kiLaroLi iLamai

kiLaroLi iLamai Understanding Athma svarUpa jnAnam at a young age

kaLLazhagar

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Introduction
NammAzhwAr who is a parama kAruNikar talks about thirumAlirunchOlai emperumAn who is a parama dhayALu in thiruvAimozhi 2.10. In this padhigam, nammAzhwar explains artha panchakam very nicely. He says that one must understand emperumAn and the real self at an early age, act according to his svarUpa jnAnam (surrender to emperumAn and do kainkaryam in this life), avoid the hurdles and ultimately aim for serving emperumAn permanently in paramapadham. In thiruAimozhi first padhigam, AzhwAr enjoys emperumAn (svAnumbhavam). Immediately, in the second padhigam, AzhwAr looking at the pitiful state of the samsAris who are full of ignorance, starts doing parOpadhEsam in veedu min muRRavum (1.2) padhigam. There he says - first give up the attachments to everything in this world and hold on to emperumAn immediately. This is AzhwAr's charama slOkam - sarva dharmAn parithyajya mAm (krishna) Ekam charaNam vraja. For AzhwAr, the samsAram is unbearable - while he himself has pure knowledge and enjoying emperumAn in his heart, when he looks at others he becomes very sad. An example is given by our pUrvAchAryas for this - when our neighbour's house is caught on fire, we may be safe, but still we also cry out "fire! fire!" out of fear. The same way, nammAzhwAr understanding the difficulties in samsAram by the grace of emperumAn cries out to save others. In the kiLaroLi iLamai padhigam, AzhwAr explains that one should attempt to get svarUpa jnAnam at a very young age since this world is very temporary and we cannot predict anything. He follows the words of kannan emperumAn who in gIthai said that this samsAram is dhukkAlayam (place of sorrows) and asAsvatham (impermanent). AzhwAr, first starts with upadhEsam to us, saying that we should understand that when we are young and active we can easily reach out to emperumAn, but when we are old, we will have a lot of difficulties and focussing on emperumAn will be very difficult. To illustrate this, we often hear the following example: When some one is young and active they are fully engaged in loukIka activities, taking up material pursuits, etc - and when some one says why dont you engage in kainkaryam, the reply we get is "let me do it after my retirement - I will have all the time for kainkaryam". But when we reach 50, we start having all sorts of physical issues like backpain, knee pain, etc we will not be able to even sit in aruLicheyal or kAlakshEpam gOshti for even more than half an hour let alone think about doing any kainkaryam. We will also have family commitments (taking care of grand children, etc) which takes up a lot of our time. It is rare for someone to come out of these difficulties/bondage at the later part of their life. That is why AzhwAr instructs us to develop the attachment towards kainkaryam at an early age, so it stays forever with us. In the final pAsuram of this padhigam, AzhwAr says: poruLenRu ivvulakam padaiththavan pugazh mEl ( )
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kiLaroLi iLamai maruLil vanNkurugUr vanNchatagOpan ( )

theruLkoLLachchonna OrAyiraththuL ippaththu ( ) aruLudayavan thAL anNaivikkum mudiththE ( ) Simple translation: EmperumAn is repeatedly doing srushti out of his vAtsalyam (pugazh) towards the jIvAthmAs, hoping that some day/some jIvAthmAs will use their body and senses in glorifying emperumAn and reaching him. By understanding what is sung by kurugur chatagOpan who has pure knowledge (without any defects) in 10 songs out of the 1000 to bring clarity in the minds of mumukshus, we will reach paramapadham purely by the grace (aruL) of emperumAn. This pAsuram itself explains artha panchakam:

emperumAn is the parmAthmA mumukshu is the jIvAthma who is trying to reach emperumAn emperumAn's aruL is the upAyam emperumAn's thAL (lotus feet) is the goal our ignorance (maruL) is the virOdhi

AzhwAr also shows that we should develop vairAgyam towards Ishwarya/kaivalyam (wealth and AthmAnubhavam) in oru nAyagamAi padhigam - thiruvAimozhi 4.1 and we should develop vairAgyam towards samsAris in naNNAthAr muruvalippa padhigam - thiruvAimozhi 4.9. Thirumangai AzhwAr also mentions the same thing in muRRa mUththuk kOl thunNaiyaa ( ) in periya thirumozhi 1.3. He encourages every one to go and surrender to badhri emperumAn (this we can understand easily since when we are old it is even physically very difficult to go to badharikAshram). When kUrathAzhwAn started instructing thirumanthrArtham, he asked parAsara bhattar and vEdhavyAsa bhattar to leave the kAlakshEpa gOshti since they are direct disciples of embAr. But when they started leaving, AzhwAn called them in again and said that, this world is so temporary and something could happen to both of them in the time they walk to embAr's thirumALigai - so he himself instructed them that knowledge at once. adiyen is writing this article since one of adiyen's Athma bandhus asked adiyen to write on this topic. Request everyone to ignore the mistakes if any and just take the essence. Adiyen also like to thank many srivaishnavas who motivated/encouraged adiyen to write this series of articles. Without the anugraham of asmadhAchAryan, it is impossible to understand and write any of these. Also, adiyen is thankful to adiyens kAlakshEpa AchAryas for imparting valuable knowledge into adiyen. Keeping them in mind adiyen submit this small work at the thiruvadis of Srimath paramahamsa ithyAdhi Kaliyan RAmAnuja jeeyar swAmy (30th pattam, varthamAna swAmy, vAnamAmalai mutt). adiyen sarathy rAmAnuja dasan AvaNi uthrattAdhi (Sep 3, 2012) sarathy.thothathri@gmail.com http://ponnadi.blogspot.com, http://guruparamparai.wordpress.com
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asmadhAchAryan

