Search:
Bhakti List Archives

IDU OR ARPUDAM KELEER PART 2

From the Bhakti List Archives

L&T-ECCG-Buildings & Factories • September 4, 1999 


Dear Sri Vaishnava perunthagaiyeer,

Sri lakshmi nrusimha divya paadukaa sEvaka SrivaN satakOpa Sri Vedaanta
dEsika yateendra mahaa dEsikaaya namah:
[Inserted on 2.9.99] Before I present my comments on Srimaan Srinivasan's
swamy's post I will include the post itself for your information for a clear
understanding.

Sub: Re idu or arpudam keleer
Namo naaraayaNa, Sri Vasudevan in his article "idu or arpudam keleer" wrote:
"Actually periyaazhwar never says kuzhal vaasikka, [flute] it is only ootha-
there is lot of difference between vaasikka and ootha. If the instrument is
casually played, it is ootha. With all sincerity and devotion, if it is
played then it is vaasikka. So Govindan simply oothina podE ippadi
arpudangal. Vaasiththaal enna enna nigazhumO? That is why in the last
paasuram aazhwaar says for his oothinaththukkE, it is amudap punal". 

At the outset let me state that it brings joy and pleasure to read your
articles. I have always wished that I could appreciate the beauty of the
divya prabhandham the way all of you do. Hopefully some day or rather in
some life PerumaL will help me in this effort.

Let me confess that my tamizh is sub-par, and may be I should think twice in
bringing this up.But nevertheless here it is. Is it possible that
periyaazhvaar preferred using "ootha" to "vaasikka" for the following
reason. As you rightly pointed out, ootha is more casual approach. But then
vaasikka is to recite. One usually recites what is known, whereas if it is a
casual approach, chances are this is being played for the first time or
attempting some thing new. May be there is no need for perumaL to recite
since whom is HE going to show HIS sincerity or devotion to?

Also HE being the creator, HE is never wrong, be it creating a tune or a
world. The fact that we are so much in awe when it comes to HIM even a
casual playing of a tune from HIM is nothing but perfection for us. In a way
we should be happy that he was casual about it lest we would be drowned in
the ocean of joy with no recovery. AdiyEn Ramanuja dasan (srinivasan).

Thanks for the responses from Srimaan MadhavakkaNNan swamy, and Srimaan
Srinivasan swamy (vasan@lexmark.com). Before we go into the next part, I
would like to add following points.

1.	Srimaan Srinivasan swamy concurs with me, saying ootha is more
casual in approach. He adds vaasikka is to recite. Actually, while playing
the flute, air is blown into the kuzhal from mouth, the fingers control the
length of the air column, by closing the holes along the length of the
flute, thereby music is produced. So technically the word ootha is correct,
since any flautist blows air into the flute to give out music.

2.	Vaasikka is to recite as per Swamin. In tamil 'vaasikka' is 'to read
loudly' 'padi urakka'. Can be taken as 'recite' also since recitation is
repeatedly reading same matter loudly or repeatedly speaking same matter
loudly. Actually 'vaachika' in samskrit is 'oral' if used as adjective and
'a message' if used as noun. So reading loudly, reciting loudly is vachika.
Same word is used vasikka in tamil. In musical parlance vaasikka gets added
emphasis 'with sincerity and devotion'. This is what I mentioned earlier. To
create the impact and easy understanding of the depth of music, added the
comparison between ootha and vaasikka.

3.	Srinivasan Swami also adds "to whom he is is he going to show HIS
sincerity or devotion to?"  In gita the sarva swamy KrishNan says
	"na mE paartha asthi karthavyam thrishu lOkEshu kinchana
	naanavaapthamavaapthavyam vartha Eva cha karmaNi"

	"yadhi hyaham na varthEyam jaathu karmaNyathanthritha:
	mama varthmaanuvarthanthE manushyaa: paartha sarvasca:"

	Oh Arjuna, I do not have any duty, I have nothing to obtain, in
spite of this position I do my duty (work). If I do not do my duty like this
people will follow me in not doing duty". 

	So he has to show his sincerity in every thing he is doing. The
result of his sincerity is very nicely expressed by periyaazhvaar as amudhap
punal, arpudham etc (which is the subject of these postings). 

4.	Srimaan Srinivaasan swamy adds "in a way, we should be happy that he
was casual about it, lest, we would be drowned in the ocean of joy with no
recovery". I am sure, we all want Him to be serious and we get drowned in
HIS music without any recovery, not even signs of recovery. 

	Is it not such an aanandam to get drowned in HIS music? Do we really
need a recovery? - come back to normal senses after enjoying that music from
HIM, my beloved KrishNaa - appadiyE karainthu vidavallavaa aasai - recovery-
NO. 

