Verse 30 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 |
vaNGkak katal katain^tha maathavanai kEcavanaith * Ship filled oceans (He who) churned Lord Madhavan Lord Keshavan thiNGkaL thirumukaththuc cEy izhaiyaar cenRi iRaiNYci * (with) moon (like) beautiful faces ornamented maidens (having) reached (and) worshipped (That Lord) aNGk ap paRai koNta vaaRRai * aNi puthuvaip there obtained emancipation [drum got] . (that) Story beautiful Sri Villiputur's paiNG kamalath thaN theriyal pattarpiraan kOthai conna * fresh lotus garland cool (wearing) Brahmin priest Andal said. caNGkath thamizh maalai muppathum thappaamE * Beautiful tamil garland (these) thirty (verses) without fail iNGk i paricu raippaar IriraNtu maal varaith thOL * here like this (those who) recite , (between) two pairs (of) mountain(s) , stretch shoulders (that) ceNGkaN thirumukaththuc celvath thirumaal aal * red eyes beautiful face glorious God because of HIM eNGkum thiruvaruL peRRu inpuRuvar empaavaay anywhere grace (they) will get (and) will enjoy bliss . paavai nOmbu
Translation By Dr. V.K.S.N. Raghavan
Approaching Him --the Lord Kesavan (of lovely curly locks of hairs) , the
Lord Maadhavan ( the husband of Goddess Sri) who (enabled the gods) to churn the
seas abounding in ships , and praying to Him , the Young charming
damsels (of Gokulam ) with exquisite faces of Moon-like beauty and good
ornaments , obtained the unparalleled drum.
Describing their observances , prayer and getting the drum (from the
Lord) , GodhA , the foster-daughter of Bhattar PirAn adorned with the cool
garlands of fresh lotuses , and a resident of beautiful SrivilliputthUr has
composed this ThiruppAvai --sangat Tamizh maalai(Garland of Tamizh songs ,
sung in group by the devotees of the Lord ; or hailed as the lyric poem in
Tamizh of the great Sangam poets and poetesses) consisting of thirty paasurams
(equal to the number of Vowels and Consonants of the Tamizh
alphabet).Whosoever recites this hymn --referring to the award of paRai ,
faithfully will get the divine bliss here and hereafter , through the
benign grace of the Lord ThirumAl ( Sriya: Pathi) endowed with a
supreme , divine form , namely four strong mountain-like shoulders, beautiful
face with eyes of reddish hue along with other prosperous glory.
Commentary By Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchari Sadagopan
Significance of the 30th Paasuram
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Today is the day , when the MahA Prabhandam of Soodikkoduttha NaacchiyAr comes
to the stage of SaatthumuRai. It is UttharAyaNa PuNya Kaalam .It is Makara
SankarAnthi dinam. May Subhiksham spread all over the lands, where ANDAL
BhakthAs are there and May her endearing message for our upliftment to reach Her
Lord's Lotus feet easily serve as a beacon light for us all ! Today is indeed a
Parama MangaLa Dinam for us all !The 30th paasuram has the benedictions
for a Kaimkaryam-filled life ,the fruits of Bhagavath Daasyam .BhAgavatha dAsyam
is the yellai nilam for that Bhagavath dAsyam .
Sri PBA Sawamy's summary of the Thirty Verses
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To appreciate the context of the 30th verse , we should reflect on the summary
of the 29 passurams that preceded it.
In the first Paasuram , Andal celebrated the time for the nOnbhu , the
adhikAris performing the nOnbhu and the Lord who is the object of this nOnbhu .
In the second paasuram , She mentioned about the Karthavyam and ThyAjyam for
the nOnbhu ;in the third paasuram, She pointed out that for the successful
performance of the nOnbhu , the aanushankika Varsha roopa phalan (Copious and
timely rains for desa kshEmam) will be realized. In the fourth paasuram, She
invited the parjanya devan, VaruNan to bless the land with the nourishing rains
.
In the fifth paasuram, She pointed out that all the obstacles to the
performance of the Paavai nOnbhu will be eliminated quickly , if we sing and
reflect on the name of the Lord.
>From the sixth to the fifteenth paasurams , ANDAL went around the streets
of Gokulam and awakened the pancha laksham kudis of fellow Gopis to join the
ghOshti to NandhagOpan's mansion.
In the 16th paasuram, Gopis wake up the dhvAra PaalakAs at the Lord's
mansion and remind them about the earlier promise of KrishNan to grant them the
PaRai ; in the 17th pssuram , they awaken NandhagOpan, YasOdhai PirAtti ,
KaNNapirAn , Nampi Moottha PirAn(BalarAman)in that order.In the 18th paasuram ,
they wake up Nappinnai PirAtti with reverence ; they awaken (next)
Nappinnai PirAtti and KaNNan together in the 19th and the 20th paasurams.
