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dhEvathaanthra thyAgam

From the Bhakti List Archives

Parthasarati Dileepan • July 28, 1997 


A commenatry of Srimad RaHaSyathraiyasAram written by Srimad azhagiyasingar
in HH's poorvaasramam is appearing in Sri Nrisimha Priya.  Presently, the
discussion is about "paradhEvathaa paaramaarththiyaathikaaram".  Answers
for all the questions relating to the worship of other dhEvathaas can be
found there.  In the June and July issues of the magazhine the discussion
is partially about the following moolam:

"indhap paradhEvathaa paaramaarthyaththai thirumanthiraththilE kaNdu,
thadhIya paryanthamaaga dhEvathaanthra thyAgamum, thadhIya paryanthamAga
bhagavath shEshathvamum prathishtamAnapadiyE "maRRum Or dheyvam
uLathenRiruppArOdu uRRilEn, uRRathum unnadiyArkku adimai" engiRa pAttilE
SarvEsvaran pakkalilE SarvArththa graHaNam paNNina AzhvAr aruLichchEydhAr."

The general meaning of this passage is that our devotion to our Lord Sriman
Narayana should include devotion to His devotees.  Similarly, our
disassociation from other dhEvathaas must include the devotees of those
dhEvathaas, i.e. we must disassociate from such devotees as well.  Swami
Sri Desikan quotes Thirumangai AzhvAr in support of this view.

periya thirumozhi 8.10.3:

"maRRumOr dheyvamuLathenRu iruppArOdu
uRRilEn uRRadhum un adiyArkku adimai
maRRellAm pEsilum nin thiru ettezhuththum
kaRRu nAn kaNNapuraththuRai ammAnE!"

Free translation:
O! Lord of ThirukkaNNapuram,
I shall keep away from those who think that there are other gods;
It is to your devotees that I shall remain in servitude;
This is what I learnt from the moola mandhram which may speak of many
esoteric meanings.


Srimadhazhagiyasingar's explananation for the RTS moolam quoted earlier and
the above paasuram runs to many pages including  discussions about the
meaning AzhvAr saw in moola mandhiram, the delectable phrase "SarvArththa
graHaNam paNNina AzhvAr", the two "thadhIya" terms used in the moolam, etc.

In this day and age it is difficult to completely disassociate from
devotees of other dhEvathaas.  Only our present day AcharyAs can guide us
in this regard.  At the very least we must keep away from the worship of
other dhEvathaas.

adiyEn azhagiyasingar dhaasan




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P. Dileepan
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