Father's Day today:-) Let us enjoy our Universal Father's Glories and let us call Him appA! atthA! aNNA! and offer our anantha kOti praNaamams...

[Guest guest]

SrI:

srImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya namah:

 

Dearest all

 

today is the Father's day.. we dont generally

celebrate the same; However I thought we would take

this golden opportunity to offer our obeisance and

meditate on our Father sriman Narayanan on this great

day.

 

I immediately remembered a brilliant write up by Sri

MK sudharshan Swamin and am reproducing an extract for

our enjoyment:

 

The Lord indeed is the only True 'bandhu' of All

creation! .

 

Just take a few well-known and oft-quoted samples:

 

(a) Swami Desikan in his " Sri-Stuthi " :

 

" mAthA devi! tvamasi bhagavAn vasudeva-ha pithA may

jAtha-ha sOham janani yuvayOr-eka-lakshyam

dayAya-hA " (Thou art my Mother and the Lord my pater in

truth?. "

 

(b) Sri AlavandAr in his " stotra-ratna " :

 

" pitA tvam mAtA-tvam, dayita-tanayas-tvam priya suhrd

tvam eva, tvam mitram, gururasi gatiscAsi jagatAm,

tvadIyas tvad bhrtyas tava parijanha tvad-gatiraham

prapannas chaivam satyaham api tavai-Asmi hi

bharaha. "

(Lord, thou art my sole " bandhu " of every description

-- father, mother,

son, friend, preceptor, refuge, support?!

 

© Sri.Ramanuja in his " saranAgathi-gadyam " :

 

" tvamEva mAtA pitA tvameva tvameva bandhuscha

gurustvamEva,

tvamEva vidya dravinam tvamEva tvameva sarvam mama

deva deva "

 

(Thou art my mother, father, kinsman, teacher, wisdom

and wealth --- thou art everything in this world to

me, My Lord!)

 

(d) GAndhAri to Lord Krishna in the " mahabharatA " :

 

" tvam eva mAtA ca pitA tvam eva

tvam eva bandusca sakA tvam eva "

(Thou art my mother, my father, my " bandhu " and

companion! "

 

(e) Tondar-adi-podi AzhwAr in his " tirumAlai " :

 

" telivilAk kalangal nIrsUzh tiruvarangatUl-OngUm,

oliyUlAr-tAmE-yenrE thanthaiyUm thAyUm-AvAr?. "

(Verse#37)

(Yonder amidst the gurgling swifts of the Kaveri, in

the blessed city of Tiruvarangam, rests my Lord who is

my true father and mother?.)

 

The poetic tone in all the above lines is one of

sheer, unmistakable spiritual exhilaration --- the

sort that would fill an " orphan " who has at last found

his parents!

 

The " AchAryA-s " found (as YagnyavalkyA too did in the

" brhadAranyaka-upanishad " in our last post) boundless

joy in realizing their individual " akinchinyam " ; in

the clean and irrevocable severance of ties with

earthly " bandham " ; and in the realization that

" parabhrahmham " the Supreme One, in the form of Lord

Ranganatha or Krishna, alone was the true " bandhu " of

all Creation ---- " bandhumakhilasya-janto-ho " .

***********

thanks Swamin for your great write up as usual

How beautiful!

the Lord is addressed as appaa, aNNaa, atthA by

AzhwArs.

 

Again sri Sadagopan mama has written on this subject

also few years ago [what subject has he left.. Swamin

is indefatigable. May God bless him]

 

Among all births , the birth called Jn~Anap piRavi

resulting from the blessings of Moola Manthram as

Mother and one's AchAryan as the Father providing that

" BrahmOpadEsam " elevates the role of parents , who

are endearingly called ammA /ambhA/aaryAmbhA ( the

most merciful ) and appA/appan (the most sacred )

..aNNan is typically the name for the elder brother in

Tamil Naadu .

 

aNNal seybhavan is aNNal .aNNal is the leader .

aaryA is the term for a very revered one

and the term AchAryA mihgt be interpreted as AchArEna

aarya : , or anushtAnEna prasiddha aarya :

In old formal Sanskrit , when a revered one

( mahaneeya or pUjaneeya ) arrives at your home ,

you prostrate before them and invite them to

sit ( aasana parigrahENa alankarOthu imam

pradEsam Aarya : ) .

 

The connection to all these nomenclature can be found

in Divya Prabhandhams , when Thirumangai and

NammAzhwAr address the Lord in their SaraNAgathi

Paasurams .Examples are :

 

Periya Thirumozhi : ThiruveLLak KuLam paasurams:

 

** 4.7.1-- ThiruveLLak KuLatthuL aNNA adiyEn idaraik

kaLayAyE

^^^^^

 

** 4.7.2: ThiruveLLak KuLatthuL yenthAi ----

^^^^^^^

 

Periya Thirumozhi : Thiruvenkata Pasurams

 

** 1.9.5: --yenn appA vanthadainthEn adiyEnai

aatkandaruLE

^^^^^

 

** 1.9.6--aNNA vanthadainthEn ---

^^^^^

 

** 1.9.7--Gana maamalai VenkatavA ,

ariyE ( HariyE ) vanthadainthEn --

 

**1.10.1 -10 : aNNaa adiyEn idarik kaLayAyE ,

^^^^^

aNDA "

kOnE "

yenthAi , ini unnai yenRum vidEnE

^^^^^^^

 

NammAzhwAr : ThiruvEnkatam paasurams ( Thiruvaaimozhi

)

 

3.3.1: Ozhuvil kaalamellAm---ThiruvEnkatatthu ,

yezhil koLL sOthi yenthai tanthai tanthaikkE

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

6.10.3 : aNNalE unnadi sEra adiyErkkAvennAyE

^^^^^^

 

PriyAzhwAr PallANdu : Paasuram 6

 

yenthai tanthai tanthai tam mUtthappan yEzhpadikAl

thodangi

^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^

 

The sum of it all is that one's father revered by

Vedam as " pithru dEvO bhava " is deservedly addressed

as " appA , aNNA , tanthai , appan , aNNal , Aaryan et

al " to indicate the reverence for givng us the JN~Anap

piRavi . In the days past , a son never sat in front

of his father .He always stood unless asked by his

father and even then at a place below his father's

seat .

 

The exemplary case of Father-AchArya-Son relationship

is that of Kumara VaradAchAr and Swami Sri Desikan ,

His father , AchAryan and God