There are three things said of any prabandham or literary work. They are the pramaatha (the author), prameyam (the thing about which the work speaks) and pramaanam (the work itself).
All the divya prabandha paasurams have this in common - the pramaatha is an aazhwar, the prameyam is Bhagavan Sriman Narayanan and the pramaanam is the prabandham itself. This set of 11 verses called the Kanninun Sirthaambu differs from the others in one of the three
Pramaanam - Kanninun Siruthaambu (or the 'sonna sol' as declared in the paasuram)
Pramaatha - Madhura Kavi aazhwar
Prameyam - Here it is not Bhagavan, but Swami Nammazhwar (nambi)
This final saatru paasuram is the essence of the other 10 preceding it and reiterates its allegiance to Swami Nammazhwar. Its also indicates the fruit that is to be obtained by believing and acting according in its message (acharya bhakthi).
Swami Manavaala Maamunigal in his Aarthi Prabandham says:
Thenn Arangan seer arulukku ilakkaaga peththom
Thiruvaalan thirupaathiye iruppaaga peththom
Manniya seer Maaran kalaiye unavaaaga peththom
Madhura kavi sol padiye nilayaaga pethom
Ini vada kodu uyarnthaalen, then kodu saaythaalen?
Meaning:
We have the belief that we have the blessings of Arangan (Sri Ranganathan)
We have the belief that we have stayed in Srirangam for at least some time in this life
We have received as food, the four prabandhams of Maaran
We have obtained the message of Madhura Kavi as the way of life
So how do we care for anything that may happen in this life?
It is this strong belief in the acharyan and the Bhagavan he has shown us, which makes us free of worries and helps us to escape the ocean of samsara. It makes us like the hamsa bird (bhagavatha) that walks easily across the slush (samsara) with its webbed feet (acharya bhakthi) without getting submerged in the slush.
Such strong will and belief is the greatest asset of many earlier acharyas. Sri Parasara Bhattar, the illustrious son of Sri Kooraththaazhwan was one such with an unshakable belief in Namperumal of Srirangam. As the priest of the Srirangam temple, he used to finish his duties everyday and came and sat down at a place in the temple. To this day, this place is called 'Bhattar koradu' inside the temple. Now, Bhattar had a friend called Veera Sundara Brahma Raayan who kept pestering Bhattar to come to his court and settle down there. He promised him with a lot of wealth for coming to his court. Bhattar, with his unbounded love for Namperumal and being unaffected by money refused time and again.
Once when he was seated in his usual place, one of Raayan's servant had come to him asked him to come to Raayan's court. Bhattar, by now losing his patience, asked him to go and first get the sevai of Namperumal. The servant did so and returned.
Bhattar: "What did u see?"
Servant: "I saw the beautiful form of Namperumal, his feet on the lotus, his sparkling crown, his beautiful smile and his hand that reassures and frees us from fear."
Bhattar: "So you saw the anjali hastham (hand) which asks you to surrender at his feet (Maam Ekam Charanam Vraja)"
Servant: "Yes"
Bhattar: "Have you ever seen the hand turn away from you and say that He will no longer protect you?"
Servant (by now puzzled): "No!"
Bhattar: "Even if that hand were to turn the other way, I will not leave this place. Go and tell this to your master"
In the simple meaning for the 11th paasuram, we have indicated that the first word Anban refers to Swami Nammazhwar. But there is a more beautiful interpretation to it, provided by scholars as follows:
Anban thannai - Here Anban means Bhagavan. He is the one who is the friend of all, since every creation in this universe is his child. Whether it is man, animal, raakshasa, asura, or any inanimate object, Bhagavan is the friend of all.
Adainthavar kalukku ellam anban - Here anban is Swami Nammazhwar. When joined with the previous half, it means that Swami is the friend of all bhagavathas (people who attained the feet of Bhagavan for refuge)
Nagar nambikku anban- This is Madhura kavi aazhwar. He is the personification of devotion to Kurugoor nambi.
Madura kavi sonna sol - The 11 paasurams
Nambuvaar - Refers to all who believe in the paasurams
Padhi - place where one stays
Vaikuntham - Sri Vaikuntha
When we join all these pieces, we get another beautiful interpretation of the paasuram – They will definitely go to Sri Vaikuntam; those who believe in the work of Madhura Kavi who is the friend of the nambi of Kurugoor who himself is the friend of all bhagavathas who have sought refuge in Bhagavan who is the ultimate friend of all.
There are thousands of other interesting and small nuances in the interpretation that have been left out due to adiyen's limited faculties and understanding. Pray that bhagavathas have the benefit of listening to such interpretations from well versed scholars and upanyaasakas.
We will end with yet another finer point and a related anecdote on the last line - "Nambuvaar padhi Vaikuntham kaanmine" 30 Madhura kavi aazhwar says that those who believe in his paasuram will reach Sri Vaikuntham.
We immediately asked him - "So it seems that finally even you want to go to Bhagavan only and enjoy His company in Sri Vaikuntham. If not, if you believe that Swami Nammaazhwar was your Lord, would you not have sung - Nambuvaar padhi Thirukurugoor kaanmine?"
Madhura kavi aazhwar replied - "In Thirukurugoor there are two kings (Perumal and Aazhwar) - the temple itself is known as Adinathar-Aazhwar devasthanam. Even when I go to get sevai of my Swami Nammaazhwaar, this Polindu ninna piraan keeps coming in between and you cannot do service to aazhwar alone there. But in Sri Vaikuntham, all the nithya sooris have left Bhagavan and have accepted my aazhwar as the lone king now. So I want to go there."
Beyond that, here is the most beautiful interpretation of all. When aazhwar says Nambuvaar padhi Vaikuntham kaanmine, one should read it as
Nambuvaar padhi, Vaikuntham (note the comma; a pause after the word padhi) - i.e. the place where the bhagavathas stay - that itself becomes Sri Vaikuntham.
There is a unique story to convey the truth behind this message.
Long ago, there was a person who went to learn under sage Vishvamitra. After finishing his studies, he pestered his guru to offer some guru dakshina. The sage refused, but after sometime he gave up and asked his sishya to get 700 horses. Each horse had to be of one uniform color throughout the body and another color in the ears.
Well, we can imagine that it might be difficult to get even one, let alone 700. But this sishya was a very good friend of Garuda aazhwar. So he requested Garudan and they started their search together. After a long and unsuccessful search, they felt extremely thirsty and hungry. They came to a remote hillock and saw a yogini by name Shandili doing tapas. On seeing their sorry state, she went into her ashram to get some food for them.
At this point, Garudan thought - "Why doesn't this yogini stay in Srirangam or Thirumalai which is the abode of Bhagavan? Why stay in this remote and barren hillock?"
As soon as he thought so, both his wings were burnt to ashes.
When she returned, Shandili saw this and asked what had happened. Garudan replied - "Devi, I committed a great sin by thinking why bhagavathas like you don't stay in a place like Srirangam. I forgot that the place where such Bhagavathas like you stay is verily Srirangam, it is Sri Vaikuntham, and it is the place where Bhagavan resides."
Sri Madhurakavi Aazhwar Thiruvadigale Saranam;
Sri Nammazhwar Thiruvadigale Saranam !!!
Sri Aadinaatha Valli sametha Sri Aadinatha Parabrahmane namaha
Vaazhi Thirukurugoor, Vaazhi Arulichcheyal
