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Upadesa rathna Maalai: Part 7 ( Paasurams 22-24); The three Paasurams on ANDAL's glory

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sadagopan • October 24, 1999 


The Greatness of the Birthday of ANDAL
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inRO ThiruvAdippUram , yemakkaaha-
   vanRO ingu ANDAL avatharitthAL , kunratha
vAzhvAna Vaikuntha vaann bhOgam tannai ihazhnthu
   AzhwAr ThirumakaLaaraai ........(22)

(Meaning ): Is it n't today the most auspicious
AaDippUram ? Is it n't this day , when ANDAL 
left behind the nithya SrI and the dhivya bhOgams
of Sri Vaikuntam to incarnate in this samsAric world 
as the daughter of PeriyAzhwAr for asmadAdhi's 
(for samsAris like us) ujeevanam ( salvation )? 

Comments:In URM, Sri MM has devoted 3 paasurams 
for ANDAl. This is the first one. In the first two ,
he celebrated the avathAra Dinam and in the third one ,
Sri MM saluted Her glory. 

Lord KrishNA gave GithOpadEsam to all of us 
while using ArjunA as a vyAjam (excuse ). 
The UpadEsam was in Sanskrit and it was 
much above the head of many.Hence , the full
benefit of that well-meant upadEsam for all was not
achieved. To overcome this problem , Bhumi Devi 
incarnated as Godhai and blessed us with ThiruppAvai
in Her own unique Tamizh ( Vedam anaitthukkum 
VitthAhum Godhai Tamizh )and in a way in which it 
was easily understood by every one .This She did 
for the upliftment of all of us suffering with 
SamsAric afflictions .

Nothing can come close to ANDAL's or Her Thirumiozhi's glories 
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PeriyAzhwAr peNNpiLayAi ANDAL piRantha 
  ThiruvAdip Pooratthin seermai , oru nALaikku
UndO manamE uNarnthu paar, ANDALukku 
   unDAhil oppu itharkkum uNDu ......(23)

(Meaning ):Is there a day , which compares in
srEyas and magnificience to the avathAra dinam
of Sri ANDAL , who incarnated on this earth as
the dear daughter of PeriyAzhwAr ? Oh my mind ! 
Please reflect on this question . If there is 
a principle or entity that matches the glory 
of ANDAL , then there will be another day , which
will equal the greatness of ThiruvAdippUram day .

The elaboration of the unmatched glory of ANDAL
************************************************

anjuk kudikku oru santhathiyAi , AzhwArkal
  tanjeyalai vinji niRkum tanmayaLAi , pinjAi
pazhutthALaip patthiyudam naaLum
  VazhutthAi manamE mahizhnthu......(24)

(meaning ): Oh My mind! Please eulogize always with
devotion ANDAL , who excelled all the ten AzhwArs 
in Her deeds and who had such ripened bhagavath-premai
and Kaimkarya anubhavam for Her Lord even at a very
young age.She is the One , who was born as the only
daughter of the five families of the God-fearing 
AzhwArs . 

(Commentary): The three key groups of words in this
exquisite paasuram of Sri MM are:

(1) anju kudikku oru santhathiyAi
(2) AzhwaarkaL tamsyalai vinji niRkum tanmayaLAi
(3) PinjAi PazutthALai

(1)The Santhathi of Anju Kudi: There are double meanings 
here .Anju Kudi is the vamsam (kudi) of BhaagavathAs (AzhwArs here),
who are always afraid (anjum ) of any haani (danger) coming 
the way of our Lord .PeriyAzhwAr performing ThiruppallANDu 
mangaLAsAsanam out of fear that there may be some kaNN
Yecchil ( dhrishti dhOsham ) falling on the Lord , when He 
presented Himself in public to bless him (PeriyAzhwAr)
at Mathurai . ANDAL is the progeny of that anjum kudi 
is one meaning.

PeriyAzhwAr had four sons already .With ANDAL,
the size of the family of PeriyAzhwAr became 
Four+one =five. That is another meaning for anju kudi. 

(2) AzhwArkaL tamseyalai vinji nirkum tanmayaLAi:

All AzhwArs had deep Bhakthi and Jn~Anam about 
the svarUpa -SvAbhAva visWshams of their Lord,
Sriman NaarAyaNA . Two AzhwArs (NammAzhwAr 
and Thirumangai ) assumed Naayaka-Naayaki
BhaVam to express their joy over samslEsham (union) with
Him and vislesham ( sorrow ) over separation from Him.
Thirumangai AzhwAr went one step ahead and performed madal
Oorthal ceremony to shame the Lord to accept her .
Swami Desikan refers to their crying out in joy and 
sorrow through the assumption of feminine roles 
by NammAzhwAr and Thirumangai in GodhA Sthuthi as :

bhOkthum tava priyatamam bhavathIva GodhE
  bhakthim nijAm praNya BhAvanayA gruNantha:
ucchA vachai: viraha sangamajaiudhanthai:
  srungArayanthi hrudhayam Gurava: thvadhIya:
 
Yet , these two AzhwArs and the other eight were MEN
and their act of Kaamam for the Lord was not as 
authentic as that of ANDAL . She is the Lord's
consort and Her enjoyment of the Lord as His Devi
can not ever be equal to the others , who assumed 
feminine roles .Her svabhAvam is that of a woman .
Her realtionship has to be more natural than that 
of the ParakAla and ParAnkusa Naayakis in anubhava
poorthi . 

(3) pinjAi pzhutthALAi : In her fifth year already ,
she blessed us with ThiruppAvai , where as the AzhwArs
took a long ,long time for their Bhakthi to progress
to the stages of para Bhakthi, Para Jn~Anam and Parama 
Bhakthi .She jumped to parama Bhakthi right away instead
of the steady ripening of Her Bhakthi thru the other two stages.

Charama Jn~Anam also came to Her much earlier than the other AzhwArs.
For NammAzhwAr , that charama Jn~Anam came at the 10th decade
of the 8th centum (NedumARkkadimai decade); for Thirumangai ,
this charama Jn~Anam dawned at the 7th centum , 4th decade
( ThirucchErai Paasuram: KaNN sOra venkuruthi--). The Bhagavatha
Seshathvam Jn~Anam came thus much later to these AzhwArs .
For ANDAL however ,this Jn~Anam is captured in the first paasuram of 
ThiruppAvai : " neerAda pOthuveer  pothuminO, ---AaypAdic chelva 
siRumIrkAL ". No wonder that Bhattar offered his PraNAmam to 
Her in his Taniyan with a depth of reverence : " GodhA tasyai 
nama itham itham bhUyEvAsthu bhUya: " to this pinjilE 
pazhuttha ANDAL . 

Daasan, SadagOpan