Selected excerpts from MahA VidvAn Sri U.Ve. PerukkAraNai Swamy's ThiruppAvai Monograph: Part XII-> Fifth day : Mayanai mannu Vada Mathurai Mainthan dinam

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Sriamthyai Godhayai Nama:

SrimathE RaamAnujAya Nama:

 

Dear BhakthAs:

 

The Vratham has begun. The Gopis were worried

about completing it without any hindrance (vignam).

One of the knowledgable Gopi pointed out that the Vignams

will be banished , if the Vratham is performed with

Bhagavan Naama UccharaNam (recitation of the name of the Lord).

The Gopis therefore invoked the name of NaarAyanan ,

KshIrAbhdhi Naathan, Vaamanan , Thrivikraman ,

DhAmOdharan and concluded that all those names

are that of KrishNan , who is Aapath BhAndhavan

and anAtha Rakshakan. In this fifth paasuram ,

the Gopis invoke the name of DhAmOdharan and

reflect in the subsequent paasurams on the Maayams

(mysterious , wonderful acts) of KrishNan as celebrated

by Swamy NammazhwAr (PiRanthavARum VaLarnthavARum--

seyuthu pOna MaayankaLum).

 

The Meaning of the Fifth paasuram:Dr.V.K.S.N.Raghavan

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(All of our sins vanish like a blade of grass thrown

into fire , when we sing in praise of KrishNan and

worship Him ). Him--the mysterious Lord ; the young

courageous Lord born at north MathurA , the One who

sports in the pure waters of the great river , YamunA ;

the emerald-like shining Lamp that has risen from

the race of cowherds;and the Lord DaamOdharA (the One

bound by the rope around the waist)who has brought high

esteem to His mother YasOdhA (literally, who illumined

the mother's womb)--Him let us approach with sincerity

(purity--physical and mental); let us worship Him with

fresh and fragrant flowers;let us pay our obesiance

to Him;let us sing in praise of Him , by words of mouth;

let us think of Him in our mind;if we do so (approaching ,

worshipping ,obeying,singing and thinking of Him alone),

our sins of past , present and future will vanish like

straw put into fire.Therefore let us sing His glory.

 

The Inner Meanings of this paasuram

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Maayanai Of the One who is the Swami of

Moola Prakruthi as LeelA VibUthi

Naathan

 

mannu Of the Para VaasudEva MUrthi

 

Vada Mathurai Of Sri VaikunTanAthan from whose

Mainthanai sacred feet the nectar of bliss flows

 

Thooya Peru neer Of the One , who resides at

Yamunai ThuRaivanai the bank of VirajA river (in

Sri Vaikuntam )

 

ThAyai Kudal Of the One ,who explained

ViLakkam seytha the "nama: Bharga" section of

Gaayathri manthram , which is

equal in sacredness to one's own

Mother during His avathAram as

NaarAyaNA at BadrikAsramam to

perform upaEsam for Naran

 

DhAmOdharanai Of the One , who got Himself tied up

with a small rope by a cowherd woman

because of the Bhakthi of that devotee

 

ThUyOmAi Vanthu if we approach that One ( BhagavAn)

with purity of Vaak, Manas and KaraNams

 

ThUmalar thoovi and offer auspicious flowers (TuLasi)

dear to Him (aanUpura paryantham )

 

Thozhuthu and perform archanai with them

 

vAyinAl paadi and control our Indriyams so that Vaak,

ManathinAl mind and body will be fulfilled with

Chintthika respect to their saasthrEic functions

 

pOya pizhayum (then) all of our accumulated sins

 

puhu taruvAn (and) the ones (sins) acquired after

ninRanavum SaraNAgathi consciously

 

theeyinil thUsAhum all of them will be destroyed like

cotton thrown into the fire.

 

Special comments on Individual words of Paasuram

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(1)"MaayOnai": Our Lord is a MaayAvi. He hinted that much

in Githai: " sambhavaami aathma maayaya" .All the Maaya

ChEstithams from His avathAram at Vada Mathurai to growth

in Aayarpaadi, many leelais in Gokulam and BrundhAvanam ,

His serving as the charioteer for ArjunA, converting

day into night in the battle field of Kuru KshEthram ,

taking the disc in His hand inspite of His vow not to

use weapons in that war , are examples of the MaayA

of the MaayOn.Abhinava Desikan describes Maayai as

Moola Prakruthi and SankalpAthi Jn~Anam.As the Controller,

commander of this Maayai , through His sankalpa visEsham

blesses the DevAs and incarnates as PadhmanAbhan in

the milky ocean and later jumps out of the pillar as

Lord Narasimhan ,goes to the Yaaga saalai of Bali as

Vaamanan and transforms into Thiruvikraman and now

incarnates as KaNNan , the MaayOn or adhbhuthan .

 

Swamy NammAzhwAr celebrates this Maayam of the Lord ,

which He performs through His AchAryAs , who remove

the "Poy ninRa Jn~Anam " of ours and makes us qualified

to receive SadAchAra Jn~Anam through the wonderous act

of "Irumbai ponnAkkuthal" (SaraNAgathi) according to

Sri PBA Swamy.Our Lord stands on top of this AchArya

Paramparai and is therfore MaayAthi Maayan.

 

ANDAL appropriately addresses Him next

this MaayOn as " Mannu Vada Mathurai Mainthan".

Mannu stands for the place most desired and where

the Lord has blessed through His long resdence there.

That place is Vada Mathurai with Bhagavath Saaniddhyam.

Mainthan means kumAran of VasudEvar and Devaki .

