keesu keesu enRu engum aanai(ch)
chaaththaan kalandhu
pEsina pEchcharavam
kEttilaiyO pEy(p) peNNE
kaasum piRappum
kalakalappa(k) kai pErththu
vaasa naRum kuzhal
aaychchiyar maththinaal
Osai paduththa
thayiraravam kEttilaiyO
naayaga(p) peN piLLaay
naaraayaNan moorththi
kEsavanai(p) paadavum nee
kEtta kidaththiyO
dhEsamudaiyaay thiRavElOr
embaavaay
keesu keesu enRu engum
aanai(ch) chaaththaan kalandhu
pEsina pEchcharavam
kEttilaiyO pEy(p) penne
In the
sixth pasuram Andal nachiar went to wake up the newest member. Now she is
waking up an old member who always behaves like a newbie by not following the
group rules. We know this because at first Nachiar calls the girl as “Pei Penne”
and later on switches to “Nayaka Pen Pillay”.
The
gopi girls went to the house of the next girl who hadn’t joined the group. Nachiar
calls to the girl to join the group. The girl is inside mediatating on Lord
Krishna. She feels blissfull and doesn’t want to be disturbed. She tries to
avoid going out with the girls by stating that it is still night.
‘We
just returned home from the banks of Yamuna! Come back when it is morning,’
said the girl without opening the door.
‘but it
has dawned!’ exclaimed Andal Nachiar, ‘listen to the chirping conversation
between the male and female Asian Drongo-Cuckoo (Anaichathan also known as Valiyan Kuruvi or karichan
kuruvi in Tamil)! This is not the chirping sound they make upon waking
up. This is the sound made when they converse with each other. If only we
understood their language you would be able to listen to the female
Drongo-cuckoo sending-off her mate to procure food!’
Andal Nachiar incarnated in the kingdom of Pandyas. The
neighbouring kingdom was that of Cheras. Nachiar resided very close to the
border and as a resulted infused few Malayalam words in her Pasuram. “Anaichathan”
is the name given to the Asian Drongo-Cuckoo by the people who live in these
border areas. The elephant trainer waits for this cuckoo to wake up before
waking his elephants. Thus the birds came to be called as “Anaichathan” as “Anai
or yanai” in Tamil is the name for elephants.
By specifically speaking about Anaichathan, Nachiar
also shows us the importance of Thirupavai. This bird is known as Bharadwaja
Pakshi in Sanskrit. The bird received this name because it would sing along
with Sage Bharadwajar when he practised the Vedas.
Sage Bharadwajar wished to leatrn all four Vedas
thoroughly. He spent 100 years of his life learning 1 branch of Vedas. When the
sage completed his 100th birthday, Devendran visited the sage.
Devendran wished to grant a boon to the sage as he was very happy that the sage
had meticulously learnt the Vedas.
‘Dear sage please ask me for any boon,’
‘Could you please grant me a boon so that I can live
for another 100 years and study the Vedas?’
‘granted!’ said Devendran and vanished from the sage’s
view.
The sage spent the next hundred years learning the
second branch of Vedas. On the day of the Sage’s two hundredth birthday
Devendran returned and wished to grant a boon to the sage. The sage wished to
live for another hundred years. Devendran returned for the third time and saw
the three hundred year old sage reclined under a tree weakened by age but still
studying the Vedas with enthusiasm.
‘Dear sage I have come once again but before I grant
you another hundred years of life please tell me how you intend to spend your
next 100 years?’
‘I will concentrate all the hundred years in
learning the Vedas,’
‘Do you see those three mountains over there?’ asked
Devendran pointing to three mighty mountains which had never been there and was
a new addition to the surrounding landscape.
‘I had never seen these mountains! How did they
appear here all of a sudden?’
‘Each of the three mountains represents 1 branch of
the Vedas,’
‘Then, could you please show me if I have covered at
least half of each mountain?’
Devendran
asked the sage to wait. He collected three fists full of Earth from each of the
mountain and deposited the dirt near the Sage’s feet.
‘These
three fists full of Earth represent everything you have learned in the past
three hundred years!’
