SrI Velukkudi Krishnan on godA-stuti

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SrI Velukkudi Krishnan svAmi's tele-upanyAsam on "tiruppAvai and SrI godA

stuti" OR "ANDAL and svAmi deSikan" - 1/15/01. The upanyAsam was delivered

on the day of the uttarAyaNa samkramaNa puNya kAlam.

 

SrI Velukkudi Krishnan svAmi described beautifully how the thoughts conveyed

to us by godA through her tiruppAvai to the Lord are echoed in svAmi

deSikan's praise of godA in SrI godA stuti. Because of the limitation of

time, he could only cover a handful of Sloka-s, but it was a delight in

itself to have this anubhavam in the limited time.

 

He started off with a brief introduction to the significance of the

tiruppAvai taniyan "nIlA tu'nga sthana giri taTI...." by SrI ParASara

BhaTTar. The simple meaning of the taniyan is "KaNNan is sleeping

blissfully with His head on nIlA devi's tiru mArbu. GodA wakes Him up from

His sleep to share with Him through the 30 pAsuram-s of tiruppAvai, what has

been stated in hundreds of vedAnta vAkya-s (declarations in the vedAnta-s) -

that we are all subservient to Him, that we belong to Him, that our sole

duty in life is to do kaimkaryam to Him, that the jIva is related to the

paramAtmA as Its ananyArha Sesha bhUtan. She bound Him (enslaved Him) by

her devotional outpouring through the 30 pASurams, and enjoyed Him as she

willed, and gave Him to us as well. This tiruppAvai is the remnant of the

outpouring from her mouth (ucchisTham) which is available for our

enjoyment".

 

The word "kodai" in tamizh means "sweet garland" - the garland that is fit

for Lord ra'nganAtha's majestic shoulders. GodA was found by periAzhvAr in

his flower garden, when bhUmi devi incarnated on this earth as ANDAL. Her

incarnation is summarized by the following:

 

a'nju kuDikku oru santatiyAi AzhvArgaL tam Seyalai vi'nji niRkum

tanmaiyaLAi pi'njAip pazhuttAL ANDAL

 

ANDAL who is a female, excelled the AzhvArs, all of whom were males and all

of whom were much older than her, through her devotional outpourings at such

a tender age, in the form of the Sa'ngat tamizh mAlai, the tiruppAvai. Many

great composers have composed works that sing the praise of ANDAL - godA

catuSloki, godA pariNayac campUh, etc. svAmi vedAnta deSikan has sung the

godA stuti describing the different ways in which He stands bound by godA's

words, and how her binding Him with her songs was really to make Him

available to all of us.

 

SvAmi deSikan starts off with a prayer to godA to bless him with the ability

to praise her through his stuti. Then he describes the relation between

periAzhvAr and her, her connection with namperumAL SrI ra'nganAtha, and the

close association we have with her (who is none other than bhUmi pirATTi).

He then describes the tiruk-kalyANam between godA and SrI ra'nganAtha, and

how her anugraham to us leads Lord ra'nganAtha to shower His blessings on

us. He sings the praise of godA, the incarnation of bhUmi pirATTi, through

the 29 Sloka-s of the SrI godA stuti.

 

Slokam 1: SrI vishNu citta kula nanadana kalpa vallIm...

 

SvAmi deSikan declares at the outset: "I, who do not have any other

place to go for my redemption, surrender to you, godA pirATTi. You are the

One who took birth to bring delight to the kulam of vishNu cittar

(periAzhvAr)".

 

periAzhvAr describes his own kulam thus: "endai tandai tandai tandai tam

mUttappan Ezh paDi kAl toDa'ngi, vandu vazhi vazhi AL ceyginRom" - such is

the greatness of this kulam. This is not the only birth in which kaimkaryam

is being performed to Him by this kulam; for several generations before,

this kulam has been performing uninterrupted kaimkaryam to emperumAn.

"nAnum unakkup pazha aDiyEn" - I am an old servant to you, performing

kaimkaryam to you is nothing new for our kulam. This kulam is distinguished

by its bhagavad kaimkaryam and bhAgavata vaibhavam - it is abhimAna

tu'nganAna kulam.

GodA has appeared in this kulam to bring delight to this kulam - SrI vishNu

citta kula nanadana kalpa valli. If you wonder how they are getting special

"delight" only now, after serving Him for several generations, it is because

this kulam has now been blessed by bhUmi pirATTi herself taking birth in

this kulam.

 

Kula nandana kalpa valli - godA is the kalpaka creeper found in the

nandavanam by periAzhvAr, and she brings delight to this kulam.

