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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00019 Feb 2006

 
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   The Story of Tondar-adipOdi: Conquest of ?kaama?
   ------------------------------------------------ 
   through Reduction (?unification?) of Desire --
   ----------------------------------------------
                  ?karma yOga?
                   ----------

In its daily regimen of worship almost throughout the
year, be it at home or in temples, the devout
community of SriVaishnavas of India generally uses the
4000 Tamil decadal verses known as ?naalaayira
divya-prabhandham? ?-- the devotional outpourings 
sung by its pantheon of 12 mystic saints  collectively
known as the ?AzhwArs?. However, during ?maargazhi?
(Dec 15-Jan 14), the most sacred month of the Tamil
lunar calendar, regarded most conducive for spiritual
pursuit, worship and contemplation, the community will
be seen to be using for the purpose only 2 particular
hymns while excluding, deliberately and completely,
the rest of the ?sacred 4000?. The two exceptions are
?TiruppAvai? of Andal and the ?Tirupalli-ezhucchi?
sung by the saint of the great South Indian
temple-town of ?SriRangam? -- Sri "Tondar-adipodi
AzhwAr". 

AndAl and Tondar-adipOdi have many striking things in
common:

(a) They were not natives of SriRangam but both became
inseparably attached to the great temple- town, the
capital-seat of SriVaishanvite faith. 

(b) Both were inveterate "spiritual monogamists" i.e.
they were uncompromisingly steadfast in their love and
devotion for the Deity of SriRangam, Lord RanganAtha.
AndAl would accept none but Ranganatha as paramour and
groom. Tondar-adipOdi would sing in praise of no Deity
in the world other than the one presiding at
SriRangam. Other AzhwArs praised and worshipped
several Deities in other parts of the country like
Tiruvenkatam, TiruveLLikkENi etc. But to Andal and
Tondar-adipOdi the Lord at SriRangam was sole
inspiration in life. 

(c) Both were 'floriculturists' of a sort. Fond of
flower-groves and stringing beautiful floral wreaths
and garlands, they offered them up as service to the
Deity at Srirangam. AndAl's happiest days were spent
in the garden her father Peria-AzhwAr cultivated in
her native SriVilliputtur (near Tirunelveli, S.India).
Similarly, Tondar-adipodi grew a flower garden near
SriRangam which became his lifetime vocation. Flowers
and garlands were to them both life-long passion. It
earned for AndAl the Tamil sobriquet
?soodi-koduttha-nAcchiyAr? (?the maiden who fashions
floral-garlands?). The same fondness earned for
Tondar-adipodi?s famous work of 45 mystic verses the
title ?tiru-maalai? (?The divine verse-garland?).
 
(d) In their respective lives both AndAl and
Tondar-adi came to represent the triumph of Spirit
over Flesh. AndAl?s way was the way of ?bridal
mysticism?. As a nubile maiden she swore her nuptial
bond would be tied to none but the Deity of SriRangam.
She succeeded and legend has it that she ultimately
merged with the Divine. What AndAl conveyed as
essential message through her TiruppAvai --- viz.
Man?s realization of ?kaama? as a "purushArtha": Bliss
in its very absolute and ideal sense as expressed in
that single magnificent expression ?maRRai nam
kaamangaL maaRRu? --- the core of that philosophical
message in Andal?s poetry found full expression and
realization in the life-story of Sri Tondar-adipOdi
AzhwAr.

It is for reasons of commonality, of the striking
similarities between them that AndAl and
Tondar-adipOdi are regarded as kindred souls --- two
of a kind, birds of the same feather, so to speak.
These two alone, to the exclusion of 10 other
colleagues of theirs in the exalted AzhwAr-pantheon,
are hence singled out to receive in tandem the special
honors and exclusive commemoration which the community
of SriVaishnava devotees bestows upon them with such
deep veneration, ceremony and fanfare during an entire
month of the Tamil calendar. 

              **************

When we reflect deeply on some of the events in the
life of Tondar-adipodi we begin to understand how the
Vedantic conquest of ?kaama? through the path of
?karma-yOga? is possible for Man. The Bhagavath-Gita
idealizes such yoga as ?nish-kAma-karma?: living life
with passionate, creative energy but bereft of
expectation of any personal reward or selfish
pleasure. 

In the final 18th Chapter of the Gita are two very
significant ?shlOkas? quoted below. If one were to
read them keeping the remarkable life-events of Sri
Tondar-adipodi in mind, they seem nearly biographical
of the AzhwAr:
  
         cetasā sarva-karmāṇi
          mayi sannyasya mat-paraḥ
         buddhi-yogam upāśritya
          mac-cittaḥ satataḿ bhava

        mac-cittaḥ sarva-durgāṇi
         mat-prasādāt tariṣyasi
        atha cet tvam ahańkārān
         na śroṣyasi vinańkṣyasi

(meaning): ?If your life?s work, whatever it is, is
offered as devotional service unto Me, you shall
surely overcome all obstacles through My grace. If,
you choose, however, to act through self-will or out
of selfish urge, and forsake Me, you will surely be
lost (?vinańkṣyasi?).

The events in the life of Tondar-adipOdi are a vivid
enactment of the above Gita verses showing how passion
for life ("kaama") when channeled into God-centered
work in the world leads Man to a state of Grace while
narrow, self-centered deeds (also "kaama") lead him
straight to Disgrace. In an autobiographical reference
to this Vedantic truth in his great Tamil work of
verse, the ?tiru-mALai?, Tondar-adipodi said it too
quite beautifully: 

?soothanaayk kaLvaNnaakith* thoorththarOdu isaintha
kaalam,*
maatharaar kayaRkaN ennum* valaiyuL pattu
azhunthuvEnai,*
pOtharE enRu sollip* punthiyil pukunthu,* thanpaal-
aatharam peruka vaiththa* azhakanoor arankam anRE?  
                                 (?tirumAali-16)
(my translation):
 
          ?There were times past 
            When as satyr, thief, 
            Sleaze an' rogue I lived;
           In the flesh of fish-eyed dames
            I reckon?d too
           Life?s true bliss too hid --               

          I knew not, it was all fatal trap.
           
           The Lord came one day then-- 
            He took my heart?s inner core;
           ?Go with Me?, He bade me then--
           Greater Bliss I?ve seen not, evermore! 

               *************

The life-events of Tondar-adipodi show us too how when
the number of desires within the human heart is
?reduced? to a Unity -- when that ideal of
?Unification of ?kaama?? is attained through acts and
deeds solely attuned to such goal -- the resultant
integrity of purpose in life enables Man to easily
secure the greatest of spiritual victories called
?purushArtha?. Sometimes in spiritual-minded circles
one will find people using the harshest invectives
against ?kaama?. To Gautama Buddha, in fact, was first
attributed the famous misquotation, ?Desire is the
root of all suffering?. It is as futile and ridiculous
to blame ?kaama? for Man?s sufferings as it might be
to blame Gravity for his inability to fly like a bird.
The life of Tondar-adipOdi reminds us that Desire, by
itself, is not suffering; well-directed,
well-conditioned desires, in fact, lead to the very
opposite of suffering. It is only when desires turn
selfish or self-centered, however, that they become
cause of real pain and suffering in life. 

Let us recount, even if only very briefly, the
extraordinary life of Sri Tondar-adipOdi.

               ***********  
             (to be continued)
Regards,
dAsan,
Sudarshan





                
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