Thirumaalai(20)
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,
Paasuram-7
“pulayara mAgi nindra puththodu samanamellAm
kalaiarak kattra mAndar kAnbarO kEtparO tham?
thalaiaruppundum sAkEn sattiyam kAnmin aiya!
SilaiyinAl ellangai settra dEvanE dEvanAvAn”.
In this paasuram, alwar condemns some philosophies(Buddhism,
Jainism
etc), which do not accept the sastra pramAnams and give their own
conclusions. These philosophies were highly accepted by masses in
alwar’s
time, though now they have been abandoned by many due to the
illogical
preachings in them. Actually there are three types of pramAnAs,
namely
pratyaksham, anumAnam and sabhdam(Vedas). Many things cannot be
seen and
understood (pratyaksham) so we assume things(anumAnam) but then
all
assumptions are not always correct so we try to understand using
standard
theories given by great scholars. These theories in philosophy
are
called as sastras which were given by abhiyukthargal(Apthargal).
Abhiyukthargal are the rishis who showed us the right path just
for our
benefit. Vedas were not written by any person (apourusheyam). The
rishis who
had great knowledge, compared to all of us, got the Vedas by
their
meditation and gave it to us. They do not gain anything by this
but they
have done this solely for our upliftment. But the Buddhist and
the
jains do not accept these sastra pramAnams, instead they preach
whatever
came to their minds without proper analysis. Saint veda vyAsa
says
“VedAth shastram param nAsti nadaivam kesavAth param”(there
is nothing
superior to the Vedas and there is no god superior to kesavan).
So in this
paasuram alwar condems the illogical thinking of the other
philosophies.
Sri PVP in his vyakhyAnam first gives a jist of what a bhowdan
and a
samanan preaches. One says that there is only inner self and
there is no
outer space. The inner self(Atma) assumes the other outer
appearances.
Another says that only outer space is true and rest false.
Another
says that both are true. Then comes the fourth bhowdan who says
all are
only illusions. The world started from shoonyam(zero) and will
end with
the same. Hearing to all these different philosophy now came the
jains
who said, some say asti(present-mimansakan) and some say nAsti(not
present-bhowdan) but the actual is it can be either asti or nAsti
or
astinAsti. The samana matham never came to a conclusion it says
it can be
this or that and accepts both. They have seven different
approaches
called the saptha kAdhai. These people spoil the whole masses.
They preach
to people that only when they leave their family and friends and
run to
forest they will attain mahA nirvAnam. The jains preach ahimsa to
an
extent no human can follow. They inturn do himsa to their own
self.
They say all the sins can be washed off by giving themselves
Athma
dandanai. So they lie on a heated rock in peak summer with bare
body. In
winter they stay in ice cold water and so on. These are all
considered
as punishments to wash their sins so far. But such punishments
are no
where mentioned in the sastras. Our rishis have given
prayaschitta
kAndA according to the shastras. Only those have the power to
wash our
sins. Anything we do according to our wish how much ever harsh
the
punishment may be will not wash our sins. Even she Krishna in BG
says,
“ashAstra vihitham goram”. So no thyagam or punishment
against shastras
will remove our papams. That is why alwar says “pulayara
mAgi nindra
puththodu samanamellam”.
kalaiarak kattra mAndar kAnbarO kEtparO tham?: Will the scholars
who
are well versed in sastras, and devoid of any confusion about the
basics
of our philosophy ever listen to the illogical propagations of
the
cheap philosophies like buddism and Jainism? The person who is
preaching
the other philosophies can be great vairakhya purushas or great
mahans
but then a person who has obtained knowledge through shrutis and
smritis
can never listen to them or even stand seeing them preach it to
others.
Our scholars even if they are paid for It will not prefer to go
through
the preachings of the other illogical philosophies, which teach
against
the Vedas and bhagavan.
thalaiaruppundum sAkEn sattiyam kAnmin aiya!: Till now alwar
explained the philosophical difference between the vaishnava
matham and the
other Buddhist and jains and he said since the others do not
accept the
sastra pramAnas they are not valid. But seeing that people never
listen
to his words now he wants to prove it by a challenge. He says to
the
other philosophers, “Now Iam ready, you chop of my head but
I will not
die since my god will come and protect me. But then if I chop
yours who
will come to help you since you don’t believe in the
existence of god
itself”. Now we may feel why alwar is so confident that
emperuman will
come to his rescue. Sri PVP now brings to our memory the various
instances when emperuman came running to the rescue of his
bhakthas and
hence alwar confirms and says sattiyam kAnmin.
Everyone including the devatas were afraid of hiranyan and hence
never
talked against him. But then the small boy prahalada challenged
his
own father. When his father asked if emperuman was there in the
pillar
showed by him, prahalada without hesitation replied “engum
vulam
kannan”(emperuman is present in all places) “Thoonilum
erruppAn thurumbilum
erruppAn”. When hiranyan kicked the pillar then to make
prahlAdA’s
words true(sathyam vijathum nijabrithya bhAshitham) Sri
Narasimhan appeared
immediately from the pillar(“angu appozhudhe thondriya en
singa pirAn
perumai”). Similarly alwar believes that emperuman will
surely come to
his rescue also. Only the mahAvishvasam that emperuman will
surely
save us is necessary if that is there is will surely come. He
came
running to the call of even an elephant(gajendrazhvan). In
bhAgavatam there
is another story. Bharata yogeeshwaran was a great jnani. Once
some
tribal people dragged him to a kali temple to give nara bali. He
considered everything to be vAsudEva svaroopam and hence thought
the people,
the knife etc all to be emperuman himself and hence kept quiet.
When
they poured water on him and did alangaram he was with the same
smile
and when they were going to cut him down also he was with the
same bright
face. He didn’t show any sort of worry or fear. But then the
kali
became angry and couldn’t stand people torturing such a
bhAgavatan and she
killed all those tribal people and saved bharatan. When kali one
of
the devatas under emperuman couldn’t stand people chopping
the head of a
bhAgavatan can emperuman keep quiet if alwar cuts his own head,
will he
not come to his rescue?
In our guru paramparai there is one more Ithihyam. One shisya of
Sri
Ramanujar called dhanur dAsar used to go in front of Namperumal
with a
sword in hand during each purappadu. Being a bhAgavatan why does
he go
in front with a sword? When people asked him he replied, “that
is
because of the fear that some harm will come to Namperumal”.
So the people
thought that he is carrying it to protect namperumal from the
people
who are coming to harm him but then dAsar continued saying,
“No, I cannot
save namperumal but if a case comes when there is going to be a
harm to
namperumal I will kill my self”. But since namperumal is
having a
great love to dAsar he will never put him into danger and hence
will
protect himself. So emperuman cares more for his bhakthas than
for himself.
So emperuman doesn’t care if people talk ill of him but then
since
alwar has made the challenge he will surely save alwar and
maintain the
vaishnava philosophy.
SilaiyinAl ellangai settra dEvanE dEvanAvAn”: Now alwar has
proved
that the other philosophies are not valid and only his perumal
will come
to rescue in any crisis. Who is that perumal? The one who took
avatAram as rAma and won over lanka with his bow and arrow is the
only god.
Alwar says, dEvanE dEvanAvAn there may be number of devatas but
the
superior god is none other than chakravarthi thirumagan. The
other
devatas are part of his body.
AzhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam
Adiyen Ramanuja Dasyai
Sumithra Varadarajan