Thiruvaimozi
of
Nammazvar
BhakthAmrtham viSvajanAnumOdhanam
sarvArThadham SriSatagopavAngmayam
sahasraSAkhOpanishadsamAgamam
namAmyaham dhrAvidavEdhasAgaram.(Nadha munigaL)
Thiruvaimozi of Satagopa (nammAzvAr) is the
Thiruvaimozi is the work of NammAzvar
also known as Satagopan because he was not born in
the natural way but manifested himself and hence not influenced by the SatavAyu which
destroys the memory of previous births before the embodied soul is expelled
from the womb of the mother. He manifested in the month of viSakha and the star of viSAkha in Thirukkurugur.He
never ate or drunk anything since his manifestation and nor talked and while
young he sat in meditation under a tamarind tree in front of the temple in Thirukkurugur.
ThiruvaimoZi is supposed to be equal to the vedas
and expounds the meaning of dhvaya manthra and arThapanchaka.It contains more than thousand pasurams, divided into ten parts of ten sections each,and
rich in meaning. We will enjoy the nectar of Thiruvaimozi in
these pages.
PartI
Section I- The nature of the Supreme Being
I.I
uyarvaRa vuyarnala mudaiyavan yavanavan
mayarvaRamadhinalam aruLinan yavanavan
ayarvarum amarargaL adhipath yavanavan
thuyarRu Sudradi thozudhezen manane
Oh mind, rise up bowing to
the glorious feet, which destroys all grief, of Him who has no one higher than
Him in nature and qualities, who gives the knowledge that removes delusion and
who is the Lord of the immortal devas.
UyarvaRa-none higher to him.
In Bhagavatgita Arjuna says on seeing
the visvaroopa,
cosmic form of the Lord, 'na thvathsamO asthi
abhyadhikaH kuthaH anyaH, there is no one equal to you and hence who can
be higher? Upanishad declares the supremacy of the Lord by 'yathO vAchO nivarthanthE aprApya manasA saha,'(Taitt-Anandhavalli)the speech returns without reaching Him along with the
mind, meaning that He is beyond description and beyond conception. His
unparalleled excellence is svabhAvika, natural and not acquired.
uyarnalam udaiyavan- He has infinitely auspicious qualities. Abode of infinite bliss and power or glory. This denotes His
anantha kalyANa guNathvam as well
as hEyaprthyaneekathvam,
absence of blemishes of any sort.
Yavan-He who is described as such, avan- He, is the one who has given aruLinan, wisdom and devotion madhinalam, which
is devoid of
ignorance and delusion, mayarvaRa.
The word mayarvu
means jnAna
anudhaya,
absence of jnana
which gives way to anyaTHA
jnAna or vipareetha jnana, misconception. Azvar was
endowed with jnana and bhakthi
from birth and he says 'aruLinan,' because it was due
to His grace which was ahaithukam, without any reason
except His mercy. Ramanuja says in Sribhashya mangala sloka "let me have wisdom born out of devotion,"
'SEmushee bhakthiroopA.'
AyarvaRu amarargaL adhipathi-
The eternal souls, nithyasooris who never had loss of
memory about their real nature.
He is the overlord of them all.
thuyaraRu- One
who removes all sorrow.
Sudaradi-even though only the feet are mentioned the
implication is about His dhivyamangalvigraha, the
divine auspicious form.
thozudhu ezu -rise above the transmigration by knowing His real
nature and worshipping Him.
mananE-the mind is addressed
thus because the mind is the only cause of bondage.'mana
Eva manushyANAm kAraNam bandhamokshayOh.'
The meaning of PraNava has been made out in the first syllables of the three lines of
the first pasuram, namely, U,M and A. The order is changed according to the
belief that the vedamantra should not be said as it
is, in contexts other than veda.
UyarvaRa uyarnalam means the Lord
has Sri who is the highest and best.Therefore He is mayarvaRa madhinalam aruLinan, because His mercy is only due to the influence of
the divine mother. He is also ayarvaru amarargaL adhipathi because He is
Sriyahpathi.Hence one should surrender to His feet,
which is capable of removing sorrow, thuyaraRu Sudaradi thozudhezen mananE.
