as 'antAti' in Tamil prosody in which

every verse begins with the last word or expression of

the preceding verse. It is reflected in the order of

the Lord's qualities dealt in each verse. There

appears a link between the one qulity and the next

that follows. This makes our regard for the AzhvAr to

multiply several times.

The author humbly presents this contribution with a

view to sharing his experience with all. It has been

arranged in the order of the verses of Tiruviruttam,

giving the particular qulity of the Lord highlighted

in the verse, followed by the relevant passage from

the original verse, within quotes.

To help those not familiar with the Tamil language, a

gist in English is given in brackets.

 

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The Lord's auspicious quality or His graceful action

as shown in the Verses of Tiruviruttam of Sri

NammAzhvAr

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1. The Lord's compassion for His devotees makes Him

to take births in the mundane world to wipe out the

birth-cycle of the devotees.

 

" poininRa jn~namum pollA ozhukkum azhukkudambum

inniRa nIrmai iniyAm uRAmai, utiraLippAn

enninRa yOniyumAip piRantAi "

(The AzhvAr addresses the Lord, " Oh the Lord of the

devA-s, You took births in all kinds of wombs, in

order to prevent us from undergoing hereafter the

meanest life in the dirtiest bodies, with wrongful

conduct and perverted knowledge. " )

 

2. The Lord has the Lotus Feet to which any one from

this world as well as the higher worlds is bound by

devotion.

 

 

" viNNAttavar mootuvarAm

tozhuneer iNaiyadikkE anbucooddiya coozhkuzhal "

 

(Besides us, the humans, even the senior most members

of the highest worls, adorn Your Feet lovingly with

their heads)

 

3. The Lord is pleasant to His devotees, while being

destructive to the evil-minded.

" taNNantuzhAi azhaRpOl adum cakkattaNNal "

{The Lord holding in hand the wheel, which is

refresing like TuLasi, (a herb, ocymum sanctum) for

His devotees, while fierceful to te evil-doers.}

 

4. He has the VedA-s as the best authority to know

Him )

" tani nencam munnavar puLLE kavarnttu "

(puL-garudan-vEdavadivan)

(My heart has been taken away by Garuda, His vehicle.)

{Garuda is the incarnation of Scriptures.)

 

5. He is of such kindness as to rush to help

without expecting anything in return.

" panippuyal vaNNan "

(He is of the nature of dark rainy cloud)

 

(To continue)

dAsan

Anbil S.SrinivAsan

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