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Geethakamal Nallan Chakravarthy • December 20, 2000 


>From: "Narasimhan Vijayaraghavan" 
>To: bhakti-list@egroups.com
>Subject: (unknown)
>Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2000 20:45:45 -0000
>
>Hello all,
>           I would like to ask a fundamental question.Who are alwars and
>acharyas?.Do alwars have some divine power?.Where the alwars stand as per
>our sampradayam and what is their exact role?.Please clarify.
>Thank you.
>
>                                                             Your's
>
>N.Vijayaraghavan.

Srimathe Ramanujaya namaha:

I am gita(vaidhehi@hotmail.com),participating in the discussion for
the first time. I have no knowledge of the vedas(with the exception
of the Bhagavad Gita). I classify myself as "Arangan aidyaarkku adiyan".
Hence my theme is Praptti/Bhakti. I would like to say a few words about
Alwars.

When you say sampradayam, I do not know what exactly you mean. But
I feel that certain sampradayams have been introduced/added later other
than the sampradayams introduced by Ramanuja thro' simhasanathipadi's.
ALwars are great saints who basked in the luxury of praising Lord
Narayana and got the vision of HIM. Esp. you should read Nammazhwar's
one pasuram(7.2 Thiruvoimozhi) "Kangulum pagalum kann thuyil ariyaall"
in which Nammazhwar imagines himself as Nayaki and Krishna as the Nayakan 
and pines for HIS love. It's a beautiful pasuram. The moment
you start chanting the Prabhandam,you feel vatsalya towards everybody.
Actually there are twelve azhwars and their combined and yet separate
works constitute the Naalaayira Divya Prabhandam. According to some people 
Madhurakavi is not considered as Azhwar since every other 11 Azhwars sang 
about the God but Madhurakavi sang about the Nammazhwar.
One should not chant Nammazhwar's Thiruvoimozhi without chanting 
Madhurakavi's "Kanninun siru thaambu". Some pasurams are easy to
chant to start with and then can go to tougher ones. If you're
interested I can suggest some pasurams.

Azhwars role is nothing othen the surrender to GOD. The philosopher
Lord Krishna teaches Arjuna all dharamas and then tells him to give
up all dharmas and surrender to HIM alone and HE will release Arjuna
from all sins and give him eternal happiness(Sarva dharman parithyagya
mam ekam sharanam vraja,aham thvam sarvapapebhyo mokshaishyami ma sucha in 
the last chapter of BG and says that HE is attainable only through
undivided Bhakti in the ninth chapter). Azhwars are the embodiment of
pure love for GOD. Can you think of Narayana alone all the time? When
one can think of HIM in that aspect,one will surely mingle with HIM.
Examples are Andall,Mira,Azhwars,...When you chant these great saints
names,you are chanting the name of Narayana in essence.

In my opinion, veda is a little dangerous because there are different
schools of thought. It's upto the individual following one particular
school of thought. Ramanuja Acharya has written commentaries on Brahma
sutra,vedanta sara,BG and also many others. But Ramanuja was not happy
because that didn't include the concept of Prapatti in the whole sense.
Then he writes Sharanagatha Gadhyam all that. I know very very little
of different philosophies(of Shankara, Ramanuja and Madhwa) and I found
perfect logic only in the Ramanuja's philosophy(Shankara contradicts
his own statements in many places and I don't want to say anymore on this
as it may offend people who follow his philosophy). Mathematically there is 
no one-one relation between God and knowledge. God represents knowldege but 
knowledge need not necessarily represent HIM. In short,
a Bhaktiyogin will have the knowledge of karmayogin and gyanayogin but
other way round may not be true.

Since this is Dhanur masam(Marghazhi) let us all chant Thiruppavai. They say 
that a person who doesn't know Thiruppavai is not worthy to
live in this world(it comes in Vaazhi thiru namam as Kodai Thamizh
Aiaindu aindum ariyatha maanidarai vaiyam summappadum vambu). She
conquered and ruled  Lord Sri Ranganatha and HE himself named her ANdall.

I sincerely ask the devotees for forgivenness incase I have made any
errors in this.

Azhwar Thiruvadigalle Sharanam
EmPerumaanaar Thiruvadigalle Sharanam
Gita

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