Thirumazhisai AzhwAr Thirunakshathram- Thai makam

[Guest guest]

SRI:

SrImathE Ramanujaya namah:

Dearest Srivaishnavas,

 

Today Thai Makham- is Thirumazhisai AzhwAr

Thirunakshathram. Let us mediate at the lotus feet of

this AzhwAr and enjoy the greatness of Mazhisai vandha

jOthi..

 

maKhAyAm makarE maasE chakrAmSam bhArgavOdhbhavam |

mahIsAra purADhISam bhakthi sAramaham bhajE ||

 

Once upon a time, the saptha Rishis including BhArgava

Rishi asked BrahmA about the most sacred place on

Earth that was fit for the permanent residence to do

penance. Brahma told them that Thirumazhisai KshEthram

was the best and named it MahIsAra KshEthram. The

Rishis stayed there.

 

Thus, Bargavar [from Brhu kulam) was doing his penance

at Mazhisai (near Thiruvalloor), there appeared an

apsaras (celestial girl) and rishi and the apsaras

were blessed with a baby in Thai maasam makha star at

Thirumazhisai place… the baby’s (which is an amsam of

Chakra of the Lord Sriman Narayanan) name is Bhakthi

saran. I pay my obeisance to him – is the sloka’s

broad meaning…

[Please click “AzhwArs” in main menu in the URL

http://members.tripod.com/~sriramanujar to read about

the life of this AzhwAr. ]

 

It is told that when Chathur mukha brahmA placed on

the scale of greatness- all places on one plate and

this divine MAZHISAI on the other, the scale tilted in

favour of mazhisai… So great in power is this mazhisai

sthalam. Here in this great place appeared our AzhwAr

Bhakthi sArar… - later called as Thirumazhisai AzhwAr.

 

 

Thus Thirumazhisai AzhwAr was born in the MahIsAra

KshEthram during one Thai month, when the Maha

nakshathram was in ascendance. He examined many

religions/faiths and evaluated their deficiencies and

through

his " Naanmukhan ThiruvandhAthi Prabhnadham " revealed

that Sriman NaarAyaNan alone is the Para Dhaivam (

Supreme Being) fit for upAsanai and SaraNAgathi as per

the teachings of timeless Vedams. He also established

that Sriman NaarAyaNan is the quintessence of

Vedaarthams. He blessed us with Thirucchandha

viruttham containing 120 passurams and through that

Prabhandham established that all the chEthanams and

achEthanams of the universe serve as sarIram for the

Lord. Swamy Desikan prayed to MazhisaippirAn to bless

him

with the power to recite his two Prabhandhams and

comprehend fully their true meanings.

 

Swamy Desikan addresses this AzhwAr in his Prabandha

saaram as Mazhisai ParanE… Mazhsai vandha jyOthi.. The

luster of Mazhisai…

 

There are many Ayudhas of the Lord (some say- five;

others count 16, eight etc..). The most important one

is ChakrAyudha. In every form of the Lord, the Lord

has ChakrA in His hand.. In fact his dhivya mangaLa

vigraham is identified by His holding ChakrAyudha. It

is also an ornament for Him.. . When the Lord hides

the Sun, when He kills Maali, Sumaali, the fake one-

Poundrakan, He uses ChakrA.. He protects GajEndra;

Ambareesha et al with His divine ChakrA..

 

In all virOdhi nirasanm, the Lord uses the ChakrA

invariably (almost).. Thus it is no wonder that

Paramatha nirasanam, ParadEvathA nirNaraym is asserted

with ChakrAmsam- Thirumazhaisai AzhwAr.. So powerful

and strong like the flames of ChakrA.. Only

ChakrAyudha has sankhu chakrA in his hands (in

ChakratthAzhwAn sannidhi) Thus BhAgawathas worship

ChakrA as ParadEvatha Himself.. KooranArAyaNa JEeyer,

Nadadhur ammAL, Swamy Desikan and others have praised

widely about this ChakrAyudha.. wonderfully.

 

All AzhwArs have declared unambiguously and commonly

the Parathvam of Sriman Narayanan and they all speak

(or sing) in one voice… There is absolutely no

difference or doubt about this. Our Thirumazhisai

AzhwAr declared it quite strongly after learning about

other non-vaidIka mathams and also he was a saivite

for some time before he arrived at the truth of

Parathvam of Sriman Narayanan.

