Srimathyai GodhAyai Nama:
SrimathE RaamAnujAya Nama:
Dear BhakthAs:
adiyEn will provide a short Introduction on MahA PravEsam
(Grand Entry ) to ThiruppAvai and cover the highlights of
the First slOkam . adiyEn will cover the literary meaning and
follow it by the section on Inner Meanings by Sri PerukkAranai
Swamy .In view of the very limited space to cover these articles ,
adiyEn will be very brief with respect to references to
other commentaries.
MahA PravEsam( Grand Introduction )
************************************
" Every one of us is an ANDAL and like Her must long
for union with the Lord. This is SuddhAntha-SiddhAntham ,
the doctrine of King's harem , the doctrine of Bridal mysticism.
ANDAL was born as a girl and it was easy for Her to become
a bride for the eternally youthful Bridegroom, Sri RanganAthan.
Other AzhwArs were males and they had to adopt the sentiments ,
language and dress of ANDAL to become the bride , which they
did successfully (as Parankusa Naayaki/Swamy NammAzhwAr
and ParakAla Naayaki/Thirumangai AzhwAr) to a large extent.
THAT MUST BE OUR GOAL ; we must acquire right knowledge
sitting at the feet of a SadAchArya ;The AchAryan will transform
us as a bride and offer us to the Lord , who is eager to
accept us. So long as we are in this world , we must try to
do KAIMKARYAM to BhagavAn and His devotees , which is like
the foretaste of what we are going to enjoy ultimately in
the Transcendent World "-- Professor A.SrinivAsa Raaghavan(1986)
There are many , many commentaries for ThiruppAvai. They are
classified into different groups based on their length.
Twenty four padhams ( grantham in Sanskrit and PaDi in
Tamil) are the units of measurement . For instance ,
MoovAyirappadi commentary ( that of Swamy PeriyavAcchAn
PiLlai ) has 3000x24 Padhams. The various ThiruppAvai
Commentaries are :
(1) OrAyirappadi ( 1000x 24 padhams)
(2) IrAyirappadi of JananyAcchAr of Melkote (2000x24)
(3) MoovAyirappdi of Swamy PeriyavAcchAn PiLLai(3000x24)
(4) NalAyirappadi of JananyAcchAr of Melkote(4000x24)
(5) EiyAyirappadi ( 5000x 24 Padhaams)
(6) ArAyirappadi of Azhagiya MaNavALa PerumAL NaayanAr (6000x24)
(7) Upanishad BhAshyakAra Sri RangarAmAnuja's Sanskrit commentary
(8) Sri UtthamUr Swamy's Prabhandha Rakshai(1986)
(9) Sri PrathivAdhi Bhayankaram Swamy's ThiruppAvai NaRu manam(1983)
(10)Sri PerukkAraNai Swamy's SudhA SvAdham commentary (2000 A.D)
We have to be necessarily brief in these daily postings
and we refer you to these original commentaries and
special articles on Bridal Mysticisms et al assembled
under Bhakthi List Archives and Sri VaishNavA Home pages
under ANDAL subtitle by Sri MaNi VaradarAjan.Sri Varadarajan's
article on ANDAL's life and works there along with
the most beautiful home pages created for Srivilliputthur
By Sri Venkat Iyengar are most valuable for NhakthAs.
The Saint-poetess ANDAL , the avathAram of BhUmi DEvi
observed Paavai Nonbhu ( Paavai vratham) to attain Lord
KrishNA as Her Husband (BharthA). She observed a Vratham ,
which is a variation of the KaathyAyini Vratham described
in Srimath BhAgavatham.The Month chosen for the vratham
was Marghazhi or Dhanur Maasam.This vratham takes a whole
Month to complete. ANDAL became one of the Gopis of
Gokulam -- who observed the Marghazhi Vratham --
and joined Her young friends to obtain the PurushArtham
( the choicest /Highest boon) of Nithya Kaimkaryam (eternal
service to the Lord )and to have Him as their BharthA.
ANDAL addresses Her play mates and fellow Vratham
observers as " yElOrempAvAi" . Sri UtthamUr Swamy has
explained that this "yElOrempAvai " refrain found in
the 29 of the 30 paasurams of ThiruppAvai as Yel+ ohr+
YempAvAi ( Oh My dear friend ! I will describe the facets of
this Paavai Nonbhu and please understand them , accept
their meanings and practise them ).
The words "NeerAdap pOthuveer" in this paasuram
and elsewhere has nothing to do with taking a bath
in the YamunA river at early morning as an essentail
preparatory step of the Vratham. NeerAttam (Bathing )
means really the KrishNa samsLesham ( or Union with
Lord KrishNa). Sunai Aadal is an ancient expression
denoting the same and has been used from Sanga Kaalam .
ANDAl considered SrivilliputthUr of South as the AayarpAdi
of North,the girls of Her birth place as Gopis and Herself
as one of the Gopis and the temple of Vatapathra Saayee as
NandhagOpar's ( father of KrishNa at Aayar Paadi )house
and Lord VatapathrasAyee as Lord KrishNa Himself and
performed the Vratham. This feeling state (Bhavaanai)
ripened and yielded the sought-after fruits of that Vratham .
She blessed us to follow this vratham and be blessed.
First Paasuram:" Marghazhi ThingaL mathi niRaintha NannALAl.."
************************************************************
Literal Meaning by Dr.V.K.S.N.Raghavan:
****************************************
" It is the good full Moon day of the month of Marghazhi.
