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Thiru viN Nagaram - Oppiliappan koil - part 7 - "peRREn peRRathum piravAmai"

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sampath Rengarajan • August 6, 1997 


Thirumangai azwar have delivered 30 pasurams on this lord of which this pasuram
is special to me. Thirumangai describes the mindsety one may have during the
moments of baranyAsam or prapatti and also conveys the fruits of it ie
piravAmai.


maRROr theyvameNNE Nnunnaiyen manaththuvaiththup ,
peRREn peRRathuvum piRavaamai yemperumaan,
vaRRaa neeLkadalchoo zhilangaiyi raavaNanaich
cheRRaay, koRRavanE! thiruviN NagaraanE      (6.3.5)

					thirumangai

The following is based on some discussion i and Sri Jagan had on this pAsuram
an
year ago.  It is also good in the context of why one must avoid annyAdevathA
arAdhana.

  We understood the Pasuram in the following way because of our Guru's
 anugraha.  Perhaps someone else in this group can elaborate on the
 inner meaning when they get the time.

"maRROr theyvameNNE N"

 The starting line is "I will not worship anyone else".  At this point
 one has already achieved

"BahunAm janmanAmante jnanavAm mam  prapadyante.
Vasudeva sarvam iti sa mahatma su durlabha."

After many, many births, one understands that Vasudeva is supreme and
 surrenders to me.  Such a mahatma is very rare.


This may be one of the inner and the second layer of meaning.

 At this point the individual is already a mahatma.  By keeping YOU in
 mind - this happens only with the grace of Sriman Narayana.  I
 obtained the piravAmai or nyAnam of worshipping nArAyan alone -

In our perception this is the literal first or surface meaning. The
pAsuram that precedes describes thirumangai's "pulambal" or cry wherein
he pours out as to how he was struck with the pleasure of a woman and
that he is now pleading for release from all his annyAnams associated with
that. So the meaning of getting a birth in which one can attain this
"piravAmai" or "not to be born again status" in sequence is a physical
meaning. Whereas the pleasure of association with woman specifed in the
previous pasruam is also a physical meaning and it can be inpterted as
the gunaas or karma bhAvam that were prevalent due to prArabtha karmas
in one's case. I donot imply that azwar had prArabdha karmAS. The
interpretaion on these lines or this layer of menaing is intended for
jivAtmAs.


 In some oblique way this can only refer to Prapatti, since Prapatti
 and Bhakti Yoga are the only 2 upAyas that can confer moksha.  Out of
these only Prapatti can guarantee this in one lifetime.
So the "obtaind" can only refer to Prapatti.  I have heard
 of Prapatti being a marriage to Bhagavan.  It could also be such that
 Prapatti being referred to as birth of a nyAnam (the nyAnam that our
 jivans or souls belong to HIM and HE oned them Owns them and will
continue to own them for ever and we have nothing to do intellectually
once we surrender this "we" or "I" to HIM abosluetly) or obtained.


The second meaning of this is I obtained (peRREn is both giving birth and
"obtained" in Tamil) piRavAmai ie state of no birth because I was thinking of
you at the time of my birth. (As per Swami dEsikan when one is seen by Lord
Vishnu during HIS birth will not be born again). The three births are physical
birth (we donot know what we thought this time due to the effect of shata
vaayu) second birth ( dwijan) ie at the time of brahma upadEsam third birth
(prapatti) ie becoming a prapannan or at the time undertaking prapatti as
"obatined" through acharyan. If one can do so at both 2 nd and 3rd or atleast
3rd stage it is enough .

	 Thinking of nothing at the 2nd stage is also not possible
especially when the brahma upadEsam is done at an earier or adolecsent age when
one is not mature enough to understand and realise these. However one
may be aware of these during baranyAsam stage ie at this time DONOT ask
anything. (uNNai en manaththu vaiththup peRREn piravAmai empuremAn -
thiru mangai in this pAsuram).  Just keep this Lord in your mind and
that is enough as per thirumanagai. Though it is said that whatever we
wish for during the moments of prapatti, we simply must keep our
thoughts on Lord and surrender and should not linger in bringing to our
mind any petty desires of material nature.


On the subsequent lines, Ravana refers to any baddha jivatma.  The
ocean refers to Samsara that stands in the way of the jivatma
approaching ayodhya or Sri Vaikuntham.  It also refers to the jivatma's
lack of interest in obtaining Sri Vaikuntham.  It shows the jivatma
coming in contact with Sita while still in pursuit of sense
gratification.  With Her anugraha, the jivatma loses material opulence
and faces frustration in material existence.

	This refers to the destruction of Lanka by
 Hanuman prior to Rama's approach.  The jivatma is still adamant at
 this time.  Finally Rama Himself comes to claim the jivatma at the
 time of Prapatti to reclaim the till now lost soul ie "seRRAi
 koRRAvanE, thiru vin NagrAnE" ! "You conquered the life of this
 jivatma (which was rightfully belonging to you all the time though the
 jivan thought untill this moment of prapatti that it has some free
will) my lord at this moment of prapatti" !

 The jivatma's spiritual progress started many lives before the life in
 which Prapatti was obtained.  After Prapatti, the Prapanna has also  to be
 careful to prevent offending all other jivatmas that may be only
 a few lifetimes away from Moksha.

I watched a TV serial in which a yogi sits under atree and meditate in
India for years and keeps in mind only one question. How many more
times I will have to be born again ? he proudly tells the TV crew that
he got the reply from the Lord and he is satisfied with that. ie.. He
has to be born so many times as to the number of leaves in that tree.
The yOgi was happy because he was aware that the number of leaves are
atleast finite and "countable".

 It is perhaps possible that the yogi obtained the kind of reply because he
probably thought that he had to obtain moksha with the help of his own efforts.
 So this yogi has to complete all the lives due until Satya yuga or by some
 good fortune obtains the grace of a mahabhagavata and turns to
 Prapatti.

 Please let me know of anymore inner meanings one may understand from this
 Pasuram.

 Thanks,

 Sri BoomidEvi thAyAr samEtha Sri Oppiliappan thiruvadikaLE charaNam
 adiyEn
 Sampath Rengarajan

Note: One day, I woke up chanting this pAsuram an year ago. Perhaps it
was in my inner layer of the mind. When I visited the Oppiliappan
sannithi this time, Sri gOvinda battar poured out this pAsuram to the
moolavar and offered me with all the prasAdhams pf perumAL and asked me
to "charge" my "battery" and let me to stand for a very long time and
pray to Lord "One on One". It is usually the practise to sing the pAsuram
by nammalwar "ennappan enakkaay ihulaay" to this Lord. This time it was
surprising and unusual. I thanked the Lord for reminding me with this
pAsuram a year ago and for having a thoughtful discussion with jagan on
this pAsuram so that my prapatti was well conceived and meaningful and
I am able to translate it for others use as understood by me.