Thirupavai Introduction

 Introduction:

The Thirupavai Series postings is based on the notes I took after listening to the Thirupavai Upanyasam (discourse) rendered by Sri U.Ve.Karunakarachariar Swami in Tamil. This series is for the benefit of people who do not understand Tamil. Those of you who understand Tamil very well must definitely obtain a copy of Swami’s Upanyasam. You can do so by contacting Nadadoor.org. Swami also renders discourses in English but I am not sure if Thirupavai discourse is available in English.  The experience of listening to Swami’s upanyasams could never be obtained by reading the following series. I have done my best to take notes with due diligence. I apologize for any errors that I have made while writing this series.

This is the Tamil month of Margazhi. This is the month of spiritual awakening associated with the rendering of Thirupavai Pasurams in Tamil Nadu. The streets are decorated with beautiful rangoli. 

Picture Ref: anudinam.org

People get up before Sun rise and start their spiritual observances after taking their holy bath. They eat satvik foods like pongal throughout this month. This month is dedicated to Lord Vishnu. He has mentioned in the Bagawad Gita that among months He is the month of Margazhi. People do not perform weddings and other festive ceremonies as this month is dedicated only for spiritual awakening. People worship Andal Nachiar the incarnation of Goddess Bhumi Devi who incarnated in order to uplift us from this samsara. 

 Andal and Incarnation of Goddess Bhumi Devi:

 In the first slokam of Godastuthi, Swami Vedanta Desikan states that Bhumi Devi is Andal when he says Andal is “Sakshat Shama”. Shama is one of the names of Goddess Bhumi Devi. Goddess Bhumi Devi incarnated as Andal to solve the problems faced by Parvati Devi, Garuda Azhwar and us.  Please continue reading my posts to find out about the ways by which She solved the problems faced by Garuda Azhwar, Parvati Devi and us.

 Varaha Incarnation:

During the Varaha Avataram, the rakshashan Hiranyakshan hid Earth under the deluge waters. Lord Brahma was unable to locate Earth to continue with his job of creation. He then prayed to Lord Vishnu to help him find Earth. Lord Vishnu appeared as a small boar from the nostril of Lord Brahma. As soon as Lord Vishnu in the form of a boar jumped out of the nostril of Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu grew in size and assumed a very large form. This is the Varaha incarnation.

Why did Lord Varaha appear from the nostril of Lord Brahma? Each of the five elements is associated with one of the five sensory perceptions. Fire is associated with shapes, sky with sound,  water with taste, air with touch and Earth with smell. Smell is perceived with the help of nose; therefore Lord Varaha appeared from the nostril of Lord Brahma as the purpose of His incarnation is to help find Earth.

Why did He assume the form of a Boar? Of all the animals the boar has a good sense of smell; not only does the boar have a good sense of smell but it also likes the Earth. Hence Lord Vishnu appeared in the form of a boar.

After Lord Varaha destroyed the asura Hiranyakshan and rescued Earth from the deluge waters, Bhumi Devi was very pleased with Lord Varaha as He had rescued the object for which she is the deity. Thus she appeared on top of the Earth and she was supported by Lord Varaha on His divine shoulders. 

Goddess Bhumi Devi was very happy that Lord Varaha rescued Earth but she also requested Him to save all the creatures who would be created on Earth.  She felt worried that the creatures influenced by their past karmas would take birth and experience the “tapa trayam”.

The three types of tapa trayam are

1.     Adhyadhmikam: Sufferings experienced by us because of our association with people, work, society etc. These problems are created because of our interaction with others.

2.     Adhiboudhikam: Sufferings which are beyond our control like troubles we face due to pest damage, pathogens etc.

3.     Adhideivikam: Sufferings caused by natural calamities like storms and Earthquakes.

She requested the Lord to show us the way to escape the three types of tapa trayam. She knew that the three troubles could be escaped only when we reach Sri Vaikuntham. Therefore she asked the Lord to tell her about the way by which every single jeevatma can escape Samsara.