 

Herein is the first anubhavam of the parallel in tiruppAvai, where ANDAL

describes herself as "paTTar pirAn kOdai". Keeping in mind that the term

"kOdai" means "sweet garland", ANDAL is describing herself in tiruppAvai as

"the sweet garland that was strung by periAzhvAr". This "garland" called

kOdai, who was herself strung by periAzhvAr, has strung the garland called

tiruppAvai (Sa'ngat tamizh mAlai muppadu). This is the delight that is

being called "kula nandana kalpavalli" by svAmi deSikan. Godai is thus the

mAlai kaTTina mAlai - the "garland" who strung the garland called

tiruppAvai; not only that, she is the one who is "mAlaik kaTTina mAlai" -

the one who bound tirumAl Himself with her devotion. It is normal for the

mAlAkArar to string a garland, but here we have the "mAlai" stringing the

"mAlai".

 

SrI V.K. nicely related this wonder of "The mAlai called kOdai stringing the

mAlai called tiruppAvai", to the analogy that when we meditate on kaNNan

stealing the butter, this "tiruTTu" of bhagavAn steals our sins. Thus the

"tiruTTu" of bhagavAn performs the "tiruTTu" of our sins, similar to the

"mAlai" called kOdai stringing the "mAlai" called tiruppAvai. The sheer

meditation of bhavAn's leelA's takes away our sins - if we meditate on His

stealth, our sins are stolen away by Him; if we meditate on His births in

this world, our janma's are eliminated.

 

The second line of the first Slokam of godA stuti "SrI ra'ngarAja

haricandana yoga dRSyAm" means "She who is beautified by her association

with the hari candana tree called SrI ra'nganAtha". "kOl tEDi Odum

kozhundu, adE pOnRadE mAl tEDi Odum manam". This SrI vishNu citta kula

nandana kalpavalli obviously will not stand without the support of her

kalpaka vRksham, who is none other than Lord ra'nganAtha. SrI BhaTTar

describes Lord ra'nganAtha through the following words: "divya astra

pushpita caturbhujam abhyudAram" - bhagavAn is the kalpaka vRksham with the

four arms which are the branches of this Tree; the Ayudha-s on these arms

are the flowers from this Tree, and the creeper called ANDAL is surrounding

this Tree. ANDAL's words in tiruppAvai - "kOdai Sonna Sa'ngat tamizh mAlai"

for "Se'nkaN tirumugattuc celvat tirumAl", are reflected in svAmi deSikan's

words "SrI ra'ngarAja haricandana yoga dRSyAm".

 

"sAkshAt kshamAm karuNayA kamalAvima anyAm":

 

"sAkshAt kshamAm" is "porumaiyil bhUmiyaip pOlE" - sAkshAt bhUmi pirATTi

herself took birth in this bhUlokam as ANDAL, purely for our sake, the pure

personification of patience. "inrO tiruvADip pUram - emakkAgavanRO inRu

ANDAL avatarittAL; punnAga vAzhvAna vaikuntha vAn bhogam tannai igazhndu

AzhvAr tirumagaLArAi" (upadESa ratna mAlai). She forsake the nitya Anandam

in SrIvaikunTham for our sake.

 

vaikunThe tu pare loke SriyA sArddham jagatpatih |

Aste vishNuracintyAtmA bhaktair bhAgavatais saha ||

 

VaDivazavillA malar magaL maRRai nila magaL piDikkum mennaDi

VaDivArum mAmalarAL valamarugum maRRu...

 

KaruNayA kamalAmivAnyAm: Comparable to SrI devi nAcciyAr in karuNA. This

sounds as if bhUdevi is only comparable to SrIdevi in this aspect, and SrI

devi is superior. SrI Krishnan svAmi gave a beautiful anubhavam of how

bhUdevi in some ways excels SrIdevi. When SrIdevi was imprisoned by rAvaNa

in aSoka vanam, she chose a monkey that happened to just be around, and who

had not known rAma for all that much time, to get news of rAma (tORRiRRu oru

kura'ngaik kETTAL- hanumAn). She asks hanumAn: kIdRSam tasya samsthAnam

rUpam rAmasya kIdRSam ... (Please describe to me how rAma and lakshmaNa's

appearance is, describe their handsomeness to me ....). After all, hanumAn

had just barely met rAma for a short period at that time.

