Thirupavai Pasuram 15

Continued From: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/01/thirupavai-pasuram-14.html

 Picture of : Vayalali Manavalan with Thayar from Thiruvali Divya Desam. Vayalali Manavalan performed Thirumantropadesam to Thirumangai Azhwar.

The fifteenth pasuram is in the form of a drama and contains eleven important messages from Nachiar to us. Bhumi Devi Nachiar has Purushakaram and she is always trying to save us. Andal Nachiar is the incarnation of Bhumi Piratti. Markandeya munivar chose a tulasi vanam near Arasal Aru in Tanjore District for his ashramam and meditated upon the Lord. . Bhumi Devi a soon incarnated as Markandeya Maharishi’s daughter Bhuma since the Munivar wanted to obtain the Lord as his son-in-law.

Bhuma soon became a maiden and the munivar was praying to get the Lord to wed his daughter. One day an old man who seemed to be not a day younger than eighty visited the munivar. Since he was an old Bagawathar, the munivar asked his daughter Bhuma to do obeisance to the old man. The munivar asked the old man to bless Bhuma so that she would get a good husband.

The old man said, ‘Why do you worry when I am here!’

The munivar thought that the old man has either a suitable son or grandson for Bhuma. Therefore the munivar asked, ‘do you have a son or a grand son who would be suited to wed Bhuma?’

‘I meant me. I am a bachelor. I wish to marry your daughter so that I can fulfill my desire to obtain a son and a grandson.’

The munivar was horrified. He did not approve of the match. He said, ‘my Bhuma is a young girl. She is just a child. She won’t be a good wife for you as she doesn’t even add salt while cooking.’

‘I don’t consume salt and therefore your daughter is the best bride for me!’

‘I will ask my daughter. Only if she agrees to marry you I will approve the match.’ So saying the munivar called Bhuma. He informed Bhuma that he did not approve the match by stating, ‘Bhuma, come and see this thatha (grandsire). He wishes to marry you. Do you agree?’

Bhuma looked in the direction of the old man and said, ‘father is your eye sight okay? I see a handsome youth and not an old man!’

‘Look properly! My eye sight is okay. Check your eye sight for I see a decrepit old man!’

‘Father look at the man carefully. How could you call such a handsome young man as a decrepit old man?’

This time, when the munivar looked in the direction of the old man, he saw the Lord standing there holding His divine weapons. Thus the Lord wedded Bhuma.

 Picture of: Oppiliappan with Bhumi Piratti

After the wedding Bhumi Thayar spoke with Perumal, ‘Nathe’ she called Him.

‘Medhini, what is on your mind?’

Medhini is one of the names of Thayar.

‘Please agree to stay here in this Tulasi Vanam.’

‘I can’t stay here because this is your father’s place. If I stay here people will make fun of me!’

‘You do not eat salt hence any derogatory remarks shouldn’t really bother you!’

Thus Piratti made Perumal stay at the place. She also made sure that he followed the promise the he had made when in guise of an old man that he will not consume salt; she did this so that the Lord will not look at us with disappointment or anger when we approach Him after committing multitude of sins. Thus Piratti always works for our benefit and makes sure that we obtain the Lord’s grace easily.

She also teaches us about the proper conduct to be followed by us if we want to call ourselves as the Lord’s devotee through this pasuram.

Andal Nachiar with her friends went to the house of the last girl who hadn’t joined them. The company sang the praises of the Lord on their way to the girl’s house. As they neared her house they were surprised to hear the girl singing the praises of the Lord. The girls felt happy that at least this girl was awake and will join them immediately. Thus they called her, ‘ellE! iLam kiLiyE!’

Ilam kili means a young parrot. They addressed her as a young parrot to indicate that she reminded them of the old parrot Suka Brhamam Maharishi who was always involved in Hari Nama Smaranam.

The girl immediately stopped singing as she wanted to see if the other girls would pick up an argument with her. The girls outside the house were surprised by her silence. Therefore they started the following conversation.

 innam uRangudhiyO

‘Are you still sleeping?’

chil enRu azhaiyEn min nangaiyeer pOdharuginREn

‘Nangaiyeer, I am on my way!’ she said sounding annoyed. The girl was unhappy that her Bagawad Anubhavam had been disturbed by the other girls but in spite of her anger she addressed the girls with respect as “nangaiyeer” which meant girls with good qualities thus making them a complete person.

