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 :
"neeLAtungastanagir itaTi - suptamudbhodhya krushNam -
pArArthyam svam SrutiSataSirah: siddham-adhyApayant I |
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-vadivamaind ha
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