nAcciyAr tirumozhi – Conclusion – PART II.

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SrI:

SrI ANDAL samEta SrI rangamannAr tiruvaDigaLE

SaraNam

 

nAcciyAr tirumozhi – Conclusion – PART II.

 

In this concluding section, we will enjoy the

greatness of gOdai in her incarnation as a human being

amongst us.

 

1. gOdai as a natural nAyaki:

 

In their overflowing love and affection for emperumAn,

the different AzhvArs try to place themselves in the

position of a mother to Him and fondle Him and feed

Him and decorate Him and play with Him (e.g.,

periAzhvAr), or in the position of a nAyaki to Him

(e.g., parakAla nAyaki in case of tiruma’nagai AzhvAr,

parA’nkuSa nAyaki in case of nammAzhvAr etc.)., etc.

But it is to be noted that when nammAzhvAr or

tiruma’ngai mannan try to place themselves in the

position of a nAyaki to emperumAn, there is still a

level of “adjustment” they have to get used to. A born

woman knows the feelings of a nAyaki better than any

of the other AzhvArs could. This added innate nature

of ANDAL as a woman saint in her incarnation, when

added to the intense devotion and love that she had

for emperumAn, resulted in the supreme outpouring

towards Him that is a class by itself that cannot be

excelled by any of the other AzhvAr-s.

 

Enjoying the union with emperumAn and suffering when

He leaves is a natural behavior for pirATTimAr.

Based on SrI PVP’s comment, in the case of ANDAL,

“adu irrukiRa paDi Ayttu”. SrI kRshNasvAmi aiyengar

expands futher - “ANgaLAgap piRanda avargaLukku adu

mETTu maDayAi uLLadu. PeNNAna ivaLukku paLLa maDaiyAi

iyalvAgave irukkiradu” – for other AzhvArs who are

imitating nAyaki bhAvam, it is like “mETTu maDai” – it

is like attempting to store water on a tank up on a

steep slope, and for ANDAL, it is like “paLLa maDai” –

trying to store water in a tank that is below the

ground level. Or, imagine trying to make water flow

upwards on a steep slope (the effort needed for all

the other AzhvArs to adopt the nAyaki role), compared

to ANDAL for whom the effort involved is like making

water flow downwards in a steep slope.

 

The intensity to which her feelings are expressed are

thus orders of magnitude higher than that expressed by

the other AzhvArs in their outpourings of their

intense love to Him. Of course, added to this is the

fact that unlike the other AzhvArs who are nitya

sUri-s who have taken incarnation in this world, ANDAL

is pirATTi who took incarnation in this world. So in

addition to being born a woman, she is also the actual

nAyaki of emperumAn, and so, if anything, ANDAL had

the tough ordeal of acting out the human role, being

separated from Him.

 

2. ANDAL and kaNNan’s tiruviLaiyADalgaL: Among

ANDAL’s great contributions is her description of

kaNNan’s tiruviLaiyADalgaL that are described in

detail in SrImad bhAgavatam, but she has provided us

this nectar in the form of her anubhavam-s in

easy-to-understand tamizh through her two SrI sUkti-s,

tiruppAvai and nAcciyAr tirumozhi. SrI SaDagopan has

captured the significance of ANDAL’s contribution in

this area by her assuming herself to be one among the

gOpi-s, by reference to SrImad bhAgavatam itself:

 

Sruta mAtropi ya: strINAm prasahyAkarshate mana: |

urugAyorugIto vA paSyantInAm kuta: puna: ||

 

yAh samparyacaran premNA pAda samvAhanAdibhi: |

jagadgurum bhartR-budhyA tAsAm kim varNyatE tapa: ||

(bhaga. 10.90.26-27)

 

“kaNNan is the great Lord who forcefully entices the

minds of those who have heard His name even once, or

who merely sing His praise through stotra-s etc.

Given that, what is the great wonder in His completely

taking over the minds of the girls who constantly have

the bhAgyam of seeing Him always?

 

How can the tapas and dedication of these girls - who

considered Him verily their nAthan, and who were

dedicating themselves to His antara’nga kaimkaryam

such as comforting His Feet with their hands etc. – be

described in words?”

 

Having learned about kaNNan through SrImad bhagavata

SravaNam and through her father periyAzhvAr’s

tirumozhi, ANDAL imagined herself as one of the gOpis

in tiruvAippADi and experienced the samSlesham and

viSlesham anubhavams and finally got to see her kaNNan

in SrI bRndAvanam. Not being able to contain her

extremely delightful anubhavam, she has shared this

delight with all of us. One is reminded of one of the

comments that SrI VelukkuDi kRshNan svAmi made in one

of his upanyAsams: Those who meditate on kaNNan’s

stealing butter will be absolved of all sins of any

wrong-doing that they have committed by way of any

stealing etc.

 

3. Our pUrvAcArya-s have given us diverse anubhavam-s

of the greatness of gOdai’s incarnations amongst us.

