GodhA Sthuthi: Part II

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Dear BhakthAs :

 

Let us start this posting with a tribute in Tamil

paid by Azhahiya MaNavALa PerumAL NaayaNAr ,which

summarizes the essence of what Godhai taught us:

 

" yettezhutthin iNaipporuLum iraNdin(?) poruLum

iyal valitthEr Arucchunanakku Iraivar tammaith-

tottu vaittha maRai iRuthipporuL yellAm tonRum vahai

PuduvairkkOn Godhai kavi paadal poruL teriya-kAttinALE"

 

(meaning ): Godhai ,The daughter of the seer of

SrivillipputthUr (VishNu-Chitthar)revealed to us

clearly through Her paasurams , the esoteric and Vedic

meanings (rahasyArthams) of the AshtAkshari, Dhvayam

and finally , Charama SlOkam given by the most merciful

Lord( PaarthasArathy )to the great warrior ArjunA

on the battle field of KurukshEthram .

 

(Comments ) "Yettezhutthu" is Thirumanthiram or

ashtAkshari ; "iraNdin" is the manthra rathnam ,

dhvayam with 25 letters and "iRuthipporuL" is

the Charama slOkam of 32 letters blessed to us

by GeethAchAryan using His dear sishyan and friend

Arjunan as a vyAjam (excuse ). This taniyan identifies

the Charama slOkam with its 32 letters as " MaRai-

iRuthipporuL " or the quintessence of Sruthi

( Vedam and the 32 Brahma VidhyAs of the Upanishads) .

The word "iRuthi" really means "last "or final .

This Taniyan points out that Godhai , the daughter of

PeriyAzhwAr of SrivilliputthUr perfromed upadEsams

for us through Her two prabhandhams in a way through

which the deep and profound meanings of the three

VaishNava manthrams and artha panchakam can be

understood clearly by us , Her children ( iRuthip poruL

yellAm thOnRum vahai PuduvairkkOn Godhai kavi paadal

poruL teriya-kaattinALE ).

 

Our ThAyAr has grave concerns about our limitations in

comprehending the deeper meanings of the the three

manthrams& artha panchakam because of our inadequate

intellectual capabilities and imperfect anushtAnam .

She knows that the SaasthrArtha-nirUpanam ( the full

comprehension of the meanings of the Saasthrams)

will escape our meager intellects and therefore

as the most compassionate Mother intersted in our

parama-hitham chose the method of UpadEsam in

the time honored and proven way :

 

"saasthra Jn~Anam Bahu-klEsam

buddhEscchalana kaaraNam

upadesaath Harim buddhva

viramEth sarva karmasu"

 

(Meaning) : It is very difficult for most of us ,

whose minds are easily influenced by many distractions

( Chanchala Buddhi) to learn about the true meanings of

saasthrArthams. Therefore , One should have upadEsam from

a SadAchAryan to comprehend clearly the tattvams

like Isvaran , Jeevan , prakruthi and their relationships.

One should stay away from the futile efforts of learning

Saasthrams by ourselves as a route to understanding "

adhyAtham-saasthra-artha- visEshams "( the saarArthams/

the essential meanings of the sacred lore and the three

rahasyams ). Only incorrect and distorted grasp

(ViparItha Jn~Anam )of the tattvams will result from

such foolish efforts.

 

Regarding the AchArya paramparai in our SampradhAyam,

PerumAL is our "prathama pravarthakan" or the First

AchAryan. Our ThAyAr (ANDAL)is our second AchAryan

followed by VishvaksEnar and Swamy NammAzhwAr. Therefore,

the Direct Upadesam from ANDAL through Her prabhandhams

to us is one of the greatest of blessings. MahA Lakshmi,

BhU devi , NeeLA devi are the consorts of our Lord with

specific functions . AndAl is considered the avathaaram

of BhU Devi , who realized the VarAha Charama slOkam

from Her Lord .Hence the UpsdEsam from AndaaL /BhU Devi

is extremely important to us and these upadEsams are

enshrined in Her ThiruppAvai . That is why the understanding

of the sookshmArthams (subtle meanings )of the verses of

ThiruppAvai with the help of a Scholar like U.Ve.

Sri PerukkaraNai Swamy is very important for us.

He is the nephew of U.Ve.Abhinava Desika Sri UttamUr

Swamy and is currently an AasthAna VidhvAn of Ahobila

Matam . His scholarship arising from his deep learning

at the feet of many sadAchAryALs is exceptional .

We will stand to benefit from the release of his 500 page

manuscript in Tamil on ThiruppAvai during the occasion

of Vikrama Aadip Pooram day (Augst 2) or soon thereafter .

 

Two BhagavathAs have suggested the need to translate this

manuscript into English and make it available to a wider

set of BhagavathAs , who may not be able to read Tamil or

maNipravALam . This is a very good idea .adiyen welcomes

it and we will seek the help of Sri VaishNavite Scholars

like Dr.V.N.VedAntha Desikan , Sri Thirumanjanam Sundara-

Rajan Swamy , Dr.S.M.S.Chary and other volunteers to

get the English version ready AFTER the release of

the Tamil Manuscript.AdiyEn will volunteer to help

as the Editor of this special effort .

 

We have $1,1968 sofar with the matching funds

for this project. Once we assemble the remaining $ 872 ,

we can commission the printing of the manuscript in

Chennai. Please help and let me know of your

interests in supporting this kaimkaryam.

>From here on , we will focus on the individual

slOkams of Swami Desikan's GodhA sthuthi . We

will start with the first slOkam , " Sri VishNuchittha-

Kula nandhana kalpavallIm --" in our next posting .

 

 

AdiyEn will continue with the rest of the slOkams

on return from the current overseas trip on July 22.

 

AndaaL ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Daasan,V.SatakOpan