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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00061 Apr 2005

 
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SrI:
SrImathE SaTakOpAya namah:
SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya namah:

Dearest Srivaishnavas,
Today is Chithrai Chithrai Thirunakshathram
[constellation of Chithra star] - Sri Madurakavi
AzhwAr ? disciple of SrI SaTakOpar- NammAzhwAr. One
can dwell and enjoy for ages on the divine works of
Madhura kavi AzhwAr who composed the grand
KaNNinunchiRuthAmbhu [11 verses on his acharyan -
NammAzhwAr- Sri SaTakOpar]

Madhuram itself means honey. This AzhwAr himself
writes verses (prabandhams) which are like honey; and
if he says, the name of NammAzhwAr itself is sweet and
gives us instant everlasting sweetness which is
sweeter than the Lord's name, then where is the
question of denying it?

Madhurakavi AzhwAr being a great devotee of the Lord
Sriman Narayanan, went on a pilgrimage trip to North
India. He went to ayOddhi, and from there he could
have desired to go to dwaraka. He describes the Lord
KrishnA first.

kaNNinuN chiRutthaambinaal kattuNNap paNNiya peru
maayan- en appan..
en appan- My Swamy- My Father; My Lord- who is the
Mysterious Lord (maayan)- who is the primordial Chief;
Supreme Lord- Lord of all; - He out of His greatest
sowlabhyam, and sowseelyam (neermai - in Tamil),
[easily accessible nature of His] stooping down to an
ordinary cowherd boy of an illiterate YasOdhA PiraaTTi
(the blessed mother). Angered by His mischief of
stealing eating butter, she threatened him with a
stick, and grabbed a rope to tie Him down to a mortar.
The rope was short of the circumference of His
ThirumEni (divine Body) and she (wondering- as to how
the rope can be shorter than this little boy's body-
when she knew that it is longer), took another longer
rope and attempted. Again, it became smaller than the
body.
 
The Boy was standing with His mouth and lips
quivering, tears rolling down cheeks, eyes full of
water; Hands shutting the mouth not to let the cries
heard by His mother (then she gets more angry); and He
does this mystery of making the rope shorter than His
body circumference.

She gets fed up.. Kutti KaNNan crying externally (and
smiling inside), could not digest his mother getting
troubled anymore and makes Himself available and
accessible for being tied down to the mortar. YasOdhA
now smiles when the rope (at last- not knowing it is
due to KaNNan's sankalpam only) is just nice. She ties
Him tightly with that thin, slender rope with strands,
to the mortar. The Lord, who is never bound by
anything, is now bound by a simple rope, tied by a
simpler human being. (NammAzhwAr faints adoring the
sowseelyam of this Lord's, when he sings.. etthiRam
uralinOdu iNaindhiandhEngiya eLivE.... - How and what
sowseelyam to be tied down to the mortar!]

In the world, generally people run to human beings
(bosses, chief, kings and others) and devathas for
material benefits and worldly pleasures. The Lord of
Devas is sought by few knowledgeable people to seek
what they need in this world. Knowing his Parathvam
unambiguously, and realizing his greatest sowseelyam
and sowlabhya kalyANa guNas in its entirety, there are
rare few who consider Him alone as the means as well
as the end and nothing else do they aspire for. Our
Madhurakavi AzhwAr being one among those rare few went
everywhere and finally landed at AyOddhi where he saw
a light in the sky from the south. Wondering that rare
and uncommon light in the sky, he traced to reach at
Thirukkurugoor (the light was not seen by anyone else-
is to be noted..). Thus, he skipped going to Dwaraka
and landed at Thirukurugoor where NammAzhwAr (at the
age of 16) was in his trance. 

NammAzhwAr had not spoken since birth and now when
Madhurakazi AzhwAr came and stood, AzhwAr opened his
eyes and answered the query from NammAzhwAr (first
time he opened his eyes and spoke...)

Read NammAzhwAr's life in
http://members.tripod.com/~sriramanujar/ and click on
AzhwArs menu.

This NammAzhwAr has become Parama bhOgyam now for me-
says Madhurakavi AzhwAr. That does not mean that I
have not realized about the Lord's greatness. I know
that He is Sarva dEvathA Saarvabhouman. He is the
Swamy for all and for me too. Look at His sowlabhyam
and sowseelyam (and that's why I mentioned the tying
the rope incident). When one thinks of such greatest
Lord with such accessible nature of His, how can one
not get sweetness.. Sure-one can get the utmost
sweetness. But when I saw this Kurugoor Nambhi,
NammAzhwAr, the divine utterance of His name (AzhwAr's
name) itself has become sweet instantly. At the very
moment of uttering his name makes it (the utterance)
sweeter than anything else. The tongue which is
blessed to recite the Divya SrI Sookthis of this
AzhwAr has now been relishing the sweet nectar flowing
therein by uttering his name.