 

In contrast, when ANDAL wanted to enquire about her emperumAn, she went

straight to SA'nkham, who never parts from perumAL, and knows Him intimately

because he constantly lives with Him, either resting in His hand, or

drinking His adharAmRtam. Thus, ANDAL excelled SrI devi in this aspect.

 

The greatness of Sa'nkham over cakram is revealed also by its being

mentioned first in order by both ANDAL and by nammAzhvAr.

 

SankoDu Sakkaram Endum taDak kaiyyan - ANDAL

VeLLaic curi Sa'ngoDu Azhi Endi tAmaraik kaNNan .... nammAzhvAr

 

Cakram has to go out once in a while, to destroy bhagavAn' enemies. So

cakkattAzhvAn has to leave bhagavAn once in a while. Sankham does not have

to go anywhere, no need to leave Him any time. So Sankham has this bhAgyam

over cakkaram. It is this Sankham that ANDAL chose to ask about bhagavAn's

adharAmRtam (SankaraiyA! un Selvam SAla azhagiyadu. karuppUram nARumO?

kamalap pU nARumO? tirup pavaLac cevvAitAn tittittirukkumO?)

 

ananya SaraNah - Aki'ncanyam, ananya gatitvam are both reflected in the

choice of the words "ananya SaraNah". The first refers to "kaimmudal

illAmai", and the second refers "pOkkiDam illAmai" - no means of any kind at

our disposal to get anywhere, and no place to go also. emperumAnAr in gadya

trayam says exactly the same thing "ananya SaraNah SaraNam aham prapadye".

Kulasekhara AzhvAr says the same thing "taru tuyaram taDAyEl nin SaraN allAl

SaraN illai .... ari SinattAl InRa tAi agaRRiDinum maRRu avaL tan aruL

ninaindE aZhum kuzhavi adu pOl irundEnE". ananya gatittvam is best

illustrated by the behavior of the child who will unfailingly go back to its

mother no matter how angry she is with the child. This "ananya SaraNam"

that svAmi deSikan conveys in his first Slokam is conveyed by ANDAL in her

words "aRivu onRum ilAda Ayk kulam". This kulam does not have knowledge of

karma yoga, j~nAna yoga, or bhakti yoga - the Aki'ncanyam is expressed

clearly.

 

In the first pASuram, svAmi deSikan talks about ANDAL being the periAzhvAr

peRReDutta peN, uyar ara'ngarkke kaNNI ugandu aLittAL, sAkshAt kshamA, and

karuNA kamalAmivAnyAm, and surrenders to her, declaring that he has no means

at his disposal, and no place to go.

 

Slokam 3:

 

In the Slokam starting with "tvat preyasah", svAmi deSikan prays to godA

that she should bless him with the ability to compose this stuti in praise

of her so that it pleases kaNNan's ears the same way the melodious sound of

her nUpurams (anklets) pleases Him - just like "inbat tEn vandu pAyudu

kAdinilE". In order to enable svAmi deSikan to achieve this, ANDAL should

give him the j~nAnam to sing her praise such that it pleases Him, the vak

cAturya, and the sweetness associates with singing her praise. In other

words, the stotram should be clear to those who hear it, should be full of

meaning that reflects ANDAL's prabhAvam, and should be melodious to the ear

(comparable to the melody of the sound of the nUpurams of ANDAL as heard by

kaNNan). One is reminded of nammAzhvAr describing his singing tiruvAimozhi

- bhagavAn first said "uyarvaRa uyar nalam", and nammAzhvAr repeated

"uyarvaRa uyar nalam", and next bhagavAn said "uDaiyavan yavan avan", and

nammAzhvAr repeated "uDaiyavan yavan avan", This is how he got the whole

1102 pASurams revealed to him, by His Grace and nothing else. He entered

nammAzhvAr's tongue, and sang Himself about Himself. Similarly SrI BhaTTar

prays to ra'nganAyaki tAyAr at the beginning of SrI guNa ratna kOSam,

"sUktim samagrayatu nah", not like nammAzhvAr where bhagavAn instructs Him

and then he repeats it, but SrI bhaTTar asks tAyAr: You just sing your

praise and complete it, and then let me put my name to it. This is what

sbvAmi deSikan is emulating, by asking godA to give him all the aspects

needed for godA stuti to be worthy of her praise, and then let him declare

at the end that he composed it.

 

ANDAL gives this same idea in three pASurams, in three short phrases:

"pOdarik kaNNinAy (j~nAnam)" , "nAvuDaiyAy - (vAc cAturyam)", and "iLam

kiLiyE - (melody) in pASurams 13, 14, and 15 of tiruppAvai.

