A Revolutionary lady - Sri Anbil Ramaswamy's brilliant write up - Part 2

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika Mahadesikaya nama:

 

Dearest all,

 

Subsequent to my first post, here is the sequel..

Sri Anbil Swami is pouring in with his Godha sthuthi

posts as well. Insatiable nectar for all your

consumption and pleasure

 

Regards

Namo narayana

dAsan

************

6. Order reversed!

 

The usual refrain in devotion is that it should be in

unison at all levels of mind, word and deed and IN

THAT ORDER.

 

“manas Ekam, Vachas Ekam KarmaN Ekam maha-aatmanaam/

Manas anyath vachas anyath Karman anyath

dur-aathmanaam//

 

Andal recognized how difficult it is to control the

mind and reversed the order completely because it

would then be easier to achieve this. See the Paasuram

5 “Maayanai mannu vaDamathurai mainthanai…” where she

puts the deed first, followed by word and finally by

the mind thus: “Thoo malar thoovi thozhudu” (offering

flowers – a physical act), “vaayinaal PaaDi” (Singing

Lord’s glory – employing words) and finally

“manathinaal chinthikka” (Contemplating on the Lord (a

mental exercise). This has been explained by asmad

Acharyan in his article in his “SathaabhishEka Ratna

maalaa”.

Is not this reversal a revolution in the sequence of

worship?

 

7. First Accept. You have no need to research!

In every Paasuram, you can see the word “yEl-Ore” as a

constant refrain. Now what does this word mean? It is

a combination of two words, namely “yEl” which means

“Accept” and “Ore” which means “Think about it”.

Normally, people are asked to “think about” a matter

and if found agreeable to “accept” the same. Andal

reverses this order. She exhorts us to first accept

and then only think because she had already thought

about the matter exhaustively and arrived at

irrefutable conclusions and there was no need for us

to waste our time and energy in analyzing the pros and

cons of the matter.

 

In Gurukula Vaasm (Residential Studentship), the

system was to “catch them young” teaching the young

pupils to recite mantras by rote in “santhai” mode

because once committed to memory while young, it would

stay put indelibly for the rest of their life. There

is a whale of time after they leave the Gurukulam to

savor the nuances of what they had learned by

retrieving the mantras lodged in memory and enjoying

them. Andal’s approach is similar to this method of

teaching adopted in the olden days. No attempt to

argue it out in the first place!

 

This is also akin to what Tirumazhisai Azhwar advised

in Naanmukhan Tiruvantaadi in which he practically

ordered that he had analyzed all faiths and by a

stroke of good luck had arrived at the conviction and

conclusion that Lord of TiruvEnkaTam IS THE Paramaatma

 

 

“sAkkiyam katrOm, SamaNam katrOm, SankaranAr aakkiya

Aagamanool aarAindhOM; BhaggiyathAl venkaTkariyAnai

SerndOm” (Tiruchanda Viruttam)

 

“We learned SAkkiyam (Jainism) SamaNam (Buddhism) and

did deep research into the doctrine of Saivam; which

were all totally misleading”

 

He advised in no uncertain terms that he having done

all the needed research on our behalf, we should

accept his conclusions as final and have no need to

“think it over” again! He says:

 

Naanmuganai NaaraayaNan paDaithaan - Naanmuganum

Taan mugamaai sankaranait taan paDaithaan – yaan

mugamaai

Anthaadi mEliTTu arivithEn aazh poruLai

Sintaamal koNmin neer tErndu (Nanmugan Tiruvantaadi 1)

What an amount of self confidence Andal has and tries

to infuse in us!

 

8. Magic of Music

 

The Vedas are 4 in number, Rik, Yajur, Saama and

Atharva. A whole Veda, namely, Saama Veda is totally

dedicated to rendering of mantras set to music. We

Indians ought to be proud that we are the pioneers in

integrating Music with Mantras to guide us on our

spiritual journey. Sri Nathamunigal received in a

trance from Swami Nammaazhwar the 4000 holy collects

known as “Naalaayira Divya Prabandams” and promptly

chronicled them (paTTOLai PaDuthuvatu) , setting them

to music with appropriate Raagam, TaaLam etc and

initiated his disciples (MElai agathu Azhwaan and

Keezhai agathu Azhwaan) to spread the message through

the medium of music. This magic of fusion of music and

mantras (Sangeeta and Saahitya) is nowhere seen more

pronouncedly than in the rendering of the psalms of

Andal’s Tiruppavai. Andal, the God intoxicated bridal

mystic repeatedly emphasizes the musical aspect of her

magnum opus – Tiruppavai, using the words “PaaDu,

“PaaDi” etc in most of the 30 stanzas in her work For

example -

 

