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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00007 Feb 2002

 
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srImathE saTakOpaya namah
srImathE rAmAnujAya namah
srImathE anantArya mahAguravE namah
srImathE vara vara munayE namah

dear bhagavathAs,

Smt. Sheela Belur is doing a great service in posting
translations of svAmi ALavandAr's stOtra ratna slOka 
by slOka. We all owe a debt of gratitude to her for 
doing this service. 

I would like to add a few posts here and there on 
stOtra ratna. A few of us learnt stOtra ratna with its
meaning from our teacher Dr.Rangachari (babu mAmA), 
and the meanings he exposed to us were profound and 
very enlightening. These posts will be based on what 
he taught us, in accordance with the vyAkhyAnam of 
svAmi periyavAccAn piLLai on stOtra ratna. svAmi 
vEdAnta dEsika also has written a commentary (in 
sanskrit) on stOtra ratna, and I will bring in parts 
of his commentary as well in some instances.

In the introduction to his commentary(called
"avathArikai"), svAmi periyavAccAn piLLai 
clearly makes the case for the influence of AzhvArs' 
on svAmi ALAvandAr writing stOtra ratna.

He says the following: 
(note: I am paraprhrasing and summarizing - Varadhan).

The Lord revealed to nammAzhvar His nature, His guNAs 
and His various forms due to His causeless mercy 
(nirhEthuka krpa), and in a manner such that there was
no defect in the knowledge revealed (mayarvu ara 
madhinalam aruLinan).

Due to this, nammAzhvAr obtained his true nature, and 
the essence of his true nature which is service to the
Lord. Such an AzhvAr gave us the dramidOpanishad 
rahasya (thiruvAymozhi). This thiruvAymozhi was 
obtained by svAmi nAthamuni, and came in disciplic 
succession to svAmi ALAvandAr. svAmi ALavandAr learnt 
the inner meaning (rahasya) of thiruvAymozhi and 
practiced its teachings. Because of such practice, 
svAmi ALavandAr could not contain his desire for the 
Lord, and could not bear to see the suffering people. 
He wanted to avoid the suffering people losing the 
inner meanings of thiruvaymozhi which are the guide to
them. Due to that compassion, he composed this stOtra 
which brings the inner meanings of all the upanishads 
(that is difficult to obtain - "durgnyEyamaana 
arthaththai") easily to the people.

Varadhan's additions hereafter:

>From the above, it is very clear that svAmi ALavandAr 
wanted the true religion as conveyed by the AzhvArs to
reach everyone - not just people who had familiarity
with tamizh. Even for those who have familiarity with
tamizh and the divya prabhandham, it is very 
difficult to understand the true purport of the 
AzhvArs' teachings, and this stOtra is a precise,
clear summary of their teachings.

In fact, many of the slOkAs in this stOtram contain 
direct translations of AzhvAr pAsurams in their 
entirety, or in parts. The purport of stOtra ratna is 
completely in line with what our AzhvArs repeat often,
and it would not be an exaggeration to say that stOtra
ratna is basically the essence of our sampradAya, 
conveyed by svAmi ALavandAr in a precise form to those
that have not had exposure to the AzhvAr works.

The reverence that svAmi ALavandAr had for the 
teachings of our AzhvArs is clearly seen from the fact
that the thaniyan for svAmi nammAzhvAr (covered by 
Smt. Sheela Belur in her post on sloka 5) - "mAthA 
pithA yuvathaya:..." that we use daily is from this 
stOtra.


AzhvAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam,

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan,
varadhan


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