Thiruppavai - 17th verse- May Divya Dampathi bless us on this new year for continued association with BhAgawathas

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SrI:

SrimathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya nama:

 

Dearest all

 

Today’s verse: 17th verse for our enjoyment…

 

ambaramE thaNNIrE cORE aRaNYceyyum *

emperumaan nan^thakOpaalaa ezhun^thiraay *

kombanaarkku ellaam kozhun^thE kulaviLakkE *

emperumaatti yacOthaay aRivuRaay *

ambaram UtaRuththu ONGki uLaku aLan^tha *

umbar kOmaanE uRaNGkaathu ezhun^thiraay *

cem poR kazhalatic celvaa palathEvaa *

umbiyum nIyum uRaNGkEl Or empaavaay. 17.

 

In the previous Paasuram, the gatekeepers

were requested to open the doors of NandagOpan's palace

so that the Gopis can get inside and wake up King NandagOpan,

Queen YasOdhA, Lord KrishNA and Prince BaladEvan,

the elder brother of Sri KrishNA. The gatekeepers

obliged and the Gopis stand now in front of the bed

chambers of each of them and appeal to them to awaken.

 

Literal Meaning of the Paasuram (Dr.V.K.S.N.Raghavan):

 

Oh King NandagOpA, Our Sire and the one reputed for high

charity in giving away many clothes, abundant water,and

large quantity of food! Kindly awaken! Oh Queen yasOdhA,

the foremost scion among women of sterling character (lit.who

are slim and firm like Vanjik Kombhu)! Oh Devi, who is

the beacon light (of the whole woman kind! Please rise up!

Oh Lord of Gods, who grew (into a gigantic form) and

pierced through the space, and measured (with two steps)

all the worlds! Please refrain from sleep and get up!

Oh Prince BaladEvA (the strong and powerful Lord) adorning

the golden anklets of a Hero! May Your younger brother

and yourself get up without ptrolonging your sleep (uRangEl).

 

The Inner Meanings of the Paasuram (Sri PBA Swamy)

 

Here NandagOpar, YasOdhai, KrishNan and BalarAman are

sequentially awakened as symbols of AchAryan, Thiru Manthiram,

the Meaning of Thiru Manthiram and the Essence of

Thiru Manthiram (AshtAsharam, Moola Manthram).

 

The ascendance of NandagOpar in this order of salutation

(EmperumAN NandagOpAlA)may sound odd, but he is

the NiyAmakan (commander) of even the Sarva NiyAmakan

(Our Lord, the controller and commander of one and all).

 

In this paasuram EmperumAn NandagOpan is identified as

performing dhAnam of Amparam, TaNNIr and sORu. Amparam

stands for AakAsam (Sri Vaikuntam: ParamAkAsa sabdha

Vaachya pradesam /â€nalamanthamillAthOr Naaduâ€).

NandagOpan is invoked FIVE times in ThiruppAvai

(Paasurams 1,16,17,18 and 21) to perform MangaLAsAsanam

for His generosity, parAkramam and wealth.

 

YasOdhai is awakened next asâ€kompanArkellAm kozhundhE

KulaviLakkE " . She is the One, who has the bhAgyam of

having the Lord as Her son (ThiruvilEn yEnonRum

peRRilEn, YELLAAM DHAIVA NANGAI YASODHAI PERRAALE).

YasOdhA is the brightest lamp of the GopAla kulam

(Kula ViLakku) for enhancing the radiance of

“Aayar kulatthinil thOnRum aNi viLakkuâ€(Lord KrishNA).

NandagOpan and YasOdhA are extrapolated to the ranks

of the Lord and His PirAtti here.

 

Next KaNNan (YasOdhai iLam singam) is awakened with

the appeal (ampara mooDaRutthu Ongi ulahaLantha

Umbar kOmAnE! urangAthu yezhunthirAi). Here, the link

between KrishNan and His earlier ThrivikramAvatharam

is made.Thrice in ThiruppAvai, ANDAL refers to

ThrivikramAvatharam (Paasuram 3,17 and 18) as

" Ongi UlahaLantha Utthaman, UlahaLantha Umbar

KomAnE and anRivvulaham aLanthAi adip pORRI " .

YasOdhai herself warns the people of Gokulam

not to mistake the Kuttik KaNNan as helpless One

and asks them to go find out about His power

and soulabhyam from MahA Bali Chakravarthy

(SiRiyan yenRu yenniLam singatthai ihazhEl

KaNDAi, siRumayin vaarthayai Maavaliyidaic-

chenRu kELâ€.In ThrivikramAavthAram, His sacred

feet touched every one in the Universe independent

of their rank, status, education or tapas.

KaNNan at Gokulam mingled with the cowherd girls

and boys as well as with kings and sages later

at BrundhAvanam and DhvArakai.Thus, this ease of

access (Soulabhyam) is common both to KrishNAvathAram

and ThrivikramAvathAram and the Gopis celebrate this

aspect of BhagavAn's kalyANa guNams.

 

The Gopis awaken KrishNA ; He does not stir.

They recognize that He has to be awakened through His

elder brother, BaladEvan and address latter as

the heroic one (SempoRRk Kazhaladi SelvA Bala dEvA " ).

They ask the brothers to awaken together and bless them

(Umpiyum Neeyum uRangEl).The combined appeal to

the BhAgavathOtthaman BalarAman (AdhisEshAvathAram)

and BhagavAn is for reminding us that BhAgavatha

Seshathvam and Bhagavath Seshathvam are inseperable.

