nAcciyAr tirumozhi – Conclusion – PART I

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrI ANDAL samEta SrI ra’ngamannAr

tiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

 

nAcciyAr tirumozhi –

Conclusion – PART I

 

Part II will be posted next and will conclude this

series.

 

This series was started on 15, 1998, and the write-up

has been slowly moving during the past five years, and

we have come to the end of the first phase. By the

Grace of asmad AcAryan, aDiyAl has been blessed with

enjoying the SrI sUkti’s of gOdai nAcciyAr. The first

half of the series needs rework, partly because

initially no reference books with detailed

explanations were available, and partly because of

aDiyAl’s relatively greater inexperience in the

earlier stages. The first five tirumozhi-s will be

re-visited and updated as the next phase. The current

“Conclusion” is to formally conclude the first phase.

 

The motivation for this whole effort stemmed solely

from SrImAn SaDagOpan, without whose initiation and

encouragement this would not have even embarked upon.

He provided the only copy of his hand-written tamizh

vyAkhyAnam (that is unpublished) to be translated

into English, and that has been the basis for this

series. But when aDiyAL took the liberty of including

details of pUrvAcAryas’ vyAkhyAnams, he encouraged

this initiative and gave ample opportunity for freedom

and independence. His support was typical of that of

a great guide and motivator. He had distilled all the

pUrvAcAryas’ anubhavam-s in his original write-up.

Some of the experiences of the great pUrvAcAryas’

anubhavams in some detail and some word for word

translations were added as additional thoughts in this

series. The anubhavam-s of SrI periyavAccAn pillai,

SrI uttamUr vIrarAghavAcArya svAmi, SrI P.B.

aNNa’ngarAcArya svAmi, and SrI T.S. rAjagopAlan have

been used to a large extent to form the basis for all

the postings (including this conclusion).

 

With that prelude, this conclusion section is being

used to share with the readers some of the thoughts

based on the learning experience over the past five

years. These are all purely random thoughts that come

to mind, and will reflect a lot of misunderstanding

(on aDiyAL’s part) of the teachings of nAcciyAr

tirumozhi. bhagatOttamas of this forum are requested

to please feel free to comment on these so that aDiyAL

can learn and refine these thoughts.

 

The sequence of topics chosen below is purely

arbitrary.

 

1. Development of a devotee from bhakti to parama

bhakti:

 

SrI PVP’s anubhavam is that bhagavAn is subjecting

gOdai to extreme suffering because He wants to develop

her bhakti all the way to the stage of parama bhakti

before revealing Himself to her. He comments that if

bhagavAn reveals Himself to a person who is not yet at

the stage of parama bhakti, this person may just not

be able to take the sudden shock of this extreme

delight (refer to the vyAkhyAnam for fourteenth

tirumozhi - paTTi mEyndOr kArERU). The parama bhakti

stage is described as that stage where the devotee is

unable to live without bhagavad anubhavam even for a

moment. It is at that stage that bhagavAn chooses to

reveal Himself to His devotee. This is illustrated

nicely in the sequence of events in ANDAL’s

experience. She starts off with several attempts such

as praying to kAman, kUDal izhaittal, sending messages

through the cuckoo and through the cloud, trying to go

divya deSam-s, etc. Gradually her intensity of

devotion keeps increasing, up to the point in

tirumozhi 13, where she is clearly at a stage where

she won’t be able to sustain her life anymore unless

there is some form of union with Him. It is then and

only then that kaNNan reveals Himself to her.

 

The lesson for us mumUkshu-s is that we should realize

that whatever ‘suffering’ we are undergoing in this

life, is all because He considers it in our best

interest, so that He can lead us to His Feet. Through

our sufferings and ordeals in this samsAra, we should

never loose faith in our ultimate and only goal,

namely the nitya kainkaryam at His feet here and

hereafter (ingum, angum, eppOdum, ekkAlattum).

 

2. ANDAL’s avatAra rahasyam:

 

The question arises: Why does ANDAL, who is bhU devi

herself, have to go through this kind of experience?

The answer lies in an understanding of the avatAra

rahsyam of ANDAL.

 

bhagavAn and pirATTi take incarnations in this world

among us for several reasons. The main reasons given

for the incarnations are to protect the good and

destroy the evil – paritrANAya sAdhUnAm vinASAya ca

dushkRtAm, to be easily available for the jIva-s to

approach Him (e.g., His arcA incarnations), etc. In

His vibhava incarnations, where He has taken a human

form, one of the ‘by-products’ of His incarnations is

that He shows us humans how to lead our life according

to the sanAtana dharma. Even though in these

incarnations He retains all His powers in full, He

still does not use these powers during these

incarnations, but leads a life as if He is just a

human (AtmAnam mAnusham manyE), and shows us in the

process how to lead a life according to the SAstra-s,

following the dhArmic path like doing nitya karmAs.

