Thiruppavai - 24th verse - We have cocme to You here now today to offer our prayers and seek protection!

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SrI:

SrimathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya nama:

 

Dearest all

 

Today’s verse: 24th verse for our enjoyment…

 

anRu ivvulakam aLan^thaay ati pORRi *

cenRaNGkuth thennilaNGkai ceRRaay thiRal pORRi *

ponRac cakatam uthaiththaay pukazh pORRi *

kanRu kuNilaa eRin^thaay kazhal pORRi *

kunRu kutaiyaay etuththaay kuNam pORRi *

venRu pakai ketukkum nin kaiyil vEl pORRi *

enRenRu un cEvakamE Eththip paRai koLvaan *

inRu yaam van^thOm iraNGku ElOr empaavaay. 24.

 

The ThiruvadikaL (feet)and the ThirukkaikaL

(hands) of the Lord are the key limbs, which are behind His

majestic gait and unparalleled generosity to bless us

with what we seek according to Abhinava Desikan. Hence,

the Gopis praise His gambeera Nadai and boon-granting hands.

Indirectly,they praise His souseelyam, Soulabhyam and

Paraakramam (valour).Since Thrivikrama, Raama and

KrishnAvathArams are dear to them, they take instances

from these avathArams to salute His nadai with

Srimath GaambhIryam and His auspicious vara-dhAna

hastham.His valor is also saluted separately.

 

BhagavAn has four kinds of gait ( chathur-Vithaa gathi)

according to JnaanyAcchAr Swamy with special attributes:

 

(1) Rishabatthin serukku ( majesty of oxen)

(2) Mattha Gajatthin Thimirppu ( the abandon of the elephant

in rut)

(3) Puliyin Urattu ( Tiger's speed and control like a wound wire)

(4) Simhatthinudaya parAbhibhavana saamarthyam

( The confident and powerful gait of a Lion

as the King of the jungle and conqueror of

all beasts)

 

The Gopis want the Lord to walk to the throne

from His bed side and make them blissful through

the enjoyment of His different gaits as He takes

the steps.

 

Lord KrishNaA accompanied by Nappinnai reaches

the throne room, sits on the simhAsanam and

the Gopis are overwhelmed by their darsana

soubhAgyam and sing pallANDu for His Thiruvadi

along the lines of PeriyAzhwAr ( Unn sEvadi sevvit-

thirukkAppu ).

 

Their pallANDU for the Dhivya Dampathis seated on

the throne is described by Upanishad BhAshyakArar

this way:â€Tatha: SimhAsanE upavishtam KrishNam

aalOkya MangaLAni prayunjathE “( MangaLAsAsanam

is performed by the Gopis to the Lord seated on

His SimhAsanam). Then they take the next step of

stating the purpose of their visit to seek saamagriyAs

(accessories)for the observance of the Vratham of Paavai

Nonbhu and pray for eternal kaimkaryam to Him ( sarva Kaalam

Tvath PadhAnamEva sthuthva, vrathOpakaraNam Vaadhya

VisEsham icchantha: samAgathavAn, TathO dayAm Kuru).

 

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

 

(Slowly and gradually, the young gopis could find

Lord KrishNA (1) sleeping (2)getting up and (3) walking

towards them.In the meanwhile, when He walks, they

perform mangaLAsAsanam for His ThiruvadigaL:â€Earlier--

on that day (long ago) You meausred this Universe

( with this pair of feet); ( now we hail) protection

and glory to such a pair of Your feet. Earlier(long ago),

You went there to LankA in the Southern region and killed

RaavaNA, the aparAdhi; ( we proclaim) protection and

glory to Your enormous vanquishing power.You gave a kick

to sakatAsurA ( the asuran, who came in the form of

a cart to crush You) and You destroyed Him with Your

Thiruvadi; (we hail) glory and safety to Your fame.

(Bending Your feet in stiff posture) You threw the calf

(vathsAsuran) like a fierce rock-like stick against

another demon (KappittAsuran), who had taken the form

of a wood-apple tree, so that both of them were kiled

simultaneously ; (we hail) glory and safety to Your

victorious anklet and feet (that performed this miracle).

