Thiruppavai - 1st verse - Narayanan alone would grant only to us, the moksha samrAjya

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SrI:

SrimathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya nama

 

Dearest all

 

Today is the 1st day of Margazhi- a great divine month. Let us enjoy the verse

and summary level meaning.

 

maargazhith thiNGkaL mathin^iRain^tha nannaaLaal *

nIraatap pOthuvIr! pOdhuminO nErizhaiyIr! *

seermalkum aayppaatic celvac ciRumIrkaaL! *

kUrvEl kotun^thozhilan nan^thakOpan kumaran *

Eraarn^tha kaNNi yacOthai iLaNYciNGkam *

kaarmEnic ceNGkaN kathir mathiyam pOl mukaththaan *

naaraayaNanE namakkE paRai tharuvaan *

paarOr pukazhap patin^thu ElOr empaavaay. 1.

 

Every one of us is an ANDAL and like Her must long for union with the Lord.

ANDAL was born as a girl and it was easy for Her to become a bride for the

eternally youthful Bridegroom, Sri RanganAthan. Other AzhwArs were males and

they had to adopt the sentiments, language and dress of ANDAL to become the

bride, which they did successfully (as Parankusa Naayaki/Swamy NammAzhwAr and

ParakAla Naayaki/Thirumangai AzhwAr) to a large extent. THAT MUST BE OUR GOAL ;

we must acquire right knowledge sitting at the feet of a SadAchArya ;The

AchAryan will transform us as a bride and offer us to the Lord , who is eager to

accept us. So long as we are in this world , we must try to do KAIMKARYAM to

BhagavAn and His devotees , which is like the foretaste of what we are going to

enjoy ultimately in

the Transcendent World " -- Professor A.SrinivAsa Raaghavan(1986)

 

The Saint-poetess ANDAL , the avathAram of BhUmi DEvi observed Paavai Nonbhu (

Paavai vratham) to attain Lord KrishNA as Her Husband (BharthA). She observed a

Vratham ,which is a variation of the KaathyAyini Vratham described in Srimath

BhAgavatham.The Month chosen for the vratham was Marghazhi or Dhanur Maasam.This

vratham takes a whole Month to complete. ANDAL became one of the Gopis of

Gokulam -- who observed the Marghazhi Vratham --and joined Her young friends to

obtain the PurushArtham ( the choicest /Highest boon) of Nithya Kaimkaryam

(eternal service to the Lord )and to have Him as their BharthA.

 

ANDAL addresses Her play mates and fellow Vratham observers as " yElOrempAvAi " .

Sri UtthamUr Swamy has explained that this " yElOrempAvai " refrain found in the

29 of the 30 verses of ThiruppAvai as Yel+ ohr+YempAvAi ( Oh My dear friend ! I

will describe the facets of this Paavai Nonbhu and please understand them,

accept their meanings and practise them ).

 

The words " NeerAdap pOthuveer " in this paasuram and elsewhere has nothing to do

with taking a bath in the YamunA river at early morning as an essential

preparatory step of the Vratham. NeerAttam (Bathing )

means really the KrishNa samsLesham ( or Union with Lord KrishNa). Sunai Aadal

is an ancient expression denoting the same and has been used from Sanga Kaalam

 

ANDAl considered SrivilliputthUr of South as the AayarpAdi of North,the girls of

Her birth place as Gopis and Herself as one of the Gopis and the temple of

Vatapathra Saayee as NandhagOpar's ( father of KrishNa at Aayar Paadi )house and

Lord VatapathrasAyee as Lord KrishNa Himself and

performed the Vratham. This feeling state (Bhavaanai) ripened and yielded the

sought-after fruits of that Vratham . She blessed us to follow this vratham and

be blessed.

 

First verse: " Marghazhi ThingaL mathi niRaintha NannALAl.. "

 

Literal Meaning by Dr.V.K.S.N.Raghavan:

 

" It is the good full Moon day of the month of Marghazhi. Oh the well ornamented

maidens! Those desirous of taking the bath (in the YamunA ) may please come on.

Oh the prosperous young girls of AaypAdi ( Gokulam) that is rich and grand ( in

beauty and wealth) ! Lord NaarAyana will surely yield to us alone the drum

(paRai). He is the son of King NandagOpa , of cruel deeds (towards the enemies),

and holding a sharp spear in his hand always. He (KrishNa) is the young lion-cub

of Queen YasOdhA with very charming eyes.He( Lord NaarAyaNa) has a dark

cloud-like divine complexion ,(lotus like) reddish eyes and (lustrous) face

(shining) like the bright Sun and Moon. ( This Lord NaarAyaNan alone is the

Saviour). (Let us ) resort (to Him) performing the Paavai-Nonbhu and get the

benefit of praise from the people of the world. { (Oh dear freind , may You

recite and learn this)-know the purport of this hymn}. Lord NaarAyanan alone

will grant Moksha SaamrAjyam to the

individual soul " is indicated in the seventh line of this First paasuram " .