‘Look how she is expressing her annoyance at us!’

vallai un katturaigaL paNdE un vaay aRidhum

‘We know that you are adept at arguing!’

valleergaL neengaLE naanE thaan aayiduga

‘You are the ones who is arguing with me!’ complained the girl from inside but immediately changed her tone and said, ‘the mistake is mine! I shouldn’t start an argument.’

Thus like Bharathazhwan the girl accepted blame and put a full stop to the argument.

The people of Ayodhya noticed that Manthra the hunch back woman who schemed with Kaikeyi to stop the coronation ceremony of Lord Rama was wearing expensive jewelry. The people recognized the jewelry as belonging to Kaikeyi as she had donated all her jewelry to Manthra after the king’s death.

The people immediately understood that Manthra was the one who had poisoned Kaikeyi’s mind. They went and filed a complaint with Shatrugana.

Prince Shatrugana called for Manthra and when she came he raised his arm to strike her. At that moment Bharathazhwan entered and stopped Shatrugana.

‘Why did you stop me? This hunch back woman is the reason why our brother Rama left for the forest!’ said Shatrugana.

‘Don’t be quick to pass judgment. She is not the reason. Why blame her when there is someone else who is the sole reason?’

‘Are you saying that Queen Kaikeyi is the reason why our brother went to the forest?’

‘No,’

‘I see your point. It is because of our father’s lapse in judgment. He should not have agreed to send Rama to the forest!’

‘Our father is not to be blamed either,’

‘Then who is responsible for our plight! ‘

‘I am responsible. It is because of my sins that I have taken this birth to ruin my brother! If I hadn’t been born, there would be no reason for my mother to send Rama to the forest,’ said Bharathazhwan magnanimously accepting blame for something he was not responsible for.

ollai nee pOdhaay unakkenna vERudaiyai

Nachiar and the girls realized that this girl had the same supreme attitude as Bharathazhwan. They were elated to have her as their friend. They wanted to see her immediately. They called to her, ‘we can’t wait to see you! We are yearning for your company. Please come out soon!’

ellaarum pOndhaarO pOndhaar pOndhu eNNikkoL

‘Has everyone else come with you or are you waiting for any more people to join?’

‘Everyone is here; come and see for yourself; why do you want to know if everyone is here?’

‘I want to pay my respects to everyone.’

val aanai konRaanai maatraarai maatrazhikka

‘We are touched by your excellent attitude! Please come out soon so that we can embrace you! Come with us to sing the praise of the Lord’s victory over the evil elephant Kuvalayapeedam with your melodious voice!’

vallaanai maayanai(p) paadElOr empaavaai

The Lord performs maya to destroy our illusion so that we may be freed from it and reach His divine feet!

Messages in this pasuram:

There are eleven messages given to us by Nachiar in this pasuram.

" 1. “elle ilangkiliye”. Appreciate those who speak about the Lord and His divine qualities. Listen to anyone who speaks about the Lord with respect.

    2. Once we join a group of Bagawathas and are blessed with Sat-Sangam, we must do kaimkaryams to the Bagawathas. All our day to day worship including Thiruvaradhanam should be stopped in order to complete our kaimkaryams to the Bagawathas.

   3.  While teaching us Bagawad Vishayam, even if our Acharyan admonishes us, we must accept it with joy.

   4.  We should treat even our co-students who learn Bagawad Vishayam along with us with respect.

   5.   We should Accept every word of a Bagawatha even if they criticizes us.

     6. Our existence is true only if we are part of a Bagawath Sat Sangam.

   7.    We should perform the same practices followed by a Bagawatha and should not invent something new.

     8.  We should feel bad even if one person is unable to join the sat sangam.

     9.    We should feel bad that a person who is unable to attend the Sat Sangam missed the opportunity to hear about Bagawad Vishayam.

   10.  We should speak only about the Lord and His qualities in a sat sangam, we should not gossip with members of the sat sangam.

   11.  We should accept responsibility for blame like Bharathazhwan even if we are not the person responsible.

Alternate Meaning 1:

 Picture of Thirumangai Azhwar with Kumudavalli Nachiar

This pasuram is about Thirumangai Azhwar. He is an amazing personality as per Nachiar and hence she starts the pasuram with “ellE!” which means “amazing!”

Lord Krishna taught Arjuna that in order to realize one’s atma one must control the sense organs by refraining from indulging in object of desires but the sense organs could be controlled only if the atma is realized. This is a vicious circle similar to “did the hen come from the egg or the egg from the hen?”