Srimath paramhamsa ithyAdhi pattarbhirAn rAmAnuja jeeyar (29th pattam, vAnamAmalai mutt) varthmAna swAmy

Srimath paramhamsa ithyAdhi kaliyan rAmAnuja jeeyar (30th pattam, vAnamAmalai mutt)
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Table of Contents 1. svarUpa jnAnam - basics ..................................................................................................... 6 2. 3. 4. 5. svarUpa jnAnam - avoiding dhEhAthma abhimAnam .......................................................... 8 svarUpa jnAnam - avoiding sva svAthanthriyam ............................................................... 11 svarUpa jnAnam - avoiding anya sEshatvam .................................................................... 14 svarUpa yAthAthmya jnAnam - bhAgavatha sEshathvam ................................................. 18

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1. svarUpa jnAnam - basics

In the previous article (http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/08/kilaroli-ilamai-part-1introduction.html) we observed the importance of reaching out to emperumAn/AchAryan when we are young and active. In this article, let us try to understand the basics of svarUpa jnAnam. The first step in reaching out to emperumAn is to understand who we are (svarUpa jnAnam). Without understanding who we are, it is impossible to understand anything else properly. Ours is a thathva thraya samprAdhAyam - there are 3 thathvas (entities) - chith, achith and Ishvaran.

chith is sentient being - infinite number of entities that have knowledge achith is non-sentient object 24 divisions of infinite matter that has no knowledge Ishvaran is the supreme sentient being who is the single/supreme controller of all chith and achith

In this we fall under the chith category since we all have jnAnam (knowledge). The fact that we are controlled by Ishvaran means that we are subservient all the time. So jnAthruthvam (being with knowledge) and sEshathvam (being subservient) are the two most important attributes of
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jIvAthmAs - to put it in the words of our pUrvAchAryas - that knowledge which makes us realize we are subservient to emperumAn is the main attribute of jIvAthmA. Our sidhAntham is called visistAdhvaitham - qualified monism. This means, there is one brahmam (paramAthmA) that has infinite jIvAthmAs and matter as body. This is called sarIrasarIri bhAvam. Just like the body is controlled by the soul (jIvAthmA) from within, the souls are controlled by the supersoul (paramAthmA) from within. This is also called as apruthak-siddha visEshaNam - which means that paramAthmA is inseparable from jIvAthmAs and matter. It is explained by pillai lOkAchAriar in thathva thrayam, that chith is different from dhEha (body), indhriya (senses), mana (mind), prANa (life air), etc. This can be understood by the fact that

dhEham, etc are seen as objects belonging to the AthmA dhEham, etc as seen as mine and AthmA as I AthmA is always felt, while dhEham, etc are felt at times and not felt otherwise - for example, while sleeping we dont realise anything else but when we wake up, we understand that we slept well (or not so well). dhEham, etc are many but AthmA is one (in relation to each individual) - one person has a child body, later adult body followed by older body - but the person remains the same. Same way there are many senses (touch, vision, etc) but AthmA is only one. beyond all of these, sAstram says that AthmA is different from dhEham, etc and that is ultimate pramANam for the ones who accept sAstram.

In this context we have to understand the terms ahankAram and mamakAram. A simple phrase from vishnu purANam explains these two - anAthmani Athma budhi, asvE sva budhi.

anAthmani Athma budhi is ahankAram - i.e., considering what is not AthmA (dhEham, etc) as AthmA. This ahankAram is the cause for dhEhAthma abhimAnam - thinking that AthmA and dhEham (body) are non-different and acting according to that. asvE sva budhi is mamakAram - i.e., considering some one else's property as our own. mamakAram is the cause for sva svAthanthriyam - thinking that we (AthmA) are our own (independent) instead of thinking that we are owned by emperumAn and acting according to that.

When we get rid of these two (ahankAram and mamakAram) we will automatically get bhagavadh sAkshAkAram. This is explained very nicely by periyavAchAn pillai in his vyAkyAnam for thirumangai AzhwAr's thirunedunthAndakam - pAsuram 22. In this pAsuram, emperumAn tries to convince parakAla nAyaki, since parakAla nAyaki was taken aback by emperumAn's parathvam. emperumAn sings a special tune (naivaLam) which will mesmerize any one and it did mesmerize parakAla nAyaki. So, parakAla nAyaki says "I no longer sees my own kaivaLai (bangles) and mEkhalai (belt) but see emperumAn's beauty". Here kaivaLai and mEkhalai are compared to ahankAram and mamakAram which are the causes for bondage in samsAram and once they are rid of, we get bhagavadh sAkshAthkAram. We will see in the next article more about how to get rid of dhEhAthma abhimAnam from gIthAchAryan's own words.

