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thiruppavai day ten song ten

From the Bhakti List Archives

Ramani Naidu • December 24, 2002 


TIRUPPAVAI - DAY TEN - SONG TEN

Transliteration

nORRuc cuvarkkam pukukinRa ammanOy
mARRamum thArAyO vAcal thiravAthAr
nARRath thuzay muti nArAyanan nammAl
pORRap paRai tharum punniyanAl pantu oru nAL
kURRathin vAy vILntha kumpakarananum
thORRum unakkE perunthuyil thanthAnO
ARRa ananthalutaiyAy aruL kalamE
thORRamAy vanthu thiravElOr empAvAy.

Translation

O maid meant to experience the Divine through the pavai        observance!
Even if you donÂ’t open the doors,
ShouldnÂ’t you at least respond to our call?
Has Kumbakarna who fell into the hands of Death
Vanquished by the Holy (Rama),
The basil-garlanded Narayana who bestows all the good on us,
Surrendered his sleep to you, lost in a contest?
Hey you, possessed by sleep!
Rare jewel! Wake up and open the doors.

The dramatic scene of the previous song continues in this song too. Having
failed to make her unbar the doors even after singing the many names of God
as advised by her mother, the maids start wondering what might have happened
to her.

The first line of the song is quite interesting from both literary and
religious perspectives. The pavai tradition in Tamil literature ascribes
abundance and the achieve of a noble husband as the end of the pavai
observance.
While abundance has already been metamorphosed into the shower of GodÂ’s
grace in the fourth song, the tenth song metamorphoses the second objective.
It is the desire to be with God, the desire to experience the Divine that is
the second objective.

The Tamil word used in the song is ‘suvarkkam’ which in a literal
translation will mean ‘heaven’ or ‘paradise’. But the true vaishnavite
devotee will renounce even the bliss of being in heaven, called ‘kaivalya
navanIthamÂ’, for the sake of unimpeded communion with God.

Further explanation will take us to the distinctions between advaitam and
dvaitam on the one hand and dvaitam and visistadvaitam on the other. This is
not the place for elaboration. Yet, it has to be said that insofar as
visistadvaita is the philosophy of qualified dualism, the ultimate bliss
according to the vaishnava school of philosophy is not involution into God
but holding unimpeded communion with God. The Christian equivalent may be
identification with God.

The first line is subject to three different interpretations that however
complement each other.

First, the maids may be taken to upbraid the maid within. “We have together
vowed to take up the pavai observance. Even as we are ready and even as we
have for so long implored, you are yet to join us. It is alright if you do
not open the doors. At least you could have responded to our call from
within.” - this is one interpretation. “There is such a gap between your
intentions and actions that we wonder if you will ever enjoy the bliss of
being with God.”

Secondly, “Perhaps you have already been experiencing the Divine. There is
no wall between your palace and the LordÂ’s. What effective observance is it
of yours that has already blessed you with the experience of the Divine!” It
is the sense of wonder at the silence of the maid taken to be the result of
having already achieved togetherness with God that finds an expression.

 Thirdly, “When we have vowed to take up the pavai observance together, you
have decided to go by it all by yourself leaving us behind. Does that become
of you?” The third interpretation follows the concept of ‘sitta satana
suvikaramÂ’. Whichever of the three interpretations is accepted, the fact
remains that ‘suvarkkam’ is not to be taken to mean ‘heaven’ but only ‘the
experience of being with God holding an unimpeded communion with HimÂ’.

Nammalvar would say,
yAvaiyum evarum thAnAy  avaravar camayam thORum
thOyvilan pulan ainthukkum colappatAn unarvin  mUrththi
AvicEr uyirin uLLAn athumOr paRRillAtha
pAvanai athanaik kUtil avanaiyum kUtalamE.

Thus to experience the Divine is to assume a certain attitude of
apperception. Again, the maid is addressed, ‘ammanAy’ which literally means
Mother. The address is also commensurate with the presupposition that the
maid within has already experienced the Divine, like the Mother – Sita in
context. Sita, while detained at Ashokavan by Ravana is supposed to have
becomes oblivious of the harsh and trying situation around her since she was
in the rapture of constantly being with Rama. Perhaps the maid within is in
such a rapturous experience of the Divine that she has become oblivious of
the calls from the maids.

Traditional interpretation will further dramatise the situation. When they
upbraided her for her silence, she said that Narayana was not with her
inside the house. The maids said, “You cannot cheat us. We can smell the
basil garland. He should be with you.” Then the remark from within, “How
could He have entered my house? You are at the doorsteps no sooner than we
have left each other by the evening yesterday. How could He have come in
without your knowledge?” Then the maids said, “Don’t we know Him? He is
everywhere and He can appear anywhere.” The maid has nothing more to say and
kept quiet. Then the others proceeded, “We wonder if you have taken over
Kumbakarna’s sleep!”

 Kumbakarna was RavanaÂ’s brother. He is supposed to have been under a curse.
He would sleep for six months and keep awake for another six months. So when
it comes to finding fault with a sleepy head, one is called Kumbakarna. The
reference here is to the effect that perhaps in a contest Kumbakarna had
lost to you and has surrendered his sleep to you.

However the connotation here goes deeper than just the comparison.
“Kumbakarna nishta” is a term used by Pa.Su.Maniyam, Ramani’s Tamil
Professor while in College way back in 1971. Just as sleep has become
natural to Kumbakarna, so has nishta, meditation, become natural to the best
of the devotee.

Thus the sleep here refers to unimpeded consciousness of the Divine. The
maid within is not to be underestimated despite her apparent
procrastination. Therefore is she called “the rare jewel”. This is in line
with ‘the beloved of Krishna’ in song 8, ‘the chief of our troop’ in song 7
and ‘lady bright’ in song 7.

The tenth song of Tiruppavai thus acquires certain special distinctions by
virtue of the felicity with which it lends itself to interpretations in
terms of Vaishnava metaphysics.




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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