vrindAvanaththE kandOmE!!!

[Guest guest]

Sri Parthasarathi thunai

Srimathe rAmAnujaya Namaha

Sri Vara Vara MunayE Namaha

Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha

 

Dear bhagavatas,

 

On this auspicious day of thiruvAdi pooram, the birth star of

soodikkoduththa nAchiyAr (one who adorned and presented flower

garland), anju kudikkoru sandhadhi (daughter to all the 10 alwars)

godha piratti Sri Andal adiyen wishes to express some of my deep

anubhavams infront of this great group of bhagavatas. This writeup

has to be regarded as one another anubhavam granted by the divine

couples and shouldn’t be considered to be anything against our

poorvacharyas vyakhyanams. Hope the bhagavatas of this group will

take it in the right spirit.

 

Abhimanam (favourite) is a term near and dear to our sampradayam.

Each one of us has a special abhimanam towards a specific

divyadesam/perumal/thayar/azhvar/acharya. As you all already know

adiyen reserves my very special abhimanam towards Parthasarathi and

his divya desam, thiruvallikeni. So adiyen’s writeup on this very

special day is going to be about the very special serthi (dual) Sri

Parthasarathi and Andal.

 

Andal is special in our sampradayam as she holds the place of both an

azhvar and nachiyar (thayar). She is the only female azhvar and her

deep emotional outpourings towards the lord in both her thiruppavai

and nachiyar thirumozhi cannot be explained by words. Though

thiruppavai is a very small prabhandam with only 30 verses still the

amount of deep essence it holds is enormous. So many marghazhi

months have passed and so many thiruppavai upanyasams but still

thiruppavai ever lives young in all our minds. In all the temples we

find andal in a separate sannadhi. Both Adi and marghazhi months are

special for andal.

In Adi, the 10-day festival of thiruvadi pooram is celebrated in

almost all the divyadesams and the grand finale will be the Adi poora

thirukalyanotsavam.

 

But in all other divyadesams, except srivilliputtur and thiruvallikeni

emperumans celebrates thirukalyanotsavam with another thayar on the

panguni uthram day also. Srivilliputtur is the birthplace of goda

piratti. In thiruvallikeni geethacharyan, Krishnan Sri Parthasarathi

reserves the post of his consort only for andal and hence doesn’t

undergo kalyanotsavam with any other thayar. Here the panguni uthra

kalyanam is between ennai Aludaiyappan (ranganathan) and vedavalli

thayar. Sri Parthasarathi celebrates wedding with andal on two

auspicious days thiruvadipooram and bhogi kalyanam. After both the

kalyanotsavams andal stays in her beloved Parthasarathi sannadhi for

a full month till the next

pooram.

 

Andal in her thiruppavai undergoes nombhu only for the Ayan, Sri

Krishnan. In nachiyar thirumozhi she says, “venkatavarkku ennai

vidhikitriyE” and “AyanukkAga nan kanda kana”. From the stala puram

of thiruvallikeni it is very clear that only the emperuman who stands

in thiruvenkatam appeared as Sri Krishnan (Parthasarathi) to satisfy

the wishes of his bhaktha, sumathi maharajan. So Parthasarathi in

thiruvallikeni is both an ayan and also venkatavan.

 

Let us dive a little deeper in to this ocean of anubhavam. In her

seventh decade of nachiyar thirumozhi andal envies the conch in the

hand of emperuman “karpuram narumO? Kamalappoo nArumO….. sollAzhi

veNsangE”. In various divyadesams emperuman holds various weapons in

his hands. But sanghu and chakram are the usual trademark for any

perumal. But generally we find chakrathazhvar being given greater

preference than the conch. We find so many sannadhis for

chakrathAzhvar and bhakthas flooding those sannadhi’s to fulfil their

wishes. Chakrasnanam (theerthavari) on the last day of the

brahmotsavam is a usual

procedure in all the diyva desam, where chakrathAzhvan is regarded as

a representative of emperuman himself. But andal doesn’t envy the

chakram but instead she envies the sanghu in perumal’s hand. Why?

Venkatakrishnan (moolavar) in thiruvallikeni has only a sanghu in his

right hand. He gives darshan with only two hands one holding the

sanghu and the other with varada or vaikunda hastham (like indicating

“mAM Akam charanam vraja”).

