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Title: Tribute to NammAzhwAr : Thiruviruttham

SrI:
 
Dear followers of Tamil and Sanskrit VedAs :
 
After yesterday's coverage of ThiruvAisiriyam ,
adiyEn will focus on Thiruviruttham , the First of
the Four Prabhandhams of Swamy NammAzhwAr ,
which is considered to echo the thoughts of Rig Vedam 
 
In our Ubhaya VedAntham tribute , we shall focus on
Thiruviruttham . adiyEn will identify the Eika Kantyam
( statement in one voice ) of Selected Rig Veda Mantrams
and Paasurams of Thiruviruttham .
 
adiyEn mentioned that 500 Veda AdhyApAkAs will assemble
at Srirangam for 10 days before the SathAbhishEkam day and
recite three Vedams in Samhitha , Krama , JaDai , Ghanam versions.
Invitations are being sent out .
 
We need 225,000 $ or One crore Rupees For this Veda SamrakshaNam
and for Loka KshEmam in the context of the SathAbhishEkam .
 
$50,000 has been pledged as of today . We need 175,000 more to
meet the expenses for this giant auspicious event at Srirangam .
Please contribute as much as you can to close the gap . You can
send your Tax deductible SamarpaNams to :
 
Sri Hari Raghavan
Ahobila Matam NA
231 Dixon Landing Road, Apt 150
Milpitas, CA 95035
 
Please keep me advised also of your pledges to keep
track of how we are progressing over the next 60 days .
Thanks .
 
 
Tribute to NammAzhwAr : Thiruviruttham/ Part I


Traditonal view holds that the four Sanskritic Vedas
correspond to the spirit of the four Prabhandhams of
NammAzhwAr ( Tamizh MaRais) . Thiruviruttham is related
to Rig Vedam , ThiruvAsiriyam to Yajur Vedam ,
Periya ThiruvandhAthi to Atharva vedam and
Thiruvaaimozhi to Saama Vedam . There is a common
thread that runs across the four Sanskritic Vedams
that are mirrored in the four Prabhandhams of
NammAzhwAr . We will focus on them without emphasis
on tight matching the individual Vedams to their
counterpart prabhandhams in these postings .
Wherever appropriate , we will quote the Veda Mantrams
that would have a close kinship to the spirit of
the paasurams of ThirukkuruhUr SatakOpan .

Artha Panchakam : Jn~Ana and ajn~Ana Panchakams
*************************************************

In an earlier postings during the celebrations for
ANDAL , we covered the topic of artha panchakam
in the context of the messages in Thiruppaavai
paasurams ( Bhakthi Archives ) . We will take off
from there  and focus on the pentads of jn~Athavya
(that which should be known ) ajn~Anam and jn~Anam .

NammAzhwAr instructed us that Bhagavadh Vishayam
is important and samsAram is unimportant . He wanted us
to have the vivEkam (discriminating Knowledge)
about the sorrows of samsAram and the blessedness
of Bhagavadh anubhavam .

VedAs are described as " traiguNya VishayA vedA : ".
ther topics are (1) thyAjyam (2) upAdhEyam
and (3) niradhisayAnandham .ThyAjyam deals
with items that have to be cast aside , shaken off .
upAdhEyam is associated with the acts that make
us firmly hold onto the most important entities
and principles such as BhagavAn's sacred feet
thru mUla Manthram , dhvayam and carama slOkam
( Rahasya thrayams ) as revealed to us by our
AzhwArs and AchAryAs . NiradhisayAnandham
( anthamil pErinbam ) is the bliss of Moksham
resulting from saraNAgathi with its five angAs
that incorporates ThyAjyam , UpAdhEyam
and leads to niradisayAnandham .

Five Jn~Athavya ajn~Anams ( Panchakams )
***************************************

Ajn~Anam is made up of either ViparItha Jn~Anam

( distorted understanding of tatthvams) or ignorance

about the Tatthva Thrayams . Let us study the 5 kinds of ajn~Anams.

