Fw: thiru viNNagarath thEn - part 2 - poRuththEnn ( ThiruviNNagara Paasurams)

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Srimadh Azhagiya Singar thiruvadikaLE saraNam

 

Dear bAgawathAs,

 

thiru viNNagarath thEn - part 2 - Poruth " thEn "

****************************************************

(Prior to embarking on this small journey of drenching in various

" thEn " , one will attempt to dwell on a common question in adiyEn's

and many other similar bAgawathAs's mind. ie.. Why make a " big deal "

out of this reference to " thEn " and other such words used in a

simple poetic reference. These poetic references are anyway common

to many other such poems. In this part the question on use of uncommon

words are discussed. A brief analysis is attempted as to why tamil

vEdham is called as tamizh maRai and maRaith " thEn " ? The tamil word

maRaiththEn means I have hidden something.) Finally the first of the

21 thEn namely poRuth " thEn " is dealt.

 

Dear bAgawathAs,

 

maraith " thEn "

 

In some of the poorvAchAryA vyAkyAnams on tamil prabhandhams

Samskritham has been referred as the " muRattu bAshai " (tough to

" learn & use " language). It is felt that the samskritha vada mozhi

is not understandable by many commoners. Ofcourse Sanskrit is one of

the oldest and most beautiful language and for every Srivaishanva

both tamil and sanskrit are like their two eyes. AzhwArs incarnated

as per Sriman nArAyanA's thiru uLLam and delivered the vEdhams in an

extremely easy to learn and talk language, ie. tamil. It is said

that those tamil vEdhams are not only easy to learn, they are also

undiluted, unambiguous and unadulterated in their meanings for

samskrtiha vEdhams. While it is said so, there are many AzhwAr

pasurams that contain certain complex or sometime compounded and

uncommonly used tamil words as main references. Some of these

references are hidden in a compounded word ( " thEn " references

of this series such as thuRan " thEn " , maRan " thEn " etc). Someone

may think that " why all these " muRattu vArtthaigaL " (words that are

somewhat difficult to pronounce and understand) are being used in

the supposedly easy to understand " tamil vEdham " ?. Some of these

references are mostly on the surroundings of the divya dEsams.

The compounded and hidden words are mainly on the beauty

and specialty of the buildings, fields, trees, gardens, flowers,

honey, bees and the rivers in a divya dEsam. Why not they simply

refer to the divya dEsams alone and be upto the point (*)?

Is it simply to fill in the lines to suit the poetic meter and standards

alone? ie..They fill in the poetic meter adopted in that pathigam.

It is common to any poetry. However, a person who is not so

familiar with poetic tamil may get tired of some of these repeated

references.

 

We are all taught that the AzhwAr Sri sukthis are not mere

mortal poems such that one can simply look at them in the poetic

sense alone and be content with that. It is said that they are

embedded with layers of inner meanings. That is why AchAryA after

AchAryA incarnated and delivered so many wonderful vyAkyAnams that

are so unique only to Srivaishnava Sri Sukthis. (Though shaivaites

have their own score of tamil granthams in numbers, it is said that

they donot have many meaningful vyAkyAnams such as ours). If these

pasurams are using very complex compounded & hidden words and have

layers of inner meanings, then comes the question as to how one can

call the tamil prabhandhams as something that is very " clear,

unambiguous " and so on in their effort to provide clear meanings

for vEdhams. It is a very valid question.

 

The tamil word " maRai " means hide something. ie..They (samskritha

vEdham) hide the thatthuvam of " param poruL " such that many are not

clear about it. Hence the samskritha vEdham is named as " maRai " or hide.

Since tamizh is so sweet as " thEn " , the tamil vEdham can be called

as maRaith " thEn " . However thamizh vEdhams never hid the concept of

para thaththuvam. They were pretty open about it, and forthcoming

and straight forward as to who is the paramAthmA. In this sense,

the tamil vEdham or the 4000 pAsurams are what they are meant to be

and known for (Swami dEsikan's reference " theLiyAtha maRai nilangaL

theRiginROmE " ). But many poorvAchAryAs call divya prabhandhams also

as " thamizh maRai " . Is it a simple common terminology to call them

as vEdham? If these pasurams are NOT hiding the para thatthuvam,

then why is it called as " maRai " again? or else what is it hiding

this time around? It is said that these pasurams are also somewhat

secretive and not " very open " in describing about the many of the

paths that lead to the said paramAthmA. ie.. One may ask, " What's

the point in simply learning who is the paramAthmA and not knowing

what to do with that knowledge (on " who is the paramAthmA " )?.

 

One must also learn that the purpose of the jeevAthmA is to

serve the paramAthmA (divya dampathis) eternally. Such " kainkarya

prAptthi " is " always " possible only by attaining mOksham. There

were many mArgAs that the vEdhAs have preached for one to attain

brahmam. However our AchAryAs emphasis that many of these mArgAs

are not possible for the " kali yuga boolOga vAsis " to do, as they

require extremely rigorous pursuit that are not feasible for the

samsAris of kali. The tamil vEdham incarnated in boolOgam towards

the beginning of kali. Their purpose was not only to establish very

clearly as to who is paramAthmA, but also to part with some

knowledge as to how the kali yuga vAsis can attain the same.

