“karavaigaL” Thiruppavai #28

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Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha, Srimathe Narayanaya Namaha,

Jai Srimannarayana!

 

KaravaigaL means cows. Here cows represent the highest authority Vedas. The

Puranas and Itihasas follow. Gopala is Sriyahpathi who protects Vedas. He

rescued the Vedas stolen by rakshasas and He imparted the knowledge to Brahma.

Hence karavaigaL means the entire Vedic knowledge including the upabrumhaNas.

 

“pinSenru” : One should do all the activities as described in Gita according to

the varNa:srama dharma.

 

“ka:nam Se:rundu”: ka:nam means a deep, dense forests. Upanishads are called

forests. We should spend our time in these forests experiencing the upanishadic

revelations of bhagavan’s swarupam, rupam, kalyana gunas, His vibhutis etc.

 

We have the capacity to enjoy paramatma in toto. Do we? Prapannas are of three

types: those with lots of knowledge, those with lots of bhakti and those without

any knowledge at all. 1) Some have knowledge of all the Vedas, completely

assimilate the entire divine knowledge, lead an absolute Vedic life to the dot,

leave everything in the hands of Lord and guide other souls towards Lord.

Examples include Nathamuni, Yamuna Muni, Sri Ramanujacharya. 2) A few who have

incessant love, have no strength to do any activities as if debilitated, leave

everything to Lord, experiencing him etc. Alwars belong to this category. 3)

There are those who lack any capacity, have no knowledge of the technicalities,

are utterly innocent, have no eligibility at all. Inspite of all these and being

lost in the samsara saagara they still leave their entire responsibility onto

Lord. Gopikas belong to this category.

 

Gopikas worshipped Sri Krishna alone. He likes those who consider Him alone as

Bhagavan, The ‘ananyabhaktas’ are dearest to Him. He loves such devotees so much

that He takes a form and starts living amidst us. “yatho: va:cho: nivartante:!”

If we have this incessant love, Lord will be with us, play with us, eat with us

and be at our command and do what we seek and do and take what He likes, guide

us though He is sarvajna and sarvasaktiman.

 

“kurai vonru millatha go:vinda:!” : va:tsalya, sva:mitva, saulabhyam, sausi:lya,

pra:pti, pu:rti, jnana, Sakti, bala, aiSvrya, vi:rya, te:jaha, prabhuti and all

his kalyana gunas are complete in Him, he is purnam and he is not deficient in

any way. He is Govinda. The sabda prama:nam alone is enough to realize Him. Veda

defines that Bhagavan exists. “ve:daScha sarvai raha me:va ve:dyaha”.

 

“undanno:duravu nammakku”: We have nine relationships with Lord – pita: putra

sambandh, rakshya rakshaka bha:va sambandh, Se:sha Se:shi bha:va sambandh,

bharthru bha:rya sambandh, jna:thru jne:ya sambandh, svatva sva:mi bha:va

sambandha, a:dha:ra a:dhe:ya bha:va sambandh, Sari:ra a:tma bha:va sambandh,

bho:ktru bho:gya bha:va sambandh.

 

“ozhikka ozhiya:dhu”: Dasaradha told Kaikeyi, “you are not my wife” and he told

Bharata, “You are not my son”. Lakshmana told his Dasaratha, “You are not my

father”, kind of disowning him. Kaikeyi did not accept SriRama’s supremacy.

Ravana did not even accept an iota of relationship with SriRama. But Oh my dear

Krishna, “These nine relationships between us cannot be terminated by anyone”.

 

“aRiya:dha piLLaikaLo:m”: We are paratantra to Him. We do not know the protocol

of how to behave, what to do, how to ask, what to ask, how to use, “atyanta

bhakthi yukta:nam na Sa:stram naiva cha kramaha” – Those who have a lot of

bhakthi, need not follow any forms of ceremony or etiquette. The code of conduct

and respect need not be according to sa:stras. Accepting Bhagavan as the upa:ya

mandates six requisites. We lack jnana, bhakti yogas and we may not blessed with

these in future. We seek the all supreme Bhagavan as the upa:ya.

 

“anbina:l”: The reason for this lack of protocol is not to show disrespect, not

to insult, not to look down, not to show conceit but is simply because of true,

unconditional, incessant love.

 

“undhannai siRu pe:r azhaiththanavum”: We address Lord with several names. We

call him a butter thief, cowherd and several demeaning names and ways. This is

only because of our close, friendly, association with Him. He gave us the

freedom. So great are His kalyana gunas. He is in our hrudaya. He knows exactly

what we think and why we think so.

 

Andal is praying, “Krishna! Don’t show your anger, as we need your ‘daya’. Don’t

hinder the fulfilment of our wishes. You are our ‘swami’. We are your

possessions. You have to protect your belongings. We are your responsibility.

We cannot protect ourselves anyways as we are paratantras.”

 

Oh my Lord, “Do you know what the parai we seek is? Not the one that is implied

by the external meaning. These external things needed for the vrata are not our

actual expectations. This is our worship, our kaimkarya, This is the essence of

what follows na:ra:yaNa padam in the Astakshari mantra that we are seeking. We

want that status which will enable us to do your kaimkarya always. We seek that

essence which is depicted by the namaha padam of dvaya mantra. Dear Krishna,

please get rid of all our wants which are hindrances and obstacles for our wish

to do your kaimkaryam”.

 

Andal divya thiruvadigale saranam! Adiyen ramanuja dasaha!

Jai Srimannarayana!