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SRI:
SrImathE Ramanujaya namah:
Dearest Srivaishnavas,

Today Thai Makham- is Thirumazhisai AzhwAr
Thirunakshathram. Let us mediate at the lotus feet of
this AzhwAr and enjoy the greatness of Mazhisai vandha
jOthi.. 

maKhAyAm makarE maasE chakrAmSam bhArgavOdhbhavam |
mahIsAra purADhISam bhakthi sAramaham bhajE ||

Once upon a time, the saptha Rishis including BhArgava
Rishi asked BrahmA about the most sacred place on
Earth that was fit for the permanent residence to do
penance. Brahma told them that Thirumazhisai KshEthram
was the best and named it MahIsAra KshEthram. The
Rishis stayed there.

Thus, Bargavar [from Brhu kulam) was doing his penance
at Mazhisai (near Thiruvalloor), there appeared an
apsaras (celestial girl) and rishi and the apsaras
were blessed with a baby in Thai maasam makha star at
Thirumazhisai place? the baby?s (which is an amsam of
Chakra of the Lord Sriman Narayanan) name is Bhakthi
saran. I pay my obeisance to him ? is the sloka?s
broad meaning? 
[Please click ?AzhwArs? in main menu in the URL
http://members.tripod.com/~sriramanujar  to read about
the life of this AzhwAr. ]

It is told that when Chathur mukha brahmA placed on
the scale of greatness- all places on one plate and
this divine MAZHISAI on the other, the scale tilted in
favour of mazhisai? So great in power is this mazhisai
sthalam. Here in this great place appeared our AzhwAr
Bhakthi sArar? - later called as Thirumazhisai AzhwAr.


Thus Thirumazhisai AzhwAr was born in the MahIsAra
KshEthram during one Thai month, when the Maha
nakshathram was in ascendance. He examined many
religions/faiths and evaluated their deficiencies and
through 
his "Naanmukhan ThiruvandhAthi Prabhnadham " revealed
that Sriman NaarAyaNan alone is the Para Dhaivam (
Supreme Being) fit for upAsanai and SaraNAgathi as per
the teachings of timeless Vedams. He also established
that Sriman NaarAyaNan is the quintessence of
Vedaarthams. He blessed us with Thirucchandha
viruttham containing 120 passurams and through that
Prabhandham established that all the chEthanams and
achEthanams of the universe serve as sarIram for the
Lord. Swamy Desikan prayed to MazhisaippirAn to bless
him 
with the power to recite his two Prabhandhams and
comprehend fully their true meanings.

Swamy Desikan addresses this AzhwAr in his Prabandha
saaram as Mazhisai ParanE? Mazhsai vandha jyOthi.. The
luster of Mazhisai? 

There are many Ayudhas of the Lord (some say- five;
others count 16, eight etc..). The most important one
is ChakrAyudha. In every form of the Lord, the Lord
has ChakrA in His hand.. In fact his dhivya mangaLa
vigraham is identified by His holding ChakrAyudha. It
is also an ornament for Him.. . When the Lord hides
the Sun, when He kills Maali, Sumaali, the fake one-
Poundrakan, He uses ChakrA.. He protects GajEndra;
Ambareesha et al with His divine ChakrA..

In all virOdhi nirasanm, the Lord uses the ChakrA
invariably (almost).. Thus it is no wonder that
Paramatha nirasanam, ParadEvathA nirNaraym is asserted
with ChakrAmsam- Thirumazhaisai AzhwAr.. So powerful
and strong like the flames of ChakrA.. Only
ChakrAyudha has sankhu chakrA in his hands (in
ChakratthAzhwAn sannidhi) Thus BhAgawathas worship
ChakrA as ParadEvatha Himself.. KooranArAyaNa JEeyer,
Nadadhur ammAL, Swamy Desikan and others have praised
widely about this ChakrAyudha.. wonderfully. 

All AzhwArs have declared unambiguously and commonly
the Parathvam of Sriman Narayanan and they all speak
(or sing) in one voice? There is absolutely no
difference or doubt about this. Our Thirumazhisai
AzhwAr declared it quite strongly after learning about
other non-vaidIka mathams and also he was a saivite
for some time before he arrived at the truth of
Parathvam of Sriman Narayanan. 

