Sri Parthasarathi thunai
SrimathE rAmAnujaya Namaha
Srimad Vara Vara munayE Namaha
Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha
"mEshE chittA samuthbhootham pANdyadEsE kaNamsakam I
SriparAnkusa sathbhaktham madhuram kavimAsrayE II"
"Bow your head," instructs the father to the kid. He may be an agnAni (Ignorant
soul) or a staunch Srivaishnate the blessing of the lord is equal to all. The
archaka places the divine feet of emperuman, the Sri SaTakOpam on top of all
our heads. Why is the divine feet called as Sri SaTakOpam/Sri satAri? It is to
honour the very close devotee of emperuman, prapanna jana koodasthar, Sri
Nammazhvar who longed for the divine feet of emperuman and sung beautiful
paasurams about the divine lord. The divine prabhandams/paasurams of azhvar
(when we say just azhvar it refers only to nammazhvar in sampradayam) always
reserves a special position in the mind of all Srivaishnavas. He is the azhvar
who plays a major role in our guru paramparai.
MAmunikal in his upadesa ratina mAlai says, "namperumal nammAzhvar nanjeeyer
nampillai enbar avar avar thamettraththAl anbudaiyOr sARRu thirunAmangal
tAnendru nannenjE eththadhanai sollu nee endru" -50 [Due to their special
greatness namperumal, nammAzhvar, nanjeeyer and nampillai have been adorned
with great love, with the corresponding names]
What is special about nammAzhvar?
Azhvar himself answers this question in his very first paasuram in
thiruvAimozhi - "mayarvaru madhinalam arulinan" [I have been blessed with
unblemished bhakthi and jnana by the lord out of his mere grace, nirheduka
krupai]. So is azhvar not great if emperuman himself choose azhvar among the
infinite number of souls to bestow his krupai on him? Azhvar was blessed with
deep bhakthi and ultimate knowledge (jnanam kanindha bhakthi) that led azhvar
to rise through steps of parabhakthi, parajnana, and finally reach the ultimate
step of paramabhakthi. So it is foolishness for nAyinEn (the lowest of the
lowest soul) to try to talk the greatness of azhvar. But the lord cherishes
hearing about his devotee even if it is in broken language filled with
ignorance ('elaiya pun kavidhaiyELum empirArkku eniyavArE') . Didn't the lord
question kambanAttAzhvar if he has sung about azhvar (nam satakoparai
padineerO?) and make him sing the "satakOpar andhAdhi"? It is the belief of our
poorvacharyas that even if we utter the name "vakulAbharanan" emperuman starts
smelling us considering us to be a close associate/disciple of swamy nammazhvar.
With whatever has been told till now you all may have jumped to the concrete
conclusion that this posting is going to be purely about the greatness of Swamy
Nammazhvar. But No, adiyen is now going to go one step higher and talk about a
personality who is regarded with greater esteem even more than nammazhvar
himself in our sampradayam.
Who is that?
He is none other than the great disciple of nammazhvar, Sri Madurakavi Azhvar.
Again you may all ask me "What is so great about Madurakavi azhvar? He has sung
only 10 paasurams that too not about the lord"
That is exactly his greatness. Madurakavi azhvar didn't sing even a single
paasuram about the lord but sung only about his perumal, swamy nammazhvar.
Anjaneyar tore his chest and showed perumal and piratti residing inside his
heart. Madurakavi azhvar placed nammazhvar inside his heart and sang, "devu
maRRariyEn" In Periya thiruvandhAdhi nammazhvar challenged the supreme lord,
"yan periyan nee periyai enbhadhanai yAr arivar" It is said that only due to
this paasuram, the prabhandam obtained its name. Azhvar says, "Lets see who
among us is great. You have placed the worlds inside you but I have kept you
inside my heart so now tell me who is great!" or otherwise,"yAn periyan-nee
periyai enbhadhanai yAr arivar" "Iam great- who knows about your greatness?" If
azhvar attained his greatness by placing emperuman inside his heart then
doesn't madurakavi azhvar who placed azhvar inside his heart reserves a higher
position?
In kAnchipuram, nammazhvar is beautifully seated with his right hand indicating
his heart. Elders say that it is the indication as sung by azhvar in the first
paasuram of thiruvaimozhi, "thozhudhu ezhu en mananE" instructing his mind to
fall to the divine feet of "amarargal adhipathi" devAdhirajan. But do you all
know that madurakavigal is seen in the same posture in one another divya desam?
Where?
Thiruvallikeni kandEnE!
Thiruvarangath amudhanar in his divine ramanuja nootrandhAdhi celebrates the
existence of all the divya desa emperuman inside Swamy emperuman's heart and
that swamy happily residing inside his heart,
"eruppidam vaikundam vEnkatam mAlirunchOlai ennum poruppidam mAyanukkenbar
nallOr avaithannodum vandhiruppidam mAyan erAmAnusan vandhiruppidam
endhanedhayaththullE thanakkinburavE" (106)
Similarly, emperuman placed the worlds inside him, nammazhvar placed emperuman
inside him whereas madurakavigal placed nammazhvar inside his heart and due to
the grace on all of us shows where he has hided azhvar inturn emperuman and all
the worlds by indicating towards his heart in thiruvallikeni
(madurakavigal-moolavar). Emperuman cherishes his existence inside his
devotee's heart (nammazhvar/ramanuja), whereas nammazhvar/ramanuja cherish
living in the hearts of their disciples' madurakavigal/amudhanar. In our
sampradayam "madhurakavi bhavam" reserves great importance as the acharya is
the one who uplifts us from this samsAram to the divine abode of emperuman. So
more than the emperuman acharyas shower more grace on us and come to our rescue
in the high priority period. Even though elder in age and born in a high caste
madurakavi azhvar's acharya nishtai is beyond words. That is why his prabhandam
has been given a very special postion equal to the "nama:" padam in
thirumanthram. The same nishtai was expressed by ananthAzhvan towards swamy
emperumAnAr.
MAmunikal in his arthi prabhandam says, "manniya seer mAran kalai vunavAgap
peRRom; madurakavi sol padiyE nilaiyAga peRRom" So it is highly essential for
each and every Srivaishnava to follow the footsteps of madurakavi Azhvar.
Earlier we saw that our elders attribute the existence of nammazhvar in kanchi
with right hand indicating his heart to show that the first paasuram of
thiruvaimozhi being a mangalasasanam to devaperumal. Then what does madurakavi
azhvar's special posture in thiruvallikeni indicates? Why is this not seen in
the other divya desams? We will try to find the reasons in the next posting.
Till then let us all place madurakavi azhvar into our hearts and remain in
peace.
Azhvar emperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharaNam
Adiyen ramanuja dAsee
Sumithra Varadarajan
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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