Search:
Bhakti List Archives

Re: SandhyAvandhanam - Bhagavadhkainkaryam

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sridhar Srinivasan • July 27, 1999 


Dear Sri Venkatesh:

I think there is a slightly different interpretation to mEmboruL 
paasuram than the one you provide below, a distintion  that is 
nevertheless quite important.

mEmboruL pAsuram, which is the dvayArtha prathipAdakam, in Sri PVP's 
words, is to thirumAlai what the charama slokam is to mahAbhAratham.

> 
> This is even supported by Thondaradippodi AzhwAr in ThirumAlai, 
> in the pAsuram "mEmporuL pOga viTTu...." which is the heart of 
> the entire work of ThirumAlai. I would like our members to go thro' 
> the archives of 1996 where our Sri T.A Varadhan has given an 
> excellent translation of Sri Periya  vAchhan piLLai' s vyAkhyAnam 
> for this. Here the AzhwAr says, perumAL loves and grants 
> mOksham to those lazy people, who renouce all the worldly 
> desires, realize that He(Sriman Narayanan) is THE ONLY reality, 
> and control all their senses and just do kainkaryam or even nothing 
> ("sOmbharai ugathi pOlum...").
> 

However, the sOmbhar referred to above are not those who have turned 
their back on nithyAnusandhAnam or karma that one has to perform 
as part of their ordained duties.  The sOmbhar above refers to 
exalted souls who have realized that they are SrimannArAyaNA's 
property, those that have given up anya-sEshatvam and sva-sEshatvam 
to seek bhagavat and bhAgavatha sEshatvam.  

The reference here is to 
karma phala and phala sanga thyAgam rather than karma thyAgam.   They 
display total dereliction (laziness) when it comes to taking care of 
themselves in that they have realized it is srImannArAyaNA who is 
going to be their ultimate care-giver, upAyam and purushArtham 
(Aamparisu arinthukoNDU).  They have realized that even this 
realization is a consequence of His nirhEthuka krupa (athuvum 
avanathinnaruLE) in that they display a total lack of 
swa-bhOktrutvam. 

 Also, the reference to sOmbhar in the mEmboruL 
pasuram has to be used in the context of the meaning of the overall 
pasuram because Azhwaar clearly delineates the state of awareness of 
those that have found srImannArAyaNA as siddhOpAyam (the very essence 
of dvayam) before extolling such sri vaishNavAs as sOmbhar.  That is 
the reason you have the first three lines describing the so called 
'sOmbhar'.

As our dear lord KrishNa delineates in bhagavad geetha, one cannot 
and should not dissociate oneself from one's ordained duties, the 
duties that we have accepted as the basis for our existence.  It is 
said that emberumAnAr performed arghya pradhAnam as part of 
every day sandhyavandanam even at a very advanced age (greater than 
a hundred years), in spite of being debilitated due to the the 
effects of physical aging, with the assistance of his shishyas.   
Clearly, given his gnyAna, bhakthi, vairAgyam, it would hardly have 
mattered if he had decided not to persist with all the aspects of 
nithyAnusandhAnam, but obviously, he chose to toe the line of what 
was ordained by shAstram as part of kula dharmam.

The meanings to these words of dissociation with action that Azhwaars 
and Acharyas have used stem from an awareness of Akinchanyam, 
pArathanthryam and ananyArha sEshatvam and does not describe people 
(like some of us) who are all too willing to give up on our 
nithyAnusandhanam for reasons of materialism and convenience.

Azhwaar EmberumAnAr Jeeyar thiruvaDigaLE sharaNam

sridhar