In Kamba Ramayanam, Hanuman, returning from Lanka after an expedition in quest of Sita, makes an adept declaration conveying the success of his mission thus:
கண்டனென் கற்பினுக்கு அணியைக் கண்களால்
I have seen Sita with my eyes, she who appeared as an embodiment of chastity.
These well chosen words of the poet have been appropriately used in the right sequence. The word kanden, (I have seen) would instantly allay the fear of harm to Sita. Secondly, the use of karpinukku aniyai, (chastity personfied) is to clear the doubt of Sita’s fidelity, if any, in the mind of Rama. The pilgrim in the above story also sang, in a similar manner. His first words tiru kanden, convey at the very outset what was unusual and extraordinary about his revelation. It was visualizing Lakshmi, the Lord’s consort, along with Him. Till then, the seers in the past had only had a glimpse of the Supreme Truth alone through their meditative powers:
திருக்கண்டேன்; பொன்மேனி கண்டேன்; திகழும்
அருக்கன் அணினிறமும் கண்டேன் செருக்கிளரும்
பொன்னாழி கண்டேன்; புரிசங்கம் கை கண்டேன்;
என்னாழிவண்ணன்பால் இன்று
I have seen Tiru (Lakshmi) ; I have seen the beautiful body of golden hue ; I have seen the luminous chakrayudha (discus) and the shankha (conch) in his hands ; I see all these today in my Lord, dark as the ocean.
The saint/philosopher Vedanta Desika narrates this incident in his composition Dehalisha Stuti
दीपॆन कॆनचिदशीतरुचा निशीथॆ
स्नॆहॊपपन्न परिशुद्धगुणार्पितॆन|
दह्रावकाशनिबिडम् ददृशुर्भवन्तम्
स्वाध्याययॊगनयना: शुचय: कवीन्द्रा:||
On a certain night, while you were elbowing them in a small area, those holy great poets with Yoga and Veda as eyes had a vision of you. It was made possible, not with the cool moonlight but with the aid of a special lamp, brimming with the oil of devotion and lit with a wick of sattva.
This story is not a fairy tale to entertain us but an authentic miracle that happened. It is an incident that takes the common individual to the threshold of Vedantic Philosophy. With this story in mind, great people have given God the attribute- Bhaktopamarda Rasika, i.e. he who enjoys being squeezed by his devotees. Vedanta Desika who is fond of the simile of crushing and extraction of sugarcane juice with reference to the Lord, describes:
कासारपूर्वकविमुख्य निमर्दजन्मा
पण्णातटॆक्षुसुभगस्य रसॊ बहुस्तॆ|
त्वत्पादपद्ममधुनि त्वदनन्यभॊग्यॆ
नूनम् समाश्रयति नूतनशर्करात्वम्||
The large quantity of juice that was produced when you, who are sweet like the sugarcane growing on the banks of River Panna, was pressed by the crushing mills in the form of mystic poets headed by Poigai Alvar, attains the state of a new kind of sugar in association with the honey of your lotus feet, the feet that are enjoyed by those who are devoted solely to you.
Though highly intellectual, the knowledge of the relationship of Jivatman, (the individual soul) and the Parabrahman, (the Universal Soul) had evaded the three pilgrims all these years or rather the ultimate Reality was beyond their conscious level of intelligence. The experience of the existence of the pressure, not exerted by any of them but coming from an imperceptible source and the realization of the inadequacy of the power offered by the material world towards high level intellectual search, was their first step towards spiritual enlightenment. That is the significance of the lighting of the first lamp. Yogis that they were, they instantly identified the next path of progress. They realized that their mind was eclipsed by the darkness of ignorance and to redeem themselves, they needed a more powerful lamp and the second lamp was lighted, the lamp of spiritual understanding. They explored the road of universal love and complete dedication to Sattva (right and unbiased thinking) and got rid of ignorance. Thus , having attained spiritual wisdom, they unscrambled the puzzle of the Absolute Truth, with each having his share in unveiling the mystery. Though the revelation of the Supremacy of the Lord happened simultaneously to those seekers of Truth, devotional outpourings of the wonderful experience found explicit poetic expression in the songs of the third pilgrim from Mylapore. He visualized the inseparable divine couple together, i.e. Tiru, the goddess and Mal, the Lord. Thus the expression of Tirumal for the Lord was coined as he cannot be meditated or thought of in isolation, without his consort. This is the presentation of the unintelligible God in the Archa form. Thus the inconceivable Brahman of the Upanishads was brought down for the common man of the South, in the familiar Tamil language of the land and the wonderful treatise of the “Nalayira Divya Prabandham” dawned on earth.
The Vailakshanya or speciality of Divya Prabandham, as mentioned already, is that it is a compilation of the songs of various Alvars, sung with devotion to Lord Narayana and Goddess Sri. The Shrutis are Anadi and Apaurusheya. Their origin, authourship or the date when they reached the humans is untraceable. The philosophy delineated therein revolves round only the Great Purusha, the Brahman. Even in the Ithihasas, the emphasis is mainly on the incarnation of Vishnu. In the Ramayana of Valmiki, the epic was sung by Lava and Kusha before Rama in his court when Sita was not witness to it. In simple words, the concept of the Supreme, then, was only hero oriented. In the case of the Prabandham, it was the divine couple who inspired the poetic and philosophic composition by their appearance together in the pilgrims’ vision. It can be said that the inauguration of the Prabandham took place under the grace of both the Lord and the Devi. Since the pashurams depict the heart felt devotion of the Alvars, a delineation of the personal experiences in their communion with God, their influence towards spiritual inspiration and instruction is great.
We have dealt so elaborately the story of the three pilgrims who accidentally came together and brought about the beginning of the great Tamil scripture Divyaprabandham, described as the Dramidopanishad Saram. We must be by this time curious to know the identity of these poetic geniuses. They are none other than the three Alvars called the Mudal Alvars or the first of the Alvars and their works constitute the first three Tiruvandadi of the Divya Prabandham. Tradition ascribes the first of the Alvars from Kanchipuram, named Poigai Alvar to have been born under the star Shravanam (Tiruvonam). The second from Mahabalipuram was Boodattalvar, whose birth star was Dhanishtha (Avittam). He who hailed from Mylapore, known as Peyalvar, had the influence of the star Shatabhisha (Shatayam) at birth. All three of them were born in the Tamil month of Aipasi or Arpisi, between mid October and mid November. This is the month of Deepavali, a festival of lights. Incidentally, the lamp of poetic presentation of Sri Vaishnavism in Tamil was lit by these sages. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the rows of lights on Deepavali are indicative of the array of Alvars who lit the lamps for the illumination and delectation of all the devotees of Sriman Narayana, the Lord of the Dehali.
Andal too believed her father to be an avatara of Garuda. She refers to it as:
மெய்மை பெரு வார்த்தை விட்டுசித்தர் கேட்டிருப்பார்.
Herein she is referring to the discourse of the Bhagavad-Gita to Arjuna. She says Vishnuchitta would have heard the Tirumantram (vartai), Mantradvayam (Peru vartai) and the Charama shlokam (Meymai peru vartai) of Krishna when he instructed the great Vedantic secret to Arjuna.
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