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Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

                                The Unqualified Azhwar

         We are all aware of Sri Nammazhwar's life story. He was born at 
TirukkurugUr as an entirely unique child, the likes of which the world has 
never seen and would never see. Whereas every mortal child emits a cry 
immediately upon emerging from the mother's womb (in fact this is supposed to 
be one of the vital signs of normalcy in a newborn), the child of KAri and 
udayanangai never let out even a whimper, not only at birth, but never even 
later. Why do infants cry? Normally because they are hungry, sleepy or have 
some ache or pain. Since the Satakopa sisu was beyond these mundane wants or 
botherations, he did not cry. We see infants perceptibly thinning, when they 
miss even a single feeding and become extremely cranky when they miss their 
beauty sleep. However, this extraordinary baby never emitted a single world of 
complaint nor did he appear in any way affected by staying off any form of 
intake and not closing its eyes even for forty winks. It was this distinct 
difference from normal infant behaviour that gave the child the name, "MAran"( 
one who is different).

   These were not the only aspects of uniqueness in Sri Nammahwar. Normal 
children insist on running about and engaging in mischief once they are mobile 
and are usually difficult to control, being carbon copies of Denis the Menace. 
Sri  Nammazhwar gave his parents no anxious moments on this count and confined 
himself entirely to the hole in the Tamarind tree on the premises of AdinAtha 
PerumAL sannidhi at TirukkurugUr. The child never walked, never ran, never 
moved out of his apparently permanent perch in the tree. This continued for 
sixteen long years, till Sri MadurakavigaL recognised the unusual teenager as 
an apostle extraordinaire and became an ardent disciple. Even after this, Azwar 
did not move out of his tree-home and it was the Emperumans of all the 
divyadesams who came running to the Tamarind tree, for obtaining adulation by 
the unmoving Azhwar.

   It is clear therefore that Azhwar did not engage in any of the activities 
ascribed to normal human beings, either as an infant or after growing up. He 
was not affected by adoloscence or the normal teenage troubles. Far from 
courting delightful damsels, he preferred his own company and that of the Lord, 
who was his constant companion in thought and formed his all-"uNNum sOru, 
parugum neer, tinnum vettrilai, yAvum KaNNan". Wealth in any form had no 
meaning for him, having been blessed with the foremost of all riches-Bhagavat 
anubhavam.

Thus, without engaging in any human activity, without going out anywhere from 
the tall tamarind tree, without courting any sort of  human company, without 
apparently learning anything in the formal sense, Azhwar must have been totally 
ignorant of the ways of the world. He could not have known the intensity of 
love that a girl could have for her beloved, nor the depth of emotion carried 
by a devoted husband for his wonderful wife. He could not have known the 
infatuation some people have for ladies, in and out of wedlock. He could not 
have imagined the overwhelming love some people have, not for their human 
counterparts, but towards wealth and riches in any and all forms.  He could not 
have known the extents to which people perjure themselves for amassing wealth, 
praising skyhigh, idols with feet of clay. He could definitely not have had an 
inkling of how mercenary people are, surrounding the death-bed of a person, in 
the fond hope of benefiting from the fortune he would leave behind, hovering 
about like vultures which have sighted pray. Nor could he have known the ways 
of the oldest profession, which discards its customers after sucking out all 
that they have to offer. Thus the Azhwar, confined to his tree-home throughout 
his life, without anyone to tell him anything either about the world or of 
anything else, bereft of human company whch he wantonly eschewed, could have 
hardly known any of the aforesaid and a hundred other things which mundane 
mortals become aware of at the appropriate points of time in life, either 
through personal experience or through others.

Thus, if there is anyone totally unqualified to speak about or comment upon the 
ways of the world, it is Swami Nammazhwar, who put into actual practice what 
Sri Kulasekhara Perumal vowed to do-"uNdiyE udayE ugandu Odum im maNdalam 
tannodum kooduvadillai yAn"-and kept entirely away from polluting human 
company. Other Azhwars like Sri Vishnuchitta, Sri Kalian, Sri Tondaradippodi 
etc. might be more qualified in this regard, having lived among frail mortals 
like us, moved as one among us and been witness daily to some human failing or 
the other, but not Sri Satakopa Muni.
 
Despite this apparent lack of worldly knowledge, we find Sri Nammazhwar 
spaeaking  quite knowledgeably, at times even cynically, about the ways of the 
world and its mortal inhabitants.
Describing the mercenary attitude of relatives and friends, he points out, as 
if personally affected by their attitude, as to how they surround one when one 
is affluent, sucking one's wealth away like leeches and caring not for one when 
one is in penury or dire straits-
"tuNaiyum sArvum AguvAr pOl suttratthavar pirarum
 aNaya vanda Akkam uNdEl attaigaL pOl suvaippar"

"poruL kai uNdAi sella kANil pOttri endru Ettri ezhuvar
 iruL koL tunbatthu inmai kANil ennE enbArum illai".

Azhwar categorically rules out any permanence in the so-called pleasure we 
hanker after, with all the authenticity of one who has experienced them and 
found them to be puerile-
"illai kaNdeer inbam andO!"

Not having had even a negligible experience of female company, Azhwar is still  
able to speak with authority on the plight of those who delight in it to the 
exclusion of all others-
"paNimin tirvaruL ennum amseetha paipoom paLLi
 aNi men kuzhalAr inba kalavi amudu uNdAr
 tuNi munbu nAla pal Ezhaiyar tAm izhippa selvar".