Lord Krishna then preached to Arjuna by using one’s sense organs to enjoy the Lord’s Thirumeni a person can easily realize one’s atma.

Thus controlling sense organs and refraining from indulging in materialistic pleasures is required to obtain knowledge about oneself but it is amazing that Thirumangai Azhwar realized his true self because he wanted to marry a beautiful maiden named Kumudavalli Nachiar!

Azhwar proposed to Kumudavalli Nachiar but she agreed to marry him only if he served meals to 1000 Bagawathas every day. The Azhwar soon became broke and he couldn’t pay his taxes. The Azhwar started to rob from the rich in order to feed 1000 Bagawathas. He would rob only from the rich and if the rich happened to be Vishnu Bakthas he wouldn’t rob from them. Once the Azhwar snatched a gold pot from an old woman but he returned the pot to her when she cried “Narayana”! The Azhwar was called as Neelan.

Lord Narayana decided to come to change the Azhwar’s attitude. Perumal and Thayar came in the guise of a newly wedded rich bride and groom. The Azhwar waylaid them and took all the treasures from them. As he was about to pack his loot, he noticed a gold ring on Perumal’s finger.

‘Remove that ring as well!’ commanded Azhwar.

‘It is too tight! I am unable to remove it,’ answered Perumal.

‘Here, let me try,’ said Azhwar and tried to pull the ring with his teeth. As the ring wouldn’t budge, Azhwar decided to get away with the rest of the loot. As he bent down to lift the loot he realized that he was unable to lift the package.

‘What is this sorcery!’ he yelled. ‘What manthram have you cast on the package to make it so heavy?’

‘I haven’t cast any spell or manthram,’ answered Perumal.

‘If you refuse to tell me the manthram, I will cut your head!’ threatened Azhwar as he pulled his sword from its sheath.

‘Okay! Don’t harm me on my wedding day! Come under that peepal tree and I will teach you the manthram.’

Thus Perumal taught the Azhwar Asthaksharam under the peepal tree. Perumal the Devathi Rajan preached Manthra Rajan to Azhwar under the king of all trees called as “arasa maram” peepal tree.

The moment Azhwar heard the manthram he realized his true self and started to sing the Vaadinen Vaadi pasuram!

Perumal only taught the manthram to Azhwar once but Azhwar kept repeating the manthram over and over like a parrot.

Thiru Narayur Nambi Perumal performed samasrayanam for the Azhwar. Thus the Azhwar obtained thirumanthropadesam as well as samasrayanam directly from Perumal himself.

Azhwar built the gopurams of the Sri Rangam temple. He asked the workers if they want cash or Sri Vaikuntham as their wage. Four of the workers opted for Sri Vaikuntham. The word soon reached the king. The king rushed to Sri Rangam to stop the Azhwar from murdering the workmen.

‘I will push these men in to the river,’ said the Azhwar to the king, ‘arrest me if you don’t see them get on the Pushpaka Vimanam.’

To the king’s surprise the king saw the men travel to Sri Vaikuntham in the Pushpaka Vimanam!

Azhwar is known for his excellent oratory skill. In his pasuram vamila muruval pasuram he is seen to praise beautiful women whose company Azhwar abandoned in order to reach the Lord’s feet. The Azhwar informs us that it was wrong for him to have sought the company of beautiful maiden through this pasuram without saying anything derogatory about the women. He is indeed seen to praise the women.

There are four types of poets known as asu kavi (spontaneous compositions), chitra kavi, madura kavi and visthara kavi. Thirumangai Azhwar won the title of “naalu kavi Perumal” for proving his excellence in composing all types of poetry. Azhwar returned to his home is Sirgazhi which was also the home of Gnana Sambhandar. Gnana Sambhandar challenged Azhwar to a poetry contest. Azhwar asked if there was a Vishnu temple nearby since he felt inspired to write poetry only after worshipping the Lord. As the people of Sirgazhi were not Vishnu Bakthas, they had closed all the Vishnu temples. An old woman came forward and showed Azhwar a small idol of the Lord she had in her possession. Azhwar immediately composed many songs on the Lord thus winning the contest.

Azhwar had great respect for the other nine Azhwars who had incarnated before him. Thirumangai Azhwar built the compound wall around the Sri Rangam temple. There was a garden which was in the way. The workers said that they have to build the wall through the garden. Upon enquiry, Azhwar realized that the garden was the Nandanavanam established by Thondaradipodi Azhwar. Therefore Thirumangai Azhwar asked the men to build the wall around the garden without disturbing the garden.