 

SvApadEsArtham (Inner Meanings) of the First Paasuram

 

There are many inner meanings to every word used by ANDAL in this and every

paasuram of ThiruppAvai. For reasons of brevity, we will give only the condensed

meanings for the words of the paasuram as revealed by Sri U.Ve.PerukkAraNai

Swamy:

 

Seer malhum The place where those blessed ones,

who comprehend fully the anantha kalyANa

GuNams of the Lord reside

 

AaypADi In this dark SamsAric world

 

nErizhayeer Oh People with the noble traits of Samam

and dhamam ( auspicious Aathma GuNams

of Tranquility and Control over the senses)!

 

NiRaintha- On this day , which is like the Moon with

ThingaL Mathi all its sixteen digits (kalai) just as

the ShAdgunya SampoorNa BhagavAn Himself

 

NannALAl Since it is such an auspicious day

 

Maarghazhi Those who wish to follow the most noble

Neerada upAyam (means) of Prapatthi (self-surrender)!

pOthuveer Please join us!

pOdhuminO !

 

Koor vEl The one with the sharp-pointed sankalpam

similar to the tip of a well honed spear

or javelin

 

kodum Thozhilan One who destroys our sins

 

NandhagOpan and is the eteranl Youth , who is

Kumaran the BrahmAnandha Svaroopan , who

initiated BrahmA into the Vedams

and their meanings

 

yErArntha KaNNI the One , who adorns the beautiful

flower garland known as Vaijayanthi

 

Yasodhai the One , who has attained unquestionable

fame (Yasas) by granting us BrahmAnandham

 

iLam Singham One , who is like the powerful Lion

chasing away our sins and enemies

 

KaarmEni One who has the hue of a dark blue rainy

SenkaNN cloud and has lotus like besutiful eyes

 

Kadhir madhiyam One who has the lustrous face like

pOl MuhatthAn the radiant Sun and the cool Moon

 

NaarAYaNanE That SarvEshvaran , who has incarnated

as Krishnan now amidst us

 

pArOr Puhazha who is compassionate towards us and

padinthu who is lauded by the world for His

sensitivity about not failing in His

duties to protect us always

 

NamakkE for us , BhaagavathAs , who have

performed Bhara NyAsam (Aathma Samarpanam,

Prapatthi ) at His sacred feet

 

PaRai TharuvAn HE WILL GRANT US READILY MOKSHA SUKHAM .

 

Other thoughts on selected key words of paasuram 1:

(1)The sacred Month of Marghazhi has Kesavan (the first of

the 12 Upa-VyUha Moorthys) as the presiding deity .

Therefore , any Vratham , charity (dhAnam) , SnAnam ,

AarAdhanam performed in Marghazhi will quickly yield fruits

according to Swamy Desikan ( Taathparya Chandrikai).

That desired fruit is Parai or nithya kaimkaryam in

His SaamrAjyam (Sri Vaikuntam).

 

(2) Swamy JnaanyaachAr summarizes the significance

of the message of this paasuram as " PrApya PrApakangaL

iraNDum NAARAYANANE " .

 

(3) " yElOrempAvAi " --This refrain is the Chandas for

the Nonbhu according to Swamy JananAycchAr. Upanishad

BhAshyakArar recognizes this Makutam of ThiruppAvai

as " Paadha PoorNArtham " .

 

(4) " PaRai TaruvAn " :As the Purushan with the greatest

affection for His Pathivrathai wife , Sriman NaarAyaNan

will bless us with the requirements(tools) for Kaimkaryam

and Ubhaya anushtAnam such as Jn~Anam , Seelam and other

auspicous Aathma GuNams ( Sri Abhinava Desikan ).

 

(5) " NaarAyaNanE--TharuvAn " : Lord NaarAyaNan Himself ,

the inner meaning of Thiru AshtAksharam , will bless

the ChEthanams (MakArArtha Jeevans)-- after being pleased

with their AshtAkshara Japam -- will perform UpAya anushtAnam

for them (through a SadAchAryan)...(Sri Abhinava Desikan).

 

(6) The yEkAram in " NaarAyaNanE " and " NamakkE " :

This yEkAram asserts that " SadhAchAyanE TantharuLa Vallan ;

SathsishyanE PeRatthahunthavan " ( The SadAchAryan ALONE

can bless us; the sath-sishyan alone is qualified

to receive that rarest of blessings " (Sri PBA Swamy).

[Reference: Sri Satakopan Swami's write up based on Sri U Ve PerukaraNai Swami's

exhaustive commentary]

AndAL ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo Narayana

dAsan