Book On /SrI ANTAL's saGkat/tamiZ mAlai: Review

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Visu9 • January 14, 2003

/namaskArams to all members.

The series on /tirup/pAvai has just concluded. There were questions and answers from time to time on the importance and uniquness of /tirup/pAvai among the works of the /AZvArs.

The book under review answers some of the questions; and it goes beyond. It is an important research work and I thought that it will be useful to write a review and give the book wider coverage. This is my humble attempt. I am fascinated by the book.

The book is of importance to all worshippers of /SrIman nArAyaNan in whatever form, and to all worshippers of /civaH in whatever from. Moreover it is of value to social workers, educators, and others. The review is in three parts to make it readable as an e-mail posting. 1. /tirup/pAvai as the seed of the /vEdAHs. 2. Structure of /vaishNava worship as expounded in /tirup/pAvai 3. Applications to social problems, and problems in education and family life.

The importance of the book to those who worship /civaH may not become clear until the much later. Please bear with me.

/vantanam.

Visu
BOOK REVIEW

/SrI ANTALS /saGkat/tamiZ malai

Book: /saGkat/tamiZ mAlai in (/tamiZ) by
PrapannA Tirumati Kotai Venkatapathy
192 pages + 18 pages of Introduction
Price: In India Rs. 100; in the U.S. $10.00.

Author & Publisher: prapannA Tirumati kOtai vEGkaTapati

Adddress: Tirumati Kotai Venkatapathy
India: M 106/8, 29th Cross Street
Besant Nagar
Chennai 600 090
Ph. 4464516
E-mail: kothaiv@eth.net

Also available with (/aZhagiya singar maTam (/ahObila /maTam)

Address: Smt. Vishnu Venkatapathy
U.S.A. 5206 Quail Ridge Drive
Plainsboro, NJ 08536
E-mail: vishnupriya_vp@hotmail.com

The title of the book under review is taken from the concluding /pAcuram No. 30 of /ANTALs /tirup/pAvai. This book is a research monograph by the /prapannA authoress rooted in first-hand experiences of /SrI ANTALs /tirup/pAvai traditions. The /prapannA authoress has embellished her painstaking research on the ever-lasting work of /SrI ANTAL with observations and comments from the rich traditions the authoress has been brought up in. This is a fascinating and pioneering work with important applications.

This work was partially supported by the T.T.D. under their scheme Aid to Publishing Religious Books. But the T.T.D. takes no responsibility for the actual publishing and distribution.

The book introduces /SrI/vaishNavism (/viShisT/advaitam) through the medium of the thirty /pAcurams of /tirup/pAvai. It answers many questions on the philosophy and practice of /SrI/vaishnavism. The /prapannA authoress shows the connection between the /pAcurams and the philosophical system and thereby also establishes why /tirup/pAvai is a seed to all the /vEdAHs, both of /samskrut and /tamiZ (/drAvida vEdam).

Philosophy like mathematics and science is easily understood, when motivated by examples. That is, you first put out a well-known example, and then derive ideas from the model and end up showing that the system is just a formalization of the model in its abstract form. The concrete example is used to expound the abstract system. Students catch on to the ideas and get excited. Then they go on to break new grounds.

In philosophy, this is not common, even though it is so in mathematics and science. An /AcAriyar can do it in all of these branches and that is what happens in instruction. This book is a pioneer in teaching philosophy in the concrete-to-abstract way in a book.

One difficulty may be that it is difficult to find concrete models of philosophy. Usually parables are used to explain an abstract philosophy or theology. A single set of parables to explain all or even most of the elements is indeed a rarity. The parables come in bits and pieces.

The availability of a single model that explains the elements of a philosophical system then is equivalent to the system. For one can derive the system from the model and the model from the system.

The prapannA authoress shows that /SrI ANTALs tirup/pAvai is one such model that is equivalent to the /SrI/vaishNava system at least for practical purposes. A purist may argue otherwise; hence the use of the word practical or essence.

