Today 18-1-2017 Nammaazhvaar Moksham is celebrated. Nammaazhvaar or Sri Satakopan is the celebrated Mystic-Supreme of the faith of Sri Ramanuja, Sri Vaishnava Sampradaya.
Why is it so significant that the salvation day of one Yogi is being participated for the past thousand years and more? Of course any great soul is worthy of our adoration and worship. But why even great teachers like Sri Nathamuni, Alavandaar and Sri Ramanuja have poured their total heart into Azhwar-Bhakti? Nammaazhvaar is the Family Wealth of the surrendered souls, Prapannas. He is the Leader of the Prapanna tribe!
Nampillai gives an excellent explanation for this when he writes the introduction for 10th Ten 9th TVM, Soozhvisumbu aNimukil - Here I will try to give it a rendering in my own anglo-saxon.
"The great spiritual ecstacies that happen to great mystics occurred to Nammaazhvaar gradually. From the stage of transcendent devotion all further stages ensued forth in our Azhwar. Those stages have been logged very truly upto the 9th Ten and even upto 10.8. Now hereafterwards Nammaazhvaar could not bear to stay longer in the worldly life. He is dying to enjoy the ecstatic bliss of union and communion, immediate. Such immediacy is not possible on this earth. It is inherently transcendent experience. If Azhwar is so anxious to reach Him over there His anxiety in getting Azhwar transported over there is much more and more forceful. Who suffers worst is difficult to decide, Azhwar or God? He has been tarrying so far only to make Azhwar prepared enough. So he was giving him all stages of experiences of His Essence, Form, Qualities and Manifestations. And He gave really all these experiences so realistic as if visible and perceptual externally. The path of Lights, the assistance and reception given by the way-guarding deities, the grand welcome gestures from the ever free of the Transcendent World, whatever have been narrated in Vedanta, all those experiences escatological Azhwar was made to experience here while living. And all these mystical magnum Azhwar is singing in the coming two decads viz., 10.9, 10.10. And while singing now Azhwar is narrating what he experienced as something experienced by devotees in general. He is describing his personal experiences as general and universal experiences of all devotees for all time to come. The commentator asks a beautiful question here - why? Why does Azhwar do like this? Why he describes his own private experiences as general statements of the devotees at large? The commentator gives an extraordinarily significant reason for this. Azhwar wants to assure by this way of generalising that whatever salvation he got belongs to all devotees in all places in all times, whoever happens to relate to him direct, indirect or remote or by chance. All such souls reap this Supreme Grace vouchsafed unto Azhwar by Thirumaal."
How significant is this day of the Salvation of Azhwar!
***
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Tuesday, January 10, 2017
In the eyes of Divinity, even wishing is doing !
Today, 10-1-2017, Araiyar Sevai was having reading of an important piece- The Introduction and the Commentary of First Stanza in Third Ten, 3RD Thiruvaymozhi, 'Ozhivilkaalam Ellaam'.
One of the important concepts stressed in the commentary is the principle that in the eyes of the Divine, even mere wishing to do the divine service on the part of the human soul is taken as Service Done. What is required on the part of the human soul is the intense desire and wish to do Service to the Almighty God. This hearty wish pleases the Divine like anything and it is taken as Real Service by Him.
The Commentator says 'Nammazhvaar bhaarikkiraar' - i e Nammaazhvaar wishes and earnestly imagine and wants to do all services, without any blemish. Of course we may ask what mere wishing can do? A wish is a mere wish - it has no gratifying power. Is it not?
But the Commentator asks us to look closer at the issue. He sites one example of a glutton who derives immense pleasure even reading just the menu card (UNadhyaayam). Seeing this dish and that dish and again that different dish is available, his mental palate is pleased as if tasted all those very things.
Let us see some points of theological interest covered in the commentary both by way of introduction and also the explanations for this first stanza.
In the last stanza of the 2ND Thiruvaymozhi Nammaazhvaar was saying 'my heart has become stable and my soul has got firmly established in the realisation of its own real and intrinsic nature' - 'nilaiperren nenjam perradhu needuyir'.