The first line speaks
about His soulabhyAdhi, (that is easy accessibility
etc.) attributes, kalyana gunas
which made Him take His abode in the milky ocean in order to protect the world.
The second line denotes
Him as the antharyAmi, the inner self of all, who
gives the real knowledge.
The third line describes
His parathva, supremacy as residing in Vaikunta ,
as the master of the eternal souls.
Similarly the three lines
also refer to Thirumala,Srirangam
and Kanchi.
UyarvaRa uyarnalam denotes the
highest of the Divyadesas , Thirumala where the Lord
descended from Vaikunta.Udaiyavan is Venkatesa, also known as ThiruvEngatamudaiyan.There
He is Anadhamaya and the vimAna
is AnandhavimAna.
PraNava , the source of all vedas is the one which gives wisdom and i
Srirangam the vimAna is praNavAkAra.Through PraNava bhakthi is attained.Therefore mayarvaRa madhinalam aruLinan means Arangan, RanganAtha of Srirangam. The Lord
has further descended from Thirumala in order to
guide us through knowlegde and devotion.
The word AmarargaL adhipathi means Devaraja of Kanchi.
The last line thuyaraRu Sudaradi refers to all
His luminous archavatharas which when worshipped
removes all grief due to samsara.
Thus pasuram
is considered as the synopsis of the SAreerakSAsrhra,
that is, Brahmasuthra. The first line describes the
nature of Brahman which is the topic of the first adhyaya
of Brahmasuthra. It shows the samAbhyadhikarahithathva,
the unequalled and unexcelled nature (uyarvaRa uyarnalam udaiyavan) of Brahman.The second line denotes the contents of the second adhyaya, namely, the refutation of all that is against the
knowledge of Brahman (mayarvaRa madhinalam)
and the third line describes the means of attainment of Brahman, that is,
through bhakthi marga,
which is outlined in the third adhyaya of Brahmasuthra and the last line is about the attainment, mukthi, the subject matter of the fourth adhyaya.
pasuram1.2
mananaga malamaRa malarmisai yezutharum
mananuNarvaLavilan
poRiyuNar vavaiyilan
inan uNar muzunalam edhir nigaz kazivinum
inan ilan enanuyir migunaraiyilanE
He can be understood only
turning inward when the ignorance is dispelled through spiritual discipline
such as yama and niyama,
that is, controlling indriyas and the mind.Then the flame of jnana
rises upward and pervades and He is seen as being beyond the comprehension of
the mind and the senses. The infinite knowledge and bliss is experienced and He
is perceived as one's own Self who has no comparison in the past,present and future, with no one equal to or
excelling Him.
Manan agam - with mind turned
inward, malamaRa- free of impurities
, the mind becoming pure through spiritual discipline.malar-blossoming,
misai - upward, ezutharum-
burning high.
manan uNarvu aLavilan-He cannot be
comprehended by the mind, being beyond mind and intellect.
uNar muzunalam-infinite knowledge and bliss.
edhir-future,nigaz -present, kazivu-past.
inan ilan, migu narai
ilan- no one equal to Him or higher.
ennuyir- He is my inner Self.
In this pasuram ,the following characterestics
of Brahman,that is, Narayana,
namely, hEyaprathyaneekathvam, absence of blemishas, ananthakalYANa guNa thAnathvam, possessing
infinitely auspicious qualities, chidachitvilakshaNathvam,difference
from sentient and insentient beings, sAdharmya vaidharmya dhrshtAntha rahithathvam, nothing being similar or different, Saririthvam, being the inner Self of all , are all brought
out. The main idea of the verse is the sarira-sariri bhava, the body-soul relationship between the jiva and the Lord
Pasuram1.3
ilanadhu vudaiyan idhena ninaivariyavan
nilanidai viSumbidai uruvinan aruvinanan
pulanodu pulanalan ozivilan parandha, an-
nalanudai yoruvanai naNuginam nAm
He cannot be limited by
saying "He has this only and not that." because He is beyond the mind
and intellect.He encompasses all the universe and the
regions above and He is with and without form.He is
not the object of the senses though present everywhere. We have the good
fortune of resorting to Him with all the qualities enumerated in the foregoing
verses.
