Thirupavai Pasuram 25

Continued From: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/01/thirupavai-pasuram-24.html

Guruvayurapan in Nirmalya Seva at Guruvayur

This pasuram shows us how to interpret the advaita shruthis. Nachiar says that Perumal was born to one woman and on one night He was adopted as the son of one woman. Per grammar, she should have said that, “born to one woman and raised by another woman” but Nachiar says “born to one woman and raised by one woman”. The “one” used in this pasuram means “unique” and not the quantity “one”.

The Upanishads say that Perumal is “ekameva advithiyam”. That is there is only one God and there is no one else like Him. This statement shouldn’t be interpreted as He is the only one who exists and we are all false since from our day to day experience we can see many different people, animals and birds. Hence it is incorrect to say that all the people we see to be existing are fictitious and only Brhamam is true. The word “ekameva” does not imply quantity “one” but states that He is the only Supreme Being; He is unique and there is no one who is equal to Him. Adi Sankaracharyar also explained this statement to mean “unique” in his commentaries for Chandogya Upanishad. Swami Alavandar said that if a poet praised a King by saying that He is the only one and there is no one like him it means that the King is unique. It does not mean that everyone else other than the king including the queen, the poet, the guard and the people are non-existent.

Nachiar uses the word “oruthi” to show the uniqueness of both Devaki and Yashoda. Devaki is unique because she prayed to obtain the Supreme Brhamam as her son and she achieved this feat.  Swami Vedanta Desikan has said that the One in whom the entire universe exists came to reside in the womb of Devaki! Swami Vedanta Desikan describes the uniqueness of Devaki when she dreamt about sleeping on Adi Sesha or flying on Garuda which are not normal dreams of a mother.

devakigarbhagantham bhagavanthamprthak paricharithum anishtvaa

seshaadhayah devakeesthathvaveshenaiva paricharantheeva

Yashoda is unique as well because even though she didn’t give birth to the Supreme Brahmam, she enjoyed Him as her son and raised Him with joy. She spent more time raising the divine child and she witnessed His childhood pranks.

Nachiar describes the night on which Lord Krishna incarnated as unique by saying “oru iravil”. The night was unique because the Supreme Being incarnated as Lord Krishna. On that night the Rishis could recollect even the Vedic verses they had forgotten with ease because everyone was blessed by Perumal’s grace. Usually the night with the ascending star Rohini was known as “Jayanthi” even prior to the Lord’s incarnation but after the incarnation of Krishna “Jayanthi” came to mean only “Krishna Jayanthi” and all other Jayanthis required a prefix like “Vamana Jayanthi”, “Narasimha Jayanthi” etc.

Swami Vedanta Desikan has composed 69 slokams in Yadhavabudhayam to describe the uniqueness of the night.

Nachiar then describes the way in which Perumal concealed His divinity. Though this was a Vibhava avataram, Perumal concealed Himself like Antaryami and Hid in Gokulam. To please Devaki, He revealed only two of His arms to everyone till the time when Kamsa was killed by Him. Even though Paramatma Himself incarnated, His naming ceremony was carried out in secrecy in the cow shed by Rishi Gargar.

The Lord never wanted to harm Kamsa but it was Kamsa who was constantly thinking about ways to harm Perumal. Lord Rama during Ramavataram mentioned the story of a pigeon which jumped into the fire to feed the hunter who had captured its mate just because the hunter sought refuge under the tree the pigeon lived. Like the pigeon, Perumal is ready to give Himself to us even when we try to harm Him like the hunter who harmed the pigeon.

Perumal exists as the digestive fire in everyone’s stomach to help us digest food. As Andal Nachiar called Perumal as “maal” because Perumal loves all the jeevatmas and doesn’t even see the defect of a jeevatma when it approaches Him.

Perumal was moved when He heard Nachiar’s pasuram. He asked, ‘what do you need?’

Nachiar replied that, ‘we need you! If you give yourself to us, we will sing that your property equals that of Piratti’s properties since if you refuse to give yourself to us, Piratti will not even look in your direction!’

Perumal asked the girls, ‘aren’t you feeling tired as you had been singing since very early in the morning?’

‘We feel refreshed because we have been singing your praise! We have nothing to worry because you are there to save us. Similarly you need not worry as well.’

‘I don’t have any worries’

‘But You do worry! You told arjuna that you constantly worry because jeevatmas don’t seek refuge under your feet. As we have come to you, you need not worry about this anymore!’

Alternate Meaning:

Oruthi magnai piranthu is Ashtaksharam and oruthi maganai valarnu is Dwayam. Our Acharyan’s mother is Ashtaksharam and even though they are born in the dark samsara known as “night” they are raised by the mother called Dwayam. Thus they are not lost in the dark samsara. The Acharyans conceal their greatness and refrain from performing miracles to cure their devotees problems as such miracles are very dangerous as they pull both the Acharyans and the disciples into samsara. Even though they have siddhi, they refrain from performing miracles. They know that each one of us must endure the fruit of our sins in order to dissolve all our sins so that we can reach Perumal.

Kanchan refers to kali Yugam. The Kali Purushan causes trouble for all those people who try to lead a righteous life during kali Yugam. As Perumal has promised kali that people will be bad during this age, Kali torments the people on good path to force them to behave badly. Even though Kali torments, our Acharyans do not give in to Kali and make the area they exist part of Krita Yugam.

Once there was a Swami called Sakshat Swami. He used to get up very early to take his holy dip in Cauvery at Sri Rangam. Once a mischief maker saw Swami taking his dip and polluted the water around Swami just to tease him. To the surprise of the mischief maker, swami left the spot in search of cleaner water without yelling at the mischief maker. The mischief maker kept following swami to pollute the water and Swami kept going to cleaner water without arguing. Finally the mischief maker asked swami why he never yelled at him. Swami answered that it was lord Ranganathan’s sankalpam that Swami should take his dip at Cauvery during dawn. Lord Ranganathan as the antaryami was also responsible for not preventing the mischief maker from polluting the water. Hence swami said that when the Lord is responsible for troubling swami, he will not turn his disappointment towards the mischief maker. The mischief maker fell at Swami’s feet and accepted him as his Acharyan and acted as swami’s body guard. The man then offered his life savings to Swami. Swami refused to accept the money and asked the man to throw it into Cauvery so that everyone could benefit. Upon enquiry with swami’s disciples the man understood that Swami had instructed him to renovate Ammamandapam so that people can use the steps leading into Cauvery to safely bathe.

Thus Acharyans turn the troublesome Kali yugam into glorious Krita yugam.

Continued On: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/01/thirupavai-pasuram-26.html