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© 2012 - 2024, Swetha Sundaram The articles on this blog are a collection of the author's studies and/or inferences made by the author from such studies. The posts on the vedic civilizations and symbolisms in vedic texts is the result of intense study undertaken by the author and the inferences made by the author from these studies. Please ensure to cite this blog if using material from this blog.

Friday 4 January 2013

Thirupavai Pasuram 8

Continued From: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2012/12/thirupavai-pasuram-7.html



keezh vaanam veLLenRu erumai siRu veedu
mEyvaan parandhana kaaN mikkuLLa piLLaigaLum
pOvaan pOginRaarai(p) pOgaamal kaaththu unnai(k)
koovuvaan vandhu ninROm kOdhugalam udaiya
paavaay ezhundhiraay paadi(p) paRai kondu
maavaay piLandhaanai mallarai maattiya
dhEvaadhi dhEvanai(ch) chenRu naam sEviththaal
aavaavenRu aaraayndhu aruLElOr embaayaay

keezh vaanam veLLenRu erumai siRu veedu

Andal Nachiar along with her friends went to the house of the third girl on the list who had not joined them. She knocked on the door and called to the girl to join them.
‘Please don’t disturb me! It is not dawn yet! We just returned home from the banks of Yamuna after our meeting,’ said the girl from inside the house.
‘But it has dawned! We have to start our ritual and complete it before the Sun rises,’ answered Nachiar.
‘How do you know that it has dawned?’
‘The Eastern Sky is getting lighter,’ answered Andal Nachiar.
‘I don’t think the Eastern sky looks brighter because the Sun has started to rise; all night long you girls have been meditating on Lord Krishna. As you meditated upon His radiant form contained within your hearts, His radiance got reflected on your beautiful faces. You also spent the night eagerly looking at the Eastern sky waiting for it to dawn. The sky acted like a mirror and reflected the radiance emitted from your faces thus making you all think that it has dawned!’ answered the girl and she continued with her explanation, ‘you are all suffering from “Agnatha Gnanam”!’
‘What is “Agnatha Gnanam”?’ asked a girl who was standing outside with Nachiar.
‘A white shell appears like a yellow coloured shell when illuminated at night by an oil lamp; this is “Agnatha Gnanam”’ explained the girl from inside. ‘The eastern sky appears lighter because you are constantly looking at it with eagerness thus you mistake the dark sky to be lighter because it is reflecting the eager light from your beautiful full moon like faces!’
‘Isn’t she clever? We must definitely take her with us! See how she uses technical terms like “Agnatha Gnanam”!’ said Nachiar to her friends. She then addressed the girl inside giving her another indication that it had dawned.
‘It is not just the bright Eastern sky which makes us think that it has dawned but the buffalos have started grazing in the backyards. We can see their dark shapes moving about in the backyards.’
The buffalo requires a mini pre-morning snack before it could be milked. Thus the cow herds let the buffalos graze in their backyards very early in the morning. After milking the buffalos they then take the buffalos out to the huge pastures. The buffalo can be milked only if it has had something to eat but it will not allow itself to be milked if it has had too much to eat thus the cowherds let it graze on the short grass around their homes first thing in the mornings before taking it to the pastures. The short grass around the homes is known as “seeru veedu” whereas the pastures are known as “peru veedu”.
‘My dear girls! You are all suffering from “Viparitha Gnanam””!’ said the clever girl from inside.
‘Pray explain what you mean by “Viparitha Gnanam”’ asked a gopi girl who was standing outside with Nachiar.
‘The light emitted by your bright faces dispels dark shadows which appear to move. You mistake these moving shadows to be buffalos! All there is is darkness!’
Normal people define darkness as the absence of light but according to Swami Nadadoor Ammal, darkness is a separate entity. This pasuram along with the girl’s reply supports Swami Nadadoor Ammal’s theory that darkness is a separate entity.
‘If we keep debating with you it will be too late! If the buffalos leave for the pastures Lord Krishna will leave with them as well,’ replied Nachiar.
This pasuram reveals to us that Lord Krishna grazed not only cows but also buffalos and goats.

mEyvaan parandhana kaaN mikkuLLa piLLaigaLum
pOvaan pOginRaarai(p) pOgaamal kaaththu unnai(k)
koovuvaan vandhu ninROm kOdhugalam udaiya

‘I am sure I am not the only late comer! Please go and get all the others before calling me,’ said the girl who was feeling reluctant to join the group as she was happy to meditate upon Lord Krishna in solitude.
‘But everyone has come!’ answered Nachiar.
‘If so then how come I hear only a few people standing outside with you?’
‘All the others started to leave for Nanda Gopan’s house to see Lord Krishna,’
‘If they have already started then what is the need for me to accompany them?’
‘Because we need you! You are the most enthusiastic devotee of the Lord and as a result He is very enthusiastic to meet you. He will grant us darshan only if we go with you! Not only this but, the girls stopped their journey when they found out that you are not amongst them! We didn’t ask them to stop but they did not wish to proceed without you! Just like the way in which Vibhishana stood in the sky waiting for the Vanaras to grant him permission to join their company, we are waiting for you outside your house. As you are very beautiful, Lord Krishna will look forward to see you amidst our company. You have a sweet voice as well therefore He will listen to us if you sing along with us requesting Him to give us “parai”’