 

(Even though the literal sense in which ANDAL uses the term "nAvuDaiyAy" in

the pASUram is to refer to someone who is "nANAdAi, e'ngaLai munnam

ezhupuvAn vAi pESum na'ngAi" - someone who is lethargic, not observing her

anushTHAnams, promising that she will wake up the others first and then

sleeping, etc., the sense in which SrI Krishnan svAmi gave us the anubhavam

in the current context is one of reference to "vAk cAturyam", or the skill

to represent information so that it appeals to everyone who is addressed).

 

J~nAnam, which is indicated by "pOdarik kaNNinAy", is essential to an

AcAryan in order that he sees the things clearly for his Atma ujjIvanam.

vAc cAturyam is essential for an AcArya in order that he can help us in our

ujjIvanam. SrI Krishnan svAmi enhanced the anubhavam of the reference to

"iLam kiLi" by ANDAL, instead of to "iLam kuyil". We all know that kuyil is

known for its melodious voice, and normally no one refers to kiLi for its

sweet voice. If anything, the parrot has a hoarse voice. But the parrot is

known for obediently repeating whatever it hears, and does not go on its own

and echo its own thoughts. Our sampradAyam is that we obey whatever our

AcArya-s teach us, and not just say whatever occurs in our heads. "munnOr

mozhinda muRai tappAmal kETTu, pinOrndu tAm adanaip pESAdE, tam ne'njil

tOnrinadE Solli, idu Suddha upadESavaravARRadenpar mUrKKarAvAr" - it is

considered mUrkhatvam (stupidity, foolishness) to go on our own and blabber

our thoughts, instead of following our elders' words and echoing this to

others. Parrot, and not kuyil, is known for its faithfully repeating what

it hears, and this is why ANDAL chose the parrot for sweetness! This is

what ANDAL herself does, namely, she faithfully follows the path shown to

her by periAzhvAr. The subsequent AcArya-s follow the path of ANDAL - this

is our sampradAyam.

 

Whenever we think of vAk cAturyam, we have to be reminded of hanumAn. sItA

devi who was imprisoned in lankA is pictured as the jIvAtmA who is

imprisoned in this body by svAmi deSikan in one of his works. An AcAryan is

required in order to communicate bhagavad vishayam to this jIvAtmA. HanumAn

is pictured as the AcArya in the case of sItA pirATTI imprisoned in SrI

lankA, since he gives the message of and on rAma to sItA while she is

imprisoned in aSoka vanam. Note that hanumAn excels in j~nAnam, vAk

cAturyam, and sweetness in conveying information - all of which are

lakshaNa-s required in an AcAryan. So svAmi deSikan is praying to ANDAL to

bless him with all the gifts that hanumAn possessed, through sItA pirATTi's

blessings to possess the same.

 

The beauty about ANDAL is that she can be considered as part of the AzhvAr

goshTi - the goshTi which worships bhagavAn and pirATTi, or she can be

considered as part of the group worshipped by the AzhvArs since she is His

pirATTi - she is deva deva divya mahishi. ANDAL is the youngest of all the

AzhvArs, but all the AzhvArs and AcArya-s including her own father,

periAzhvAr, worship her because of this position of hers. SrI Krishnan

svAmi vividly described his recent anubhavam in SrI pArthasArathi temple in

tiruvallikkENi, where peyAzhvAr came to ANDAL sannidhi from Mylapore, his

birth place, and did ma'ngaLASAsanam to ANDAL, who is very much his junior

by age, but who is pirATTi by her position.

 

VAlmIki beautifully describes the greatness of hanumAn through the words of

Lord rAma to lakshmaNa. After a few words uttered by hanumAn, rAma clearly

recognizes hanumAn's pANDityam, and so asks lakshmaNa to be careful and be

aware of the greatness of hanumAn prior to initiating conversation with him.

VAlmIki describes rAma as "vAgmI SrImAn" - he who excels in vAk cAturyam,

and rAma is now praising hanumAn as excelling in vAk cAturyam. Such is

the greatness of hanumAn, and such is the requirement of j~nAnam and vAk

cAturyam in an AcAryan.

 

Slokam 5:

 

asmAdRSAm apakRtau cira dIkshitAnAm.....

 

The simple meaning of this pASuram is:

 

"We the jIvAtmA-s have taken a vow: that we will do only what we have been

forbidden to do. In spite of this, you (godA) make sure that bhagavAn

bestows His Mercy on us without delay. You do this by binding Him with two

things: 1. The garland that you have worn first and then offered to Him;

and 2. The pA mAlai of your pASurams which have the sweetness of the melody

that comes out when the strings of a vEENA are plucked. Through these two

garlands, you have made sure that He cannot disobey your wishes, and should

grace us with His Mercy no matter what mistakes we do".

