Thiruppavai - 4th verse- Aazhi mazhaik kaNNAAA!

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SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya nama:

 

Dearest all,

 

Let us enjoy the fourth verse of ThiruppAvai…

 

aazhi mazhaik kaNNaa! onRu nI kai karavEl *

aazhiyuL pukku mukan^thu kotu aarththERi *

Uzhi muthalvan uruvam pOl mey kaRuththup *

paazhiyan^ thOLutaip paRpanaapan kaiyil *

aazhi pOl minni valampuri pOl ninRathirn^thu *

thaazhaathE caarNGkam uthaiththa caramazhai pOl *

vaazha ulakinil peythitaay * naaNGkaLum

maarkazhi nIraata makizhn^thu ElOr empaavaay. 4.

 

In this pasuram the greatness of the devotees of the Lord are

being told. When Andal, along with Her friends set out to take a

holy dip, the Lord of rain comes and stands in front of them. All the

other celestials would be waiting to perform some service to the

devotees of Paraman. Even Yama says to his followers, “Do not go

near people who recite the holy name of Paramanâ€. Such is the

greatness of Bhaagavathas.

 

Andal, the very incarnation of mother Earth after having seen

the Lord of the rains in front of her ordered him thus “You should

make sure without exception that the entire land gets a good

uniform rainfall regularlyâ€. Piraatti’s compassion has no

discrimination. When the demons set fire to the tail of Hanuman,

she had ordered “Fire, you shall not harm Hanuman with your

scorching flames, but shall give him a pleasant cooling effectâ€.

When Ravana was making adverse remarks at Sitai and though she

had the power to burn him into ashes, she did not use it. Andal’s

compassion is similar in nature. “Oh! Lord of rain, take lots of

water from the ocean, and become dark in hue like Paraman, who

is the sole savior and the material and instrumental cause of this

universe. Shine like the discus in His right hand, reverberate like

the balamuri conch in His left hand and rain down like the arrows

shot from His bowâ€, says Andal. Valmiki says, “When Sri Rama

killed around fourteen thousand demons at Janasthanam, then

nobody ever looked at Him take His bow, fix an arrow and drag the

string till His ear and shoot it at lightening speed. Everyone just

watched the demons fall down. It was Andal’s wish that a dry

Aayarpadi should be getting lots of rains, that is an acharya and

his deeds are being talked about in this pasuram.

Acharyan is the one who has full knowledge of Brahman

(Brahma jnanam), who has totally dissociated himself from

anything other than Paraman. He is the one who performs the

ordained duties without fail (nitya nailittika karma), one who has

dipped himself in the ocean of divine attributes of Paraman, one

who constantly contemplates on these divine attributes of the Lord

and sheds tears of joy. Just like how a cloud takes away pure water

from the salty waters of the ocean and showers it as cool potable

water, an acharyan preaches the Bhagavad vishayam and tatvams

(truths), which are the most essential essence of the Vedas. Similar

to how the clouds tend to move with breeze and cause rains at

different places, so does an acharyan move from place to place and

cause (jnana mazhai) rain of wisdom and truths.

 

Just like a water bearing cloud, an Acharya is one who gives

knowledge but does not expect anything in return. This pasuram

teaches us that it is only through an Acharyan’s anugraham that

one could ever attain Paraman

 

These English translations for were written by Sri CG Balaji Swami of Bangalore

on the discourses by asmadhacharyan His Holiness Srimad Paravakottai Andavan

Swami broadcast in AIR, Trichy. Out of Swamy’s infinite mercy, His Holiness

had assented to give a series of concise and succinct lectures on the topic of

the most delectable Thiruppavai of Andal. These lectures were broadcast on Radio

Trichy. The same was later brought out in a printed edition from the illustrious

house of ‘Sri Kanchi Perarulalan’. This tamizh treatise was released during

the occasion of Swamy’s shathabhishekam during Vikrama- Panguni-Rohini, year

2001. Our profound thanks to Sri CG Balaji Swami for his efforts in translations

for the benefit of all of us.

 

Andal ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo narayana

dAsan