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