 

PerumAl has the vratam that He will bestow whatever His devotee wishes, when

the devotee asks for it, no matter what His sins are. We have the

counter-vRatam that we will insist on accumulating all the sins that we

possibly can commit, no matter how much He tells us what we should do and

should not do. But because of ANDAL's power over Him through her two

garlands, He is bound and constrained to do what ANDAL wants Him to do,

namely shower His Mercy on us in spite of our infinite sins.

 

SrI Krishnan svAmi beautifully elaborated on the unique aspect in which

ANDAL excels the AzhvArs, in her approach to perumAL. The AzhvArs plead

with Him for His Mercy, say they are powerless to do anything unless He

takes Mercy on them, cry for His favor, etc. Not so with ANDAL. ANDAL

just dictates to Him, tells Him to do whatever she wants. This is what

svAmi deSikan reflects in His words "niyamitah tava mauli dAmnA, ...

nigumbhaih". Here niyamitah means "You have bound Him to do whatever you

tell Him to do". She has the courage, training, and backing of the ten

AzhvArs who are her seniors, and who are her fathers. She said "AvA enRu

ArAindu aruL", "SiRRam Siru kAlE vandu unai SevittOm, un poRRAmarai aDiyE

pORRum poruL kELAi", "yAm vanda kAriyam ArAindu aruL", "un tannODu uRROme

AvOm, unakkE nAm AtceyvOm", "nI kuRREval e'ngaLaik koLLAmal pOgAdu", etc. -

all dictates from her, and not words of a 5-year old child. It is always

the tone of telling Him what He should do. She will insist on doing what

she wants to do for our sake (I am here to offer kaimkaryam to You; You just

accept it). There is no question of her pleading with Him for anything, and

she does not need to do that. She came from SrIvaikunTham to this world for

our sake - emakkAgavanRO I'ngu ANDAL avadarittAL. One anubhavam of svAmi

deSikan's words in this Slokam - tan niScitam niyamitah tava - What ANDAL

has decided, He is bound to follow those decisions.

 

Slokam 7:

 

SvAmi deSikan compares sage vAlmIki's work with ANDAL's sUkti's in this

Slokam, and shows how godA's prabhandham is superior in many ways to sage

vAlmIki's work. The word "vAlmIki" means "One who originated from valmIkam

in the bhUmi - puRRu in tamizh. Sage vAlmIki is known as kavi sArva bhUman

- kavi cakravarti, and he was after all one who originated from bhUmi's

"ears". If his work earned him the title of "kavi cakravarti", then svAmi

deSikan points out that it is no wonder that the prabandham's flowing from

the lotus-like mouth of bhUmi herself, born as godA, are sweet as nectar

itself.

 

Another anubhavam is that vAlmIki's rAmAyaNa started off because of a Sokam

- sorrowful incident. Some hunter killed one of the two kraunca birds which

were together, and vAlmIki cursed the hunter. Later he felt sorry for

having cursed the hunter, and this is how the composition starts. So the

Sokam became the Slokam - Sokam Slokatvam Agatah. The work of vAlmIki which

was triggered by a sorrowful incident, became so well-known and recognized

as a great kAvyam. It is no wonder that ANDAL's sUkti which is a result

of the Anandam of kRshNa anubhavam, is full of sweetness like nectar.

rAmAyaNa of vAlmIki is an ithihAsa, and so is a upa-brahmaNam, or further

elaboration, of veda-s. If this is so great, then ANDAL's tiruppAvai which

is the seed for all veda-s themselves - "vedam annaitukkum vittAgum kOdai

tamizh aiyaindum aindu", is far superior by comparison. She just made the

veda itself into tamizh through the 30 pASuram-s, and it is no wonder (kim

adbhutam) that her work is so great.

 

One more anubhavam that SrI Krishnan svAmi brought out was that while both

SrImad rAmAyaNa and tiruppAvai are SaraNAgati Sastra-s, in the former we see

several SaraNAgati-s, some of them giving the result right away and others

that were not effective (e.g., bharatan's SaraNAgati, even Lord rAma's

SaraNAghati to samudra rAjan etc., which did not materialize right away).