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2. svarUpa jnAnam - avoiding dhEhAthma abhimAnam

In the previous article (http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/08/kilaroli-ilamai-part-2-svarupajnanam.html) we observed the basics of svarUpa jnAnam. Real knowledge about self means understanding the self to be jIvAthma, one who is sEshan to emperumAn. In thiruvAimozhi 8.8.2, "adiyEn uLLAn" pAsuram, an incident from our pUrvAchAryas lives is explained by nampiLLai. A doubt arises in emperumAnAr's kAlakshEpa gOshti - what is the most important quality of jIvAthma? Is it being knowledgable or being subservient to emperumAn. emperumAnAr sends AzhwAn to thirukkOshtiyUr nambi (one of his AchAryas) to find out the answer (he already knows but he wants to establish it through his AchAryan's words). AzhwAn serves nambi for 6 months and finally when nambi asks the reason for his visit, AzhwAn asks the question. For that nambi says "since AzhwAr says adiyen uLLAn, where adiyen represents jIvAthmA here, sEshathvam is the main quality of jIvAthmA". "adiyen" represents subservience to emperumAn - so AzhwAr (who was blessed by emperumAn with divine knowledge) thus establishes the real identification of jIvAthmA. kannan emperumAn as gIthAchAryan spoke bhagavath gIthai to Arjunan. bhagavath gIthai is very special for us since it was directly spoken by emperumAn himself. That is why emperumAnAr wrote a detailed commentary in gIthA bhAshyam and vedhAnthAchAryar explained it further in his thAthpariya chandhrikai. Arjunan came to the battle field prepared to fight but when he saw his guru (dhrONa), grand father (bhIshma), dhuryOdhan (brother), etc on the opposite side, he got overwhelmed with emotions, thinking that why should he fight against his own relatives?. He starts shivering and his gAndIpam slips from his hands. It is explained by our pUrvAchAryas that arjunan is not a common man - when he saw Urvasi (from heavenly abode who will mesmerize anyone), he calls her Mother - such was his control over senses. But even he started thinking that he should not fight his bodily relatives even when they are involved in adharma. Such is the power of this prakruthi, even great personalities can fall into the trap of confusing between AthmA and dhEham.

gIthAchAryan with nAchiArs, sri bhAshyakArar, vEdhAnthAchAryar - thiruvallikENi

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Seeing arjunan like this, gIthAchAryan first establishes the permanent nature of jIvAthmAs. In most of the 2nd adhyAyam (chapter) in gIthai, emperumAn talks about the difference between jIvAthmA and dhEham. We must understand that we are not the body - if we get that clarity, our activities will automatically be based on what is good for AthmA (instead of what is good for the body). In slOkam 2.12, which is where gIthai starts really, emperumAn says that "Never there was a time you, I or the (jIvAthmAs who are in the bodies of these) kings did not exist, nor will there be a time when we wont exist". This slOkam: This is a very important slOkam (emperumAnAr has done a detailed vyAkyAnam in his gIthA bhAshyam for this slOkam) here emperumAn establishes several things:

jIvAthmA is different from paramAthmA - since you and I are used. jIvAthmAs are many and unique - since it talks about arjunan and kings specifically we also can understand that jIvAthmAs take different bodies eternally in samsAram (ofcourse until the individual gets the mOskham)

In the next slOkam, 2.13, gIthAchAryan explains that how an intelligent person will easily understand that AthmA at the time of death will take another body just like it goes through various bodies like a boy, adult, man/woman and aged person.

In the next slOkam 2.14, emperumAn explains to arjunan that when our senses (sound, touch, vision, rasa, smell) interact with the five elements (space, air, fire, water, earth) we feel happiness/distress, heat/cold. We should learn to tolerate such interactions since those are for the (temporary) body only. In slOkam 2.18, emperumAn instructs arjunan to fight with the understanding that the body which is visible to the eyes is perishable but the AthmA which is inside the body is the one who will enjoy the fruits of the action and that AthmA is permanent.
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Finally, in slOkam 2.24, emperumAn explains to arjunan that the AthmA cannot be cut, burnt, dissolved, dried. AthmA is permanent, old (unborn) and he is situated in the heart and spread throughout the body through his dharmabhUtha jnAnam. Thus, emperumAn clearly establishes the differences between AthmA and dhEham as the first principle for us to understand. If we dont have this understanding and keep thinking that we are this body, our actions will also be not situated properly. For example, if a person is appointed as an Accountant in a company, but if he thinks that he is a Manager and acts according to his thinking, surely he will be doing inappropriate things. Same way, when we have dhEhAthma abhimAnam, i.e., thinking that we are the body and act according to that, the actions will be inappropriate only. With this understanding, we will move on to the next pitfall to avoid, that is sva svAthanthriyam in the next article.

