thiruppAvai - 1

[Guest guest]

Sri:

Sri Lakshminrusimha Parabrahmane namaha

Sri Lakshminrusimha divya pAdukA sEvaka SrivaNN -

SatakOpa Sri nArAyaNa yateendra mahAdESikAya namaha

 

namO nArAyaNA.

 

ThiruppAvai

**********

We have relished the glories of tiruppAvai and that too for the

first pAsuram very well - thanks to Sri Sampath RengarAjan and

all other devotees who have kindly posted their sweet bhagavad

anubhavams. We shall relish some more - no end to the glories

of thiruppAvai.

 

adiyEn wants to point out that this series is fully based on the

upanyAsam of Sri U.Ve. VillUr KarunAkarn swAmy and all

the credits goes to that swAmy.

 

Greatness of TiruppAvai :

*********************

TiruppAvai is very very sacred and all our AchAryAs have/had great

yeedupAdu with this divya prabandham. Lets see some of the salient

features which makes it so famous :

 

a. AndAL's unparalleled glories displayed through thiruppAvi

b. SwApadEsam ie. dhwani

c. SaraNAgathi nOnbu

d. seed for vEdAs

e. Combination of iyal, isai and nAdagam

f. ThiruppAvai - a highly potent Mantram

 

 

a. AndAL's unparalleled glories from thiruppAvai :

************************************

( please take this with "nahi nindA" nyAyam ie. the objective/focus

is to glorify AndAL and not to disrespect others)

 

In the 3000 padi, vyAkyAna chakravarthy PeriavAcchAn piLLai says

that when compared to AzhwArs, rishis are like dust/aNu and AzhwArs

are like mountains (in glories/greatness). Then within AzhwArs, all

other

AzhwArs are like aNu in comparison with PeriAzhwAr's greatness which

 

is like mountain.

 

PeriAzhwAr's greatness was that while PerumAL Himself gave the

sEvai in garuda vAhanam (with pirAtti ofcourse) , after AzhwAr

firmly

establishing about the supremacy of Sriman nArAyaNA, not only

AzhwAr, but all the people were able to have that divine sEvai ; and

in

that instance PeriAzhwAr delivered the glorious "pallAndu". This is

known as the "mangaLAsAsanam" - a very esoteric concept in itself.

 

Generally, people ask so many things from PerumAL. We shall leave

them for now. Even NammAzhwAr in tiruviruttam says "meininru

kEttaruLAi adiyEn seiyyum vinnappamE " ie. even when PerumAL

gives the sEvai, nammAzhwAr wants Him to listen to his upanyAsam.

But, PeriAzhwAr was in total shock as to why did the most pure

PerumAL come to this samsAra sAkkadai and was deeply worried

about the evil glances of the people towards Him (dhrusti pattudum )

!!!

Out of great affection towards PerumAL, PeriAzhwAr sung PallAndu (

Long Live). So, whenever we refer to AchAryA's visits to Divya

dEsam, we say for eg. Azhagiyasingar performed mangaLAsAsanam

to prahlAda varadan at ahobilam etc. ParamaikAntins goes to temples

to perform mangaLAsAsanam to PerumAL who has taken the archA

avatAram out of His unbounded mercy towards the samsAsrIs.

 

Those who have read sAstrAs will say , "How come PerumAL will

be affected by this world ? How can evil eyes of the people affect

PerumAL? If He is affected, He can't be PerumAL at all;

What is the need for pallAndu to Him, who is already eternal

.....etc".

 

Doesn't PeriAzhwAr know all these things???? Obviously AzhwAr

knows in and out of sAstram. In the debate, PeriAzhwAr without any

problem defeated all the opponents and established the true imports

of the vEdAs. But, the "jn~Anam" of PeriAzhwAr has turned out into

"bhagavad prEmai" which is a great ornament for that "jn~Anam".

The ajn~Anam resulting from not knowing about the actual realities

established in the sAstrAs is not at all a desired thing. But, the

"ajn~Anam" which occurs due to bhagavad prEmai is very much a

desired one.

 

Sri PiLLai lOkAchAryar beautifully says in Srivachana bhUshanam

that one should get proper jn~Anam in the first place and should

then

acquire this bhagavad prEmai which should stand on top of this

jn~Anam. The illustrious AchArya Sri vAtsya VaradadESikar who was

the greatest expert in SribAshyam ( well evident from

SrutaprakAsikA )

was very much upset when PeraruLALan was served hot boiling milk.

This AchArya very well knows that Varadan is the antaryAmi of that

hot boiling milk also and nothing can affect Him etc etc. But, when

 

this AchAryA lovingly made Varadan drink the milk in the optimum

temparature (as fit to be given for a child - kutti kannan),

PerumAL spontaneously reciprocated and fondingly called the

AchAryA "yen ammA" - " Oh My Mother ! " and from then, the

AchAryA came to be known as "ammAL" ie. nadAdUr ammAL -

the one who truely had the feeling of giving milk to PerumAL and

not

doing something mechanically .

