ThoNdaradippodi AzhwAr TN- Maargazhi Kaettai- today

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Sri:

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namah:

 

Dearest BhAgawathas,

 

Today (Maargazhi kEttai Nakshathram) is the

Thirunakshathram of

ThoNdaradippodiAzhwAr. He calls himself as thoNdar

adippodi, meaning dust at the feet of devotees (of

Emperumaan Sri Ranganathan).

 

The prabhandham (verse) on ThondaradippodiAzhwAr from

Swamy Desikan’s prabhandhasaaram is:

 

mannumathit tirumaNdaNG gudithaan vaaza

maar_kazimaa thakkEttai naaLil vanthu

thunnupukazth thoNdaradip podiyE neemun

Ruzaaymaalaip paNiyadimai seythu naaLunN

thennaranga maNavaaLaR kanpu mikkuc

seppiyanNaR Rirumaalai naaRpath thainthum

panniyanNaR RiruppaLLi yezucci patthum

pazavadiyE NnukkaruLsey parinthu neeyE.

 

He is the AzhwAr who considered himself as the dust at

the feet of Bhagawathas, and called himself so.

 

AzhwArs are those who have immersed themselves in

Bhagavath anubhavam and bhakti towards Sriya: Pathi

Sriman Narayanan, the unsurpassed and Supreme Lord.

There is also a reference in Srimad Bhagawatham about

AzhwArs births:

 

kalau khalu bhavishyanthi nArAaNa parAyaNah:

kvachin kvachin mahAbhAgA drAmidEshu cha bhUrisa:

thAmaraparaNi nadhI yatra kruthamAlA payasvinI

kAvErI cha mahAbhAgA pratIcI cha mahAnadhI

 

(meaning: In the beginning of Kaliyuga persons

" exclusively " devoted to Sriman Narayanan and endowed

with spiritual knowledge will be born here and there

in the land of dravidas where flow the rivers

ThamaraparaNi, Kruthamala (Vaigai), Payasvini

(PaalaaRu) Cauveri, and Mahanadhi (PeriyaaRu).

 

NammAzhwAr, MadhurakaviAzhwAr were born in the banks

of ThamaraparaNi;

PeriyAzhwAr and AndAL close to Vaigai;

Poygai, PuthathAzhwAr and PeyAzhwAr and

ThirumazhisaiPiraan near PaalaaRu;

ThoNdaradippodiAzhwAr, ThirumangaiAzhwAr on the banks

of Cauveri.

 

Let us pay our obeisance to ThoNdaradippodi AzhwAr

(also called

BhakthAngrirENu)

 

Thondaradippodi, also known as BhakthaangrirENu was

born in an orthodox brahmin family at ThirumaNdangudi

in Tamil Nadu. His name was vipra naaraayaNar. Right

from childhood he developed an intense devotion to

Vishnu. With a keen desire to offer divine service to

Lord Sri Ranganatha at Srirangam, he took up the pious

occupation of cultivating a flower garden and offered

daily tuLasi leaves and flowers to the Dhivya mangaLa

vigraha.

 

 

ThoNdaradippodi AzhwAr, composed two works:

 

1. ThiruppaLLiyezhucchi (10 verses) and 2. Thirummalai

(45 verses) Thiruppalliyezhucchi is almost a great

multimedia presentation of waking up the Lord of

Srirangam, who is having His YoganithrA; The rising

Sun, the gentle breeze, the fragrance of the flowers,

the movement of birds, the bees humming, etc are

greatly described by AzhwAr.

 

In Thirumaalai, the necessity to recite the Divya

naamams (divine names) of The Lord Ranaganathan to

remove the sins, and the greatest importance of

kaimkaryam to Bhagawaan and more importantly His

devotees, irrespective of their caste.

 

ThoNdaradippodiAzhwAr, who called himself as " the Dust

at the feet of BhAgavatALs " , was born to a vEdic

brahmin by name, vEdavisArathar in Thirumandangudi in

the month of Margazhi and in kEttai nakshathram, in

the family of sOzhiya vaishNava (who had their

" kudumi " (tuft) on the top front portion and not

behind); He was an incarnation of vanamAlA (Divine

Garland of Lord MahA vishNu) and he was named

" VipranArAyaNa " . He was taught Tamil, Sanskrit, vEdAs,

upanishds, etc., at an early age and he mastered them

with no effort and shone like a bright tEjasvi. He was

also well versed in writing and singing Tamil poetry

and was fully well versed in ShAstrAs. He had no pride

(vidhyA garvam) and was humble and modest to the core

and hence, he was respected by everyone in the

locality.