Thus vAlmIki refers to several SaraNAgati-s, some effective and some not so

effective at the time SaraNAgati is done, and one may get confused and

unsure at the end of it all about the effect of SaraNAgati. Godai, who is

our Mother, does not confuse us on SaraNAgati this way; she refers to one

SaraNAgati, and that one SaraNAgati bore its fruit without fail - a'ngu ap

parai koNDa ARRai. Thus, she leaves us in no doubt about the certainty of

fruition of SaraNAgati. Thus, in many ways, the SreshTatvam of tiruppAvai

was illustrated by SrI Krishnan svAmi. Even though vAlmIki's work is in

samskRtam, and even though it consists of a relatively large number of

Sloka-s (24,000), ANDAL's work is superior even though it is in tamizh, and

even though it consists of only 30 pASuram-s.

 

Slokam 11:

 

This Slokam is a brilliant exposition of svAmi deSikan's poetic skills.

AzhvAr-s describe the reason for tiru ar'ngan facing southwards in various

pASuram-s. toNDaraDip poDi AzhvAr gave the reason as "ten tiSai ila'ngai

nOkki" - He is looking at SrI lankA. PeriAzhvAr said " mannuDaiya

vibhIdarkkAi malark-kaN vaitta ennuDaiya tiru ara'ngar" - He is looking at

vibhIshaNan, His friend, who is in the southern direction. SvAmi deSikan

gives the real reason - it is because godA is in SrI villiputtUr, which is

in the southern direction relative to tiru ara'ngam, that He is facing in

that direction so that He can keep looking at her all the time -

nidrALunA'pi niyatam nihitAh kaTAkshAh.

 

ANDAL conveys the same thoughts to kaNNan, that "He is looking at her and

all the gopi-s without listening to what she has to say to Him". He is

looking at them in wonder at the devotion of all the gopi-s, and getting so

deeply involved with their beauty and not paying attention to her words.

ANDAL is prodding Him to make Him pay attention to her words instead:

"mElaiyAr SeyvanagaL vENDuvana kETTiyEl", "SiRRam SiRu kAlE vandu unnait

cEvittu un poRRAmarai aDiyE pORRum poruL kELAi", etc. So ANDAL is telling

Him not to keep looking at her, but instead, start listening to what she has

to say, which is the same as the SrI sUkti of svAmi deSikan in this Slokam.

 

SrI Krishnan svAmi nicely explained the significance behind the outward

statement that kaNNan is enjoying the beauty of the gopi-s. The real

meaning behind this is that He is enjoying the intensity of their j~nAna,

bhakti, and vairAgyam. A small "iDai" (waist) for women is indicative of

their vairAgyam, per sAmudrikA lakshaNam. Looking at the eyes of their

devotees indicates to Lord Krishnan the intensity of their j~nAnam. Just as

their mArbu is for the one who is wedded to the gopi, their devotion is

purely for Him. Looking at their heart shows Him the intensity of their

devotion. So when He is looking at their beauty and enjoying it, He is

enjoying the intensity of their j~nAna, vairAgyam, and bhakti.

 

A parallel anubhavam is from tiruma'ngai AzhvAr on SrI SourirAjap perumAL of

tiru nAgai - ennaiyum nOkki en algulum nOkki EndiLa'm kongaiyum nOkkuginRAr;

annai en nOkkum enRu a'njuginREn. The anubhavam is again related to the

enjoyment of j~nAnam, vairAgyam, and bhakti of tiruma'ngai AzhvAr by

perumAL.

 

Slokam 12:

 

In this Slokam, svAmi deSikan praises godA by pointing out that whatever

greatness the godAvari river possesses, is because it assumed the name of

godA as part of its name. The purANa-s say that even rivers like ga'ngA

become purified by their association with godAvari. Such is the fame of

godAvari river, all because of its bearing the name of godA. In fact, if

anything, godAvari had incurred the great sin of indirectly helping rAvaNa,

by keeping silent when rAma asked godAvari about the whereabouts of sItA who

had been abducted by rAvaNa. In spite of sItA specifically instructing

godAvari to inform rAma and lakshmaNa that rAvaNa has abducted her, godAvari

kept quiet because of the fear of rAvaNa. All that sin was washed away, and

godAvari became famous, after the birth of godA, because of the association

of the name of godA with godAvari's name.

 

While ga'ngA purifies itself by its association with godAvari, godAvari gets

its fame only because of its association with the name of godA.

