SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama: SrI vAnAchala mahAmunayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction)
nAyanAr is mercifully explaining how such dhivya prabandhams were blessed by bhagavAn to AzhwAr and how by AzhwAr’s grace, the people of this world received for their welfare and how they were identified through AzhwAr, with example.
chUrNikai 49
uRakkam thalaikkoNda pinnai maRai nAngum uNarndha thangaL appanOdE Odhina chandhach chadhumugan salangalandha veN purinUl mAnuri thirithandhu uNNum kAman udal irukkilangu jyEshta puthrAdhigaLukku maRai payandhAppolE Adhumil kAlaththu endhaiyAna vAymudhalappan piramaguruvAy irAppagal mun solla, kaRRanamE enRa ivarum nAvinAl nanmaiyAl enRu Odhavalla pirAkkalaik kANmingaL enRu sol payiRRa vEdham OdhuvAr OththAgaiyAlE AtharvaNAdhigaL pOlE idhuvum pEr peRRadhu.
Simple Explanation
brahmA learnt vEdham from bhagavAn after bhagavAn woke up from his yOga nidhrA; brahmA then subsequently taught the same vEdham to rudhra who is very knowledgeable and renunciant and to others. Similarly AzhwAr too learnt dhivya prabandhams from bhagavAn and subsequently taught the same to the most dedicated SrI madhurakavigaL et al. Just as vEdham became known by the recitors as in AtharvaNam etc, these prabandhams also icame to be known as composed by SatakOpa.
vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
That is, as said in periya thirumadal “unniya yOgaththu uRakkam thalaikkoNda pinnai” (after assuming the posture of reclining where he is thinking about protecting the (world), during the time of deluge, the jagath (material world) was in sadhavastham (in the state of sath (existing) only) without any distinction by name and form; as the time for creation arrived, bhagavAn manifested it and created elements such as mahath etc and the aNdam[s] (oval shaped universe[s]); before creating the four-headed brahmA, he remained in yOga nidhrA in the ocean of water thinking “How to uplift these AthmAs here in a good manner?”.
Subsequently. as said in iraNdAm thiruvandhAdhi 48 “uNarndhAy maRai nAngum” (He recollected the four vEdhams), as per the suptha prabudhdha nyAya (the rule which says one remembers what he was thinking previously while waking up), he recollected the four vEdhams which were entrenched in his mind, in the correct sequence; brahmA who is identified by vEdham as said in periyAzhwAr thriumozhi 2.5.8 “chandhach chadhumugan” (four-headed brahmA who is associated with vEdham), learnt vEdham as said in SvEthAsvathara upanishad 6-18 “yO brahmANam vidhadhAthi pUrvam yO vai vEdhAmScha prahiNOthi thasmai l tham ha dhEvam Athmabudhdhi prasAdham mumukshurvai SaraNam aham prapadhyE ll” (I, desiring to attain mOksham (SrI vaikuNtam), surrender to that supreme entity, who initially created brahmA and who instructed him all the vEdhams), from sarvESvaran who is brahmA’s father as said in periya thirumozhi 2.2.7 “thisaimuganAr thangaLappan” (emperumAn who is the father of four-headed brahmA).
brahmA then taught such vEdhams to many including rudhran who is having celibacy due to continuous bathing, having yagyOpavItham, deer skin, eating through alms, having control over senses and always reciting vEdham as shown in thiruchchandha viruththam 113 “salam kalandha senjadai” (reddish matted hair which is mixed with water), mudhal thiruvandhAdhi 46 “veNpurinUl mArban” (rudhra who has white coloured yagyOpavIdham (sacred thread) worn across the chest), periya thirumozhi 10.9.4 “mAnuri adhaLum udaiyavar” (one who has deer skin), thirukkuRundhANdagam 19 “piRar manai thiridhandhuNNum” (one who eats through alms from other homes), nAnmugan thiruvandhAdhi 78 “kAmanudal koNda thavaththARku” (Siva who carries out penance and who turned manmadhan’s body into ashes) and periya thirumozhi 6.6.8 “irukkilangu thirumozhivAy eNdOLIsar” (rudhran who is having eight shoulders, reciting purusha sUktham etc) respectively and who is also known as the eldest son of brahmA as said in “brahmaNa: puthrAya jyEshtAya” (for brahmA’s eldest son). As said in mudhal thiruvandhAdhi 60 “charaNA maRai payandha” (One who was taught vEdham as the means), vEdham is the means for the knowledge to attain the goal and the means for that goal.
