Sri Vishnuchitta kulanandana kalpavalli (Part-13)

[Guest guest]

Sri Parthasarathi thunai

Srimathe ramanujaya Namaha

Srimad Vara Vara MunayE namaha

Sri Vanachala mahA munayE namaha

 

In the vibhavAvatara Krishna was fond of music. He used to be playing his flute always and everyone in gokulam including the cows used to listen awe stricken to the divine music leaving all their other jobs (let it be dressing themselves, serving their kids/husbands/elders or the cows grazing). Chakravarthi thirumagan was so moved by the sweet rendering of Ramayana by lava kusa that he left his throne and descended to a seat near the common folks. Such was the attraction of the lord towards music. That is why geethAcharyan says “vedAnAm samavEdOsmi”. We hear that in paramapadam the nithya sooris always keep singing Sama vedam. Varaha moorthi explained to bhoomi piratti his taste for singing through the charitram of nampAduvan. We saw that the very purpose of bhoomi piratti’s avatara as andal was to show this important form of worship to her kids (people of this world).

 

Even today we find Srivaishnavas giving special importance to mangalasasanam with the divine paasurams rendered by our azhvars. And all the divya desa emperumans especially parthasarathi in thiruvallikeni is adorned as “pAttu ketkum perumal” by bhagavatas.

 

Andal in her second paasuram in thiruppavai says, “pArkadalul paiyaththuyindra paraman adi pAdi” In the first paasuram she talked about the paramapurushan as NarAyanan. Now she talks about the vyuha moorthi as ksheerApthi sayanan. But wasn’t she interested only in krishnAnubhavam. Why talk about other forms? This was eyewash just to satisfy the elders that the girls were doing their nombu in a proper manner prostrating to some divine deity. Andal says, “adi pAdi” Why should she talk the praise of his divine feet? In Ramayana Sri Sita feels in separation from chakravarthi thirumagan. At that time she says, “My father showed me the hands of Sri rama and hence I didn’t fall to his feet mesmerized by the beauty of his shoulders so today I am suffering but the divya padukas always held on to his divine feet and hence today it not only removed the grief of bharata but has also be crowned as the king of ayodhya.” Such is the greatness of emperuman’s divine feet when compared to his other parts. Like a small kid more attracted towards the breasts of a mother that feed the child more than any other part of the mother’s body, bhagavatas are more attracted towards the divine feet of emperuman that comes to their rescue at all times. That is why andal first says that it is very important to sing the praise of emperuman’s thiruvadi. ThiruppAnAzhvar started singing the beauty of Periya perumal starting only with the thiruvadi. PadAdhi kEshAntham darshanam is very dear to our poorvacharyas. Those who shed their ahankara live under the divine feet of emperuman. Both arjuna and duriyodhana came to ask krishna’s help. While arjuna preferred to stay under the divine feet of krishna, duriyodhana considered standing in the leg side as loosing his dignity so he stood on the head side. When emperuman opened his eyes he first saw only arjuna and throughout he was on the side of arjuna. That is the effect of holding on to the divine feet of emperuman.

 

The dvaya maha manthram very close to the hearts of our acharyas says, ”Sriman Narayana charanou sharaNam prapathyE” It instructs us only to hold on to the divine feet of emperuman. That is why andal also stresses the importance of singing praise of emperuman’s thiruvadi, “paraman adi pAdi”

 

(To be continued)

 

Azhvar emperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharaNam

Adiyen ramanuja dAsee

Sumithra Varadarajan