Without having earned or saved a penny for himself or for others, not having 
even a nodding acquaintance with business or commerce, Azhwar still gives a 
graphic description of the impermanence of wealth and prosperity, pointing out 
how exalted monarchs are often reduced to the state of penniless paupers and 
the lack of any guarantee in this life of continued affluence and power-
"andru mudal indru arudiyA
vAzhndArgaL vAzhndE nirpar enbadu illai"

The tendency of poets and others to extoll the praises of the wealthy and 
powerful, in the hope of benefiting from their largesse and heaping on them 
totally undeserved paeans of hypocritical praise, comes in for caustic comment 
by Azhwar, who paints these scenes so realistically as if he had been witness 
to them-
"mAri anaya kai mAl varai okkum tiNdOl endru
 pAril Or pattraiyai pacchai pasum poigaL pEsavE"

Azhwar's portrayals of the pleasures of the flesh that the Lord can afford to 
those who desire the same, leave us wondering as to how such detailed knowledge 
on the subject could have been acquired by this celibate saint. This is 
especially true of the decads "VEy maru tOLiNai meliyumAlO",  "Malligai kamazh 
tendral eerumAlO" etc., where Azhwar describes both the pleasures of physical 
union as well as the distress occasioned by separation from the beloved.

We are therefore left wondering as to how Azhwar could exhibit knowledge, that 
too in such intricate detail, about phenomena he could never have come acroos, 
having eschewed all human company and confined himself all his life to a hole 
in a tree.

The solution to this apparently inexplicable riddle is provided by Azhwar 
himself , that too in the opening decad of Tiruvaimozhi, in the very first 
verse thereof-
"uyarvara uyar nalam udayavan yavan avan
 mayarvara madi nalam aruLinan yavan avan"

Azhwar tells us that it is the Lord who has blessed him with unblemished 
wisdom. It is this wisdom that enables Azhwar to perceive matters mundane in 
true light, unaffected by eyes jaundiced by sensual pleasures. While the actual 
players in a drama would be unable to detect any defects in their action, 
dialogue delivery etc., an onlooker is instantly able to perceive such 
shortcomings. Similarly, Azhwar too, in his role as a non-participating 
observer, is able to clearly perceive and mirror the frailties in human 
conduct. Thus, even though he never had an occasion to be an actual player in 
the Great Human Tragedy, he is to perceive vividly the faults and foibles of 
the human race, due to the divine wisdom bestowed on him by Emperuman. And he 
sees them all in his mind's eye, just as Sanjaya did. It was as if Emperuman 
told Azhwar too, "divyam dadhAmi tE chakshu:" (I endow thee with superhuman 
eyes, capable of perceiving not only what happens in the immediate vicinity, 
but the world over, as clearly as if it is occurring right in front of your 
eyes).

Apart from the blessing of blemishless wisdom, Azhwar's tirunamam itself tells 
us how he was able to divine the erratic and wayward nature of the world, 
without ever being an integral part thereof. The name "SathakOpa:" refers to 
someone who vented his anger on "Satham". We are told that all babies, on being 
born, retain full memories of their previous births and also the wonderful 
wisdom accumulated over innumerable births. However, the moment they emerge 
from the protective confines of the mother's womb, an ill-boding wind known as 
"Satham" strikes them with such force that the infants instantly forget all 
that is stored in their grey cells and begin to cry in fear at the strange and 
unfamiliar environs they have been thrust into.  In the case of Azhwar, 
however, this cruel draught could not succeed in its mission, with the saint 
just shooing it away. Thus, he retained all his wisdom, thereby able to 
recollect the wicked ways of the world, without ever setting eyes on a human 
being. 

A third explanation is also to be found in Tiruvaimozhi, for Sri Nammazhwar's 
apparently unlimited knowledge about people and their behaviour. In more than 
one verse, Azhwar puts the entire credit for the composition of Tiruvaimozhi at 
the lotus feet of the Lord, telling us time and again that it is He who 
actually authored the songs, with Azhwar acting just as an output device-
" PaNnAr pAdal in kavigaL yAnAi tannai tAn pAdi 
   tennA ennum en ammAn TirumAlirum sOlayAnE"

"tannai tAnE tudittu"

"en nenjattuL irundu ingu irum Tamizh nool ivai mozhindu" etc.

Hence, when Azhwar speaks in a worldly-wise manner, as if aware of the entire 
gamut of emotions human beings are capable of , despite being a total stranger 
to human society, it is actually Emperuman speaking from within the Azhwar, 
making fun of us, showing us up to be the hypocrites we are, exhorting us to 
stay away from paths of peril, telling us to keep our senses under strict 
control, lest they lead us astray from the narrow and straight path to Paradise 
and so on.

Azhwar's state reminds us of that of Sri PrahlAdAzhwan, who too, despite his 
tender years, was well aware of the human race's predilection for sensual 
pleasures and its thirsting for a variety of desired objects, without its wants 
ever being satisfied fully, as one satisfied desire immediately gives rise to 
another. Therefore he prays to Sri Nrsimha to bless him (Prahlada) with the 
sort of attachment to the Lord, which ordinary mortals have towards various 
objects of puerile pleasure they covet-
"yA preeti: avivEkAnAm vishayEshu anapAyinI
 tvAm anusmarata: sA mE hridayAt mApasarpatu".

Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana 
Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:
Dasan, sadagopan













Mayarvara madi nalam
Yanai tannai tan padi
En nenjatthul irundu ingu irum tamizh nool ivai mozhindu
Satakopan-Satam kopayati iti


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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