When the name itself is so sweet granting, how can one
talk of the sweetness of having the darshan of
SaTakOpar (Sri nammAzhwAr)? Indescribable. Also, down
the ages, people will not be able to see the vibhava
avatar of this AzhwAr and can relish the sweetness by
simple utterance of his name.. realize that oh folks!
That's why I have been uttering his name (sweetness
for myself and for you all to follow the same.)

En appanil- From my Swamy- Father (leaving Him)I have
come to this AzhwAr. Is that correct? Can one leave
the Lord and come to Acharya as everything? Is that
correct? One can get such doubts.

Swamy Desikan says: It is strictly in accordance with
saasthras. It is oldest ancient tradition (thol vazhi)
and the correct, most accurate tradition and practice-
nal vazhi to surrender at the feet of Acharya. Like
the life can not sustain without food, the means of
Bhakti yoga and Prapatti will not hold water without
AcharyasrayaNam. This way of surrendering at the feet
of Acharyan is the way (old way through which many -
our Poorvacharyas - have walked and hence well laid
out and reaching destination is certain) and it is the
correct way in line with saasthrAs (nal vazhi). Those
who have realized this understanding the meaning of
KaNNinunChiRuthaambu are the intelligent and brave
ones (DhIrA:) who have taken this path which is
ancient and correct. Swamy Desikan has not just given
his interpretation on his own. He has followed (as
always) the sruthis and smurthis to mention this. The
word DhIrA: is referred in MuNDakOpanishad where it
mentions 
"AcharyaasrayaNam alone can grant all fruits and those
who do that are DhIrA" says the Upanishad.

sa vEdhaithath paramam bhramha DhAma yathra viswam
nihitham bAthi Subram |
upAsathE purusham yE hyakAmA: thE
SukthamEthadhathivarthanthi DHEERAA:
Sathyaki Tantram gives us the same message , when it
says: " GurO: Gurutaram naasthi " ( There is nothing 
more sacred than one's AchAryA) . Upanishad asserts :
" AchArya dEvO Bahva".

In the second slOkam of Sri NyAsa Vimsathi , Sri
NigamAntha MahA Desikan gives us the reasons for
worshipping the AchAryan as equivalent to SarvEsvaran.
He also states emphatically in the spirit of Saathyaki
Tanthram that no one can ever pay back the debt of
gratitude to one's AchAryA for their mahOpakAram. It
is for this reason that , Swami Desikan says that we
have to worship our AchAryAs as the Lord Himself (
AchArya : sadhbhi: aprathyupakaraNa dhiyA dEvavath
upasya: syAth).

Swamy says: Achaaryaadhiha dEvathAm samadhikaam
anyaamna manyaamahE.. We will never ever consider
anyone as Superior to God than The Acharyan. (In line
with Madhurakavi's dhEvu maRRaRiyEn.. (I do not know
any God other than NammAzhwAr- my AchArya).

Swami Desikan has pointed out that it is impossible to
pay back in any 
manner to The AchAryA, who lights the lamp of
knowledge in our minds and banishes the nescience and
vibhareetha JnAnam that occupied our mind before. The
only service that we can do is to praise His kalyANa
guNAs and reflect on them and to spread the message of
the great help that he gave us ( Gurum prakAsayEth):

yERRi manatthu yezhil jnAna viLakkai iruL anaitthum /
mARRinavarkku oru kaimmAru Maayanum kANahillAn /
pORRi uhapathum punthiyil koLvathum pongu puhazh /
sARRi vaLarpathum saRRallavO munnam peRRathaRkE

Swami Desikan states authoritatively that even the
Lord can not find a 
proper way to return the gratitude for the AchAryan
who lit the JnAna deepam in our minds and chased away
the darkness of ajnAnam.

SrI Manavala maanuigaL also mentions about this way of
worshipping Acharyan equal to the Lord (if not more)
in Artthi prabandham:

thennarangar seeraruLukku ilakkAga peRROm/
thiruvarangam thiruppathiyE iruppAgap peRROm
manniya seer maaRan pugazh uNavaagap peRROm
MADHURAKAVI SORPADIYE nilaiyaagap peRROm

Let us recite KaNNinunChiRutthambu today as many times
as we can and pay our obeisance to Sri Madhurakavi
AzhwAr today and to his Acharya- Prapanna jana
santhAna kUtasthar SrI SaTakOpar- NammAzhwAr.

References: (1) Sri uttamUr swamy's Prabandha Rakhsa
on KanninunchiRutthambu and 
(2)Sri Periya Parakala Swamy and Sri Thirukkudanthai
Desikan's manipravala commentary on
KaNNIinunchiRuthaambhu (released by Srimad 
Poundarikapuram Andavan Ashramam)- anything good
-credit goes to these original excellent commentaries.
All mistakes are only my lack of misunderstanding (and
 no understanding)
Please forgive aDiyEn for the same.
AchAryan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam
Regards
Namo Narayana
dAsan




                
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