bhAgavatha vaibhavam- Part 2

SrI:

SrImatE rAmAnujAya nama:

SrImath varavara munayE nama:

 

bhAgavatha vaibhavam- Part 2

sUthram excerpt 2

“vishvAmitra viShnuchitta tulasi bhrutyar ODE uLkalakndha thozhukulamAnavan nilaiyAr pADal AlE brAhmaNa vELvi kkurai muDiththamaiyum”

 

வச்வாமித்ர  விஷ்ணுசித்த துளசீபிருத்யரோடே  உள்கலந்து தொழுகுலமானவன்  நிலையார்  பாடலாலே  பிராஹ்மண  வேள்விக் குறை முடித்தமையும்

 

This excerpt constitutes the second portion of swAmi azhagiya manavALa perumAL nAyanAr’s 85^th sUtram. This excerpt masterly brings to light anecdotes (vruttAntam) from the life of great personalities to make clear what in fact superior birth is. Three mahApuruShAs- vishvAmitran, viShnuchittan (periyAzhwAr) and tulasi bhrutyan (thonDaraDippoDi AzhwAr) are introduced in this context, wherein swAmi nAyanAr proves how the mlEchcha bhaktan, nampADuvAn is given a place at par with the 3 mahApuruShAs. Further, to illustrate SrI nampADuvAn’s greatness, light is cast upon the story of nampADuvAn. It is known from SrI varAha purANam that SrI varAha perumAL narrates this story to SrI bhUmi pirATTi while having seated her on His lap after the-killing-of-hiraNyAksha-episode.

 

nampADuvAn renders kainkaryam to nambI-

 

SrI nampADuvAn was born in thirukkurunguDi. Though he took birth in the 5^th varNa, he was a great bhAgavatOttama, whose activities and conduct were demonstrative of the 8-fold bhakti. Early every morning, prior to the onset of dawn, nampADuvAn carried his vINai with him and went to the thirukkurunguDi temple, where he would stand at a distance from the shrine and sing beautiful pAsurams to wake up the Lord. Singing thiruppaLiyezhuchchi for thirukkurunguDi nambI was thus nampADuvAn’s nitya-karmA-anuShThAnam.

 

vishvAmitra-viShnuchitta-tulasi bhrutya-sAmyam-

 

swAmi nAyanAr explains how this very thiruppaLiyezhuchchi kainkaryam of nampADuvAn makes him identical to the three mahApuruShAs- vishvAmitran, viShnuchittan (periyAzhwAr) and tulasi bhrutyan (thonDaraDippoDi AzhwAr), who rendered similar devotional service to emperumAn.

 

vishvAmitra’s suprabhAtam- In rAma avatAram, Sage vishvAmitra took SrI rAmA and SrI laksmaNA for yAga samrakshaNam (enabling the completion of his sacrifice/yAga). When taking the young boys with him into the dense forest, vishvAmitra sang suprabhAtam to wake up SrI rAma ppirAn in the morning. He sang aloud, “kausalyA suprajA rAma pUrvA sandhyA pravartatE uththiShTha narashAr dhUla kartavyam deivamAhnikam”.

 

viShnuchitta’s mulaiyunna azhaiththal- SrI periyAzhwAr, in yashOdA bhAvam, sang thirupaLLiyezhuchi to wake up kannan emperumAn. 

He sings, “aravaNaiyAy AyarErE*ammam uNNath thuyilezAyE, iravu uNNAthu uRangki nI pOy* inRumuchchi koNdathAlO, varavum kANEn vayiRasainthAy, vanamulaikaL sOrnthu pAya, thiruvudaiya vAy maduthth, thiLaiththu thaiththup parukidAyE”^.

In this beautiful pAsuram, periyAzhwAr who has both the conscience of mother yashOdA as well as that of his (as AzhwAr), questions kannan as to why he is still deep in sleep after several attempts to wake him up to feed him milk. AzhwAr asks kannan, “Are the same fragrance, beauty and coolness of AdisEShan felt here? Are you of the impression that this bed of yours is AdisEShan? And, perhaps, is this why you are still asleep?” Out of his concern that the young child has not drunk milk since the previous evening after playing and that it is now noon, AzhwAr, looking at krishNa’s hungry tummy, says “Oh! Wake up child! Wake up to drink milk! Come, drink as much as you like and joyfully kick my stomach as you do so”.