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3. svarUpa jnAnam - avoiding sva svAthanthriyam

In the previous article (http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/08/kilaroli-ilamai-3-svarupajnanam.html) we observed the importance of avoiding dhEhAthma abhimAnam. By nature, emperumAn is the only svathanthran (independent) and all the jIvAthmAs are parathanthras (dependent). When in samsAram, emperumAn gives independence to jIvAthmAs to let them choose their destination. Since jIvAthmAs are chEthanas (with knowledge), it is appropriate for them to apply their knowledge to choose what they want to do. When the jIvAthmAs dont use their intelligence and take to emperumAn they are bound in samsAram and when they accept emperumAn's supremacy and realize their pArathanthriyam they get delivered.

HiraNyakashipu sva svAthanthriyam personified, Result of sva svAthanthriyam

EmperumAn being a dhayALu is always looking to help every jIvAthmA - He gives body/senses to AthmAs during shrushti, gives sAstram, comes down himself as avathArams, preaches through AzhwArs/AchAryas, etc. All he expects from the jIvAthmAs is to stop protesting to give them the highest benediction (This expectation fits perfectly with jIvAthma svarUpam - this act of giving up the protest is explained as adhikAri visEshanam or natural quality of jIvAthma. It should not be confused as upAyam since emperumAn is the only upAyam for the true benediction). When the jIvAthmA stops the protest, emperumAn then slowly creates an attachment in the minds of jIvAthmA towards him, develops the ruchi and leads him to sAdhu sangam and finally AchArya sambandham. Through the AchAryan, the jIvAthmA gets full knowledge and finally gets liberated and performs nithya kainkaryam in parampadham. This act of withdrawing the protest can be explained through the following example. When it is raining and we are holding an umbrella, if we want to get wet, all we need to do is to withdraw the umbrella - we dont need to do anything more. The same way if we want to drench ourselves in bhagavath krupai, we just need to accept it instead of rejecting it - nothing more.
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EmperumAn's supremacy In ashta slOki - 4th slOkam, parAsara bhattar explains that "By looking at the 'akAram' with the hidden 'Aya' in praNavam, we understand that emperumAn is the only independent personality and we are all subservient to him". To understand why we should give up sva svAthanthriyam, we have to understand emperumAn's supremacy (parathvam) and the true relationship between emperumAn and jIvAthmAs. AzhwArs in many place declares emperumAn's supremacy.

Thirumazhisai AzhwAr says "NAnmuganai NArAyanNan padaiththAn, NAnmuganum thAn mukamAy chanGkaranai thAn padaiththAn" (" , "). NammAzhwAr says "imaiyOr thalaivA" (" "), "ayarvaRum amarargaL adhipathi" (" "), "oththAr mikkArai ilaiyAya mA mAyA" ( " "), "muNNIr nYAlam padaiththa en mugil vanNnNA" (" "), etc. ThiruppANAzhwAr says "amalan Adhi pirAn" (" ")

In bhagavath gIthai, gIthAchAryan declares that he is the supreme and everything depends on him.

In 7.7, he says that there is nothing superior to him and everything rests upon him, as pearls are strung on a thread. This pearls/string analogy is a brilliant one by emperumAn as in this case, since the string is invisible, the less intelligent will think that it does not exist. On the other hand, an intelligent person will understand that pearls cannot hold on together without the string. The same way only an intelligent person will undestand that all jIvAthmAs depend on emperumAn for their existence even. In 10.8 - he says that he is the source of everything and everything comes out of him. The intelligent persons who understand this will engage in his serving him. In 10.42 - he says with a small portion of his shakthi he supports this entire material world.

Our relationship to emperumAn Next we should understand his relationship with the jIvAthmAs. He is the true bandhu to all jIvAthmAs. All other relationships such as father, mother, husband, wife, son, daughter, etc are aupAthikam (came out of our karma and temporary) while relationship between jIvAthma and emperumAn is nirupAthikam (natural and eternal). piLLai lOkAchAryar, in a rahasya grantham called nava vidha sambandham explains this in an excellent manner. He starts the grantham with a wonderful slOkam which is very simple, should be memorized by everyone of us and to be remembered all the time. pithAs cha rakshaka sEshi barthA jnEyO ramApathi: svAmy adhArO mama AthmA cha bhokthA cha AdhyamanUdhitha:
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This wonderful slOkam explains the nine types of relationships (sambandhams) between emperumAn (ramApathi) and jIvAthmA as explained in thirumanthram.

