Search:
Bhakti List Archives

thiruppavai day twenty nine song twenty nine

From the Bhakti List Archives

Ramani Naidu • January 12, 2003 


TIRUPPAVAI  - DAY TWENTY NINE –  SONG TWENTY NINE

Transliteration

ciRRam ciRukAlE venthu unnaic cEviththu un
poRRAmarai atiyE pORRum porul kElAy
peRRam mEyththunnum kulaththil piRanthu nI
kuRREval kollAmal pOkAthu
iRRaip paRai kolvAn anRu kAn kovintha
eRRaikkum ELEL piRavikkum unthannOtu
uRROmE AvOm unakkE nAm AtceyvOm
maRRai nam kAmankAL mARRElOr empAvAy.


Translation

We access You during the small hours.
In obeisance, we praise Your golden feet.
The proceeds – Our services to You,
Born of the herdsmen clan,
Not to be disallowed.
Not the dayÂ’s gift of the pavai,
But several seven births of affinity with You;
Services unto you for ever and ever.
Free us from the fetters of desires-otherwise.

The twenty-ninth song clinches the whole series of the Tiruppavai. The real
business of the pavai observance is explicitly acknowledged only here.
The prayer so far had been for ‘parai’ – the prize or the gift or the
bestowal. Such prize or gift or bestowal, in conventional interpretation,
consists of rains as the cause of abundance and the right man to be married
to.
In fact, to consider the pavai observance as prayer for rains in itself is
an anachronism since the monsoon is over by November and December/January
are months of winter followed by the harvest season marked by the Pongal
celebrations. Thus pavai observance can be taken for a prayer for assurance
of abundance. Such social prayer matches with the personal prayer for the
right husband too insofar as harvest and marriage are indicative of
fruition.

Tiruppavai, as the adjectival prefix indicates, prays for something more
sanctified – abundance of God’s grace in the place of rains and union with
God in the place of marriage.

The first song expressed assurance of parai – narayanane namakke parai
taruvan.
The second song mentioned the purpose of the pavai – uyyumaru – the means
for redemption.
The third song mentioned optimum rainfall, abundance and wealth.
The fourth song was a prayer for rains which in effect was a prayer for the
showers of GodÂ’s grace.
The fifth song spoke of negation of the effect of past karma through
devotion.
>From the sixth to the fifteenth song, we came across the maids gathering all
together for the pavai observance. If the maids are to be associated with
the uninitiated devotees, the maid yet to join them is to be taken for the
initiated one who can thus lead the others through the pavai observance.
This is better revealed as the maid to join the others is associated with
the Alwars in the traditional interpretation.
The seventeenth song marked gaining admittance into the abode of God.
The seven songs from 17 to 23 marked the stages through which the maids get
acknowledged by God who grants them His audience as indicated in the
twenty-fourth song.
The five songs 24-28 mention ‘parai’:
24: parai kolvan vantom – we came to receive your gift.
25: parai tarutiyel – if you extend your gift.

26: ventuvana…calapperumparaiye – what is prayed for … your noble and great
gift.
27: patipparai kontu – sing and receive gift
28: taray parai – give us the gift.

There is a shift in the twenty-ninth song – obviously the gift has been
extended – ‘irraip parai kolvan’. The maids pray for a greater gift – to be
related to God in several seven births and to remain His devout servants for
ever and ever.

The last line of the song sums up the significance of the whole series –
marrai nam kamankal marrelor empavay – Free us from desires-otherwise.

The twenty-ninth song, as has already been said, clinches the series as a
whole. Religious literature in general is three-fold.
Literature of Praise : God is praised in terms of Divine attributes.
Literature of Prayer : God is implored to extend His grace to the devotees
granting them their prayers.
Literature of Renunciation : Finding this life too much to be lived through,
or in the interest of realising the true nature of the self as alien to this
life, renunciation is advocated in such literature.

There is the fourth and unique religious literature namely the literature of
sanctification. This is a very positive literature unlike that of
renunciation. This is a very selfless literature unlike that of prayer. This
is the intimate literature in terms of attributes of God in that it goes
beyond philosophising on the attributes of God and makes God the most
intimate presence.

The fourth literature finds a personal communion with God to be the ultimate
objective of spiritual cultivation. Advocating the renunciation of nothing,
it looks for transvaluation of everything – therefore the word ‘marrelor’ in
the last line of the twenty-ninth song – ‘change’ meaning ‘transvalue all
our desires as oriented towards You.





--------------------------------------------------------------
           - SrImate rAmAnujAya namaH -
To Post a message, send it to:   bhakti-list@yahoogroups.com
Group Home: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bhakti-list
Archives: http://ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/
 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/