Thiruppavai - 16th verse- He had promised (vaay nErndhaan) to take care of us saying, mokshayishyAmi

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SrI:

SrimathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya nama:

 

Dearest all

 

Today’s verse: 16th verse for our enjoyment…

 

naayakanaay ninRa nan^thakOpan utaiya

kOyil kaappaanE! kotith thOnRum thOraNa

vaayil kaappaanE! maNik kathavam thaaL thiRavaay

aayar ciRumiyarOmukku aRai paRai

maayan maNivaNNan nennalE vaay nErn^thaan

thUyOmaay van^thOm thuyilezhap paatuvaan

vaayaal munnamunnam maaRRaathE ammaa! nI

nEya nilaik kathavam nIkku ElOr empaavaay. 16.

 

The ten girls symbolizingâ€the pancha- Laksham gOpisâ€of Gokulam are awakened

now and proceed together to NandagOpan's palace to awaken the residents of that

mansion. They start with the awakening of the guards

at the flag-staff gate first.

 

Here is the literal meaning of this paasuram according to Dr.V.K.N.S.Raghavan:

 

“Oh the guard at the entrance of the mansion of our overlord

NandagOpan! Oh the guard at the flag-staff decorated with

festoons ! May you please release and open the lever bolt

of the bejewelled doors with bells ! (let us submit to you

that) the Lord, Sri KrishNA --who is very charming with

the color of blue-sapphire gem (maNi vaNNan), and who is

of mysterious deeds (Maayan)-- has assured us even yesterday

that He would give the announcing drum (paRai) to us,

the young maidens of the cow-herd clan (gOpis of Gokulam).

We, who are pure in heart and soul, have come here to sing

in praise of, and awaken, the Lord.Please, Oh Mother-like

compassionate guard, for the first time (munnam munnam)

without refusing, kindly open the giant-like heavy doors

(and grant us entry).

 

Upanishada BhAshyakAra Swamy sets the scene for this paasuram

in the following way :â€SarvA gOpakanyA udhbhOdhya

milithA:, sadhyO Nanda bhavana dhvAram aagathya, dhouvArikam

yAchanthEâ€.(after having woken up all the gOpa KannikaikaL,

and with that assembly, they arrive at the front gate of

NandagOpan's mansion and appeal to the gate keepers to open

the door and to let them in).

 

The awakening of the ten gOpis is Upalakshanam for

awakening the gOpis of the five lak (Pancha Laksham)

house holds of Gokulam.

 

The Inner Meanings of Paasuram by PerukkAraNai Swamy

 

PramANam, PramEyam and PramAthA are of three kinds. Vedam,

Smruthi, PurANam, IthihAsam, dhivya prabhnadhams, Brahma

soothram are PramANams. Lord Sriman NaarAyaNan in Parama padham,

vyUham, Vibhavam, Archai and antharyAmi are PramEyams.

AchAryAs lie Naathamuni are PramAthAs. Similarly, Rahasya-

Thrayams (The three manthrams) are PramANams; PerumAL is

PramEyam;the AchAryan initiating us into these manthrams is

PramAthA.

 

In the context of this Paasuram,â€Koil KaappAnEâ€denotes

Moola manthram;â€kodit thOnRum --vaasal KaappAnEâ€refers to

Dhvayam; nennalE vaai nErnthAnâ€stands in for Charama slOkam

of the Lord. The Gopis describe themselves as the ones that

have arrived with MukkaraNa suddhi (Vaak, Manas, Kaayam) at

the Lord's door. MukkaraNa Suddhi here also refers to that

they have come with paripoorNa visvAsam in the holy triad--

Manthram, Devathai and AchAryan-- forliberation from the deep

sleep of SamsAram and to gain MokshAnandham.

 

There are two sections to the door defended by the guards :

One door of Moola Manthram is made up of the two linked

doors of (1) " praNavam and Nama:â€and (2) NaarAyaNAya.

The two doors of Dhvayam in this connection are:

(1) Sriman NaarAyana --PrapadhyE and (2) srimathE--Nama:

These are the poorva and utthara KaanDams. The charama slOkam

is also constituted by its two doors of PoorvArtham

(Sarva DharmAn--SaraNam vraja and aham thvA -- maa sucha:).

These twin doors of each of the three manthrams/rahsyams

reveal the Lord with affection(nEsamudan)to us.

Thus manthram, EmperumAn and AchAryan are

covered in this paasuram as PramANam, PramEyam

and PramAthA respectively.

 

Inner Meanings of Padha Vaakyams

 

 

NaayakanAi ninRa Of the Lord, who is the Swamy for all

 

NandagOpanuadya Of the Lord, who is the embodiment of

Aanndham and who protects us (the cows/

pasus) as a Cowherd

 

Kovil KaappOnE Oh protector (of the gate) of the Lord's

Sri Vaikuntam and who initiate us into

the Moola manthram that reveals the Lord

to us.Oh MahOpakAri who bless us with

the gift of AshtAksharam and its meanings!

 

Kodit thOnRum Oh initiator of Dhvaya manthram that grants

ThOraNa Vaasal us Sri Vaikuntam with festoons, thOraNams

KaappAnE ! and gates(vaasal).

 

MaNik Kathavam Please perform upadEsam for us about

ThALL thiRavAi the meanings of these manthrams, which

are like powerful doors.