The
sage realized that he will never be able to learn the Vedas completely.
Devendran then taught the sage “Savithri Vidhya” which contained the essence of
all the three Vedas.
By referring
to the Bharadwaja Pakshi as Anaichathan, Nachiar directs our attention to the
above incident. She makes us realize that it is beyond our capacity to learn
the Vedas completely. We can only learn the summary of the Vedas which is
Thirupavai itself. This is why Thirupai is called as “Vedam anaithukum vithu”
i.e. Thirupavai is the seed of Vedam. In 1 mango fruit we find one seed but if
that seed is sowed we can get infinite number of mango fruits when the seed
germinates and matures into a mango tree. Thus Thripavai is the “seed” we must
learn in order to attain the infinite number of fruits which are the essence of
the Vedas.
She
addresses the girl as “Pei Penne” to indicate that the girl is overly
enthusiastic and spends her time meditating upon Lord Krishna in solitude. By
calling the girl as “pei” Nachiar calls her “selfish” because she refuses to
share her divine experience with others. The word “pei” also shows us the girl’s
enthusiasm in attaining the feet of the Lord.
kaasum piRappum
kalakalappa(k) kai pErththu
vaasa naRum kuzhal
aaychchiyar maththinaal
Osai paduththa thayiraravam
kEttilaiyO
Picture from iskcondesiretree.net
‘Listen
to the gopis churning butter!’ said Nachiar. ‘You can hear their jwellery
jingle in tune to the churning sound.’
By
kaasum pirappum Nachiar describes the wealthy status of the gopis. They are
wearing jwellery given to them by their husband’s family (kaasum) as well as
wearing jwellery given to them by their parents (pirappum).
Butter
can only be churned early in the morning when the atmospheric temperature is
low. Once the temperature increases butter will not form when curd is churned.
Thus Andal Nachiar draws the girls attention to the churning noise to show her
that it is really early in the morning.
She
further describes the gopis who are churning butter.
‘The
gopis are churning butter with enthusiasm. Their hairdo comes loose and their
sweet smelling hair frames their face!’
Andal Nachiar
does not describe the gopis as wearing flowers in their coiffure but she tells
us that the hair of the gopis is naturally sweet smelling. Thus through this
pasuram she full filled the wish of Goddess Parvati by establishing that women
have naturally fragrant hair.
Prior
to the incarnation of Andal Nachiar, the Pandya kingdom was ruled by Vallabha
Pandyan. Once, the king was strolling through the palace garden with his wife.
He was surprised to see bees buzz over the queen’s hairdo and was amazed to see
that she was not wearing any flowers on her hair. The king was a poet. He
composed a poem to describe the incident and sang about the queen’s naturally
fragrant hair.
The
king then announced a contest. He explained the situation to the contestants
and promised 1000 gold coins to anyone who guessed the verse the king had
composed.
Dharmi
was a poor priest who performed pooja for Somasundareswar. He was a bachelor.
He wished to get married but lacked money to give dowry to the girl’s family.
When he heard about the contest, he prayed to Somasundareswar to help him. Lord
Shiva appeared before Dharmi in the guise of an old man and gave him the verse
composed by the king. Dharmi went to the king’s court and was declared the
winner. As the king was about to award him the prize, the king’s guru Nakkeeran
objected stating that the verse was absurd because women do not have naturally
fragrant hair. The king thus refused to award the prize and Dharmi lacked the
skills to argue that he had fulfilled the conditions of the contest by guessing
the verse composed by the king. Dharmi couldn’t be held responsible for the
errors in the verse composed by the king.
A
dejected Dharmi went back to the temple and Somasundareswar once again appeared
before Dharmi. Upon hearing about the king’s refusal to award Dharmi the prize
amount, Somasundareswar went to the king’s court and challenged Nakeeran. Lord
Shiva did not argue that Dharmi had full filled the contest rules but instead
asked Nakeeran to accept the fact that Goddess Parvati had naturally sweet
smelling hair. To everyone’s dismay Nakeeran refused and was inturn cursed by
Lord Shiva.
