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Re: Chanting of the Prabandham the best possible way

From the Bhakti List Archives

nara_chak45 • Fri Mar 14 2003 - 12:13:36 PST 


Srirasthu
Srimathe Ramanujaya nama:

Dear shrimaan soundarrajan,

>                             I have a huge doubt. Even though tamil 
is my mother tongue, I still have issues in understanding the 
meanings of most of the Prabandhams. Well, if understanding the 
basic, flat meaning is itself a problem as such, what about the 
subtle, deep, philosophical truth hidden in each verse of the 
Prabandham?? 

Everybody has the same problem from the mahavidhwans to the 
moodathmas like me. Those meanings flat or deepshall be acquired 
through attending kaalakshepams and upanyasams under an aacharyan who 
himself follows the tradition followed by the poorvacharyas(munnor 
mozhintha murai thappamal kettu). These are also elucidated by the 
learned members of the group who themselves had kaalakshepams from an 
aacharyan from time to time.(for example thirupaavai upanyaasams are 
famous in maargazhi).

> 
>                              How should one chant the Prabandham?? 
Is it ok, if he chants it without knowing the meaning as such. And 
what about pronunciation mistakes?? Am I right if I say that it is an 
offense if we make mistakes when we chant the pasurams, as it is 
tantamount to insulting the Azhwars?? 

Initially for learning purposes it is ok that we chant without 
knowing the meaning.This also shows our maha viswaasam in our 
poorvacharyas who never err. very locally speaking is it right that i 
represent the formula of einstein as e=mc^3. it is turning everything 
upside down.isnt it?? Thats why pronounciation takes a very important 
place.we should not mis-spell or mis-pronounce AAzhwars paasurams. 
Those mistakes can be cleared while learning itself.For this reason 
the formula of santhai is followed where the shishyan learns directly 
from the aacharyan  without mistakes. please take note of the tamizh 
quote "karkka kasadara..". Learn and learn without mistakes when 
learning..

> 
>                            Sometimes, I do get the meaning, but 
still am prone to making errors. For example, thanks to Sri 
Madhavakkannan, I now know the meaning of "Thiruppallandu", but still 
I have confusions in the last word of each paragraph, I donno when to 
say "Pallandu KURUVANE" or "Pallandu KURUDHUME" or "Pallandu 
KURUMINE". Is it an offense when I mix and match them??

when aazhwar says kuruvane he says about himself doing the job of 
praising the lords attributes, when he says koorudhume and koorumine 
he refers us to join him in praising the lord. It clearly changes the 
meaning when u mix and match them.Which is not correct.It is the job 
of an aacharya to correct the shishyas mistakes and it is the job of 
perumaal to forgive our mistakes "Tham adiyar sol poruppathu periyor 
kadananne -ptm". also please note that in thirupallandu there will be 
a setof footnotes to guide you what to say when it goes like this
"aadi kooruthum,anantharam koorumin, andam enmin, enthai paaduthum, 
thee uduthu enal kooruthum, neyyum allum kooruvane" which if we match 
with the paasurams

vaazhatpattu ninneer-kooruthum,
edunilathil- koorumin,
anda kulatthukku athipathi -enmine
enthai thanthai-paaduthume
theeyil poliginra senjudaraazhi,uduthu kalaintha, ennal emperumaan - 
kooruthume,
Neyyidai nallathor sorum, alvazhakkonnumilla -kooruvane.

> 
>                            Sometimes, when I chant the Pasurams, my 
mind just wanders, thinking of very very trivial mundane things, 
thinking of anything but Perumal. Am I a sinner??

try to see the thirumukamandalam of emperumaan i think by doing this 
when chanting your mind will not wander. but better chocies will be 
given to you by elder members of the group which will go by their 
experinces and practices.

Azhwar Emperumanaar Jeeyar thiruvadigale charanam.

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasan,
Nallan Chakravarthy Narashiman

PS: please pardon the transliteration and also please correct me of 
any errors.



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