 

The only mArgam that " suit " the boolOga vAsis in kali is the

saranAgathi or prapatthi mArgam. There were several references to

AzhwAr doing saranAgathi to the Lord. However, these references

were interpreted differently by different SrivaishnavAs. Some of

them argue that these references are not necessarily talking about

prapatti or saranagathi mArgam as such and question these mArgams.

These references were somewhat implicit about the yAgam or ritual

saranagathi. Hence it somehow makes one feel that these tamil

vEdhams as " thamizh maRai " . ie, These also hide the true nature of

the main and only mArgam that is easy to pursue in kali. It is said

that due to some reasons divya dampathis made only Srivaishnavas

know about the para thatthuvam very clearly. It is also said that

due to some other reasons, only a few among them were made to

understand the implicit references to the prapati mArgam. Thanks

to many of our poorvAchAryAs who wrote about these. The references

to saranagathi, its angAs, angis are derived and understood

from these pAsurams from AzhwAr Sri sukthis due to these vyAkyAnams(*).

 

Many poorvAchAryAs beginning from Sri peria vAcchAn pillai have

explicitely mentioned about this prapatthi mArgam in their

vyAkyAnams for these pasurams. This is a knowledge one may have to

obtain from the sadAchAryA's kAlakshEmam of these 4000 pasurams. Of this

knowledge, the most important knowledge is to do a " saranAgathi " or

" Athma samarpanam " at the holy feet of the divya dampathis " through

a sadhAchAryA " . How can one do such saranAgathi and what does

one do after doing saranAgathi ? In what way all these analysis

and the current flow of thEnARu can explain this ?

 

maRaitha " thEn " ?

 

The actions one has to perform as being a prapanna are the

essence of some of these pasurams we deal in this series. However,

these pAsurams are very candid about all these information and we

have to gain the understanding of them after doing kAlakshEbham from a

sadhAchArya. Having mentioned a bit about the saranAgathi

margam and its most suitable nature, it is time to deal those

" muRattu vARtthaigaL " and hidden references in tamil vEdham. Why

did they hide this concept (saranagathi mArgam, prapanna shAshtram

and the description of our destiny)? In tamil maRaitha " thEn " means

why did you hide ?. It also means " maRaitha thEn " . ie.. The tamil

prabhandham that hide all these very important concepts is nothing

other than this " thEn " or 4000 divya prabhandham.

 

As mentioned earlier many of these compounded words are on

the nature of the surroundings of a divya dEsam are very sweet

like honey and and are very poetic and can be called as kavith

" thEn " . In particular these poetic references on the surroundings

are about the towns, fields, buildings, trees, flowers, honey, bees,

rivers and so on. Besides the poetical value and being a component

of the meter, these references have special meanings as such.

 

Each and every one of these 108 divya dEsams are Srivaikundam

themselves. Since perumAL is doing a nityA vAsam, these are to be

seen as a Srivaikundam incarnate in boolOgam. When such Srivaikutam

incarnates in the boolOgam, along with that comes the inmates of

the Srivaikundam. When a jeeva nathi sAram is referred in a pAsuram

it must be considered as a reference to the " vEdhAm " surrouding that

Srivaikunda divya dEsam. (kAvEri is also known as vishnu

mAyA). When a " SiRu nathi " is cited, it may be understood as many

upanishads that are constantly staying in that divya dEsam and are

praising the Lord of that divya dEsam. When many elegant and very

beautiful buildings and their enormous height, golden nature is

mentioned it indicates the great nitya suris who constantly

surround the paramAthmA.

 

They view or keep having darshan of the paramAtha from where they

are and they never move away. In tamil, they are referred as " imai

kottAmAl pArtthuk koNdE irruppavargaL " . ie.. they never move around

and station themselves permanently around divya dampathis. The

reference to height and other aspects of these structures indicate

the greatness of those nitya suris (height, golden nature). When

fertile fields are mentioned they show the great palans, these

" jeeva nathis " (vEdhams) have rendered to this divya dEsam ie.. the

" vEdha vitthukkaLAna mahA purushargaL " and mahAns who constantly

surround that city and pass on that gentle breeze of vEdha swAsam

in and around that divya dEsam. They are fertile due to the rivers

(vEdham), and the boomi (divya dEsam) vAsam. The huge and very

beautiful walls that surround the divya dEsam are to be considered

as the strong gaurds of the Srivaikundam.

 

The gardens that has the flowers and trees may refer to the

rare collection of granthams and Sri sukthis on this Lord. Above

all, the Bees that buzz these gardens must be consdiered as the

" AchAryALs " who incarnate often and seek the essence of these

Srisukthis and granthams collect them in their hives for our

benefits. There is a clear reference provided by Sri thirumangai

AzhwAr for this interpretation on bees. Finally the essence of all

these Sri sukthis and granthams must be that Honey or " thEn " we

all seek. Such " thEn " is easily provided by our great AchAryALs

who collect it and pass on to us. In the midst of all these our Lord

Sri thiru viNNagarath thEn is majestically standing and looking at us.

