¯€ LV  D0B¡  (Â{¢ € `†H†ø£ unnamed.txt¤  unnamed.txt­ ¡(€V  €0€(€(Â{ €‚ ¡ (B-A.F~Sri Sampath Rangarajan and Sri Sadagopan in their postings on Sage Markandeya and Sri Raghuveera Gadhyam respectively, provided references to the fact that it is Sriman Narayana alone who can give Moksham to human beings. Both of these postings reminded me about an incident described in Sri Thirumazhisai AzhwarŽ¢s life. As you are all aware his thirunakshatthiram is on 25 January (thai, makham). I am a few days ahead in being engrossed in the divine story of this great Azhwar. I thought of sharing this episode. The book on Naalaayira Divya Prabhandham I have is very old and in poetic Tamil and some of the sentences run into a length of a paragraph. Since I self-taught Tamil reading weekly magazines such as Kalki, Ananda Vikatam etc, I struggle sometimes. However, as I read the conversation that took place between the Azhwar and Lord Shiva, I was able to gather the essence of the discussion. One The Azhwar was deeply involved in his prayers near Triplicane. Shiva and Parvathi were travelling in the sky. When Parvathi saw a glow below, she asked who was the person. Shive replies : He is great Mahanubhaavar who ignores me. Parvathi states even then let us go and meet him. With that both of them come near Azhwar who continues to ignore their presence. Then Shiva asks How can you ignore (alakshyam) us when we have come to meet you? The Azhwar replies What is the benefit (PriyOjanam) of knowing you?Ž¢ unnaikondu enna prayaojanam unduenakku? Shiva responds I want to give you a boon Azhwar I do not want anything Shiva says We do not want to make our visit not fruitful. Ask us any desire to be fullfilled. Azhwar asks with a smile, In that case give me Moksham if you can. Shiva replies I cannot do it, only Sriman NarayananE Azhwar counters with In that case can you make a person who is to die today, die tomorrow. Shiva answers even that is Karma (karmmanugraham). Wnen Azhwar says that ShivaŽ¢s boon was similar to threading into a needle, Shiva gets angry and opens his third eye. To counter that, Azhwar opens his third eye on the toe of his right foot. Shiva could not bear the immense ilumination from AzhwarŽ¢s eye and causes pralayam. When Azhwars suppresses these clouds with his power, Shiva realizes the greatness of this Azhwar and names him Bhakthisaara. Nagu Satyan