Oh the well ornamented maidens ! Those desirous of taking the bath
(in the YamunA ) may please come on. Oh the prosperous young
girls of AaypAdi ( Gokulam) that is rich and grand ( in beauty
and wealth) ! Lord NaarAyana will surely yield to us alone
the drum (paRai). He is the son of King NandagOpa , of cruel
deeds (towards the enemies), and holding a sharp spear in his
hand always. He (KrishNa) is the young lion-cub of Queen YasOdhA
with very charming eyes.He( Lord NaarAyaNa) has a dark cloud-like
divine complexion ,(lotus like) reddish eyes and (lustrous)
face (shining) like the bright Sun and Moon. ( This Lord
NaarAyaNan alone is the Saviour). (Let us ) resort (to Him)
performing the Paavai-Nonbhu and get the benefit of praise
from the people of the world. { (Oh dear freind , may You
recite and learn this)-know the purport of this hymn}.
(Mention may be made of the slOkam of Bhagavath GitA :
" mAsAnAm mArga-sirshOham--X.35); " Lord NaarAyanan alone
will grant Moksha SaamrAjyam to the individual soul" is
indicated in the seventh line of this First paasuram ".
SvApadEsArtham (Inner Meanings) of the First Paasuram
*******************************************************
There are many inner meanings to every word used by
ANDAL in this and every paasuram of ThiruppAvai.For reasons of
brevity , we will give only the condensed meanings for
the words of the paasuram as revealed by Sri U.Ve.PerukkAraNai
Swamy:
Seer malhum The place where those blessed ones ,
who comprehend fully the anantha kalyANa
GuNams of the Lord reside
AaypADi In this dark SamsAric world
nErizhayeer Oh People with the noble traits of Samam
and dhamam ( auspicious Aathma GuNams
of Tranquility and Control over the senses)!
NiRaintha- On this day , which is like the Moon with
ThingaL Mathi all its sixteen digits (kalai) just as
the ShAdgunya SampoorNa BhagavAn Himself
NannALAl Since it is such an auspicious day
Maarghazhi Those who wish to follow the most noble
Neerada upAyam (means) of Prapatthi (self-surrender)!
pOthuveer Please join us!
pOdhuminO !
Koor vEl The one with the sharp-pointed sankalpam
similar to the tip of a well honed spear
or javelin
kodum Thozhilan One who destroys our sins
NandhagOpan and is the eteranl Youth , who is
Kumaran the BrahmAnandha Svaroopan , who
initiated BrahmA into the Vedams
and their meanings
yErArntha KaNNI the One , who adorns the beautiful
flower garland known as Vaijayanthi
Yasodhai the One , who has attained unquestionable
fame (Yasas) by granting us BrahmAnandham
iLam Singham One , who is like the powerful Lion
chasing away our sins and enemies
KaarmEni One who has the hue of a dark blue rainy
SenkaNN cloud and has lotus like besutiful eyes
Kadhir madhiyam One who has the lustrous face like
pOl MuhatthAn the radiant Sun and the cool Moon
NaarAYaNanE That SarvEsvarn , who has incarnated
as Krishnan now amidst us
pArOr Puhazha who is compassionate towards us and
padinthu who is lauded by the world for His
sensitivity about not failing in His
duties to protect us always
NamakkE for us , BhaagavathAs , who have
performed Bhara NyAsam (Aathma Samarpanam,
Prapatthi ) at His sacred feet
Parai TharuvAn HE WILL GRANT US READILY MOKSHA SUKHAM .
Other thoughts on selected key words of paasuram 1
***************************************************
(1)The sacred Month of Marghazhi has Kesavan ( the first of
the 12 Upa-VyUha Moorthys) as the presiding deity .
Therefore , any Vratham , charity (dhAnam) , SnAnam ,
AarAdhanam performed in Marghazhi will quickly yield fruits
according to Swamy Desikan ( Taathparya Chandrikai).
That desired fruit is Parai or nithya kaimkaryam in
His SaamrAjyam (Sri Vaikuntam).
(2) Swamy JnaanyaachAr summarizes the significance
of the message of this paasuram as " PrApya PrApakangaL
iraNDum NAARAYANANE " .
(3) "yElOrempAvAi" --This refrain is the Chandas for
the Nonbhu according to Swamy JananAycchAr. Upanishad
BhAshyakArar recognizes this Makutam of ThiruppAvai
as "Paadha PoorNArtham ".
(4)" PaRai TaruvAn ":As the Purushan with the greatest
affection for His Pathivrathai wife , Sriman NaarAyaNan
will bless us with the requirements(tools) for Kaimkaryam
and Ubhaya anushtAnam such as Jn~Anam , Seelam and other
auspicous Aathma GuNams ( Sri Abhinava Desikan ).
(5) " NaarAyaNanE--TharuvAn ": Lord NaarAyaNan Himself ,
the inner meaning of Thiru AshtAksharam , will bless
the ChEthanams (MakArArtha Jeevans)-- after being pleased
with their AshtAkshara Japam -- will perform UpAya anushtAnam
for them (through a SadAchAryan)...(Sri Abhinava Desikan).
(6) The yEkAram in " NaarAyaNanE " and "NamakkE":
This yEkAram asserts that " SadhArchanE TantharuLa Vallan ;
SathsishyanE PeRatthahunthavan" ( The SadAchAryan ALONE
can bless us; the sath-sishyan alone is qualified
to receive that rarest of blessings " (Sri PBA Swamy).
Soodikkoduttha NaacchiyAr ThiruvadigaLE Saranam ,
Sarvam KrushNArpanam asthu
RaamAnuja Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SatakOpan
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