Thiruppavai 26 malE maNivaNNaa

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Pasuram26-

mAlE maNivaNNA

 

mAlE

maNivaNNA mArgazineerAduvAaam

mElaiyAr

seyvanagaLvEnduvanaj kEttiyEl

jnAlatthai

ellAm nadunga muralvana

pAlnnavaNNatthun

pAnchajanniyamE

pOlvanasangangaL pOyppASdudaiyanavE

SAlapperumparaiyE

pallANdisaippArE

kOlaviLakkE

kodiyE vithAnmE

Alin

ilaiyay aruLElO rempAvai

 

O Lord,

you are the beloved of your devotees, you are of the colour of sapphire, listen

to what we want from you after our sacred bath in the month of margazi

following the tradition set out by our elders. We want conches like your milk-hued

panchajanya which causes tremor for the whole world with its sound, great

drums, people who sing pallaAndu, beautiful lamps, flag and canopies. You who

recline on the banyan leaf, please grant us all this.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/wznxoo male manivannapart1

http://www.sendspace.com/file/xq99v0 male manivanna part2

This

pasuram is the 26th. It signifies the Lord, who is paramathma.There are

24 thathvas or evolutes of prkrthi, the primordial nature and 25th is

the jeevathma denoted as purusha who is implied by the last pasuram 'orutthimaganaippirandhu'

This pasuram refers

to the paramathma ,the 26th. It also denotes the ashtakshara manthra which is

8=2+6.The number 2 stands for the dhvaya manthra and the number 6

denotes the six padhas of the dhvaya and also the six angas,

limbs of prapatthi.

 

mAlE- He is having vathsalya for His

creations and hence comes now and then as incarnations to see to their welfare.

 

maNivaNNA-He is having the colour of a blue

sapphire, indhraneelamaNi, as described by almost all devotee-saints like

Desika, Narayanabhattadri and

Thyagaraja.

 

 

mElaiyar seivanagaL- the austerities and charities as shown by the elders.

 

They ask for six things:

1.sangam-conch like panchajanyam of the Lord.

2.parai-drum

3.pallAndisaipAr-the group who

sing pallandu, when the Lord is taken on a procession, the composition

of Preriazvar, which marks the beginning of the Nalayiradivyaprabandham.It

is a benediction for the Lord Himself.

 

Periazvar

won the argument in the court of the Pandyan king solely due to the grace of

the Lord at whose command he went though he did not know anything except to

offer garlands and sing to the Lord. Then the king mounted him on the elephant

and set him on a procession. The Lord Koodalazagar of Madurai manifested Himself in front of Azvar

seemingly to watch His devotee honoured thus. Not realising that the

Lord appears only to him, the azvar sang pallandu, as a protection for

the Lord from evil eyes. such was the vathsalya he felt towards the Lord.

 

4.Kola viLakku- The ornamental lamps that are

carried in a temple procession.

5.kodi- the flag that is carried

when the Lord comes on procession

6. vithanam- the canopy on the top.

Of

these, three lines are allotted for the conch alone may be because,

1. it is

equivalent to the pranava which has three mathras, a,u, and m.

2. Panchajanya

was born in the sea, grew into the body of the asura panchajana and finally

reached the hand of the Lord.

3.Krishna also was born in Madura, grew in Gokula and

migrated to Dvaraka.

 

pOyppAdu udaiyana- Panchajanya has a wide interior.

 

4.We are

born from the womb of the mother and grow into a devotee through the wide jnana

given by praNava, signified by Panchajanya and finally reach Vaikunta.

 

5.The

white coloured conch is supposed to give loud sound. The white colour also

denotes satthva which is the great sound that enters the heart (hari enra pEraravam uLLam pugundhu-pasuram6) and drives out

the rajas and thamas.

 

SAlapperumparai -The drum which is large and

sounds loud so that no other talk will be heard and the mind will be completely

absorbed in the divyamangakla svarupa of the Lord.