ilan adhu, udaiyavan idhu-He has that, He has not this.
ena ninaivu ariyavan- He could not be
thought of as such.
nilanidai- all
the earth including under-world.
visumbidai- all
the heavenly regions.
uruvinan aruvinan - His imminence as the sariri
of all beings, and His transcendence as existing everywhere and hence no form ,
because having form would limit Him.
pulanodu pulanalan- not the object of the
senses
Ozivilan parandha- all pervading.
annalanudai oruvanai - Him who has all these qualities.
naNuginam nAmE-we have come near.
ilan adhu denotes that He has no worldly attributes and udaiyavan idhu means that He has
all this, the universe of sentient and insentient beings as His Sesha, property (sarvaSeshithvam).Since
he has everything it is not possible to say what He has and what he has not.
nilanidai----parandha- He is the Lord of the whole Universe.His
Isvarathvam is denoted.
The second and third lines
together shows that Brahman is not having any contact with the beings though He
is found in everything.Kamban says about the Lord, 'thoyndhum poruL anaitthum thOyAdhu ninra sudarE, You are the light
that is in contact with everything yet You are not connected with them in the
real sense of the term. The Self is described in Gita
as 'yaTHA sarvagatham soukshmyAth AkASO nopalipyathE sarvathrAvasTHitho dhEhE thaTHAthmA nOpalipyathE, just as the space existing everywhere and
hence on contact with everything is not touched by anything, so too the Self
though existing everywhere on the body is not touched by anything. The Supreme
Self being the inner Self of all like wise is not in contact with anything.
In the first Pasuram the Brahman is denoted as proved by the vedas. In the second, the nature of the Supreme Self paramAthmasvrupa
is described. In this, the connection between the Lord and the world is
elucidated, bringing out the sarirasariribhava, and
that the two are in inseparable relation, aprthaksiddhi.
Thus the first three pasurams consist of the essence
of Thiruvaimozi and the rest of the ten verses in the
section are the elucidation of the first three.
Pasuram-1.4
veemavai ivai uvai avai
nalantheengavai
AmavaiyAya vaiyAy ninra avarE
avan ivan uvan includes all men and avaL,ivaL,uvaL denotes women among human beings and avar,ivar,uvar refers to divine beings. adhu idhu etc means
inanimate things such as trees and hills the same in plural is referred as ivai avai etc.
veemavai means
all these which are transcient.
nalantheengavai
are that which is good and that which is bad.
Amavai Ayavai refers to the future and the
past.
All these are nothing but Brahman is meant
by Ay ninra avarE.
This pasuram
implies the import of the upanishad 'sarvam khalu brahma
thajjalAn ithi SAntha upaseetha.'(Chan.3.14.1)
the meaning of the upanishadhic declaration is this:
All this is Brahman. He, thath(Brahman) creates, ja and la annihilates
and an protects all (thajjalAn). This truth should be meditated upon
with a calm mind.The word tajjalAn
is split as thath+ja+la+an.
This pasuram
indicates that all beings are Brahman only in reality. He is the inner self of
all, which form His body, the sarira-sariri bhava.The implication of the mahavakya , Thathvamasi, is also stressed by this pasuram
of which the subsequent ones elaborate.
pasuram1.5
avaravar thama thamadhaRivaRi vagai vagai
avaravariRaiyavarenavadiyadaivargaL
avaravRiraiyavarkuraivilar iRaiyavar
avaravar vidhivazi adaiyaninranarE
avaravar thamdhamadharivaRri- Everyone, avaravar
, comprehend according to their individual intellectual capacity, thamdhamadhu arivaRi, through
different methods, vagai vagai,
like japa , yaga etc.
avr avar iRaiyavar ena adi adaivargal-
each one resort to their own deity and reach union with that.
avaravar iRaiyavar kuRaivilar iRaiyavar-The Lord Narayana
grants them their prayers in that ,that form in which they worship Him. He is
described as kuRaivilar, since He is the indweller of
all and thus all pervading.