His activities in this world during His vibhava

incarnations are like His putting on a ‘robe’ during

an act, at the end of which He returns to SrI

vaikunTham.

 

ANDAL’s incarnation in this world was meant for the

purpose of showing us – the bound souls, how to live a

life of dedication to Him and attain Him through pure

devotion. So it was an incarnation she took for our

benefit, and at the end of fulfilling her role, she

returned back to emperumAn - kEsava nambhiyaik kAl

piDIkka. SrI maNavALa mAmunigaL aptly extols

gOdai’s avatAram– “emakkAga anRO ingu ANDAL

avadarittAL”.

 

SrI perukkAraNai svAmi gives the gist of ANDAL’s

avatAra rahasyam in terms of varAha purANam. When

bhUdevi was stolen and taken to the bottom of the

ocean by the asuran, she was retrieved by varAha

bhagavAn; at that time, she asks Him to tell her the

laghu upAyam (an easy way ) for the jIva-s to please

Him and attain Him. He reveals three means to her:

by singing about Him, saying His nAma, and worshipping

Him with flowers.

 

This is precisely what bhUmi devi is revealing to us

through her tirumozhi. She does this with

 

a. Singing her pAmAlai - “innisaiyAl sonna mAlai” –

NT 3.10

b. Saying His nAmam: kEsava –2.5, nArAyaNa –2.1,

mAdhava –2.5, gOvinda –2.9, madhusUdhana –6.6,

trivikrama –12.9-ulagaLandAn , vAmana –4.2, srIdhara

–2.1 , hRshIkEsa – 5.6 , vAsudEva – 7.3, dAmodara

–7.4, tirumAlirumcOlai nambi- 9.6, tiruvarangar –

11.1, vAmananAr – 11.4, kaNNan – 13.1 are just a few

examples.

 

She waxes eloquent and calls her nAthan affectionately

in many places providing a special nAmAvaLi for Him –

 

anRu bAlakan Agi Alilai mEl tuyinRa em Adi, guNDu

nIruRai kOLarI, Seyya tAmaraik kaNNinAi, peyyumAmugil

pOl vaNNa, ceRRu ilangai pUsal Akkiya Sevaka, Uzhi

ellAm uNarvAne, engaL amude, kOmaLa Ayar kozhundE,

mannu perum pugazh mAdhavan, vimalan, karumANikkam,

koLari mAdhavan, gOvindan enbAn Or kALai, madurak

kozhum cARu koNDa sundarat tOLuDaiyAn, en arangattu in

amudar, kuzhal azagar, vAi azhagar, kaN azhagar,

koppUzhil ezhu kamalap pUvazhagar, emmAnAr, tiru

arangac celvanAr, ArAvamudan, mAdhavan en maNi etc.

 

c. Submitting flowers to Him, both in the form of the

flower garland that she wore on herself, and also in

the form of the sweet pASuram-s; she is gOdai – “sUDik

kodutta suDark koDi”, “sUDik kodutta nAcciyAr”; she is

“mAlAkArar magaL” (SrI PVP).

 

Another anubhavam for ANDAL’s incarnation among us is

also provided by SrI perukkAraNai cakravartyAcArya

svAmi. After taking several incarnations and trying

to unsuccessfully teach the jIva-s the true purpose of

their having been given a body, emperumAn felt that

His patni will be able to accomplish what He could not

successfully accomplish; the upadEsa inimai and soft

spoken advice coming from a woman will certainly go a

long way in bringing salvation to His children. He

chose bhUmi devi for this task. And this is why she

took birth amongst us, and showed us how to devote our

thought, word and deed to His kainkaryam.

