Search:

From the Bhakti List Archives

Ramaswami Vasudevan • January 9, 1998 


Dear Members,
I humbly submit here an interpretation for the 28th paasuram of
"Tirupavai"
"karavaigal pinn chendru kAAnam serndunbOOm
arivonrum illAAdha AAykulathu undannai
piravi perundhannai punniyam yAAmudaiyom
kurai onrum illadha Govinda undhannodu
uravEl namakingu ozhikka ozhiyAAdhu
ariyAAdha pillaighalum anbinAAl undhannai
siru pEAr azhaithanavum seeri arulAAdhe
iraivAA nEE thAARai paraielor embAAvAAi

In this pasuram Aandaal assumes the garb of an Aaichiyar penn &
addressess Lord Krishna-

"karavaigal pin chendru kaanam serndunnbom- once we get up in the
morning we will move out with our cows.
karavaigaLLodu selvOOm- karavaigal piNNodu selvOOm- we do not lead the
cows- instead the cows lead us into the forest once into the forest we
eat toghether-serndunbOOm. Getting up in the Ushad kaalam, praying to
the Lord, doing Aatma vicharam, performing our karma in the yogic
dhaarmam- well, well all these are not for us, why - because, "arivu
onrum illadha Aaikulam- arivu illadha- no knowledge, onrum- utter
ignorance.

Aaikulatthu undhannai piravi perunthannai punniyam yaamudaiyom- we the
Aaichiyars may be ignorant & be so dumb as to allow the cows to lead
us,but we can afford all such stupidity for we have in our midst the
Lord Himself. Our great Aacharyas have taught us that life is but a
journey of the soul forever seeking Him  & attain His lotus feet
thereafter. The noble deeds of all our ancestors enabled us to have Him
as our folk leader. So moodargalaaga naanngal irundhum engkalai uivikka
Kannan irukkum patchathill- we are totally carefree. Indeed how lucky
are we- do you all know Who we have in our midst -"kurai ondrum illaadha
Govinda(N).-the one who is not only Perfection(nirai) but impeccable
Perfection(kuraiye illaadha nirai)

Now the bond between You &our clan is inseperable- so "ariyaadha
pillaighalum anbhinaal undhannai chiru paer azhaithanavum seeri
arulaathe"- time& again I repeat we the Aaichiyars are "moodargal" & we
have been trivial, silly, stupid in our treatment meted out to You. We
bid You all sorts of jobs, called You by all mean, abominable names- but
do You know that the motivating factor behind all our actions was
nothing but Love- yes Love for You.The Love of the Aaichiyar women has
been glorified by our Aachaaryas.Their's was the unconditional Love-Love
in it's pure, pristine form It was Yashoda's Love of Krishna that bind
Him to a tree & by allowing Himself to be bound by a rope that the Lord
got His thirunaamam-Damodaran. The Gopa sthrees had such infinite Love
for Him, it is termed as "idakkai -valakkai ariyaa aaichiyar bakthi" &
it seems the Lord desired to have His incarnation unto this fold. In
this folk- everybody is lovelorn- but it's a strange craving- the
children don't desire to be with their play mates, the wife doesn't
really wish to be in the company of her husband &neither do the plants,&
birds want to flock together- for they all have their Love(life) fixed
on Krishna- nothing is going to deter them. So, please do not forsake
us- "seeri arulaadhe". In our daily life we can see that our children
sometimes drive us crazy- they are bent on having something  & however
much we deny their obstinacy finally wins. Then we will say "take this &
get lost".Aandal takes the stance of this child & pleads to the Lord
that He should overlook all their misdeeds & Bless(arul) them. She tells
"seeri arulaadhe- iraivaa nee tharaai parai" -grant us the eternal
bliss.
This paasuram along with the 27th is considered by ourAchAAryaas as
containing the quintessence of 'Saranagathi". We the mortal beings are
compared to the Gopastrees- arivonrum illai, unbudhum, karavaigal pOl
thirivadhum- kandadhe kaatchi, kondadhae kOlam enru iruppadhumm- we are
all groping in the darkness of 'aghyaanam".Born unto our midst is our
great Achaaryan, which is our"piravi punniyam" & He will establish
through Prapatti our bondage to the "kurai onrum illadha Govindan".We
are loitering like the cows & our Acharyan brings us all under His
guidance just as the sheperd does & initiates into the "Saranaghdi".Once
this mission of life is accomplished Andal asserts it's celebration that
ensues.
 At the outset Andal says, since we are observing the Nonbu- "neyyunnOm,
pAlunnOm, malarittu mudiyom,"& will pray-"iraivAA nEE thAArAAi parai" &
She doesn't want -"seeri arulal".Andal says ,we bid You
do so many mean jobs, called You by silly names for we are the 'siru
pillaigal' ,so don't give us the 'parai' out of frustration Andal
pleads- all we want is 'undhannOdu ozhikka ozhiyAAdha uravu'-&once the
Lord accepts the plea we are revelling- the Nonbu is over-'choodagam,
tholvalai, thodu, sevipoo,palkalanum anivOm'&countless are the things
bestowed on us because of His blessings.So Andal has taken us
all(arivonrum illAdha) to  the 'kurai illAdha Govindan' through the
grace of the AchAryan whom we have as our 'piravi peru------yOm' which
ofcourse is SaranAgathi at it's culmination.
  I pray Lord Almighty that His blessings be with all our members who
have been meticulously participating in the activities of this group,
through out this holy month.
Regards,
SubadraVasudevan.
Your comments & suggestions are welcome at-aurum@cadvision.com