Culmination to b

 

Nammazhvar is special among the Azhvars, said M.A. Venkatakrishnan in a discourse. Nammazhvar authored four works. His Thiruviruttam with hundred verses gives us the essence of the Rg Veda; Thiruvasiriyam gives the essence of the Yajur Veda. Peria Thiruvandadi gives the essence of the Atharva Veda. Thiruvaimozhi gives the essence of the Sama Veda. His works are not translations of the Vedas into Tamil. What he gives us through his works is what we need to attain moksha. Vedas tell us what yagas we have to perform to obtain wealth, what yagas we should perform to have longevity and so on. But these are worldly matters, and are not about reaching the feet of the Lord. So Nammazhvar does not dwell on these portions of the Vedas, but only talks of Vedanta in his works. He says in Thiruvaimozhi, that the Lord gave mati (jnana) and got rid of mayarvu (ajnana). This jnana culminated in bhakti.

In Vedartha Sangraha, Ramanujacharya shows that the highest state of jnana is bhakti. Nammazhvar says that if you assert that God exists, He exists. If you say that He does not exist, He still exists! If you say there is no pot, it means that there is perhaps no pot at some place, or that the potter has run out of pots to sell. It does not mean pots do not exist at all. You cannot talk about something that does not exist.

So , what happens if someone asks, “So would I be right if I said rabbits have horns?” The answer would be that while the claim itself is absurd, the fact remains that the words used to make the claim refer to existing objects. There are rabbits in the world, and horns exist too. It is just that there is no interrelation between the two. Nammazhvar’s verses were a great influence on Ramanujacharya, when he explained the philosophy of Visishtadvaita.

The songs of Azhwars are the outpourings of their mystic experience which transcends the limits of rational thought and feeling. But this experience is also recognisable in every individual who yearns for something higher and spiritual from this life on earth. The ultimate goal is release from the cycle of birth and this means all association with the physical world should be cut off. Nammazhwar conveys what the scriptures have said about this truth of the soul’s journey to salvation, and of how a jivatma qualifies to step into this path, pointed out Velukkudi Sri Krishnan in a discourse.

Azhwar exemplifies many facets of absolute devotion to God and total absorption in His boundless compassion. His bhakti reaches a peak and God responds to his surrender and wishes to grant him Moksha. To emphasise that the path to moksha implies the journey of the soul sans the physical attributes, Azhwar projects a vision to indicate that even if God wishes to take him to Vaikunta with his body it would not be possible. It is a stage that is reached when the jivatma sheds this love for the physical body. His prayer is to the Lord to make him let go His hold on this body through His Sankalpa. Azhwar addresses his own self to hold on to the Lord at Tirumalirumsolai to indicate that the Lord alone sustains the atma and helps to destroy the physical connections that bind the jivatma. It is only fitting that this body comprising the karmendriyas and the jnanendriyas, the subtle body and its attributes, the Moola prakriti, Mahat, ahamkara and mind, etc, is renounced by His grace.

Azhwar realises in all humility that if at all anyone can attain moksha, it is by His grace alone. Azhwar’s sentiments reflect the Lord’s impartial benevolence that extends to all jivatmas without any reason whatsoever.