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Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00208 Dec 2003

 
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Dear friends,

(17) "kOmbanArk-ellAm kOzhundhEy kulavillakkE?"

This is yet another exquisite expression in the
TiruppAvai. It suggests that if a 'satsangh' has
gender it must be feminine indeed. 

A country or nation is referred to in the feminine --
we say "motherland", for example, and we always say
"her flag" or "her great people". "Bharath-mAtA" or
Mother India, symbolizes India and again, "Our Lady of
Liberty" at Manhattan is the most outstanding symbol
of the USA. Similarly, the gender of great ships (like
the luxury cruises, "Queen Elizabeth" or "Queen Mary
II") is always feminine. 

Likewise, if 'satsangh' were to be attributed any
gender at all, without a doubt it would be feminine?
It is fact that stands attested by scriptural
tradition: 

In the Ramayana, it is said, the 'satsangh' of
'rshi-s' of DandakAranya when they first set eyes on
Rama, was swept off its feet. The sages were
completely "bowled over" with love for Him. They were
rare and fortunate souls indeed in being able to 
witness divine Grace and Beauty stand embodied on
earth and having a living avatar moving about amongst
them at such close quarters. (Just imagine having the
Almighty living so close amongst us that His very
breath was upon us!) 

It is a wonder of "itihAsic" all wonders that the mind
of a whole Vedic community -- of abstinent, forest
dwelling hermits -- however turned suddenly,
head-over-heels as it were, to romantic thoughts. Each
'rshi' in DandakAranya, after watching Rama, found
himself secretly wishing he could turn himself into a
woman and behold the Supreme Person ("parama-purusha")
through lovelorn eyes and a heart besotted with
feminine passion.

The secret yearning of the 'satsangh' at DandakAranya
did not go unfulfilled. "Puranic" legend has it that
the 'rshi-s' were reborn in the time of Krishna as the
lovely 'gOpikA-s' of Brindavan. These damsels, as we
know, happily courted and frolicked with their beloved
Krishna to hearts' content and feasted their eyes all
day long upon the majestic form of the Almighty! 

Somewhere in this tale there is a cautionary lesson
for the male chauvinist: A male-dominated 'satsangh'
of Vedic sages switched gender in rebirth from 'rshis'
to lovely 'gOpikA-s' in order to truly behold and
experience the beauty of the Almighty! One also
wonders if it might not have also been the very same
'rshi-s' who perhaps, not having quite whetted their
appetite as 'gOpikAs' at Brindavan, took rebirth again
in the 'aayarpAdi' of Srivilliputtur as a 'satsangh'
of milkmaids of the TiruppAvai!

Ages later, one AzhwAr took the same happy cue of the
'rshi-s' of DandakAranya. He was Swami NammAzhwAr who
turned himself into a "nAyaki"  -- a lovelorn heroine
pining for her elusive Lord -- and poured his heart
out in Tamil hymns brimming with God-love. He too
showed the world that Bhakti is best expressed through
the feminine frame of the human mind -- what in the
idiom of the Bhakti tradition is called "nAyaki-bhAva"
.

There was another AzhwAr who went a further step
beyond NammAzhwAr or the "rshis" of DandakAranya. He
was none other than AndAl's father -- Sri
Vishnu-chittan, also known famously as 'Peria-AzhwAr'.
This AzhwAr extended the feminine character of
"Bhakti-bhAva" to its very extreme but logical
end-form. He betook himself to be Krishna's mother,
Yasoda, and poured his heart out in glorious songs
which spoke of God Almighty seen and experienced
through the melting moods of maternal tenderness.
While the AzhwAr's songs revealed the great potential
maternity possessed for mystic fulfillment, the
God-passion of the 'gOpikA's' found its perfect
counterpart in its sublimation into Yasoda's
motherhood.
 
It is as tribute to Yasoda epitomizing the feminine
soul of a 'satsangh' that we must regard the
TiruppAvai expression --   "kOmbanArk-ellAm kOzhundhEy
kulavillakkE?emperumAtti yasOdAi?". 

To be like Yasoda -- why, to become Yasoda herself --
is the chief aim of all Bhakti? The maidens of
TiruppAvai looked unto her as role model, as exemplar
of Bhakti in its essentially feminine mould. The
'satsangh' of ancient 'rshis' were inspired by it. It
was what the AzhwArs too aimed at? What is Bhakti
indeed if not a human soul aching for God as a
mother's heart aches for her child?  If the soul of
womanhood had a name it surely would be Yasoda. And
who but loving mothers alone would grasp the enormity
of the truth that a 'satsangh' and its Bhakti are
female in gender? 

                *************
             (to be continued)

Regards,

dAsan,
Sudarshan








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