 

3. anya devatA worship issue:

 

An interesting episode in nAcciyAr tirumozhi is

ANDAL’s worship of kAmadevan for attaining emperumAn

as her consort (the first tirumozhi). Some tend to

quote this as an example of the ‘practice of anya

devatA worship” by ANDAL. This is a total

misunderstanding of the concept of ‘anya devatA

worship. ANDAL’s ana’nga deva worship is not to be

viewed as ‘anya devatA worship’, but as the extreme

desire of a devotee to attain Him at any cost. It is

the extreme feeling of urgency (tvarai), the extreme

desire for union with Him, that drives a soul truly

interested in reaching Him, to struggle like a fish

out of water to get back into the water one way or the

other. ‘anya devatA worship’ refers to the situation

when a person worships the lesser devatA-s for lesser

benefits in life, that will lead to being reborn and

repeatedly toiling in the ocean of samsAra. ANDAL’s

prayer to ana’nga devan is for reaching Him as the

only desire, and is not anywhere in the category of

‘anya devatA worship’. Her action is a superb example

of doing everything one does only for Him, and to

attain Him so that one is irreversibly united with Him

in nitya kainkaryam.

 

SrI PVP quotes examples of nammAzhvAr, hanumAn, etc.,

who have also resorted to calling on anya devatA-s in

order to realize Him or to assist in His kainkaryam

(note: not for their selfish benefits of enjoyment).

HanumAn prays to rudran, indran, yaman vAyu etc before

attempting to look for sItai in aSOka vanam.

nammAzhvAr, in the state of a love-lorn lady

suffering from separation from emperumAn, calls all

gods “deyvangAL! en SeygEn” tiruvAimozhi 5.4.8.

 

SrI UV gives the view of svAmi deSikan on this issue.

svAmi deSikan describes ANDAL’s worship of kAmadevan

as: “nAcciyAr kRshNanaip peRugaikkAkagap paNNina

kAmadEvArcanam sR’ngAra samAdhyanuguNa kRshNa

rUpAntara vishayam”. She undertook the ana’nga deva

vratam in order to speed up the attainment of bhagavAn

as her consort before she became of age, as prescribed

by the SAstra-s.

 

4. nindA stuti (pirATTi’s right):

 

In several places, gOdai indulges in nindA stuti -

tImai Seyyum sirIdara (2.1), irakkamE onRum ilAdAi

(3.4 ), masimai ilI (3.9), peN koDiyai vadai SeydAn

(8.9), “pAmbaNaiyArkkum tam pAmbu pOl nAvum iRaNDu

uLa” (10.3), peNNin varuttam aRiyAda perumAn (13.1),

koDiya kaDiya tirumAl ( 13.6 ), vEmbu (13.7), allal

viLaitta perumAn (13.10), ElAp poygaL uraippAn (14.3),

darumam aRiyAk kuRumban (14.6), puRam pOl uLLum

kariyAn (14.7) etc.

 

The question naturally arises: Why would a supreme

devotee like gOdai indulge in calling Him “names”?

This can be very easily understood by an understanding

of the role of pirATTi in our tradition.

 

PirATTi’s role in our sampradAyam is one of

purushakAratvam – recommending to emperumAn to forgive

our immense sins, and instead look at even the

smallest good deeds we might have done, and based on

that, to give us His protection. svAmi deSikan nicely

describes how bhUmi devi controls Him purely by the

indications of her displeasure towards Him through the

movement of her eyebrows if He does not forgive her

children irrespective of their sins –

 

“gOde guNair-apanayan praNatAparAdhAn

bhrUkshepa eva tava bhoga rasAnukUla: |

karmAnubandhi phala dAna ratasya bhartu:

svAtantrya durvyasana marma bhidA nidAnam || “

(gOdAstuti – 25).

 

ANDAL’s nindA stuti is the result of her impatience at

her Consort for not bestowing His protection to the

jIva-s right away, and instead waiting for developing

their devotion to parama bhakti stage etc.. ANDAL

knows only too well how few of us will develop the

kind of parama bhakti that He waited for in her. In

gItA, Lord kRshNa Himself declares how few people can

realize Him:

 

manushyANam sahasrEshu kascid yatati siddhayE |

yatatAm api siddhAnAm kascin mAm vetti tattvata: ||”

(gItA 7.3)

 

“Among thousands of men, some one strives for

perfection; even among those who strive for

perfection, some one only knows Me; and among those

who know Me, some one only knows Me in reality”.

 

bahUnAm janmanAm ante j~nAnavAn mAm prapadyate |

vAsudEva: sarvamiti sa mahAtmA sudurlabha:

|| (gItA 7.19)

 

“At the end of many births, the man of knowledge finds

refuge in Me, realizing that “Vasudeva is all”. It is

very hard to find such a great-souled person”.

