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Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00232 Jul 2004

 
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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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