Thiruppavai - 25th verse - AndAL explains avathAra rahasyam here...

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SrI:

SrimathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya nama:

 

Dearest all

 

Today’s verse: 25th verse for our enjoyment…

 

oruththi makanaayp piRan^thu * Or iravil

oruththi makanaay oLiththu vaLarath *

tharikkilaanaakith thaan thINGku ninain^tha *

karuththaip pizhaippiththuk kaNYcan vayiRRil *

neruppenna ninRa netumaalE! * unnai

aruththiththu van^thOm paRai tharuthiyaakil *

thiruththakka celvamum cEvakamum yaam paati *

varuththamum thIrn^thu makizhn^thu ElOr empaavaay. 25.

 

Lord KrishNA's avathAra rahasyam is

being celebrated here. He is " ajAyamAno BahudhA

vijAyathE " ( He manifests Himself in many forms

although He has no birth ). " Devaki mahanAi piRanthu ,

YasOdhai mahanAi " vaLarnthAn .Swamy NammAzhwAr addresses

Him as " piRantha MaayA " ( A master-trickster taking

birth in this world as one of us )in a ThiruvAimozhi paauram.

 

The avathAra rahasyam of this MaayAvi is hinted in

another of Swamy NammAzhwAr's ThiruvAimozhi: " piRanthavARum

vaLarnthavARum " ( How You were born ,How You grew up

and what miracles You wrought --when I reflect on that ,

my soul melts).You were born in Vada Mathurai as the son of

Devaki and grew up in Gokulam as the son of YasOdhai.

Devaki did penance to have You (SarvEsvaran) born as her

son and got her wish fulfilled.The Lord moved to Gokulam on

the head of His father, VasudEvan on the same dark night of

JanmAshtami ( his birth thithi: ashtami )and grew up as

the son of YasOdhai. The heart-broken Devaki cried out

over missing the enjoyment of seeing her son grow up

and perform all those miraculous deeds elsewhere ,

far far away from her: " ThiruvilEn onRum peRRilEn ,

yellam dhaiva nangai YasOdhai peRRALE " ( I do not have

any auspicousness, I have not attained any soubhAgyam .

All of those auspiciousness has been attained by

the divine woman ,YasOdhai ). Thus complains Devaki .

 

In Her ThiruppAvai Paasuram , ANDAL does not mention

explicitly the name of Devaki or YasOdhai , but refers to

both of them as " oruthi " . Here " Oruthti " is a respectful

reverence to the matchless ones (adhvidhyALs) , who had

the Bhaagyam of giving birth to Him and raising Him .

SampradhAyam suggests that we do not call the great ones by

their given names , but refer to them by their place of

birth or vamsam (e.g: ThirukkOttiyUr nampi ,Vangipuratthu

Aacchi et al)Following this sampradhAyam , MaNavALa Maamuni

refers to Swamy Desikan as " Ubhayukthar " ( The great One).

In this traditional way , ANDAL refers to both Devaki and

YasOdhai respectfully as " Orutthi " .He was born to one (orutthi)

and was raised by the other (orutthi).

 

That sarvasaktha-EmperumAn hid all His glories

and power and grew up in Gokulam ( oLitthu VaLara).

He was defenitely not hiding from Kamsan , while

growing up at Gokulam. Because of His aasritha-

VyAmOham ( deep attachment to His beloved

devotees ), He chose to grow up in Gokulam. ANDAL

reminds us of these tatthuvams with the first two lines

of this Paasuram: " Orutthi mahanAi piRanthu , Oriravil

Orutthi mahanAi oLitthu vaLara " .By choosing the word ,

" Oriravil " , ANDAL reminds us that the dark night of

His birth is the same rainy night , when the waters of

YamunA receded to let Him enter Gokuam to take residence

( " piRantha nadu nisiyum , puhuntha nadu nisiyum onRE " )

in Gokulam .

 

AchAryAs are said to be born in Gayathri and to grow up

in AshtAkshari ; they are also said to be born in

Thrumanthiram and grow up in Dhvayam . This AchAryan ,

who is JagadAchAryan revealing His avathAra rahasyam

was born to One and grew up with another.This JagadhAchAryan

talks about those noble souls , who comprehend His avathAra

rahasyam in the tenth chapter of His GithOpanishad:

 

yO maam ajamanAdhim cha vEtthi lOkamahEsvaram

asammUDa: sa marthyEshu sarva paapai: pramuchyathE

--Githai: 10.3

 

(Meaning): " He who knows Me as unborn and without

a beginning and the greatest Lord of the worlds--he

among mortals is undeluded and is released from every sin " .