 

5. AcArya bhakti of ANDAL:

 

The importance of AcArya sambandham in attaining

emperumAn is stressed over and over again by gOdai

throughout nAcciyAr tirumozhi. She refers to herself

proudly as “viTTu cittan gOdai” in the concluding

pAsurams of all the tirumozhi-s except the 4th and the

9th. An example of the pride and devotion with which

she considers the importance of AcArya sambandham in

her accomplishing her goal of attaining Him is NT

pASuram 13.10, where she describes herself as “villi

puduvai nagar nambi viTTu citta viyan kOdai”.

 

This very important teaching, that our AcAryan is to

be worshipped by us as bhagavAn Himself, is

elaborately described by svAmi deSikan in nyAsa

vimSati (Slokam 2). SrImad nammANDavan’s (SrI

tErazhundUr ANDAvan) vyAkhyAnam for svAmi deSikan’s

pAdukA sahasram (in simple tamizh for our benefit)

repeatedly emphasizes this point also. Our Mother

gOdai gives us this important instruction through her

tirumozhi-s and through her life on this earth.

“What can we do in the big universal scheme (siRu

mAniDavar nAm Seyvadu en? tangaL dEvarai valla pariSu

varuvipparel adu kANDume” (NT 10.10) - Our only hope

is for us to surrender to our AcAryan, and he will

definitely bestow his blessings on us and take us to

our perumAL

 

SrI PVP also emphasizes this point in his vyAkhyAnam

for pASuram 10.10. He notes that paramAtmA abides by

the recommendation of the AcAryas. A cEtanan must

fully realize that AcAryan is the sole means to reach

emperumAn. Even though emperuman and cEtanan have the

SEshi-Sesha sambandham, the reason why the cEtanan has

not yet reached emperumAn is because of the absence of

a proper AcAryan. AcAryan should be thought of as

purushAkAram to reach emperumAn; this is the teaching

of our Sastra-s. Instead of just stopping with the

understanding that the AcArya’s role of one of

purhsakArattvam, there are some great souls like

madurakavi AzhvAr who consider their AcArya to be

their only God “dEvu mArru aRiyEN” (kaNNi – 2).

ANDAL falls in that group - “tangaL dEvarai” – which

emphasizes her relationship with periyAzhvAr as the

only upAyam to attain Him. It is only because

periyAzhvAr considered emperumAn worthy of worship,

she also prays to Him.

 

6. nAcciyAr tirumozhi in everyday life:

 

1. Used in sARRumuRai in tiruppati:

tiruvEnkaTam uDaiyAn who is extolled as “agalagillEn

iraiyum enRu alarmel mangai uRai mArban” is the

kaliyuga pratyaksha daivam. After His tiruma’njanams

are held every Friday, during SARRumuRai, the last two

pAsurams of the 14th tirumozhi (paTTi mEyndor kArERu)

are being recited from early days on till today. The

term “vETTaiyADi varuvAnai” is taken to denote

emperumAn going for hunting and finding padmAvati

tAyAr, then marrying her and residing in tirumalai as

SrInivAsan.

 

II. vAraNam Ayiram (NT 6):

 

This tirumozhi is a class by itself and has occupied

a permanent, special place in all SrI vaishNava

weddings. It has embedded in it various siddhAnta

vishayams, and these are discussed in detail by SrI UV

in his vyAkhyAnam for nAcciyAr tirumozhi.

 

a) gOdai describes in detail her dream of her marriage

with kaNNan in this tirumozhi. SrI UV points out

that according to our siddhAntam, just as what we see

in the real world with our physical eyes is true, what

we experience in our dreams is also true. The effects

of puNyam and pApam come as experiences in the dream

and thus they are related to the body. If one’s dream

involves committing a sinful act, when one wakes up,

prAyascittam is prescribed for that pApam. Thus, what

happens in svapnam is as true as what happens in the

waking state, according to our siddhAntam. Since

emperumAn has come and married godai in her dream, and

since He is aware of that, from now on, they can both

think and behave as if they are husband and wife.

 

It is our siddhAntam that experiences in the dream are

a form of our phalan for our good and bad deeds, and

are just as real as are the experiences in the real

world.

The poet Sri Harshan describes in his work naishadha

kAvyam, that according to the viSishTAdvaita

siddhAnta, people will have anubhavams of special

dreams according to their individual bhAgyam-s, just

as they have anubhavams in their waking state.

