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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00050 Dec 2003

 
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Sri Parthasarathi thunai
SrimathE rAmAnujaya Namaha
Sri Vara Vara MunayE Namaha
Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha
 
(vEroruvar ellAmai nindrAnai) Emperuman is the supreme. There is no one to 
equal or surpass his greatness. ?aham krishnasya jagatha: prabhava: pralayas 
thathA I maththa: paratharam nAnyat kinchidhasthi dhananjaya II? declares 
emperuman himself in his bhagavat geetha (7-6,7) [I am the sole creator and 
destroyer for this whole universe there is no one greater than me]
?yasmAth ksharamatheedhOham aksharAthapi shOththama: I
athOsmi lOkE vEdhE cha prathitha: purushOtama:? (15-18)
[Since I am greater than the kshara and akshara purushas I am regarded as the 
purushOtaman by the sruthis and smrithis]
To further establish emperuman?s words the rishis have declared as follows: ? 
na deivam keshavAth param? ?na param pundareekAkshAth?. The Vedas declare the 
same meaning in the verses, ?paramam prabhum nArAyanam? ?na dhath 
samaschApyadhi kascha drushyathE?.

Who is this supreme? Azhvar answers,
 
(emmAnai) The one who is my leader. Thirumazhisai azhvar is celebrated, 
as?marandhum puram thozhA mAndhar? even by mistake azhvar will not fall into 
any other devathas feet. So azhvar credits emperuman to be his lord (his 
leader). Else it can be stated that in the front and back azhvar has talked 
about the greatness and hence to add more beauty here he talks about the 
simplicity (sowlabhyam) of emperuman in the middle. Emperuman has so much grace 
that he purposely comes and showers his nirheduka krupai (unconditional grace) 
on me. 
 
[Instead of having the same colour beads throughout the chain it will be nicer 
to add a contrasting bead in the center. At this stage the great rAsa nAtyam 
comes to our memory. The gopikas formed a chain during the divine dance with 
Krishna in-between two gopis. There was one Krishna with two gopikas on the 
sides and vice versa. Here azhvar decorates his paasuram with the kalyana guna 
of parathvam on two sides and neermai (sowlabhyam) in the centre]
 
But again there are Vedic verses that declare one with the names Sivan, rudran, 
Esan, Eswaran, maheswaran etc to be the paramathma. Then how do you say 
narayanan is the only paramathma? Azhvar answers
 
(epporutkum sollAnai) By whatever names the Vedas may call nArayanan aloneis 
the paramathma who bears all these various names viz., AkAsam, prAnan, jyOthi, 
indran, vuriththiran, Sivan, Esan, Eswaran, mahEswaran, purushan, 
purushOththaman, uththama purushan, Vishnu, hari, achchudhan, ananthan, 
nArAyanan, thiruvikraman, vAmanan etc.
(epporutkum sollAnai) ?porul? refers to the sabdha which refers to a thing. 
Emperuman is only referred to by all the sabdhAs-sarvasabdhavAchyan.
(epporutkum sollAnai) the one who is referred directly by all sabdhas(words) 
and also indicated by the meanings of the words being the antharyAmi of all 
things.
For instance, let us consider the word/name ?sivan?. This word means purity. 
NArayanan has this purity by nature. So we can consider the verse,?siva Eva 
kEvala:? to indicate to narayanan directly. Whereas in someUpanishads like 
adharvasiras some identities of rudra have been quoted with the usage of the 
word Siva but indirectly indicate towards narayanan who remains as the inner 
conscience (antharyAmi) of rudran. In this way, narayanan becomes the meaning 
for all the words.  
(epporutkum sollAnai) Like the sivarudra shabthas other names like AkAsa, 
pranan, Indran etc also refer to narayana in many Vedic verses. If we try to 
establish the supremacy of Sivan then it is quite natural to say that even the 
Akasa, prAnan etc have supremacy. But since it is a known fact that these have 
some impurity it also holds good for Sivan (ArusadaikarandhAn). Thereby it is 
quite wise to understand that all these refer only to narayana.
 
Why don?t we consider that narayana nama refers only to Sivan? No it cannot be 
done so. Since both by sabdha and artha narayana nama has its own prominence. 
According to the sruthis and smritis it is a well-known fact that the Sivan 
known to all was created, and is one who hasn?t overcome hissins and has more 
faults and hence narayana nama cannot be considered to refer to Sivan. Only the 
vice-versa will fit properly. ?sAshvadham sivamachchudham? ?vishvAksham 
vishvashambhuvam? ?voordhvarEtham viroopAksham? ?ya: paras sa mahEswara:? 
states the Vedas. ?EsAna: prANatha:prANa:? ?sarva: sharva: shiva: stANu:? 
?AdhidEvO mahAdEva:? ?rudrO bahu sirA bhabru:? states SriVishnusahasranAmam. 
With all these quotes it is clear that the names rudra, Siva etc refers only to 
narayanan.
 
(epporutkum sollAnai) He is the leader for everything. Without any 
differentiation between a non-living thing and the great brahma rudras (top 
most over the living things) He is the leader (swami) of all. Then how can we 
equate any one else with his supremacy? ?pathim vishvasya nArAyanam?
 
(thoguththu sonnEn) Here I have given only the crux of emperuman?s parathvam 
and sowlabhyam. 

[For further details dive deep into the following paasurams in this prabhandam 
and azhvar?s another divine prabhandam thiruchandha viruththam]
 
(To be continued)
 
Alwar EmperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam
 
Adiyen rAmAnuja dAsee
Sumithra Varadarajan
 
 
 
 
 

 


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