Thiruppavai - 5th verse- when we sing in praise of Krishna, offer flowers with pure heart, all sins are burnt then and there

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SrI:

SrimathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya nama

 

Dearest all

 

Today’s verse: 5th verse for our enjoyment…

 

maayanai mannu vatamathurai main^thanaith *

thUya perunIr yamunaith thuRaivanai *

aayarkulaththinil thOnRum aNiviLakkaith *

thaayaik kutal viLakkam ceytha thaamOtharanaith *

thUyOmaay van^thu naam thUmalar thUvith thozhuthu *

vaayinaal paati manaththinaal cin^thikkap *

pOya pizhaiyum pukutharuvaan ninRanavum *

thIyinil thUcaakum ceppu ElOr empaavaay. 5.

 

The Vratham has begun. The Gopis were worried about completing it without any

hindrance (vignam). One of the knowledgable Gopi pointed out that the Vignams

will be banished , if the Vratham is performed with Bhagavan Naama UccharaNam

(recitation of the name of the Lord). The Gopis therefore invoked the name of

NaarAyanan , KshIrAbhdhi Naathan, Vaamanan , Thrivikraman , DhAmOdharan and

concluded that all those names are that of KrishNan , who is Aapath BhAndhavan

and anAtha Rakshakan. In this fifth paasuram , the Gopis invoke the name of

DhAmOdharan and reflect in the subsequent paasurams on the Maayams (mysterious ,

wonderful acts) of KrishNan as celebrated by Swamy NammazhwAr (PiRanthavARum

VaLarnthavARum-- seyuthu pOna MaayankaLum).

 

The Meaning of the Fifth paasuram:Dr.V.K.S.N.Raghavan

 

(All of our sins vanish like a blade of grass thrown into fire , when we sing in

praise of KrishNan and worship Him ). Him--the mysterious Lord ; the young

courageous Lord born at north MathurA , the One who

sports in the pure waters of the great river , YamunA ; the emerald-like shining

Lamp that has risen from the race of cowherds;and the Lord DaamOdharA (the One

bound by the rope around the waist)who has brought high esteem to His mother

YasOdhA (literally, who illumined the mother's womb)--Him let us approach with

sincerity (purity--physical and mental); let us worship Him with fresh and

fragrant flowers;let us pay our obeisance to Him;let us sing in praise of Him ,

by words of mouth; let us think of Him in our mind; if we do so (approaching ,

worshipping ,obeying,singing and thinking of Him alone), our sins of past ,

present and future will vanish like straw put into fire. Therefore let us sing

His glory.

 

The Inner Meanings of this paasuram

 

Maayanai Of the One who is the Swami of

Moola Prakruthi as LeelA VibUthi

Naathan

 

mannu Of the Para VaasudEva MUrthi

 

Vada Mathurai Of Sri VaikunTanAthan from whose

Mainthanai sacred feet the nectar of bliss flows

 

Thooya Peru neer Of the One , who resides at

Yamunai ThuRaivanai the bank of VirajA river (in

Sri Vaikuntam )

 

ThAyai Kudal Of the One ,who explained

ViLakkam seytha the " nama: Bharga " section of

Gaayathri manthram , which is

equal in sacredness to one's own

Mother during His avathAram as

NaarAyaNA at BadrikAsramam to

perform upaEsam for Naran

 

DhAmOdharanai Of the One , who got Himself tied up

with a small rope by a cowherd woman

because of the Bhakthi of that devotee

 

ThUyOmAi Vanthu if we approach that One ( BhagavAn)

with purity of Vaak, Manas and KaraNams

 

ThUmalar thoovi and offer auspicious flowers (TuLasi)

dear to Him (aanUpura paryantham )

 

Thozhuthu and perform archanai with them

 

vAyinAl paadi and control our Indriyams so that Vaak,

ManathinAl mind and body will be fulfilled with

Chintthika respect to their saasthrEic functions

 

pOya pizhayum (then) all of our accumulated sins

 

puhu taruvAn (and) the ones (sins) acquired after

ninRanavum SaraNAgathi consciously

 

theeyinil thUsAhum all of them will be destroyed like

cotton thrown into the fire.

 

Special comments on Individual words of Paasuram

 

(1) " MaayOnai " : Our Lord is a MaayAvi. He hinted that much in Githai: "

sambhavaami aathma maayaya " .All the Maaya ChEstithams from His avathAram at

Vada Mathurai to growth in Aayarpaadi, many leelais in Gokulam and BrundhAvanam

, His serving as the charioteer for ArjunA, converting day into night in the

battle field of Kuru KshEthram ,

taking the disc in His hand in spite of His vow not to use weapons in that war ,

are examples of the MaayA of the MaayOn.Abhinava Desikan describes Maayai as

Moola Prakruthi and SankalpAthi Jn~Anam.As the Controller, commander of this

Maayai , through His sankalpa visEsham

blesses the DevAs and incarnates as PadhmanAbhan in the milky ocean and later

jumps out of the pillar as Lord Narasimhan ,goes to the Yaaga saalai of Bali as

Vaamanan and transforms into Thiruvikraman and now

incarnates as KaNNan , the MaayOn or adhbhuthan .

 

Swamy NammAzhwAr celebrates this Maayam of the Lord , which He performs through

His AchAryAs , who remove the " Poy ninRa Jn~Anam " of ours and makes us

qualified to receive SadAchAra Jn~Anam through the wondrous act of " Irumbai

ponnAkkuthal " (SaraNAgathi) according to Sri PBA Swamy.Our Lord stands on top of

this AchArya Paramparai and is therfore MaayAthi Maayan.