 

Krishna

might have said that his panchajanya is only one and how can he give it to them

and also they wanted many, (sangangal) and Andal replies by

calling him 'Alin ilaiyay' one who

slept on a banyan leaf, meaning that nothing is impossible for him. He can

create, sustain and annihilate the world, all can be done through the sound of

his conch alone, as it is synonymous with pranava. When Krsihna blew his conch

before the battle all the kouravas were already destroyed and the actual battle

was only a drama through his leela.

 

The

banyan tree is calpable of giving shade to whole army.( aNnal yAnai aNi thEr puravi Atperumpadaiyodu mannanrkkirukka

niZalAgummE) Similarly the Lord gives shadow for the good, 'vivAsavrkshah

sAdhoonAm;vasudhevatharucchAya.' Vasudeva is the tree in whose shadow the

good are residing.

 

The word

'Alin ilaiyay' implies that He is

capable of doing anything. He converted an ordinary kuSa grass into brahmasthra

in Ramavathara and reduced the sea to a ditch by crossing over it easily, used

monkeys as His army and vanquished the mighty Ravana as easily as he would swat

a fly, and endless miracles He did in Krishnavathara. The word denotes His swamithvam, over-lordship and the word maNivaNNa denotes His soulabhya, easy accessibility.

 

The same

idea we can see in the charamasloka, 'sarvadharman

parithyajya mAm Ekam SaraNam

vraja, aham thvAm sarvapApEbhyah

mOkshayishyAmi mA uchah.'

"Give

up all dharma and surrender to Me alone and I will release you

from all sins, do not despair."

 

By

saying mAm SaraNam vraja the Lord denotes His soulabhya, meaning "I am

here for anyone easily available to surrender," and the word aham denotes

His swamithva, hence the power of

removing our sins.

 

This

pasuram is important not only because it is the 26th thus signifying the

paramathman but also because it outlines all the constituents of SaraNAgathi.

 

Prapatthi

or SaraNAgathi in vaishnava tradition has three levels and six limbs.

The

three levels are:

 

1.svarupasamarpaNam

2.phalasamarpaNam

3.bharasamarpaNam

 

1. svarupasamarpanam means placing

our svarupa , natural self at His feet as His Sesha, property. This was

indicated by 'oLindhuvaLara' in the

previous pasuram which means giving up our ego and living as His dasa.

2.Phalasamarpanam is offering the

fruit of our actions at his feet and this was implied by 'selvamum sevakamum' in the previous pasuram meaning that the fruit

of their endeavour is only His kainkarya.

3.Bharasamarpanam is laying down

the responsibility of our protection at His feet. This is denoted by the words 'arundhitthu vandhom' which means they

hold Him only as the means and end.

 

The six

angas of Prapatthi are:

1.Anukoolya sankalpam-

The resolve to do only the acts which are approved by Him.

2.prAthikoolya varjanam-Not

to gdo anything that is forbidden by Him.

3.mahAviSvAsam- Absolute faith.

4.gOpthrthvavaraNam-Entreaty to

Him to grant protection.

5.karpaNyam-(Akinchanyam)-

Awareness of one's utter helplessness and praying for His grace..

6.Phalathyagam-surrendering

the result of action also to Him.

 

1.SAlapperumparai-

denotes Anukoolya sankalapam.Parai

is the enjoined karma which are approved by God. Perumparai is the

resolve to do the enjoined karma.

 

2.jnAlatthai ---pOyppAdudaiyanaveL- prthikoolya

varjanam-pAnchajanyam means the indhriyavyaApAra, born of indhriyas,

that is anything done with the five indhriyas. pAlannavaNNam- denotes

the satthva- oriented action and pOippAdu

implies wide application of indhriyas in avoiding the actions that are

prohibited.

 

3.kOlavilakku- denotes mahAviSvasam.the faith

should be like the kutthuviLakku, steady and one-pointed.

 

4.vithAnam-gopthrthvavaraNam.as the vithAna , canopy protects the Lord

from sun and rain He will protect us from sin

..

5.kodi-karpanyam.The word kodi also means creeper and the prapanna needs

the support of the Lord as the creeper needs the tree.

 

6.pallAndisaippar- those who have no other wish

except singing the glory of the Lord, indicate phalathyagam.This way of

life continues till the end for a prapanna.