Thiruppavai - 12th verse- The endearing one- manatthukku iniyaan- Lord Sri Raama!

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SrI:

SrimathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya nama:

 

Dearest all

 

Today’s verse: 12th verse for our enjoyment…

 

kanaiththu iLaNG kaRRerumai kanRukku iraNGki

ninaiththu mulai vazhiyE ninRu paal cOra

nanaiththu illam cERaakkum naR celvan thaNGkaay

panith thalai vIzha nin vaacaR katai paRRic

cinaththinaal thennilaNGkaik kOmaanaic ceRRa

manaththukku iniyaanaip paatavum nI vaay thiRavaay

iniththaan ezhun^thiraay Ithenna pEruRakkam

anaiththu illaththaarum aRin^thu ElOr empaavaay. 12.

 

In the previous paasuram, ANDAL awakened the sleeping

Gopi with her father in mind ( KOVALAR tamm poRRkkodiyE);

here She awakens the Gopi with her brother in mind( NaRRc-

chelvan TangAi).This brother is the one, who watches over

KrishNa from getting into trouble and accompanies KrishNa

every where like His shadow(JananyAcchAr Swamy).

 

Who is this Brother of the Gopi ?

 

Abhinava Desikan paints a marvellous portrait of

this naRRc-chelvan, who is the brother of the Gopi.

He is an antharanga daasan for KrishNa like ILaya perumAl

to Raamachandran with great kaimkarya Sri ( LakshmaNO

Lakshmi Sampanna:).He is aâ€naRRc-Chelvanâ€in the sense

that he possesses Jn~Ana sampath as well as BrahmAnubhavam

and anubhava parivAha Kaimkarya Sampath. PoorvAchAryAs have

suggested that thisâ€NaRRc Chelvanâ€is SridhAman.

He is engaged in Ajn~A and anujn~A kaimkaryam

and priorotizes the two and accomodates them as per

the directions of AchArya paramparai( manishI vaidhikAchAram

manasApi na langayEth). AjnA( Kaimkaryam commanded by the Lord

as a must) can not be abandoned ever. anujn~A kaimkaryam

( virumpi cheythal) produces BhagavAn's preethi. If one

could not do anuj~nA for understandable reasons, the Lord is

not angry at the chEthanam. If the same chEthanam

casts away the Ajn~A Kaimkaryam, which are his command,

the the Lord will be angry.

 

On this day, the brother of this Gopi had to attend to

a kaimkaryam for KrishNa and was out of his house. This

was a prabhala nimmittham( Special event).To attend to

this visEsha kaimkaryam, the brother left the buffalos

unmilked.The rules of the Saasthram are to perform

Bhagaavth Kaimkaryam,if it happens to come in between

even nithya (Ajn~A ) kaimkaryam, and then go back to

that nithya kaimakryam.

 

That was what this borther of the Gopi was doing by

letting the buffalos unattended, while performing

the Lord's kaimakryam.He belonged to the group of

Kaimakrya ParALs described by PeriyAzhwAr:â€Unakku

PaNi seythirukkum tavam udayEn " .ANDAL performs

DharmOpadesam for us here on the importance of

conducting nithya-Naimitthika KarmAs and the rules

to priorotize them, if Bhagaavth-BhAgavatha

kaimkaryam comes into focus in between.

 

This Gopi has the family attributes of her brother,

who is a VivEki and Saasthraj~nan (Expert in Saasthra

Jn~Anam). Hence, she is being addressed asâ€naRRc-

Chelvan TangAi " . She is hence an Utthama adhikAri.

 

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

 

Oh Younger sister of the rich cowherd, whose house

is rendered muddy and slushy by the profuse milk flowing

from the udders of the (unmilked) She-buffalo, who thinks

of her calf, and with great affection spots out abundant

milk! Even when we have come all the way to the entrance of

your house, unmindful of the heavy dew-fall on our head,

and even when we sing (in chorus) to our heart's content,

the glory of the dear Lord (viz)., RaamA, who has slain

angrily the emperor of LankA in the south, nevertheless,

you do not respond to us at all and have not opened your

mouth. Atleast, kindly get up now! Why do you prolong

your sleep? People in all other houses have already

woken up.

 

The Inner Meanings of the Padha Vaakyams

 

(1)NaRRc Chelvan TangAi(Sri PBA Swamy)

 

We have to group together the eleventh and twelfth

ThiruppAvai paasurams ( kaRRuk KaRavai and KanaitthiLam

KaRRerumai) to comprehend the Visesha SaasthrArtham on

Aj~na and anuj~nA kaimkaryams. For the GopAs,

" kaRavik KaNaNangal pala KaRanthuâ€( milking the cows

referred to in the 11th Paasuram) is their kruthyam.