“Paraman aDi paaDi” (2), “Utthaman pER paaDi” (3),

Vaayinaal paaDi” (5),”kEsavanaip paaDavum” (7),

“paaDip Parai koNDu” (8) “mughil vaNnan pEr paaDa”

(11), “manathukku iniyaani paaDavum” (12), “Keerthimai

paaDip pOi” (13), “Pangayak kaNNaanaip paaDavum” (14),

“maayani paaDElOr” (15), “Thuyil ezhap paaDuvaan”

(16), “maithunan pEr paaDa” (18),”thiruruthakka

selvamum yam paaDi” (25), “PallaaNdu isaippaarE” (20),

“Unnaip paaDip parai koNdu” (27)

Is this not a pioneering effort which no other Azhwar

seems to have attempted?

 

9. Pioneer in Community / Social service

It used to be said that till the time of Bhagavad

Ramanuja the initiation of the esoteric secrets were

handed down on “one to one” basis (OraaN vazhi) i.e.

one preceptor to his one disciple, “one at a time” and

that only Sri Ramanuja opened up the floodgates of

initiation to “one and all” who desired such

initiation.

 

Even her father, Periyaazhwar invited only those who

wished to “save their souls” “vaazh aaT paTTu ninreer

uLLeerEl vandu maNNUm maNamum koNmin” and segregated

and “denied access” to others who were after worldly

pleasures, saying “Koozh aaT paTTu ninreergaLai engaL

kuzhuvinil pugudal oTTOm”.

 

But, the life of Andal shows that she shared the

secrets with all the 5 lakhs Gopis in the style of

“KooDi irundu kuLirndu” and through them the entire

posterity - a kind of community / social service that

made no such distinctions, the only requirement being

a desire for liberation (pOduveer poduminO)

 

Does this not show that in this also she is a pioneer,

a “Maarga Darsi” as mentioned earlier?

 

10. “Womens’ lib movement” - of a different kind!

Do you know that Andal was the first votary of

“Womens’ lib” movement?

 

This, she did - not through rebellion against what is

perceived as “male chauvinism” but through a love and

affection compelling her spouse to do her bidding.

 

The most revolutionary of revolutions she spearheaded

was regarding her marriage. Having taken birth as a

human being she dared to marry the Paramaatma in his

archa moorti and she succeeded in it. Can any woman

(who talks of “Womens’ lib” movement today, desire

similarly, let alone achieve such a feat? It is Andal

who proved her point not only by saying: “maaniDarkku

enru pEtchup paDil vaazhagillEn kaNDaai” (NT 1.5) but

also by accomplishing what she desired.

Thus, Andal is the pioneer of the “Womens’ lib”

movement albeit of a different kind!

 

11. Role Model for “Inter Caste marriage”!

There is one more astonishing point about her

marriage. There was and even today is, so much taboo

on Inter-caste marriages. But, Andal being a Brahmin

married an “iDaiyan” (a community that tends sheep and

cattle and usually live in forest lands). She was thus

a pioneer and a great revolutionary ushering in Inter

caste marriage at a time when people could never

imagine such a sacrilegious thing!

 

It is interesting to note that the same analogy is

presented by Andal and Rukmini in different ways

representing their respective “varnas”. Andal, the

Brahmin girl would not brook marrying anyone else

saying that “the “havis” is prepared for Gods cannot

be touched by a vile wily fox” (This is because

Brahmins engaged in Yagjna used to prepare food for

offering as “havis” to the Gods.) On the other hand,

Rukmini, the Kshatriya girl who also married KrishNa

says that “the meat for offering to Lion cannot be

touched by a vile wily fox”. (This is because before

embarking on a war, Kshatriyas used to offer meat to a

lion.)

 

This, however, cannot be taken as a precedent by

modern girls because neither they can claim to be

Andal or Rukmini nor will they ever dare to marry an

“Archa murthi” like Andal!

 

The credit for this revolution goes to our Andaal.

[To be continued]

 

dasoham

Anbil Ramaswamy

 

 

 

 

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