Ramani - tiruppAvai - pASuram 5.

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tiruppAvai - pASuram 5.

 

Transliteration

 

mAyanai mannu vata mathurai mainthanai

thUyap peru nIr yamunaith thuRaivanai

Ayar kulaththinil thOnRum ani viLakkai

thAyaik kutal viLakkam ceytha thAmOthiranai

thUyOmay vanthu nAm thUmalar thUvith thozuthu

vAyinal pAti manaththinal cinthikkap

pOya pizaiyum pukutharuvAn ninRanavum

thIyinil thUsAkum ceppOlOr empAvay.

 

Translation

 

When in all piety we shower pure flowers and pray,

Sing in praise and mediate in heart,

The Inscrutable, the Lord of the Yamuna of waters pure and deep.

The auspicious lamp of the herdsmen clan,

Damothiran who fulfilled the mission of his motherís womb,

The sins of the past as well those imminent

Will be burnt like cotton in fire.

Let us sing the names of God.

 

The first song the Thiruppavai referred to Narayana, the

transcendent reality. The second song referred to His condescending

manifestation on the milky ocean. The third song referred to the deed

of

manifestation in the form of Vamana. The fourth song was an appeal for

the bliss of God’s grace to be showered on the devotees. The fifth song

speaks about impediments in realising God.

 

In Vaishnava metaphysics, five kinds of impediments are named.

They impede communion with God. They are svarupa virothi, paratva

virothi, upaya virothi, purusartha virothi and praptha virothi.

 

The thought that this body is the soul and the thought that one is

independent of god make up the svarupa virothi.

Considering gods and devas as equal to Narayana is paratva virothi.

Considering means other than the Supreme to be better, to

understand one ís surrender of one ís self and soul to God and taking

good deeds done by one as means of salvation are impediments of means,

upaya virothi.

Considering the worldly phenomena as the ideals of life is

purusartha virothi.

Offending in matters pertaining to God or devotees are

impediments of duty, praptha virothi. It is the last of these that is

taken

to be sin in the Hindu context. The Christian equivalent may be taken

to

be blasphemy which in effect is perverting the very purpose of having

been created by God.

 

The fifth song expresses the conviction that all such sins of the

past will become nothing. All such sins that one is likely to commit

will

also become nothing. All that is required thus to negate acts of

indirection

is to sing in praise of the names of God. And to sing in praise of the

names of God has certain prerequisites which are mentioned in the song.

The burden of the whole song is purity. Different phrases are used

to mean purity. Tuyap perunir yamunai means the yamuna of pure waters.

Tuyom means we the pure. Tumalar means pure flower. The essence of

purity reiterated in the song is purity achieved by acts of showering

flowers at the feet of God, making obeisance to God, singing in praise

of

God and meditating the names of God. Thus do we get a series of the

names in which we can pray to Him, sing in praise of Him and meditate.

 

Mayan is the first name. Literally it may mean the deceitful. But the

connotation of deceit will not suit the context. God is not deceitful.

God

is inscrutable. One can never understand the ultimate purpose of God’s

deeds. Therefore he is mayan, the God of inscrutable deeds.

Vata maturai mainthan refers to various associations of God in

his different manifestations in Madurai. As Vamana He had been there.

The association of Madurai with the Krishna Avatar is well known.

Maintan means the son. But the word has more meaning added to it. It

means the son of accomplishments. Krishna had freed his parents from

the prison as soon as he was born. Thereafter he had accomplished many

a deed in Madurai ñ he had liquidated Kalinga, the snake king; killed

Kanja, the asura; killed Putanai, the devil; the list is fairly long.

So vata

maturai mainthan means Madurai’s son of accomplishments.

God is called the auspicious lamp of the herdsmen clan.

The womb of any woman completes its mission only when she

begets a child. When the child thus begotten is the best of all, the

womb

successfully completes the mission. The very greatness of the womb is

to be realised in the greatness of the offspring. That way, the birth

of

Krishna had gloriously completed the mission of his mother’s womb.

Damothira is a name given to Krishna. There is an interesting

story behind it. Krishna is supposed to have been very mischievous as a

child. So to contain him, Yesodha has fastened him on to a mortar with

a rope tied around his waist. The rope left a scar round his waist as

he

had strained the rope to free himself. Uthiram means stomach, here the

waist. Damothira means the scarred-waisted.

 

The assurance that maintaining purity, offering flowers in prayer,

singing in praise of God and meditating the names of God at heart will

dispel the sins of the past and those probable in the future is a great

assurance indeed. In effect, salvation is inevitable to anyone who can

get rid of the impediments in the path of realisation of God.

One of the impediments, namely prapta virothi, can be easily

dispensed with through the acts mentioned in the song. Praptam is to be

explained further. The virtues and sins of the previous births decide

the

status and nature of life in the present birth. Ordained as it is based

on

the virtues and sins of the past, man is inevitably to add on to karma

which lead to future births. Insofar as the mission of life is to

transcend

such binding of karma, it can be achieved only with divine grace which

can be easily invoked as indicated in the song. That is the ultimate

message of the fifth song of Thiruppavai.

The song also celebrates a particular aspect of God. God is humble

to the sincere devotee. This quality of God is called Sowlapya, Godís

readiness to descend in grace to the devotee. Even such simple acts of

offering flowers, singing in praise of Him and meditating upon His name

are enough to invoke Godís grace because God has Sowlapya.

 

 

 

 

 

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