Thirumangai Azhvar points out the importance of worshipping the Lord of Badrikasahram when one is young, said P.T. Seshadri, in a discourse. An old man will find it difficult to reach Badrikashram. He has to watch his step. After walking a few paces, he needs to rest. Before this stage in one’s life, one should go to Badrikashram, says Thirumangai Azhvar.
Periavachan Pillai, explaining this verse, narrated an incident from Nanjeeyar’s life. Nanjeeyar, who had been a grihastha, took to sanyasa and came to Srirangam. Parasara Bhattar was being carried in a palanquin by his sishyas. Nanjeeyar too wanted to be a palanquin-bearer for his Acharya. But Bhattar said that a sanyasi should not carry a grihastha.
Nanjeeyar, as a sanyasi, had spoken to the tridanda — the stick that every sanyasi has to hold in his hand. This was a requirement for every sanyasi. He has to say to the tridanda, “You should be my friend.” Now, when Bhattar turned down Nanjeeyar’s request to be a palanquin bearer on account of his (Nanajeeyar) being a sanyasi, Nanjeeyar said, “I am unable to show to my Acharya the regard that I showed my stick. How then can my tridanda save me?” Periavachan Pillai quotes this incident to show that whether a person is a grihastha or a sanyasi, the only stick he should lean on in is the Lord Himself.
When a person is young, he walks proudly and is unbending like a king. But when he is old, walking a few steps is as tough as waging a war on the scale of the Kurukshetra war!
Thirumangai Azhvar talks of the God of Badrikashram as the One who slew Putana. Putana came in the guise of a good woman, but actually had evil intentions. Likewise, the body too seems to do us good. But in actual fact, it leads us down the wrong path by offering us fleeting pleasures.