 

b) The steps and sequences involved in the vedic

marriage of today are not any different from the

marriage ceremony that ANDAL describes in

vAraNamAyiram. Arrival of the bridegroom for

niscitArttam, mappiLLai azhaippu, the actual function

of niscitArttam, bridegroom’s sister making the bride

wear the kURaip puDavai, prOskhaNam, rakshA bandhanam,

chanting of vEda mantrams, mattaLam playing, women

welcoming the bridegroom, pANigrahaNam, ammi midittal,

saptapati, lAja hOmam or pori iDal are all wedding

rites that have been followed from vedic times onwards

till today.

 

It is a matter of great satisfaction that the sacred

ceremony of marriage has retained its vedic aspect

unchanged for several centuries now (unlike many other

practices such as sandhyAvandanam, dress habits, sikhA

etc.).

 

SrI UV points out that while mA’ngaLa sUtram is just a

sign that the girl is married, the true vedic rite of

importance in marriage is the pANi grahaNam

(“kaittalam paRRak kanAk kaNDEn”). (“pANi grahaNAt tu

sahattvam karmasu tathA puNya phaleshu”; “ saha dharma

carI tava, pANim gRhNIshva”).

 

For a more detailed description of vAraNamAyiram, the

readers are referred to the following URL (this was

not posted as part of the regular postings in the

bhakti list, and so the web site referenced is the

only source for this write-up at this stage).

 

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

 

III. nURu taDA veNNai, nURu taDA niRainda akkAra

aDisil:

 

Every SrI vaishNava housewife offers prasAdam to

perumAL in the house every day by chanting NT 9.6

pASuram: “nURu tADavil veNNai vAi nErndu parAvi

vaittEn , nURu taDA niRainda akkAra aDiSil SonnEn”.

As we all know, ANDAL made this grand promise, but

reached union with Him before getting a chance to

fulfil this promise. Our beloved emperumAnAr, also

known as tiruppAvai jeeyar, fulfilled godai’s wish by

offering nURu taDA veNNai and nURu taDA akkAra aDiSil

in golden vaTTil’s to tirumAl irum SOlai perumAL. We

also recall that the title “perumpUdUr mAmunikkup

pinnAnAL” for ANDAL comes about because ANDAL came out

of her arcA form and called out to emperumAnAr as “en

aNNA”, and thus ANDAL herself has declared emperumAnAr

is her “elder brother” because of his concern and love

for her.

 

7. The Ultimate Goal To be achieved, The Ultimate

UpAyam, The rahasya-s etc.

 

As an incarnation in the form of an AzhvAr, as a

paramaikAntin, as an AcArya in the line of succession

next to emperumAn, and as Our Mother who is giving us

instructions on how to attain Him without fail, ANDAL

is conveying the message of nArAyaNa parattvam, the

SaraNAgati SAstram, the three rahasya-s, etc., through

her tirumozhi to us. Just a few instances are given

below:

 

ANDAL reminds us of the message of SrI varAha carama

Slokam in the eleventh tirumozhi -“tAm ugakkum 8 –

“pASi tUttuk kiDanda pAr magaTkup paNDoru nAL … pESi

iruppanagaL perkkavum perAve “.

 

In NT5.11, gOdai extols the ultimate bliss

that we should strive to attain: “namo

nArAyaNAya enbArE”.

 

That nArAyaNan is the sole parampurushan to be

worshipped is a point that ANDAL has stressed over and

over in her nAcciyAr tirumozhi. As our Mother, she

has shown as how to live like a fish out of water when

separated from emperumAn and the fervor with which we

should all try to obtain His attention and attain His

grace. She strengthens our faith by proclaiming

“immaikkum ezhezh piRavikkum paRRAvAn nammai uDaiyavan

nAraAyaNan nambi” (NT6.8).

 

nArAyaNan is our “marundu” (NT 14.10); He is our

“oushadam” for our samsAric life.

This is what gOdai has been striving to inculcate into

our brains, so that jIvAtmas like us can use this

marundu to be rid of the disease in the form of our

repeated “piRappu” and become united with our

emperumAn.

 

The above is just a short list of the enormous chain

of thoughts coming to mind on the greatness of this

sacred tirumozhi. Let us all benefit by meditating on

gOdA pirATTi for her purushakArattvam on our behalf.

This write-up will be concluded with Part II of

“Conclusion” which will follow.

 

 

End of Part I of Conclusion.

 

Abbreviations:

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

PVP= SrI periyavAccAn piLLai

PBA= SrI prativAdi bhayankaram aNNangarAcAriyAr

UV = SrI uttamUr vIrarAghavAcAriyAr

 

sarvam SrIman nArAyaNAyEti samarpayAmi.

SrI ANDAL, SrI rangamannAr tiruvaDIgaLE SaraNam.

 

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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