As a
result of the above events Goddess Parvati felt sad that Nakeeran had mentioned
that even Goddess Parvati did not have sweet smelling hair. Goddess Bhumi Devi
promised to emphasize the fragrant quality of women’s hair in general thus
proving that Goddess Parvati also has naturally fragrant hair. Thus when Bhumi
Devi incarnated as andal, she sang the seventh pasuram and establishes the fact
that the women have naturally sweet smelling hair by singing “vaasa naRum
kuzhal”
Perumal
is very fragrant by nature. He refused the garland offered by Periazhwar to Him
because the garland lacked fragrance as it had not touched the sweet smelling
coiffure of Nachiar. The smell from Nachiar’s hairdo transferred to the garland
lending fragrance to the garland.
Vedam
has instructed us to wake up to the sounds of butter being churned to make our
day auspicious. As no one spends time churning butter in the modern times we
get the same benefit by chanting this pasuram whilevisvalizing the scene of
gopis churning butter.
naayaga(p) peN piLLaay
naaraayaNan moorththi
kEsavanai(p) paadavum nee
kEtta kidaththiyO
‘Naayaka
Pen Pillay,’ called Andal, ‘ please come with us to sing the glories of Kesavan
who is none other than Narayana Moorthy. We can achieve good results only when
you accompany us.’
Nachiar
accepts the girl as their leader by calling her as Nayaka Pen Pillay.
‘Please
join us immediately! We have to celebrate the victory of Krishna over Kesi in
the same way by which Sita Devi celebrated Lord Rama’s victory when He single
handedly defeated 14,000 Rakshasha in janasthanam by hugging Lord Rama!’
By
using the name “Kesavan” to address Lord Krishna Andal Nachiar asks the girl to
join them to sing about His victory when He killed the demon named Kesi. Andal
calls Krishna as that Kesavan who is the physical form of Narayana Moorthy.
Narayanan
is the name given to Perumal to show us that He is everywhere. It is difficult
to see this form of Perumal but as Kesavan, Perumal has given shape to the form
of Narayana and has appeared before the eyes of His devotees. Thus Nachiar
urges the girl to not to muiss out on this unique oppoirtunity to see the beautiful
physical form of Lord Narayanan.
The
Lord’s omnipresent form as Narayanan is only available to Yogis. The bRahmins
see the same Lord as Agni. Others who do not have the ability or knowledge to
see the Lord as narayanan see His archai form in Temples where He exists as
idols.
Once,
Parasara Bhattar explained the above principles to a gathering. The lecture was
interrupted because Bhattar had to leave the session to attend the Purapadu of
Lord Ranganatha. As Bhattar got up to leave a man approached himand asked him.
‘You
just told us that great people see God everywhere whereas fools see Him only in
idols. Why are you then leaving to see the Lord at the temple? Are you not
great?’
Bhattar
answered the man carefully, ‘If with the help of a device water can be made to
flow from a low lying area to high lying area is it not possible for water to
flow down as well? If even fools can see the Lord easily at the temple then why
will not great intelligent people be able to see the Lord easily?’
Narayanan
means the one who resides in narams.
Jeevatmas are called as Narams. The name Narayana shows that He supports
us. As He resided in us , jeevatmas can never be destroyed as then He loses His
place of residence.
Andal
Nachiar mentions the name Narayana thrice within the 1st ten
Pasurams. In the first Pasuram she says that “Narayanane namake parai tharuvan”
and in the second pasuram as “nattra thuzhai mudi Narayanan”.
The 1st
Pasuram establishes Perumal as the supporter of jeevatma when Nachiar calls Him
as Narayanan. He is the resting place of
all the jeevatmas. This is the meaning emphasized by Nachiar in the first
pasuram. Narayanan equals Narangaluku Ayanam.
The
seventh Pasuram refers to Narayana as the one who has the narangal as his
irupidam i.e the jeevathmas known as narams are His residence.
The
first pasuram reveals Narayanan as the target while the sewventh pasuram shows
us that He never leaves us; He is present everywhere.
dhEsamudaiyaay thiRavElOr embaavaay
Andal Nachiar
describes the gopi girl inside to be shining with radiance when she addresses
her as “dhEsamudaiyaay”. The girl is
radiant because she is constantly thinking about the Lord.
