thiruvAimozhi – 2.7 – kESavan thamar

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

Full series >> Second Centum

Previous Decad

Audio

ANdAL, sEnai mudhaliyAr, AzhwArs (Adhi kESava’s dear devotees) – SrIperumbUthUr (During adhyayana uthsavam)

Highlights from thirukkurugaippirAn piLLAn‘s introduction

kESavan thamar – AzhwAr further elaborates the topic of emperumAn helping AzhwAr’s relatives due to emperumAn’s affection towards AzhwAr.

Highlights from nanjIyar‘s introduction

In the seventh decad – AzhwAr meditating upon emperumAn‘s affection towards him not stopping at him and extending up to his relatives, thinks “this must be due to his great affection towards me” and being very pleased, starts enjoying those qualities of emperumAn which make him pursue AzhwAr and speaks about those divine names of emperumAn which reveal those qualities.

Highlights from vAdhi kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar‘s introduction

In the seventh decad – AzhwAr becoming pleased with emperumAn‘s partiality towards himself and his ancestors/descendants, speaks about the following aspects:

  • emperumAn’s special mercy towards his relatives
  • emperumAn‘s partiality towards him which is the cause for such mercy
  • the favour that resulted from such mercy
  • such favour leading to the ultimate result for his relatives
  • the splendour acquired by ISwara due to such accomplishment
  • the dependence on emperumAn’s mercy for such accomplishment
  • emperumAn providing him with pure good intelligence to experience this
  • how emperumAn removed (reformed) his evil heart
  • how emperumAn entered his good heart which is filled with love
  • his desire of having his heart not leaving emperumAn ever
  • emperumAn‘s different manners of favouring AzhwAr by giving himself to AzhwAr
  • how this great generosity is difficult to comprehend for even very wise persons

After contemplating these aspects of bhagavAn‘s affection towards self and ancestors/descendants in protecting all, AzhwAr mercifully explains those names of emperumAn which highlight qualities of protecting his devotees.

Highlights from periyavAchchAn piLLai‘s introduction

See nampiLLai‘s introduction.

Highlights from nampiLLai‘s introduction

In “AdiyAdi” since AzhwAr said “vAdi vAdum“, how AzhwAr became like a dry crop was explained; In “andhAmaththanbu“, how emperumAn united with AzhwAr like a dark laden cloud raining on that crop; In “vaikundhA maNivaNNanE“, AzhwAr said “IRil inbaththu iruveLLam yAn mUzhginan” (I drowned in the endless ocean of joy) like that crop becoming fully drowned in water; In “kESavan thamar“, how that love reached out to AzhwAr’s relatives like that flood breaking the banks and reaching out to the nearby fields.

In “andhAmaththanbu“, emperumAn uniting with AzhwAr and eliminating his suffering was explained; it was explained in “vaikundhA maNivaNNanE” that the joy of such union was for emperumAn; in this decad, it is explained that such joy of emperumAn did not stop just at AzhwAr but it extends to those who are related to AzhwAr. Seeing emperumAn’s love spreading to his relatives (and their relatives) due to the joy acquired by emperumAn on uniting with AzhwAr and becoming pleased, AzhwAr thinks “this is due to his great partiality of affection towards me”, meditates upon those qualities and activities of emperumAn which induced emperumAn to pursue him and speaks about those divine dhvAdhasa (12) names which are indicative of such qualities/activities.

When emperumAn pursues someone, he certainly does not stop at that individual. To demonstrate this, nampiLLai beautifully explains SrI rAma’s love towards vibhIshaNa even extending to rAvaNa (at the time of rAvaNa’s death), as explained in SrI rAmAyaNam yudhdha kANdam 114.10. “maraNAnthAni vairANi” (all enmity disappears at death) – rAvaNa committed many mistakes such as destroying the hermitages of the sages, taking away sIthA pirAtti and killing SrI jatAyu mahArja like hurting someone’s most dear life. But now that he is dead, he can no longer commit such mistakes. “nirvruththam na: prayOjanam” (our goal is accomplished) – I was looking to see if he would not reject my help while he was alive – I did not get it then. But now we are seeing it happening (since he is dead, he can no longer reject perumAL’s help). “kriyathAmasya samskAra:” (let his last rites be performed) – now that he has stopped rejecting my help – should I still lose him? Please do whatever is necessary. “mamApyEsha yathA thava” (whatever he is to you, he is the same to me) – if you shy away from performing your responsibility, someone related to you should perform that; in that case, let me do that for him and you step aside.

His special affection towards SrI vibhIshaNAzhwAn extended up to rAvaNa. SrI rAma killed vAli considering that he was sugrIva’s enemy. But when sugrIva started crying upon seeing vAli dying, as said in SrI rAmAyaNam kishkinthA kANdam 23.24 “samjAtha pAshpa:” (with tears), SrI rAma too started crying. As said in SrIvishNu purANam 5.19.27 “dharmE manaScha thE bhadhra … ” (hE mAlAkAra who has auspicious qualities! Your mind is going to be engaged in righteous activities forever; those who are going to be born in your family will live long), krishNa’s affection towards mAlAkAra (the flower vendor) reached up to his descendants. emperumAn‘s mercy towards SrI gaNtAkarNan extended up to his younger brother [who was rather not interested in bhagavAn] and bhagavAn said to him “since you are dear to gaNtAkarNan, you too can follow him [to paramapadham]”.

While explaining this decad, embAr used to say “AzhwAr is saying that he has become a SrIvaishNava”. These 12 divine names of bhagavAn are a symbol of being a vaishNava [which is why they are recited while applying 12 puNdrams in our body]. There are two “nedumARkadimai” [thiruvAimozhi 8.10 which explains that AzhwAr wants to eternally serve SrIvaishNavas] – first one is AzhwAr’s nedumARkadimai [8.10] and second one is emperumAn‘s nedumARkadimai ; this decad is called emperumAn’s nedumARkadimai [i.e., emperumAn desiring to serve/help SrIvaishNavas].

Each pAsuram is discussed subsequently.

adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan

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