The /vaishNavA AcAryaH SrI vEdap/pirAn bhaTTar must have seen the equivalence, and must have derived the /vEdAHs from /tirup/pAvai. For, it was he, who first christened /tirup/pAvai as /vEdam/aNaittukkum vitt/Akum: A seed for all the /vEdAHs (p.30).

The prapannA authoress devotes several chapters (/iyalkaL) and several /pAcurams to expounding the argument behind the assertion. In this review, I will show how the prapannA authoress establishes the equivalence of /tirup/pAvai with the /rahasya/tryam of /SrI vaishNavism (pp.30-33). The /rahasya/tryam is the essence of the /vEdAhs as expounded in the /vEdAHs and the /brahma/suTraH. It offers the /jIv/AtmaH three securities: /tiru/mantiram, /dvyam, and /carama slOkam.

/tiru/mantiram is the /mantiram /Om namO/nArAyaNAya. It is also called the /ashT/Azara mantraH, as it consists of eight syllables. In a first-principle, we define three concepts: /param/AtmaH, /jivAtmaH, and the relationship between the two. The three concepts together are presented as a mantiram: /Om namO/nArAyaNAya. The /mantiram offers security (protection) to the /jiv/AtmaH, when the latter recognizes that Lord /nArAyaNaH is the Supreme Being, Who can do anything for it. It will be technically incorrect to say that the /param/AtmaH offer security. For, the security was always there, is always there, and will always be there. When the /jiv/AtmaH recognizes the relationship, then the /jiv/AtmaH realizes the nature of the security., and comes to its true life, so to speak. It is best to term the relationship a bond, an inalienable bond between the two /AtmaHs. It is not a relationship that can be liquidated. That is why it was, it is, and it will be.

In the /tiru/mantiram (p.31), the /praNavaH /aum is a triple of three letters: The letter /a, the letter u/ and the letter ma. The first two letters define the pair (/param/AtmaH, /jiv/AtmaH) and the bond between the two as from creation. The letter /ma represents creation, as the first act of creation is the creation of the sound /aum. The expression /nArAyanAya qualifies the original pair as (/nara, /nArAyaNaH), and the word /namaH confirms the inalienable bond and the fact that the pair is an ordered pair. That is, the two /AtmAHs cannot be identified; they are two distinguishable elements of an inalienable pair. /nAryaNaH is the Supreme Being, and is not equivalent to /naraH by any trick or function. The /advaitaH part of the concept is the fact that the two cannot be thought of as two distinct elements in isolation. One cannot think of one without thinking of the other. The inalienable nature of the bond comes with each element. That is the three together form a single concept which cannot be dismantle

The prapannA authoress, after a very brief introduction as above, sets forth how /SrI ANTAL addresses /tiru/mantiram in /tirup/pAvai (pp.31, 67, 149): In /pAcuram 1 /SrI ANTAL presents the /tirumantiram right away as the desired output aimed not just by her as one /jIv/AtmaH, but by all Fellow Worshippers. The line /nArAyaNanE namakkE paRai taruvAn at once defines the param/AtmAH and the /jivAtmAH as an inalienable pair, and the word /paRai defines the security structured in the relationship. The prapannA authoress argues that the use of the two /EkArams in the words /nArAyananE and /namakkE shows the inalienable bond between the two entities and that only the para/mAtmAH has the power to give the secured item. He is the /upEyam (/pRapyam) ---- a goal to be obtained, the ultimate goal, whether one likes it or not. On p.149, in her commentary of /pAcuram 28, the prapannA authoress confirms the indissoluble bond between the /param/AtmaH and the /jivAtmaH: /un tannOtu uRavEl namakku iGku oZikka oZiyAtu: About o

For later purposes, the reader should note that in the first /pAcuram /SrI ANTAL does not conceive of the /jIvAtmA as just a single entity, but as a group or as an association of Fellow /jIv/AtmAHs. The use of plural in /namakkE in /pAcuram 1 (p.67) and /namakku in /pAcuram (p/149) is significant, as we will see.