Lord Varaha's Instructions To Esacpe Samsara:

The Lord mentioned that by singing His praise we can escape Samsara. For every letter in the song, the Lord grants us one thousand years in heaven. Even when the jeevatma is in heaven, the jeevatma will continue to sing the praise of the Lord and is not distracted by heavenly pleasures. This jeevatma is saluted by Devendra every single day. After the jeevatma’s time in heaven, it is automatically elevated to Sri Vaikuntham.

The second method is by offering beautiful flower garlands to the Lord.  Only fragrant flowers are to be offered to our Lord. Fragrance represents pleasant smell and is therefore a symbol of Goddess Bhumi Devi as well.

Goddess Bhumi Devi gives us everything we need to worship the Lord. She gives us fruits, flowers, incense, sandal and so on. She wanted to demonstrate the proper way to worship Lord Vishnu. She made a note of the Lord’s instruction and waited for 27 chatur yugams to pass by before incarnating as Andal. She chose the time of her incarnation carefully as she wanted to incarnate as the daughter of Periazhwar.

 Periazhwar:

Periazhwar was a Bhattacharya. Only men who have undergone rigorous Vedic training are eligible for the post of Bhattacharya. Qualifications equivalent to present day PhD is required to be accepted as Bhattacharya. Periazhwar was thus highly qualified. He was a great scholar. After analyzing all the Vedic method of worship, he decided to cultivate a flower garden and make beautiful garlands for the Lord. He chose “pushpakaimkaryam” as the best option to worship the Lord.

Goddess Bhumi Devi's Incarnation As Goda:

One day while gathering flowers, he found a beautiful baby girl under a Tulsi plant. As he lifted the child in his arm he noticed that the child was as beautiful as a divine flower garland and also had a divine fragrance emanating from her. Since she reminded him of a flower garland, he named her as “Kothai” in Tamil; Kothai means garland in Tamil. The name became “Goda” in Sanskrit. Goda means one who gives speech, knowledge, light and wealth. Thus her name had special significance in Sanskrit as well as in Tamil.

Thus we have seen how Goddess Bhumi Devi incarnated as Goda. She later on was conferred the name “Andal” which means the one who ruled over the Lord.

Pavai Nombu and Katyayani Ritual:

According to the ancient custom of Tamil Nadu, young unmarried girls got up very early in the morning and prayed to Goddess Sri Devi. This ritual was known as “Pavai Nombhu”. It was believed that practicing this ritual conferred rain which was beneficial for everyone.  It was also believed that the young girls obtained good husbands.

An example of beneficial rain is shown by the following story. Once a potter finished making a batch of pots; he went to the temple and prayed that the weather should remain sunny so that his pots could dry properly. At the same time a farmer had finished sowing seeds in the same village; the farmer also went to the temple and prayed for rain so that his seeds could germinate. Thus if it rained the potter would be ruined and if the weather remained dry the farmer would be ruined. Thus beneficial rain would bring prosperity to everyone by raining at the appropriate time and thus helping both the potter as well as the farmer. Thus it was believed that the result of the “Pavai Nombhu” would be a blessing in the form of rain which would benefit everyone.

Srimadh Bagawatham mentions a similar ritual called the “Katyayani Vratam”. According to this Vratam young unmarried girls woke up very early during the month of Margazhi (Dhanur Masam) and prayed to Goddess Katyayani. The result of this vratam is similar to the Pavai Nombu and blessed the people with beneficial rain and the girls with good husband.

During Krishnavataram, the older Gopis controlled the young girls and prevented them from spending time with Lord Krishna. The young gopi girls felt distressed that they were unable to be around Lord Krishna. In order to help the gopi girls, Lord Krishna caused extremely dry weather. As there were no rains and the pastures turned dry the village elders decided that it was time to perform the Katyayani Ritual. They asked 500,000 young gopi girls to perform this ritual but the elders were worried about escorting the girls to the banks of river Yamuna for their ritual bath and escorting them back to their homes safely. They also realized that the girls would be beyond their control when they were with their friends. Thus the elders turned to Lord Krishna and asked Him to escort the gopi girls to the Yamuna and bring them back to their homes safely. Thus the gopi girls through the infinite compassion of Lord Krishna obtained permission from the village elders to spend time with the Lord. This incident shows that Lord Krishna is the means as well as the end. 