Father/Son - emperumAn is considered as the eternal father to each jIvAthmA, since he is the one who is always thinking hitham (goodness) for the jIvAthmA. protector/protected - emperumAn is the only protector and the jIvAthmA is the protected. This is explained by piLLai lOkAchAryar in prapanna parithrANam in a detailed manner. Master/Servant - emperumAn is always the master and jIvAthmA is the servant. Husband/Wife - just like wife is always dependent on husband, jIvAthmA is dependant on emperumAn. Known/Knower - emperumAn is the object of knowledge for the jIvAthmA. Real knowledge means knowing emperumAn's svarUpam (nature), rUpam (forms), guNam (qualities), vibhavam (avathArams), vibhuUthi (wealth), etc. svAmy/svam - emperumAn is the proprietor and jIvAthmA is the property. AdhAra/AdhEyam - emperumAn is the one who holds every thing and jIvAthmA is held by emperumAn. sarIri/sarIram - just like AthmA is inside body and controls it, emperumAn is inside jIvAthmA and controls him. bhOkthA/bhOgyam - emperumAn is the ultimate enjoyer and jIvAthma is the enjoyed. But when emperumAn enjoys jIvAthmA, since jIvAthmA has knowledge, he also shares that joy.

piLLai lOkAchAryar says in the end that when one who understands these relationships properly, that will lead to jIvAthmAs bliss (which is a natural attribute of the jIvAthmA). With the proper understanding of emperumAn's supremacy and our relationship with emperumAn, it only makes sense to give up our svAthanthriyam and act according to it. This is what nammAzhwAr also says in thiruvAimozhi 2.9.9: yAnE ennai aRiyagilAthE ( ) yAnE enthanathE enRiruNthEn ( ) yAnE NI ennudaimaiyum NIyE ( ) vAnE Eththum emvAnavarERE ( ) Simple translation: AzhwAr says to emperumAn who is hailed by nithyasUris themselves "Before being blessed with divine knowledge by you, I was thinking that I was independent and I owned everything. But after getting the knowledge, I understand that me and my belongings are yours". With this understanding, we will move on to the next pitfall to avoid, that is anya sEshathvam, in the next article.

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4. svarUpa jnAnam - avoiding anya sEshatvam

In the previous article (http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/08/kilaroli-ilamai-4-svarupajnanam.html) we observed the importance of avoiding sva svAthanthriyam. Now, we will move on to the next hurdle, anya sEshatvam. anya means "other" and sEshatvam means "being subservient" - so this means "being subservient to some one other than emperumAn". Every thing that needs to be understood is in Thirumanthram. praNavam which is the first padham (word) in thirumanthram has 3 letters akAram with hidden Aya (a), ukAram (u) and makAram (m). From makAram in praNavam, we have seen that the self is AthmA that is different from dhEham. From "akAram with the hidden Aya" in praNavam, we have seen that the self is not svathanthran. Now we can see from ukAram in praNavam which indicates that jIvAthmA is only subservient to emperumAn and no one else. In ashtaslOki 4th slOkam, parAsara bhattar explains that, whenever we have doubt about jIvAthmA's anya sEshathvam, we simply have to look at ukAram and we will immediately understand that we are only subservient to emperumAn (and his adiyArs ofcourse which we will see in subsequent articles). In mumukshupadi, piLLai lOkAchAryar explains that ukAram means emphasis or that which identifies an exclusive aspect. Here, ukAram means jIvAthmA is subservient to emperumAn only and no one else. He also compares jIvAthmA becoming subservient to others (dhEvathAs/samsAris) is like preparing nice bhOgam for a yagyam (fire sacrifice) and giving that to a dog (instead of offering the same to the prescribed dhEvathAs for such sacrifices). He also goes on to say that it is more important to avoid anya sEshathvam than serving empeumAn. This is based on the understanding that paramAthmA and jIvAthmA share bharthru-bhAryA (husband-wife) relationship as we have seen in the previous article. This needs to be understood in the proper context and the following example will make it very clear. If there is misunderstanding between a husband and his wife, and the wife does not serve her husband it is bad. But, it is worse, when the wife goes and serves some one else. So, once we understand this relationship and accept emperumAn's supremacy, we should completely be devoid of any connection with other dhEvathAs. As explained in sAstram, only sriman nArAyaNan is the supreme god. There are many dhEvathAs who are established by emperumAn out of his grace to deal with different kinds of jIvAthmAs. It is better to be a follower of a vaidhIha dharmam which helps upward progress of jIvAthmAs to slowly develop sathva guNam and finally become a vaishnava to get delivered from this samsAram. But once we become a vaishnava we should never look back and have any attachment (even a tiny little bit) towards dhEvathAntharams. While the dhEvathAs have sathva guNam at times, they are mostly either in rajO guNam or thamO guNam - both of which are to be given up by srivaishnavas. kannan emperumAn in bhagavath gIthai establishes his supremacy in many places. We have seen some of those in the previous article. He also explains that all the demi-gods (anya dhEvathAs) are controlled by him and they are also bound in this samsAram. They can give some benedictions, but those will be temporary since they are benedictions towards the body.
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In the 7th chapter of gIthai, emperumAn explains that only less intelligent people will worship anya dhEvathAs. He also says that whatever benedictions they give are not directly given by them, but emperumAn being the antharyAmi of those dhEvathAs, he gives those benedictions through them. And also, even when we worship those dhEvathAs we are worshipping emperumAn only - but in a wrong way. In the upanishads, it is said that "kAranNam thu dhyEya:" - meditate on the kAraNa vasthu (one that is the cause of everything). According to sAstram there are 3 types of causes upAdhAna kAraNam, nimitha kAraNam and sahakAri kAraNam. EmperumAn is all these 3 causes so he is the only person who can be meditated upon. Let us have a quick understanding of these 3 causes.