In the 21st and the 22nd Paasurams , the Gopis submit that they have arrived
at the Lord's mansion after being defeated by the power of His GuNams in a state
of AbhimAna bhangam and with expectation of receiving His katAksham as taarakam
.
In the 23rd paasuram , They request Him to travel to His lofty simhAsanam
;they perform mangaLAsAsanam for Him there in His throne room in the 24th
paasuram .
In the 25th pasuram , they submit to Him that they have arrived in a
state of ananyagathithvam ( with no others to protect them) and in the 26th
paasuram they spell out the VrathOpakaraNams needed for the nOnbhu. In the 27th
paasuram ,they describe the sanmAnams (rewards) desired after the completion of
the Paavai nOnbhu .
In the 28th paasuram,they point out their lowliness and celebrate His
loftiness and remind Him of their inseperable relationship with Him and seek
aparAdha KshAmaNams for earlier trespasses. In the 29th paasuram of
yesterday , they press Him for the granting of the desired boons and He
agrees heartily .
In the 30th and concluding Paasuram , ANDAL comes to the fore and
acknowledges the fulfillment arising from the observance of the paavai
nOnbhu of the Gopis and declares that those , who recite Her ThiruppAvai
paasurams would become the objects of Her Lord's grace and threy would be filled
with bliss. There will be bliss in Ubhaya VibhUthi for those , who recite the
thirty paasurams of ThiruppAvai blessed by SaakshAth PirAtti Herself.This Phalan
is for "ThiruppAvai KaRppAr". They earn the lotus-faced Lord's
ThiruvaruL and become Bhgya- saalis ( SenkaNN Thirumuhatthu SelavtthirumAlAl
yengum ThiruvaruL peRRU InbhuRuvar ).
ParAsara Bhattar's upadesam
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The great AchAryan , ParAsara Bhattar , has observed appropriately that we
should get up early in the morning and recite the 30 paasurams ; if that were
not possible ,we should atleast recite the "SiRRam SiRu Kaalai "
paasuram;If even that were not to be possible, we should think of the the
joy we had in reciting the paasurams and hearing the kaalakshEpam
about them in earlier times .
ParAsara Bhattar, the creator of the great Taniyan for ThiruppAvai(NeeLA
Tunga --),has also revealed to us that the grace of the merciful Lord is
sure to fall on us from His listening to our recitation of His
PirAtti's Thiruppaavai:" KanRizhantha Talai Naaku , thOl kanRai
madukka ,athukku irangumAppOlE , ippaasuram koNDu puha namakku palikkum
". He reveals that one gets this albhya laabham ( obtaining the
wealth that is "unattainable") in DhrushtAdhrushtam ( here and in the
other world) from the Lord through our recitation of the ThiruppAvai Paasurams (Sanga
Tamizh maalai muppathum tappAmE) of His PirAtti.
adiyEn will conclude the series of postings on ThiruppAvai with a
companion piece next.(provided below..)
The thirtieth paasuram is known as Thiru nAma Paattu or Phala Sruthi Paasuram
.In this posting , we will enjoy together the padha-Vaakya arthams.
Anubhandha Chathushtyam in the 30th Paasuram
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The anubhandha chathushtyam are:
(1)The excellence of the subject matter of this Sri Sookthi.
(2)the uniqueness of the author(vakthA)
(3)the superior nature of the meanings of this prabhandham and
(4)the excellent benefits (prayOjanam) of recitation of this Prabhandham.
The Four Prabhandha VailakshaNyam is celebrated this way :
(1)"Vangak Kadal --angap paRai koNDavARRai" refers to the Vishaya
LakshaNyam .
(2)"aNiputhuvai--GOdhai sonna" relates to the Superiority of the
VakthA (GOdhai).
(3)"Sangat Tamizh Maalai " connects with the artha-VailakshaNyam of
ThiruppAvai covering the VedAnthic doctrines.
(4)Muppathum tappAmE--Selvat ThirumAlAl Yengum ThiruvaruLpeRRu inbhuRuvar"
links up with the PrayOjana VailakshaNyam.
Padha Vaakhya vishayam: (1) Vangak Kadal Kadainthu:
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Amrutha Mathanam ( churning the Milky Oceans) is referred to here.It has been
intrepreted as NithyasoorIs arriving by ships to pay their salutations to their
Lord reclining on AdhisEsahn in the middle of the Milky Ocean .Vangam has also
been translated as the foam and froth arising from the churning activity .
