thiruvAimozhi – 7.4 – Azhi ezha

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SrI:  SrImathE SatakOpAya nama:  SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama:  SrImath varavaramunayE nama:

Full series >> Seventh Centum

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Highlights from thirukkurukaippirAn piLLAn‘s introduction

See nampiLLai’s introduction.

Highlights from nanjIyar‘s introduction

See nampiLLai’s introduction.

Highlights from vAdhi kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar‘s introduction

In the fourth decad – AzhwAr who was having the urge to attain emperumAn due to the suffering in separation, determines that there is none other than sarvESvara who is sarvaSakthi (omnipotent), is capable to eliminate the popular hurdles which cause such suffering for him, and highlights the following aspects:

  1. his activity of winning over the worlds as thrivikrama
  2. his churning of the ocean for nectar
  3. his lifting up the earth from the causal water
  4. his act of consuming the universe
  5. his act of conducting the mahAbhAratha war
  6. his killing of hiraNya
  7. his act of burning down lankA
  8. his war with bANAsura
  9. his way of performing creation
  10. his lifting up of gOvardhana hill

Meditating upon these aspects, AzhwAr mercifully considers the victorious sarvESvaran’s ability to eliminate enemies.

Highlights from periyavAchchAn piLLai‘s introduction

See nampiLLai‘s introduction.

Highlights from nampiLLai‘s introduction

In the previous decad, how his heart became captivated in bhagavath vishayam was mentioned; his sorrowful state cannot be changed by giving something else [materialistic] or be remedied by someone [other than emperumAn]; emperumAn mercifully thinks “what shall I give to him?” and decides to manifest his victorious acts fully [in the ten pAsurams] thinking “If I have to give him something, there is nothing more than this”, and AzhwAr becomes blissful seeing that. AzhwAr remains as seen in thiruvAimozhi 1.5 “vaLavEzh ulagu“, where he desires to exist for the sake of emperumAn and dislikes self when not existing for his purpose! He would seek out for emperumAn’s well-being even at the cost of losing himself! As emperumAn knows about AzhwAr’s nature very well, he pacifies AzhwAr by manifesting all of his victorious acts to eliminate all of AzhwAr’s suffering, and AzhwAr enjoys them all. emperumAn manifests historical events to AzhwAr as if they are happening currently to be witnessed by AzhwAr. At first, it was emperumAn who bestowed AzhwAr the ability to see everything. Even after blessing unblemished knowledge/devotion, emperumAn presented expansive knowledge to AzhwAr to make him see everything at once! Hence, AzhwAr has no worries.

Alternative explanation – as the SrI rAma’s victory came up previously in thiruvAimozhi 7.3.7 “pEreyil sUzh then ilangai seRRa pirAn” (the benefactor who destroyed hugely fortified, well organized lankA), AzhwAr meditates upon all such incarnations through that incident and is feeling blissful as dhaSaratha chakravarthi felt joyful seeing SrI rAma’s victories and SrI vasudhEva felt joyful seeing krishNa’s victories.

SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam 12.105 is beautifully explained here [While this SlOkam explains SrI rAma’s enjoyability, it implies the enjoyability of his victorious acts too].

  • aham puna: – You who knew my nature and followed me, told me that I will survive if you tell me “perumAL (SrI rAma) should go to the forest”.
  • dhEva kumAra rUpam – let that be [i.e. while you were seeking my well-being previously]; are you the one who is telling him to go to the forest? siRiyAththAn asked “Is SrI rAma only as beautiful as subrahmaNya?” and nampiLLai explained “vAlmeeki rishi is warding off evil eyes by giving an example who is no match to SrI rAma”
  • alankrutham – Even by such vague comparison, is subrahmaNya a match for SrI rAma? Only if he was [greatly] decorated, he could at least be cited as a vague example for SrI rAma.
  • tham sutham – Due to both reasons, i.e. his beauty and being the son, he is desired by dhaSaratha.
  • Avrajantham – As a flower blossoms, it spreads the radiance everywhere, and specifically towards the beetles. Similarly, SrI rAma is present for the joy of his enjoyers.
  • nandhAmi … – While he remains the same, one becomes blissful every moment, every day, as if something new is seen.
  • dharSanEna – He need not embrace, speak etc; just seeing him is sufficient. The benefit is the same as in the abode where there is endless joy; vishNu sUktham “sadhA paSyanthi” (They are always seeing emperumAn in paramapadham).
  • bhavAmi dhrushtvA cha punar yuvEva – dhaSaratha chakravarthi, the 60000 year old man, after seeing perumAL, became youthful and identical with perumAL. thiruvAimozhi 10.2.8 “kAmanaip payandha kALai” (one who gave birth to cupid). emperumAn will make one who enjoys him to become like him and uplift him too. Even SrI vasudhEva became youthful as said in “yuvE vasudhEvO’bhUth vihAya abyAgathAm jarAm” (Seeing the cheerful faces of his children, SrI vasudhEva lost his old age and became youthful). piLLai thirunaRaiyUr aRaiyar explains this as – considering AzhwAr‘s words in thiruvAimozhi 7.3.5 “kaNNa pirAnukku en peNmai thORREn” (I lost my femininity to krishNa, the benefactor), here AzhwAr is meditating upon the victories of emperumAn which is the opposite of his own loss.

Each pAsuram is discussed subsequently.

adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan

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