upAdhAna kAraNam - (raw) material cause - emperumAn has sUkshma (subtle) chEthanam (sentient) and achEthanam (non-sentient) as his body. These during creation becomes sthUla (gross) chEthanam and achEthanam. nimitha kAraNam - instrumental cause - emperumAn is sankalpa visishtan - one who takes the oath that let creation happen and this drives the creation. sahakAri kAraNam - ancillary cause - emperumAn has jnAnam, shakthi, etc which are used by him in the process of creation.

AzhwArs also identify in many places that we should completely avoid worshipping dhEvathAntharams.

MudhalAzhwArs establish the parathvam of emperumAn. Thirumazhisai AzhwAr who is known as uraiyilidAthavar (one who does not put the sword in its pouch) for his unflinching confidence in emperumAn and avoidance of dhEvathAntharam. He says "thiruvillAth thEvarai thErEnmin thEvu" ( ) - only sriya:pathi is dhEvan (worshippable deity) and others are not qualified for worship, "maRaNthum puRam thozhA mANthar" ( ) - srivaishnavas will never worship anyone other than emperumAn. nammAzhwAr says "dhEvan emperumAnukkallAl pUvum pUchanaiyum thagumE" ( ) - only sriya:pathi is qualified to be worshipped. He establishes that we should avoid dhEvathAnthara bhajanam in "thIrpArai Amini" padhigam and several other places. kulashEkara AzhwAr did not even think about a moment about any one other than emperumAn and his adiyArs. In his "tharu thuyaram thadAyEl" padhigam he establishes that he is not dependant on any one else other than emperumAn. periyAzhwAr is well known to have established vishnu parathvam in pAndian king's sabhai. AndAL says "even if there is some discussion happens in srivilliputhUr that I am going to be married to any one other than emperumAn, I will give up my life immediately". Thondaradippodi AzhwAr was utterly focussed on thiruvaranganAthan only. He says he does not care for yama's servants because they have no control over srivaishnavas. ThiruppANAzhwAr was also fully focussed on thiruvaranganAthan only as we understand from his pAsurams.
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Thirumangai AzhwAr in several places shows the deficiencies in dhEvathAntharam and goes on to say "maRRumOr dheyvam uLadhenRu iruppArOdu uRRilEn" ( ). He says not only he will avoid the association of dhEvathAntharam, but he will also not have any association with those who accept dhEvathAntharam.

Our pUrvAchAryas also completely avoided dhEvathAnthara sambandham as we can see in the following incidents:

Once during a purappAdu of namperumAL it starts raining. namperumAL is taken inside a dhEvathAntharam temple (AnaikkAval near srirangam). At that time, emperumAnar is getting drenched in the rain but refuses to go in. When asked, he says "emperumAn is vishwapathi (husband to all), he can go anywhere, but me being his wife, I wont step into some one else's place". kUraththAzhwAn gives up his own eyes when insisted by saiva king to accept and declare shiva parathvam.

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When piLLai urangAvilli dhAsar's nephews saw a jain temple, they assumed it to be a vishnu temple and worshiped. But learning that it is a jain temple, they immediately lost consciousness out of great mental distress. dhAsar comes running to them and give them sripAdha thULi (dust) of srivaishnavas, they regain consciousness.

There are many such incidents which show that we should completely avoid dhEvathAnthara bhajanam. In today's scenario though, we can see many srivaishnavas having dhEvathAnthra connections and engaging in such worship. Some even say that it is customary in their family to do that. But as erumbiappA says in vilakshaNa moKsha adhikAri nirNayam we should only follow what is customary for our pUrvAchAryas, not what is followed in the past few generations (things which got introduced into the family out of ignorance). Also, even after giving up all other dhEvathAntharams, some srivaishnavas are attached to vinAyaka and some bAbAs. These are to be completely avoided for the betterment of the jIvAthmA. Nowhere our pUrvAchAryas showed any tinge of attachment to any dhEvathAntharam. We should also have full understanding that when emperumAn is protecting us, no dhEvathAntharam can cause any suffering to us. Infact, even dhEvathAntharams have great respect for srivaishnavas only, as explained by our pUrvAchAryas. With this understanding, we will move on to svarUpa yAthAthmya jnAnam in the next article.