 

Recall godA's words: "tUya peru nIr yamunait turaivanai". The declaration

that yamunA is "pure", suggests that something else (godAvari) is not pure,

because it lost the opportunity to be of bhagavad kaimkaryam. It did this

even though it was far away from SrI lankA, and even though sItA pirATTi had

explicitly made a request to godAvari that it should inform rAma of the

abduction when He asks her. yamunA got its greatness by performing the

kRshNa kaimkaryam as soon as He was born, without being afraid of kamsan in

whose backyard it was flowing. Even after all that, yamunA get its

greatness because kRshNa had taken several dips in this river personally,

and so yamunA's greatness comes more because of the constant bodily

association of kRshNa with yamunA. However, the greatness of godA is such

that godAvari get its greatness and overcomes her great sin of having

missed the bhagad kaimkaryam just by the mere association of godA's name.

Such is the mahimA of godA. The only kaimkaryam that godAvari did was to

assume the name of godA, and this resulted in such greatness for godAvari.

 

Slokam 13:

 

In this Slokam, svAmi deSikan describes the intense love and devotion that

godA has for emperumAn through the words of her friends who make fun of her

for having chosen an old man as her bridegroom, One who does not even have a

good mode of travel other than a bird, no marriage procession other than a

trip on the bird in the air, no bed to sleep except a venomous snake, etc.

What is really being pointed out is that godA rightly chose the bridegroom

that in every way was the Greatest: One who is never born ("old"), One who

travels on garuDan and rescues the devotees when they cry for His help, One

who has as His vAhanam the great garuDa who is none other than veda svarUpi,

and One who has for His bed the AdiSeshan whose greatness cannot be

described in words.

 

That ANDAL longed for these same things and got them from kaNNan, is also

indicated by ANDAL herself: pAlanna vaNNattu un pA'caSanniyamE pOlvana

Sa'nkangaL (pA'ncajanyam), pOip pADu uDaiyanavE Salap perum paraiyE,

pallANDu iSaippArE (periAzhvAr), kOla viLakkE (nappinnai), koDiyE

(garuDaZhvAn), vitAname (AdiSeshan), Alin ilaiyAi, aruL. Krishnan gave her

the garudAzhvAr for koDi, and anantAzhvAn for vitAnam.

 

In fact, even the idea of using parihAsam to illustrate the deep attachment

of ANDAL to emperumAn is taken from tiruppAvai itself. One vyAkhyAnam that

AcArya-s give for "undu mada kaliRRan" is that ANDAL is inviting nappinnai

to join forces with her so that they can make fun of Him together. So svAmi

deSikan's anubhavam in this Slokam has its parallel in tiruppAvai.

 

Slokam 21:

 

In this Slokam, svAmi deSikan describes the mAlai mARRam of ANDAL and

ara'ngan. When the garland of godai is offered to ara'ngan, one feels that

ANDAL is the superior of the two; when the garland of ar'ngan is given to

ANDAL, it gives the feeling that ara'ngan is superior to ANDAL; and when

both exchange their garlands with each other simultaneously, the sAmyatvam

is indicated. This is the beautiful anubhavam of svAmi deSikan of the

tirukkalyANam of ANDAL and ara'ngan, and the dispute that some people have -

about who is superior, or they are both equal!

 

In tiruppAvai, we can see instances where He has the upper hand over ANDAL,

other instances where ANDAL dictates to Him and thus has the upper hand, and

there is also reference to their sAmyatvam. ANDAL is asking for all kinds

of paRai from Him, suggesting that He is superior One: yAm perum sammAnam,

SUDagamE tOL vaLaiyE, tODE, Sevip pUvE, pADAgamE enru anaiya pal kalanum yAm

aNivOm, Adai uDuppOm, adan pinnE pAl SORu mUDa nei peidu muzha'nkai vazhi

vAra etc.

In mAlE maNi vaNNA pASuram, it looks like kaNNan is the superior one. For

25 pASuram-s, the gopi's went through lot of effort to get to Him. He opens

the door, and is all in tears at the very thought of the devotion of all

these gopi-s. Such is the ASrita vyAmoham of perumAL. All the troubles

that gopi-s went through becomes nothing compared to this great compassion

that kaNNan had for them. He is so great that ANDAL addresses Him "mAlE!

MaNi vaNNA!". He is the one who is going to give the paRai, and so His

vaibhavam seems to be greater than that of ANDAL.

 

Then when we go to "nI kuRREval e'ngaLaik koLLAmal pOgAdu", it is ANDAL who

is going to give Him something, and so she has the upper hand, and He is in

the receiving end. But when we come to "Se'm kaN tirumugattuc celvat

tirumAl", the word tirumAl shows the sAmyatvam between tiru and mAl.

