Verse 26 Word For Word Translation Commentary Errors |
Index 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 |
maalE! maNi vaNNaa! maarkazhi nIraatuvaan * (O) Lord (O) gem hued Lord ! Margazhi month (we who do the) penance mElaiyaar ceyvanakaL vENtuvana kEttiyEl * elders (as) done by what we want , if you ask (are) - NYaalaththai ellaam natuNGka muralvana * (1) (making the) universe whole tremble (the) sound (made by) paal anna vaNNaththu un paaNYcacanniyamE * milky white Your pancha sayanam pOlvana caNGkaNGkaL pOyp paatutaiyanavE * like that ; conches ,(2) powerful caalap perum paRaiyE pallaaNtu icaippaarE * very big drums ,(3) pallandu singers , kOla viLakkE kotiyE vithaanamE * (4) oil lamps ,(5) flags (&)(6) big canopy - aalin ilaiyaay aruL O Lord grace (us) . El Or empaavaay Come (Let us do) (the penance of) paavai nOmbu
Translation By Dr. V.K.S.N. Raghavan
(Here ,the young gOpis request the granting of drum , lamp , flag , canopy et
al). Oh the embodiment of pure disinterested love ! Oh Lord of wonderful
colour of the blue sapphire gem! May You listen to us
(1)who perform the " bathing during Maargazhi", an observance
the great ancient people followed and (2) who are in the need of following SIX
things (for the vratham):
(a)superior conches similar to Your great Paanchajanyam, which have the white
hue of milk and which through their tumultous sound shakes all the worlds
(b) giant size drums/bhEris
(c) PallANDu singers
(d)decorative lamps
(e)dhvajam-banner& flags and
(f)a big canopy .
Oh Lord MaayAvin! the One who just reposed as a baby on a banyan leaf (Vatapathra-saayin)
in the waters of PraLayam ! Kindly bless us with these six
vrathOpakaraNams through Your limitless grace.
Commentary By Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchari Sadagopan
This 26th Paasuram is about Isvaran, the 26th Tatthvam. The Upanishad
points Him out as the 26th Tattvam ( Tamm shat-vimsakam ithyAhu:). The
importance of the number 26 among the Tattvams is seen at Hasthigiri of
Lord VaradarAjan . The chEthanam (the Jeevan as the 25th tattvam )climbs
the 24 steps (SarIram with 24 tattvams , which is an obstacle for mOksham
) to get to the sannidhi of Isvaran on top of the Hasthigiri waiting for
it (jeevan) pateiently as the 26th and the Supreme Tattvam.
BhUvarAhAcchAr Swamy's observations about his paasuram
*******************************************************
Lord KrishNA seated on His simhAsanam asks the Gopis to explain the
self-contradiction in their appeals:
" Oh Gopis ! You say You have come to get materials from me for
Your nOnbhu and in the same breath say that You have come to enjoy My company.
Those who desire my company need to eschew all other desires . Moreover,
What is this nOnbhu that You refer to ? Who has prescribed it and what are
the accessories recommended for that nOnbhu?".
Gopis respond:
" Oh Lord , the Cowherds proposed this vratham to gain auspiciousness.
We readily responded since it came handy to see Your face and sing about Your
glories . We observe this nOnbhu also to express our gratitude towards those
cowherds , who have brought about our union under this pretext".
Although there is no direct Vedic injunction (to perform this nOnbhu), we do
it bacuse our ancestors have performed it (mElayAr seyvanagaL). We give
more importance to our learned ancestors than to any other injunctions ".
ANDAL is giving us the message (upadesam) that age old customs , traditions and practises of our AchAryAs are to be respected and observed with great care.
By enumerating all the accessories for the nOnbhu , ANDAL is speaking
about SAAMYAPPATTHI --where the liberated soul gets emblems and insignias
similar to that of the Lord , Sri VaikuntanAthan.
The address of the Lord as " MaalE " is to depict the
Lord's unlimited love and concern for the Jeevan. It is the stand-in for the
word " Maam " (MAmEkam SaraNam Vraja )in the Charama SlOkam .
The address of the Lord as "AalinilayAi" in the final paadham of
this paasuram refers to His immense prowess as revealed by the word "AHAM
" in the same charama slOkam (AHAM thvaa sarva paapEbhyO MokshayishyAmi maa
sucha:)."Maam" shows His easy accessibility (Soulabhyam) and "AHAM
" , His omnipotence.
The Inner meanings of the Paasuram (Abhinava Desikan )
******************************************************
We perform hrudh-Yaagam (mAnasIka aarAdhanam) first and then engage in
BhAhyArAdhanam ( external aarAdhanam). Latter has six steps (aasanams) as
established by sishtAgresarars ( done by the leaders of righteous conduct:
mElayAr seyvanakaL) . The word group "mElayAr seyvanakaL vENDuvana "
is the essence of this paasuram , where sishtAchAram (Conductof the noble
ones)is celebrated as the way to follow ,whenever one is in doubt.
The six Aasanams are:
(1) manthrAsanam
(2) SnAnAsanam
(3)alankArAsanam
(4)bhOjyAsanam
(5) punar-manthrAsanam and
(6) paryankAsanam .
