SrI: SrImathE Gopaladesika Mahadesikaya nama: Dearest all [After the journey through PerumAL Thirumozhi of Kulasekara AzhwAr, adiyEn dares to undertake Thirunmangai manna?s ThirukkuRunthANdakam and ThirunedunthANdakam. We were reciting the same in last sathsagam (NAMA event) we had at Singapore and were enjoying these wonderful verses. It is adiyEn?s greedy attempt again to rush in where angels fear to tread. Only with Acharyan anugraham, AzhwAr?s blessings, this tough task needs to be completed. Please forgive me for adiyEn indulgence. ] Thirumangai AzhwAr one of the most learned Tamil poets, the great AzhwAr, the last of AzhwArs, has contributed six wonderful and divine compistions: They are: 1. Periya thirumozhi 2. Periya thiru madal 3. SiRiya thirumadal 4. Thiru nedunthANdakam 5. Thiru KurunthANdakam 6. Thiru vezhukkuRRirukkai His pAsurams are marvelous; simply excellent and lilting in rhythms. They are unparalleled. These works of AzhwAr have contributed a major portion of 4000. This AzhwAr also has contribiuted 1296 verses. We had covered Periya Thirumozhi few years ago (with adiyEn rambling called translation). This Periya Thirumozhi is a composition of large number of verses describing the greatness of archA avathArams, the kalyANa gunAs of the Lord, their divine beauty as well the charm and divinity of the divya desams poetically described by AzhwAr. Besides these describtions, AzhwAr also laments about the human suffering caused by bondage, and the ways and the means of overcoming the same, ultimately leading to the attainment of God. As Vedantha Desika says: Periya Thirumozhi provides a deep insight into the spiritual knowledge [aRivu tharum periya thirumozhi]. ThirukkuRunthANdakam and ThirunedunthANdakam: ThANdakam literally, as per Sri SMS Chari in his book on ?Philosophy and Theisctic Mysticm of the Alvars? means a staff used as a support while walking up a hill. In the context of the poetry, it refers to a particular type of poetical composition addressed to God as comparing Him to such a support. Or in other words, a source of sustenance for the soul. The words kuRu or nedu simply means short or long denoting the meters adopted. The main theme of ThirukkuRunthANdakam is that the soul is wholly dependent on God who is the sole supporter and it hope to escape the suffering by means of sincere prayers and worship to Him. ThiruneduthANdakam is a longer composition portraying the mystic experience of God by the AzhwAr. Let us enjoy ThirukkuRnthANdakam first. [avathArikai from Sri V Satakopan Swami Article] In the magnificent Periya Thirumozhi, Thirumangai expressed his immense aanandhAnubhavam of MangaLAsAsanam of the EmperumAns of the 86 dhivya dEsams as well as the VibhavAvathAra PerumALs . He celebrated the Moola manthram and its glories and yet did not see any hint from the Lord about invitation to join Him in Parama padham to enjoy the Paripoorna BrahmAnubhavam there. As a result , AzhwAr experienced nirvEdham .Sri Vaikunta Nathan however had other ideas .He wanted to enjoy some more paasurams from His dear devotee. AzhwAr restated his case for joining the Lord at Sri Vaikuntam and thus were born the two ThANDakams. In these two ThANDakam , AzhwAr jumps over ( thANDuthal) the sorrows of SamsAram and is immersed in the Bhagavath anubhavam. ThANDakam is also a type of Prabhandham in Tamil poetry . The one set in shorter length ( aRuseerkkazhi nedilAsiriya viruttham ) became ThirukkuRunthANDakam (TKT)and the one with eight fold symmetry (yeNN Seer) came to be known as ThirunedumthANDakam(TNT).Latter is an elaboration of the last two paasurams of ThirukkuRunthANDakam . Parasara Bhattar described TNT as a Saasthram and used one of the slOkams to defeat the advaitha VedAntha Muni of Melkote and accepted him as his disciple and recognized him as Namm Jeeyar.Rest is history in AchArya Paramaparai PrabhAvam. Namm Jeeyar benefited from Ubhaya VedAntha GrahaNam under the sacred feet of Sri Paraasara Bhattar and we have the good fortune of having the 9,000 Padi commentary for ThriuvAimozhi and the BhAshyam for Sri Sookthi, KaNNinuNN SiRutthAmpu et al. from him and a glorious AchArya paramparai. That is the power of ThirunedumthANDakam . UtthamUr Sri VeerarAghava MahA Desikan has blessed us with insightful commentaries on these two Prabhandhams as well as the other Prabhandhams of Thirumangai Mannan that adiyEn would like to refer you to for additional studies. His summation of the purport and message of TNT is: " This prabhandham is one, which has to be studied always as a VedAntha Saasthram. This describes first the Tatthva-Hitha- PurshArthams and asserts next the unbreakable sEshathvam of the Jeevan to the Sarva Seshi, the Lord in His forms as Para, VyUha , Vibhava ,antharyAni and ArchA .This salutation to the Lord is set in the mood of Naayika-Naayaka Bhaavam. Through these ThANDakam paasurams , Thirumangai expressed his deep desire Moksha Sidhdi and Rakshakthvam of the Lord." May we all be blessed to study and understand the deep Tatthvams embedded in the two ThANDakam Prabhandhams. Vaazhi ParakAlan Vaazhi KalikanRi Vaazhi KurayalUr Vaazh VEndhan-vaazhiyarO MayOnai vALL valiyAl manthiramkoLL MangayarkkOn ThUyOn SudarmAna vEl Let us enjoy the verses from tomorrow AzhwAr ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam Regards Namo Narayana dasan ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs Yahoo! 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