Priest Quarters at Sri RanganAtha Temple series: Thondardippodi AzhwAr's ThiruppaLLiyezhucchi Paasurams: Part I

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs :

 

The sacred month of Dhanur Maasam is about to begin

on Wednesday , Dec 15 . It is also a SravaNa dinam .

 

Every Dhanur Maasam , adiyEn tries to reflect on some of

the sacred topics such as TiruppAvai , ThiruppaLLiyezucchi

or ThiruppallANDu . You may ask why ThiruppaLLiyezucchi ?

Dhanur Maasa aarambha dinam is considered by the residents

of Srirangam as ThiruppaLLiyezucchi AvathAra dinam . Although

Sriman T.C.A. Venakatesan has covered the avathArikai and

the first Four Paasurams of ThiruppaLLiyezucchi in an excellent

manner , Six more remains to be covered and adiyEn is sure that

he will continue with his kaiamkaryam during this season . You can

access his excellent write ups , which are VyAkhyAna Saarams of

Swamy Nanjeeyar and Swamy PeriyavAcchAn PiLLai . The URL is:

 

http://www.acharya.org/vyakyanam/tpezhu

 

adiyEn will share with you personal anubhavams of

the coverage of the ten paasurams of ThoNDaradippodi

AzhwAr , who blessed us with Thirumaalai and ThirupaLLiyezucchi

( TPZ) .

 

adiyEn will also cover the Sanskrit Commentary of Sri Upanishad

BhAshyakArar on ThiruppallANDu . SriPeriya ParakAla Swamy ,

Thirukudanthai Desikan and Thirukudanthai Sri RanganAtha Swamy

have written in the last three hundred years have written additioanl

commentaries on THIRUPPALLANDU . All of these have been edited by

SrimAn V.N.Vedanatha Desikan on behalf of his AchAryan ,

HH Srimath PoundarIkapuram Andavan Swamy in 2002. Since all

of them are in MaNi PravALam or in Sanskrit , my own contribution

would be to summarize the highlights of these commentaries on

ThiruppallANDu in English for extended enjoyment .

 

adiyEn will start with the ThiruppaLLiyezucchi Paasurams today .

 

There are specific references that you would like to have for deeper

study of ThiruppaLLIyezucchi ( TPZ ) . Here they are :

 

1. The ThirupaLLiyezucchi of Sri ThoNDaradippodi AzhwAr

by Dr.V.K.S.N.Raghavan , VisishtAdhvaitha PrachariNi sabha .

 

2. Sri UtthamUr Swamy's commentary , Ubhaya VedAntha Grantha maala

series , 1956 .

 

3. Sri P.B.Annangarachar Swamy 's commentary ,

DhivyArTa Dheepikai Series , 1996

 

4. Sri K.C.Varadachar Swamy's commentary , Alwars of South

India , BharathIya VidhyA Bhavan , 1966.

 

5. ThiruppaLLiyezucchi and Sri Venaktesa SuprabhAtham ,

M.K.Rangaswamy Iyengar , 1996.

 

6. ThirupaLLiyezucchi and Thiruppaavai: V.Sadagopan's

writings on ThiruppAvai from previous years.

 

6. Taniyan VyAkhyAnams for ThiruppaLLiyezucchi ,

Sri Vatsya Ahobilacharya .

 

Let us reflect for a moment on the name chosen by this Azhwar

from ThirumanDangudi ( close to PuLLambhUthangudi dhivya dEsam) :

 

THONDARADIPPODI ( Anbar ThALL ThULi : UpadEsa Ratna Maalai: 4) .

 

BhAgavatha Seshathvam is saluted here as being superior to Bhagavath

Seshathvam . The three Sanskrit slOkams quoted usually in this context are :

 

yEthath samastha paapAnAm prAyascchittham manishibhi:

nirNitham bhagavadh-bhaktha paadhOdhaka nishEvaNam

 

(Meaning) : For all the sins acumulated by human beings , there is

a sure remedy : partaking of the BhagavathAs' Sri Paadha Theertham .

 

yasya murdhni sthitham yAvath VaishNavAngri-rajas-subham

GangAdhi SarvateerthAni tavattisthantyasamsayam

 

(Meaning): There is no doubt about the auspicious dust from the sacred

feet of Sri VaishNavAs being superior to holy waters like GangA et al.

 

nirapeksham Munim santam nirvairam samadarsanam

anuvrajaai aham nithyam pUyEya ithyangrirENubhi:

 

(Meaning): adiyEn follows always the VaishNavite Sages ( BhagavathAs) ,

who are known for their vairAgyam , equipoise and freindship to all ,

so that the dust from their sacred feet can sanctify me.

 

KulasEkhara AzhwAr celebrates the BhakthAngri rENu ( the dust from

the sacred feet of BhagavathAs) in his PerumAL Thirumozhi: II.2

 

" ThoNDardippodiyAda nAmm peRil , Gangai neer kudainthAdum

vEtkai yennAvathE " ( What will happen to our desire to immerse

deeply in Gangaa theerttham , if we had the opportunity to wear

on our head , the sacred dust from the feet of the servants of the Lord ?).

 

Swamy NammazhwAr ( ThiruvAimozhi 4.6.6) celebrates the holiness of

the dust from the feet of the servants of the Lord and exhorts us to adorn it :

 

" Maayan Tamaradi neeRu koNDu aNiya (vENum)" .

 

PeriyAzhwAr observes that this world has great good fortune through

the contact with the dust from the BhagavathAs , who perform AaarAdhanam

for Lord Narasimhan :

 

" Naathanai Narasinghanai navinREthuvArkaL uzhakkiya padha thULi

paduthalAl ivvulakam bhAkkiyam seythathE " ...PeriyAzhwAr Thirumozhi: 4.4.6

 

ThoNDardippodi AzhwAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Daasan , Oppiliappan KOil VaradAchAri Sadagopan

 

P.S: Please do remember to help in housing the priests

of Lord Ranganatha at the Pomona temple , well versed in

Ubhaya VedAntham . We have 20 days left to conclude this

kaimakaryam for the BahgavathAs serving the Lord at HIs

Pomona , NY home .