(2)Vangak Kadal Kadaintha Maadhavanaik Kesavanai
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EmperumAn churned the Milky Ocean to gain nectar for the dEvaas and PeNNamuthu (MahA
lakshmi )for Himself .KrishNan churned the ocean of curd in Gokulam and also
churned the Ocean of the armies of Rukmi to gain RukmiNi . The Lord , who used
the excuse of churning the milky ocean to gain MahA Lakshmi also used the
ThiruppAvai nOnbhu as the VyAjam for gaining the Pancha Laksha Kudis (gOpis)of
Gokulam.
ANDAL addresses the Vangak Kadal kadainthavan as "Maadhavan " and
"Kesavan". She addressed the Lord as "Maadhavan" following
the Upadesam of Her AchAryan, PeriyAzhwAr: " Maarvam yenpathOr kOil
amaitthu MAADHAVAN yenpathOr Dhaivatthai naatti". While wearing Urdhva
PuNDram , we adorn the Lord with His Piraatti (Maahdavn) in the middle of our
chest in this context.The Lord is also addressed as "KESAVAN " here.
Kesavan is the adhishta Devathai for Maarghazhi month .He is also the Lord of
BrahmA recognized by the "Ka" sabdham and Isan (Lord Sivan); both of
them arose from our Lord's body .Parathvam of Our Lord is hinted this way by
choice of the naamam, Kesavan . The Maadhava Naamam delineates the "Srimath"
sabdhArtham.The reference to the act of churning the Milky ocean (Vangak kadal
Kadaintha) by the Lord points out His Bhaktha Vaathsalyam and Omnipotence.
(3)" angu appaRai koNDavARRai":
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"angu" (there) refers to the incident of the Gopis winning paRai
(there)at AaypAdi,(there)at Nandha Gruham and(there) at the throne room in
presence of NeeLA PirAtti ."appaRai " is to be split in to antha-Parai
, appERpatta , VisEsha paRai.
(4)"paimkamalat taNN teRiyal Bhattar PirAn Godhai Sonna" :
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Godhai identifies Herself as Bhattar PirAn's ( PeriyAzhwAr's) Godhai . He was
Her foster father and also Her AchAryan.Thus her vaaku had AchArya Sambhandham
and therefore has been described as "PaathahankaL Theerkkum Paraman adi
Kaattum , Vedamanaitthukkum VitthAhum ". Through Her Vaak blessed from
Upadesam of Her AchAryan , ANDAL sang about "sEsahthvam " ( Sruthi
satha Siras siddhamAna PaarArthyam).Her Sri Sookthi churned the essence of VedAs
and became GodhOpanishad , just as Her Lord churned the milky ocean to gain
amrutham .She chose Tamizh (instead of the difficult
Sanskrit )as the language for Her uplifting prabhandham , since She wanted the
ChEthanams to comprehend the meanings without problems.
Bhattar PirAn's Utthama VaishNava LakshaNam is also referred to here by
Godhai. She descibes him as the One wearing TuLasi and Lotus garlands around his
neck. Sri Vaishnavaas should wear the TuLasi bead and Lotus bead necklaces
always. TuLasi Maalai signifies the Parathvam of the Lord and the Lotus bead
maalai denotes the Parathvam of PirAtti. Thus , Sri VaishNavAs reveal themselves
as the daasans of Dhivya Dampathis.The dried stems of TuLasi and Lotus are used
to make the maalais. ANDAL follows the route of Madhura kavi , when She puts Her
AchAryan in the front :" Bhattar PirAn Godhai sonna". Madhura kavi put
His AchAryan in the front , when decribing His prabhandam : Tenn KuruhUr
nampikku anbhanAi Madhura Kavi sonna soll",Thus Both Andal's and Madhura
kavi's Prabhandhams are AchArya-para Prabhndhams and have unique distinction
among all Prabhandhams .
(5)"SenkaNN Thirumuhatthu Selvat ThirumAlAl "
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SenkaNN of the Lord has always had a fascination for AzhwArs because of their
VasIkaraNa sakthi and beauty. ANDAL refers those ankaNN and SenkaNN many times
including here in the ThiruppAvai Paasurams ( KaarmEni SenkaNN kathir muham ,
PankayaRk KaNNanai ,SenkaNN sirUcchirithE , ankaNN iraNDum koNDu). BheeshmAcchAr
described the beauty of those lotus-like eyes as : "PullAmbhuja pathra
nEthra:"; VaalmIki saluted them as "RaamO RaajIva nEthra:.RaamAnujA ,
the GodhAgrajar, showed the SenkaNN azhau of RanganAthan to PiLlai URangAvilli
daasar.
