thiruppAvai - 3

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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,

 

So far, the two unique features of thiruppAvai viz.

unparalleled greatness of AndAL esp. exhibited in

thiruppAvai and the swApadEsam employed has been

discussed. Lets see the other salient features of

this most glorious divya prabandham.

 

c. SaraNAgathi nOnbu : In thiruppAvai, nAchchiyAr

(AndAL) most mercifully explains about the parama

hitam viz.SaraNAgathi alias Prapatti and how

Sriman NArAyaNA acts as the "upAyam" (means) and

the "upEyam" (goal). This is the most important

knowledge one should posses. All other knowledge

if it doesn't make one finally understand this hitam,

will invariably make one undergo the repeated birth

and death cycle in this samsAra. Since thiruppAvai

explains the parama tattvam (Sriman NArAyaNa-

the supreme reality), parama hitam (prapatti) and

parama purushArtham (kainkarya sAmrAjyam at

Sri vaikuNTham) beautifully, it is very highly

regarded by our AchAryAs.

 

d. Seed for vEdAs : ThiruppAvai is rightly revered

as the seed for vEdAs ie. "vEdam anaiththukkum

viththAgum ". The rich swApadEsams from thiruppAvai

makes it as a seed for explaining the whole gamut

of vEdAs. Infact, one can go on and on about the

various vEda vAkhyams explained by nAchchiyAr

through the words and phrases appearing in the

pAsurams. There are many phrases in thiruppAvai

which were highly inspiring to our AchAryAs like

ALavandAr and BhAshyakArar to interpret many

upanishad vAkhyams properly. AndAL blesses one

with the proper jn~Anam to understand vEdAs through

this thiruppAvai itself.

 

e.Combination of iyal, isai and nAdagam : Another

most admiring feature of thiruppAvai is the most

wonderful combination of iyal( poetry), isai(music)

and nAdagam (drama). NAcchiAr Herself says "sangath

thamizh mAlai muppadum thappAmE". ThiruppAvai's

poetic composition by itself is beyond words. Added

to that, thiruppAvai is a "pAmAlai" highly fit to

be sung. When these two combine, one will very

esily get bhagavad anubhavam. DrAmA is the

most effective medium of bringing out various

types of emotions related with bhagavad anubhavams

and thiruppAvai by itself is in the form of a

drAmA (what happened so is presented as a drAmA).

Thus, when the great poetry and music is combined

with the effect of drAmA ( "thiruppAvai pAttu ARu

ainthum ", 6 scenes with 5 pAsurams for each scene),

one's deep involvement with thiruppAvai is beyond

any question.

 

f. ThiruppAvai is a mantram : ThiruppAvai is a

mantram that can benedict all the purushArthams (

but, most importantly, the reciter will be blessed

by AndAL to get sadAchArya sambandham and have

the prapatti performed by the blessings of the

AchArya). The reciter of thiruppAvai becomes most

dear to PerumAL.

 

Some may doubt as to whether Divya Prabandhams

will have the power of "mantrams". But,

nAthamunigaL clearly demonstrated without any doubt

about the great power of divya prabandham - that

they too have the potency like that of a mantra.

nAthamunigaL being a great yOgi, performed the

japam of kanninunsiruththAmbu for thousands of

times and obtained the sAkshAtkAram of NammAzhwAr.

Such is the glory of divya prabandhams.

 

To know more about the glories of divya

prabandhams, one needs to remember the incident

of govindar's ( empAr) conversion. By the trick

of yAdavaprakAsar, govindar, the cousin of rAmAnujar

became a staunch shiva bhaktA and this pained the

heart of emperumAnAr very much - since govindar was

so fortunate to take birth in a Srivaishnava family

and so close to obtain the kainkarya sAmrAjyam at

paramapadam, and now went far away from that path/

sampradAyam. Thus, thirumalai nambigaL took the

task of converting govindar back to Srivaishnava

sampradAyam and started the upanyAsam on Srimad

rAmAyanam, near to the place where govindar( a

nAyanAr then) will procure flowers for shiva pUjA.

Since NambigaL was the greatest authority in

rAmAyanam, it attracted many people's attention

there and they were spell bound by the kalyANa guNAs

of rAmapirAn and were listening to it with tears in

their eyes. But, govindar never got disturbed by

rAmAyanam and just carried out his job routinely.

NambigaL then started bhagavad gItA and explained

well about the paratvam of PerumAL. Then also,

govindar was stubborn. As a last resort, NambigaL

started the upanyAsam on the drAvida vEdam

thiruvAimozhi. The most nectarian pAsurams of

our dearmost nammAzhwAr started drilling the heart

of govindar and when it came to "emberumAnukkallAl

poovum poosanaiyum thagumE ? " (2.2.4) ie.

"Except emperumAn nArAyaNan, which other deities

deserve worship through flowers?", govindar jumped

down from the tree and threw out the rudrAksha mAlai

and the flowers, and prostrated flat unto the

thiruvadi of NambigaL with tons of tears from his

eyes and repented a lot for his deeds - loudly

uttering "thagAdhu thagAdhu (for anya dEvatAs) and

emperumAnukkE thagum".

 

This is the power of divya prabandham. What the

likes of rAmAyanam and gIta can't achieve, was

easily achieved by the DrAvida vEda. Divya prabandham

deeply melts one's heart and makes the svaroopa

jn~Anam blossom and obtain highest taste for bhagavad

bhAgavatha kainkaryam.

 

ThiruppAvai especially is highly sacred. This is a

highly mangaLakaramAna (very auspicious) divya

prabandham. It is filled extensively with mangaLa

vAkhyams (AndAL Heself being a mangaLa dEvatai).

The vEda mantrams require so much discipline and

have strict rules and regulations to be recited.

But, our thiruppAvai is free of all such problems.

It is beyond any doubt and is a fact that for all

the problems in one's life , whatever be it,

thiruppAvai is the medicine. AndAL says "yengum

theiru aruL pettru inburuvar" - be it here in leelA

vibhUti OR at nitya vibhUti.

 

 

The six salient features of thiruppAvai discussed

so far, amply explains why even bAshyakArar(rAmAnujar),

the master of all upanishads and the like, was deeply

attracted towards thiruppAvai and was reciting it

during unchavrutti. No wonder that rAmAnujar is revered

as "thiruppAvai jeeyar".

 

--- to be cont --

 

AndAL thiruvadigaLE SaraNam

 

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan

ananthapadmanAbha dAsan

krishNArpaNam