Srutis and the sastras exist to aid the entire world and the beings in it. They teach us to attain the highest goal, that is, release from samsara. Spiritual tradition holds the Vedas as the greatest sastra and their supremacy and authority rest on the fact that they are ‘apaurusheya,’ meaning they are not created by any being and are hence faultless. They are also looked upon as the only valid means of arriving at the highest truth and this truth is knowledge of God.
Sastra study thus leads all beings towards the ultimate goal of liberation by showing them the path which is meditating on God who is shown to be the sole cause of this entire universe, pointed out Sri Padmanabhachariar in a discourse. In this regard, the practice of the acharyas in the Vaishnava tradition since the time of Nathamuni, Alavandar, Ramanuja, Vedanta Desika and others in the lineage is to explain the sutras on Jagat srishti by drawing from the Srutis which deal with this idea. They also derive the rich hidden meanings in the Srutis by referring to the hymns of Azhwars. Azhwars are held to be incarnations of the Nityasuris and hence endowed with divine knowledge.
The Divya Prabandha hymns are hailed as the Tamil Vedas and are known as ‘Dravida Veda Sara.’ Nammazhwar’s Tiruvaimozhi hymns, especially the first 21 hymns, convincingly establish the Paratva of Narayana without any trace of doubt. In the very first verse, obeisance is offered to the Highest Eternal Truth who is higher than the highest. He alone can grant jnana and bhakti that can remove the ignorance. He is by nature the sat-chit-ananda swaroopa. He is the Lord of the Nityasuris and other celestial beings and Azhwar exhorts his mind to seek His feet that are sure to confer eternal freedom from sorrow.