Then why do people have
different mode of worship and different forms to worship? It is so according to
their propensities acquired due to their karma.avaravavidhivazi
adaiya ninranarE
While in the previous pasuram all beings are shown to be His sesha,
that is they belong to Him and exist for Him, in this pasuram
the Lord is depicted as the protector.
Pasuram1-6
Ninranar irundhanar kidandhanar thirindhanar
Ninrilar irundhilar kidandhilar thirindhilar
enrumOr iyalvinar ena ninaivariyavar
enrumOr iyalvodu ninra vemdhidarE
Ninranar- who is standing, irundhanar- sitting, kidandhanar-lying down, thirindhanar
moving about.
Ninrilar etc denote inactivity meaning not standing etc.
enrumOr ----ariyavar- The Lord cannot be associated with any one
particular activity since all activities are by His will. To do and not to do
both requires the will of the Lord.
enrumOr iyalvodu ninra- He is always the
same and cannot be defined as such , transcending word thought and deed. Ninra implies that He is ever existent and eternal, being
the one and only reality, all pervading.
Em dhidarE- He is our
master, firmly established through the Vedas. The implied meaning of these
lines ninranar etc. is that all beings, in what ever
state they are, denote
only Brahman as Ramanuja has said in sribhashya that all words have their connotation in Brahman
only.
Pasuram7
dhidaviSumberivaLi
neer nilam ivai misai
padarporuL muzuvadhumAi avai avai thoRum
udalmiSai uyirena karandhengum parandhuLan
Sudarmigu SuruthiyuL ivai unda suranE
Dhida means gross. viSumbu
is AkASa, eri is fire, vaLi means
wind, neer nilam denote
water and earth respectively, thus naming the four gross elements which are the cause of the
gross universe.
Ivai misai padar means having these as the material cause and poruL is the gross universe of all beings.
Muzuvadhum Ai- pervading all beings in the universe
and avai avai thorum means
pervading even their cause, that is the gross elements.
The process of creation as
described in the Upanishads is as follows:
Brahman or `sath' that was one only without a second, willed to become
many and created the space, Akasa, from which came vayu, wind and from the wind came fire, tejas
and from fire water originated and lastly from water prthvee
the earth came about.
In accordance with the
theory of visishtadvaita the world
, the individual soul and Isvara, the Lord,
are real. The other two being the sarira
of the Lord. Hence Azvar says dhidavisumbu, implying it is solid and real. The reason for
enumerating the elements by name is to refute the theory of naiyayaikas
or the school of logicians
that the world was created only out of the paramanus,
primary atoms of the four gross elements excluding Akasa.
This pasura
emphasizes the sarira-sariri bhava
one of the key
concepts of visidshtadvaita by the sentence udal misai uyir
ena, as the soul inside the body. Karandhengum
parandhuLan means that He
pervades all beings inside and outside unmanifest. This implies the transcendence and imminence of
the Lord. He is unmanifest in the world as the inner
self.
But He is manifest in the
Vedas like the flame of a lamp, says azvar. Sudarmigu suruthiyuL means He
could be perceived in the Vedas which shows him like a luminous lamp.
Finally azvar says that the one who has created and sustains the
universe as its inner self is the same one who absorbs them all into Himself in
the end. Ivai unda surane mens that He is the same
divine being who devoured them all. Lord Narayana is
the Brahman who creates, sustains and annihilate as per the sruthivakya
'yahtO vA imani bhoothAni jAyanthe yEna jAthAni
jeevanthi yasmin abhisamvisanthi thath vijinjsasva thath brahma.' It means "know that to be Brahman from whom
all this originate, by whom they are sustained and into whom they all enter in
the end.
