AhalahillEn Paasuram Musings : part 2
From the Bhakti List Archives
• June 11, 1998
Dear BhakthAs : We started this series of postings on the Isvara Vaikaasi Visaakam day , which has been celebrated by Sri MaaNavALa MaamunigaL as " Vedam Tamizh seytha meyyan yezhil Kuruhai Naathan avatharittha nALL " . VaikAsi VisAkam day is indeed the day devoted to saluting the Master of the beautiful Thirukkuruhai , who transformed the rigorous Sanskritic VedAs in to DrAvida BhAshai . It is very appropriate that MaNavALa MaamunigaL goes on to wonder : uNdO vaikAsi VisAkatthuk koppuru nALL ? ( Is there any auspicious day that matches the glory of the VaikAsi VisAkam day ? No.) uNdO SatakOparkkopporuvAr ? ( Is there anyone that can match the illustrious glory of our Kulapathi , NammAzhwAr ? No. ) uNdO ThiruvAimozhikkoppu ? ( is there any divya prabhandham that can match the magnificience of ThiruvAimozhi ? None ) tenn KuruhaikkundO oru paar tanil okkumUr ? ( are there any divya desams that match the auspiciousness of ThirukkuruhUr that gave birth to our Kulapathi ? No ). These rhetorical inquiry and the answers implicit in these questions soundly establish the utter sacredness and the extraordinary bhakthi yogam of NammAzhwAr that culminated in the performance of his SaraNAgathi at the lotus feet of ThiruvenkatamudayAn , which are covered up to His ankles with the most fragrant flowers used by the DevAs during their aarAdhanams . At this divya desam linked with the charama SlOkam and saraNAgathi , AzhwAr elected appropriately to perform his SaraNAgathi . At the Thirumalai divyadesam , AzhwAr showed us what is hEyam ( that to be detested and pushes aside ) and what is upAdhEyam ( that to be desired and welcomed ) . He had been discussing ealier as to what is thyAjyam ( to be abandoned ) and what is upAdhEyam( to be acquired) . He repeatedly explained to us that being engaged in worldly pleasures and siRRinbam is paramAvathi dukkham ( the limit of sorrows ). He instructed us that the engagement in kshudhra vishaya laabham ( gains realized from engagement in lowly and alpa vishayams) only produces klEsam ( anxiety and loss of tranquility ) . The arrogance that comes from pursuit of paltry activities leads to a state (gharvam ) that stands in the way of enjoying "anthamil pErinbham " , which is the charamAvathi Sukham ( end limit of aanandham ) arising from being part of a bhAgavatha ghOshti engaged in bhagavad guNAnubhavam .That is niradhisayAnandha hEthu , which is just the opposite of anantha klEsa hEthu . As a result of the ascendance of the RajO and TamO guNams , the samsAri develops the five fold ajn~Anam that NammAzhwAr instructed us to stay away from : " maranthEn unnai munnam " --ParasvarUpa ajn~Anam " yAnE yennai aRihilAthE "-- aathma svarUpa ajn~Anam " Odiyum uzhanRum uyirkaLE konREn uNarvilEn "--VirOdhi vishaya ajn~Anam " piRavi nOy aRuppAnEaNilEn irunthEn " --upAya Vishaya ajn~Anam " aazhiangankai ammAnai yEtthaathu ayartthu " -- PurushArtha vishaya ajn~Anam These five ajn~Anams ( Jn~Athavya pancha ajn~nams ) made the aathmA forget the Lord ( maRanthEn ) . After overcoming this five fold ajn~Anam thru the development of Jn~Athavya panchaka jn~Anam as instructed by the seeker of mOksham , one attains nirasthAdhisaya aahlAdha sukha bhAvam ( anthamil pErinbham or limitless joy and tranquliity ) . AzhwAr himself alludes to the acquisition of the five types of Jn~Anams this way in his paasurams : " ninnai nenjil uyuum vahai uNarnthEn "-- Para svarUpa JN~Anam " ninRa onRai uNarnthEnukku " --aathma svarUpa jn~nam " ahaRRa nee vaittha mAyavallai eimpulangaLAmavai nankaRinthanan "-- VirOdhi Vishaya Jn~Anam " avanatharuLAlural poruttu yenn uNarvin uLLE irutthinEn "-- upAya Vishaya Jn~Anam " aam parisu aRinthukondu "-- PurushArtha vishaya Jn~Anam The acquisition of these pentad of Jn~Anam led to the niradhisAyanandham . As Azhagiya MaNavALa PerumAL NaayanAr summarized for our benefit in his AchArya Hrudhaya Saara sUthram , " karma krupA bheejam poy ninRa aruL purintha yenkira avidyA souhArthangaL " . Karma bheejam is the avidhyai ( poy ninRa-rooted in untruth); KrupA bheejam is the souhArtham ( aruL purintha - blessings resuting from the Lord's grace) .Our Lord is the mUlam for both the karma and krupA bheejams .When the aathmA realizes and declares its ancient and timeless NaarAyaNa sambhandham ( " adiyEn adainthEn muthal munnamE " ), the krupA bheejam and the SouhArtham come into play. This NaarAyaNa sambhandham is the opposite of achith sambhandham that immerses one in avidhyA and samsAram with anAthi klEsam .Artha panchaka jn~Anam leads to satthva guNa pUrthi (perfection of satthva guNam ) and ends up in the anubhavam of mOksha sukham . NammAzhwAr was like the thousand-rayed Aadithyan thru his thiruvAimozhi upadEsam . His avathAram has been saluted as the VakuLa bhUshaNa bhaskarOdhayam ( the Sun rise with the fragrance of VakuLA blossoms adorning him ). He is the BhAskaran and yet differs from the regular DivAkara-Bhaskaran in that the latter can only remove the external darkness ; the VakuLa BhUshaNa bhAskaran however removes both the inner and the outter darkness ( ajn~Anam). His love for the SaraNyan was sahajam (natural ) as he himself pointed out :" tazhuvi ninRa kaathal tannAl " .It has been compared to the inseparable parimaLam of thirut thuzhAi .His bhakthi was not one that was earned or granted as a boon . It was of the sahajaa variety or that was intrinsic to him from the jaayamAna katAksham .This is the krishi palam ( the fruit of the harvest of the Lord ) of BhagavAn . That is the entire outcome of the nirhEthuka krupA of the Lord ( ThirumAlirum chOlai malai yenRennat ThirumAl vandhu yenn nenju niRayap puhunthAn ) . The most merciful Lord ( " aaRa nalvahai kAttum ammAn " )grew the Jn~Anam of the AzhwAr by union with him and increased the bhakthi of the AzhwAr by separation from him ( samslEsham-VislEsham: kalavi and pirivu ) .The experience of the AzhwAr thru these avasthAs ( modalities of anubhavams of union and separation ) has been compared by the AchArya Hrudhaya suthrakAraar as being similar to the experience of SithAp Piraatti in Srimadh RaamAyaNam . Experiencing the heights of aanandham during the Union with the Lord and suffering profoundly from the separation from Him , AzhwAr celebrated the guNa pUrthi of the Lord blessing him at each of the divya desams . He pointed out to us that Archaavatharam witnesses the guNa pUrthi ( the perfection of the auspicous atributes of the Lord reaches its pinnacle in Archai in contrast to the other four states of His existence ) .He arived at Thirumalai and declared that ThiruvEnkata KshEthram is the treasure for both the humans and the celestials ( TaNNaruvi VEnkatamE vAnOrkkum MaNNOrkkum vaippu ) . He saluted the Lord as " niharil puhazhAi " with great vaatsalyam .He revealed that the DayAsindhu at Thirumalai is the father , mother and the sustaining force for times past , present and future ( pOhinRa kaalangaL pOya kaalangaL pOhu kaalangaL thAi Tanthai uyir aahinRaai ).He gratefully acknowledged the unique vaathsalyam of the Lord of Thirumalai and saluted Him as " Yenkat paasam vaittha Paramsudar chothi "and " Niharil puhazhAi ThiruvEnakatatthu EmperumAnE " . AzhwAr then performed his dheerga SaraNAgathi at Thirumalai in his " ahalahillEn " paasuram. SaraNAgathi has been described as the ealboration (vivaraNam ) of the essence of dhvayam ( DhvyArtha VivaraNam ) by Sri PiLLai LOkAcchAr in his work revered as "Saara sangraham " . This SaraNAgathi led to the state of " avidhyA nivarthaka , jn~Ana pUrthi pratha , Bhagaavth prasAdhOthitha Moksha lAbham ". In the next posting , we will go deeper into the word by word meaning of the AhalahillEn Paasuram as per our pUrvAchAryAs . AzhwAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam , Oppiliappan koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan
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