Saint Sketch -2- Thondaradipodi Azhwar By Sri.Sri.Muralidhara Swamiji- Part-1

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Radhe Krishna To All,

 

When does God laugh?

When His grace is sold for a price

 

Who are thieves?

Those who obstruct the Divine grace from reaching all

 

---- Sri.Sri.Muralidhara Muralidhara

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Divyasooris or Nityasooris are those who live close to the Lord in Sri Vaikuntam

and serve Him personally. The Lord took ten Avatars on earth; and, the Avatar of

the ten Azhwars came about to illustrate the glory of these ten Avatars of the

Lord! This number adds up to twelve with the inclusion of Madhurakavi Azhwar

[the renowned disciple of Nammazhwar who sang the praises of his Guru] and Andal

[the daughter of Periazhwar]. The name ‘Azhwar’ has evolved not without

reason. One who has deep devotion [‘Azhnda bhakti’] to the Lord is

‘Azhwar’! On taking birth on earth, the Divyasooris, visited the various

Holy abodes of Lord Vishnu on earth and sang in praise of the respective deities

there. These abodes where the deity has been sung by one or more Divyasooris,

are known as ‘Divya desam’ [divine place].

 

There are in all 108 Divya Desams. These hymns, sung in praise of Perumal by the

Divyasooris, are in Tamizh language and are called ‘Divya Prabandam’. There

are in all 4000 ‘Divya Prabandam’ and they are all outpour of pure devotion.

The ‘Divya Prabandam’ is no mundane work but is, in fact, the summum bonum

of the Vedas, the Upanishads, Ramayan, Srimad Bhagavatam, Mahabharat, etc. Such

is the glory of these hymns of great Azhwars.

 

Speaking of the glory of the Azhwars we find that they are greater than the

Maharishis who have performed severe spiritual austerities [sadhana]. A

comparative study of the Azhwars and the Maharishis brings out the greatness of

the former. Most Maharishis were contemporaries, yet, held contradictory views.

Their philosophy differed. For example, one spoke of Advaita philosophy while

another spoke of Visishtadvaita and yet another, Dvaita philosophy. They did not

see eye to eye even in trivial matters; whereas the twelve Azhwars, who lived in

different Ages, held one view! This is amazing and highly commendable. All the

Azhwars held the view that Lord Narayana is the Supreme One and the goal of life

is to attain Him. And, what is the path that each one of these Azhwars

advocates? Chanting the Divine Name of the Lord! They show that this is the

easiest path to the Lord.

 

To cut down a huge banyan tree various types of machines are brought with

difficulty involving high cost and much time; and the work is carried out with

great hardship. But there is an easy way to bring down this huge banyan tree. If

we let into its root a few termites, they quickly multiply and bring down the

huge tree without much ado.

 

Likewise, to flush out lust, anger, desires, avarice, rivalry, one need not

practice arduous spiritual austerities. There is the smooth and easiest way –

uttering the Divine Name of the Lord. Just as the termites smoothly and

furtively bring down the huge banyan tree, so too, does the Divine Name of the

Lord erase out the undesired qualities in us and eventually earn the Lord’s

darsan for us. The Azhwars have shown us only this path of the Divine Name of

the Lord to attain Him.

 

The Maharishis speak of God who is not visible to our physical eyes whereas the

Azhwars speak of One who can be seen with these physical eyes. When we visit Sri

Rangam is not Lord Ranganatha visible to our physical eyes? When we visit

Parthasarathy Temple in Triplicane is the Lord visible to the naked eye? Thus,

the Azhwars show the Lord who is visible even to us, the laypeople.

 

!!! Will Continue !!!

 

Regards

 

Please Chant

 

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

 

and be happy

 

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