 

Aayar siRumiyOmukku For us without discriminating Knowledge,

Maayan MaNivaNNan the Lord who has performed many adhisaya-

seyalkaL (many avathArams) befitting His

name as MaayAvi

 

nennalE at the ocean side as Raamachandran

and on the front of ArjunA's chariot as

ParthasArathy has assured us that He will

will protect one and all, who seek His

RakshaNam

 

aRai paRai vaai (He has) performed with joy this UpadEsam

nErnthAn of Charama SlOkam such a long time ago!

 

Thuyilezha singing about His mahimai to get release

paaduvAn from the deep sleep of SamsAram

 

thUyOmAI vanthOm we have arrived here with thrikaraNa

suddhi

 

VaayAl munna munnam Oh Most merciful AchAryan! Please do n't

mARRAthEyammA turn us back from our quest through

rigorous tests to ascertain our

qualifications as proper adhikAris

to receive such upadesams.We are simple

cowherd folks, who are standing in front

of You with thrikaraNa suddhi.

 

nee nEsa nilai (Oh AchAryAs) please initiate us into

Kathavam neekku the myriad and powerful meanings of

the rahasyams, which are like the doors

that describe the DayA Saagaran, our Lord !

 

Sri UtthamUr Swamy's anubhavam:

 

Abhinava Desikan has correlated the awakening of the ten

Gopis to the different steps constituting the Saasthram-

prescribed pancha Kaala Prakriyai of a Sri Vaishnavan.

Swamy Desikan in his VaishNava Dinasari following

that of the nithya grantham of AchArya RaamAnujA has

blessed us with a Sri Sookthi, which describes step by

step the five assigned ways of dividing the day of

a Sri VaishNavan. adiyEn has posted two articles

in the Bahkthi list (July 25,1999) on these five

divisions of time: Abhigamanam, UpAdhAnam,

Ijyai, SvAdhyAyam and Yogam. Abhinava Desikan

maps this slOkam with the activities of a VaishNavan,

who after UpAdhAna Kaalam performs his snAnam and

gets ready to perform Ijyai (AarAdhanam).

 

Abhinava Desikan has also commented that the awakening

of the ten Gopis to the dialog with ten Indhriyams

(Five karmEndhriyams and Five Jn~AnEndhriyams).

He identifies this paasuram to that of the eleventh

indhriyam : Manas; latter is the most important

among Indhriyams since, it is the reason (Kaaranam)

behind bondage as a SamsAri and release as a Mumukshu

(Mana yEva manushyANAm kaaraNam Bhandha-mOkshayO:).

IsAvAsyOpanishad states that the Manas is like

a golden vessel, which is hidden with a shroud

of ajn~Anam (Rajas and Tamas), which prevents it (manas)

from enjoying the Lord. ChEthanan's (dharma BhUtha)

Jn~Anam is prevented by this aj~nam from experiencing

the SaakshAthkAram of the Lord.The Upanishad prays for

the removal of the shroud of aj~nanam to reveal

Mukhya Jn~Anam.

 

Abhinava Desikan reminds us that our hrudhaya

pundarIkam as the temple of the Lord (BrahmapurE

dhaharam PundarIkam vEsma-ChAndhOgyam). Manas protects

that temple. The Upanishad establishes five dhvArams

in the heart and describes their connections to

the five PrANans, Five Indhriyams and the associated

devathais and recommends the UpAsanai of the dhvAra-

paalakAs there for BrahmOpAsanam. This thought is

associated with the identification of Manas with

this Paasuram.We pray to the Lord resident at the heart

lotus to intervene on our behalf and bless us

as prescribed by the Upanishad.

 

" Maayan MaNivaNNan nennalE Vaai nErnthAnâ€: The moment

one seeks the AchAryan's feet and receives the UpadEsam

from Him, Lord committs to protect us.

 

“nEsa nilaik Kathavamâ€:nEsam means snEham and Bhakthi.

“nilaiâ€means the one that grows without interruption.

 

" neeku " : please remove all that stands in the way of

ever growingâ€preethi roopApanna smruthi sandhathi "

(dhruva Smruthi /uninterrupted smaraNam of

the Lord through banishment of all other vishayams

that keep us tied to samsAram).

 

Illustrative Examples of padha Vaakhyams

 

" kOil KaapAn and Vaasal KaappAn " :Two kinds of gate keepers

(DhvAra PaalakAs) are referred to here as SaamAnya

and VisEshAdhikAris guarding the gates of the Lord's

temple. Bhattar refers to the way in which one has to

seek the permission of the two kinds of gate keepers

(KshEthrAdhipathi and dhvAra adhyakshAdhipathi)to enter

the temple to worship the Lord in Srirangaraaja Sthavam.

These (seeking the permission of the dhvAra PaalakAs)

are the commands of Saasthram.

 

At Srirangam, Chanda-Prachandar guard the eastern temple

gate; at the southern gate, Bhadra-Subhadrars preside.

at the western gate, Jaya-VijayAs have guard duty.

The Northern gate is protected by DhAthA-VidhAthAs.

This calledâ€TadhIya puraskaaramâ€before Bhagavath

Sevai. The gate keepers permit entry byâ€anukoolars "

and turn away theâ€prathikoolars " .Seeking permission

from them is an important step to enter devAlayams.

 

[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