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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00104 Nov 2002

 
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Sri Parthasarathi thunai
Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha
Sri Vara Vara MunayE Namaha
Sri VanAchala mahA munayE Namaha

SrisailEsa dayA pAthram deebhakthyAdhi gunArnavam
Yateendra pravanam vandhE ramya jAmataram munim

Dear Bhagavatas,

In the previous posting we enjoyed the glory of the great acharya, Sri Pillai 
lOkAcharya who was born on Iypasi thiruvOnam, to the smallest extent possible. 
Now we proceed to touch the glory of the three alwars, the mudal alwars who are 
the heros of this week, born on consecutive days iypasiyil Onam, avittam and 
sadhayam. The mudal alwars, poigai, bhoodham and pEy were the first alwars who 
came to the world to sing the praise of emperuman in sweet and simple tamil 
paasurams. Swamy manavala mAmunigal in his upadesa ratinamAlai says, ?mattrulla 
AzhvArgallukku munnE vandhudhiththu nattramizhAl nool seidhu nAttai uiththa 
perttrimaiyOrendru mudalAzhvArgal ennum pEr evarkku nindra dulagaththE 
nigazhindhu? (They came to the world before allthe other azhvars and sang 
beautiful tamil paasurams and uplifted the masses and hence they are glorified 
as ?mudal azhvars? by everyone).

Today, we find many people mainly in Tamil Nadu, saying that they are working 
for the upliftment of the Tamil language and there are ?suththa tamilians? 
(clear tamil speaking people). But actually the ones who gave tamilthe due 
importance and developed it is only the Srivaishnavas, which was the trend 
started by the mudal alwars. All the important grammer and poeticexcellence in 
tamil can be seen in the paasurams of the alwars. The mudalalwars sang 100 
paasurams each in ?AndhAdhi? style. This is one of the ancient and very 
difficult styles of poetry in tamil.

Let us see how thiruvarangaththamudhanar glories these azhvars. Amudhanar in 
his RamAnuja NootrandhAdhi, praises them not only as great bhakthas of 
emperuman but also as great tamil poets. Let?s see how:

While telling about poigaiazhvar, amudhanar says, ?varuththum puravirul mAttra 
em poigaipirAn maraiyin kuruththin porulaiyum seithamizh thannaiyum kooti 
ondrathirithan theriththa thiruvilakku?. We all know that the mudalazhvars sang 
mudhal thiruvandhAdhi, erandhAm thiruvandhAdhi, and moondrAm thiruvandhAdhi. 
The story of the 3 azhvars meeting in thirukOvaloor in an edaikazhi (Corridor) 
and sharing the place to stay (oruvar padukkalam, eruvar amaralAm moovar 
nirkalam-one can lie down, two sit and three stand), is known to all. At that 
time emperuman, thirukkOvaloor Ayan wanting to have the thirumEni sparsham 
(touching of body) of the great bhagavatas himself appeared there along with 
his devis and garuda. Suddenly there was suffocation due to the appearance of 
the fourth person but then it was dark and theazhvars couldn?t see who the 
fourth person was. To find out who it was,the first two azhvars lit two lamps 
"vaiyam thagaliyA vArkadalE neiyAga veiyakadhirOn vilakkAga" ?says poigaiyar, 
that is he lit a light with the world as the lamp, the water in the ocean as 
the ghee and the sun as the fire. This is lOka deepam. On this perumal couldn?t 
be seen. 

So the next azhvar bhoodhaththAr lit another lamp, "AnbE thagaliyA ArvamE 
neiyAga enburugu sindhai edu thiriyA jnanachchudhar vilakkEtrinEn nAranarkku"- 
here he lit a light of knowledge with love as the lamp, his interest asthe 
ghee, and with his mind as a wick. Now perumal gave darshan due to the 
brightness of this knowledge light and the third azhvar PeyAzhvar, the hero of 
today (iypasi sadhayam, nov.13th 2002) saw perumal and sung ?ThirukkandEn 
ponmEni kandEn, thigazhum arukkan aniniramum kandEn?.

Amudhanar says, poigaiyAr lit a lamp to remove the darkness in this world. For 
doing the same he sang 100 paasurams, which is nothing but the essence of the 
Vedas in senthamizh (good tamil).

Then amudhanar proceeds to say, ?eraivanai kAnum edhaththirul keda jnanamennum 
niraivilakkEttria bhoothaththiruvadithAlgal? BhoodhaththAr lit a light to 
remove the darkness in our minds to make us see the emperuman inside. The 
interesting feature in the first paasuram of erandhAm thiruvandhAdhiof 
bhoodhaththAzhvar, is that azhvar himself says, ?jnanath tamizh purindha nAn? 
(I gave the knowledge in tamizh). So it is proved that azhvar himself felt 
proud of doing paasurams in tamil. So the first azhvar removedthe darkness 
outside and the second removed the darkness inside. Now thatall places are 
bright the third azhvar without any difficulty of lighting another lamp had 
darshan of emperuman with piratti and sang the same. His paasuram makes anyone 
reading it even after so many many years visualize the beauty of bhagavan as he 
gave darshan to the mudal azhvars.

Amudhanar calls, peyazhvar as ?Tamizh thalaivan?, ?manniya pErirul mAndapin 
kOvalul mAyanai kandamai kAttum thamizh thalaivan? (After the darkness was 
lost, the tamil leader who showed us the mAyan, emperuman in thirukOvaloor).

Such were the greatness of the mudhal azhvars. As adiyen said in the previous 
posting we have not even entered into the ocean of glory of the azhvarsbut just 
tried to enjoy the greatness of them from a very far distance. Let us all sing 
the glory of these great heroes today and forever.

PoigaiAzhvar thiruvadigale sharanam
BhoodhaththAzhvAr thiruvadigalE sharanam
PeyAzhvar thiruvadigale sharanam

Alwar emperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam
Adiyen Ramanuja DAsee,
Sumithra Varadarajan


 



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