"maRRai nam kaamangaL maaRRu"- (PART 16)

[Guest guest]

The Story of Tondar-adipOdi: Conquest of “kaama”

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through Reduction (“unification”) of Desire --

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“karma yOga”

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In its daily regimen of worship almost throughout the

year, be it at home or in temples, the devout

community of SriVaishnavas of India generally uses the

4000 Tamil decadal verses known as “naalaayira

divya-prabhandham” –-- the devotional outpourings

sung by its pantheon of 12 mystic saints collectively

known as the “AzhwArs”. However, during “maargazhi”

(Dec 15-Jan 14), the most sacred month of the Tamil

lunar calendar, regarded most conducive for spiritual

pursuit, worship and contemplation, the community will

be seen to be using for the purpose only 2 particular

hymns while excluding, deliberately and completely,

the rest of the “sacred 4000”. The two exceptions are

“TiruppAvai” of Andal and the “Tirupalli-ezhucchi”

sung by the saint of the great South Indian

temple-town of “SriRangam” -- Sri "Tondar-adipodi

AzhwAr".

 

AndAl and Tondar-adipOdi have many striking things in

common:

 

(a) They were not natives of SriRangam but both became

inseparably attached to the great temple- town, the

capital-seat of SriVaishanvite faith.

 

(b) Both were inveterate "spiritual monogamists" i.e.

they were uncompromisingly steadfast in their love and

devotion for the Deity of SriRangam, Lord RanganAtha.

AndAl would accept none but Ranganatha as paramour and

groom. Tondar-adipOdi would sing in praise of no Deity

in the world other than the one presiding at

SriRangam. Other AzhwArs praised and worshipped

several Deities in other parts of the country like

Tiruvenkatam, TiruveLLikkENi etc. But to Andal and

Tondar-adipOdi the Lord at SriRangam was sole

inspiration in life.

 

© Both were 'floriculturists' of a sort. Fond of

flower-groves and stringing beautiful floral wreaths

and garlands, they offered them up as service to the

Deity at Srirangam. AndAl's happiest days were spent

in the garden her father Peria-AzhwAr cultivated in

her native SriVilliputtur (near Tirunelveli, S.India).

Similarly, Tondar-adipodi grew a flower garden near

SriRangam which became his lifetime vocation. Flowers

and garlands were to them both life-long passion. It

earned for AndAl the Tamil sobriquet

“soodi-koduttha-nAcchiyAr” (“the maiden who fashions

floral-garlands”). The same fondness earned for

Tondar-adipodi’s famous work of 45 mystic verses the

title “tiru-maalai” (“The divine verse-garland”).

 

(d) In their respective lives both AndAl and

Tondar-adi came to represent the triumph of Spirit

over Flesh. AndAl’s way was the way of “bridal

mysticism”. As a nubile maiden she swore her nuptial

bond would be tied to none but the Deity of SriRangam.

She succeeded and legend has it that she ultimately

merged with the Divine. What AndAl conveyed as

essential message through her TiruppAvai --- viz.

Man’s realization of “kaama” as a "purushArtha": Bliss

in its very absolute and ideal sense as expressed in

that single magnificent expression “maRRai nam

kaamangaL maaRRu” --- the core of that philosophical

message in Andal’s poetry found full expression and

realization in the life-story of Sri Tondar-adipOdi

AzhwAr.

 

It is for reasons of commonality, of the striking

similarities between them that AndAl and

Tondar-adipOdi are regarded as kindred souls --- two

of a kind, birds of the same feather, so to speak.

These two alone, to the exclusion of 10 other

colleagues of theirs in the exalted AzhwAr-pantheon,

are hence singled out to receive in tandem the special

honors and exclusive commemoration which the community

of SriVaishnava devotees bestows upon them with such

deep veneration, ceremony and fanfare during an entire

month of the Tamil calendar.

 

**************

 

When we reflect deeply on some of the events in the

life of Tondar-adipodi we begin to understand how the

Vedantic conquest of “kaama” through the path of

“karma-yOga” is possible for Man. The Bhagavath-Gita

idealizes such yoga as “nish-kAma-karma”: living life

with passionate, creative energy but bereft of

expectation of any personal reward or selfish

pleasure.

 

In the final 18th Chapter of the Gita are two very

significant “shlOkas” quoted below. If one were to

read them keeping the remarkable life-events of Sri

Tondar-adipodi in mind, they seem nearly biographical

of the AzhwAr:

 

cetasā sarva-karmāṇi

mayi sannyasya mat-paraḥ

buddhi-yogam upāśritya

mac-cittaḥ satataḿ bhava

 

mac-cittaḥ sarva-durgāṇi

mat-prasādāt tariṣyasi

atha cet tvam ahańkārān

na śroṣyasi vinańkṣyasi

 

(meaning): “If your life’s work, whatever it is, is

offered as devotional service unto Me, you shall

surely overcome all obstacles through My grace. If,

you choose, however, to act through self-will or out

of selfish urge, and forsake Me, you will surely be

lost (“vinańkṣyasi”).

 

The events in the life of Tondar-adipOdi are a vivid

enactment of the above Gita verses showing how passion

for life ("kaama") when channeled into God-centered

work in the world leads Man to a state of Grace while

narrow, self-centered deeds (also "kaama") lead him

straight to Disgrace. In an autobiographical reference

to this Vedantic truth in his great Tamil work of

verse, the “tiru-mALai”, Tondar-adipodi said it too

quite beautifully:

 

“soothanaayk kaLvaNnaakith* thoorththarOdu isaintha

kaalam,*

maatharaar kayaRkaN ennum* valaiyuL pattu

azhunthuvEnai,*

pOtharE enRu sollip* punthiyil pukunthu,* thanpaal-

aatharam peruka vaiththa* azhakanoor arankam anRE?

(“tirumAali-16)

(my translation):

 

“There were times past

When as satyr, thief,

Sleaze an' rogue I lived;

In the flesh of fish-eyed dames

I reckon’d too

Life’s true bliss too hid --

 

I knew not, it was all fatal trap.

 

The Lord came one day then--

He took my heart’s inner core;

“Go with Me”, He bade me then--

Greater Bliss I’ve seen not, evermore!

 

*************

 

The life-events of Tondar-adipodi show us too how when

the number of desires within the human heart is

“reduced” to a Unity -- when that ideal of

“Unification of “kaama”” is attained through acts and

deeds solely attuned to such goal -- the resultant

integrity of purpose in life enables Man to easily

secure the greatest of spiritual victories called

“purushArtha”. Sometimes in spiritual-minded circles

one will find people using the harshest invectives

against “kaama”. To Gautama Buddha, in fact, was first

attributed the famous misquotation, “Desire is the

root of all suffering”. It is as futile and ridiculous

to blame “kaama” for Man’s sufferings as it might be

to blame Gravity for his inability to fly like a bird.

The life of Tondar-adipOdi reminds us that Desire, by

itself, is not suffering; well-directed,

well-conditioned desires, in fact, lead to the very

opposite of suffering. It is only when desires turn

selfish or self-centered, however, that they become

cause of real pain and suffering in life.

 

Let us recount, even if only very briefly, the

extraordinary life of Sri Tondar-adipOdi.

 

***********

(to be continued)

Regards,

dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

 

 

 

 

 

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