thiruppAvai - 2

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Sri:

Sri Lakshminrusimha Parabrahmane namaha

Sri Lakshminrusimha divya pAdukA sEvaka SrivaNN-

SatakOpa Sri nArAyaNa yateendra mahAdESikAya namaha

 

namO nArAyaNA

 

Dear devotees,

 

In the previous posting, the greatness of AndAL in

comparison with all other AzhwArs and rishis was seen esp.

in the context of thiruppAvai. Lets discuss the other

extraordinary features of thiruppAvai that makes it so

famous.

 

b. SwApadEsam ie. dhwani : This is the most interesting part

of thiruppAvai. The gist of vEdAntA is beautifully explained

in thiruppAvai , with layers and layers of deep meanings.

All these hidden meanings, which are not easily evident on

the surface are called as SwApadEsams.

 

But, according to Sanskrit grammar, SwApadEsam can't

be a word at all ! This word defies Sanskrit grammar. But,

lets see how this well known word got into the

sampradAyam.

 

In sanskrit literature, there exists "anyApadEsam" .

For example, the following slokam of SwAmi DeSikan

exhibits this.

context: A kavi who is a beggar is going to a mahArAja

and his intention is to get some money by begging. But, if

one begs directly, mahArAjA won't like it and he

won't give money. But, since he is a kavi, he is begging

like this which propells the king to give even thousand

gold coins :

 

" Oh King! The Left portion of Lord ShivA has been

taken up by pArvati , the right portion by nArAyaNa;

(and thus Sivan doesn't exist now!! his properties are

also distributed) the chandran adorning his head has been

given to the sky, all the serpants which were around his

neck went to pAdALam, ganges went to earth and Lord

ShivA's Sarvajn~athvam and Iswarathvam has been given

to you mahArAjA !! But, his begging bowl has been given

to me !! "

 

This is a classic example of "anyApadEsam". On the

surface, it looks as though Lord Shiva is no more and

his properties has been distributed to various persons.

But, the kavi has no intention of speaking about Lord

ShivA or whether he is no more or whether his properties

have been distributed etc. All these descriptions about

Lord ShivA etc are known as "anyApadEsam", while the

intented thing viz. "begging " is known as "dhwani" in

sanskrit .

 

"SwapadEsam" is just a coined word to denote that which

is not "anyApadEsam". So, "SwApadEsam" is

synonymous with "dhwami".

 

The "anyApadEsam" in the previous example is not a

reality at all and the kavi didn't intent that. But, all

"anyApadEsams" needn't be like that. For example,

Srimad RAmAyanam employs great deal of

"anyApadEsam", which rich "swApadEsams" ( our

AchAryAs have dealt a lot about this ; EmperumAnAr

underwent rAmAyanam kAlakshEbam under thirumalai

nambigaL for around 21 times !!! due to the richness

of the "swApadEsam" which makes it fit to be

called as saraNAgathi vEdam ). But, rAma avatAram

is infact a reality and PerumAL performed all the

avatAra leelAs to teach the baddha jIvAtmAs / give

pleasure to His devotees etc. VAlmIki bhagavAn

being a mahAkavi employed such swApadEsams

for the devotees to relish them - this being the

thiru uLLam of PerumAL Himself. In thiruvAimozhi,

various roles like that of nAyaki (lover) ,

thAyAr (mother), thOzhi (friend) etc are employed

by AzhwAr. These are also "anyApadEsams" (direct

outward meanings) and they have the respective

"swApadEsams". "anyApadEsam" is thus something

not always to be discarded. It may be very real and

may carry profound implications/teachings.

 

In the case of thiruvAimozhi and the like : one may

eat an orange directly (anyApadesam) ; one may

drink its juice (swApadEsam) ; one may relish both

the fruit and the juice. The anyApadEsams are the

obvious direct meanings of the pAsurams , while

the swApadEsams (hidden meanings) deal with

the tattva,hita and purushArtam which are very

essential to be known. So, in these cases, both

anyApadEsmas and swApadEsams are highly

relishable. But, knowing the vEdAntic truths is

very important and one shouldn't have a

sentimental devotion, without philosophical

knowledge - which forms the basis for the

devotion.