The Birth of Margazhi Nombu and The Significance Of Margazhi:

As Goda Nachiar wanted to show us the proper way to reach the feet of Lord Krishna, she combined the Pavai Nombhu ritual with the Katyayani Ritual. She chose the month of Margazhi as this is the month in which the Sun enters Sagittarius. This month is the dawn for the celestials (devas). This month is known as satvik month as the devas have satva gunam during this period. During normal times the celestials try to throw obstacles in our path to prevent us from reaching the Lord but during Dhanur Masam as they are full of satvik tendencies they refrain from causing hurdles for us. The first day of Margazhi dawns when the full moon is around the star mrigasiras. As the full moon falls on the day when the ruling star is mrigasiras, the month also came to be called as Margazhi. Traditionally this day represents the death of ego and thus chosen as the perfect day for us to approach a good Acharyan to get spiritual instructions.

Thus Goda Nachiar gave as a string of poetic garland in the form of Thirupavai. 

 Fruit Obtained By Chanting Thirupavai:

Anyone who gets up before Sun rise and sings /chants the Thirupavai pasurams will obtain the blessing of Lord Vishnu even if the person chanted the pasurams without devotion. In ancient days the milk men would bring their cow with them and milk the cow at the homes of their customer. The cow gives milk only when its calf is present nearby. As the milk men do not travel with the baby calf, they use a toy straw calf to trick the cow into providing milk. Perumal is like the cow and we are like the straw calf when we chant Thirupavai. We remind Him of Goda Nachiar but unlike the cow, He is not tricked into blessing us but He willingly blesses us since He promised Goddess Bhumi Devi that He would elevate us from Samsara if we offered either devotional music or flower garland to Him. Since the reason for Him to bless us when we chant Thirupavai is because of His fondness for Goddess Bhumi Devi, we should chant the Thirupavai Pasurams composed by her and not waste time composing our own music.

 Goda Becomes Andal:

Goda Nachiar came to be called as Andal because of the following incident. She helped her father Periazhwar every day to make beautiful flower garlands for the Lord. She would then stand in front of a mirror and wear the garland to make sure that it was flawless. Periazhwar was unaware of the fact the Goda wore the garlands before offering to the Lord; when she looked in the mirror, she saw Lord Krishna wearing the garland. 

 One day the temple Bhattacharya returned the garland to Periazhwar because it had a hair in it. Periazhwar felt distressed that he had caused displeasure to the Lord. He undertook a severe fast and prepared a second garland for the Lord. The following day he noticed that Goda tested the garland by wearing it. Periazhwar advised his daughter that it was prohibited to wear the garland meant to be offered to the Lord. He then made another garland and offered it to the Lord. 

Picture Ref: sreevaishnava.com

That night the Lord came to Periazhwar in his dream and told him that the garland offered by Periazhwar lacked fragrance. The Lord said that He didn’t like the garland and told Periazhwar that He would accept garlands only if they were worn by Goda. Periazhwar woke up in the morning and didn’t understand the meaning of the dream as how could he offer garlands to the Lord after they have been worn by his daughter? To his utter surprise all the citizens of the village visited him in the morning and told Periazhwar that the Lord had appeared in their dreams and had asked each one of them to make sure that Periazhwar offered garlands to the Lord after the garlands have been worn by Goda. Thus every morning the citizens brought a palanquin to the house of Periazhwar and waited till Goda tested the garland in front of the mirror. They then carried the garland to the temple in the palanquin. Thus Goda came to be called as “Andal” as she had won the Lord’s heart and ruled over Him with her love for Him.

Continued on: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2012/12/thirupavai-pasuram-1.html