Read his 96 paasurams of Naanmukhan ThiruvandhAthi
containing commentaries on core Vaishnavite doctrines.
The essence of this Prabhandham is about the highest
bliss of God realization through the path of Surrender
to the Highest Being (Sriman NaarAyaNan ) alone ;
AzhwAr reveals to us that The Lord of Sri Devi is the
ultimate cause and is "capable of sublimating the
humans , even as He stated in His GitA that all (other
) tastes are discarded , when the Ultimate (Para)
is seen and experienced ( param dhrushtvA nivarthatE).


AzhwAr himself states in his first paasuram that "Lord
NaarAyaNa is the primordial creator? and it is He who
created BrahmA and through BrahmA, He created Rudran
and that we should contemplate on this tatthvam,
remember it without fail and act on it.

In a moving summation of Naanmukhan ThiruvandhAthi,
Thirumazhisai reminds the Lord that he will never ever
forget His RakshaNam ( Kaapu maranthu aRiyEn: Paasuram
93) and concludes this prabhandham on 
a majestic note distilling the essence of Sri VaishNva
doctrines: 

iniaRinthEn IsaRkkum NaanmuhaRkkum dhaivam
iniaRinthEnem PerumAn unnai -iniaRinthEn
KAARANAM NEE KARRAVAI NEE KARPAVAI NEE , NARRKKIRISAI
NAARANAN NEE NANKARINTHEN NAAN --Paasuram 96

(meaning according to Dr.VedAntha Desikan ): Oh My
Lord! What have I learnt ! I have learnt that You are
the Lord to Siva and Brahma and the like. I have
correctly comprehended Your innate nature. I have
learnt also that You are the cause of all things; that
You are the subject of
all learning , that You are going to be the subject
matter of all future knowledge as well. That is a,
things learnt or to be learnt are all out of You and
depend on You. All good acts constitute You (This is
unlike what pertains to other gods). Thus by acquiring
the wisdom on all fronts, I have become fully fit to
speak of as 'my self' (only
knowledge would signify the soul). Thus, I have
acquired all the knowledge that should mark one in at
the stage of Mukthi endowed with Jn~Ana VikAsam
(blossoming of true Jn~Anam).

Even the Lord listened to this AzhwAr (YathOthkAri
perumAL in Thiruve:kaa) and also Thirukkudanthai
ArAamudhan. ArAamudhan eats only after AzhwAr eats..
pOnagam seydha sEdam kEttu? BhAgawatha Seshathvam-
even the Lord sets an example? movingly.. 

This Thirumazhisai AzhwAr can be compared to Nrusimha
AvathAram.
Both had their births in sthambam (pillar for
Narasihman; bamboo bush- sthambhanam- for AzhwAr];
both performed leelai with Their fingers; Lord
Nrusimhan tore effortlessly HiraNyakasipu?s string
chest with His sharp nails; AzhwAr tore the small
black paddy seed to point out to Brahmins the Vedic
portion that they had stopped [when they saw him in
the street- as AzhwAr was brought up by ThiruvALan who
belonged to the low caste] and forgot where they had
stopped. Lord Nrusimhan is in His Yogam in
ThiruvELukkai, ThiruvallikkENi and Melkote; AzhwAr was
in Yogam in Thirukkudanthai for many years. [as
mentioned in his Thirucchandha viruttham 63rd pasuram-
nanRinrundhu yOga needhi]

aDiyEn had the blessings of Acharyan and the
anugraham/ patience of bhAgawathas when adiyEn could
ramble on free translation of Naanmukhan
ThiruvandhAthi few years ago [if someone needs, I can
send the same]. With the blessings of asmadhAchAryan,
adiyEn?s prays to AzhwAr and Dhivya Dampathi to enable
me commence Thirucchandha viruttham on this day of his
Thirunakshathram.  

UtthamUr Swamy describes the greatness of
Thirumazhisai with a special slOkam :

anargha Bhakthi-bhAvitha Sruthi Smruthi prakrushta
Dhee-
mahishta BHAKTHISAARA SOORI sookthaya: sudurgrahA: 

Indeed, the Dhivya Sookthis of Thirumazhisai Known for
his blemishless Bhakthi are incomparable in (1)
rejection of the false doctrines (2) establishing
Sriman NaarAyaNan as the Para Devathai  and (3)
interpreting Tatthva-Hitha- PurushArthams leading to
Moksham in the most lucid manner.

