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[tiruvengadam] Selected excerpts from MahA VidvAn Sri U.Ve. PerukkAraNai Swamy's ThiruppAvai Monograph: Part XXXII-> Twenty Sixth day : " MAALE MANIVANNAA " Dinam

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Sadagopan • January 10, 2001 


Srimathyai GodhAyai Nama:
SrimathE RaamAnujAya Nama:

Significance of the 26th Paasuram
**********************************
Dear BhakthAs: This 26th Paasuram is about Isvaran,
the 26th Tatthvam. The Upanishad points Him out as
the 26th Tattvam ( Tamm shat-vimsakam ithyAhu:).
The importance of the number 26 among the Tattvams 
is seen at Hasthigiri of Lord VaradarAjan . The chEthanam 
(the Jeevan as the 25th tattvam )climbs the 24 steps 
(SarIram with 24 tattvams , which is an obstacle 
for mOksham ) to get to the sannidhi of Isvaran 
on top of the Hasthigiri waiting for it (jeevan)
pateiently as the 26th and the Supreme Tattvam.

Literal Meaning of "MaalE MaNivaNNA " Paasuram (Dr.Raghavan)
*********************************************************** 
(Here ,the young gOpis request the granting of drum , lamp ,
flag , canopy et al). Oh the embodiment of pure 
disinterested love ! Oh Lord of wonderful colour of 
the blue sapphire gem! May You listen to us(1)who 
perform the " bathing during Maargazhi", an observance
the great ancient people followed and (2) who are
in the need of following SIX things (for the vratham):
(a)superior conches similar to Your great Paanchajanyam,
which have the white hue of milk and which through
their tumultous sound shakes all the worlds (b) giant size
drums/bhEris (c) PallANDu singers (d)decorative lamps
(e)dhvajam-banner& flags and(f)a big canopy .Oh Lord MaayAvin!
the One who just reposed as a baby on a banyan leaf 
(Vatapathra-saayin) in the waters of PraLayam ! Kindly bless us 
with these six vrathOpakaraNams through Your limitless grace. 

BhUvarAhAcchAr Swamy's observations about his paasuram
*******************************************************
Lord KrishNA seated on His simhAsanam asks the Gopis 
to explain the self-contradiction in their appeals:

" Oh Gopis ! You say You have come to get materials from me 
for Your nOnbhu and in the same breath say that You have
come to enjoy My company. Those who desire my company 
need to eschew all other desires . Moreover, What is 
this nOnbhu that You refer to ? Who has prescribed it 
and what are the accessories recommended for that nOnbhu?".

Gopis respond: " Oh Lord , the Cowherds proposed this vratham 
to gain auspiciousness. We readily responded since it came
handy to see Your face and sing about Your glories . We
observe this nOnbhu also to express our gratitude towards
those cowherds , who have brought about our union under
this pretext". 

Although there is no direct Vedic injunction (to perform
this nOnbhu), we do it bacuse our ancestors have performed it 
(mElayAr seyvanagaL). We give more importance to our
learned ancestors than to any other injunctions ".

ANDAL is giving us the message (upadesam) that age old 
customs , traditions and practises of our AchAryAs 
are to be respected and observed with great care.

By enumerating all the accessories for the nOnbhu , ANDAL 
is speaking about SAAMYAPPATTHI --where the liberated 
soul gets emblems and insignias similar to that of the Lord ,
Sri VaikuntanAthan.

The address of the Lord as  " MaalE "  is to
depict the Lord's unlimited love and concern
for the Jeevan. It is the stand-in for the word
" Maam " (MAmEkam SaraNam Vraja )in the Charama 
SlOkam . 

The address of the Lord as "AalinilayAi" in the final
paadham of this paasuram refers to His immense prowess
as revealed by the word "AHAM " in the same charama
slOkam (AHAM thvaa sarva paapEbhyO MokshayishyAmi maa 
sucha:)."Maam" shows His easy accessibility (Soulabhyam)
and "AHAM " , His omnipotence. 

The Inner meanings of the Paasuram (Abhinava Desikan )
******************************************************
We perform hrudh-Yaagam (mAnasIka aarAdhanam) first
and then engage in BhAhyArAdhanam ( external aarAdhanam).
Latter has six steps (aasanams) as established by
sishtAgresarars ( done by the leaders of righteous conduct:
mElayAr seyvanakaL) . The word group "mElayAr seyvanakaL
vENDuvana " is the essence of this paasuram , where 
sishtAchAram (Conductof the noble ones)is celebrated 
as the way to follow ,whenever one is in doubt. 