 

Now, the reason for PeriAzhwAr singing pallAndu is due to the great

love - bhagavd prEmai. Normally, one will always be worried about

the

welfare of their dear ones. For eg : When a father hears that an

accident

had happened in a particular main road to a person driving a

particulr

scooter at a particular time, he invariably gets the fear that his

son may

be involved in that accident . Similarly, how much so ever the son

may

be intelligent,capable etc, when the son is at US, the parents at

India

will have the feeling "yenna panrAnO avan ; yeppadi samALikarAnO etc"

 

ie. "How come he is managing all the things ....etc". So, this is a

natural

feeling that arises with respect to very beloved ones. Similarly,

PerumAL

was the most beloved one to PeriAzhwAr and when AzhwAr saw

PerumAL appearing in this samsAram, his anxiety grew exponentially

and in order that no evil things should touch/affect PerumAL ( who is

 

now in danger !! ) , AzhwAr started performing the mangaLAsAsanam -

"pallAndu pallAndu ..." -- very very esoteric indeed to comprehend

!!

 

But AndAL surpasses even all these things. AndAL performs

mangaLAsAsanams like "anRu ivvulagam aLandhAi adi pOttri ,

chenranguth thenillangai chettRAI thiRal pOttri ........pOttri

.....pOttri ...".

Long back, PerumAL took the trivikrama avatAram. But AndAL is

feeling very badly now, that she missed a most glorious pastime

(couldn't

be there at the time when the avatAram took place) and performs

the mangaLAsAsanam for that now ( Oh!! Its already late to sing the

glories !! I missed the pastimes already !! ). Similarly, for the

avatAra

leelAs of rAma, krishna and the like also, AndAL started performing

the mangaLAsAsanam.

 

Not only this, AndAL goes far far and way ahead in this thiruppAvai ,

by

even reminding the Supreme Lord Sriman NArAyaNA after duly waking

Him up and making Him sit in the throne ,that, all these jIvAtmAs

belong

to Him and it is His duty to protect them !!! - in a way teaching the

Lord

Himself that He should grant the kainkarya sAmrAjyam of moksham to

those who surrender to Him. All other AzhwArs had their " mayarvaRa

madhi nalam " blessed by PerumAL. But, in thiruppAvi, AndAL is giving

that "mayarvaRa madhi nalam" to PerumAL Himself !!!!

 

In the 2000 padi vyAkyAnam JananyAchAryar refers to an incident in the

 

lifetime of the "tiruppAvai Jeeyar" (rAmAnujar). When the sishyAs

requested rAmAnujar to give a discourse on thiruppAvai , rAmAnujar

replied that even for hearing about pallAndu , we may find some, but

for hearing about thiruppAvai, its very very difficult to find one

(fit enough

to listen) . ThiruppAvai Jeeyar is of the view that hardly can one

find a

person fit enough to give an upanyAsam on thiruppAvai and hardly can

one find a person fit enough to listen to it !!!! Even rAmAnujar was

thinking that he was unfit to speak about thiruppAvai !!!! What is the

 

status of the likes of adiyEn ???

 

SwAmi DeSikan who knows the thiru uLLam of all the poorvAchAryAs

like rAmAnujar beautifully prays to AndAL :

" Oh GodA dEvi ! Your greatness transcending the reach of the

varieties

of vEdAs, is indeed far out of reach. It cannot be comprehended by

poor fellows like me, who attempt at composing hymns of praise. Even

 

when being fully conscious of this limitation, what has disturbed my

 

silence is the greatness of your qualities - which have actually

forced me

to speak out " ( GodAsthuti : 2 )

 

Though one can speak out about thiruppAvai with this in the mind,

there

may be so many faults,shortcomings etc (due to one's

incomprehensibility

of the glories of AndAL ). For that, SwAmi DeSikan gives us the

assurance that AndAL's vAtsalyam (motherly affection ) towards us is

unbounded and one can indulgence in such an act of blaberring about

AndAL and thiruppAvai according to one's own limited understanding :

 

" Oh GodA dEvi ! A sinner that I am, still deserve to be excused and

granted Your grace. It is in the fitness of things, since a mother

shows

endurance when her suckling baby bites in the breast, because of her

 

natural motherly love " ( GodAsthuti : 27 ).

 

Infact, this excellent verse is recited twice during the gOdAsthuti

Uttsavam at Sri VillipuththUr during the vaikAsi month. AndAL and

Ranga mannAr comes to a special mandapam present for this uttsavam

and most happily hears to the recitation of gOdAsthuti.

 

Infact, SwAmi DeSikan says that Vishnuchittar is known as PeriAzhwAr

( great AzhwAr amongst the AzhwArs), only because of AndAL and

thus makes the point that the glories and greatness of AndAL is well

above all other AzhwArs ( GodAsthuti : 10 ) :

 

" Your father sang hymns in hundreds, in praise of the Lord, who is

however, easily pleased by the most minute praise ! Neverthless

the

Lord didn't confer on Your father, the honorific, Peria-AzhwAr,

but

did so only on His being pleased with the present of the garland

which

had acquired the fragrance, by contact of Your locks of hair !".

 

--- to be cont ----

 

AndAL thiruvadigaLE SaraNam

 

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan

ananthapadmanAbha dAsan

krishNArpaNam