 

Andal says “pathinArAyiram devi mAr parthiruppa” , the conch has taken

the special place in the hands of Parthasarathi when all the 16,108

consorts of Krishnan looks with envying eyes. Even when he left the

devis and went for the war he didn’t forget to take the conch. Again

not only the devis but all the other weapons also gives a sad look as

even when Krishna promised to leave all his weapons and come unarmed

to the battlefield he still held the conch alone in his hand. Andal

in her paasurams shows her birth as a Brahmin girl by saying, oh!

sangE, how come you have gone to the hands of emperuman when you

haven’t even taken a bath(Acharyam) and how dare you go and have the

bath in the mouths of emperuman itself.

 

Further, andal in her second paasuram says, “kudiyEri theeya asurar

nadalai pada muzhangum”. When did the sound of the conch

(panchajanyam) shrill the hearts of the enemy? Yes. It was during

the bharatha yuddham (war). Geethacharyan, Sri Parthasarathi held

only the conch in his hand and charioteered the chariot of arjuna.

In those days the start of the war was indicated by the sound of the

conch in the hands of the main warriors. In bhagavat geetha, the

first chapter greatly describes the warriors and the different

conches in their hands. “panchajanyam hrisheekesham devadaththam

dhananjaya:” and so on. The gauravas lost the war on just hearing

the sanga nAdham, which Sri Krishna made, says our acharyas. That is

what andal reflects here. The conch settled in the hands of emperuman

Sri Parthasarathi and it sounded in such a manner that the gauravas

(theeya asurar) got defeated.

 

Andal enjoys the beauty of Sri Krishnan as “kananennum karun deivam”

and in the grand finale she says her ultimate wish in

“pattemeithathOr kArEru baladevarkkOr keezhkandrAi”. Where can we

enjoy this karun deivam? Come to thiruvallikeni and enjoy the

thirumugam of Parthasarathi (utsavar). The thirumugam is black in

colour and with ultimate beauty. Karum can refer to both the black

colour and karunyam(grace). Dark clouds shower more rain. So when

andal says karun deivam it can also mean the lord who has so much

grace. Parthasarathi’s thirumugam is not only

black in colour but even today holds the wounds of the arrows of

bheeshma which he bore in his thirumugam to save his bhaktha arjuna

from getting hurt. He didn’t mind getting hurt to save his bhaktha.

Does his grace and bhakthavatsalyam need any other proof? Andal in

thiruppavai says “uththaman” where the vyakhyanam reads that

uththaman is one who works for the welfare of the others at the cost

of himself. Doesn’t this name hold good for our dear Parthasarathi

who has wounded himself to save his bhaktha?

 

Last but not the least, andal says “ettamana pasukkalai enidhu

mariththu neerooti” the fact that Krishnan is gopalan and loves cows

still stays and that is why in thiruvallikeni we find so many cows on

the streets and Parthasarathi still takes care of his beloved cows.

One specific instance comes to adiyen’s mind while talking about the

cows. One day Parthasarathi was undergoing purappadu. He halted in

davanautsava bungalow and then again started from there. Ghosthi

thodakkam was going on when two cows fighting among each other came

running towards Parthasarathi. The cows were right in front of

emperuman on one side was the arulicheyal ghosti and on

the other the crowd of bhakthas. Finding no place to escape the cows

ran towards Parthasarathi. The sreepadham thangis didn’t get scared

but instead they lifted emperuman a little higher and to all our

surprise the cows become very soft and silently went under the

kedayam (seat of emperuman during the purappadu) of emperuman to the

other side. It was really amazing. Doesn’t this show that even

fighting cows will become soft in the sannadhi of gopalan and how did

it learn to go underneath without hurting or disturbing anyone?

Amidst all these confusions the arulicheyal ghosthi continued

smoothly as cows are not new to thiruvallikeni and they knew very

well that the gopalan would take care of them. That is how

thiruvallikeni still remains a gokulam under the leadership of Parthasarathi emperuman.

 

On top of all these andal completes by saying, “vittukondu vilaiyAda

vrindhAvanaththE kandOmE”. Did you all know that the original name

of thiruvallikeni as per the puranas is “Brindaranya kshetram” and

that is where andal found kannan atlast and now on this auspicious

day she celebrates her wedding with Parthasarathi in thiruvallikeni.

Let us all enjoy the divine serthi of the divine couples Sri Andal

samEtha Sri Parthasarathi in all our minds wherever we are on this

divine day.

 

Once again adiyen requests the bhagavatas of this group to enjoy the

writeup as one of adiyen’s anubhavams.

 

“Brindaranya nivAsAya balarAmAnujAyacha

rukmini prAnanAdhAya parthasoodhAya mangalam”

 

“Srimathyai Vishnu chitArya mano nandhana hEthavE

nandhanandhana sundaryai gOdhAyai nithya mangalam”

 

Azhvar EmperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam

 

Adiyen rAmAnuja dAsee

Sumithra Varadarajan