The six Aasanams are: (1) manthrAsanam (2) SnAnAsanam
(3)alankArAsanam (4)bhOjyAsanam (5) punar-manthrAsanam
and (6) paryankAsanam . We have to seat the Lord in each
of the six aasanams and offer upachArams. The six accesories
desired by Gopis for the AaarAdhanam match with the six
aasanams : (1) blowing of the conch (pranava nAtham) is
manthrAsanam (2)Vadhya ghOsham is performed in SnAnAsanam/
Thirumanjanam (3)during alankArAsanam , manthra pushpam 
and recitation of aruLiccheyalkaL & Vedic chanting.This is 
equivalent to singing PallANDu (4) The samarpaNam of 
NaivEdhyam for the Lord is known as lighting a lamp 
(5)During punar-manthrAsanam , vij~nApanam is made 
whether the Lord desires any sanchaaram on Garudan ,
His kodi (Dhvajam) and (6) in paryankAsanam , the vidhAnam
(canopy)is spread over the Lord's bed . Thus , the six 
upakaraNams ( Sankhu , Parai, PallANDU-isaippAr , Kola ViLakku , 
Kodi and VidhAnam ) are mappable to the six Aasanams
prescribed for the six stages of external AarAdhanam 
for the Lord. This Bhagavath AarAdhana Kramam is covered
in detail in the AchArya RaamAnujA CD ROM released last
year. 

Inner meanings by Sri PBA Swamy
********************************
The Gopis seek Maarga seersha AvagAhanam 
(Marghazhi neerAtam ) as the most illustrious 
Bhagavath prApthi margam ( the means to attain 
the Lord) , namely , resting under the comforting 
doctrine of AchArya abhimAnam and total visvAsam in 
that AchAryan .Swamy Desikan's NyAsa Tilakam 
passages (viz), " andhO anandha grahaNa vachaka:"
and " dhatthE Rangi nijamapi padham DesikAdEsa kaankshi"
are cited as illustrations as how we should follow
AchArya Niyamanam to attain full phalan of Prapatthi.

The Gopis driven by BhAva PradhAna nirdEsa nyAyam
( revealing their dominant bhAvanai/behavior of following
AchArya Nishtai)  want to become the six accessories 
that they seek : Sankhu ( to become suddha Saathvikars
and not to leave Lord's hand ever);PaRai ( to become like
sounding to clebrate the glories of achAryan and their
paramparai);PallANDu isaippAr ( like PeriyAzhwAr to
sing PallANDu to Him ); Kola ViLakku (to become 
endowed with Svayam PrakAsam ); Kodi is Dhavajam 
( to hold the flag of "Srimallakshmana YogIndhra
siddhAntha Vijaya dhvajam );VidhAnam ( Like the nithya-
sUri, Garudan , who is equated to VidhAnam by 
Swamy AaLavanthAr in His sthOthra rathna slOkam :
DaasassakhA vaahanamAsanam dhvajO VIDHAANAM 
vyajanam ThrayImaya:). They seek like Garudan ,
" sarva desa , sarva Kaala , sarva avasthOcitha 
asEsha Kaimkaraya" anubhavam from KrishNA.  

"mElayAr SeyvanakaL " is the jeeva naadi for this paasuram.
ANDAL,  received Upadesam from Her AchAryan ,PeriyAzhwAr , 
the GarudAmsar , about the GithOpanishad slOkam 3.21
and She blesses us with that upadEsam :

yadhyadhAcharathi srEshtastatthEvEtarO Jana:
sa YathpramANam kuruthE LokastadhanuvarthatE 

(Meaning):" Whatever a great man does, other men also do.
whichever standard he sets, the world follows it...With
regard to any duty , which is being performed with
all its ancillaries by an eminent personage, the people 
with imncomplete knowledge will do it with the same
ancillaries".

SvApadEsArthams by PerukkAraNai Swamy
***************************************

MaalE MaNivaNNA !   = Oh Lord of exquisite beauty      
                      and who has unlimited love
                      for the chEthanams

Maarghazhi          = for performing the superior act
neerAduvAn            of SaraNAgathi 

mElayAr vENDuvana   = if You want to hear about the rites
seyvanaikaL           to be performed by us for that upAyam 
kEttiyEl              recommended by our noble ancestors ,
                      we will tell You about them.

pOlvana              = The aanukoolya sankalpam arising
sankhangaL             from the sankha dhvani, which is like 
                       the Jn~Anam-giving Pranava nAdham

pOypAdudai           = the prAthikoolya varjana sankalpam arising 
paRayE                 from the vast , apourushEya Vedam serving 
                       as the resonating BhEri (PaRai) naadham

pal aaNdu            =  for a long time

isaippArE            =  (accumulating )the pahala thyAgam arising 
                         from those with visvAsam 

kOla VilakkE          =  having mahA visvAsam (in YOU)

kodi                  =  experiencing utter helplessness about
                         our ability (to protect ourselves)and seeking 
                         Your grace like  a flag fluttering
                         in the fierce wind (KaarpaNyam)

vidhAnam               = (seeking )gopthruva varanam , all these
                         angams of SaraNAgathi ,

aruL                   = Oh Lord , please bless us with them.

PerukkAraNai Swamy has 30 pages of commentary on
this paasuram .His elaborations on Karthavyam 
( that which must be done), ThyAjyam ( That which 
needs to be abandoned) , the daily duites of Men
and Women as Sri VaishNavAs are very important
areas for reflection . adiyEn can capture only
a limited portion due to limits of space and time.

ANDAL , Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE Saranam,
RaamAnuja Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SatakOpan 
  
 


  
      


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