Azhwar travelled to Indalore. The temple was closed and the Azhwar was unable to get the darshan of the Lord immediately. “vazhnde pom” Azhwar sang a pasuram stating, ‘ grant me darshan immediately or else keep existing by yourself for I am on my way to the next place.’

The temple doors opened automatically and Perumal granted darshan to Azhwar.

Azhwar wished to incarnate only after all the other Azhwar’s had incarnated. Out of respect for them he started the Adhyayana Utsavam. He spent his time in Bagawatha kaimkaryams which is the purport preached by Thirumanthram.

Azhwar sang pasurams about four elephants. It is believed that the Earth is supported by four elephants in each of the cardinal direction. Azhwar sang that the elephant in Southern direction is Thirumalirumcholia Azhagar, in North about Tiruvenkatamudayan, In West about Selva Pillai, and is East about Tirukannapuram.

Vallanai konranai

Azhwar sang that the Perumal at Parthan Palli Divya Desam killed the rogue elephant Kuvalayapeedam.

Azhwar said that he is a bigger mayan than Perumal as Perumal only stole butter from women by removing the thorny cage covering the butter pots whereas Azhwar stole the gold Budha from Nagai Pattinam Budha Viharam which was protected by rotating cage made off swords.

Alternate Meaning 2:

 

This pasuram is also suitable for Swami Vedanta Desikan as he is the only Acharyan who composed Achyutha Satakam with Nayika Bhavam like the Azhwars.

Swami Desikan is considered by many to be the incarnation of Lord Srinivasa’s thirumani. He is popularly known as Gantavatara. Swami Desikan received his training from his maternal uncle Sri Apullar. Sri Nadadoor Ammal was the Acharyan of Sri Apullar. Sri Nadadoor Ammal belonged to the lineage of Sri Nadadoor Azhwan who was the nephew of Swami Ramanujar.

At around the age of five Swami Desikan wished to accompany Sri Apullar to attend the kalakshepam of Sri Nadadoor Ammal. Sri Apullar arrived at the venue with Swami Desikan a little after the kalakshepam had started. Sri Nadadoor Ammal paused to enquire about the child. After a few minutes when he had to continue with the kalakshepam he couldn’t recall the verse he should continue with. None of the other disciples gathered there could recall the verse either and to everyone’s amazement child Desikan mentioned the last verse Sri Nadadoor Ammal had uttered before taking a break. Sri Nadadoor Ammal blessed Swami Desikan and proclaimed that he will be a great Vedanthacharya. Sri Nadadoor Ammal blessed him saying that , ‘Pratishtapita Vedaantah Prati- Kshipta Bahir Mathaa Bhooyaah Traividyaa Maanyas Tvam Bhoori Kalyaana Bhaajanam’. The above verse meant that Swami Desikan would establish the Vedanta Shastras, remove the doubts sown by atheists and people trying to twist the meaning of the Vedas and that Swami Desikan would be revered by the Vedic Scholars who have learnt the three Vedas.

Swami was known for his modesty. Once, another poet challenged Swami. Swami Desikan didn’t want to compete and told the poet that the poet was the best amongst the two of them. The poet wanted the people to accept him as the best and not just Swami Desikan. Swami won the poetry contest. The poet said, ‘I agree that you are better than me but I am definitely better than everyone else. Therefore, ask the Bhattacharyars to give me Perumal teertham immediately after you receive the same.’

Swami wanted to teach the poet about being modest. Swami asked the Bhattacharya to give him Perumal teertham after the teertham has been given to all the other devotees and then to give the poet immediately after Swami.

The poet was annoyed to be the last person to obtain the teertham. He yelled, ‘why am I the last person to get teertham?’

‘You were the one who wished to obtain teertham immediately after me! All these other people gathered here are better than me and hence received teertham before me.’

Once, a sculptor challenged Swami to a contest. Swami agreed to make a sculpture of himself . He asked the sculptor to sculpt the pedestal. After Swami made the idol the sculptor was unable to mount it on the pedestal. He immediately claimed that Swami had made a mistake. Swami asked the sculptor to check the dimension of the pedestal. The sculptor found that he had made an error in the dimension. Once the error was fixed the idol fit perfectly on the pedestal.