Pasuram -8
Surar arivaru nilai viNmudhal muzuvadhum
Varan mudhal Ay avai muzudhundaparaparan
Puramoru moonreritthu amararkkum ariviyandhu
Aran ayan ena
ulagazittha maitthuLanE
Narayana synonymous with Brahman of the Upanishads, is the
Supreme Lord of all,parAparan, being the first cause
of the universe varan mudhal
Ay, which is incomprehensible even to the devas, surar arivaru nilai.
Not only He is the cause thus the creator but also He is the annihilator. Avai muzudhunda parAparan, one who
devours all. Thus He is the creator and the giver of knowledge to devas like Brahma, ayan ena amararkkum arivu iyandhu and He is also the annihilator, Rudra who burnt the three cities, aran ena puramoru
moonreritthu.
Here it should be
remembered that the words Brahma and Rudra denote the
trinities and not the Supreme Being. Srimadbhagavatha
and Vishnu purana describe the creation of the
Universe and Brahma sprung from the lotus in the navel of Narayana
and Rudra was born from Brahma. Narayana
assuming the rajo guNa
becomes the creator and when He assumes thamo guna he is Rudra, the annihilator
and He becomes Vishnu when He is all satthva.
Pasuram -9
uLanenil uLan avan uruvam
ivvuruvugaL
uLanalan enil avan aruvam
ivvaruvugaL
uLan ena ilan ena
ivai guNam udainmaiyil
uLaniru thagAimaiyodu ozivilan parandhE
uLan
avan enil uLan- If it is claimed that He exists, He does.
Avan uruvam ivvuruvugal-
In which case all the forms are His.
uLan alan enil- If it is contended
that He is not, then He becomes all that is unmanifest,
avan aruvam ivvaruvugaL
uLan ena----udaimaiyil- He has both manifest and unmanifest
as His modes.
Hence He is ozindhilan parandhuLan,
all-encompassing, and all-pervading.
The existence and
non-existence, both are His modes. In visishtadvaita
everything is real and the sentient and the insentient exist in the manifest
state after the creation of the Universe and in the unmanifest
state before creation destruction does not mean non-existence but only that the
thing exists in another state. When a pot is destroyed it does not cease to exist but
continues to exist as potsherds. What has been
destroyed is only the form and not the substance. It never ceased to exist even
before its creation but existed in the form of mud. Even those who deny God
cannot deny Him altogether but only deny Him as such.
BhAva is being and abhAva is
non-being, both are only he modes of Brahman. Abhava can either be prAgabhAva,
prior nonexistence or pradhvamsAbhAva , posterior non-existence or destruction , both of
which has been denied in Brahman who is eternal and all those with form and
those which are formless are nothing but Brahman. Neither mutual nonexistence , anyonya abhAva, as when we say that the pot is not the cloth is
appropriate with Brahman because there
is nothing else except Him everywhere.
Lastly the fourth kind of abhava, namely athyanthaabhAva, absolute non-existence, like that of skyflower, could be said of Brahman because it is the sole
reality.
That is why Azvar says that He is both form and the formless. When He
is not it is because He is not cognized by the normal means of knowledge.
Moreover to say a thing does not exist is possible only when assuming that
thing o be capable of existence as it is absurd to say
that the horn of a hare does not exist. When one says God is not he first
assumes a thing called God and then denies it because a thing that never
existed cannot be denied.
Both
existence and non-existence acquire their meaning because of Brahman because He
pervades all and exists as form and formless both of which are His attributes.
PASURAM
Parandha thaN paravaiyuL neer thoRum parandhuLan
Parandha andamidhu ena nilaviSumbozivarak
Karandha silidam thoRum idam thigaz
poruL thorum
Karandhengum parandhuLan
ivaiyunda karanE
Parandha than paravaiyul
means , in the ocean of cool water.
Neer thoRum parandhuLan-
the Lord is present everywhere in the water of the ocean. This denotes that He
pervades the water as a whole as the sea is the conglomeration of all the water
atoms.
