TIRUPPAAVAI THANIYANKAL-RELIGION

Let us enjoy Thiruppavai verse one a day…


Let us meditate on the lotus feet of Sri Godha piraaTTi by enjoying her glories and by reciting her thaniyan before we venture into the verse.



Parasara Bhattar composed this wonderful thaniyan on AndAL…



NeeLA-Tunga sthanagiri-taDI Suptham udhbhOdhya KrishNam

PaarArTyam svam sruthi-satha- siras-siddham adhyApayanthI

svOcchishtAyAm sraji nigalitham yaa balAthkruthya bhunkthE

GOdhA Tasyai Nama idhamidham bhUya yEvAsthu BhUya:



Meaning according to Dr.V.N.S.Raghavan:



May I offer my obeisance again and again to Goddess ANDAL

alias GOdhA --to Her alone--who awakened Lord KrishNA (taking

rest and) sleeping on the mountain-like lofty breasts of

Goddess NILA alias Nappinnai PirAtti; GOdhA , who has

imparted to Him ( Lord KrishNA )Her dependence ( on Him )

as established in the hundreds of the texts of the crown

of the VedAs( Viz. the VedAnthA or the Upanishads); and

GOdhA , who forcefully enjoys Him after binding Him with

flower-wreaths that were already worn by Her.



Relationship of the Taniyan to ThiruppAvai Paasuram



Parasara Bhattar's Taniyan arose from reflections

on " the Kutthu ViLakkeriya" 19th ThiruppAvai Paasuram ,

where ANDAL's PurushakAra prapatthi to NeeLaa Piraatti

is covered.



NeeLA devi has utmost importance in KrishNAvathAram

and AzhwArs have celebrated this sambhandham in their

NaalAyira Dhivya Prabhandhams( NDP):



NamaskAram to ANDAL by ParAsara Bhattar:



" GodhA Tasyai idham idham nama:" To that Godhai ,

all SaasthrA-ordained namaskArams be !



Parasara Bhattar performs PraNAmam to Godhai repeatedly and in many ways.



" BhUya yEvAsthu BhUya :" May those PraNAmams be

repeated in ascending order and be repeated !



Why is GodhA being saluted profusely by Bhattar?

It is because of what She did for us:



(1) She woke up Her Lord , KrishNan (udhbhOdhya KrishNam) ,

who was sleeping blissfully on the vale of the hillock-like

breasts of Nappinnai and instructed (remided)Him (adhyApayaNTHI)

about His sworn duties attested in hundreds of Upanishads

about His Sarva Seshithvam and His Seshi-Sesha relationship

to Jeevans. She became the AchAryan to GeethAchAryan

Himself and reminded Him to wake up and go about His

sworn duties instead of lazing away comfortably

enjoying the Sukham of the lofty breasts of Nappinnai .



(2) She also reminded Him whether He with the name

KrishNan ( Krishir BhUvAchaka: Sabdha Nasccha

nivrutthi Vaachaka:/ You are the One , who gives

aanandham to BhUmi ) . Have You forgotten that

I am Your other consort , BhUmi in ANDAL form

while You rest joyously with NeeLai? She reminded KrishNA

about their Sambhandham ( UtthamUr Swamy's anubhavam).

She questioned Him about His special Moham (infatuation)

for NeeLai , while He should be equally attentive to all

the Three Devis including Herself (" Hreesccha tE

LakshmIsccha Pathnyou" ).



(3) She reminded Him of Her Seshathvam to Him

( Svam PaarArthyam adhyApayanthI) .She reminded

Her Lord that all the chEthanams of the land (BhUmi)

are Sesha BhUthars to Him and that He should wake up

and accept their preethi-poorvaka kaimkaryams and

bless them as their Sarva Seshi. With rights as

the compassionate AchAryan , She instructed Him on

His sworn duties .She is SaakshAth BhUmi PirAtti

(SaakshAth KshamAm --Swamy Desikan ), who pleaded for

the boon of a Laghu UpAyam from Her Lord for us ,

the suffering Jeevans ( VarAha Charama SlOkam ).

That is what She was instructing the Lord about

His relationships and responsibilities ( PaarArdhyam

AdhyApayanthI) in the spirit of "Thvanm mE ,

aham mE" of Bhattar's Thirumanjanakkattiy am , where

the Lord in wet clothes adorned by TuLasi garland

vouches for His sarva Swamithvam to an arrogant jeevan.