(6)"Selva ThirumAl:
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He is the SrinivAsan of immeasurable Isvaryam. He has both limitless DayA and
immeasurable wealth. Thus He has Srimathvam. His Srimathvam also came about by
wearing Soodikkodutha NaachiyAr's TuLasi garlands.He is thus Selva Thiru
Naaranan . In this 30th Paasuram, Andal salutes "Maadhavan "
first to offer Her salutations the "Srimath" sabdhAam of the
Poorava KaNDAm of Dhvayam ( Sriman NaarAyana---); She salutes the Lord as
"ThirumAl" at the end of the paasuram to offer Her salutaions to the
"SrimathE" sabdham of NaarAyaNan housed in the second section (
utthara KaaNdham ) of Dhvya Manthram. In this Paasuram , Srimath
SabdhArtham is saluted both at the beginning andat end leading to the
incorporation of the three Rahasyams in this pasuram.
(7)" Yengum ThiruvaruL PeRRU inbhuRuvar:"
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Yengum refers to Immai (LeelA VibhUthi) and maRumai ( Nithya VibhUthi).
EmperumAn with PirAtti will take nithya vaasam with those who perform UpanyAsams
on ThiruppAvai. This is the ThiruvaruL. The Inbham arising from the recitation
of Dhivya Prabhandhams in general has been pointed out by AzhwArs in general.
One example of such citation is that of Swamy NammAzhwAr:
Ingum angum ThirumAlanRi inmai kaNDu
anganE VaNN KuruhUr SatakOpan
InganE sonna OrAyiratthu ippatthum
YenganE sollilum Inbham payakkumE
--ThiruvAimozhi: 7.9.11
(Meaning): KuruhUr SatakOpan realized that there is no protection(help)
except Sriya: pathi , here, there or anywhere. The Lord blessed him to sing
exactly in that vein a thousand verses. Of those, this decad can be read , sung
, recited with proper understanding or not; that is also immaterial . It will
reward the reader with bliss (inbham) in whatever manner recited .
(8)"InbhuRuvar:"
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Aathma Yaathrai is under the control of the Lord; dEha yAthrai is under the
control of one's karmAs. Knowing that these are outside our control , we should
recite and write about ANDAL's Prabhandham in the form of a Kaimkaryam. When
done this way , the Lord confers dEha aarOgyam , worldly wealth and Moksham for
Prapannan. He removes all ThApams and grants sukhams and Aanandham. If we ask
for Phalans for Kaimkaryam , we may end up asking for Kshudhra Phalans (alpa
Phalans ); If we leave the phalan granting to Him , in the spirit of His
oudhAryam ( Generosity) , He will grant Phalans that we could not even
dream about.The prapannan will enjoy the state of "Yengum ThiruvaruL PeRRu"
.He knows what we need in the spirit of JithantE SthOthra Vaakyam: " Yath
Hitham mama dEvEsa tathA aaj~nApaya".
(9)Concluding Remarks:
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ANDAL incarnated as the daughter of PeriyAzhwAr and blessed us with ThiruppAvai
Prabhandham and immersed us in the ocean of Aanandham through that anugraham. In
ThiruppAvai, She gave us the UpadEsam on the Laghu UpAyam ( VarAha Charama
SlOkam )that She had received from BhUVarAha perumAL for our UjjIvanam and
Inbham.
With the blessings of ANDAL, ThiruppAvai Jeeyar and asmath AchAryan , Srimath
NaarAyaNa YathIndhra MahA Desikan , adiyEn was able to share with You the
scholarly commentaries of Sri U.Ve.PerukkAraNai Swamy and other AchArya PurushAs.
Due to limitation of space and time, these postings needed to be "
short". adiyEn hopes that you will acquire copy of Sri PerukkAranai
Swamy's scholarly monograph of 600 plus pages and immerse yourselves in the
aanandham of his ThiruppAvai VyAkhyAnam .
AdiyEn thanks you for your understanding of my deficencies in covering
adequately the subject matter of the commentary of the Illustrious ThiruppAvai .
AdiyEn places this Kaimkaryam at the Lotus feet of SenkaNN Muhatthu Selva
ThirumAl and Godhai and offer my prayers for the growth of kaimkarya Sri for all
of us at this time of UthtarAyaNa PuNya Kaalam.
Soodikkoduttha NaacchiyAr ThiruvadigaLE Saranam ,
Sarvam KrushNArpanam asthu
RaamAnuja Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri
SatakOpan