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SrI:
SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya nama:

Dearest all, 

Let us enjoy the thaniyan (dedicatory) verses. 
[an extract from post by Sri Anand Karalapakkam Swami] 
Thaniyans are those verses that stand apart from the main  verses/pAsurams etc 
ie. "thaniththu iruththal". So,  thaniyans for 4000 divya prabandhams are those 
verses that are not a part of the pAsurams as such, but recited  before them to 
meditate on the glories of the AzhwAr, to understand the gist of the upadEsam 
given by AzhwAr in that divya prabandham etc.  

It was previously discussed that thiruppAvai as a mantram is one of its salient 
features. For each mantram, there will be a dhyAna slOkam (whom to be meditated 
upon and in what way ), and also, one should pay respect beforehand to the 
rishi who intuited this mantram etc. 
Similarly, for thiruppAvai (a mantram), the dhyAna slOkam is the thaniyan 
composed by Bhattar - to chant even the name of this great AchAryA, we are not 
qualified. 

Bhattar once had "katti"(a boil and a swelling) at the back of his body. When a 
sishya asked bhattar about this, bhattar answered that "disease"/"health 
problem" is also an AchAryA (SwAmi Desikan refers to this in Srimad Rahasya 
Traya sAram) since even when all the AchAryAs keep teaching that one has to 
take refuge unto Sriman nArAyaNA, many won't listen to it; but when this 
AchAryA (disease) comes, they automatically turn towards PerumAL !!

The great mahAn "ananthAzhwAn", for whom thiruvEngadamudayAn Himself composed 
thaniyan (accepting AzhwAn as His AchAryA). AnanthAzhwAn's kainkaryams to 
PerumAL can't be matched - left even the company of emperumAnAr and proceeded 
to thiruvEngadam to perform pushpa 
 kainkaryam, just because it will be pleasing to his AchArya emperumAnAr and 
there are many many pastimes of ananthAzhwAn with thiruvEngadamudayAn. 

Since PerumAL made ananthAzhwAn have paralysis, even when he had done enormous 
amount of kainkaryam, some devotees could not tolerate it and were angry with 
PerumAL. But, ananthAzhwAn told that thiruvEngadamudayAn will _always_ do only 
good to His devotees ("nangE seivAN") and this paralysis is just burning of 
some past karmA/kadan and by this, the time to attain Sri VaikuNTham is 
shortened. 

To make His devotee reach Him quickly, He gives things like this and this is a 
great help given by PerumAL out of His dayA. Such was the most matured state of 
thinking by ananthAzhwAn. When one gets suffering, one should realize that 
PerumAL is quickly burning off some past karmA/kadan and this is only good 
(pApam kazhinjuthu).

 Coming back to the bhattar's katti, the doctor 
 himself was crying as to how to operate ; since 
 there was no anesthesia that time, the operation
 would give enormous amount of intolerable pain to 
 bhattar. For this, bhattar told "Tommorrow,
 thiruppAvai upanyAsam is there. So, you can please
 operate during that time" !!! For bhattar, 
 thiruppAvai was anything and everything (unnum sORu,
 parugum neer, thinnum vetRilai), and in that peak of
 the bhagavad anubhavam arising out of thiruppAvai,
 bhattar will completely loose the consciousness of
 the body (whats the need of an anesthesia ?? ).
 Such was the involvement of bhattar with thiruppAvai.
 All the AchAryAs set such exemplary standard and
 only from their lives we can understand a glimpse of
 what bhagavad anubhavam is all about. Even in the
 times of great difficulties, they set the right
 example for us to follow - the mood one should have
 etc. 

 PerumAL probably gives such difficulties to mahAns
 to make their exaltedness known to all others and
 also for others to follow the example set by these
 mahAns during those times of difficulties. Bhattar
 was given another diificulty by PerumAL and thus
 bhattar from Srirangam went to thirukkOshtiyUr and
 stayed there ( the ruling king of Srirangam made 
 bhAgavatha apachAram). Bhattar couldn't tolerate
 the separation from RanganAthar and was in intense
 viraha thApam. Nanjeeyar, the disciple of bhattar
 told "Please forgive adiyEn; swAmi already knows;
 but kindly let adiyEn tell this. To get rid of 
 this present suffering, we need PerumAL's aruL
 which will easily fall upon if we get the 
 recommendation of AndAL <and kUratAzhwAn> ".Thus,
 bhattar composed the following thaniyan in 
 sanskrit for thiruppAvai at that time :
    