The recognition of the /jiv/AtmaH must include the Lords Better Half: Goddess /SrI/tEvi or /pirATTI. The /param/AtmaH is the bestower of salvation of the /jivAtmaH. /pirATTI is the facilitator. This is the second security of /rahasya/tryam, called /dvayam. /dvayam is the principle that the Lords Consort is an inseparable duo of the Lord with her own Powers and /guNAHs. The Lords Consort as /SrI dEvi bestows the means to salvation in the hereafter and facilitates it. This process of facilitation necessarily involves enjoyment and experiences of the /jiv/Atmah in the here and in the now. Thus the here and the hereafter give the scope and domain of action for the /dvayam principle. This is the /upAyam or means to obtain the goal of /upEyam. Thus /dvayam as a duo comes with /upEyam and /upAyam: An end and a means. The principle of /dvayam is brought in /tirup/pAvai in /pAcuram 18, where the little girls give a wake-up call to /SrI nappinnai (p.31). /pAcurams 19 and 20 reinforce the /dvayam conce

The first two securities of /rahasya/tryam secure for the /jIv/AtmaH an /upEyam and an /upAyam ---- an end and a means to obtain that end while living as a /jIv/AtmaH. The third security sets out the dynamics of performance or of action by the /jIv/AtmaH.
Known as the /carama slokAHs, the third security propounds the dynamics of the process bestowed and facilitated as in the foregoing. That is, /upAyam and upEyam have been revealed and conceived in for action. It requires the first action to break the inertia (/tamas). There are three /slokAHs propounded for the dynamical journey of the /jivAtmaHs. Each /slOkaH calls for total self-surrender (SaraNa/gati).

The three securities (/rahasya/tryam) together secure for the conscious /jivAtmAH, who is conscious of the principles cited above a sure output (/upEyam), a definite process, and a definite means to go on the journey (/upAyam), and a functional dynamics of traveling. The input, of course, has to be from the /jivAtmAH. If the /jivAtmAh sits there doing nothing, there is no security for that /AtmAH. Take the first step; I will roll you thereafter is the message of the Lord.

The book systematically focuses on the /carama slOkAs of /SrI vaishNava sam/pratAyam. The theme of /prapatti or SaraNA/gati rolls as in a groove along the research findings, and commentaries to the /taniyans and the 30 (thirty) /pAcurams.

One famous /carama sLokam is /slOkaH no. 18.66 of the /gItA. Its importance is that in a single slOkam of two lines, Lord /krushNaH summarizes in His characteristic reassuring Style the whole of the /gItA and thereby the essence of the meaning of life. It is a /mantraH. The Lord exhorts all people to become His devotees by the simple means of self-surrender or /SaraNA/gati. Thus surrendering ones all ---- actions and fruits of actions ---, one becomes a servant of God. The servant, the actions of the servant, and the good and bad results of the actions all belong to God. Like any servant, the devotee must execute the tasks entrusted to him or her with diligence, care, and love. It is not the duty of the servant to worry about the outcome. His or her job is to obey the Master.

The Lord characteristically does not in so many terms explain how to surrender to Him. He does give a number of examples, the Sun (/vivasvAn) being the foremost of the models; but the Lord stops short of giving a general formula for surrender. That task, according to the /prapannA authoress, is completed by /srI ANTAL in /tirup/pAvai. On reading the book, one, will but agree with her.

Since the /gItA is a core /upa/nishat, it follows that /tirup/pAvai is /vEtam/anaittiRkkum vittu ---- a seed to acquiring the knowledge propounded in the /vEdAHs. We will see in the next posting why this is so in detail as this theme is one of the main themes of this research monograph (/iyal 1). A summary is given on p.32, /iyal 5, and an extensive exposition is given on pp.48-55 in /iyal 6. Herein below, I will satisfy the reader with a single excerpt.