We have to seat the Lord in each of the six aasanams and offer upachArams. The six accesories desired by Gopis for the AaarAdhanam match with the six aasanams :
(1) blowing of the conch (pranava nAtham) is manthrAsanam
(2)Vadhya ghOsham is performed in SnAnAsanam/ Thirumanjanam
(3)during alankArAsanam , manthra pushpam and recitation of
aruLiccheyalkaL & Vedic chanting.This is equivalent to singing
PallANDu
(4) The samarpaNam of NaivEdhyam for the Lord is known as lighting a lamp
(5)During punar-manthrAsanam , vij~nApanam is made whether the Lord
desires any sanchaaram on Garudan , His kodi (Dhvajam) and
(6) in paryankAsanam , the vidhAnam (canopy)is spread over the Lord's bed . Thus
, the six upakaraNams ( Sankhu , Parai, PallANDU-isaippAr , Kola ViLakku ,
Kodi and VidhAnam ) are mappable to the six Aasanams prescribed for the
six stages of external AarAdhanam for the Lord. This Bhagavath AarAdhana Kramam
is covered in detail in the AchArya RaamAnujA CD ROM released last year.
Inner meanings by Sri PBA Swamy
********************************
The Gopis seek Maarga seersha AvagAhanam (Marghazhi neerAtam ) as the most
illustrious Bhagavath prApthi margam ( the means to attain the Lord)
, namely , resting under the comforting doctrine of AchArya abhimAnam and
total visvAsam in
that AchAryan .Swamy Desikan's NyAsa Tilakam passages (viz), " andhO
anandha grahaNa vachaka:" and " dhatthE Rangi nijamapi padham
DesikAdEsa kaankshi" are cited as illustrations as how we should follow
AchArya Niyamanam to attain full phalan of Prapatthi.
The Gopis driven by BhAva PradhAna nirdEsa nyAyam ( revealing their dominant
bhAvanai/behavior of following AchArya Nishtai) want to become the six
accessories that they seek : Sankhu ( to become suddha Saathvikars and not
to leave Lord's hand ever);PaRai ( to become like sounding to clebrate the
glories of achAryan and their paramparai);PallANDu isaippAr ( like PeriyAzhwAr
to sing PallANDu to Him ); Kola ViLakku (to become endowed with Svayam
PrakAsam ); Kodi is Dhavajam ( to hold the flag of "Srimallakshmana
YogIndhra siddhAntha Vijaya dhvajam );VidhAnam ( Like the nithya- sUri, Garudan
, who is equated to VidhAnam by Swamy AaLavanthAr in His sthOthra rathna
slOkam : DaasassakhA vaahanamAsanam dhvajO VIDHAANAM vyajanam ThrayImaya:).
They seek like Garudan , " sarva desa , sarva Kaala , sarva avasthOcitha
asEsha Kaimkaraya" anubhavam from KrishNA.
"mElayAr SeyvanakaL " is the jeeva naadi for this paasuram. ANDAL,
received Upadesam from Her AchAryan ,PeriyAzhwAr the GarudAmsar , about
the GithOpanishad slOkam 3.21and She blesses us with that upadEsam :
yadhyadhAcharathi srEshtastatthEvEtarO Jana:
sa YathpramANam kuruthE LokastadhanuvarthatE
(Meaning):" Whatever a great man does, other men also do.whichever
standard he sets, the world follows it...With regard to any duty , which is
being performed with all its ancillaries by an eminent personage, the people
with imncomplete knowledge will do it with the same ancillaries".
SvApadEsArthams by PerukkAraNai Swamy
***************************************
MaalE MaNivaNNA ! = Oh Lord of exquisite beauty and who has
unlimited love for the chEthanams
Maarghazhi neerAduvAn = for performing the superior act of SaraNAgathi
mElayAr vENDuvana seyvanaikaL kEttiyEl = if You want to hear about
the rites to be performed by us for that upAyam recommended by our noble
ancestors, we will tell You about them.
pOlvana sankhangaL = The aanukoolya sankalpam arising from the sankha
dhvani, which is like the Jn~Anam-giving Pranava nAdham
pOypAdudai paRayE = the prAthikoolya varjana sankalpam arising from the
vast , apourushEya Vedam serving as the resonating BhEri (PaRai) naadham
pal aaNdu =
for a long time
isaippArE =
(accumulating )the pahala thyAgam arising from those with visvAsam
kOla VilakkE = having mahA
visvAsam (in YOU)
kodi = experiencing utter helplessness about our ability (to protect
ourselves)and seeking Your grace like a flag fluttering in the fierce wind
(KaarpaNyam)
vidhAnam = (seeking )gopthruva varanam , all these angams of SaraNAgathi ,
aruL = Oh Lord , please bless us with them.
PerukkAraNai Swamy has 30 pages of commentary on this paasuram .His
elaborations on Karthavyam (that which must be done), ThyAjyam ( That
which needs to be abandoned) , the daily duites of Men and Women as Sri
VaishNavAs are very important areas for reflection . adiyEn can capture only a
limited portion due to limits of space and time.
Soodikkoduttha NaacchiyAr ThiruvadigaLE Saranam ,
Sarvam KrushNArpanam asthu
RaamAnuja Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri
SatakOpan