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5. svarUpa yAthAthmya jnAnam - bhAgavatha sEshathvam

In the previous articles we observed the importance of understanding that jIvAthmA is bhagavath sEsha bhUthan (servant of emperumAn) and avoiding the main hurdles namely dhEhAthma abhimAnam, sva svAthanthriyam and anya sEshathvam. Our pUrvAchAryas have shown that it is not sufficient to be a servant of emperumAn. We have to go beyond that and understand that we are really servants of emperumAn's adiyArs. We can understand this through a simple loukIka example. When a man and woman marry, if the wife serves the husband lovingly, the husband gets pleased. But if the wife serves the husband's parents (or others who are very dear to him), the husband gets mighty (very) pleased. emperumAn's adiyArs are very dear to emperumAn. In bhagavath gIthai (7.16, 7.17, 7.18 and 7.19), kannan emperumAn explains that:

4 types of people who approach him - one wants to get rid of his material miseries, one who is desirous of material wealth, one who is looking for AthmAnubhavam (kaivalyam) and one who is looking for bhagavadh kainkaryam. He says, of the four, jnAni - the one who wants bhagavath kainkaryam is the best and there is reciprocation of boundless love between such jnAnis and himself. He further says, such jIvAthmAs are like his life and soul. For example, this can be observed in the cases of pANdavas where emperumAn says "mama prANA hi pANdava:" - pANdavas who were fully surrendered and attached to him are treated by emperumAn as his life. He also says such jnAnis who understand emperumAn is everything are very rare to find in this samsAram.

AzhwArs and AchAryas were such jnAnis who understood the real meaning of life. And if we serve them that will satisfy emperumAn even more than serving himself. We can go back to thirumanthram to understand this concept as well. As mentioned before thirumanthram contains everything that is essential for us to understand. In mumukshupadi, while explaining nama: padham, piLLai lOkAchAryar says in sUtram 89 that: 'uRRathum unnadiyArkkadimai' enkiRapadiyE ithilE bhAgavatha sEshathvamum aNusaNthEyam (' ' ). Here mAmunigaL explains in the vyAkyAnam that thirumangai AzhwAr says "once I learnt thirumanthram I understood that I am really a servant of your adiyArs". This is the yAthAthmya (inner/deep) meaning of thirumanthram and it is to be properly understood. Understanding ourselves to be subservient to bhAgavathAs is explained by AzhwArs in several places as follows:

payilum chudaroLi (thiruvAimozhi 2.7) nedumArkku adimai (thiruvAimozhi 8.10) naNNAtha vaLavuNar (thirumozhi 2.6)
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kaNsOra venguruthi (thirumozhi 7.4) thEttarum thiral thEn (perumAL thirumozhi 2) thirumAlai (pAsurams - 39 to 43)

periyAzhwAr also shows that we should be totally surrendered to bhAgavathas. He says we should be like "en thammai viRkavum peRuvargaLE" ( ), i.e., we should be so surrendered to them that, they should even have the right to sell us. ThirumAlai is the outpouring of Thondaradipodi AzhwAr towards periya perumAL. In pAsuram 38, AzhwAr explains that emperumAn will be pleased when:

we should understand that we are jIvAthmAs who are utterly dependent on emperumAn we should remove our senses from material things and focus them on emperumAn we should understand that bhagavath kainkaryam is the ultimate goal to achieve we should give up attachment to all other upAyams and just do kainkaryam in this life

In pAsurams - 39 to 43, AzhwAr gives beautiful explanation for bhAgavatha sEshathvam which is higher than bhagavath sEshatvam. He says the ones who have this understanding will be the target of emperumAn's grace very easily.

In pAsuram 39, AzhwAr says that emperumAn likes one who is born in panchama kulam (outside varNAshramam) but is engaged in bhagavath kainkaryam always more than one who is done proper adhyayanam of 4 vEdhas but lacks understanding of svarUpa jnAnam. In pAsuram 40, AzhwAr says that if a person is involved in murdering and robbing others, but always thinking about sriya:pathi in his mind, he will not face any of the pApams that are accumulated by his acts. periyavAchAn piLLai does clarify in the vyAkyAnam that one who is always thinking about sriya:pathi will not engage in such acts and whatever explained here must be considered as pUrva vruthantham (what has happened before his surrender and acquiring knowledge in bhagavath vishayam). In pAsuram 41, AzhwAr says, even when one is torturing others himself and tortures others through his servants, if he says paramapadhanAthan's thirunAmam, their food remnants (sEsha prasAdham) will purify anyone who consumes that. Same as before, one who has proper knowledge will not engage in any such evil acts. In pAsuram 42, AzhwAr says to brAhmaNas who have come in a pure family lineage and learnt all the four vEdhas that emperumAn says they should worship his bhakthas at the same level as emperumAn, accept knowledge from them and give knowledge to them. In pAsuram 43, even if one is a fully qualified brAhamaNa and a vaishnava who has learnt vEdhas fully with the ancillary details, but commits an offense towards a bhaktha who may not even be within varNashrama (being born in a panchama kulam), the very moment, he will become like a chandALa. This need not be a physical transformation but at a psychological level.

