Search:
Bhakti List Archives

TiruppAvai - vEdamanaittukkum vittu.

From the Bhakti List Archives

Velukkudi Krishnan • August 24, 1999 


Continuing with the vedantartha in tiruppavai,let us look at the fifth verse 
- mayanai.

Andal preaches that if we surrender to the Lord, all our karmas would be 
destroyed - "dAmOdaranai cheppu - pOya pizhayum pugutaruvan ninranavum 
tIyinail tUsagum ". Here ANdAl divides our karmAs into two : "pOya pizhai 
and pugutaruvAn pizhai" - karmas of the past and karmas of the future. Here 
past would mean before we get bhagavad vishaya knowledge and future would be 
after we get knowledge. We would be cleaned of both these karmAs, but not in 
the same way. Past karmAs would be destroyed as cotton or a tuft of grass in 
fire, but future karmas are removed (not destroyed) from us like water on a 
lotus leaf which will fall without a trace if disturbed.

Where is all these said ? Upanishads. These are two lines from the 
upanishads -
1. "tadyatha ishIkatUlam agnou prOtam pradUyEta, Evam hasya sarve pApmAnaha 
pradUyantE " - Like small pieces are burnt down by fire, all our karmAs are 
burnt down.
2. "yathA pushkarapalASe apaha na SlishyatE, evamevam vidhi papam karma na 
SlishyantE" - Like water does not stick to lotus leaf, our karmas do not 
stick to us , they are removed.

VEdavyAsa in his brahmasutra says "tadadhigamE uttara pUrvAghayOH aSlEsha 
vinASou". agha - means pApa karma. pUrva agha i.e. the past pApAs are 
destroyed - vinASa and uttara agha ie the future pApAs are removed - 
aSlesha.

To connote this Rama while he was protecting viSwAmitra yAga fought with two 
demons - subAhu and mArIca- he did not kill both. He killed subAhu but drove 
away mArIca. This is like destroying past pApa and driving away future pApa.

All these are explained by the Ramanuja nirvaha to the tiruvoimozhi verse - 
"mAdhavanenrenru Oda vallIrE tIdonrum adayA Edam SArAvE" Kindly refer to the 
commentary to know the details. Here tirumAlai AndAn's nirvaham (as heard 
from Alavandar) was first taught to Ramanuja but the latter differed. It is 
a treat to read this.

Little AnAAl could easily explain all that is told by brahmasutra amd 
tiruvoimozhi when she said ""pOya pizhai and pugutaruvAn pizhai - tIyinil 
tUSagum" (removal of future pApas are understood).

ANdAl tiruvadigalE Saranam.


______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com