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A Tirumalai paasuram

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Badrinarayanan V S • Thu Nov 13 1997 - 23:24:03 PST 


Sri Baghavottamas,

Thondaradipodialwar as seen from his name is humility  personified.  The
extent of his voicing his introspection aloud and the amount of abuses he
heaps on himself is something unimaginable.  

In Tirumalai (paasuram 3) he makes a succinct case for asking for this birth
to be the last.  The paasuram is as follows:

vedanoor pirayam nooru manidardham puguvarelum
padiyum urangi pogum- ninradir padinaandu
pedai palaganagum, piNi, paSi, moopu, thunbam|
AdalAl piravi venden arangamA nagaruLAne

(My apologies for any errors in transliteration)

The very  first time i recited this pasuram i felt deep stirrings within me
and the more i thought about this, i became convinced that this is a theme
that transcends time and place, wherever one is and whatever he/she is
doing.  Seeking the lotus feet of Sri Aranganathar should be the only goal
because the alternative is rebirth which is replete with  so much problems.
Even when i am writing this posting, i feel very emotional and passionate
about the fervent manner in which Azhwar asked for liberation.  

The meaning of this paasuram (as i understand it): 
Even if we live to 100 years (as per vedas), half is spent in sleep (more
for some) and of the rest 15 years is lost in the graduation process to
youth.  OF the balance, more time is wasted on account of disease, hunger
(and the time to satiate the hunger in whatever form it is), old age and
suffering.   So please do not give me another birth, O Lord residing in the
great city of Arangam!!

Perhaps Azhwar did not consider pursuit of wealth as an activity at all and
hence did not include in the list of things which consume our time and
therefore deprive us of valuable time to think about the Lord.  Or Perhaps
he did, under the classification of Pasi (hunger) which could refer to
hunger for money, bodily comforts, fame or the thousand odd things that most
of us spend our lives chasing and satiating.  

        So where is the time to think about and meditate upon HIM in this
world? 

Thondaradipodiazhwar thiruvadigaLE saraNam

adiYen dasan


Badrinarayanan V S