Search:
Bhakti List Archives

thirup pAvai - part 14- "pOthuminO nErizhiayeer - perumAL's thiru uLLam as invitation for eternal wedlock"

From the Bhakti List Archives

Rengarajan • December 25, 1997 


ANDAL thiruvadikaLE saraNam


part 14 - "pothuminO nErizhaiyeer" -  a marriage invitation



	ie., Without Lord Sri Krishna's desire nothing happens. He 
chooses  those  who must surrender in this birth. HE HIMself gives 
them the "pakkuvam" (mArgazhi thingaL). HE sets the stage  HIMself 
(mathi niRaintha nan nAL). HE comes to our mind and invite  us  to 
do  this  nOnbu  or  "little effort"  known  as  prapatti  or self 
surrender.  jIvAtma has nothing in its control. Everything is done 
by HIM  and this is symbolised here by Sri ANDAL, by going herself 
to  each  jiVAtmA's (agam) house and awaken them (AWAKEN THE SOUL) 
and  bring  them  to  the  main  stream  to  perform  the  "nOnbu" 
(prapatti).

	    The word "nEridaiyAR", here can mean the chOsen one's. 
ie.,  She  is  inviting  those  who  are the chOsen ones with some 
specific charecteristic and mindset. Such are also  rich  in their 
realisation of  the  nature  of  their jiVatma swaroopam. The word 
"nEr"  means   straight   but  here   it  is  the  short  form  of 
"nErththiyAna"  ie.,, "vilai uyarntha"   ie., "athika mathippuLLa" 
ie.,  very  extraordinary and  precious  priceless  and  the  word 
"izhai" is addressed for their "anikalan" known as jewellery. 

ie., This pAsuram has several different concepts (*). 

The main few of them are 

[1] pakkuvam of jivatma (knowledge on swaroopam) and 
[2] Emperuman's    parApOkAram ie., the *FOREWORD* that HE HIMself 
	  initiates all these into the minds of chEthanan by using 
	  the  word  "pOthuminO". It  is  an invitation to all the 
	  jivAtmAs to surrender and such invitation is   presented 
	  by none other than pirAtti HERself. 
[3] acharyathathuvam, 
[4] manthra upadEsam, and the 
[5] prAbhAvam(upAyam) and 
[6] prabyam
 (upEyam) and 

The sequence itself clearly states  the  ladder  that  the jivAtma 
will  climb  in  its  ascendance to path for seeking eternal union 
with Lord.

	(gOthai) pirAtti not  only  invites  but also demonstrates 
HERself as to how one may surrender  observing  this  nOnbu  known 
as prapatti. It is customary also to invite  "suRRam"  or  friends 
and  realtives  to  one's  nOnbu  (here  the nOnbu  is  itself the 
marriage or eternal  union  through   "saranAgathi").  Speaking of 
invitation,  it  is  to be noted that, this pAsuram itself is also 
resembling a traditional marriage invitation.

In Tamil the follwing "format" is somewhat a replica of a marriage 
invitation

ie., "nigazhum mArgazhith thingaL powrnami nAL,  seer  izhai aayar 
sirmiyarrukkum erArntha iLam kanni  maRRum  koorvEl kodunthizhilan 
nantha gOpan  thiruk   kumArAN   kANNan   (Sri   Krishnan)  engiRa    
narAyananukkum  avan thiruvaruLaLE nichchaiyikkappattu, nArAyanana 
avnAlEyE  saranAgathi  ennum thiruk kalyANa nONnbu (saranagathi or 
surrender or  prapatti  termed  here  as paRai  tharuvaan) nammOdu 
nadaththtap padukiRathu. pArRor anaivarum pugazhnthuEl or empAvAi". 

ie.,  We  welcome   you  the  folks of  this  earth, to "JOIN" the 
(marriage) nOnbu (paRai) of (the most beautiful)   aaychchiyars of 
aayarpAdi and the son (koor vEl kulaththOn) of Sri Nanda gopan and 
Smt  yasodha,   Sri Krishnan  alias  Sri  nArAyanan  On the coming 
mArgazhi month,powrnami day.
	
	saraNagathi performed as "baranyAsam"  is  also considered 
as an eternal wedlock with the Lord and jivAtma.  Certain  aspects 
of  baranyAsam  symbolise  this.  These are only to be told by the 
achAryAL at the time  of baranyAsam and hence it is refrained here 
from discussing such. 
	
Sri ANDAL thiruvadikaLE saraNam
Sampath Rengarajan

	(*) Though Several refernces can be written for this, only 
some brief and core concepts are presented to help understand  the 
fundamental and follow the flow of the article.