In the above stanzas, “pOvaan pOginRaarai” refer to those people who enjoy the journey more than the destination itself. It is explained as the “Akrura Yathra”. Kamsa sent Akrurar to fetch Lord Krishna and Balarama to Mathura so that he could assassinate them. Akrurar was very confident in the Lord’s capabilities to win over Kamsa. He was thus not worried about the Lord’s safety. He left with enthusiasm from Mathura eager to meet the Lord. He spent the time in sweet day dreams and imagining his meeting with the Lord. Thus Akrurar spent the journey meditating upon the Lord. Meditation is called as “yogam”. Attaining the Lord is “Moksham”; thus “Yogam” is sweeter than “Moksham” itself as it is full of sweet anticipation. We can relate to this if we compare this statement to the Tirumala Yathra. When we embark on the Tirumala Yathra we spend the time in sweet anticipation hoping to get good darshan of the Lord. We spend the travelling time thinking about the Lord and wondering how He would be decorated when we see Him but the instant we go inside the temple due to the large crowd we hardly get a few minutes to see Him.  The Akrura Yathra is also similar to the Vaikuntha Yathra as explained by Swami Nadadoor Ammal in the Paramartha Dwayam slokam. The slokam consists of only two stanzas. The first stanza tells us about the importance of gaining Sat sangam. As a result of this good company we abandon our samsaric desires and seek a sadacharyan to help us perform prapatti by performing samasrayanam and by receiving mantropadesam from our Acharyan. We pray to the Lord during prapatti to nullify our Sanchita Karma and only leave a little bit of our Prarabhdha Karma which could be extinguished by us by the end of our lifetime. We then spend our life chanting the manthrams and meditating upon the Lord. When the right moment comes our Lord frees us from our body through the 101st node through our skull. He assigns any unused punyas from our prarabhdha karma to our loved ones and unused papas to our enemies thus freeing us completely from our karmas. As we did saranagathi He shows us compassion by reassigning our karmas to someone else. No one can question Him about this as He is the Supreme controller. We then embark on the Vaikuntha Yathra via the Archiradhi Margam. We are met by many deities enroute who show us respect and congratulate us on our success. As a result the journey to Vaikuntham is very enjoyable and the jeevatma enjoys the journey. Thus povan poginrare refers to the people who are on a rare journey and enjoy every step of their journey. The gopis enroute to Nanda Gopan’s house thus enjoy their trip as they are filled with sweet anticipation about their meeting with lord Krishna.

paavaay ezhundhiraay paadi(p) paRai kondu

‘Prove your existence by joining our company,’ said Nachiar.
Those people who do not listen to the words of Bagawathas are considered to be breathing corpse. Thus Nachiar asks the girl to prove that she exists by paying heed to their words and by joining them.
The girl immediately opened the door to prove her enthusiastic nature. ‘What should I do now?’ she enquired.
maavaay piLandhaanai mallarai maattiya
‘Join our group and sing the glories of Lord Krishna! Sita Devi hugged Lord Rama with affection when he returned to her after single handedly killing 14,000 demons. She congratulated Him and praised his glories thus making Him feel happy. Like Sita Devi, you must join our company to sing the glories of Lord Rama. Let us sing about the time when He killed the demon Kesi who appeared in the form of a horse by splitting the demon’s mouth. Let us sing about His victory over the wrestlers Mushtikan and Chanuran in Kamsa’s court.’
Andal Nachiar pretended to be a gopi girl and sang the Thirupavai pasurams. It is a well known fact that Lord Krishna never returned to Vrindavan after killing the wrestlers Mushtikan and Chanuran. Nachiar is requesting her friend to join her so that they can go to Nanda Gopan’s house to see lord Krishna and congratulate Him on His victory over the wrestlers. Nachiar has been very careful in her pasurams to maintain the correct chronology in her pasurams. She even made sure to use the same technical terms like “seeru veedu” as she has assumed the character of a gopi. Hence we wonder if Nachiar has made a mistake since she is singing about visiting Krishna and congratulating Him for killing the wrestlers. The truth is even before Lord Krishna left for Mathura the gopis knew about Krishna’s victory over the wrestlers because Sage Narada appeared as soon as the Lord killed Kesi and told everyone about the Lord’s impending victory over the wrestlers. The sage also performed mangalasasanam for the Lord and Balarama.
dhEvaadhi dhEvanai(ch) chenRu naam sEviththaal
aavaavenRu aaraayndhu aruLElOr empaavaai
‘Come with us to worship the Devathi Devan! He is the Devathi Devan because if we go to worship Him He will feel very bad that He has waited till our bakthi matured to grant us darshan. He will beat Himself about for not granting us darshan sooner!’ said Nachiar.
‘Do you remember our past life as the sages during the time period of Ramayana? We went to see Lord Rama in Dandakaranyam to seek His help in saving us from the Rakshashas who were tormenting us. As soon as we met with Lord Rama He felt very bad because He had not come to us sooner and enquired if we required His help,’ concluded Nachiar.
Other deities test us to see if we come to them to show respect whereas Lord Krishna doesn’t like to test us. He wishes to come to us instead of making us walk to Him. He doesn’t ask for anything from us other than our love.
Alternate Meaning:
keezh vaanam veLLenRu erumai siRu veedu
mEyvaan parandhana kaaN mikkuLLa piLLaigaLum
pOvaan pOginRaarai(p) pOgaamal kaaththu unnai(k)
koovuvaan vandhu ninROm kOdhugalam udaiya