SrI SaDagopan captures some of these anubhavam-s in

his ma’ngaLASAsanam in his tamizh vyAkhyAnam. In gOdA

stuti 11, svAmi dEsikan sings the greatness of the

dakshiNa diSai (southern part of bhaAratam), wherein

lies SrIvilliputtUr, ANDAL’s place of appearance in

this world. His anubhavaam is that the reason why

Lord ra’nganAtha is lying in SrI ra’ngam facing the

south because of gOdai’s presence in that direction.

 

Another rasAnubhavam of svAmi deSikan is that viTTu

cittar got the unique title “periAzhvAr”, that no

other AzhvAr was able to get from emperumAn, purely

because of his association with gOdai. All the

AzhvArs including periAzhvAr sang in praise of Him

with extreme devotion, but only viTTu cittar was able

to offer to Him the garlands that had been first worn

by godai. This was what pleased emperumAn so much

that He conferred the title “periAzhvAr’ on Him

(“tAtastu tE madhubhida: stutilESavaSyAt, karNAmRtai:

stutiStai: anavApta pUrvam, tvan mouLi gandha subhagAm

upahRtya mAlAm, lebhE mahattara padAnuguNam

prasAdam”).

 

We have already alluded to the ma’ngalASAsanam of SrI

maNavALa mAnunigaL on the greater purpose of ANDAL’s

incarnation for our sake:

 

“inRO tiru AdippUram, emakkAga

anRO ingu ANDAL avadarittAL – kunRAda

vAzhvAna vaikuNtha vAn bOgham tannai igazhndu

AzhvAr tirumagaLarAi”

 

“Today is tiruvADippUram; it is only for the sake of

protecting us and recommending to her nAthan about

us, that ANDAL made her appearance on earth here.

Forsaking the great bhOgam of being with emperumAn in

the great SrIvaikuNtham, she came here as the divine

daughter of periyAzhvAr”.

 

SrI uyyakkoNDAr (also called SrI puNDarIkAkshar), a

disciple of SrI nAthamunigAL, has also sung the praise

of gOdai through the following 2 tanians:

 

“anna vayal puduvai ANDAL arangRkup

pannu tiruppAvai pal padiyam – inniSaiyAl

pADik koDuttAL naRpAmalai pUmAlai

SUDik koDuttALaic collu”

 

“SUDik koDutta SuDark koDiyE tolpAvai

pADi aruLa valla pal vaLaiyAi – nADi nI

vEnkaTavaRkku ennai vidi enna immARRam

nAm kaDavA vaNNamE nalgu”

 

“Always remember gOdai, who made her appearance in

SrIvilliputtUr surrounded by fields laden with swans,

who sang the great tiruppAvai and submitted the

pAmAlai and pUmAlai after gracing herself to tiru

ara’ngan.”

 

“Oh gOdAdevi! With your exquisite, beautiful hands

wearing several bangles, you gave emperumAn the

garlands you wore! Please create in us a sthira

bhakti for tiruvEnkaTam uDaiyAN and bless us with the

knowledge of the nAcciyAr tirumozhi that you sang.”

 

SrI tiruvarangattamudanAr who composed the great work

“rAmAnuja nURRantAdi” in praise of his AcAryan, sings

the praise of his AcArya as well as that of ANDAL in

the same breath, which is one of the greatness of this

work that pleased bhagavad rAmAnuja himself:

 

“ara’ngar mouLi SUzhginRa mAlaiyaic cUDik koduttavaL

tol aruLAl vAzhginRa vaLLal irAmAnujan ennum

mAmuniyE!”

 

“tiruvara’ngan wears on His head the flower that ANDAL

first wore on her head. Such is her greatness. Our

rAmAnuja mAmuni lives by the blessings of this great

SUDik koDutta nAcciyAr”.

 

The well-known tiruppAvai taniyan that is chanted at

the very beginning of tiruppAvai chanting, was

composed by SrI parAsara bhaTTar, the son of

kUrattAzhwAn who was a primary disciple of SrI

rAmAnujar’s disciple. He did managaLAsAsanam to

gOdai saying he wants to serve her for ever:

 

“nILA tungasta nagiri taTI sUptam udbOdhya kRshNam

pArArthyam svam sRti Sata Siras siddham adhyApayantI

|

svOccishTAyAm sraji nigaLitam yA balAtkRtya bhunktE

gOdA tasyai nama idamidam bhUya EvAstu bhUyah || “

 

 

4. SrI UV adds additional dimensions to the anubhavam

of the greatness of gOdai. He points out that gOdai’s

love for kaNNan was at a level far above the love that

the AyarpADi cowherds had for Him, and much greater

than the love of the AyarpADi girls to Him which

itself was greater than the first one. At another

level of comparison, ANDAL’s love for kaNNan was much

greater than that of the Rshi-s for Him, and greater

than the love that the Rshi patni-s had for Him (refer

to the bhakta vilocanam incident referred to in NT

12.6). Yet another dimension of this anubhavam:

ANDAL had more love for emperumAn than any of the

other AzhvArs not only that, it is even greater

than the composition of SrI vAlmIki. Recall that

vAlmIki appeared from the “ears of bhUmi” – from the

holes made by the ants on the mound of earth, for the

purpose of pleasing “the ears of the inhabitants of

the bhUmi”. Above all, ANDAL’s upadESam-s to us are

greater than even those of emperumAn. Her upadESam to

us has as its basis sheer dayA towards us out of her

sole concern for us. To make sure that we reach His

Feet without returning to this ocean of samsAra

(Recall that the extent of the enormity of our sins is

such that without pirATTis’ purushakArattvam, we will

not be forgiven).