 

yEthAm vibhUthim yOgam cha mama yO vEtthi tatthvatha:

sOavikampEna yOgEna yujyathE naathra samsaya:

--Githai: 10.7

 

(Meaning): " He who in truth knows this supernal

mainfestation and splendour of auspicious attributes

of Mine , becomes , united with the unshakable YogA of

Bhakthi . Of this , there is no doubt " .

 

As UttamAdhikAris , the Gopis knew of this Bhakthi/Prapatthi

route to the Lord and declared in His presence " Unnai

arutthitthu vanthOm , parai taruthiyAhil , Thiruttakka

selvamum sEvakamum yaamm paadi , vaarutthamum theernthu

MahizhvOm " ( We have woken up all the gOpis and we have

come in a state of great purity to You seeking the greatest of

purushArthams .If You would grant us the boons sought by us ,

we will sing about the great and matching wealth of You and

Your PirAtti and engage in sEvaka vruthti to You both and

be rid of all of our dukkhams and attain bliss (BrahmAnandham).

" uRREn uhanthu paNi seythu unn paadham peRREn " is

One AzhvAr's Sri Sookthi ( adiyEn became dear to You and

joyfully performed kaimkaryam for You and attained

the parama bhAgyam of Your sacred feet). The Gopis

say in this context : " Thirutthakka Selvamum ,

sEvakamum yaam paadi , varutthamum  theernthu mahizhvOm " .

 

Lord KrishNa talks about those born to divine

destiny (dhaivI sampadhi )and the others born

to demonic destiny (aasuri bhUthA:).The Gopis

are the dearest to Him since they have dhaivI

sampadhi. The Lord resides in their Hrudh puNDarIkams

with great vaathsalyam . Kamsan and his ilk are

the aasuri (demonic) type and the lord stays

inside their stomach as huge  fire ( Kanjan

karutthai pizhaipitthu vayiRRil neruppu yenna

ninRa NedumAlE) to destroy them.Gopis arrive

at the Lord's feet with prArthanA-poorvaka

vijy~Apanam and are rewarded . Kamsan and his ilk

approach with arrogance , pride and conceit and

are destroyed like the firefly entering a blaze.

Upanishad BhAshyakArar describes the Lord

staying as fire in the belly of Kamsan and

and as the cool beloved One in the minds of

His devotees this way : " Kamsasya JaDarE

anala samAnatayA sTithavAn , aasritha vishayE

dheerga vyAmOha-saalin " .

 

The Gopis say: " unnai aruthtitthu vanthOm " .

We have come to Your court not to receive

the PaRai (VrathOpakaraNams) but to get You

as our boon . The wealth of parai that we seek

is the supreme wealth of Bhagavath-BhAgavatha-

AchArya Kaimkaryams.

 

The inner meaning here according to Abhinava Desikan

is that the gOpis pray to the Lord to perform His

Baahya AarAdhanam (external aarAdhanam) well.

In the earlier paasurams , they had invoked

the presence of the Lord (aavAhanam) for AarAdhanam,

started with anthar-yaj~nam and eulogized next His

Svaroopa-Roopa-guna-gaNa -Aayudhams  in " anrivuulaham

aLanthAi adip poRRI).Here, they pray for blesings to

perform His BaahyArAdhanam to His satisfaction .

 

PerukkAraNai Swami's svApadesams

Oruriavil          = In this dark samsAric world

 

oruthti mahanAi    = being born as the son of Gayathri

piRanthu orutthi     and growing up (puthalvanAhi) as

mahanAi vaLarnthu    as the son of Moola Manthram

 

oLitthu vaLara     = and staying engaged in thoughts

                     about the Supreme One and discarding

                     all perishable pleasures (siRRinbhams)

 

tarikkilAnAhi      = (we ) who can not bear with

                      the SamsAric tApams

 

thaann ninaintha   = thinking about our current and

                     previous (sins)

 

theenku karutthai  =  thinking about Your ways to quell

pizhaippitthu         the power of those paapams and

                      their phalans

 

kanjan              = thinking about the fierce nature

                      of these sins being destroyed

                      in those with demonic nature

 

vayiRRil neruppenna = and thinking about You standing

ninRa NedumALE !      majestically like the JaadarAgni in

                      their stomach to destroy them .

                      Oh Taapa thraya samanArthi ! Oh Bhagavan!

 

unnai arutthitthu   = We have arrived at Your side seeking

VanthOm               Moksham.

 

Parai taruthiyAhil  = If You are pleased to grant us Moksham

 

Thirut takka        = we will do Saama GhAnam about Your heroic

selvamum yaamm        deeds and sing about the glories of You ,

paadi sevahamum       the wealth of Your PirAtti ( PirAttikku

yaamm paadi           anugunamAna varam EmperumAn yennum nidhi)

 

varuttham           = and will be rid of the sorrows of   

theernthu             samsAram and be immersed in paripoorna

mahizhnthu            BrahmAnandham.

 

[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