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sri: Jai SrimanNarayana

Today is Madurakavi Alwar's Thirunakshatram let us all
talk/think/read about the greatness of sri Madurakavi Azhwar. 

Please print & read the story of Madhurakavi Azhwar to your family
=============================================
We know that in the 4000 Divya Prabhandam only the 
11 pasurams of Madurakavi Azhwar doesn?t focus on the LORD
He glorifies his Acharya only. Yet, these 11 pasurams were the one
that helped all of Humanity get the 4000 Dhivya Prabhandams.

Dhivya Prabhandams show the path of salvation is for all, 
irrespective of race, caste, creed or gender.

Lord Sriman Narayana (the refuge for all souls), the Lord and 
Master of the Universe, and also the Divinely Merciful 
and Loving Protector, Who is ever striving to redeem 
souls from the bondage resulting from ignorance and 
false ego. 

The unifying factor between the Supreme Being and 
the individual souls is Divine Love, which is
expressed by the Lord in His constant desire to 
protect and save, and is expressed by the devotee 
through adoration, surrender, and selfless service.
The goal of human life is to awaken this Love 
for God in our hearts (which also happens by HIS 
grace) to a level that brings peace, strength, 
and higher purpose to this life, and eventually,
salvation through a natural and heartfelt submission 
to God?s Boundless Grace. 
(Article at: www.ramanujasociety.org/abtRamanuja.html)

Madhurakavi Azhwar: Key Message: Total Faith in Acharya 
==================================

** madhurakavi AzhvAr was born in thirukkOLUr, at 
an early age he mastered all the vEdAs, vEda angAs
and all sAstrAs; he left for a pilgrimage to ayOdhyA,
mathura in northern India and was living in mathura,
performing service to the Lord of the temple there

** he came to know of this boy of 16 years called 
mARan in AzhvAr thirunagari that did not eat or 
speak, through some devotees who came to mathura 
from tamil nAdu

** one night, madhurakavi AzhvAr, saw a glow coming 
from a southern direction; he went in the direction 
of the glow thinking that it might be a forest fire 
and some village might be burning, but could not 
find any such thing

** when he did this for some days, he concluded that 
the glow was divine in nature, and decided to continue
in that direction till he found the source of the glow

** he went in the direction of glow, passed many 
divine places of the Lord, srIrangam being one of 
those and finally found the source of the glow 
under a tamarind tree in thiruk kurukoor - the 
source was mARan, sitting in a padmAsana posture, 
with a divine glow on his face, meditating with eyes 
closed

** madhura kavi AzhvAr wanted to find out if mARan 
had any life in him and threw a big stone in front 
of him; mARan opened his eyes and looked at madhura
kavi AzhvAr

** then, madhura kavi AzhvAr wanted to find out if 
this boy can speak and asked the following question
- "seththatin vayiRRil siriyadhu piRandhaal,
eththaith thinRu engE kidakkum" - if a small thing 
is born to a dead thing, what will it eat for 
sustenance and where will it exist?

** mARan answered "aththaith thinRu angE kidakkum" 
- it will eat that and live there itself! 

** madhurakavi AzhvAr, on hearing the answer to 
his question, realised that mARan was not an 
ordinary boy and that he was a divine avatAra and 
prostrated in front of mARan and paid his respects 
to him

** explanation of the question and answer is 
as follows - the question was - if a small thing is 
born to a dead thing, what will it eat and where 
will it exist - here the small thing refers to the 
soul, the dead thing refers to the body - i.e. if 
the soul, that is the small knowledgeable thing, 
enters the body that is lifeless without the 
soul, what will the it eat and where will it
live? - the answer is - it will eat that and 
live there - the meaning being the soul will have 
the happinesses and sorrows of the body as its 
sustenance and will live in that state (till 
perumAl, due to His grace releases it)

** madhura kavi AzhvAr took nammAzhvAr as his 
AchAryan and spent his days performing service 
to nammAzhvAr

** after nammAzhvAr gave the essence of the four 
vEdAs to madhura kavi AzhvAr, he then left this 
earthly body and went back to srIvaikunTam - 
madhura kavi AzhvAr obtained the vigraham of 
nammAzhvAr from nammAzhvAr himself, and installed 
the vigraham with apporpriate rituals, and started
to perform the worship of that vigraham in AzhvAr 
thirunagari - the vigraham of nammAzhvAr seen 
to this day at AzhvAr thirunagari is the same 
vigraham that madhura kavi AzhvAr obtained from 
nammAzhvAr

** madhura kavi AzhvAr composed a prabhandham 
called kaNNinun siRuththAmbu, entirely on nammAzhvAr
in praise of His AchAryan - this prabhandham is
considered to be the most valuable of divya 
prabhandham by our AchAryAs 

** in temples, the srI satakOpan (commonly 
referred to as satAri) is representative of svAmi 
nammAzhvAr - through the ritual of placing our head
under svAmi nammAzhvAr's feet, in the form of srI 
satakOpan, we surrender ourselves to nammAzhvAr 
and thereby obtain a connection with him - this
connection is essential for us to realise the 
connection between us and the Lord so that we 
can receive the Lord's unconditional grace -
====================================

Find this article at:
http://www.radioramanuja.com/docs/mag.htm

azhwAr emberumAnAr JeeyAr thiruvadigalE saranam

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan
Mukundan Vangkipuram Pattangi
http://www.radioramanuja.com




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