 

tulasi bhrutyan’s thiruppaLiyezhuchchi- SrI thonDaraDippoDi AzhwAr sang the wonderful thirupaLLiyezhuchchi pAsurams to wake up periya perumAL, SrI ranganAthan. In the last pAsuram, "Thudi idayaar churi kuzhal pizhindu udhari, THugil udutherinar choozh punalarangaAzhwAr ^^" describes that the beautiful damsels of SrIrangam took their bath in the holy kAvErI, wore their clothes, dried their hair and got up the banks of kAvErI. Upon hearing this, it is explained that periya perumAL swiftly opened his eyes- periya perumAL, who is none other than kannan, couldn’t bear to hear the fact that the girls had worn their clothes after their bath, given that He was used to stealing the clothes of the gOpikAs bathing in SrI yamunA!

 

Similar to the kainkaryams of the three mahApuruShAs mentioned above is SrI nampADuvAn’s thirupaLLiyezhuchchi kainkaryam, which was rendered to emprumAn’s archA thirumEni as thirukkurungudi nambI. Owing to this similarity, swAmi mAmunigaL describes how nampADuvAn thus shared the same gOthram of the three personalities (“sahagOthri Anavan”/ “thozhukulamAnavan”). Though gOthram is usually something that is exclusive to the first three varNAs, nampADuvAn was no less when compared to the three as he was an enlightened soul knowing that aDimaithanathvam was Atma svarUpam, he was an ananyaprayOjanan- not desiring of anything whatsoever when doing kainkaryam and was naturally humble owing to the nature of his birth (“naichyam janma sidhdham”).

 

nampADuvAn relieves the brahmarAkshasa from his sin**-

At the thirukkurunguDi hills was roaming a brahma rAkshasa. He was a brAhmaNa named sOma sharmA in his earlier birth. When performing yAgam as a brAhmaNa, he failed to follow the order of shAstrAs. The completion of a yAgam must be followed by avabiradha snAnam, i.e. bathing in a sacred water body. However, in sOma sharmA’s case, he gave up his life prior to doing avabiradha snAnam as he succumbed to a disease. He thus accumulated pApam and became a brahma rAkshasa.

When roaming in the thirukurunguDi hills, he once saw the pious nampADuvAn and observed him singing. He requested that nampADuvAn give the phalan of his song to relieve him of his sin. The story finally goes on to describing that the phalan of nampADuvAn’s “kaisika pan”- song sung for emperumAn in kaisika rAgam- liberated the brahma rAkshasa from his sin.

 

This ‘kaisika pan’ is referred to as “nilaiyAr pADal” in the sUtram. In periya thirumozhi, thirumangai AzhwAr celebrates his thirumozhi as “nilaiyAr pADal”. Here, the same term is used for nampADuvAn’s kaisika pan to show that it has the same vaibhavam as thirumangai AzhwAr’s thirumozhi.

 

The determination of “uyar” Vs. “thAzh” piravi-

The brAhmaNa, sOma sharmA, was thus absolved of his yagya vaikalpam, i.e. vaikalya dOSham arising from flaws (kurai) in the yAgam; this happened by the kind mercy of nampADuvAn, who was born in the 5^th varNa. This is deeply illustrative of the fact that it is bhagavath bhakti that decides what is ‘uyar piravi’. The kulam/jathi of a person has no bearing on the rank/quality of birth. It is clear from the story of nampADuvAn that sOma sharmA, though being a brAhmaNa by birth, was one of inferior birth and the bhAgvatOttama nampADuvAn, though being a mLEchcha by birth, was one of superlative birth.

 

Note: The classic beauty of swAmi mAmunigaL’s vyAkhyAnam for this sUtram is that swAmi never uses the word “chanDAlan” and his choice of words to describe a bhAgvatha SrI vaiShnavan is that of high respect and reverence.

 

** supporting varAha purANa shlOkams:

 

“enmaiyA pashchimam gItam svaram kaisikam uttamam phalE na tasya bhadram tE mOkShaiShyahi kilbhishAt”

 

“tvam vai gIta prabhAvEna nistAryitumarhahi evam uktvA ta chanDAlam rAkshasa: charanam gata:”

 

“evam tatra varam grihya rAkshasO brahma samjita: yagyA sApAt vinir mukta: sOma sharmA mahA yachA:”

 

^அரவணையாய் ஆயரேறே*  அம்மம்  உண்ணத் துயில் எழாயே*

இரவும் உண்ணாது உறங்கி நீ போய்*  இன்றுமுச்சி  கொண்டதாலோ**      (பெரியாழ்வார் திருமொழி ௨-௨-௧ 2-2-1.)

^^துகில் உடுத்தேறினர் சூழ் புனல் அரங்கா  *(திருப்பள்ளியெழுச்சி)  

  

 AzhwAr thiruvadiklaey sharanam | azhagiya manavALA perumAL nAyanAr thiruvadikaley sharanam | jeeyar thiruvadikaley sharanam 

 

 

adiyaen varavaramuni dAsan,

Gopalakrishnan Gomadam Azhagiyamanvalan