 

Read his 96 paasurams of Naanmukhan ThiruvandhAthi

containing commentaries on core Vaishnavite doctrines.

The essence of this Prabhandham is about the highest

bliss of God realization through the path of Surrender

to the Highest Being (Sriman NaarAyaNan ) alone ;

AzhwAr reveals to us that The Lord of Sri Devi is the

ultimate cause and is " capable of sublimating the

humans , even as He stated in His GitA that all (other

) tastes are discarded , when the Ultimate (Para)

is seen and experienced ( param dhrushtvA nivarthatE).

 

 

AzhwAr himself states in his first paasuram that " Lord

NaarAyaNa is the primordial creator” and it is He who

created BrahmA and through BrahmA, He created Rudran

and that we should contemplate on this tatthvam,

remember it without fail and act on it.

 

In a moving summation of Naanmukhan ThiruvandhAthi,

Thirumazhisai reminds the Lord that he will never ever

forget His RakshaNam ( Kaapu maranthu aRiyEn: Paasuram

93) and concludes this prabhandham on

a majestic note distilling the essence of Sri VaishNva

doctrines:

 

iniaRinthEn IsaRkkum NaanmuhaRkkum dhaivam

iniaRinthEnem PerumAn unnai -iniaRinthEn

KAARANAM NEE KARRAVAI NEE KARPAVAI NEE , NARRKKIRISAI

NAARANAN NEE NANKARINTHEN NAAN --Paasuram 96

 

(meaning according to Dr.VedAntha Desikan ): Oh My

Lord! What have I learnt ! I have learnt that You are

the Lord to Siva and Brahma and the like. I have

correctly comprehended Your innate nature. I have

learnt also that You are the cause of all things; that

You are the subject of

all learning , that You are going to be the subject

matter of all future knowledge as well. That is a,

things learnt or to be learnt are all out of You and

depend on You. All good acts constitute You (This is

unlike what pertains to other gods). Thus by acquiring

the wisdom on all fronts, I have become fully fit to

speak of as 'my self' (only

knowledge would signify the soul). Thus, I have

acquired all the knowledge that should mark one in at

the stage of Mukthi endowed with Jn~Ana VikAsam

(blossoming of true Jn~Anam).

 

Even the Lord listened to this AzhwAr (YathOthkAri

perumAL in Thiruve:kaa) and also Thirukkudanthai

ArAamudhan. ArAamudhan eats only after AzhwAr eats..

pOnagam seydha sEdam kEttu… BhAgawatha Seshathvam-

even the Lord sets an example… movingly..

 

This Thirumazhisai AzhwAr can be compared to Nrusimha

AvathAram.

Both had their births in sthambam (pillar for

Narasihman; bamboo bush- sthambhanam- for AzhwAr];

both performed leelai with Their fingers; Lord

Nrusimhan tore effortlessly HiraNyakasipu’s string

chest with His sharp nails; AzhwAr tore the small

black paddy seed to point out to Brahmins the Vedic

portion that they had stopped [when they saw him in

the street- as AzhwAr was brought up by ThiruvALan who

belonged to the low caste] and forgot where they had

stopped. Lord Nrusimhan is in His Yogam in

ThiruvELukkai, ThiruvallikkENi and Melkote; AzhwAr was

in Yogam in Thirukkudanthai for many years. [as

mentioned in his Thirucchandha viruttham 63rd pasuram-

nanRinrundhu yOga needhi]

 

aDiyEn had the blessings of Acharyan and the

anugraham/ patience of bhAgawathas when adiyEn could

ramble on free translation of Naanmukhan

ThiruvandhAthi few years ago [if someone needs, I can

send the same]. With the blessings of asmadhAchAryan,

adiyEn’s prays to AzhwAr and Dhivya Dampathi to enable

me commence Thirucchandha viruttham on this day of his

Thirunakshathram.

 

UtthamUr Swamy describes the greatness of

Thirumazhisai with a special slOkam :

 

anargha Bhakthi-bhAvitha Sruthi Smruthi prakrushta

Dhee-

mahishta BHAKTHISAARA SOORI sookthaya: sudurgrahA:

 

Indeed, the Dhivya Sookthis of Thirumazhisai Known for

his blemishless Bhakthi are incomparable in (1)

rejection of the false doctrines (2) establishing

Sriman NaarAyaNan as the Para Devathai and (3)

interpreting Tatthva-Hitha- PurushArthams leading to

Moksham in the most lucid manner.