In this pasuram Nachiar wakes-up Poigai Azhwar. Poigai Azhwar was resting inside the Ashramam of Markandeya Maharishi when the Pei azhwar and Budath Azhwar arrived at the Ashramam. They knocked on the door and requested Poigai Azhwar to allow them to enter the small courtyard of the Ashramam as well. Poigai Azhwar also sang about the Lord with great enthusiasm thus exhibiting “kauthukalam”. He sang about the Supreme Controller and the way in which He controls nature in his very first pasuram “Vaiyam tagaliya”.

Poigai Azhwar travelled to the Divya Desam of Tirukovalur. It started to rain. As the downpour was very heavy, Poigai Azhwar entered the verandah of a house in Tirukovalur. In ancient times verandahs were added to the houses so that tired travelers could rest there before proceeding with their journey.  It was a very small verandah and was just the right size for Poigai Azhwar to lie down. As he lied down there was a knock at the gate. Pei Azhwar was also travelling through the same area and he entered the very same house for shelter. Pei Azhwar asked Poigai Azhwar if there was enough room for him to take shelter in the verandah as well.
‘Please come inside, there is room for one person to lie down or two people to sit,’ answered Poigai Azhwar.
Soon there was another knock and Budath azhwar entered. He asked if there was room for him as well inside the verandah.
‘Please Please come inside, there is room for one person to lie down or two people to sit or three people to stand inside,’ answered the Azhwars from inside.

As the three Azhwars stood inside the verandah they felt the presence of a fourth person inside. They found that they were being squished and didn’t have even a wiggle room. The Lord Trivikrama of Tirukovalur was pleased to see His dear devotees gathered in the verandah and He came there with His consort and Nithya Suris to enjoy the company of the Azhwars.
As the Azhwars felt squished they wanted to light a lamp to see the person who was squishing them. Poigai Azhwar lit a unique lamp with the Earth as the lava lamp and the ocean as the oil. He used the Sun as the light to see the person who was squishing them.
"Vaiyam tagaLiyA vAr kadalE neyyAga
veyya KadirOn viLakkAga- seyya
Sudar AzhiyAn adikkE choottinEn solmAlai
Idar Azhi neengugavE endru"

Poigai Azhwar’s above verse reveals the concept of the body-soul relationship of this Universe to Lord Vishnu. Azhwar saw the Lord as the inner controller (soul) of everything. He marveled the way in which the seeds always germinated into the right species, the waves never breached the sea shore, the Sun always rised and set at the correct time, the celestial bodies remain supported in the heavens; all these were possible because they are being controlled by the inner controller, Lord Vishnu.

paavaay ezhundhiraay paadi(p) paRai kondu
maavaay piLandhaanai mallarai maattiya
He was also the only Azhwar to sing around 14 pasurams about the victory of Lord Krishna over the wrestlers.
dhEvaadhi dhEvanai(ch) chenRu naam sEviththaal
aavaavenRu aaraayndhu aruLElOr empaavaai

In the pasuram “tamar ugandathu evuruvam avuruvam thaney tamar ugandathu eppeyr appeyr”.mudal thiruvanthaathi-44” Azhwar sings about the Lord’s compassion towards us which makes Him reveal His pleasing form to us. The Lord comes to us in the form in which we wish to see Him. The Lord exists in the forms of Rama, Krishna, Narasimha etc to please us. We didn’t invent these forms but He showed us these forms to please us. He even accepts the form given to Him by His devotees when they ask Him to exist in sculptures and paintings. Once, Swami Ramanujar saw some children playing on the banks of Cauvery. The children had drawn the form of Lord Ranganatha in sand and were playing a game where one of them was the priest and the others were devotees. They assumed the sand to be pongal to be offered to the Lord. It was the norm for the Jeer to accept the first offering. One boy dressed like swami Ramanujar was supposed to come and accept the sand from the boy pretending to be the priest. To the surprise of the children when the boy pretending to be the priest called for the jeer, Swami Ramanujar walked up and accepted the sand with devotion. He later mentioned the pasuram “tamar ugandathu evuruvam avuruvam thaney tamar ugandathu eppeyr appeyr” to his disciples and informed them that even though the children had drawn an image of the Lord in sand because they as His devotees imagine Him to be present in the sand the Lord would definitely oblige them and exist in the sandy image.

Continued On: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/01/thirupavai-pasuram-9.html

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