SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama: SrI vAnAchala mahAmunayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction)
They [ithihAsa, purANa authors] got blessed by sages can be understood by their own words as in SrI rAmAyaNam bAla kANdam 2.30 “machchandhAdhEva” (Oh vAlmeeki, the brAhmaNa! These words of yours came from my thoughts) and SrIvishNu purANam 1.1.25 “purANa samhithA karthA“.(You are going to be authoring purANas and samhithAs); in the same manner when asked “Is there any mention by AzhwAr himself that these prabandhams came about by the blessings of bhagavAn?” nAyanAr responds here.
chUrNikai 57
karuvuL vERalAmai aran ayan enach cheyyumavai pOlE mUvuruvA mudhalvan thupparavAlE parama kavigaLAl pAduviyAdhu nErpadach chollum nIrmaiyilA ennaith thannAkki ennA mudhal vandhu pugundhu thappudhalaRath thannai vaigundhanAgath than sollAl thAnE thudhiththu malakku nAviyal moyya sollAl solla vallEn enRu nAnum solli nAdum kaiyedukkumbadi en sollAl yAn sonna inkavi enbiththAn enRAriRE.
Simple Explanation
AzhwAr himself has said – just as emperumAn remained as the antharyAmi of brahmA and rudhra, and made everyone believe that they performed srushti, samhAram etc on their own, the great lord by his ability, entered inside me, made me sing these prabandhams to glorify him, by remaining inside me who is not qualified and made the whole world raise their hands and perform anjali to show their gratitude towards me.
vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
karuvuL vEralAmai … – That is – as said in vishNu dharmam 69.50 “srushtim thatha: karishyAmi thvAmAviSya prajApathE” (Oh brahmA! I am going to enter in you and engage in creation), “kalpAnthE rudhrarUpI yO grasathE sakalam jagath” (In the form rudhra, at the end of the kalpa, one who annihilates everything), mahAbhAratham karNa parvam “vishNurAthmA bhagavathO bhavasyAmithathEjasa:” (vishNu is the antharyAmi for Siva bhagavAn who is having great valour), and as said in thiruvAimozhi 5.10.8 “thisaimugan karu uL vIRRirundhu padaiththitta karumangaLum” (How you are present inside such brahmA [having him as the womb] and created), thiruvAimozhi 5.10.4 “veLLa nIrch chadaiyAnum ninnidai vERalAmai viLanga ninRadhum” (the way you remain inseparable from rudhra who is having abundant gangA water in his matted hair to be well known through SAsthram), while you remain as the antharyAmi inside brahmA and rudhra and engage in srushti, samhAram etc, he will make the people of the world believe that creation of world, instructing vEdhams, annihilating the world, destroying the three towns, were done by brahmA and rudhra themselves as said in thiruvAimozhi 1.1.8 “aran ayan ena ulagu azhiththu amaiththu uLanE” (annihilated everything, created the variegated forms (again), gave the knowledge to dhEvathAs et al being the antharyAmi of dhEvathAs such as brahmA, rudhra et al).
mUvuruvA mudhalvan – Similarly while engaging in activities directly as said in thiruvAimozhi 7.9.2 “mU uruvAm mudhalvanE” (the causal lord who is present as one, having three forms), just as he is the cause for himself, he also remains the cause and the antharyAmi for brahmA and rudhra, performs creation etc and makes it famous that they did those.
thupparavAlE – As said in thiruvAimozhi 7.9.9 “thiRaththukkE thupparavAm” (he has the Sakthi matching the acts in which he is engaged), since he is having the ability to finish the tasks even using a blade of grass.
parama kavigaLAl pAduviyAdhu – As said in thiruvAimozhi 7.9.6 “in kavi pAdum parama kavigaLAl than kavi thAn thannaip pAduviyAdhu” (Instead of making great poets such as parASara, pArASara (vyAsa), vAlmeeki et al who sing great, infinitely sweet poems to sing poems which match him, about himself who has infinite greatness), if he wants to make someone praise him through poems, while there are great poets who have no shortcoming in gyAnam and Sakthi and those who can sing sweet poems, such as vyAsa, parASara, vAlmeeki et al and mudhalAzhwArs who sing divine thamizh pAsurams as said in “sendhamizh pAduvAr” (pure thamizh poets), instead of getting them to sing your praises.
