Guide to secure salvation

CHENNAI, MAY 31. The message of hope and comfort delivered by God Himself directly to humanity when He took incarnations for their salvation, did not have that much effect. People resisted and slipped away from Him. But surprisingly, the same utterances, explained by His chosen representatives through their outpourings which contained God's merciful qualities and His readiness to protect those who came to Him, were received well and acted upon. God's agents thus acted as our saviours and by their deeds, writings and through their hymns, fulfilled their mission. Those who adored Lord Narayana as Supreme handed over to human beings a treasure by the Divine preceptors called the Azhwars. Collectively termed the Nalayira Divyaprabandham these hymns teach sublime spiritual truths. Chief among these Dravida saints was Nammazhwar.

In the songs contributed by him, the ``Thiruvaimozhi'', Nammazhwar has packed religious ideas, highlighting the features of the Visishtadvaita philosophy. Out of his humility, the saint says that what all that he has sung were not out of his wisdom and that he was spurred to do so by God seated within him. The Azhwar praised only Lord Narayana. For the Srivaishnavites his Thiruvaimozhi is the guide to secure salvation. The merits of this outstanding work of 1,000 verses can be explained by referring to the instance of a scholar who was ready to expound God's work, the Bhagavad Gita, but people were not so enthusiastic. Whereas when he offered to explain in detail the contents of Nammazhwar's Thiruvaimozhi, he was welcomed and was accommodated in the local shrine till he completed his task.

In a discourse, the Jeeyar Swami of the Ahobila Math said this Tamil version of the Vedas composed by the saint is easy to follow and can be compared to the juice effortlessly squeezed from grapes. While the other Azhwars visited various temples situated all over the country and admired the sanctified idols therein and sang in ecstasy, in the case of Nammazhwar, various deities appeared before him when he was in deep meditation under a tamarind tree in Azhwarthirunagiri. The communications of all the Heads of the Ahobila Math carried the insignia ``Sri Satakopa Sri'' to indicate how they were all deeply indebted to the Azhwar for the solid foundation laid by him to propagate the ideals.

Spiritual guides, who followed his footsteps, like Nathamunigal and Kurathazhwar, had pointed out how for Nammazhwar, Narayana was everything. In one of the verses, Alavandar has described him as his father, mother, spouse and sons and as the ``Kulapathi''.

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