Thiruppavai -9th verse- thoomaNi maadatthu- maa maayaa; maadhavaa; vaikunthaa

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SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya nama:

 

Dearest all,

 

Today’s verse is No. 9th- let us enjoy the wonderful commentary of His

Holiness Srimath Paravakkottai Andavan of Sri Poundarikapuram Swami ashramam,

Srirangam – translated into English by Sri CG Balaji Swami.

 

thUmaNi maadaththuc cuRRum viLakkeriyath *

thUpam kamazhath thuyilaNaimEl kaNvaLarum *

maamaan makaLE! maNikkathavam thaaL thiRavaay *

maamIr! avaLai ezhuppIrO * un makaL thaan

UmaiyO? anRic cevitO? anan^thalO? *

Emap perun^thuyil man^thirap pattaaLO? *

maamaayan maathavan vaikun^than enRenRu *

naamam palavum navinRu ElOr empaavaay. 9.

 

In this pasuram, Andal establishes that Bhagavan's holy

names are more powerful than Bhagavan Himself and they can

grant the wishes of the devotees faster. Draupadi in order to get

liberated from the offence thrust upon her, pleaded to the Lord

chanting His divine names " Shankha-chakra-gadaa-paani!

Dwaraka-vaasa! Achyutha! Govinda! Pundarikaksha! I have

surrendered unto you " and in no time even as Dushyasana kept

pulling her saree garment, they just kept coming. Kannan was deep

in worry when he was ready to go back to Srivaikuntham after

having hit by an arrow. He was worried thinking that He could not

help Draupadi, who had such a strong belief in Him. When he was

told not to worry as He had protected her maanam by providing an

unceasing supply of clothing (saree), He said that it was only His

divine names, which had done that deed and He who was the

owner of all those holy names had done nothing.

 

Likewise, the elephant that was caught in the jaws of the

crocodile cried out His divine names, Narayana! Manivanna!

Naganaiya! Aadimula and obtained protection from Him.

 

The Gopis move to another house, which was that of a wealthy

lady. One could see things enmeshed in precious gemstones (ratna

and mani). Mangala deepams (light) were lit all around and the

glitter of the wealth resembled sunshine. Seats and beds that were

prepared for Kannan were beautifully decorated. Since it was

brightly decked, they could see their friend inside the house.

Amidst the surroundings filled with rich fragrance.

 

“Oh girl! How could you take pleasure by sleeping on a soft

cushion, while we, suffering from the pangs of separation from

Kannan are sensing this fragrance to be very unpleasant and the

soft bed of flowers seems like a burning one. She is the one who

has suffered separation from Kannan out of a playful indignation.

She now expects Kannan to come and take her with Him. Don’t you

understand this you girl! Open the latch of the doorâ€, said they.

“Why don’t you open the door for yourselvesâ€, said she from

inside. “We are not able to see the latch properly in this glitterâ€,

said they. Then her mother wakes up and says “Get up oh child.

How could you lay asleep when so many people are calling you from

outside?†Having heard this voice, her friends standing outside

started shouting “Oh! Aunt, could you kindly wake her up? But

they were not successful in waking her up yet.

 

One of her friends with anger said, “Aunt, is your daughter

dumb? Why doesn’t see speak?†while another one said “Oh! are

you deaf?â€, A third one then said, “No, no, I feel she has been with

Kannan joyfully all the time and has come just now perhaps and so

is taking some rest to ease her strainâ€. A fourth one then said “I

think someone must have cast a spell on her by using ammaanpodi

or shukkuppodi, that has made her sleep so long.â€

 

To this Andal says, “Sing the names of the Lord to wake her up.â€

 

“Is that so?

Maamaayaa – One who can attract girls with his mysterious deeds, mischief,

magic,

Maadhavaa – One who is the consort of Lakshmi,

Vaikunthaa – One who resides in a supreme place.â€

 

They could not wake her up yet.

They then started to sing the thousand holy names of the Lord,

and soon her friend was out of her sleep and joined them happily.

Here Andal remains blind in seeing the mistakes of others,

remains dumb when it comes to accusing others and remains deaf

when it comes to hearing ill about others and preaches that if the

sahasranamam of the Lord is recited everyday, then that shall

increase one’s devotion towards Paraman and bring in all round

happiness, at the same time driving away all evil deeds.

 

Andal ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo narayana

dAsan