When the girl didn’t
open the door some of the girls peeped through the window to look at the girl.
Earlier when Andal Nachiar asked the girl to listen to the noise of butter
being churned , one of her friends narrated an encounter another gopi had with
Krishna.
‘Krishna goes door to door
when gopis churn butter. I heard that once child Krishna went to the house of a
gopi. She was churning butter when Krishna hugged her shoulders with His little
hands from behind. ‘what are you doing?’ He asked her innocently. She said that
she was churning butter. ‘This is not the way to churn,’ He said and grabbed the
churning ropes from behind her. He started to churn the curd as if He was once
again churning the milky ocean. As the child was churning butter all of a
sudden the gopi saw Him in front of her in the form of a handsome youth! Who
knows maybe Krishna in the form of a handsome youth has appeared inside and
maybe this is the reason she is refusing to open the door!’
The girl inside
decided never to open the door especially after hearing her friends speak about
her.
‘Let us look inside ,’
said one of the girls as they all crowded around the window to peep inside the
house.
‘Oh! Look how radiant
she looks!’ they commented.
‘Oh beautifully
radiant girl, please open the door for us so that we can congratulate Krishna
for killing the demon Kesi!’
The girl got up and
joined her friends as she wanted to praise the Lord for killing Kesi.
Alternate Meaning:
Most people say that
Nachiar awakens Kulasekar Azhwar through this pasuram. This is because
Kulasekar Azhwar called himself as “pei”. The truth is Nachiar is awakening her
role model Thirumahizhai Azhwar.
Andal wanted to wed
Lord Ranganatha but her father Periazhwar tried to discourage her.
‘It is not possible
for you to marry Lord Ranganatha. He is in archai form and hence will not even
speak with you. Let me find you a good Sri Vaishnavan groom. After you get
married you can perform kaimkaryams to the Lord along with your husband,’ said
Periazhwar.
‘but father, you told
me that the Lord Aramuthan of Thirukudanthai Divya Desam spoke with Thirumahizhai Azhwar! Didn’t the
archai form of Lord Aramuthan get up from His reclined posture when
Thirumahizhai Azhwar asked Him to get-up and welcome the Azhwar? Isn’t this the
reason why Aramudan Perumal is called as Aramudan Azhwan and Thirumahizhai
Azhwar as Thirumahizhai Piran because the Lord obliged to Azhwar’s request by
getting up from His reclined position? Even today we can worship Aramudan
Perumal in His semi reclined posture. Didn’t you also narrate how Yathothakari
Perumal got-up from His snake bed, packed His bed and followed the Azhwar out
of the Pallava Kingdom? Isn’t this the reason why Yathothakari Perumal is
called as “sonna vannam seida Perumal” in Tamil?’
Thus Andal considered
Thirumahizhai Azhwar to be her role model since he conversed with Perumal in
Archai form. She refers to this by “kallandu pesina pecharavam kettilayo”.
By “pei penne” she
indicates to us that she is speaking about Thirumahizhai Azhwar as he was the
disciple of Pei Azhwar.
Thirumahizhai Azhwar
always used the style of “venba” for his pasurams since he ended his pasuram
with the “oo” sound in Tamil. Andal thus gives us another clue by using the
venba style for “kaasum pirappu” and ending the verse in “oo” sound.
Narayanan Moorthy is
another clue about Thirumahizhai Azhwar since he explained about the meaning of
Narayana Shabtham in Thiruchanda Vritham.
Azhwar was also the
first Azhwar to explain the meaning of the name Kesavan as “Ka plus Isan” that
is Lord Narayanan is the creator of Brahma known as “Ka” and Sivan known as “Isan”.
The final clue to the identity of Thirumahizhai Azhwar in
the pasuram is when Nachiar calls the girl as “dhEsamudaiyaay
“. Andal describes the girl to be radiant. Thirumahizhai Azhwar is the
incarnation of the Lord’s Sudarsana Chakram and hence he is considered to be
the most radiant amongst the Azhwars.
Continued On: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/01/thirupavai-pasuram-8.html
