SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
21. bhavarOga paNditha
bhava means samsAra (material world). rOga means disease. paNditha means a scholar, or a great, wise, and learned personality. samsAra itself is a disease for AthmAs like us.
Generally, people think that in this samsAra (world) people get diseases. However, from the vaidhika, vEdhAntha viewpoint, this samsAra itself is a disease that needs to be eliminated. That elimination happens through liberation. nammAzhwAr, through his dhivya prabandhams, clearly revealed to us the nature of this samsAra, which is very lowly and impermanent. He also shows that bhagavAn is both permanent and most enjoyable. By accepting his teachings, we can be freed from this samsAra, this bhavarOga (disease of samsAra). Hence, nammAzhwAr is known as bhavarOga paNditha.
22. nAvalar perumAn
nAvalar means those who are great in their speech. nAvalar here indicates poets. So, nAvalar means poet, and perumAn means the leader of such poets.
There were many poets in bhAratha dhESam, especially in dakshiNa bhAratham and particularly in the thamizh language. They were mainly present in the city of madhurai, the south mathurA.
After nammAzhwAr ascended to paramapadham, madhurakavi AzhwAr desired to establish the greatness of nammAzhwAr. Therefore, he took nammAzhwAr’s pAsurams and took them to the thamizhch changam which was an assembly of poets who determined which poems were great. They had a plank known as the sangap palakai (sangam plank). If a poem written on a palm-leaf manuscript was placed upon that plank, and if the poem was worthy, the plank would accept it. If the poem was not worthy or meritorious, the plank would reject it.
madhurakavi AzhwAr wrote “kaNNan kazhal iNai” – thiruvAimozhi 10.5.1, a simple two-lined pAsuram, on a palm leaf and placed it on the sangam plank. To the surprise of all the poets present there, the plank accepted that pAsuram and glorified it. Upon witnessing this, all the poets became fully convinced that nammAzhwAr was a great poet. Hence, they accepted nammAzhwAr as their leader and as their god. Hence nammAzhwAr is known as nAvalar perumAn.
Source – https://youtube.com/shorts/KZdAezsJbaE?si=Eb7oqJk5uq-Pd2y1
archived in https://granthams.koyil.org
pramEyam (goal) – https://koyil.org
pramANam (scriptures) – https://granthams.koyil.org
pramAthA (preceptors) – http://acharyas.koyil.org
SrIvaishNava education/kids portal – http://pillai.koyil.org