1. PARASVAROOPA AJ~NAANAM : Forgetting the
Lord and His consort through samsAra klEsams
( Bheethis ) as referred to by NammAzhwAr ,
" maRanthEn unnai munnam " .

2. AATHMA SVAROOPA AJ~NAANAM : " NammAzhwAr's
paasura vaakhyams describing this category of
ajn~Anam are : " yaanE yennaiaRiyahilAthE " .

3. VIRODHI VISHAYA AJN~AANAM : SatakOpan's
aruLiccheyal vaakyams in this context are :
" Odiya muzhanRum uyirkaLE konREn uNarvilEn "

4. UPAAYA VISHAYA AJN~AANAM : Lack of knowledge about
the means is referred to here . PaarAnkusA's blessed
words are : " piRavi nOyh aRuppAnENilEnirunthEn " .

5. PURUSHAARTHA VISHAYA AJN~AANAM : Here the reference
is to the wrong kind of knowledge that leads one astray
and results in not eulogizing the SaraNYan . AzhwAr's
anguish is expressed as : " Azhiyankai ammAnai
yEthtAthayartthu " .

The artha panchaka ajn~nams result from the rajO and tamO
guNAs .GeethAchAryan has elaborated on them in His
instructions to ArjunA in the SamsAric battle field
of KurukshEthram . The dominance of Satthva guNam
leads to Jn~Anam characterized by its pentad .

JN~ATHAVYA JN~AANA PANCHAKAMS
*****************************************

NammAzhwAr instructs through his prabhandhams ,
the five branches of Jn~Anam that should be known
by the seekers of liberation from the samsAric terrors.

1. PARASVAROOPA JN~AANAM : the abhyAsam ( ways of practise)
to recognize Him as being seated in one's heart cavity
( " ninnai nenjil uyyum vahai uNarnthEn " ).

2. AATHMA SVAROOPA JN~AANAM : The development of
discriminating knowledge to know the nature of
that , which is seated in one's heart cavity as
antharyAmi brahmam ( " ninRa onRai uNarnthEnukku " ).

3. VIRODHI VISHAYA JN~AANAM : An understanding of the
enemies that stand in the way of aathma svarUpa jn~Anam ,
the chathrus or VirOdhis and an understanding of them
is referred to here . AzhwAr's words are : " ahaRRa
nee vaittha maayavallaimpulankaLAmavai nankaRinthanan ".
When this knowledge is possessed by the prapannan ,
then he fully comprehends the nature of the five senses
that drag him away from Bhagavadh Vishayam .

4.UPAAYA VISHAYA JN~AANAM : The knowledge of
the means to avoid the cycles of births and deaths
through the practise of Bhakthi yOgam or Prapatthi
yOgam . The prayer for knowledge of the means
to avoid rebirth is couched in AzhwAr's moving words:
" iruL tarumaa gyAlatthuL inippiRavi vEndAm " .

5. PURUSHAARTHA VISHAYA JN~AANAM : The right knowledge
that it is throughb His KrupA that we become blessed
and the mahA visvAsam in Him as the never-failing
saviour is referred to here . AzhwAr's word-clue is :
" avanathu aruLAl uRal poruttu yennuNarvinuLLE
irutthinEn " .

The predominance of satthva guNa prAchuryam leads
to the blessed state of acquisition of Jaathavya 
panchaka jn~Anam through performing SaraNAgathi
under a qualified AchAryA . This way , one gets
the katAksham of Madhusoodhanan at the time of
birth ( jaayamAna kaala katAksham ) and becomes
imbued with Satthva svarUpam and becomes
mumukshu .

TWO KINDS OF SAMBHANDHAM
**********************************

One is achith sambhandham and the other is
NaarAyaNa sambhandham .The former produces haani
and danger by invoving us in the afflictions of
samsAram . The latter ( NaarAyaNa Sambhandham )
showers us with auspiciousness that are lasting
and underlines our unchangable relationship
to our Lord ( " ThirumAlE naanumunakku pazhavadiyEN ")
and leads to Moksham .