 

He became highly devoted to Sriman NarayaNa and he

took a vow to stay as a bachelor throughout his life

so that he could devote his full time and energy to

perform kainkaryam to the Lord Sriya: patih. Like

periyAzhwAr, vipranArAyaNa too was interested only in

poomAlai kainkaryam. He migrated to Srirangam (which

he was longing to visit) after his father's death) and

he made a beautiful nandhavanam with nice trees to

give shadows and cool breeze, flower creepers which

yield excellent sugandha flowers,which can be offered

to Sriman NarayaNa, like, Lotus, karunkuvaLai,

Alli(lily), Thulasi, etc., stream of water flowing in

the middle as an offshoot of CAuvEri where swans swim

gracefully, and so on and so on. It was a serene

divine atmosphere in the Nandhavanam and our

VipranarayaNa stayed there within the garden in a

small hermitage. It used to allure anybody walking

down there to visit and get a divine experience. Not

only that, our vipranArAyaNa's singing pAsurams in

praise of Arangan along with the sruthi of bees and

birds humming add beauty to the place.

 

Every day our AzhwAr gets up in the wee hours, takes a

holy dip in nearby CauvEri, applies bright TirumaN

kAppu, carries out NityakarmAnushtAnangal, plucks the

flowers and ThuLasi leaves, makes beautiful garlands,

and takes them to Arangan for adorning Him. He enjoys

when archakAs place them on the Lord and he stands

stupefied by the inexplicable beauty of The Black

Emerald; He melts with tremendous amount of Bhakti

rasam generated by the sowndharyam of the Lord and

enjoys His ThirumEni which is like a big huge

mountain; Red Coral lips and mouth(PavaLacchevvAi);

Red Lotus eyes; He addresses the Lord: " Oh AchutA!

There is no enjoyment which is equal to admiring your

such beauty. Even you give me a post of Indra to rule

the Indra lOkam and enjoy that position, I still DO

NOT NEED them; I just want to serve your feet! " . Such

a great AzhwAr is he!

 

It is said that Vipranarayana was one day captivated

by the beauty of one lady named Deva devi, who

accidentally came to his garden. He found her charm

alluring and fell into her trap. By the grace of

Almighty, he was later rescued from the degraded life

and made to repent the grave error committed by him.

 

Thereafter he dedicated himself not tonly to serve

Him; but more to His devotees as well. He sinecerely

believed that he is servant of servants of the Lord

and thus called himself as duct at the feet of

Bhaagawathas. In the last verse of

Thirupalliyezhuchhi, he prays to the Lord to wake up

and bless him to be the servant of His servants

always.

 

[VaikuNta vaasi Sri Uttamoor Swami rejects this

incident in AzhwAr’s life saying that AzhwAr would not

have fallen into such a trap. It is because of

AzhwAr’s verses of Thirumaalai some verses of which

are quite strong against Buddha, jaina mathams, there

could have been false allegations against AzhwAr

spreading such concocted stories. Whatever, these are

more meant for us that for AzhwArs.. [just like the

verse below sung by the same AzhwAr]

 

" OorilEn kANiyillai; uRavu maRRu oruvar illai;/

pAril nin pAtha moolam paRRilEn parama moorthee;/

kAroLi vaNNanE (en) kaNNanE! kadharuginREn;/

AruLar kaLaikaN ammA! arangamA nagaruLAnE!/ "

 

Meaning: I have no place; no properties; no relatves;

none other than you; I know only your Lotus feet; O

Lord of Blue hued sky colour! You only are my refuge.

Can you not hear my cries? Is there any one else to

save me except you? "

 

An excellent pAsuram and how aptly it matches with our

lives! May Lord Sri RanganAthA and His AzhwAr

ThoNdaradippodiAzhwAr shower Their grace and blessings

on us, poor mortals, (running amuck after material

pursuits knowing fully well to help us get rid of this

vicious circle of samsAra sAgaram.

 

ThoNdaradippodiAzhwAr thiruvadigaLe saraNam

Regards

Namo Narayana

Bhakthaangri rEnu rEnu:

 

 

 

 

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