Sri Parthasarathi thunai SrimathE rAmAnujaya
Namaha Srimad Vara Vara munayE
Namaha Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE
Namaha ?mEshE chittA samuthbhootham pANdyadEsE
kaNamsakam I SriparAnkusa sathbhaktham madhuram
kavimAsrayE II? ?Bow your head,? instructs the father to
the kid. He may be an agnAni
(Ignorant soul) or a staunch Srivaishnate the blessing of the lord is equal to
all. The archaka places the divine feet of emperuman, the Sri SaTakOpam on top
of all our heads. Why is the divine
feet called as Sri SaTakOpam/Sri satAri? It is to honour the very close devotee
of emperuman, prapanna jana koodasthar, Sri Nammazhvar who longed for the divine
feet of emperuman and sung beautiful paasurams about the divine lord. The divine prabhandams/paasurams of
azhvar (when we say just azhvar it refers only to nammazhvar in sampradayam)
always reserves a special position in the mind of all Srivaishnavas. He is the azhvar who plays a major role
in our guru paramparai. MAmunikal in his upadesa ratina mAlai
says, ?namperumal nammAzhvar nanjeeyer nampillai enbar avar avar thamettraththAl
anbudaiyOr sARRu thirunAmangal tAnendru nannenjE eththadhanai sollu nee endru?
?50 [Due to their special greatness namperumal, nammAzhvar, nanjeeyer and
nampillai have been adorned with great love, with the corresponding names]
What is special about
nammAzhvar? Azhvar himself answers this question in
his very first paasuram in thiruvAimozhi ? ?mayarvaru madhinalam arulinan? [I
have been blessed with unblemished bhakthi and jnana by the lord out of his mere
grace, nirheduka krupai]. So is
azhvar not great if emperuman himself choose azhvar among the infinite number of
souls to bestow his krupai on him? Azhvar was blessed with deep bhakthi and
ultimate knowledge (jnanam kanindha bhakthi) that led azhvar to rise through
steps of parabhakthi, parajnana, and finally reach the ultimate step of
paramabhakthi. So it is foolishness
for nAyinEn (the lowest of the lowest soul) to try to talk the greatness of
azhvar. But the lord cherishes
hearing about his devotee even if it is in broken language filled with ignorance
(?elaiya pun kavidhaiyELum empirArkku eniyavArE?) . Didn?t the lord question kambanAttAzhvar
if he has sung about azhvar (nam satakoparai padineerO?) and make him sing the
?satakOpar andhAdhi?? It is the
belief of our poorvacharyas that even if we utter the name ?vakulAbharanan?
emperuman starts smelling us considering us to be a close associate/disciple of
swamy nammazhvar. With whatever has been told till now you
all may have jumped to the concrete conclusion that this posting is going to be
purely about the greatness of Swamy Nammazhvar. But No, adiyen is now going to go one
step higher and talk about a personality who is regarded with greater esteem
even more than nammazhvar himself in our sampradayam.
Who is
that? He is none other than the great disciple
of nammazhvar, Sri Madurakavi Azhvar.
Again you may all ask me ?What is so great about Madurakavi azhvar? He has sung only 10 paasurams that too
not about the lord? That is exactly his greatness. Madurakavi azhvar didn?t sing even a
single paasuram about the lord but sung only about his perumal, swamy
nammazhvar. Anjaneyar tore his
chest and showed perumal and piratti residing inside his heart. Madurakavi azhvar placed nammazhvar
inside his heart and sang, ?devu maRRariyEn? In Periya thiruvandhAdhi nammazhvar
challenged the supreme lord, ?yan periyan nee periyai enbhadhanai yAr arivar? It
is said that only due to this paasuram, the prabhandam obtained its name. Azhvar says, ?Lets see who among us is
great. You have placed the worlds
inside you but I have kept you inside my heart so now tell me who is great!? or
otherwise,?yAn periyan-nee periyai enbhadhanai yAr arivar? ?Iam great- who knows
about your greatness?? If azhvar
attained his greatness by placing emperuman inside his heart then doesn?t
madurakavi azhvar who placed azhvar inside his heart reserves a higher position?
In kAnchipuram, nammazhvar is
beautifully seated with his right hand indicating his heart. Elders say that it is the indication as
sung by azhvar in the first paasuram of thiruvaimozhi, ?thozhudhu ezhu en
mananE? instructing his mind to fall to the divine feet of ?amarargal adhipathi?
devAdhirajan. But do you all know
that madurakavigal is seen in the same posture in one another divya
desam? Where? Thiruvallikeni
kandEnE! Thiruvarangath amudhanar in his divine ramanuja nootrandhAdhi celebrates the existence of all the divya desa emperuman inside Swamy emperuman?s heart and that swamy happily residing inside his heart, ?eruppidam vaikundam vEnkatam
mAlirunchOlai ennum poruppidam mAyanukkenbar nallOr avaithannodum vandhiruppidam
mAyan erAmAnusan vandhiruppidam endhanedhayaththullE thanakkinburavE?
(106) Similarly, emperuman placed the worlds
inside him, nammazhvar placed emperuman inside him whereas madurakavigal placed
nammazhvar inside his heart and due to the grace on all of us shows where he has
hided azhvar inturn emperuman and all the worlds by indicating towards his heart
in thiruvallikeni (madurakavigal-moolavar). Emperuman cherishes his existence inside
his devotee?s heart (nammazhvar/ramanuja), whereas nammazhvar/ramanuja cherish
living in the hearts of their disciples? madurakavigal/amudhanar. In our sampradayam ?madhurakavi bhavam?
reserves great importance as the acharya is the one who uplifts us from this
samsAram to the divine abode of emperuman.
So more than the emperuman acharyas shower more grace on us and come to
our rescue in the high priority period. Even though elder in age and
born in a high caste madurakavi azhvar?s acharya nishtai is beyond words. That is why his prabhandam has been
given a very special postion equal to the ?nama:? padam in thirumanthram. The same nishtai was expressed by
ananthAzhvan towards swamy emperumAnAr. MAmunikal in his arthi prabhandam says,
?manniya seer mAran kalai vunavAgap peRRom; madurakavi sol padiyE nilaiyAga
peRRom? So it is highly essential for each and every Srivaishnava to follow the
footsteps of madurakavi Azhvar. Earlier we saw that our elders attribute
the existence of nammazhvar in kanchi with right hand indicating his heart to
show that the first paasuram of thiruvaimozhi being a mangalasasanam to
devaperumal. Then what does
madurakavi azhvar?s special posture in thiruvallikeni indicates? Why is this not seen in the other divya
desams? We will try to find the
reasons in the next posting. Till
then let us all place madurakavi azhvar into our hearts and remain in
peace. Azhvar emperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE
sharaNam Adiyen ramanuja
dAsee Sumithra
Varadarajan
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