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From the above we can easily understand the thiruvuLLam of AzhwArs. Further, while the 10 AzhwArs longed for bhAgavatha sEshathvam but did not enjoy it themselves fully, madhurakavi AzhwAr and ANdAL showed complete bhAgavatha sEshathvam.

madhurakavi AzhwAr says "dhEvu maRRariyEn", he does not any any other dhEvan than nammAzhwAr. ANdAL says "vishNuchithar thangaL dhEvar", she accepts kannan because kannan is dear to periyAzhwAr.

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Many of our AchAryas were also fully enjoying bhAgAvatha sEshathvam and kainkaryam.

emperumAnAr was fully surrendered to nammAzhwAr - that is why he is called "mARan adi panNiNthu uyNthavan" ( ). He was also constantly thinking about ALavandhAr (his mAnasIka AchArya) and showing his gratitude to him.

nammAzhwAr emperumAnAr, AzhwAr thirunagari

vaduga nambi was completely focussed on emperumAnAr. Once, when he was boiling milk for emperumAnAr, namperumAL purappAdu was happening. When emperumAnAr invites him outside to worship namperumAL, vaduga nambi refuses to come out saying that in the mean time the milk may boil and he wont be fulfill emperumAnAr's kainkaryam properly. AzhwAn o When emperumanar was upset with him once, AzhwAn says he is simply a property of emperumAnAr and emperumAnAr can do whatever he wants with AzhwAn. o When one srivaishnava wanted to hear kAlakshEpam of a particular grantham from AzhwAn without wanting to be subservient, AzhwAn teaches him in a secluded place. But when some one comes by that side, to protect the other srivaishnavas ego, AzhwAn pretends that he is hearing kAlakshEpam from the other srivaishnava. The other srivaishnava realises his mistake and falls at the lotus feet of AzhwAn.
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MudhaliANdAn - Once when periya nambi's daughter needs a servant at her in-laws house, emperumAnAr asks mudhaliAndAn to go and be her servant. AndAn happily goes with her and takes care of her needs. nampiLLai o When one srivaishnava wanted to hear bhagavadh vishayam from nanjeeyar, nanjeeyar says he should hear from nampiLLai. The srivaishnava was hesitant to hear from a grihasthar but accepts nanjeeyar's words with the condition that he will not prostrate (fall at the feet) nampiLLai. But when nampiLLai starts explaining payilum chudaroLi (2.7), that srivaishnava realizes his mistake and prostrates to nampiLLai. nampiLLai does not accept that and says that it was his AchArya's instruction that he should not accept the prostration from this srivaishnava. o thOzhappar - nampiLLai idhihyam: When kandhAdai thOzhappar commits an apachAram at nampiLLai, nampiLLai was so graceful that he went and apologized to thOzhappar for that. thOzhappar overwhelmed by nampiLLai's greatness gives him the title "lOkAchAryar". pinbazhagarAm perumAL jeeyar was very attached to nampiLLai. When once he became sick, he went to the doctor and took some medicines (those days, it was not considered proper for srivaishnavas to look after their bodily discomforts by taking medicines). When everyone guessed different reasons for him doing this, jeeyar says that he cannot think about leaving his body yet, since he wants to enjoy the sight of nampiLLai's back/shoulders while coming back from cauvery after taking a bath. maNavALa mAmunigaL was completely surrendered to emperumAnAr. He was worshipping bhavishyadhAchAryan in AzhwAr thirunagari and also compiled yathirAja vimsathi and Arthi prabandham - both focussed on emperumAnAr. He also was always thinking about thiruvAimozhi piLLai and followed his instructions always.

maNavALa mAmunigaL (yathIndra pravaNar) - thiruvallikENi

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mOr munnAr iyar was a disciple of mAmunigaL. He ate in the same banana leaf on which mAmunigaL has his prasAdham. He also starts with curd rice first since he wants to continue with the same taste on the leaf (from where mAmunigaL left).

There are many such idhihyams like this where our pUrvAchAryas show complete dependence on bhAgvavathas and AchAryas. Being surrendered to emperumAn is the first step and the basic understanding. Being surrendered to bhAgavathAs is the last step and the highest understanding. So, it is said in kanninun chiruthAmbu vyAkyAnam that if we fall from the bhagavath sEshatvam we will fall in to vishayAntharam (material attachments). But if we fall from bhAgavatha sEshathvam, we will fall down to bhagavath sEshathvam only (so recovery is faster). It is also said in the vyAkyAnams that plain bhagavath sEshathvam without any link to bhAgavathas is the same as dhEvathAnthara bhajanam. We should always worship emperumAn in relation with his adiyArs like pirAttis, AzhwArs, AchAryas, etc. To summarize, we should first understand that we are jIvAthmAs who are fully subservient to emperumAn, avoid dhEhAthma abhimAnam, sva svAthanthriyam and anya sEshathvam. Finally we should understand that we should fully depend on bhAgavathAs, consider them as our masters and try to serve them as much as possible. If we are able to grasp this understanding and put it into practice our life will be blissful both in this world and the higher world. With this adiyen will complete this series of articles on Athma svarUpa jnAnam. Any mistakes in these articles are purely adiyen's and anything good here goes to our AchArya paramparai.

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