Similarly, during the time of deluge, when there was nothing as said in thiruvAimozhi 4.10.1 “onRum dhEvum ulagum uyirum maRRum yAdhum illA anRu nAnmugan thannodu dhEvar ulagOdu uyir padaiththAn kunRam pOl maNi mAda nIdu thirukkurugUr adhanuL ninRa Adhip pirAn niRka maRRaith theyvam nAdudhirE” (When dhEva species, their world, other species, all entities (in collective form or without⁸ name/form) were all annihilated and became subdued [in bhagavAn], emperumAn created brahmA who is the samashti purusha, dhEvathAs, their world and other different species; when such emperumAn is standing well in AzhwArthirunagari that is having tall mountain like mansions, he being the cause of everything and the great benefactor, you are approaching these dhEvathAs who are [also] affected by creation and annihilation). At that time, just as the entities lost their name and form, to not have them lose their existence, as per the paternal relationship as said in thiruvAimozhi 3.4.4 “Adumil kAlaththendhai” (bhagavAn who was the father when nothing was there), accepted all the entities on himself and subsequently gave senses etc and made the knowledge blossom in everyone. Such benefactor who is the apt cause as said in thiruvAimozhi 7.9.3 “vAy mudhal appan” (the benefactor who is the cause for my speech), himself remained as the AchAryan as said in periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 5.2.8 “pIdhagavAdaip pirAnAr pirama guruvAy vandhu” (bhagavAn who wears yellow garment, came as the first guru); he instructed me continuously without any difference between day and night as said in periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 5.2.3 “irAppagal Odhuviththu” (Teaching both in night and in day), as said in thiruvAimozhi 7.9.2 “en mun sollum” (he recites before me), as he recites first I repeated his words as said in thiruviruththam 64 “thirunAmachchol kaRRanamE” (We learnt the divine names). Such AzhwAr who learnt from bhagavAn directly, taught to SrI madhurakavigaL et al who lovingly declared that AzhwAr is capable of teaching them and revealed love towards their AchArya in kaNNinuN chiRuth thAmbu 2 “nAvinAl naviRRu inbam eydhinEn … kurugUr nambi pAvin innisai pAdith thirivanE” (I attained great joy by reciting (nammAzhwAr‘s pAsurams) with my tongue. I am truly/eternally surrendered to nammAzhwAr‘s golden feet. I do not know any God other than nammAzhwAr who is filled with auspicious qualities and who is the leader of AzhwArthirunagari. I will goa around (spend my time) singing the sweet music of such AzhwAr’s pAsurams), revealed their gratitude in kaNNinuN chiRuth thAmbu 4 “nanmaiyAl mikka nAnmaRaiyALargaL punmaiyAgak karudhuvar Adhalil annaiyAy aththanAy ennai ANdidum thanmaiyAn sadakOpan en nambiyE” (Seeing that the vaidhikas who are experts in the 4 vEdhams and who are filled with virtues ignore me due to me being an embodiment of lowly qualities, nammAzhwAr like a mother and a father who is having the quality of accepting me as his servitor, is my master) and as AzhwAr himself said that they are capable of learning in thiruvAimozhi 9.1.11 “Odha valla pirAkkaL” (those benefactors who are able to recite this decad); AzhwAr got SrI madhurakaigaL et al who were dedicated to learn, trained in these pAsurams as said in thiruvAimozhi 6.8.6 “kanmingaL enRu ummai yAn” (I told you to learn), thiruvAimozhi 9.5.8 “sol payiRRiya” (taught the words (that represent his divine names)).
Just as vEdhams are identified by those who practice it as said in thiruvAimozhi 3.1.6 “OdhuvAr Oththu” (vEdhams are having classification such as rig, yajur, sAma etc to be pursued by the qualified persons belonging to such branches of vEdham), they got the names such as AtharvaNam, thaththirIyam and kANvam, since AzhwAr is the first one to learn this thiruvAimozhi, this came to be known as in thiruvAimozhi 1.2.11 “sadagOpan sol” (words of AzhwAr).
Thus, thiruvAimozhi being vEdham which was spoken about in chUrNikai 37 “sandhangaL Ayiram“, has been explained from chUrNikai 39 till the current one.
adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan
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