You have lifted aloft the GovardhanA mountain just as an

umbrella ; (we sing) hail and safety to Your pristine

merits and grace. You hold in Your hand, a powerful

spear that completely subjugates and eradicates Your

enemies;(we sing)â€hail and glory to that spear in Your

hand “--thus, indeed, do we hail and sing Your miraculous

deeds, valour and auspicous ThiruvadikaL. We have come to

Your side today now to offer our prayers and to seek

the drum (paRai)from You, So Please be compassionate

to us, who seek eternal Kaimkaryam to You.

 

PerukkAraNai Swamy's anubhavam

 

This Paasuram is one of the most auspicous one

in ThiruppAvai. That is why we recite it twice.

Since the prayer is in the form of a PallANDu,

it can be recited many times more.

 

The gana prEmai (deep affection) of the Gopis

for their Lord poured forth in the form of

MangaLAsAsanam and PallANDu. They forgot what

they came for.First, they hail the Thiruvadi

that measured the Universes as Thrivikraman

(anRivvulaham aLanthAi adip pORRi ). This is

the third time ANDAL refers to Thrivikraman's

mysterious deed ( Ongi UlahaLantha, ambarmUdarutthu

Ongi ulhalantha and anRivvulaham aLanthAi here ).

The anusandhAnam for three times is perhaps to

remind us that Vaamanan begged for three feet

of land from Emperor Bali.She seems to say

that MahA Bali could not succeed in granting

three feet of land, but She gave Him three

feet/adis (Each ThiruppAvai Paasuram has eight

feet or Yettadi). She devoted one adi in each

of the above three paasurams to salute the magnificent

deed of Thrivikraman, which is hailed by the VedAs

as " ThrINi padhAn VichakramE " ).The Gopis say:

“anRu ivvulaham aLanthAi!adip pORRi! inRu Yaam

vanthOm “.After saluting MahA Bali VrutthAntham,

the Gopis saluted the valor of the Lord in destroying

RaavaNan as Raaman, SakatAsura vadham and the wonderous

deed of lifting Govardhana Giri to teach Indran, normally

an anukoolan, an unforgettable Lesson.

 

The Inner meanings of this Paasuram( PerukkAraNai Swamy)

 

We have arrived today to sing pallANDu for Your

valorous deeds in Vibhavam and to seek eternal

kaimkaryam to You in Parama Padham (YenRenRum

unn sEvakamE yEtthi parai koLLa inRu yaamm

vanthOm ). Please have dayA for us (irangu).

 

We hail the spear like, sharp-edged sankalpam

of Yours,which banishes obstructions to

gaining Moksha Siddhi ( venRu pahai kedukkum

ninn kaiyill vEL pORRi).

 

We hail Your lofty guNams as Sri VaikuntanAthan

as the SarvEsvaran seated under the white umbrella

(yEka ChakrAdhipathi with svEtha Chathram); { kunRu

kudayAi yedutthAi guNam pORRi}in Parama Padham.

 

We hail your heroic deeds that destroy like a powerful

daNdam thrown at our PuNya Paapams ( KuNilA kanRu

yeRinthAi, Kazhal pORRi).

 

“Sakatam ponRa uthaitthAi puhazh pORRi " : we hail

Your glories that destroy the manOrathams of Jeevans,

which are the causes behind the naraga-Svarga anubhavams!

 

“angu senRu tenn Ilankai seRRAi thiRal poRRi " : Hail to

Your sakthi which is manifested through Your presence

in the universe as antharyAmi, VibhavAtharan and

AchAryan and for conferring the power of vivEkam

to ward off the moksha virOdhis !

 

“anRu ivvulaham aLanthAi adip pORRi " : Hail to Thee,

who created all these Universes and their beings and

for making Your Thiruvadi as UpAyam for our Prapathti!

 

We are eulogizing Your powers of creation, power to

control our sanchala manas, power of Your guNmas

that save us from enjoying the fruits of Paapa-puNyams,

power to banish mOksha VirOdhis. We besseech You through

our prayers to give us the VrathOpakaranams and to

listen to our request for eternal kaimkaryam at Your

holy feet;have mercy on 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