You are here: SriPedia - Ramanuja - Archives - Mar 2003

Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00057 Mar 2003

 
Mar 2003 Indexes ( Date | Thread | Author )
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]


srImathE rAmAnujAya namah

dear srI. vimal,

your questions regarding the chanting of the divya prabhandham are
very appropriate, and correct. The following is what I have
gathered from elders.

(i) The very fact that one wants to chant the divya prabhandham,
and places emphasis on correctness, is a very good thing. After all,
there are so many people who do not even knwo about, or want to
chant the divya prabhandham.
(ii) Chanting it "wrongly" is no sin. And, in fact, our AzhvArs
will never consider that an "insult" etc. On the other hand,
they probably will want to help us pronounce/chant it correctly.
(iii) the danger in chanting "wrongly" are twofold - (i) the
meanings can get distorted, and hence to a listener, the
pAsurams may make no sense; (ii) for the chanter himself/herself,
there will be no sense if the words are used interchangeably,
and in an incorrect manner.
(iv) As long as one recognizes the pitfalls of chanting wrongly,
it is encouraged to make an attempt to chant correctly. There is
nothing wrong in having a correct divya prabhandham book in front
of us while chanting, so that we can refer to the book in places
where we have a doubt. Over a period of time, one will get the
correct wording/breaks.

As far as the thiruppallANdu example you have given goes, it is
technically wrong to interchange the words - because kUruminE
addresses a third party (a group of people, for example), and
kUruvanE addresses the AzhvAr himself.

I suggest that "chanting" take second place to enjoying the 
anubhavam of the AzhvArs through the pAsurams - i.e., when we
recite, let us focus on the underlying meanings, and recite the
pAsuram accordingly. Nowadays, atleast the literal meanings are
available easily, and it takes little effort to read through
them. From experience, I can tell you that if we do that, the
chances of using the wrong words are minimized.

AzhvAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam,
adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,
varadhan




--- In ramanuja@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, vimalkumar ranganathan 
<panardasan@xxxx> wrote:
> 
> Respected Adiyaars,
> 
> I have a huge doubt. Even though 
tamil is my mother tongue, I still have issues in understanding the 
meanings of most of the Prabandhams. Well, if understanding the 
basic, flat meaning is itself a problem as such, what about the 
subtle, deep, philosophical truth hidden in each verse of the 
Prabandham?? 
> 
> How should one chant the Prabandham?? 
Is it ok, if he chants it without knowing the meaning as such. And 
what about pronunciation mistakes?? Am I right if I say that it is 
an offense if we make mistakes when we chant the pasurams, as it is 
tantamount to insulting the Azhwars?? 
> 
> Sometimes, I do get the meaning, but 
still am prone to making errors. For example, thanks to Sri 
Madhavakkannan, I now know the meaning of "Thiruppallandu", but 
still I have confusions in the last word of each paragraph, I donno 
when to say "Pallandu KURUVANE" or "Pallandu KURUDHUME" or "Pallandu 
KURUMINE". Is it an offense when I mix and match them??
> 
> Sometimes, when I chant the Pasurams, 
my mind just wanders, thinking of very very trivial mundane things, 
thinking of anything but Perumal. Am I a sinner??
> 
> I request the elders and the cognizant 
in the list to kindly address my queries.
> 
> AzhwAr EmperumanAr Jeeyar Thiruvadigale Saranam.
> 
> Dasan,
> 
> Kidambi Soundararajan.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ---------------------------------
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Web Hosting - establish your business online
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]




[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index ] [Thread Index ] [Author Index ]
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia
ramanuja-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To subscribe to the list