 

Any highly eulogized literature will invariably have

swApadEsams - this includes vEdAs also.

vEdam is also known as "maRai" because of this

reason. The profound truths are not very explicitly

given ( vEdam maRaichchu solum). But, to those

who knows the context , actual import etc, they

will derive great pleasure out of it - that

anubhavam will be quite ecstatic ( just like we

relished that beggar kavi's appeal) . If many a

things are told "directly" (as a beggar begging

directly, instead of making a poetic appeal ),

that will upset all the rasikAs. vEdAs addresses

to these true rasikAs of Brahman who is

Sriman nArAyaNan. Only those who belong to

BAshyakArar's (rAmAnujar) sampradAyam are

the true rasikAs who perfectly relish all the

beautiful anyApadEsams and swApadEsams

of vEdam, which describes about EmperumAn

and His attributes/glories in various ways.

But, those who don't get the correct import of the

vEdAs, keep struggling as to how to reconcile

various sruti vAkyAs viz. bhEda sruti, abhEda sruti

and ghataka sruti , and thereby conceive something

on their own which will fail to answer some part

of the sruti.

 

There is no limit to the amount of swApadEsams

one can obtain from the works of mahAkavIs,

because they invariably employ it. If the subject

matter is related with sAstrAs, the swApadEsams

should obviously be in accordance with the

teachings of vEdAs and allied pramAnams and

one shouldn't derive swApadEsams which

contradict sAstrAs. By the blessings of AchAryAs,

one can get profound inner meanings/teachings/

instructions - which are unlimited.

 

 

ThiruppAvai also has such very rich swApadEsams

alias dhwani arthams/meanings which makes it

highly relishable. Obviously, when AndAL is the

mother-in-law of even Saraswati dEvi, the wife of

chaturmukha brahmA, Her shrewdness in selecting

the most appropriate words and combining various

such words to yield unlimited rich swApadEsams

is not a wonder at all.

 

For example, abhinava dESikan Uttamoor SwAmi

has blessed us with a very rich swApadEsam

derived from thiruppAvai. SwAmi beautifully

explains how thiruppAvai propounds the panchakAla

prakriyai - the five divisions of the day and the

appropriate duty/kainkaryam to be performed by

a Sri Vaishnava daily :

 

i. abhigamanam : Morning prayer/saraNAgathi to

PerumAL for making the day to be auspicious and

free of obtacles to the bhagavad bhAgavatha

kainkaryam ( After waking up in the brahma

muhUrtham with hari nAma sankeertanam and

allied anushtAnams).

 

ii. upAdAnam : Collecting neccessary things like

flowers etc for bhagavad ArAdhanam.

 

iii. Ijyai : Bhagavad ArAdhanam - both mAnasika and

bahya ArAdhanam : waking up of

PerumAL and others and performing ArAdhanam.

 

iv. SvAdhyAyam : Study of sAstrAs.

 

v. yOgam : Going to sleep through yOgam (deep

meditation on PerumAL ).

 

Uttamoor swAmy shows how AndAL is explaining

all the minute details in the proper sequence.

Thus, reciting thiruppAvai is _like_ performing

all the duties of the day esp. the thiru ArAdhanam.

 

In summary, anyApadEsams (which are the direct

obvious meanings) and swApadEsams (hidden

meanings, ie. opposite to that of direct obvious

meanings) are both highly relishable in thiruppAvai

and esp. the swApadEsams are unlimited in its

scope - AndAL has packed the pAsurams with

so many things !!

 

--- to be cont --

 

AndAL thiruvadigaLE SaraNam

 

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan

ananthapadmanAbha dAsan

krishNArpaNam