We can still see the idol at Thiruvaheendipuram It is a marvel to see the intricate work including a pavithram on each of Swami’s hand.

ellaarum pOndhaarO pOndhaar pOndhu eNNikkoL

Swami wished to incarnate only after all the Acharyans had incarnated so that he could pay his respects to them.  

He respected the Azhwars and the Acharyans. He blessed us with Prabhanda saram which is a database that provides the list of pasurams sung by each Azhwar thus providing us with the tally.

val aanai konRaanai maatraarai maatrazhikka

vallaanai maayanai(p) paadElOr embaavaay

Swami Desikan sang about Perumal as elephant in three slokams each written in Sanskrit, Prakrutham and Tamil respectively.

He wrote Sanskrit slokam about Devanathan called as Devanayaka Panchasat.

Jaya ViBhudhapathE Thvam darsithAbhIshta dhAna:

saha SarasijivAsA mEdhineebhyAM vasAbhyAm

nalavanamiva mrudhnan pAparAsim nathAnAm

GarudasaridhanUpE gandha-hastheeva dheevyan

Swami Desikan says, ‘Oh Lord of all celestials, Devas( ViBhudha PathE)! You journey blissfully along the banks of river Garuda like a mighty male elephant in musth (Gandha Hasthi) with the secretion of fluid from its temporal region. It is very enjoyable to watch you frolic along the river bank.

You look very majestic. Like the fluid which flows continuously from the temporal region of an elephant in musth, Your hands continuously shower on us all the boons we desire.The elephant in musth enters the lotus ponds and tramples the lotus blooms; like this, please trample on our sins. The elephant sports with the female elephants during musth and strolls along river banks in the forests. Like this, You sport along the bank of river Garuda with two female elephants called as Sri Devi and Bhu Devi.’

In Achyutha Satakam slokam number 40, Swami Desikan says that the mekhalA (belt) worn by Perumal reminds Swami of the chain secured around a mad elephant. 

He sang about Hastigiri Perumal as elephant in Tamil.

Swami Desikan praises the Lord in his slokam on Thiruchinnamalai in Tamil.

Mallar madha-kari maaLa malainthAr vanthAr 

Swami salutes the Lord who killed the elephant Kuvalayapeedam and the wrestklers Mushtikan and Chanuran arranged by Kamsa to kill the Lord.

pedai iraNdai Ohr anam adainthu pirinthidavahai pEsalAm
peruhu aruvikaL aruhu maruviya periya maNi varai payilalAm
pidi iraNdodu kaLavam onRu piNaintha pEr azhahu OdhalAm
pirivu ill oLiyodu nizhalum aruh-uRum iravi ilahuthal paravalAm
kodi iraNDodu vidavi onRu kuLirnthavARu kulavalAm
kuRaivu ill surutiyum ninaivum ilahiya taruma aru nilai yennalAm
adi irandayum adayum anbar aRintha PeraruLALanAr
aNuhum Malar mahaL avani mahaLODu Karadi-giriyinil avirthalE

Swami says that at Hasthi Giri, PeraruLALa PerumAL shines resplendentally and is ever present with Sri Devi and Bhu Devi. He appears like a male swan in the company of two female swans. He is like a gem-studded mountain framed by cool water falls on either side. He enjoys the company of Thayars like a male elephant enjoying the company of two female elephants. He is equivalent to the Sun rejoicing in the company of the luster and shadow. He is similar to a tree entwined by two beautiful creepers. He is like dharmam present with Sruthis and Smruthis. The above metaphors do not completely describe the beauty of the Lord giving His darsanam with His two divine consorts Sri Devi and Bhu Devi at Hasthigiri.

It can also be considered that swami sang about Swami Ramanujar as an elephant. Swami is vallanai because he preserved Ramanujar Dharshanam and sang about Swami Ramanujar who defeated people spreading anti Vedic thoughts in debates. Yadavaprakasar was the guru of Swami Ramanujar. He was an advaitin. Yadavaprakasar was a great Sanskrit scholar. Swami Ramanujar won such a scholar over to his side and accepted Yadava Prakashar as his disciple. Hence Swami Ramanujar is considered to be elephant by Swami. Swami Desikan spent his life singing the praises of Swami Ramanujar. 

Thus this fifteenth pasuram provides us instructions to lead a life dedicated to the Lord and His devotees. This pasuram also reminds us about Thirumangai Azhwar and Swami Vedanta Desikan.