The two categories of people , who overcome the ajn~nams
and become enriched with the five kinds of Jn~Anams
are : (1) karma khAnda nishtars and (2) BhagavathAs/
Thondars . They are called alternatively as anthaNar
maRayOrkaL and adiyAr thondarkaL/saara vitthukkaL .

The anthaNar maRayOr is saluted by AzhwAr as ,
" theeyOmpu kaimmaRayAr , thuNai nool maarvinanthaNar" .
The NaarAyaNa paarAyaNAs or the Thiru nAraNan thondars
are called Koyilil vaazhum VaishNavan or " aNi arangan
ThirumuRRatthu adiyAr , Thiru NaaraNan thondar " .

NammAzhwAr describes himself as the Thiru NaaraNan
murratthu adiyaar .The thirst for KaNNan ( KrishNa
thrushNA ) of SatakOpan is saluted by Parasara Bhattar
this way : " rishim jushAmahE KrishNa thrushNa
tattvamivOdhitham " . Using the Vedic analogy ,
ParAsara Bhattar compares NammAzhwAr , the Rishi
doing yaj~nam as the embodiment of Bhagavadh prEmai
in his Sri RangarAja sthavam .

NammAzhwAr  and AchArya Hrudhayam
**************************************

NammAzhwAr is the VaguLa bhUshaNa bhasakarOdhayam
in the words of the AchAryA ,who blessed us with
AchArya Hrudhayam . He is the sunrise
that dispels ajn~nam and nourishes the artha panchaka
jn~Anam in us through his aruLiccheyalkaL . He is
our pramAthA . His birth was hinted by SukAchAryA
in Bhaagavatham through his never -failing words as
a Rishi ( Aarsha pramANam ) .He said that in kali yugam ,
several NaarAyaNa paarAyaNAL will incarnate on
the banks of TamraparaNee river , KruthamAlA river,
Payasvinee river , CauvEry river and MahA nadhi in
Dramida dEsam . The birth of NammAzhwAr at ThirukkuruhUr
on the banks of Taamraparanee river is alluded to here .

The salutations of AchArya Hrudhaya grantha karthA
***************************************************
This great pramAthA ( NammAzhwAr ) , who used
pramANam ( saasthrAs ) to establish the supremacy of
Sriman NaarAyaNA as pramEyam ( the one to be understood as
the jagadh kaaraNam ,RakshaNamm and SamhAram ) .

The exact words in AchArya Hrudhayam are : "SataraiOtti
mathAvaliptharkku ankusamittu , nadAviya kooRRamAi "
ninRavar SatakOPar .These words break into following
four subdivisions :

1.SataraiOtti (2) Mathavaliptharkku(3) ankusamittu
and (4) nadAviya kUrramAi .

He is SatakOpar , one who angrily drove away the sata
vaayu or Satars , who engaged in propagating darsanams
of their own , which used sushka tarkams that wont stand
up before the parathvam of Sriman naarAyaNA .Therefore ,
he engaged in the relentless effort to set things
straight and drove away kudhrushtis /Satars from
propagating ajn~Ana panchakam . This is the meaning of
"SataraiOtti " , which SatakOpa stands for .

Mathavaliptharkku and ankusamittu :   Being ParAnkusA ,
he controlled the rampaging elephants running around
causing destruction thru their spread of vipareetha
Jn~Anam with the use of ankusam (goad ) .

nadAviya kooRRamAi : He was the mrthyu ( kooRRam or
samhAra mUrthy ) to the samsAric afflictions of
chEthanAs , who was in the range of his eye sight
or those who read his prabhandhams and declared ,
" tvadh paadha mUlam saraNam prapadhyE " in
recognition of him as the divya PaadhukhA of the Lord .

AzhwAr's samslEshams and VislEshams
************************************
(To be continued )  , Daasan , Oppiliappan LOil V.Sadagopan  
            


 

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