SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama: SrI vAnAchala mahAmunayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction)
Thus, from chUrNikai 58 “dharma vIrya …” up to here, nAyanAr explained the greatness of the author of this prabandham (thiruvAimozhi). Now, he starts explaining the greatness of this prabandham.
chUrNikai 63
rAmAyaNam nArAyaNa kadhai enRu thodangi gangA gAngEya sambavAdhyasathkIrthanam paNNina echchil vAy Sudhdhi paNNAmal thirumAl avan kavi enRa vAyOlaip padiyE mARRangaL Ayndhu koNdu uriya solvAiththa idhu vEdhAdhigaLil paurusha mAnava gIthA vaishNavangaL pOlE aruLichcheyalil sAram.
Simple Explanation
Instead of purifying their mouths which were contaminated due to announcing that they were starting to speak about SrI rAma and the story of nArAyaNa (in SrI rAmAyaNam and mahAbhAratham respectively), they spoke about the useless aspects such as birth of gangA and gANgEya (bhIshma) elaborately, AzhwAr announced that he is the apt poet to sing the glories of SrIman nArAyaNan and sang about him in thiruvAimozhi; such thiruvAimozhi is the essence of dhivya prabandhams just as purusha sUktham is the essence of vEdham, manu smruthi is the essence of dharma SAsthram, bhagavath gIthA is the essence of mahAbhAratham and SrIvishNu purANam is the essence of purANams.
vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
That is
rAmAyaNam … SrI vAlmeeki bhagavAn acquired contamination in his mouth since he first declared that he is going to sing the glories of SrI rAma and started it as rAmAyaNam as in SrI rAmAyaNam bAla kANdam 2.42 “kAvyam rAmAyaNam kruthsnam IdhruSai: karavANyam” (I am writing these SlOkams to describe the whole epic named rAmAyaNam), but spoke about the arrival of gangA, birth of subrahmaNya, description of pushpaka vimAna elaborately leading to asath kIrthanam (speaking about useless subjects).
As said in mahAbhAratham Adhi parvam “nArAyaNa kathAm imAm” (I am going to tell this story of nArAyaNa), starting with the statement “I am speaking about nArAyaNa’s story”, in sambhava parva, SrI vEdha vyAsa bhagavAn explained in detail about the birth of SrI bhIshma, the son of gangA, and many others, and since he elaborately narrated the mahAbhAratha battle to have it called as “pUsal pattOlai” (War document), and had his mouth become contaminated due to speaking about useless subjects. He then purified his mouth which became contaminated due to speaking about useless subjects, by the gangA which is speaking about bhagavAn’s story as said in harivamSam “asathkIrthana kAnthAra parivarthanapAmsulAm | vAcham Sauri kathA lAbha gangayaiva punImahE ||” (Due to roaming in the forest of speaking about useless subjects, my mouth has become covered with dust; I purify such mouth by the gangA water of speaking about krishNa’s stories).
Although SrI vAlmeeki bhagavAn did not atone in this manner and purify his mouth, nAyanAr included him as well, since the same logic will apply to him.
Thus, instead of having to purify the mouth which became contaminated due to speaking about useless subjects after having commenced to talk about bhagavAn,
thirumAl avan kavi … – As said in thiruviruththam 48 “thirumAl avan kavi yAdhu kaRREn” (I learnt from SrIman nArAyaNan all those words of praise about him), as he vowed through his speech that he is a poet for thirumAl (SrIman nArAyaNan), this prabandham is made with words which do not speak about anything other than bhagavAn as said in thiruvAimozhi 6.8.11 “mARRangaL Ayndhu koNdu” (analysing distinguished words), being spoken with the words which are apt for bhagavAn as said in thiruvAimozhi 4.5.6 “uriya sollAl isai mAlaigaL Eththi” (praising him with matching words of garlands of songs), prabandham which is made specifically for sarvESvaran as said in thiruvAimozhi 2.2.11 “vAyththa Ayiram” (gain for bhagavAn).
vEdhAdhigaLil … – As said in “vEdhEshu paurusham sUktham dharma SAsthrEshu mAnavam bhArathE bhagavath gIthA purANEshu cha vaishNavam” (purusha sUktham is the essence of vEdham, manu smruthi is the essence of dharma SAsthram, bhagavath gIthA is the essence of mahAbhAratham and SrIvishNu purANam is the essence of purANams), just as purusha sUktham is the essence of vEdhams, manu’s words are the essence of dharma SAsthrams, SrI gIthA is the essence of mahAbhAratham and SrIvishNu purANam is the essence of purANams, in aruLichcheyal (dhivyaprabandham) which is devoid of any discussion about other stories, thiruvAimozhi is the essence.
With this, being greater than the prabandhams composed by the sages, due to not having the defect of speaking about other stories as said in thiruvAimozhi 8.2.11 “thIdhil andhAdhi” (defect free, thousand pAsurams in andhAdhi type), being the essence of the prabandhams of other AzhwArs too which exclusively speak about bhagavAn, this prabandham’s greatness is revealed.
adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan
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