In the 12th Paasuram that is not mentioned ; the she-buffalo

is not being milked. The Gopan(naRRc Chelvan)

has gone to attend to Lord's kaimkaryam interrupting

his nithya kaimakryam of his kulam.He has gone on a

Kaimkaryam commanded by KrishNa. This act of kaimkaryam

to KrishNa is captured by PeriyAzhwAr (3.4.3):

“surihayum terivillum seNDu kOlum mElAdayum thOzhanmAr

koNDO, oru Kaiyaal oruvan tann thOLai oonRi " .This Gopan

is with the Raaja GopAlan at His command and therefore has

difficulty in performing the karmAs prescribed for

his jaathi (viz)., milking the cows and buffalos at

appropriate times.The AchArya Hrudhaya Soothram,

“JaathyAsrama dheekshaikaLil bhEthikkum dharmangal

pOlEâ€. refers to this sookshmam.Here, the VishNu

PurANa slOkam and its commentary by PeriyavaachAn PiLlai

is also referred to:

 

" Yathi saknOshi gaccha thvam athi-sanchala chEshtitha

ithyukthvA atha NIJA KARMA SAA CHAKAARA KUDUMBINIâ€

 

As per this slOkam,YasOdhA tied up BalakrishNan

to control His roaming and then only went about

Her duties.

 

(2) MULAI VAZHIYE PAAL SORA (Abhinava Desikan):

Yerumai's udder has four Kaampus.The Jna~na paal

that flows through the four these outlets have been

intrepreted as either the essence of Four Vedams or

the essence of Sruthi,Smruthi, PaanchrAthra and dhivya-

Prabhandham milk ( Abhinava Desikan ).Sri PBA Swamy has

identified this overflowing milk a s Sri BhAshyam, GeethA

BhAshyam, Bhagavath Vishayam and rahasyams.

 

(3)VAASAL KADAIP PARRI:The Gopis outside say that they

could have come inside and awakened the sleeping Gopi

but they could not do so because the muRRam was slushy and

muddy with the overflowing milk.Hence, they stay outside

holding the door step with the dew falling on their heads

(Abhinava Desikan).

 

(4) MANATTHUKKU INIYAANAI: This is addressed to Raaman

and therefore is Raama sabdham.â€RamayathI ithi Raama:â€

is the definition of His name.KaNNan, who was with

the Gopis in Gokulam isâ€KaNNukku IniyAanâ€(Sweet to

the eyes). Raaman, who hs completed His Vibhava avathAram

could not be seen by the Gopis ; they can only think

about His oudhAryam andâ€ripuNAmapi Vathsalaâ€gunam

( affection even towards His enemies).Hence, they have

Raaman in mind, when they use the wordâ€manattukku

iniyAnaiâ€(Abhinava Desikan).

 

(5) NARR CHELVAM(Abhinava Desikan/A.D): This means

auspicious wealth.That wealth is Prapatthi(Saadhya Bhakthi),

which is superior to UpAya Bhakthi.NaRR-Chelvan is that

PuNyasAli (tapasvi) who is blessed with Moksha Siddhi

by an anushtAnam that is KshaNa karthavyam ( Saadhya

Bhakthisthu saa hanthrI prArabdhasyApi bhUyasI).

 

(6) EETHENNA PERURAKKAM?: How can you have ajn~Anam,

when you are the sister of thisâ€NaRRc Chelvan " ?(A.D)

 

(7)ANAITTHILLATTHARUM ARINTHU: That which should not only be

enjoyed by the mind, but should also be talked about,

since every one is eligible to perform that rite.

That rite is Prapatthi (A.D).

 

Summary of Sri PerukkAraNai Swamy's SvApadEsam

 

Mother MahAlakshmi thinks about Her young children

(chEthanams) and She has nirvEdham for them because

of their suffering and takes great pity (daya) on them.

She feeds them the milk of JnA~na through Her

breasts ( mulai vazhiyAha) copiously until the heart

of the chEthanam is drenched( ( " ninRu sOra nanaitthu

seRu aakkum " ) and the chEthanam becomes the possessor

of limitless, evergrowing Jn~Ana sampath. Oh beautiful

lady, the sister of the possessor of such visEsha Jn~anam!

Please achieve through pancha samskAram the vivEkam

banishing dEhathma bramam and take refuge at

the sacred feet of the Lord, who is the embodiment of

Sathyam, Jn~Anam, anantham, amalam and Aanandam.

That prapatthi removes ancient prArabdha karmAs.It is

easy to practise by anyone.Knowing how easy it is to

practise, please awaken.The BhagavathAs around You

have known the KshaNa phala daayakam of Prapatthi

and have performed Prapatthi.Why you alone have

the tendency to stay in the darkness of SamsAra

kaaLa Raathri ?

 

[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