" santhana theNRal salikkAmal veesum aruL paarvai " (*).

 

poRuth " thEn "

 

Having explored the usage of many " alankAra vArtthaigaL " such as

" thEn " and bees of Sri AzhwAr pAsurams, we enter into the intended

substance of this series. Sri thiru mangai AzhwAr delivered 3 pathigams

on our Lord Sri Oppiliappan. In the first pathigam he describes his

" arucchi "

or hatred towards samsAram. In this pathigam he explains the extreme

trouble he had to undergo due to samsAric life & lowkeekam.

He also cries in fear about the difficulties that may arise out

of this samsAric drought. By citing all these he tries to plead to

thAyAr to stand or act as the " purushAkAram " (mediatrix) and give

him the refuge under perumAL's holy feet.

 

The tamil word poRuth " thEn " means I was tolerating. Sri

AzhwAr describes as to how he was enduring many insults. " adiyEn

used to consider the bandhukkaL or the samsAric relatives as my

friends. However they were all actually acting as my shathrus or

foes. They treated me as an " aNNiyan " whenever they didnot want

me. They used to abuse my relationship with them and took it for

granted. They took all the possible help from me and yet they

used horrible and abusive remarks that (the words that will hurt

and make deep wounds in one's heart or " puN padutthum sol " ) at me.

I used to tolerate these words. I was self controlling. In fact

I used to think that " these people didnot use those abusive

remarks at some other person or strangers. Atleast they didnot hurt someone

else. If these words have been used at someone else, they would

have felt heart broken. Atleast it didnot happen. I am thankful that

these were used at me. Due to this someone else has been spared

from getting heart-broken " .

 

" After all, these words are mere sabthams. Only when we see

the meanings for these abusive words it may be hurtful. Any word

mean nothing if we donot see its " poruL " or meaning. Even when we

say " thEn " , our mouth begins to drool. It is because our mind knows

that " thEn " means very sweet. If this dravyam is named something

else other than the word " thEn " , we may not feel the same way when

we pronounce the word " thEn " . Hence without the " poRuL " or meaning,

the word is only a sound. So I treated those words as mere " Osai "

or noise and tolerated such. I tolerated them at my heart. Besides

even if I have to see the meaning, it is after the all Lord Sri

thEnappan (Sri Oppiliappan) who serve as the " poruL " or meaning for

every word and it is the same Sri thEnappan who stood as the " suvai "

or taste for " thEn " . How can HE ever be hurting ? In view of Lord

residing in any poruL i tolerated the " pun sol " in my heart. i.e, My

reaction to those " pun sol " stayed deep inside my heart. I never ever

showed my feelings in anyway through my external senses. i.e I never

even reacted in anyway that might suggest that i was hurt by those

" pun sol " . My mind was looking forward to those " thEn sol " on the

Lord and so these " pun sol " never bothered me. Many people will

brood over such insults or hurtful words even if they donot outwardly

react.

Many will show it up in their faces. Many will want the opponent's blood

for

it. Many others will try to revenge in someother way. Some will want

a last word from the opponent. Some will keep it in their hearts but

will give a " bit of their mind " to others. Some will show it to someone

else. But AzhwAr keeps it in his heart, controlled and tolerated.

 

Some of these " thEn " must also be referring to someone or something

indirectly.

porumaiyAna " thEn " - i.e porumaiyil boomiyai pOnRu undO? this porumaiyAna

thEn or poRuth " thEn " in the " nenchil " or " thiru mArbu " is referred to

Sri Boomi dEvi thAyAr. It is rather a tradition to refer to thAyar

first as similar to " poo mannu porunthiya maarban " . No wonder the very

first

word of this pathigam has an implicit reference to Sri Boomi dEvi thAyaar.

 

Sri kumutha vaLLi nAcchiyAr samEtha Sri thirumangai AzhwAr thiruvadikaLE

saraNam

 

Sri boomidEvith thAyAr samEtha Sri Oppiliappan thiruvadikaLE saraNam.

 

adiyEn irAmAnusa dAsan

 

 

* - When our Lord thiru viNNagarath thEn is in the midst of all these

" alankaaraa varNanaikaL " and ramyamana sooznilai, He is constantly

looking at us with HIS " thEn " paarvai. Such thEn paarvai is, the " thiruk

kaN paarvai " of Lord " thEn " appan and is such that it is having the

effect of the gentle breeze that carries the fragrance of sandalwood

and is continuosuly blowing without any tireness. Such " santhanath

thenRal pOnRa paarvai " is also the " aruL kalantha eerap paarvai " . i.e

when one is receiving His belssings from His eyes one is also feeling

the " santhana theNRal " blowing on them gently and making them feel

very light, and happy.