Within ÀLL

Nām Avan Ivan Uvan

Nammāḻvār's Vision of the One Who Is Within All

“Nām avan ivan uvan, avaḷ ivaḷ uvaḷ evaḷ…”

With these deceptively simple words, Nammāḻvār opens an extraordinary window into the nature of Bhagavān.

This is Tiruvāymoḻi 1.1.4, one of the earliest verses in the great work in which Nammāḻvār describes the all-pervading presence of the Supreme Lord.

The verse appears almost to be playing with words:

He, this man, that man, the other man.

She, this woman, that woman, whoever she may be.

This person, that person, those people.

This thing, that thing, whatever it may be.

And then Nammāḻvār takes us far beyond ordinary language.

The complete verse

நாம் அவன் இவன் உவன் அவள் இவள் உவள் எவள்

தாம் அவர் இவர் உவர் அது இது உது எது

வீம் அவை இவை உவை அவை நலம் தீங்கு அவை

ஆம் அவை ஆயவை ஆய் நின்ற அவரே

Nām avan ivan uvan, avaḷ ivaḷ uvaḷ evaḷ

Tām avar ivar uvar, adu idu udu edu

Vīm avai ivai uvai, avai nalam tīṅgu avai

Ām avai āyavai āy ninṟa avarē.

The power of the verse lies in its extraordinary inclusiveness.

He — this one — that one

Nammāḻvār begins with people.

The person who is far away.

The person who is near.

The person who is somewhere in between.

Then he does the same with women.

Then with people collectively.

Then with objects.

He leaves almost nothing outside his description.

Why?

Because Bhagavān is the indwelling reality of all of them.

The traditional explanation describes Bhagavān as the Antaryāmi—the Inner Controller who sustains, directs and controls all beings.

Good and bad

Then comes an even more striking statement.

Nammāḻvār includes:

“nalam tīṅgu” — good and bad.

This does not mean that Bhagavān Himself becomes evil or that good and evil are morally identical.

Rather, nothing exists outside His sovereignty.

Everything that exists depends upon Him.

Everything functions under His ultimate control.

The distinction between what is good and what is harmful remains real for the individual being, but neither lies outside the Lord's overarching reality.

Past, present and future

And then Nammāḻvār embraces time itself.

What has been.

What is.

What will be.

The past cannot escape Him.

The present cannot escape Him.

The future cannot escape Him.

There is nowhere to go outside the reach of the Supreme.

He is not merely present at one particular place or at one particular moment.

He is the foundation upon which existence itself rests.

Why does Nammāḻvār use so many words?

This is perhaps the most beautiful feature of the verse.

He keeps saying:

avan — ivan — uvan

avaḷ — ivaḷ — uvaḷ — evaḷ

avar — ivar — uvar

adu — idu — udu — edu

“This one.”

“That one.”

“The one in between.”

“Which one?”

It is almost as though language itself is running out of ways to describe the universe.

Nammāḻvār is telling us:

Point anywhere.

Name anyone.

Look at anything.

Think of any time.

The Lord is there as the indwelling reality.

As one traditional explanation puts it, the various words ultimately point to Bhagavān because He is the Antaryāmi of all entities.

The great Sri Vaishnava insight

This is where the verse becomes especially profound for Sri Vaishnava thought.

The world is not God.

A human being is not God.

An object is not God.

Yet nothing exists independently of God.

Bhagavān is the Inner Ruler and Sustainer.

The individual soul remains an individual soul.

Matter remains matter.

Bhagavān remains Bhagavān.

Yet all are inseparably dependent upon Him.

This is one of the profound ideas expressed through the Sri Vaishnava understanding of śarīra–śarīrī bhāva: the universe and all individual selves are related to Bhagavān as the body is related to its indwelling Self.

And now our earlier thought returns

This verse also brings us naturally back to the expression.

Aghaṭita Ghaṭanā Sāmarthya.

The Lord whose greatness cannot be contained by our ordinary categories can simultaneously be:

beyond everything — and within everything.

He is transcendent.

He is immanent.

He is infinite.

And yet He enters into relationship with every individual being.

The One beyond the universe is also the One within the smallest being.

That is the wonder.

There is also a lesson for us

If the same Bhagavān is the Inner Controller of all beings, then how should we look at another person?

Not merely as a stranger.

Not merely as someone different from ourselves.

But as a jīva whose inner ruler is Bhagavān Himself.

This does not erase differences between people.

It transforms the way we see those differences.

Every person becomes worthy of respect.

Every living being becomes part of a larger divine order.

The world becomes not merely a collection of objects, but a creation permeated by the presence and governance of the Lord.

Nammāḻvār's extraordinary simplicity

There is no elaborate philosophical argument here.

No complicated terminology.

Only a series of ordinary words:

this…

that…

he…

she…

this thing…

that thing…

past…

present…

future…

And then the extraordinary conclusion:

Āy ninṟa avarē.

He stands as all these.

The great poet has taken the entire universe and compressed it into a few lines.

One final thought

We often search for Bhagavān somewhere far away—

in a distant heaven,

in a sacred place,

in a temple,

in a pilgrimage.

Nammāḻvār does not deny any of these.

But he asks us to see something even deeper.

Wherever you look, He is already there.

The person before you.

The person far away.

The living being beside you.

The world around you.

What has passed.

What is happening now.

What is yet to come.

All exist under His sovereignty.

And within all, He remains the Antaryāmi.

That is the breathtaking vision of Nammāḻvār:

“Nām avan ivan uvan…”

Look wherever you will.

He is already there.

And perhaps that is the true wonder of Aghaṭita Ghaṭanā Sāmarthya:

The One who is beyond everything

chooses to be within everything—

without ever ceasing to be the Supreme.