Sri: Srimathe Ramanujaya nama: Dear BhAgavatAs, Humble pranams to all. "Of the months,I am the mArgashIrSha" says the Lord in BG 10.35. This is the precious month and this is the month our incomparable ANdAL composed her grand work TiruppAvai observing the fast/nOnbu for the union with the Lord. Unfortunately I never had the bhAgya to listen to upanyAsms by great SV AchAryAs on ANdAL's(and others' too!) works but TiruppAvai and vAraNamAyiram were the two prabandhams that I learnt first in my life. I would like saha bhAgavatAs to share their knowledge of listening to AchAryAs on "why ANdAL excels over others especially periyAzhvAr,parAnkusa nayaki and parakAla nayaki?" Something strikes my mind about ANdAL's greatness over others (10 azhvArs)and would like to share and also receive feedback too. NammAzhvAr says in TVM 1.7.8,that "Lord can not afford to leave me because I am a slave to Mother Nappinnai who is ever associated with and inseparable from Him(agalagillEn)". Because of this mediatrix role of thAyAr,NammAzhvAr is very sure of reaching the Lord's lotus feet. ANdAL is an amsa/incarnation of bhUmA devi. The ten AzhvArs (as per Upadesa Rathna MAlai)were nityasUris and sent by God Himself to correct and liberate jIvAtmAs. ThAyAr/Sri is above nityasuris in our RAmAnuja Darshanam. By this itself ANdAL is superior to all others. Although NammAzhvAr and ParakAlan imagined themselves as nayaki pining over the nAyaka/Lord,their's is an assumed role,something artificial. The love between man and woman is natural and has extra dimension that is lacking in that of man-man. That's how the Lord has created us. Hence ANdAL didn't have to put any effort to transform herself to nAyaki role and her love for Him is a spontaneous smooth flow as she got that swabhAva(to love)from Sri herself. ANdAL considered herself as the foremost gOpikA and gOpikA's love for KrShNa is spoken in volumes in Srimad BhAgavatham. Once RAdhA visited KrShNA's palace and He wasn't home and RukmiNi happily welcomed her with hospitality and paid her humble respects(as she was the devotee of her husband). RukmiNi,out of affection, gave hot milk to RAdhA and RAdhA without saying anything drank it. After chit-chatting for sometime RAdhA took leave of RukmiNi. Then our Lord enters and when RukmiNi was about to do pAda pUja for Him,noticed boils on His feet and questioned Him(how He got). KrShNa replied: "RAdhA keeps My lotus feet in her heart and worships Me. Since the milk you gave her was very hot,it burnt her heart and that's why I have got boils on My feet". RukmiNi says "RAdhA didn't say that it was hot". KrShNA replies that obviously she would not as she was a great devotee of Me and would not want to hurt anyone's feelings. This shows the greatness of gOpikA's love for the Lord. So,ANdAL excels over NammAzhvAr and ParakAlan's love for God. How is her love superior to PeriyAzhvAr's love(YashOdA's role)? Whenever Lord incarnates,He has to enter some garbha (eg:kausalya,devaki) and is born but Sri/thAyAr, being the Universal mother is unable to find a better mother than Herself,and thus incarnates Herself without undergoing that ordeal. Since ANdAL is an amsa of thAyAr(by swabhAva),her love is universal. She infact accrued fame to PeriAzhvAr by becoming his foster-daughter! Just like Janaka maharaja and Samudra rAja,PeriAzhvAr also got the fortune to become His father-in-law. Since she being the universal mother,knows very well of our shortcomings,knows the methodologies to correct her children/us in no time. She is a born teacher unlike others. She left the "great" and "ever-happy" nitya vibhUti and above all she left Him and came down to bhUlOka to redeem us. Who can surpass her love??? PS:I don't know if RAdhA-RukmiNi-KrShNa's incidence is mentioned in Srimad BhAgavatam as I'm still in the first canto itself. But I have heard about it(could be wrong also!) Whatever came to this little mind is just reflected here and seek pardon for unforseen and unintentional errors. "pAdakangaL thIrkkum paraman adi kAttum vEdam anaiththukkum viththAgum kOdaith thammizh ay ayndhum ayndhum aRiyAdha mAnidarai vaiyyam sumappadhum vambu" ANdAL TiruvadigaLE saraNam AzhvAr EmperumAnAr Jeeyar TiruvadigaLE saraNam NC Nappinnai
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia |
ramanuja-subscribe@yahoogroups.com To subscribe to the list |