nErpadach chollum nIrmaiyilA ennaith thannAkki en nA mudhal vandhu pugundhu – As said in thiruvAimozhi 7.9.5 “nEr pada yAn sollum nIrmaiyilAmaiyil” (Not having the gyAnam etc to praise him), though I don’t have the gyAnam etc to praise him in an apt manner, he made me to have gyAnam, Sakthi etc which is present in him as said in thiruvAimozhi 7.9.5 “ErvilA ennaith thannAkki” (Made me who is inept, similar to him), entered me as the principal for my speech as said in thiruvAimozhi 7.9.3 “en nA mudhal vandhu pugundhu” (He first entered my tongue).
thappudhalaRath thannai vaigundhanAgath than sollAl thAnE thudhiththu – As said in thiruvAimozhi 7.9.4 “ennAgiyE thappudhalanRi” (being within me, without any errors), while having me as a tool and singing, you remained untouched by my defects;
as said in thiruvAimozhi 7.9.7 “thannai vaigundhanAgap pugazha” (glorifying him as SrIvaikuNtanAtha), he considered that he got his wealth of being SrIvaikuNtanAtha, only because of praises;
as said in thiruvAimozhi 7.9.2 “than sollAl thAn thannaik kIrththiththa” (glorified him with his own words) and in thiruvAimozhi 10.7.2 “thannaith thAnE thudhiththu” (Himself praising him), he remained as antharyAmi and praised himself to be said as “Words are his; spoken by him; spoken about him”.
malakku nAviyal moyya sollAl solla vallEn enRu nAnum solli nAdum kaiyedukkumbadi en sollAl yAn sonna inkavi enbiththAn enRAriRE – As said in thiruvAimozhi 6.4.9 “valakkai Azhi idakkaich changam ivai udai mAl vaNNanai malakku nAvudaiyERku” (For me who is having the powerful tongue which can bring bliss and bewilderment to emperumAn who is having a dark form and having these distinguished symbols of the chakra (disc) in the right hand and Sanka (conch) in the left hand), for me who has the powerful tongue to bring joy in bhagavAn who cannot be changed by anything;
as said in thiruvAimozhi 4.5.4 “nAviyalAl isai mAlaigaL Eththi naNNap peRREn” (I got to engaging in glorifying through my mouth by offering the collections of the words which come out in the form of songs from my tongue), I got to engage in praising him just by my speech without the involvement of mind, using garlands of words and attained him; as said in thiruvAimozhi 4.5.2 “moyya sollAl isai mAlaigaL Eththi uLLap peRREn” (I got to praise such emperumAn to destroy all sorrows which cause grief, with garlands of words collected together, while being in this vast world, and experience in my heart, his happiness), with garlands which have rich words and tune, I praised and thought about him;
as said in thiruvAimozhi 4.5.9 “vAnak kOnaik kavi solla vallERku” (for me who can sing the praises of such emperumAn who has the greatness of being enjoyed by nithyasUris), I could praise SrIvaikuNtanAtha, through poems;
as I sang thinking that I am singing and as the phrase as in thiruvAimozhi 2.2.11 “sadagOpan sol” (pAsurams sung by SatakOpan), the whole country would perform anjali thinking I sang these pAsurams;
as said in thiruvAimozhi 7.9.2 “en sollAl yAn sonna in kavi enbiththuth” (emperumAn made it popular in the world that this sweet poem has been spoken by me), AzhwAr mercifully said “emperumAn made it popular in this world that these are my words, I am the doer and the poems are sweet”. Thus, the principle here is that certainly AzhwAr sang by the mercy of sarvESvaran.
adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan
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