"maRRai nam kaamangaL maatru" (Part 2)

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TiruppAvai ‘sAram’

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If the TiruppAvai is to be considered “upanishad

sAram”, then it may well and equally be said that the

29th and penultimate stanza in the sacred hymn of

AndAl is verily “tiruppAvai sAram” –i.e the essence of

the whole TiruppAvai bottled into but one fragrant and

memorable verse (“nigama parimalam”).

 

In most SriVaishnava homes or families, the TiruppAvai

in its entirety (“muppathUm thappAmE”) might get sung

only during the course of the 30 days of the

“mArgazhi” month. The 29th verse, however, will

continue to be chanted every day of the remaining

months of the rest of the year, and then year after

year without fail, forever.

 

Every morning, when prayers to a household deity in a

SriVaishnava home draw to a close, there is usually a

short burst of staccato recitations from

litany-passages culled out of a selection of Sanskrit

and Tamil scriptures. It is called “sAttrmarai”. It

marks the climactic moment when the traditional daily

ritual of domestic worship (“nitya-tiruvArAdanam”) is

brought to a solemn close after the deity (usually, a

small icon or idol of Vishnu, Rama or Krishna, or a

sacred “sAlagrAma-murthi” pebble) has been

ceremoniously bathed, clothed, bedecked with flowers

and jewelry, anointed with perfumery, offered food

(“prasAd”) and, after due honors, is finally beseeched

to continue presiding over the whole household,

protecting its members and showering His Grace and

Compassion on every member of the family (“engUm

tiruvarUL petru inbUruvar empAvaay!”, in the words of

the TiruppAvai).

 

Now, in the “sattrmarai” crescendo, it is no surprise

at all that by long-standing and well-established

convention, the very first passage taken up for

chanting by the assembled devotees is the 29th verse

from the TiruppAvai. It is not difficult to understand

why the SriVaishnava convention of litany

(“pArAyaNa-kramam”) has chosen to single out this

particular verse from amongst several other ageless,

sacred passages in the vast body of Vedantic

literature, and given it its prime pride of place. It

is because, more than any other single ‘shlOka’ in all

of the vast religious literature abounding in the

SriVaishnava faith, it is this verse alone, that is

seen to capture and contain, in full and exact

measure, both the substance and spirit of Vedantic

thought as expressed or embodied in the very best and

most heart-felt of Bhakti sentiment.

 

For ordinary households anywhere in the world -- whose

family members even while they go about leading

secular lives that rarely, if ever at all, rise above

the banal or quotidian –- for such households that yet

earnestly wish to pursue, embrace, practice and

cherish the nobility that lies in the Vedantic Way of

life (“vEdAnta-mArga”), to such distinguished people

the 29th verse of the TiruppAvai is indeed an

extremely handy and invaluable aid.

 

The 29th verse of the TiruppAvai in fact, as the rest

of this series of essays shall attempt to describe, is

daily dosage of healthy Vedantic tonic for the human

soul.

 

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Regards,

dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

 

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