 

ANDAL appropriately addresses Him next this MaayOn as " Mannu Vada Mathurai

Mainthan " . Mannu stands for the place most desired and where

the Lord has blessed through His long residence there. That place is Vada

Mathurai with Bhagavath Saaniddhyam. Mainthan means kumAran of VasudEvar and

Devaki .

 

(2) " Thooya peru neer Yamunai " : YamunA is most sacred and pure. Infact , it is

more sacred than GodhAvari , which failed to describe what it saw

(SeethAbahranam by RaavaNan) to Raama , when He asked whether it had anything to

say as to what had happened there. YamunA on the other hand cleaved and let

VasudEvar walk across its sandy bed , when he was

transporting baby KrishNan on His head during the dark rainy night of

JanmAshtami.Yamunai also had deha sambhandham with the Lord through His Jala

kreedais there with Gopis. Our Lord came to be called Yamunai ThuRaivan or the

Lord of Yamunai for these reasons.

 

(3) " Aayar Kulatthinil thOnRum aNi viLakkai " :Our Lord was born in Raaja Kulam

with the parents of King VasudEvA and queen Devaki. He surfaced in the community

of cowherds (AaypAdi). Lord has mentioned to ArjunA that He has had many

janmams. ANDAL does not agree. She says therfore here : " ThOnRum " instead of

" PiRanthum " deliberately. " ThOnrum " means

" aavirbavitthAn " /appeared instead of being born. Next , ANDAL saluted Him as "

ThOnRum aNi ViLakkai " or the most beautiful , lustrous lamp that appeared amidst

the aayar kulam . Another AzhwAr (KulasEkarar)

has commented in a similar way about Lord Raamachandran's appearance in Soorya

Kulam as a beautiful , bright lamp ( VemkathirOn kulatthiRkku Ohr aNi ViLakkAi

).

 

(4) " ThAyai Kudal Vilakkam seytha DhAmOdharanai " :

KaNNan was caught by YasOdhA in the act of stealing butter and she wanted to

punish Him by tying Him up with a rope to a mortar to keep Him stationary.

YasOdhai was His mother and a Bhakthai. Hence , the Lord out of His Bhaktha

paara-tanthryam permitted Himself to

be bound ( KaNNinuNN SiRutthAmpinAL KattuNNupatta peru Maayan) .He is

adiyavarkku yeLiyavan and therefore got Himself tied up with a DhAmam (rope)

around His waist (udharam). This UdhAra Utthama Moorthy

carried the welt marks(Thazhumpu) from that happening and came to be known as

" DhAmOdharan " . YasOdhA got all credit for managing Her " wild " son .AzhwArs

described the glory of YasOdhA's role as His Mother this way :

 

" Ivanai peRra VayirudayAL "

 

" MaNi Vayiru VaaytthavaLE "

 

" Unnaik KaNDAr yenna nOnbhu nORRArkaLO "

 

This helplessness of the Lord in being tied up by a human (mother) moved Swamy

NammazhwAr so much that He stayed in a state of trance for six months. Such is

His MaayA (MaayOn).Even today , One can see

the three welt marks on the waist of Lord RanganAtha (Moolavar) bearing witness

to this incident . ParAsara Bhattar refers to these welt marks in periya

PerumAL's Udharam .It is generally accepted that the Moolavar

at Srirangam is KrishNan and the Uthsavar is Raaman .

 

(5) " ThUyOmAi Vanthu " : If we approach Him (DhAmOdharan) with suddhi (purity)

through observance of nithya karmAs, abandoning proscribed acts (nishitthangaLai

vittu), avoiding BhaagavathApachArams and knowing that SaraNAgathi done at His

feet is only for attaining

His grace , then we will be cleansed of all dhOshams.

 

(6) " ThUmalar thoovi thozhuthu , VaayinAL paadi, ManathinAl chinthikka " : Suddha

pushpAnjali as at Thirumalai is Thoomalar Thoovuthal ; Among the flowers ,

Utthama pushpam is the one grown by one in one's own garden(nandhavanam )for the

Lord like periyAzhwAr and ThoNDaradippodi); madhyama pushpam is one grown in

common ground; the adhama pushpam is one , which are collected through yaachakam

from others.TuLasi Pushpa

samarpanam and manthra Pushpa samarpaNam are very dear to our Lord's heart.Hence

ANDAL recommends them here .After PushpAnjali, the naama sankIrthanam (VaayinAL

paadi) has to be conducted. Bhagavath guna

dhyAna Chinthanai (dhyAnam) follows next. AmbharIsha chakravarthy's dhyAnam of

KrishNan (Sa vai Mana: KrishNa:) is the way to follow .

 

(7) " ManathinAl chinthikka, pOya Pizhayum , puhu taruvAn ninRanavum theeyinil

thUsAhum CHEPPU " : If we offer pushpAnjali with a suddha manas , sing the glory

of His naamAs and meditate on Him , all of our accumulated sins as well as the

ones accrued after prapatthi will be burnt to ashes like the bale of cotton

thrown into a blazing fire.

 

(8) " Cheppu " : The paasuram ends with the command, " cheppu " (say).When we perform

a rite (sandhyAvandhanam , Yaagam , AarAdhanam et al) ,there are deficiencies

such as KriyA lobham , Dhravya LObham and Niyama

lObham . To overcome this deficiencies , we do prAyachittha hOmam. Even there ,

deficencies may occur. To banish that too , we say " Sri KrishNAnu smaraNam

Param " as saathvika Thyaagam (KrishNArpanam). That KrishNa dhyAnam removes all

aparAdhams and blesses one with auspiciousness. Therefore ANDAL ended the fifth

Paasuram(from the first set of Sextet ) dealing with the methods to perform

nOnbhu with the word " Cheppu " to remind Her friends to utter the name of Lord

KrishNA for sudhdi (KrishNAnu Smaranam param ).

 

[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