SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama: SrI vAnAchala mahAmunayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction)
nAyanAr says “Not only AzhwAr is greater than sages due to his love towards bhagavAn, he is greater than rishis, also due to detachment from other aspects”.
chUrNikai 59
svAdhyAya yOgangaLaik kaRRum theLindhum kaNda maimaippAlE Odhi uNarndhavar innum ASApASa badhdhar; avan vazhangum dhivya chakshUssAlE nErE kArseRindha nIRAdi katkariya arumporuLaik kaNdapOdhE yAmuRAmai ennumbadi ivarkku vanpAsangaL nIngiRRu.
Simple Explanation
By learning vEdhams and attaining clarity by performing yOgam, one acquires the vision and becomes realised; yet they are attached to worldly desires; with his divine vision blessed by bhagavAn himself, AzhwAr who directly saw bhagavAn’s beautiful form which is difficult to see, became free from all attachments.
vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
svAdhyAya … – That is – as said in SrIvishNu purANam 6.6.2 and 6.6.3 “svAdhyAyAth yOgamAsItha yOgAth svAdhyAya mAmanEth | svAdhyAya yOga sampadhyA paramAthmA prakASathE || thadhIkshaNAya svAdhyAyach chakshuryOgas thathAparam | na mAmsa chakshushA dhrashtum brahma bhUthassAkyathE ||” (By understanding the meanings through vEdham, one should acquire ashtAnga yOgam; by such yOgam, he should recite vEdham again; by the complete presence of vEdham and yOgam, paramAthmA is shining for a person; vEdham is an eye for such paramAthmA; similarly yOgam is the best eye; such paramAthmA cannot be seen by fleshy eyes), since one cannot see bhagavAn through fleshy eyes and can only see bhagavAn through the two eyes viz vEdham and yOgam, reciting vEdham which is indicated by the word svAdhyAyam and practicing ashtAnga yOgam which includes yama, niyama etc, seeing bhagavAn who is the target of both of them, and clearly understanding him to be of certain nature, in this manner due to the clarity based on such vision, the sages who are known as “Odhi uNarndhvar” who have learnt vEdha SAsthram and understood what is thyAjyam (to be abandoned) and upAdhEyam (to be pursued); as said in SrI bhagavath gIthA 16.12 “ASApASaSathair badhdhA:” (being bound by hundreds of ropes known as desires), they will be bound by the hundreds of ropes of worldly attachments.
avan vazhangum … – As said in SrI bhagavath gIthA 11.8 “dhivyam dhadhAmi thE chakshu:” (I am giving you divine eyes), with the divine eyes which were given by him as the means to see him and which were in the form of divine knowledge, AzhwAr saw him;
nErE – he is said to be difficult to be seen as said in mudhal thiruvandhAdhi 56 “nErE kadikkamalaththuL irundhum kANgilAn” (floating inside the fragrant lotus (which came out of emperumAn’s navel), being very close (to emperumAn), brahmA who was born to emperumAn, will not know)
kAr seRindha – as said in nAnmugan thiruvandhAdhi 73 “kAr seRindha kaNdaththAn eNkaNNAn kANAn” (Siva with bluish coloured throat and nAnmugan (brahmA) [with eight eyes] would not know)
nIRAdi – as said in nAnmugan thiruvandhAdhi 27 “nIRAdi thAn kANa mAttAdha thAragalach chEvadi” (the expansive divine feet which are decorated with flowers could not be seen by rudhra who has his body covered with ash)
katkariya – as said in thiruvAimozhi 7.7.11 “katkariya piraman sivan indhiran enRivarkkum katkariya kaNNan” (krishNa who is difficult to be seen by the eyes of brahmA, rudhra, indhra et al who are told to be difficult to be seen by the eyes of humans et al), being difficult to be seen by brahmA, rudhra et al who are greater than people who are here, in gyAnam, Sakthi etc and by those brahmA, rudhra et al who think that no one else other than themselves can see bhagavAn as said in thiruvAimozhi 2.7.12 “dhAmOdharanaith thani mudhalvanai gyAlam uNdavanai – oruvarkkuth tharam aRiyalAmO” (Who else has the ability to know the greatness of dhAmOdhara who is the singular lord and who consumed the world)
arum poruLai – as said in thiruvAimozhi 9.3.3 “aRindhana vEdha aruL poruL nUlgaL aRindhana koLga arum poruLAdhal” (SAsthrams such as brahmasUthram, ithihAsam, purANam etc help in knowing the nature of entities which are difficult to be known through vEdhams alone, even though vEdhams are expected to be knowledgeable as mentioned in the saying vEdhAhamEdham), by kEnOpanishath “yasyAmatham thasya matham” (One who understands bhagavAn to be inconceivable, conceives him), bhagavAn who is said to be inconceivable even by vEdhams, as said in nAnmugan thiruvandhAdhi 60 “kEtpArkku arum poruLAy ninRa” (Oh thiruvarangA who became impossible to know as the supreme entity for those who would like to know (with their own efforts)!) and as said in katOpanishath “nAyamAthmA pravachanEna labhyO namEdhayA nabakshunASruthEna” (This paramAthmA cannot be attained through contemplation, meditation and hearing), sarvESvaran who is difficult to attain for those who hear about him etc without his mercy. and with self efforts.
kaNdapOdhE – as he was seen clearly when he himself showed him as said in thiruvAimozhi 10.4.9 “kaNdEn kamala malarp pAdham” (I saw the ultimately enjoyable lotus flower like divine feet of such emperumAn)
yAmuRAmai ennumbadi – as said in thiruviruththam 1 “poy ninRa gyAnamum pollA ozhukkum azhukkudambum inninRa nIrmai iniyAm uRAmai uyir aLippAn enninRa yOniyumAyp piRandhAy imaiyOr thalaiva meynninRu kEttaruLAy adiyEn seyyum viNNappamE” (Oh one who incarnated in many births in order to protect all the creatures! Oh the lord of nithyasUris (permanent dwellers of SrIvaikuNtam)! We should be without these births which are the cause for our sorrow and which are with knowledge which is the opposite of truth (we should be without faulty knowledge), with wrongful deeds, physical forms which are full of impurity etc. You should stand firmly and hear my appeal to you from me, your servitor, for the sake of this), to have AzhwAr pray to emperumAn holding on to his lotus feet
ivarkku vanpAsangaL nIngiRRu – all his external attachments which are difficult to be eliminated by self efforts as said in thiruvAimozhi 8.2.11 “maRRa van pAsangaL” (strong desires towards other matters), left AzhwAr without any trace, by his grace, as said in thiruvAimozhi 7.8.5 “pAsangaL nIkki” (eliminating inapt aspects).
adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan
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