 

Sri P.B.A. Swamy referred toâ€Amaparamâ€earlier as

AakAsam or Sri VaikunTam (ParamAkAsam). The next

dhAnam that NandagOpan is known for is the giving

away of water (TaNNIr) for those, who are thirsty.

TaNNIr here stands for Virajai, the sacred river in

Sri VaikuNTam. The One, who bathes people in Virajai

is recognized as NandagOpan.â€sORuâ€is the annam

identified in Upanishad (annam BrahmEthi vyajAnAth).

AchAryan is the One, who helps us experience

BrahmAnubhavam with Saama GhAnam (ahamanAthOham

annAthOham). As Swamy NammAzhwAr recognized

(“Yeduttha pErALan NandhagOpanâ€), the king of

Gokulum is equatable to AchAryan.He had the incomparable

wealth of KaNNan as his child and had ParipUrNa

BrahmAnubhavam.

 

Inner Meanings: Abhinava Desika UtthamUr Swamy

 

In the pancha kaala PrakriyAs, this paasuram

is linkable to the stage of Bhagavath AarAdhanam,

where AdhisEshan and othe Nithya Sooris are

invoked to join the AaarAdhanam for BhagavAn.

" SempoRRk Kazhaladiâ€identifies with the samarpaNam of

Paadhukai for the Lord (AdhisEshan) during one stage

of the AarAdhanam.

 

When one porceeds to perform AarAdhanam, the first

salutation goes to AchAryans. In Sri Vaikuntam itself,

the first salutations are to AchAryAs before approaching

the Lord and His dEvis.The awakening (salutation)

of the AchAryan in Bhagavath sannidhAnam is covered

in thisâ€AmparamE TaNNIrE sOREâ€paasuram.

 

Amparam can be split into am+Param. am means beautiful

and Param means ParamAthma Vasthu. Therefore amparam

means altogether the sarva VyApi Lord,Sri VishNu-

NaarAyaNan, the AkAra Vaachyan.â€TaNNIrâ€or water

is absolutely essential to grow annam. Hence,

" TaNNIrâ€is UpAyam or Bhakthiroopa DhyAnam.

sORu is parama purushArtham as described in

Upanishad Vidhyais (Aanandhamaya, Samvarga

and VaisvAnara Vidhyais): the parmaanna Parama Purusha

Prabhu is the PurushArtham (Ultimate goal and end).

 

Inner Meanings by PerukkAraNai Swamy (Selected Excerpts)

 

 

The gopis say :â€Oh NandagOpA! You give away generously food,

clothing and water to all those, who seek them. These are

anithya (perishable items)vasthus. Please grant us as DhAnam,

the food known as Kuttik KaNNan. He isâ€uNNUm sORu,

Paruhu neer,Thinnum VeRRilaiâ€for us. He is our Taaraka,

Posahaka BhOgya Nithya vasthu.

 

The AaypAdi girls had grat attachment to ThrivikramAvathAram.

That is why they referred thrice in ThiruppAvai

the mysterious deeds of Thrivikraman (Ongi UlahaLantha,

amparam oodarutthu Ongi ulhaLanatha and anRi ivvulaham

alanthAi adip pORRI). When One has reverence and attachment

for an object, we invoke its name thrice The peace invocation

for instance is made thrice in vedhams (PraNavam ShAnthi:

ShAnthi:ShAnthi:).

 

“SempoRRk Kazhaladi BaladEvA " : the Paadhukai, which is

embellished with Gold (Kaanchana/SvarNa Paadhukai)of

the Lord (PadhukE Hema BhUshithE)is saluted here.

 

In the previous Paasuram, the three Sri VaishNava Rahasyams

were referred to.In this Paasuram, the MEANINGS of

the three rahasyams are alluded to. Amparam is PraNavam;

sORu isâ€NaarAyaNAya " ;TaNNIR is Nama: Sabdham of

the Moola manthram. ANDAL usesâ€Amâ€, the BhIjAksharam

as a woman through choice of the word Amparam. TaNNIr can be

split into TaNN + Neer (Cool water fall).The UpAyam of

Bhakthi that flows like Tila Thail TAArai is implied here.

Nama: sabdham includes SaraNAgathi.SaraNAgathi is an

angam for Bhakthi and therefore the two upAyams of

Bhakthi and Prapatthi are included by use of

the word,â€TaNNIrâ€.Our Lord isâ€SORuâ€in

the spirit of Swamy NammAzhwAr's anubhabhavam

(UNNum SORu, Paruhu neer ---).

 

>Fromâ€AmparamE--NandagOpAlA " , AchAryan, who stands

in the form of PithA is invoked. Fromâ€KompanArkkellAm--

--YasOdhAâ€, the Manthram that stands in the role of

Mother is invoked.YasOdhA is the Yasas giving

Mother. The Vedam says in this context : " YasO Brahma:â€

Inâ€SempoRRk Kazhaladi--Umpiyum Neeyum uRangEL " ,

anugraham from the Lord and His Tamar (BhAgavathAs)

are beseeched.

 

May the anugraham of the SaraNya Dampathis and our

AchAryans bless every one of the electronic sathsanghams

in this new year and bring us closer to Them and facilitate increasing

kainkaryasree in us.

 

[Extracted from Sri Satakopan swami’s translation of exhaustive Tamil

commentary on Thiruppavai by Sri U Ve PerukaraNai Swami]

 

Andal Thiruvadigale saraNam

Regards

Namo narayana

dAsan