Beginner’s guide – mudhalAzhwArgaL – part 2

SrI:  SrImathE SatakOpAya nama:  SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama:  SrImath varavaramunayE nama:

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ANdAL pAtti, vyAsa and parAsara come out of mudhalAzhwArgaL sannidhi.

parAsara: pAtti, it was nice to have the dharsan of mudhalAzhwArgaL . Are these 3 AzhwArs always together pAtti?

mudhalAzhwArgaL with thirukkOvalUr emperumAn – thirrukkOvalUr

ANdAL pAtti: Good question. There is a reason for them being together. Let me explain. One fine day, by the divine plan of perumAL, they arrived at thirukkOvalUr one after another. It was a stormy day. There was heavy rains. There was a rishi named mrukaNdu who had an Ashram in thirukkOvalUr. In the front of his Ashram, there was a small shed. First poigai AzhwAr arrived and took shelter of the shed to protect himself from the rain. He lied down there and relaxed for a bit.

parAsara: All alone? Wont he be scared?

ANdAL pAtti: No parAsara! He wont be scared since he is always thinking of perumAL. At that time, bhUthaththAzhwAr arrives there in the rain and requests permission to enter the shed. poigai AzhwAr says “There is limited space here. One person can lie down but two persons can sit. So, please come in.”. bhUthaththAzhwAr happily enters and they both sit next to each other. Soon after, pEyAzhwAr comes running in the rain wanting to take shelter and he asks permission to enter the shed. poigai AzhwAr says “Well, there is limited space here. One person can lie down, two persons can sit and three persons can stand. So, please come in, we can all stand.”. Hearing that pEyAzhwAr, happily enters the place and they all stand shivering in the cold. They start speaking to each other, get to know about each other and being very joyed about the common interest, they start discussing about perumAL‘s beautiful names, forms, qualities, etc.

vyAsa: Wow! That is very nice. Divine indeed. But pAtti, it would be nice, if perumAL too was present there, just like he is here as periya perumAL to see us.

ANdAL pAtti: Wait, the incident does not end here. You have very nicely guessed the next sequence. There is more divinity on the way. Seeing the assembly of his dear devotees, now perumAL wants to be part of this too. So, he too enters the shed and squeezes himself in the space. Being dark and suddenly squeezed for space, the three AzhwArs start wondering what is going on and who entered the place without their knowledge.  So, first poigai AzhwAr starts singing “vaiyam thagaLiyA” – imagining the world itself as a lamp. Then, bhUthaththAzhwAr sings “anbE thagaLiyA” – imagining his love itself as a lamp. With these lamps, the place becomes lit brightly, and pEyAzhwAr first sees the divine form of srIman nArAyaNan with his divine consort srI mahAlakshmi in the shed amidst them. He starts singing “thirukkaNdEn …” (I have had the divine vision of srIman nArAyaNan with srI mahAlakshmi, his divine/beautiful golden form, his divine conch and disc). All AzhwArs together enjoy the divine vision of perumAL and thAyAr.

parAsara: This is so great. They must have felt so happy.

ANdAL pAtti: Yes – they were very happy. perumAL and thAyAr too were very happy. After this wonderful incident, they visited archAvathAra emperumAns in many other temples together. They stayed for the rest of the life together and ascended to paramapadham finally to be with perumAL always and serve him.

vyAsa and parAsara: This incident is so amazing to hear. Shall we hear about the next AzhwAr’s life now?

ANdAL pAtti: You have to wait until next time for that. Its time for you to play and have some fun outside now while I go and prepare some food for perumAL which we can eat later tonight.

vyAsa and parAsara: Sure pAtti. We will come back tomorrow to hear more from you.

Authors: sArathy rAmanuja dAsan