On p.54, /tirumati kOtai translates the /carama slOkam as follows:

/sarva dharmAn pari/tuajya mAm/Ekam Saranam vraja |
/aham tvAm sarva/pApEbhyO mOzayishyAmi mA SucaH ||

The lord says: You leave behind all your statutes and laws (Dos and Donts) expounded so far, and bury yourself in me alone holding onto me as an arrow that is shot into. I will annul (undo) all your sins and bestow on you total liberation; do not be grieved.

The song from /tirup/pAvai that is cited in support of this nutshell of the /gItA is the famous /cARRU/muRai /pAcuram 29 that begins with /ciRRaJ ciru/kAlE . . . . Here is the beautiful excerpt on the /gItA connection of /pAcuram 29:

We want to do personal service to You, Who is Lord /nArAyaNa, and to You only. In our personal service to You, which we undertake to please You and be pleased by the blossoming Smile in your Face, should there appear a shortcoming that is tainted with our personal desires, You Yourself, please Purify them and Bless us Yourself with our Right of Personal Service to You.

The second /carama slOkaH is /SrI/rAma carama slOkaH, where Lord /SrI rAmaH assures that a /jivAtmaH which surrenders (/SaraNa/gati) to Him even once is secure (p.37). The third one is the /slOkaH called /SrI varAka carama slOkam (p.39) given by the Lord during the incarnation as /SrI varAkap perumAL.

Now comes the first breakthrough in the conceptualization of the dynamics of the process. T association of fellows --- /SrI ANTALs gOSTi does not seek salvation in the hereafter so much as the Blessing of Personal Service to Him here on Earth. That is, the new /upEyam is not salvation, but Personal Service of waiting on the Lord. The seekers seek not the security of salvation but the guarantee of Personal Service! In /pAcuram 1, they want the Lord and only the Lord to declare that they are His Own! As His Own, they will be entitled to wait on Him. They seek nothing else, and nothing short of this. In /pAcuram 29 they explicit what this /paRai means and they go beyond and want this Blessing not only now in this birth, but also in the next seven-times-seven births!

According to /prapannA tirumati kOtai, /SrI ANTAL has performed the magic by a simple claim on the word /paRai: She has identified the fruit (end) and the dynamics of production of the fruit through a single word. All she has to make sure is that human weakness does not interfere with the scheme. This the fellows do promptly by asking the Lord that He remove any tendency on the part of members to seek personal pleasures and goals, while serving Him. All we want is the Blessing of Personal Service untainted by personal agenda. /SrI ANTAL conludes /pAcuram 29 with the request: /maRRai nam kAmaGkaL mARRElOr empAvAy.

/Pacuram 1 and /pAcurams 28 and 29 taken together lead to an improvement over the three /carama slOkaHs. The desire for salvation is replaced by the desire for personal service now and in the next so many births. And /SrI ANTAL stands in proof that she has achieved what she asked for: She is very much present on our Earth as the Lords Consort in /Sri vaishNavA temples (p.186). And she is present in this way not for seven generations, but for all times to come!

It follows that Service to the Lord is also Service to /SrI ANTAL in this /kali/yukam age of afflictions) and vice versa (pp.175-186). Forget about the hereafter; leave it to the Lord Himself. If He wants to send us back, let us thank Him and ask Him only to make sure that we serve Him with a singular mind. Let us serve the Lord and /SrI ANTAL here and now. What else can be simpler? (pp.186-190).

According to /prapannA tirumati kOtai this message and the new dynamics are the themes of /tirup/pAvai. The argument above gives an inkling of her reasoning, whereby she establishes that /tirup/pAvai is not only equivalent to /rahasya/tryam, but it represents an improvement over it. This is one reason why /tirup/pAvai was christened /vEdam/anaittukkum vittAkum by /Sri vEdap/pirAn bhaTTar.

We will see in the next posting that there is more to it.

/vantanam

Visu

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