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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00067 Nov 2003

 
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Sri Parthasarathi thunai
SrimathE rAmAnujaya Namaha
Sri Vara Vara MunayE Namaha
Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha
 
?makAyAm makarE mAsE chakrAmsam bhArgavOtbhavam
maheesAra purAdheesam bhakthisAra maham bhajE?
 
Among the 12 azhvars we cherish in our sampradayam, each one of them have their 
own speciality. One cannot be compared with the other though all of them 
stressed the very same point and remained as ?Eka kandargal? (people with 
single mind and speech). The mudal Azhvars took avatharam first andpaved path 
for the flourishing ghosti of Azhvars. But they were not called ?periyAzhvars? 
(Periya-big/first). The same name was given to vishnuchiththar, the celebrated 
father of our gOdhA nachiyar. Swamy mAmunikal gives the reason in upadesa 
ratinamAlai as, ?pongum parivAlE villiputtur pattarbiran pettrAn periyAzhvar 
ennum peyar?. What the other Azhvars had on perumal is ?parivu? (soft corner) 
but periyAzhvar had ?pongum parivu? (a very deep flooding love). Swamy 
nammazhvar is adorned as ?krishnatrishnA thattvam? (one who was in the deep 
thirst to attain lord Krishna) but even more celebrated is his disciple Sri 
Madurakavi Azhvar who lived as ?dEvumattrariyEn? (I know no other lord
other than Swamy nammazhvar). Kulasekarar shed his entire kingdom to obtain the 
thilakam for his thirunettri (?van ponnippErAru pOl varum kannaneer kondu 
arangan kOil thirumuttram sEru sei thondar sEvadi sezhunsEru 
ensennikkanivanE?). ThiruppanAzhvar took avatharam to prove to this world 
thatit doesn?t matter in which kulam you are born it is only the devotion inthe 
inner minds which really matters and thondaradipodi azhvar showed to the world 
the difficulties faced due to lowkika kAma (pleasures) and the happiness the 
ultimate bhagavath anubhavam fetches. Thirumangai azhvar was a man of action. 
One who is involved in kainkaryam cannot have his own anubhavam and the vice 
versa since if one is involved in his own meditation thenhe cannot do 
kainkaryam physically but kaliyan disproved this fact. He did not stay in one 
place like nammazhvar but went from one divya desam to the other and sung 
beautiful mangalasasanams on all the emperumans. Not stopping with this he did 
madhil
kainkaryam and many more kainkaryams to the divya desa emperumans. He is one 
azhvar who got the arthas not with vinayam (politeness) but vigour directly 
from perumal. He is the azhvar seen with a knife in all divya desams even today 
but do you know! Not kaliyan but one other azhvar reserves the name of ?uraiyil 
edAdhavar? (one who doesn?t place his knife into its cover)?
 
Yes. Thirumazhisai azhvar is adorned as ?uraiyil edAdhavar?. But in all divya 
desams including azhvar?a avathara stalam ?thirumazhisai? bhakthisArar is seen 
only with folded arms and not holding a knife. In case of thirumazhisai azhvar 
his knife is his own tongue. Azhvar is never frightened to express his views. 
He doesn?t want to pacify others but puts forth his points in a very 
straightforward way and his words cut through the arguments of veda bAhyas (one 
who doesn?t accept the vedas) and veda kudrishti?s (one who accept the vedas 
and give wrong interpretations) like a knife without any halt. Doubt may arise 
in the words of nammazhvar when hesays, ?muniyE nAnmuganE mukkanappa? etc but 
thirumazhisai azhvar?s pasurams gives no room for any such confusions. Why is 
azhvar so strong? It is because he has plunged into all the philosophies. 
?samanam kattrom,sAkiyam kattrOm sankaranAr Akiya Agama nool kattrOm? and 
finally he was brought to the path of vaishnavism by a great
acharya, Peyazhvar. Moreover, thirumazhisai azhvar declares that he is the 
single soul to understand the divine qualities of emperuman since he was 
blessed with the same by emperuman himself. (?Arum ariyAr avan perumai??appil 
aruporulai yAn arindha vAru?). To get our minds clear of the doubts about the 
parathvam of emperuman and other such issues it is wise to go through the 
staunch words of thirumazhisai azhvar who is not only well versed in vaishnavic 
philosophy but also in all other philosophies in this world. The life history 
of thirumazhisai azhvar also shows that though bornin a brahmana kulam he was 
brought up by a velAlan and hence did not get the right to learn the vedas but 
azhvar did know all the vedArthas due to the divine grace of emperuman. The 
incident with the Brahmins stopping the vedas while azhvar passed that way and 
how they forgot the place they stopped and how azhvar reminded them of the same 
etc are known to all.
Moreover thirumazhisai azhvar had the greatness of making perumal himself walk 
at the back of him (?painAgappAi surittikol?) and till today that perumal in 
kanchi is adorned as ?sonna vannam seitha perumal? (perumal who obeyed the 
orders, yathOththakAri) and arAvamudan emperuman in kudandhailiterally started 
to sit up on hearing azhvar say, ?ezhundirundhu pEsu? and stayed in the same 
position (uttAna sAyee) on hearing ?vAzhi kEsanE?. It is said that from that 
day perumal and azhvar exchanged names and hence we say thirumazhisai pirAn and 
ArAvamudAzhvan. Such was the speciality of thirumazhisai pirAn.  
 
In the next posting we will enjoy the brief about his prabhandams and then will 
try to understand the great prabhandam of thirumazhisai pirAn, Nanmugan 
thiruvandhAdhi with the divine vyakhyanam of Sri Periya vAchan pillai andits 
easy explanation by Sri sudarsanar.
 
Alwar EmperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam
 
Adiyen rAmAnuja dAsee
Sumithra Varadarajan




Azhwar emperumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigalE saraNam

Adiyen rAmAnuja dAsan/dAsee

Varadarajan/Sumithra



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