Now when the soul understands its own self-nature firmly then the next step is to do activities of spirituality proper to such self-nature. So in this 3RD TVM - Ozhivilkaalam - Nammaazhvaar craves for Kainkarya - Service to the Divine - which is proper and naturally ensuing such realisation of self-nature. This TVM is prayer for Service. The previous 2ND TVM was anouncement of self-nature.
While earnestly panting for divine service Azhwar becomes clearly aware of certain uncomfortable truths and what he has left undone and ignored. He is now speaking as the representative of all souls in that - Right from the start, this soul has been escaping all the chances created by God to make it easier for the human soul to come and reach Him and enjoy Him. He gave Sastras, He was born as Avataras, Divine INcarnations. Why? He has been residing inside this very soul from the day one of creation as Inner Soul, Antaraatman. But very deftly this soul has been giving the lie to the Divine and escaped all such chances. Azhwar is seeing in his intense awareness all such omissions and commisions, runnings away from the Divine, ignoring the Inner Soul and all that. He becomes very dejected and about to lose his heart. Woof...! NO way no way...
Then the Divine answers, 'Why Azhwar? why are you so choked in sorrow? why you think you have lost? No soul loses the Divine in the Total Scheme, my dear! Have I not come and am I not standing all the time waiting for the souls to come and reach me, on the very Hills of Venkatam? Am I not? Have you forgotten? It is for souls like you I am waiting there. Why? What problem? Are you crying over the fact that your body will be an impediment in the way? No chance. Only with this body you have to do service here in the HIlls. So the body is not a block! Then? Perhaps you are hesitant over the fact that your Knowledge is not Expansive as it should be but narrow because of this samsara. So what? Even those persons who have their Knowledge attained natural expansion crossing this samsara, even they are facing this trouble of their native knowledge standing no match for the Infinite Knowledge of the Divine, which is always demanding to know more and more and gets never exhausted. So it is not something your own specific problem. Leave it.!'
Azhwar thinks: 'Ahaa ! Yea it is true. The Ultimate Absolute Divinity is the same here or there. If it is so, and if the self-same He is here on the Hills, and if my own body which I thought to be a handicap for service is actually not an impediment but an accessory needed for service, then why, for what am I waiting here? I can do all the services which I wanted to do by going to the Sri Vaikunta, I can do all such services here itself. Woww...! Yea come on, when the chance is so handy and near reach, my mind races in imagination of all kinds of service I intend to do and which I will be called to do by Him and all that...' So Nammazhvaar starts day-dreaming or mentally imaging all situations of his doing service in this TVM. - So the commentator beautifully expands on this theme. The commentator says : "Lakshmana was saying 'I will do and panting to do, all types of service for my Lord, going with Him'. It is teh nature of Lakshmana. Just like that Nammaazhvaar is also panting to do all services. It is like the glutton reading and reading over the menu-card and mentally feasting over the dishes there." Bhajanaparanaai irukkum avan UNadhyaayam patikkumaap polE iruppathondraayiRRu ivarutaiya kainkarya manOratham.
Just imagine all these stuff read before the Lord Divine in the original Manipravala Commentary by the Araiyars! My Lord Ranga was so very immensely pleased and just to look at Him His 'ILLippu' was so visible.
Is it for nothing they say the Kondaattam - 'Thamizh pin senRa PerumaaL' - Divinity chasing the honey like Thamizh!
***
One of the important concepts stressed in the commentary is the principle that in the eyes of the Divine, even mere wishing to do the divine service on the part of the human soul is taken as Service Done. What is required on the part of the human soul is the intense desire and wish to do Service to the Almighty God. This hearty wish pleases the Divine like anything and it is taken as Real Service by Him.
The Commentator says 'Nammazhvaar bhaarikkiraar' - i e Nammaazhvaar wishes and earnestly imagine and wants to do all services, without any blemish. Of course we may ask what mere wishing can do? A wish is a mere wish - it has no gratifying power. Is it not?