Parandha andam is the cosmos. Nila viSumbu denotes the earth and akasa which includes air and fire by implication. The Lord
is present in all the elements that constitute the universe without a gap, ozivara.
Karandha sil idam- even a
small space hidden from view, and idam thigaz porul means the individual self which is
invisible and exists within the hrdhaya pundarika, the small space in the heart called dhaharakasa within which the Lord dwells. The word thigaz is used to
denote the luminous self which jnanasvarupa and ananda svarupa.
Karandhu engum parandhuLan-
He is concealed and pervades all beings in and out.
Ivai unda karanE- He
also absorbs them in Himself at the time of dissolution.
This pasuram
reflects the idea expressed by the ghataka sruthi texts which Ramanuja
quotes in Sribhashya to prove the sarira-sariribhava between the individual self and Brahman.
yaH sarveshu bhootheshu thishTan sarvebhyah bhoothebhyah antharah yam sarvANi bhoothAni na vidhuh
yasyasarvANi bhoothAni sariram, yah sarvANI bhoothAni antharo yamayathi, esha tha AthmA antharyAmyamrthah.
(Brhd.up.3-7-15)
The meaning of the passage
is as follows:
He who dwells in all
beings within, whom they do not know, whose body is all beings, who controls
them from within, He is your self and immortal.
"The entire world is pervaded by Me, in my unmanifest form; All
beings dwell in Me but I do not dwell in them."
"They are in Me and I am not in them," has to be
understood as in the case of wind which
stays in the akasa and moves in it yet the akasa is not in any way connected with the wind. Another
example can be given by the sky in which the clouds exist and move, is not in
any way connected with them.
Similarly the Lord is within everything and without
but is not contaminated by the imperfections of the world of sentient and insentient.
Everything exist in Him in
both manifest and unmanifest stage. Markandeya saw the worlds inside the stomach of the infant
lying on the banyan tree and also outside. Everything is in Him and He is in
everything. Thirumangai azvar
in Peria thirumozi says, thayir unda pon vayiRu ivvEz ulagum
undum idam udaitthAl, the stomach which has the curd eaten by him
still has space even after eating the whole world. Brahman is termed as the
eater because he absorbs the universe back into Him until the next creation.
Vide: atthA
chracharagrahaNATh (BS.1-2-9)
PASURAM
karavisumberibvaLi neer nilam ivai misai
varanavil thiral valiyaLi poRaiyai ninra
paranadi mEl kurgur satagopan sol
niraniRai Ayiratthivaipatthum veedE
KaraviSumberi -----ivai misai- The Lord is present in
the gross elements.
Varanavil-----ninra- also He pervades the
subtle elements or thanmathras.
Kurugur satagopan sol- the words of Nammazvar.
Paranadi mEl-at the feet of the Lord
who pervades the universe.
niRal nirai -
fit and proper.
Ayiratthivai patthum- these ten verses which
are part of the thousand .
veedE- these verses are
salvation itself as there is no need for mukthi after
learning this.
Nammazvar is called Kurugur Satagopan after his home
town Kurugur. The name satagopan
also denotes, besides that he conquered the sata vayu at birth,
that he got angry with those who gave wrong interpretation of the Vedas whom he
considered as satas,
wicked.
These verses form the first ten of the first
decade. It describes the parathva
or supremacy of the Lord. The Lord is shown by these verses as follows:
1.anantha kalyanaguna
visishta, possessing innumerable auspicious qualities,
2.jnanasvarupa, knowledge itself,
3.His leela vibhoothi, His manifestations ,
4.sarva seshithvam, everything being
dependent on Him,
5. sarva sthithi adheenathvam,
srsht isthithi samhara all are by his power.
6.pravrtthi nivrtthi
adheenathvam, all activities worldly as well as spiritual are
by His will,
7.sarirasariribhava- The world of sentient and insentient beings
forming His sarira.
8.All other deities are
within His power
9. Proving the existence of God and refutal
of atheism
10.All pervasiveness.
That is the reason for saying that knowing these is
equivalent to attaining salvation.