	Is it not such a koduppinai to see him with our eyes, to listen to
his music with our ears, to get drowned in His music- appadiyE karainthu
avanOdu aikkiyamaai vida- the bhagyam gOpees had-   kidaikkumaa antha
bhagyam? - oh krishnaa.

	I feel the bodies of these gOpees were only floating around after
the music session, till the time they were destined to shed the bodies,
because the soul is already aikkiyamaaivittathu in Krishnan.

	At least for giving a session of that drowning music HE must come
again, may be  for a short duration, for 'dharmasamsthaapanaarthaaya' on
another occasion but now to give only the music, oh krishnaa why not you
come and give that music?

5.	Periyaazhvaar very nicely links KaNNan with narasingham. On this an
interesting episode. 

	KaNNan came to DuryOdanan's sabai as "innaar thoodhena" (please
recall kaasaiyaadai paasuram of Thiru mangai mannan). He pleaded for kingdom
first for the PaaNdavaas, when refused he pleaded for 5 towns, 5 villages
and 5 houses etc. All these were refused. DuryOdanan negatived everything.
Then Kannan asks "Hey duryOdana is war the only way? Are you sure you will
not retreat on your words? En meethu Sathyamaaga nee paandavargaLukku onRum
thara maattaaya?". Immediately duryOdanan thooNin meethu arainthu sathaym
seithu said "NO" (promised by beating the pillar nearby and said a firm No).
Kannan laughed and said to himself, "naan ivanai en meethu sathyamaaga
kettEn, ivan en thaai meethu allavaa sathyam seigiraan", (I asked for the
promise on me but this fellow gives it on my mother).

	How suddenly Kannan claims pillar is his mother. Because in his
previous narasingha avathaaram, he was born from the thooN. So pillar is
kaNNan's mother. 

Now let us go back to our topic. In the previous posting, we saw who is the
karunchirukkan and how is considered by Periyaazhvaar as thirumaal,
naagaththaNaiyaan etc. Now let us see what is the arpudam as described by
periyaazhvaar.

3.6.1.	kOvalar sirumiyar iLankongai kudhukalippa udal uL avizhnthu engum
kaavalum kadanthu kayiru maalaiyaagi vanthu kavizhnthu ninRanarE.

3.6.2	MadamayilkaLOdu maan piNaipOlE mangaimaar malarkkoonthal avizha udai
negizha oru kaiyaal thugil paRRi olgiyOdarikaNaada ninRanarE.

3.6.3 VaaniLampadiyar vanthu vantheeNdi manamurugi malarkkaNgal panippa
thEnaLavu seri koonthal avizha senni vErppach chevi sErthu ninRanarE.

3.6.4 MEnakaiyOdu thilOththamai arambai uruppasi aravar veLgi mayangi
vaanagampadiyil vaai thirappinRi aadal paadal avai maarinar thaamE.

3.6.5	Nannarampudaiya thumburuvOdu naaradanum veeNai maRanthu kinnara
mithunangaLum tham tham kinnaram thodugilOm enRanarE.

3.6.6 ambaram thiriyum kaanthapparellaam amuda geetha valaiyaal surukkundu
nam paramenRu naaNi mayangi nainthu sOrnthu kai maRiththu ninRanarE.

3.6.7 AmaralOkaththaLavum senRu isaippa avi uNaa maRanthu vaanavarellaam
aayar paadi niraiyap pugunthu eeNdi seviuNaavin suvai koNdu magizhnthu
govindanaith thodarnthu enRum vidaarE.

3.6.8	Paravaiyin kaNangaL koodu thuranthu vanthu padu kaadu kidappa
karavaiyin kaNangaL kaal parappittu kavizhnthirangi seviyaattagillaavE.

3.6.9	MaruNdu maan kaNangaL mEigai maRanthu mEintha pullum kadai vai vazhi
sOra iraNdu paadum thulungaap pudai peyaraa ezhuthu chiththiram pOl
ninRanavE.

3.6.10	MarangaL ninRu madhu thaaraigaL paayum malargaL veezhum vaLar
kombugaL thaazhum irangum koombum thirumaal ninRa ninRa pakkam nOkki avai
seyyum guNamE.

In these 10 paasurams the first two are at human level (
manithargaLaippaRRi)

The next five are the devaas level (dEvargaLaippaRRi)

Next three are the five sensed animals and birds level (miruga, thavara
vagaigaLaippaRRi)

>From this it is clear that every thing in the world is brought under the
influence of kaNNan's music and all chethana vasthukkal lost their balance
and were simply kattip podappattadhu.

How and what is the meaning of each portion etc we will see in next posting.

Dasan Vasudevan M.G.