Thirumaalai(17)
Sri Parthasarathi thunai,
Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha
Mattrondrum vEinda Maname Madhilarangar
Kattrinum meitha kazhalinai keezh- uttra
Thirumaalai paadum seer Thondaradipodi Emperumaanai
Eppozhudum peesu
Srimat Krishna samahvaya Namo yaamuna soonave
yetkadAkshai kalakshyAnAm sulabha: Sridara: sadaa
Pranams,Sri Thondaradipodi alwar, who in the fourth paasuram talked about roopa dyanam
not being an anga of nAma keertanam now in the next paasuram proceeds to
establish the vaishnava philosophy. Even periyazhvar in his paasuram advices
all of us to keep the nAma of bhagavan to our kids. Thereby we call the names
of bhagavan quite often. Alwar says, even though we intentionally do not call
bhagavan still he gives the palan. He says “malamudai ooththayil pirandha oru
malaooththaikku GovindA endru pErittu azhaithakkAl nAranan than annai naragam
pughAl”(Even if you name your son ‘Govinda’ you become the mother of the lord
by the nAma govinda and hence the mother of the lord will never go to narakam).
If we have to prove that our views are right it is common that we have to
disprove the other views. Similarly alwar before establishing vaishnava
philosophy he indulges in disproving all the other philosophies which had their
prominence during alwar’s time. First alwar says the demerits of the other
philosophies and then goes to explain the superiority of vaishnava philosophy.
Sri PVP in his vyakhyanam gives a small hint about the various philosophies
condemned by alwar. In Ramanyana, when vibheshana came to surrender to Sri
Ramachandra moorthi, the people in Rama’s side like sugreeva and others said
that due to various reasons vibheshana should not be accepted. Sri Rama
listened to all the views and finally criticized the view points(without
criticizing the persons who came out with it) and finally said that he had
decided to accept the saranAgathan-vibheshanazhvan. Hereto Sri Rama first
didn’t say his opinion instead he gave reasons against the other’s views and
then only gave out his own view. Even Veda Vyasa in his Sariraka Mimamsa(chap
2) refutes all other philosophies like sankya matham etc before establishing
vaishnava matham. We may get a doubt that why is it essential to condemn other
philosophies when our main aim is to establish our own philosophy. The first
reason is only when one looses prominence the other can get into the minds of
the people and the main reason being that if we be quiet and careless the other
philosophies will invade us. If weeds come in between the cultivated crops
will a farmer keep quiet? If he does, then the cultivativation will end futile
because the nutrients will be taken by the unwanted weeds. Similarly, if we
leave the other philosophies in between our philosophy(cultivated crop) then
the weeds will gain prominence and spoils the crop. That is why our azhvars
and acharyas condemned the other philosophies and concentrated on establishing
our vaishnava philosophy which will take us all to moksham and saved us from
the other philosophies which will confuse and distract us from the facts.
The first and foremost matham which was condemned by alwar was LokAyatha
matham. The people following this philosophy are indifferent to bhagavan and
bhagavat vishayam. They don’t believe in god and they confuse people with
their own theologies. They say that they will believe only whatever they see
and that only this birth is true. They don’t believe in papam or punyam or
rebirth. They say as long as we are enjoying all the luxuries in this world,
the world itself is svargam and when we face the miseries it becomes narakam.
So they do anything to make the world svargam to them.
We will see how alwar condemns this philosophy in the next posting.
AzhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam
Adiyen Ramanuja Dasyai
Sumithra Varadarajan