Thondaradip podi aazhwaar and Swami Desikan's work

[Guest guest]

Sri thondar adip podi aazhwwar thiruvadikaLE saraNam

 

When I think of this aazhwaar, nothing comes to my mind other than

the "actual reality" in kaliyugam. We are all in one way or other so

much engrossed in our routine all the time. Many a times we wander

around physically in pursuit of a career or wander mentally for clarity

in our mind to reach an apparently clear solution to our day to day

problems. No matter where and how long one wander around, the hymn of

this soul if recited will clear all our sins and orient one to this

path to "arangan".

 

("engu suRRiyum aranganaiyE vanthu sEr"; ie "where ever you

wander around, return back to the origin and the god head

aranagan"; this notion is also true with respect to the tirup

paanaazhwaar and pranavaak krithi analysis I had presented

earlier)

 

I want to recall a discourse I attended in Feb 1990, in

Kumbakonam, India, on Ramaayanam by devanaar valaaham kannan

swamikal who is related to the 43 rd jeer. (He is a chief engineer

working in Northern India, still following the srivaishnava

tradition in spirit and also in dress code ie panchakacham, and

kudumi) I thought I would share some of the contents of his discourse and

present a small "cocnlusion"

again, based on a primitive analysis on Swami Desikan's work.

 

Periyaazhwaar in one of his verse has implied "Oh lord, you are like the

mother cow; you know the whereabouts of the calf in a herd of

(several) cows and you can identify the calf (jivans) easily. I pray that

you

identify me also similarly in the middle of this samsara and take care of me".

 

Thondar adip podi aazhwwar outlined that " oh lord, I will have no time to

think of you constantly when I am in this samsAram. However,

due to your graceful and merciful nature I beg you to forgive me

and bless me even if I am not thinking of you even once."

 

An overall analysis of Swami Desikan's work suggests clubbing both

these as follows. "Oh lord, you are like a mother, who always think of

her child even when the child is not thinking of you. We are your

children dwelling in this samsaaram. Thus due to this samsaara

bandham, Even if we donot think of you constantly, you think

that we are constantly thinking of you, and bless us with your "arul" or

grace

and mercy".

 

Conclusion:

 

It may be a simple "logic" for a rationalist. But it is also a divine

and implicit concept conveyed in Swami Desikan's work.

It is enough to pray the Lord asking him to think of you

constantly and bless you even if you are not able to think of HIM all

the time. It is easy in this kali yuga to "think" in the same lines

as suggested by the analysis on Swami Desikan's work while we are

praying. This aazhwaar was the cause for deriving or showing such "simple"

way (hidden in Swami Desikan's work) "in seeking'", through his outpouring

in our

thamizh maRai 4000. After all Bakthi itself is derived finally as a product

of

mind and mental frame work. In Thamizh we can say it (bakthi) is "mana

neghizchchi", or "mana vurukkam". This is so explicitly expressed in

thondar adipodi aazhwaar's hymn of the soul namely the thiru maalai.

The last but not the least I also want to add

that he is the avathaaram of "vana maalai" of thirumaal.

 

Rangan thiruvadikaLe sharanam

SaraNam SaraNam saraNam prapathyE

 

Sampath Rengarajan (Sampath Rengi)