This is the Sruthi satha sira siddham PaarArdhyam .

This PaarArdhya Tatthvam is incorporated in the meaning of

Pranavam.This is Sruthi Sira Siddham. She as BhUmi Piratti

( NDP: 614, 1100 and 3772) reminded Her Lord of

this fundamental tatthvam and awakened Him from

His deep slumber to perform His sworn duties.



How did She plead for us ?

She tied Him (Lord KrishNA) down with the TuLasi Maali

that She adorned (svOcchishtAyAm sraji nigaLitham )

and enjoyed Him forcefully ( balAthkruthya BhungthE).

Just as NelA Devi tied down the Lord with Her

Dhivya Soundharyam of Her Tunga Sthana Giri, ANDAL

tied Him down with her TuLasi Maalai and instructed Him

to go about His duties.He was powerless to resist Her

and later married Her and settled down at His

father-in-law' s house at SrivilliputthUr and

stayes there to do His duties.



Taniyan # 2 Uyyakondaar aruLicceythavai)



iruvikaRpa nEricai veNpaa



annavayal puthuvai aaNtaaL * araNGkaRkup

pannu thiruppaavaip palpathiyam * - innicaiyaal

paatikkotuththaaL naRpaamaalai pUmaalai *

cUtik kotuththaaLaic collu.



UyyakkoNDAr visualizes SrivilliputthUr as

a special djivya dEsam , where the Hamsam (Anna

Pakshi) known for its power to separate milk

from water are abundant. It is also a reference

to HamsAvathAra BhagavAn , who instructed BrahmA

on the meanings of Vedams. Parama Hamsa ParivrAjAkAs

also adorn this dhivya desam (Tathra KaashAyiNO VruddhAn--

as stated by Sumanthran in Srimath RaamAyaNam).

She is the Soodikkoduttha NaacchiyAr for Vatapathra Sayee.

She married (garlanded) Sri RanganAthan .Both

garlands of ANDAL are saluted by UyyakkoNDAr .

For Sri RangarAjan , She offered the garland

of ThiruppAvai verses( " ArangaRkkup Pannu ThiruppAvaip

Palpathiyam innisayAl Paadik kodutthAL NaRRppAmalai" ).

For Vatapathra Saayee , She offered TuLasi Maalais

that She adorned and sent with Vaadhyam and parisaram through

the sacred hands of Her father, PeriyAzhwAr. UyyakkoNDAr

asks us to sing about Her (Godhai's) glories

(SoodikkodutthALai sol ).



cUtikkotuththa cutarkkotiyE! * tholpaavai

paati aruLavalla palvaLaiyaay! * - naati nI

vENGkatavaRku ennai vithi enRa immaaRRam *

naam katavaa vaNNamE nalku.



In his first Taniyan, UyyakkoNDAr said that

the Naama SankIrthanam of ANDAL alone is enough

to be blessed. Here, He states that we should also

follow the path shown by Her through Her observance of

Vratham to attain the anugraham of Her Lord.



ANDAL declared : "uRavEl namakku ozhikka ozhiyAthU'

and " Unn tannOdu uRROmEyAvOm, UNAKKE naamm aatccheyvOm" .

UyyakkoNDAr prays to Godhai to bless us to emulate her

and to study and follow the meanings of Her "Thol Paavai".

Godhai's Vaak was "VenakatavaRkku yennai Vithi" ( Make me

the Sesham for Thiru Venkatavan ). UyaakoNDAr prays

to Her to be near Him ( Her Lord)and us so that we can

follow Her path (Maarga darsanam ) without transgression

("imARRAM naam kadavA vaNNam naadi nalhu" ).UyyakkoNDAr

asks Her to come near us with her EmperumAn and help us to

perform this vratham of ThiruppAvai nOnbhu.AchArya Seshathvam

is also implied here.



Dhivya: kanyAvratha Para SudhAsyanthi Sookthi PrabhandhO

Devi GodhA dhadhathu Gurava: Srinidhisccha Sriyam na:

--- (Sri UtthamUr Swamy's PraNAmam to GOdhai)



With her blessings, we will start with the short daily versions of individual Paasurams of ThiruppAvai and enter into this Kaimkaryam.

[Reference: Sri Satakopan Swami's translation of Sri U Ve PerukaraNai Swami's book exhaustive commentary on Thiruppavai]