 

(2)"Thooya peru neer Yamunai": YamunA is most sacred and

pure. Infact , it is more sacred than GodhAvari , which

failed to describe what it saw (SeethAbahranam by RaavaNan)

to Raama , when He asked whether it had anything to say as

to what had happened there. YamunA on the other hand cleaved

and let VasudEvar walk across its sandy bed , when he was

transporting baby KrishNan on His head during the dark

rainy night of JanmAshtami.Yamunai also had deha sambhandham

with the Lord through His Jala kreedais there with Gopis.

Our Lord came to be called Yamunai ThuRaivan or the Lord of

Yamunai for these reasons.

 

(3)"Aayar Kulatthinil thOnRum aNi viLakkai":Our Lord was born

in Raaja Kulam with the parents of King VasudEvA and queen

Devaki. He surfaced in the community of cowherds (AaypAdi).

Lord has mentioned to ArjunA that He has had many janmams.

ANDAL does not agree. She says therfore here : "ThOnRum"

instead of "PiRanthum" deliberately. "ThOnrum" means

"aavirbavitthAn" /appeared instead of being born.Next ,

ANDAL saluted Him as " ThOnRum aNi ViLakkai"

or the most beautiful , lustrous lamp that appeared

amidst the aayar kulam . Another AzhwAr (KulasEkarar)

has commented in a similar way about Lord Raamachandran's

appearance in Soorya Kulam as a beautiful , bright lamp

( VemkathirOn kulatthiRkku Ohr aNi ViLakkAi ).

 

(4)"ThAyai Kudal Vilakkam seytha DhAmOdharanai" :

KaNNan was caught by YasOdhA in the act of stealing

butter and she wanted to punish Him by tying Him up

with a rope to a mortar to keep Him stationary. YasOdhai

was His mother and a Bhakthai. Hence , the Lord out

of His Bhaktha paara-tanthryam permitted Himself to

be bound ( KaNNinuNN SiRutthAmpinAL KattuNNupatta

peru Maayan) .He is adiyavarkku yeLiyavan and therefore

got Himself tied up with a DhAmam (rope) around

His waist (udharam). This UdhAra Utthama Moorthy

carried the welt marks(Thazhumpu) from that happening

and came to be known as "DhAmOdharan". YasOdhA got

all credit for managing Her "wild" son .AzhwArs described

the glory of YasOdhA's role as His Mother this way :

 

" Ivanai peRra VayirudayAL"

 

"MaNi Vayiru VaaytthavaLE"

 

"Unnaik KaNDAr yenna nOnbhu nORRArkaLO"

 

This helplessness of the Lord in being tied up

by a human (mother) moved Swamy NammazhwAr so much

that He stayed in a state of trance for six months.

Such is His MaayA (MaayOn).Even today , One can see

the three welt marks on the waist of Lord RanganAtha

(Moolavar) bearing witness to this incident . ParAsara

Bhattar refers to these welt marks in periya PerumAL's

Udharam .It is generally accepted that the Moolavar

at Srirangam is KrishNan and the Uthsavar is Raaman .

 

(5)"ThUyOmAi Vanthu ": If we approach Him (DhAmOdharan)

with suddhi(purity) through observance of nithya karmAs,

abandoning proscribed acts (nishitthangaLai vittu),

avoiding BhaagavathApachArams and knowing that

SaraNAgathi done at His feet is only for attaining

His grace , then we will be cleansed of all dhOshams.

 

(6)"ThUmalar thoovi thozhuthu , VaayinAL paadi,

ManathinAl chinthikka": Suddha pushpAnjali as at

Thirumalai is Thoomalar Thoovuthal ; Among the flowers ,

Utthama pushpam is the one grown by one in one's

own garden(nandhavanam )for the Lord like periyAzhwAr

and ThoNDaradippodi); madhyama pushpam is one grown in

common ground; the adhama pushpam is one , which are

collected through yaachakam from others.TuLasi Pushpa

samarpanam and manthra Pushpa samarpaNam are very

dear to our Lord's heart.Hence ANDAL recommends them

here .After PushpAnjali, the naama sankIrthanam

(VaayinAL paadi) has to be conducted.Bhagavath guna

dhyAna Chinthanai (dhyAnam) follows next.AmbharIsha

chakravarthy's dhyAnam of KrishNan (Sa vai Mana:

KrishNa:) is the way to follow .

 

(7)" ManathinAl chinthikka, pOya Pizhayum , puhu

taruvAn ninRanavum theeyinil thUsAhum CHEPPU":

If we offer pushpAnjali with a suddha manas ,

sing the glory of His naamAs and meditate on Him ,

all of our accumulated sins as well as the ones

accrued after prapatthi will be burnt to ashes

like the bale of cotton thrown into a blazing fire.

 

(8) "Cheppu": The paasuram ends with the command,

"cheppu" (say).When we perform a rite (sandhyAvandhanam ,

Yaagam , AarAdhanam et al) ,there are deficencies

such as KriyA lobham , Dhravya LObham and Niyama

lObham . To overcome this deficencies , we do

prAyachittha hOmam. Even there , deficencies may

occur. To banish that too , we say " Sri KrishNAnu

smaraNam Param" as saathvika Thyaagam (KrishNArpanam).

That KrishNa dhyAnam removes all aparAdhams and blesses

one with auspiciousness. Therefore ANDAL ended

the fifth Paasuram(from the first set of Sextet )

dealing with the methods to perform nOnbhu with

the word "Cheppu" to remind Her friends to utter

the name of Lord KrishNA for sudhdi (KrishNAnu

Smaranam param ).

 

ANDAL ,Srimath Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

RaamAnuja Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SatakOpan