Chanting of the Prabandham the best possible way

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Srirasthu

Srimathe Ramanujaya nama:

 

Dear shrimaan soundarrajan,

> I have a huge doubt. Even though tamil

is my mother tongue, I still have issues in understanding the

meanings of most of the Prabandhams. Well, if understanding the

basic, flat meaning is itself a problem as such, what about the

subtle, deep, philosophical truth hidden in each verse of the

Prabandham??

 

Everybody has the same problem from the mahavidhwans to the

moodathmas like me. Those meanings flat or deepshall be acquired

through attending kaalakshepams and upanyasams under an aacharyan who

himself follows the tradition followed by the poorvacharyas(munnor

mozhintha murai thappamal kettu). These are also elucidated by the

learned members of the group who themselves had kaalakshepams from an

aacharyan from time to time.(for example thirupaavai upanyaasams are

famous in maargazhi).

>

> How should one chant the Prabandham??

Is it ok, if he chants it without knowing the meaning as such. And

what about pronunciation mistakes?? Am I right if I say that it is an

offense if we make mistakes when we chant the pasurams, as it is

tantamount to insulting the Azhwars??

 

Initially for learning purposes it is ok that we chant without

knowing the meaning.This also shows our maha viswaasam in our

poorvacharyas who never err. very locally speaking is it right that i

represent the formula of einstein as e=mc^3. it is turning everything

upside down.isnt it?? Thats why pronounciation takes a very important

place.we should not mis-spell or mis-pronounce AAzhwars paasurams.

Those mistakes can be cleared while learning itself.For this reason

the formula of santhai is followed where the shishyan learns directly

from the aacharyan without mistakes. please take note of the tamizh

quote "karkka kasadara..". Learn and learn without mistakes when

learning..

>

> Sometimes, I do get the meaning, but

still am prone to making errors. For example, thanks to Sri

Madhavakkannan, I now know the meaning of "Thiruppallandu", but still

I have confusions in the last word of each paragraph, I donno when to

say "Pallandu KURUVANE" or "Pallandu KURUDHUME" or "Pallandu

KURUMINE". Is it an offense when I mix and match them??

 

when aazhwar says kuruvane he says about himself doing the job of

praising the lords attributes, when he says koorudhume and koorumine

he refers us to join him in praising the lord. It clearly changes the

meaning when u mix and match them.Which is not correct.It is the job

of an aacharya to correct the shishyas mistakes and it is the job of

perumaal to forgive our mistakes "Tham adiyar sol poruppathu periyor

kadananne -ptm". also please note that in thirupallandu there will be

a setof footnotes to guide you what to say when it goes like this

"aadi kooruthum,anantharam koorumin, andam enmin, enthai paaduthum,

thee uduthu enal kooruthum, neyyum allum kooruvane" which if we match

with the paasurams

 

vaazhatpattu ninneer-kooruthum,

edunilathil- koorumin,

anda kulatthukku athipathi -enmine

enthai thanthai-paaduthume

theeyil poliginra senjudaraazhi,uduthu kalaintha, ennal emperumaan -

kooruthume,

Neyyidai nallathor sorum, alvazhakkonnumilla -kooruvane.

>

> Sometimes, when I chant the Pasurams, my

mind just wanders, thinking of very very trivial mundane things,

thinking of anything but Perumal. Am I a sinner??

 

try to see the thirumukamandalam of emperumaan i think by doing this

when chanting your mind will not wander. but better chocies will be

given to you by elder members of the group which will go by their

experinces and practices.

 

Azhwar Emperumanaar Jeeyar thiruvadigale charanam.

 

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasan,

Nallan Chakravarthy Narashiman

 

PS: please pardon the transliteration and also please correct me of

any errors.