 

Thus, SrI Krishnan svAmi brought us the anubhavam of the parallel between

tiruppAvai and godA stuti in enjoying the association between pirATTi and

bhagavAn in terms of "nyUna, adhikatva, samatA vishayaih vivAdaih" - the

"dispute" of whether, between the two of them, pirATTi is lower, higher, or

equal to Him.

 

Slokam 24 and 25:

 

SvAmi deSikan describes how SrIdevi on the one side and bhUdevi on the other

side of bhagavAn keep telling Him that He should forgive all our sins and

show His Mercy on us, even though our hands are wet with sins always. In

fact, when SrIdevi keeps on constantly advocating Mercy to great sinners

like us, once in a while bhagavAn turns His face in disagreement to the

other side, only to find that bhU devi is ready on the other side, echoing

the same message that SrIdevi is delivering. At least SrI devi tries to

talk to Him to convince Him. But bhU devi does not even waste words on

Him; instead, she uses her skills in bhoga rasam and by merely constricting

her eyebrows and showing him what she wants Him to do, she achieves her

objective of helping us.

 

In tiruppAvai, ANDAL says "mait taDam kaNNinAi nI un maNALanai ettanai

pOdum tuyil ezhavottAi kAN, ettaniyElum pirivARRagillAyAl tattuvam anRu,

tagavu anRu" - "nappinai pirAtti! You are not letting kaNNan open His eyes

and bless us; with the beauty of your eyes, you are keeping Him bound to

you, and keeping Him from opening His eyes and blessing us. This does not

behove you. Let Him bless us, and do not keep Him away from us with the

beauty of your eyes". This is about nIlA devi that ANDAL refers to the

power of the eyes of nappinnai in binding Him. SvAmi deSikan just turns

this around, and describes the power of ANDAL's eyes in making Him bestow

His Grace on us without fail!

 

Slokam 26:

 

SvAmi deSikan beautifully describes the sUkti-s of ANDAL as the reservoir of

amRtam, resulting from the great shower from the kALa megham in the form of

tiru ara'ngan in association with peria pirATTi who is like the minnal koDi.

Those devotees who take their deep dive into this reservoir of amRtam are

able to quench their tApa trayam and are absolved of all sins.

 

The parallel in tiruppAvai is when ANDAL says: mAyanai dAmodarania ceppu;

pOya pizhaiyum pugutaruvAn ninRanavum tIyinil tUSAgum - If you say His nAma,

all the sins - past, present, and future, will be wiped out like cotton in

the presence of fire. Here ANDAL speaks the greatness of perumAL. SvAmi

deSikan follows ANDAL's example here, and attributes the same greatness to

ANDAL's sUkti-s. Similarly SrI maNavALa mAmunigaL praises the power of

rAmAnuja sambandham in yatirAja vimSati the same way - that his tiruvaDi

sambandham will remove kAmAdi dosha haram Atma padASritAnAm rAmAnujam

yatipatim praNamAmi mUrdhnA.

 

Slokam 29 - phala Sruti:

 

SvAmi deSikan concludes the stotram by pointing out that those who chant the

godA stuti with devotion will be blessed with nitya kaimkaryam to tiru

ara'ngan and periya pirATTi. SrI Krishnan svAmi followed svAmi deSikan's

example and concluded the upanyAsam by blessing us all with "Senkan

tirumugattu Selvat tirumAlAl e'ngum tiru aruL peRRu inburuvar".

 

I conclude the write-up by prostrating to SrI Krishnan svAmi for immersing

us in this shower of amRtam of godA pirATTi' sUkti-s, svAmi deSikan's

devotional outpouring on godA pirATTi, , our pUrvAcArya's anubhavam-s of

both of these, and above all, for his AcArya dayA of sharing his wonderful

divine anubhavam of all the above with all of us.

 

In conclusion, I would like to make one appeal on behalf of the organizers

of such great upanyAsam-s. They will achieve their real purpose only if

there are enough devotees who benefit by such events. They can continue

these great events in the future only if we support them in their effort. I

get the impression from the different organizers that there is room for

improvement in the participation in many upanyAsam-s. After having been a

listener to most of the upanyAsam-s that have been arranged by most of the

different organizers, I can only make the plea that those who do not take

advantage of these great opportunities are missing something that is too

much to miss. I hope this write-up gives you a glimpse of what you have

missed, if you are one of the readers who missed SrI Krishnan svAmi's

upanyAsam. So please support the young and energetic organizers who are

taking it upon their shoulders to learn our sampradAyam and making it

available to us.

 

-dAsan