Tiruppavai pasurams29 and 30

February 24, 2007

Pasuram-29-sitram sirukAlE

sitramsirukAlE vandhunnai sEvitthun

pottramarai adiye pottrum poruL keLAi

pettram meitthuNNum kulatthil pirandhu nee

kuttrEval engaLai koLLAmal pOgAdhu

ittraipparai koLvAn anru kAN gOvindA

ettraikkumEzEzu piravikkum unthannOdu

uttrEmE AvOm unakkE nAm AtseivOm

mattrai nam kAmangal mAttrElOrempAvAi

Hear why we have come in the early morning and worship your lotus-like feet.Being born in th clan of cowherds you cannot refuse our service to you.We have not come here just ask for the requisites for this vratha but to pray that we should belong to you for all the lives to come and should serve you alone. remove all the other desires of ours.

sitram sirukAle-kAle means the time when the gopis start their work such as churningthe milk. sirukAle is the time before that when they wake up and sitramsirukAle denotes the brAhmamuhurtha when yogis and ages wake up and start their worship.

This word is also interpreted thus:

siru+am+siru kAl-siru kAl the small feet of young Krishna which is am,beautiful and siru, seen a little outside.

The time when we go to see the Lord is the early morning., sirukAle. In the temples even if the gate is opened at noon the suprbhatham is recited.It is mentioned as sitram siru kAl because the time we see the Lord in the temple is much less than that spent in other activities.

The time Krishna is found in Gokula is short because (i) as soon as the day breaks he will go to the forest to tend cattle (ii) soon he will leave for Madura.

To a devotee the time he acquires the knowledge if the Lord is the early morning because till then it was night spent in sleeping due to ignorance. From the time he leaves this body and attain the Lord his day starts.

vandhunnai sEvitthu-Whay Andal means is this: without expecting that you will come to us as you did in the case of Gajendhra we ourselves have come to you.

pottrAmarai adiyE- They did not want anything else like gold or worldlypleasures but wanted only to serve the Lord an dtherefore leaving everything have come to Him as Vibheeshana said 'thyakthva puthrAmscha dhArAmscha rAghavam SatraNam gathah' that is, "leaving my sons and wives I have surrendered to Rama."

Petram meitthuNNum----pOgAdhu- Vedanta Desika in DayaSathakam calls the Lord a krsheevala, farmer who is intent on His harvest of prapannas.(DayaSatakam-108) So like a farmer who protects his crop and stays on his fileld overnight to at the harvest time to guard against thieves and birds etc.from taking away or destroying his cp rop, the Lord also comes down to earth in the form of His incarnations to safeguard the interests of His devotees.Hence after having been born in the clan of cowherds Andal says that it is His responsibility to save us.

ittrai----unnakkEnam AtseivOm- It is not their intention to get the accessories for their vrata, Parai koLvAn anru but it was only a pretext to approach him and ask him to give them the opportunity to do his service.

uttrOmE AvOm- The Lord is the only real relation to us for all our lives ( seven times seven) , because others belong to one life only..'mAthA mE Laksmeedevee pithA dhEvO janArdhanah;bAnDhavAh vishnubhakthAscha vasudhaiva kutumbakam,' is the attitude of a prapanna.

The upanishad says, 'na vA arE pathyuh kAmAya pathih priyO bhavathi, Athmansthu kAmAya.'(Brhd.2-4-5) The worldly relationships are selfish-motivated. The self is the dearest of all and the Lord is the self of all.

UnakkEnAm AtseivOm- kuttrEval means the kainkryam to the best of one's ability and according to the will of the Lord. This denotes Anukulya sankalpam and prAthikulya varjanam, the first two angas of prapatthi mentioned in the previous pasuram. By saying kutrEval engalAu ikkoLlAmal pOgAdhu indicates mahavisvasam and the line uttrOmE AvOm unakkE nAm AtseivOm implies gOpthruthva varaNam at the exclusion of others. By saying pettram meitthuNNum kula they

mattrai nam kAmangaL mAttrElorempAvAi-While the previous lines imply svarupa samarpaNam and phalasamarpaNam, by saying we belong to you(uttrOmE AvOm) and we expect only the kainkarya as the phala, this line is by way of bharasamarpaNam, placing the burden of saving us on the Lord Himself. We are incapable of controlling our mind as Arjuna said, 'chanchalam hi manah krishna pramAThi balavaddhrDam thasyAham nigraham manye vAyOriva sudhushkaram,' the mind is fickle and very agitated and powerful and to control it is as difficult as controlling the wind. Hence Andal places the responsibility on the Lord himself by saying 'mattrai nam kAmangal mattrElorempAvai, remove all other desires from our mind ' The Lord creates vairagya in the mind of the one who surrenders and make him completely engrossed in Himself.