But the Commentator asks us to look closer at the issue. He sites one example of a glutton who derives immense pleasure even reading just the menu card (UNadhyaayam). Seeing this dish and that dish and again that different dish is available, his mental palate is pleased as if tasted all those very things.
Let us see some points of theological interest covered in the commentary both by way of introduction and also the explanations for this first stanza.
In the last stanza of the 2ND Thiruvaymozhi Nammaazhvaar was saying 'my heart has become stable and my soul has got firmly established in the realisation of its own real and intrinsic nature' - 'nilaiperren nenjam perradhu needuyir'.
Now when the soul understands its own self-nature firmly then the next step is to do activities of spirituality proper to such self-nature. So in this 3RD TVM - Ozhivilkaalam - Nammaazhvaar craves for Kainkarya - Service to the Divine - which is proper and naturally ensuing such realisation of self-nature. This TVM is prayer for Service. The previous 2ND TVM was anouncement of self-nature.
While earnestly panting for divine service Azhwar becomes clearly aware of certain uncomfortable truths and what he has left undone and ignored. He is now speaking as the representative of all souls in that - Right from the start, this soul has been escaping all the chances created by God to make it easier for the human soul to come and reach Him and enjoy Him. He gave Sastras, He was born as Avataras, Divine INcarnations. Why? He has been residing inside this very soul from the day one of creation as Inner Soul, Antaraatman. But very deftly this soul has been giving the lie to the Divine and escaped all such chances. Azhwar is seeing in his intense awareness all such omissions and commisions, runnings away from the Divine, ignoring the Inner Soul and all that. He becomes very dejected and about to lose his heart. Woof...! NO way no way...
Then the Divine answers, 'Why Azhwar? why are you so choked in sorrow? why you think you have lost? No soul loses the Divine in the Total Scheme, my dear! Have I not come and am I not standing all the time waiting for the souls to come and reach me, on the very Hills of Venkatam? Am I not? Have you forgotten? It is for souls like you I am waiting there. Why? What problem? Are you crying over the fact that your body will be an impediment in the way? No chance. Only with this body you have to do service here in the HIlls. So the body is not a block! Then? Perhaps you are hesitant over the fact that your Knowledge is not Expansive as it should be but narrow because of this samsara. So what? Even those persons who have their Knowledge attained natural expansion crossing this samsara, even they are facing this trouble of their native knowledge standing no match for the Infinite Knowledge of the Divine, which is always demanding to know more and more and gets never exhausted. So it is not something your own specific problem. Leave it.!'
Azhwar thinks: 'Ahaa ! Yea it is true. The Ultimate Absolute Divinity is the same here or there. If it is so, and if the self-same He is here on the Hills, and if my own body which I thought to be a handicap for service is actually not an impediment but an accessory needed for service, then why, for what am I waiting here? I can do all the services which I wanted to do by going to the Sri Vaikunta, I can do all such services here itself. Woww...! Yea come on, when the chance is so handy and near reach, my mind races in imagination of all kinds of service I intend to do and which I will be called to do by Him and all that...' So Nammazhvaar starts day-dreaming or mentally imaging all situations of his doing service in this TVM. - So the commentator beautifully expands on this theme. The commentator says : "Lakshmana was saying 'I will do and panting to do, all types of service for my Lord, going with Him'. It is teh nature of Lakshmana. Just like that Nammaazhvaar is also panting to do all services. It is like the glutton reading and reading over the menu-card and mentally feasting over the dishes there." Bhajanaparanaai irukkum avan UNadhyaayam patikkumaap polE iruppathondraayiRRu ivarutaiya kainkarya manOratham.
Just imagine all these stuff read before the Lord Divine in the original Manipravala Commentary by the Araiyars! My Lord Ranga was so very immensely pleased and just to look at Him His 'ILLippu' was so visible.
Is it for nothing they say the Kondaattam - 'Thamizh pin senRa PerumaaL' - Divinity chasing the honey like Thamizh!
***
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