Koodarai Vellum SEEr Govindan& Bhagavatha Kainkaryam

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Yuva Year, Dakshinaayanam, Hemantha Rutu,Dhanur Masam, Marghazi 27

 

Dear Memebrs of the Bhakthi Group:

 

In her 27th verse of Thiruppavai (Koodarai Vellum sEEr Govinda),

Gotha Piratti expresses her great joy over the acquirement of the

boons that she and her freinds begged Lord Krishna to grant them.

Now that she has BEEN fully blessed by the Lord , she enters into

a celebratory mood.She describes her plans for celebrating

his glorious blessings that made them realize their

heart-felt desires.She says: " O Govinda! You have the benign

supermacy that lets you conquer all of your opponents.

We shall get the Drum (Vrathopakaranam )and we will

sing your glories. Thus, we get the reward of great eclat and

glory of all the worlds. We will adorn ourselves with every ornament.

We will wear new clothes and eat sweet rice prepared in milk overflowing

with ghee, which will spill over up to our elbows as we attempt to eat it.

THROUGH THE CONTAT WITH YOU AND THROUGH SERVICE TO YOU,

WE SHALL EVER BE UNITED WITH YOU AND THUS BECOME COOL

(TRANQUIL AND CONTENTED ) AND JOYOUS".In the next two verses,

She explains the unbreakable relationship between her

and the Lord this way:"None can untie or cut asunser the ties

that hold us together. At this small hour of the dawn, we have

come singing your glories.We desire to be with you

forever -throughout the births, sevens of generations-as your kith and kin.

Bless us to perform all kinds of Kainkaryam (Thondu) to You and You alone.

May Thou rid us of all other desires that will take us away from You. "

 

The joy of a Bhagavatha (Thondar) and his or her exalted status is

celebrated here. Sri Shuddananda Bharathi summed up the purport of the

29th verse of Thiruppavai as follows: " Let us always ,even unto our 7th birth

, be with Thee serving Thy will alone! Change all other desires in us into

this unique aspiration to be Thy humble Servitors ". Sri Ranga Ramanuja Muni

of Srirangam, who wrote the commentaries for the Upanishads summed up

his intrepretation in Sanskrit this way: " Ita: param Sarveshu Janmasu

Tvatswaamikaa Yeva Bhavaama: Tavaiva Kainkaryam Karavaama: Asmakam

Vishayaanthara Spruhaam nivartaya ". Lord Narayana"s magnanimity and

benign supermacy gives the Kainkarya Saamrajya to those Bhagavathas,

who long for that boon .Sadguru Thayagaraja swamigal celebrated that Rama Bhakti

Saamrajyam in his Suddha Bangala Krithi this way: " The sight of those

great souls ,who have been blessed with the kingdom of Rama Bhakti itself

confers

Brahmaanandam. This bliss does not admit of any describtion through words

(Eelagani Vivarimpa Lenu); It can only be realized by self-experience

(Chaalaa Svaanubhava Vedhyameh). " Bhagavathas like Thyagaraja Swamigal

understood the value of Thondar Kuzham and the Sat sangam very well and

craved like Aandaal to be blessed with that boon. Few hundred Years before the

time of

Saint Thyagaraja , our own Swami Desikan expressed his views to Sri Ranganatha

in this manner:

NIRASTHA RIPU SAMBHAVEH KVACHANA RNGAMUKYEH VIBOH I

PARASPARA HIAISHINAAM PARISARESHU MAAM VARDHAYA II

 

O Ranganatha! "Param iha Kshamam Praarthaya". From here on there is only one

boon You can bless me with. That is what I long for! I want to spend the rest of

my

days on your earth at a Kshethram like Srirangam, which abounds in Bhagavathas

deeply immersed in Kainkaryam to You and at the same time solicitious of each

other's

well being (Paraspara Hitaishinaam). Please bless me to be in the company of

these

Bhagavatas until I reach your abode . " The greatness of Srivaishnava Thondars

and

the extraordinary value of their Thondu is what Swami Desikan celebrates here.

 

Saint Thyagaraja understood this and celebrated the central doctrine of Sri

Vaishnavas

in his Entaro Mahaanubhavulu kriti set in Sri Ragam. The Symbolism of selecting

Sri Ragam is transparent to us due to its association with Maha Lakshmi.

Musically

also the appropriateness of the selection of Sri Ragam for this Kriti can be

understood

from the observations of an eminent Veenai Vidwan(Sri M.Nageswara Rao):" Sri

Ragam

raises Rishabha Svaram again from the shadow of the powerful Ghandaaram,

where it rested in the case of Varali Pancha Ratnam. The Rishabham

of Sri Ragam ascends to its natural position and is present in its SIMPLEST ,

PUREST form , an unvaried tone freed from the curves and the implied

directionality,

which it carries in Naattai, Gowlai, Aarabhi and Varali. ..This total PURITY is

the

melodic correlate of the silence of Nirvikalpa Samadhi and the Aanandam that is

associated

with it". One can extrapolate and state that the Rishabam of Sri Ragam sounding

in any direction

(Yasyaam Yasyaam Disi Viharateh ) , will be equal in its blessings like the KaNN

Paarvai of

Periya Piratti .

 

I will cover in the next posting the Greatness of Thondars(Bhagavathas)

from the Vedic point of view and add the passages of the Sri Raga

Pancha Ratna Krithis of Saint Thayagaraja ,

who came to be known as Nada Brahmaananda ,

when he toook the Sanyasa Asrama

during the final days of his life on Rama's earth to avoid another birth

and thereby qualify himself for performing Kainkaryam in Rama"s Saamrajyam.

 

Sri AandaaL thiruvadigaleh Saranam,

 

Sadagopan