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Thirumaalai-58

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Varadarajan Sourirajan • September 18, 2002 


Sri Parthasarathi thunai,

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

 

“ Mattrondrum vEinda Maname Madhilarangar

  Kattrinum meitha kazhalinai keezh- uttra

  Thirumaalai paadum seer Thondaradipodi Emperumaanai

  Eppozhudum peesu”

 

“ Srimat Krishna samahvaya Namo yaamuna soonave 

  yetkadAkshai kalakshyAnAm sulabha: Sridara: sadaa”

 

Pranams,

 
Paasuram-38
 

“mEmporul pOga vittu meimayai migavunarindhu

  Amparisarindhu kondu I-mpulanagaththadakki

  KAmbara thalai siraiththu vunkadai thalai errundhu* vAzhum 

  sOmbharai vugaththi pOlum soozh punal arangaththAnE!”

 

Our Acharyas regard this paasuram to be the most important paasuram in this prabandham.  Like the bhagavat geetha being the essence of Mahabharatha and charama slokam being the essence of bhagavat geetha, this paasuram is the essence of this prabandham.  According to our acharyas this paasuram gives the meaning of the very important dvaya manthram in our sampradayam.  All the acharyas in our sampradayam were deeply involved in the arthas of dvayam.  “japthavyam guruparamparaiyum dvayamum” is our sampradAyic slogan (Always meditate on dvayam and the guru  paramparai).  It has been the order of Sri Ranganatha himself to our acharya, Sri Ramanuja in his last days, to stay in Srirangam itself and spend time as usual mediatating on the dvayam and its meaning.  

 

In thiruvAimozhi, nAmmAzhvar gave the meaning of this dvaya manthra, generally called the manthra ratnam in 20 paasurams(2 padigams).  One padigam starting with “vulagamunda peruvAyA…….” (6-10) was a explanation to the poorva kandam(first line) and another padigam “ozhivil kAlamellAm”(3-3) was uttara kandArtham (meaning of the second line) of the dvaya mahA manthram.

 

In thiruppAvai, andal gave two paasurams, “karavaigal pin sendru”(28) and “chittran siru kAlE”(29) to give the poorva and uttara kandArthas of dvayam.  Here thondaradi podi Alwar gives the same in just a single paasuram.  For better understanding let us first see what the dvaya mahA manthram actually conveys.  This is a rahasyam and a very great topic.  Adiyen will just give the crux of the same in simple terms limited to my knowledge.

 

Poorva kandam:  Sriman – the lord sriyapathi: Sri Mahalakshmi stays in the heart of emperuman and never leaves him (akalakilEn erraiyum endru alarmEl mangai uraiyum mArbhA); Narayana- he is none other than narayana who is present inside and outside in everything(narAnAm ayanam yasya-narayana: or nara: yasya saha- narayana:): charanou- his holy feet ; sharanam prapathyE- I prostrate.  

I prostrate in the holy feet of the lord Sriman Narayana.

 

Uttara kandam: SrimathE nArAya nAya- I fall into his feet and beg his kainkaryam when he is along with his sri:.  By this manthra we fall into the lords feet to do saranAgathi and beg him to grant us the kainkaryam to the divine couples at all times.  One important term in this manthram is ‘na ma:’.  This term forms the main base for our whole srivaishnava sampradAyam.  ma: means ‘for me’ and na means ‘not’.  So nama: means ‘not for me’.  Which is ‘not for me’?  Here our acharyas give a great explanation.  The kainkaryam, which we are begging from the divine couples, is not for the sake of us.  It is only for the sake of the divine couples.  If we consider the kainkaryam to be for our enjoyment then at one point we may feel that it is enough and stop.  Sometimes when one kainkaryam is given, we may say that we don’t like it and hence will not do it.  So ahankAra mamakArams will creep inside.  But if we do it for the enjoyment of the divya dampathis then we cannot differentiate between kainkaryams or stop at 

 

Our acharyas say one interesting story to substantiate the above.  One shisya used to do fanning service to his Acharya.  He used to do it because, only this service gave him the mental satisfaction.  Once it was peak winter and the weather was very cold.  While the acharya was doing upanyasam, the shisya started fanning with the same force he used to do regularly.  When asked why he did this in such a cold weather? He replied, this is my kainkaryam, I cherish doing it and hence will never stop.  Was it correct on the shisya’s part?  Kainkaryam has to be done to make the acharya happy but now the shisya has actually made the acharya ill.  What is the use of doing such a kainkaryam?  So always kainkaryam should be done for the happiness of emperuman or acharya and not for the sake of our happiness.  This is the meaning conveyed in the word ‘nama:’.  Hence it is considered as the most important term in our srivaishnava sampradAyam.  

 

Even in lowkikam when we join a job we have to give the word that we will work to the satisfaction of the employer.  If we say that we will work to our satisfaction no one will accept us.  Then one question may arise.  How to know which kainkaryam will satisfy emperuman?  We are destined to accept whatever kainkaryam emperuman gives us and not to go and ask him for doing any specific kainkaryam.  If we do what kainkaryam emperuman gives us then he becomes happy.

 

Only for this reason, the kainkaryams to acharyas and bhagavatas becomes easier since they will tell us if they are happy with the kainkaryam or not directly but emperuman cannot tell us directly though he indirectly shows us the same.

The above dvayArtham has been explained through this paasuram by our acharyas.  Let us see how they do it in the next posting.

 

(To be continued)

 

AzhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasyai

Sumithra Varadarajan

 

 



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