Thirucchandha viruttham ? Introduction: 

After establishing the Parathvam of Sriman Narayanan
in Naanmukhan ThiruvandhAthi, in this dhivya
Prabhandham , AzhwAr refers to the Tatthva-
Hitha-PurushArthams in his first three paasurams of
Thirucchandha viruttham. Next, AzhwAr salutes the
Para, VyUha forms of the Lord and acknowledges the
Lord as the One responsible for the samashti, Vyashti
and Sarva Srishti ( Creation of every kind as
Jagath-KaaraNan) and says that it is not easy for
anyone to comprehend fully the SvabhAvam (true nature)
of the Lord , who is the antharyAmi of all ChEthanams
and achEthanams. AzhwAr states that the anugraham of
the Lord has made it possible for him to understand
His svabhAvam.

After the salutation to the mysterious Tatthvams of
the MaayAvi , which defy comprehension (Yaavar KaaNa
VallarE?), AzhwAr shifts to the enjoyment of the many
avathArams of the Lord as HayagrIvan , Hamsam, Koormam
, Narasimhan , Vaamanan , Raaman and KrishNan.AzhwAr
expresses his disappointment that he could not enjoy
them with his eyes now and comforts himself with the
thought that the Lord exhibiting His Soulabhyam is
offering now His sevai to him as ArchA Moorthys at the
many dhivya dEsams like ThiruvEnkatam , Srirangam ,
Thirukkudanthai 
and other  Thiruppathis. He wonders why the people do
not resort to the worship the Lord , who is Sarva
Sulabhan waiting to bless them in His most beautiful
ArchA form. 

AzhwAr performs next upadesam for the deluded
souls(SamsAris) and uses the references from vedam and
PurANams to remind them that Sriman NaarAyaNan is the
Supreme One and in His ArchA form, He can bless the
SamsAris with the Moksha siddhi , when they adopt
Bhakthi or prapatthi as the means (upAyam)to get His
attention. 

After performing Upadesam as a compassionate AchAryan,
AzhwAr returns to his anubhavam of the Lord. AzhwAr
assures the Lord of his deep and firm attachment to
His Thiruvadi as the means for his ujjeevanam. He
expresses his desire to perform Kaimkaryam to the Lord
here and seeks uninterrupted Kaimkaryam in
Srivaikuntam , when his kaimkaryam here is 
interrupted. He examines the upAyam for such a
blessing and recognizes that the destruction of the
cycles of births and deaths through MokshAnugrahm from
the Lord is the only sure upAyam to achieve his deep
desire.

At this stage, he begins to conclude his Prabhandham
and seeks pardon from the Lord for deficiencies in the
celebration of the Lord's anantha kalyANa guNams
through his Prabhandham ( Paasurams 110, 111). From
the 112 to 115th paasuram, AzhwAr comforts his  mind
that the Moksha Siddhi is very near to attain and asks
his mind not to be concerned about that boon anymore.
He assures his mind that there will be no more
suffering in samsAram through repeated cycles of
birth. 

The 120th paasuram is a great celebration over
AzhwAr's parama BhAgyam of attaining Moksha Siddhi due
to the grace of Sri RanganAthan :

iyakku aRAtha palpiRappil yennai mARRi inRu Vanthu 
uyakkoLL Megam VaNNan naNNi yenn nilAyathannuLE
mayakkinAn tann mannu sOthi aathalAl yenn aavi thAnn
iyakku yellAm aRutthu aRAtha inbha Veedu peRRathE 

(Meaning): The Lord of Srirangam known for His play to
redeem jeevans had given me earlier repeated births in
varying bodies and now has charmed me with aj~nAtha
Sukrutham and has entered into my HrudhayAkAsam
(Daharam PuNdarIkam vEsama ). Through this benevolent
act , He has torn to their roots and cast away all the
karma vyAdhis that plagued my AathmA and has granted
me the ParamAnugraham of the delectable (aanandha
maya) Moksham (Veedu). From here on the ishta prApthi
of nithya kaimkaryam and anishta nivrutthi ( freedom
from punar aavrutthi) are guranteed to me. Blessed
indeed am I!

[Thanks to Sri Satakopan mama for granting permission
to use extract from his article.] 
Let us begin the great wonderful rhyming prabandham in
the next post..
AzhwAr EmperumAnAr Desikan ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam
Regards
Namo Narayana
dAsan





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