Pasuram 30-Vangakkadal kadaindha

Vangakkadal kadaindha mAdhavanai kesavanai

thingaL thirumugatthu sEyizaiyAr senrirainji

angapparaikonda Attrai aNipudhuvai

PaingamaltthaNtheriyal bhattarpirAn kOdhai sonna

sangatthamizmAlai muppadhum thappAme

ingipparisuraippar eerirandu malvaraitthOL

thingaL thirumugatthu selvatthirumAla

engum thiruvaruL pettru inburuvar empavai

This work describing the entreaty of the girls with faces like moon and eyes like lotuses. to the Lord Kesava, of lovely locks, the Madhava, Lord of Lakshmi,who helped in the churning of the beautiful milky ocean, in order to acqouire the necessary requirements for their pavai nonbu, is the composition of Godha of Srivlliputthur, the daughter of Vishnucchittha, (Periazvar) who wears the garland of lotuses and thulasi.Those who recite this 30 pasurams which are equal to sangatthamiz, will get happiness through the Lord's grace.

vangakkadal-This is not the Bay of bengal, as it may appear to the superficial reader but the word vanga means beautiful, and refers to the milky ocean. It is so called because it is associated with the Lord, and it gave out all the precious things and the amrtha in the end.

kadaindha Madhavan-Madhavan means the Lord (Dhava) of Lakshmi(ma) He is mentioned here as the one who churned the ocean not only because He was instrumental in doing so by helping the devas by carrying the manthara mountain and dropping it into the ocean and supported it as koorma, but because he helped at every step, by churning it with them and lastly through His mohini avathara.

yamunacharya says in his Sthothra ratna that the Lord took all the trouble to churn the ocean in order to obtain Lakshmi as He bridged the ocean later for her sake(to retrieve Sita )'yadharTham ambOdDHih amanTHi abanDHi cha.'

But if one starts thinking about the reason for His wish to get Lakshmi, for which the ocean was churned as Yamuna says, it appears that He wanted her to make His hrdhaya her abode so that it will be full of mercy. So He wanted her not for Himself but for the world which will be benifitted by her dhaya influenced by which alone the Lord shows His grace without minding our sins.This explanation looks appropriate especially when Andal calls Him as Madhavan, mAyah DHavan- lord of Lakshmi.He not only churned the milky ocean but also churned the ocean of milk and curd in Gokula by his exploits of stealing butter, curd etc.,and causing a great furore among the gopis, perhaps as a practice to churn the great ocean of army later the Mahabharatha war.

kEsavan-kEsa is hair and as Krishna has beautiful locks of hair he is called Kesava. It also means the slayer of the demon Kesi. Another meaning of Kesava is that ka is Brahma , isa means Siva and the particle va means the one who have them both in Him as Lord Naryana synonymous with the Brahman of the Upanishads whose manifestations are the trinity.Kesava is also the adhishtana devatha of the month of Margazi. This is the end pasuram of Thiruppavai which started as paraman adi pAdi and ends with kesavanai which resembles a pAdhadhikeSAntha sthothra.

paingamalatthaNtheriyal bhattarpiran-Periazvar. as Vishnucchittha, the father of Godha was known as, used to wear the garland of lotuses and thulasi leaves. The former symbolises the Sridevi and the latter is of the Lord Narayana.

Kodhai sonna sangatthamizmalai-Kodhai in Tamil means garland and godha in sanskrit means gAm dhdhAthi ithi- or goDHa which means gAm dhaDHathE-one who give good words. Periazvar was proficient in both the languages and with foresight, he must have chosen the name which became appropriate.

Her words are extolled as being equal to the ancient tamil works at the time of Tamil sangam and hence it is referred to as sangatthamiz mAlai. Sangam also means group, attachment and beauty.This work has to be enjoyed togeter in a group of devotees and without attachment to the worldly objects and also it is full of beauty.

ingipparisuraippAr- ingu is this world and the word parisu means the reward in the form of kainkarya.

eerirandumAlvaraitthOL- eerirandu, two and two ,that is four arms like mAlvarai, mountainous.

chengaNthirumugatthu- His eyes are like red lotuses ( not fully red but streaked with redness)

selvatthirumAl-He is rich with His auspicious qualities and association with Sri(thiru)

engum thirivaruL pettruinburuvar -blessed with His grace always and be happy. Those who learn this work will be happy in this world and the next till they unite with the Lord.

Thiruppavai concluded