 

Thirucchandha viruttham – Introduction:

 

After establishing the Parathvam of Sriman Narayanan

in Naanmukhan ThiruvandhAthi, in this dhivya

Prabhandham , AzhwAr refers to the Tatthva-

Hitha-PurushArthams in his first three paasurams of

Thirucchandha viruttham. Next, AzhwAr salutes the

Para, VyUha forms of the Lord and acknowledges the

Lord as the One responsible for the samashti, Vyashti

and Sarva Srishti ( Creation of every kind as

Jagath-KaaraNan) and says that it is not easy for

anyone to comprehend fully the SvabhAvam (true nature)

of the Lord , who is the antharyAmi of all ChEthanams

and achEthanams. AzhwAr states that the anugraham of

the Lord has made it possible for him to understand

His svabhAvam.

 

After the salutation to the mysterious Tatthvams of

the MaayAvi , which defy comprehension (Yaavar KaaNa

VallarE?), AzhwAr shifts to the enjoyment of the many

avathArams of the Lord as HayagrIvan , Hamsam, Koormam

, Narasimhan , Vaamanan , Raaman and KrishNan.AzhwAr

expresses his disappointment that he could not enjoy

them with his eyes now and comforts himself with the

thought that the Lord exhibiting His Soulabhyam is

offering now His sevai to him as ArchA Moorthys at the

many dhivya dEsams like ThiruvEnkatam , Srirangam ,

Thirukkudanthai

and other Thiruppathis. He wonders why the people do

not resort to the worship the Lord , who is Sarva

Sulabhan waiting to bless them in His most beautiful

ArchA form.

 

AzhwAr performs next upadesam for the deluded

souls(SamsAris) and uses the references from vedam and

PurANams to remind them that Sriman NaarAyaNan is the

Supreme One and in His ArchA form, He can bless the

SamsAris with the Moksha siddhi , when they adopt

Bhakthi or prapatthi as the means (upAyam)to get His

attention.

 

After performing Upadesam as a compassionate AchAryan,

AzhwAr returns to his anubhavam of the Lord. AzhwAr

assures the Lord of his deep and firm attachment to

His Thiruvadi as the means for his ujjeevanam. He

expresses his desire to perform Kaimkaryam to the Lord

here and seeks uninterrupted Kaimkaryam in

Srivaikuntam , when his kaimkaryam here is

interrupted. He examines the upAyam for such a

blessing and recognizes that the destruction of the

cycles of births and deaths through MokshAnugrahm from

the Lord is the only sure upAyam to achieve his deep

desire.

 

At this stage, he begins to conclude his Prabhandham

and seeks pardon from the Lord for deficiencies in the

celebration of the Lord's anantha kalyANa guNams

through his Prabhandham ( Paasurams 110, 111). From

the 112 to 115th paasuram, AzhwAr comforts his mind

that the Moksha Siddhi is very near to attain and asks

his mind not to be concerned about that boon anymore.

He assures his mind that there will be no more

suffering in samsAram through repeated cycles of

birth.

 

The 120th paasuram is a great celebration over

AzhwAr's parama BhAgyam of attaining Moksha Siddhi due

to the grace of Sri RanganAthan :

 

iyakku aRAtha palpiRappil yennai mARRi inRu Vanthu

uyakkoLL Megam VaNNan naNNi yenn nilAyathannuLE

mayakkinAn tann mannu sOthi aathalAl yenn aavi thAnn

iyakku yellAm aRutthu aRAtha inbha Veedu peRRathE

 

(Meaning): The Lord of Srirangam known for His play to

redeem jeevans had given me earlier repeated births in

varying bodies and now has charmed me with aj~nAtha

Sukrutham and has entered into my HrudhayAkAsam

(Daharam PuNdarIkam vEsama ). Through this benevolent

act , He has torn to their roots and cast away all the

karma vyAdhis that plagued my AathmA and has granted

me the ParamAnugraham of the delectable (aanandha

maya) Moksham (Veedu). From here on the ishta prApthi

of nithya kaimkaryam and anishta nivrutthi ( freedom

from punar aavrutthi) are guranteed to me. Blessed

indeed am I!

 

[Thanks to Sri Satakopan mama for granting permission

to use extract from his article.]

Let us begin the great wonderful rhyming prabandham in

the next post..

AzhwAr EmperumAnAr Desikan ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo Narayana

dAsan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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