 "neeLAtungastanagiritaTi - suptamudbhodhya krushNam -
    pArArthyam svam SrutiSataSirah: siddham-adhyApayantI |
  svOcchishtAyAm sraji nigaLitam yA balAtkrutya bhunktE
    godA tasyai nama idamidam-bhUya yevAstu bhUyaha "   || 
  
 " May I offer obeisance again and again to Goddess AndAL
   alias GodA - to Her alone - who has awakened Lord 
   KrishNa(taking rest and) sleeping on the mountain-like
   lofty breasts of Goddess nILA alias nappiNNai pirAtti;
   GodA, who has imparted to Him her dependence (on Him)
   as established in the hundreds of texts of the crown
   of the vEdAs (viz. vEdAntA or upanishads); and gOdA ,
   who forcefully enjoys Him after binding Him with
   flower-wreaths that were already worn by Her "
     
  So, the dhyAna slOkam is based on the 19th pAsuram
  "kuttu viLakku", wherein nAchchiyAr wakes up Krishnar 
  and nappiNNai ("nappiNNai kongai mEl vaiththuk 
  kidantha malar mArban" - KrishNa is having His chest 
  resting on the breast of nappiNNai pirAtti). There are
  many esoteric significances of this pAsuram - the 
  essence being that when devotees approach pirAtti 
  (nappiNNai), PerumAL is so much eager to bless them
  <now, to open the door>, and when devotees 
  approach PerumAL, nappiNNai pirAtti is very much 
  eager bless them <now, to open the door>. Since
  AndAL and Her friends prayed to both nappiNNai 
  pirAtti and PerumAL, both are in a fight as to who
  will first open the door and thus one is pushing 
  the other down. Thus, one should understand about
  this couple (PerumAL and pirAtti) who are very 
  eager to bless the devotees together with so much 
  vAtsalyam and they are our refuge. Thus, the 
  dhyAnam for thiruppAvai is on the unbounded dayA
  of the divine couple towards us. Infact, on 19th
  day of mArgazhi, ArAvamudhAzhwAn (kumbakOnam
  sArngapAni PerumAL) will have nAchchiyAr 
  thirukkOlam and nAchchiyAr will have PerumAL
  thirukkOlam. Probably this is the only divya
  dEsam in which nAchchiyAr has PerumAL 
  thirukkOlam.  

  In the pAsuram, AndAL says only "nappiNNai kongai" 
  (breast of nappiNNai). But in the thaniyan, bhattar 
  says "mountain-like breasts of nILA". 
  Sri U.Ve.nadAdUr (SribAshya SimhAsanAdipati) 
  Asukavi SArvabhouma SrInivAsAchArya swAmi (alias
  SrInidhi swAmi), the AchAryA and thiruth -
  thagappanAr (father) of Sri KarunAkaran swAmy has
  given a wonderful insight into the thiru uLLam
  of bhattar. In Peria thiru madal, thirumangai 
  mannan performs mangaLAsAsanam as 
  "..mazhaikkoondal thennuyarporuppum dhaiva 
  vadamalaiyum, yennum ivayE mulaiyA-vadivamaindha 
  anna nadaya aNangE.." ie. the mountains 
  thiruvEngada malai and thirumAlirunchOlai are 
  present as two (mountain-like) breasts of bhoomi
  pirAtti and in them PerumAL resides with great
  pleasure.Srinidhi swAmy refers to kUrathAzhwAn's
  SundarabAhusthavam, after the composition of 
  which AzhwAn got the association of emperumAnAr
  (for around 12 years, they were separated) and
  the sEvai of ranganAthan at Srirangam. Thus,
  bhattar follows the footsteps of his father 
  kUraththAzwAn and performs mangaLAsAsanam to
  thirumAlirunchOlai Azhagar and thereby expects
  that both kUraththAzhwAn and Azhagar will be 
  pleased by this thaniyan apart from AndAL, and
  thus similar to the end of the viraha thApam
  of kUraththAzhwAn, his viraha thApam also will
  come to an end (which eventually ended also).
  
  In this thaniyan, bhattar also reminds us about
  the "balAt kruthyam" AndAL did to PerumAL and 
  giving Him the "mayarvaRa madiNalam" ( nallA
  kattip pOttu pAdam kaRpithA - tied PerumAL
  completely by giving the garland she wore and
  taught (and reminded) Him that they belong to 
  Him and He is their rakshagan). Thirukkudanthai 
  AndavAn would jovially say that, only after 
  seeing AndAL teaching so effectively, all the 
  schools started recruiting lady teachers to teach 
  the students!!