 

5. phala sruti:

 

We will be bestowed “vAyu nan maKKal” (good

offsprings with great qualities, NT6.11); we will be

stripped of all sins (illai pAvame – NT 4.11) and will

not be drowned in the sea of sorrow (tunbak kaDalul

tuvaLAre – NT 13.10) and will be blessed with saying

His tirunAmam for ever (namO nArAyaNa enbAre – NT5.11)

and become “aNukkar” (NT 7.10) (get to live with Him

closely) by being tirumAl aDiyAr. We shall live

forever under His lotus feet (perum tAL uDaiya pirAn

aDikkIzh piriyAdu enRum iruppAre – NT 14.10).

 

Chanting gOdai’s endearing outpourings for her “perum

tAL uDaiya pirAn” will earn for us a place in SrI

vaikuNtham - viNNavar kOnaDi naNNuvare (NT 1.10),

kuRaivu inRi vaikuNtham Servare (NT 2.10), vaikuNtham

pukku iruppAre (NT 3.10), iDam vaikuNthame (NT

12.10).

 

With our Mother gOdai’s blessings and our AcAryan’s

anugrahams, we will be blessed with nitya kainkaryam

to perumAL and pirATTi – pallANDu, pallANDu,

pallAyirattANDu.

 

ANDAL gives her final blessings to us in NT14.10:

piriyAdu enRum iruppArE – “Unlike me, who had to ask

everyone “kaNDIrE” (have you seen Him?), the devotees

who understand this tirumozhi as the final remedy for

the bondage of samsAra (namely, meditate on Him and

Him alone as the Object to be attained and the means

to be attained), will be permanently and inseparably

united with Him, and will have the anubhavam of

enjoying Him always. Meditating on Him and His glory

will become their permanent pastime.

 

6. Thanks:

 

To the following great bhAgavatOttamas –

SrImAn oppiliappan varadAcAri SaDagOpan (for

everything, including expressing happiness over the

“ratham coming to a nilai”),

SrI maNi varadarAjan of San Fransisco (for providing

the cyber space for the write-up and re-opening the

bhakti list so that the ratham can reach its original

nilai),

SrI t.a. varadan of Denver/San Fransisco and SrI

nArAyanan of Milwaukee (for providing a copy of SrI

PBA’s vyAkyAnam and the book by SrI puttUr kRshNasvAmi

aiyengAr with explanations of the vyAkyAnam by SrI

PVP)

SrI Anand karalapAkkam of Chennai (for providing a

copy of the vyAkyAnam by SrI UV, who invariably added

new dimensions to the anubhavam of nAcciyAr

tirumozhi),

Sri r. rAghavan of Chicago (for providing a copy of

the book by SrI T.S. rAjagOpAlan), and

SrI venkaT aiyengAr of SrI villiputtUr (for kindly

undertaking to collect and post all the write-ups on

the web and doing such a great job with patience),

 

and to all the other bhAgatOttamas who have been

encouraging aDIyAL through the bhakti list and through

personal emails,

 

aDiYal offers with folded hands: “talai allAl

kaimmARu ilane”.

 

 

tiruvADipUrattu jagattudittAL vAzhiyE

tiruppAvai muppadum SeppinAL vAzhiyE

periyAzhvAr peRReDutta peN piLLAi vAzhiyE

perumpudUr mAmunikkup pinnAnAL vAzhiyE

oru nURRu nARpattu mUnRuraittAL vAzhiyE

uyar arangaRkE kaNNi ugandaruLinAL vAzhiyE

maruvArum tirumalli vaLa nADi vAzhiyE

vaN puduvai nagark kOdai malarppadangaL vAzhiyE

 

Abbreviations:

------------------

PVP= SrI periyavAccAn piLLai

PBA= SrI prativAdi bhayankaram aNNangarAcAriyAr

UV = SrI uttamUr vIrarAghavAcAriyAr

 

sarvam SrIman nArAyaNAyEti samarpayAmi.

SrI ANDAL, SrI rangamannAr tiruvaDIgaLE SaraNam.

SrImatE vEdAnta rAmAnuja mahAdEsikAya nama:

SrImatE rangarAmAnuja mahA dEsikAya nama:

 

kalyANi kRshNamAcAri

 

(Articles on nAcciyAr tirumozhi are available at:

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/7673/azhwars/nachiyar.html

maintained by SrI VenkaT aiyengAr of SrI villiputtUr)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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