(*) ParamaikAntins are those who have single pointed 
devotion towards Sriman nArAyaNA and are interested 
only in the performance of kainkaryam to Him (here 
and in Sri VaikuNTham) and His devotees ; they don't 
have any interest of their own, other than these 
kainkaryams. As AzhwAr says, they are  "maRandhum 
puram thozhA mAndhar".

Actually, bhattar refers to bhoomi pirAtti as
"pAdavalla nAchchiyAr" < kaisika purAnam vyAkyAnam>,
since She has sung this thiruppAvai. It's also interesting to note
that the sanskrit name for AndAL "gOdA" and the tamil name
is "kOdai".  Sri KarunAkaran swAmi says that PeriAzhwAr
gave the name "kOdai" in tamil only, when AndAL ( who was
5 years old as per sthala purANam) revealed Herself near the
tulasi plant. This is because PeriAzhwAr was immersed in
performing pushpa kainkaryam to PerumAL and was in
constant rememberance of it ; now AndAL also was looking
like a beautiful flower ( "KOdai" in tamil means "flower"/
"garland" ). The sanskrit name "gOdA" also gives many
meanings, very much suitable to AndAL ( "the one who came
from earth", "the one who was given by earth", "the one
who delineated how a prabandham should be written" etc).
Such are Her  glories; one can keep on praising Her in various
languages.


   Thaniyan - 2 ( by UyyakkondAr) :
  ***************************
"anna vayal puduvai AndAL arangaRkup -
  pannu thiruppAvaip palpadiya(ga)m - innisaiyAl
pAdik koduttAL naRpAmAlai, poomAlai
  choodik koduttALaich chollu "

" The saint-poettes AndAL, was born in SrivilliputtUr
 (puduvai), girt with paddy-fields and (water-reservoirs
 full of) beautiful swans (annam). She dedicated Her
 beautifulgarland of songs, singing them sweetly (in praise
 of Him). She offered to Him the flower-garland, after
 wearing it Herself. May all of us pray to Her and sing
 Her poems ! "

 Here "anna paRavai" known as "hamsa paRavai" has
 deep meanings. It can be interpreted to refer to
 "parama hamsAs" (sanyAsis ; eg: Azhagiyasingar is
 given the title "parama hamsa parivrAjakAchArya ...")
 ie. SrivilliputtUr is filled with great mahAns
 (ie. parama hamsAs ). It is to be noted that Lord
 HayagrIva gives the sEvai (darSan) as that of a
 sanyAsi to chaturmukha  brahmA ( SAnti parvA ,
 MahAbhAratham).


  thaniyan 3 ( by UyyakkondAr) :
**************************

" choodik koduththa sudarkkodiyE tolpAvai,
   pAdiyaruLavalla palvaLayAy ! nAdinee
 "vEnkadavaRkku yennai vidhi" yenra immAtRam
   nAngadavA vaNNamE nalhu "

" Oh AndAL, shining like the flash of lightening ! You
 bedecked Yourself first the garland (intended for the
 Lord) and then offered it to Lord RanganAtha; You
 had the great expertise to compose the renowned and
ancient hymn of thiruppAvai. Oh AndAL with the
 multifarious and auspicious bangles ( adorning Your
 fore-arms) ! may You please shower Your grace on
 us (so that we become greatly devoted to the Lord),
 with the same sincerity of devotion ( you had towards
 the Lord of vEnkata hill) as You prayed to Manmathan
 (PerumAL) thus: "O manmathA, be pleased to make
 me (a humble servant and) the bride of
 thiruvEngadamudayAn " (NAchchiyAr thirumozhi 1.1).

 The deeper meaning to the reference of AndAL's
 bangles is that even the sound of bangles of AndAL is
 very pleasing to RanganAtha, OR even the bangles
 of AndAL sing thiruppAvai. But, this thaniyan is
 more oriented to nAchchiyAr thirumozhi (reference
to thiruvEngadamudayAn) and thus it would be logical
to think that this has to be a thaniyan  for nAchchiyAr
thirumozhi. But, why then is this a thaniyan for
thiruppAvai, wherein (apparently) no reference has
been made to thiruvEngadamudayAn ?  The answer
lies in the 20th pAsuram "muppaththu moovar".

[note: All the translations of the thaniyans are adopted
(with slight editing) from Dr.VKSN Raghavan's
ThiruppAvai  translation and notes , published by
Sri VishistAdvaita PracAriNi SabhA- 

Let us enjoy the 1st and 2nd verses morrow. 
AndAL ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam
Regards
namo narayana 




      

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