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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00121 Dec 2005

 
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Sri:
Srimathe Ramanujaya Namah:

Dearest BhAgawathas,

Today (Maargazhi kEttai Nakshathram) is the
Thirunakshathram of 
ThoNdaradippodiAzhwAr. He calls himself as thoNdar
adippodi, meaning dust at the feet of devotees (of
Emperumaan Sri Ranganathan). 

The prabhandham (verse) on ThondaradippodiAzhwAr from
Swamy Desikan?s prabhandhasaaram is:

mannumathit tirumaNdaNG gudithaan vaaza
maar_kazimaa thakkEttai naaLil vanthu
thunnupukazth thoNdaradip podiyE neemun
Ruzaaymaalaip paNiyadimai seythu naaLunN
thennaranga maNavaaLaR kanpu mikkuc
seppiyanNaR Rirumaalai naaRpath thainthum
panniyanNaR RiruppaLLi yezucci patthum
pazavadiyE NnukkaruLsey parinthu neeyE.

He is the AzhwAr who considered himself as the dust at
the feet of Bhagawathas, and called himself so.

AzhwArs are those who have immersed themselves in
Bhagavath anubhavam and bhakti towards Sriya: Pathi
Sriman Narayanan, the unsurpassed and Supreme Lord.
There is also a reference in Srimad Bhagawatham about
AzhwArs births:

kalau khalu bhavishyanthi nArAaNa parAyaNah:
kvachin kvachin mahAbhAgA drAmidEshu cha bhUrisa:
thAmaraparaNi nadhI yatra kruthamAlA payasvinI
kAvErI cha mahAbhAgA pratIcI cha mahAnadhI

(meaning: In the beginning of Kaliyuga persons
"exclusively" devoted to Sriman Narayanan and endowed
with spiritual knowledge will be born here and there
in the land of dravidas where flow the rivers
ThamaraparaNi, Kruthamala (Vaigai), Payasvini
(PaalaaRu) Cauveri, and Mahanadhi (PeriyaaRu).

NammAzhwAr, MadhurakaviAzhwAr were born in the banks
of ThamaraparaNi;
PeriyAzhwAr and AndAL close to Vaigai;
Poygai, PuthathAzhwAr and PeyAzhwAr and
ThirumazhisaiPiraan near PaalaaRu;
ThoNdaradippodiAzhwAr, ThirumangaiAzhwAr on the banks
of Cauveri.

Let us pay our obeisance to ThoNdaradippodi AzhwAr
(also called 
BhakthAngrirENu)

Thondaradippodi, also known as BhakthaangrirENu was
born in an orthodox brahmin family at ThirumaNdangudi
in Tamil Nadu. His name was vipra naaraayaNar. Right
from childhood he developed an intense devotion to
Vishnu. With a keen desire to offer divine service to
Lord Sri Ranganatha at Srirangam, he took up the pious
occupation of cultivating a flower garden and offered
daily tuLasi leaves and flowers to the Dhivya mangaLa
vigraha.


ThoNdaradippodi AzhwAr, composed two works:

1. ThiruppaLLiyezhucchi (10 verses) and 2. Thirummalai
(45 verses) Thiruppalliyezhucchi is almost a great
multimedia presentation of waking up the Lord of
Srirangam, who is having His YoganithrA; The rising
Sun, the gentle breeze, the fragrance of the flowers,
the movement of birds, the bees humming, etc are
greatly described by AzhwAr.

In Thirumaalai, the necessity to recite the Divya
naamams (divine names) of The Lord Ranaganathan to
remove the sins, and the greatest importance of
kaimkaryam to Bhagawaan and more importantly His
devotees, irrespective of their caste.

ThoNdaradippodiAzhwAr, who called himself as "the Dust
at the feet of BhAgavatALs", was born to a vEdic
brahmin by name, vEdavisArathar in Thirumandangudi in
the month of Margazhi and in kEttai nakshathram, in
the family of sOzhiya vaishNava (who had their
"kudumi"(tuft) on the top front portion and not
behind); He was an incarnation of vanamAlA (Divine
Garland of Lord MahA vishNu) and he was named
"VipranArAyaNa". He was taught Tamil, Sanskrit, vEdAs,
upanishds, etc., at an early age and he mastered them
with no effort and shone like a bright tEjasvi. He was
also well versed in writing and singing Tamil poetry
and was fully well versed in ShAstrAs. He had no pride
(vidhyA garvam) and was humble and modest to the core
and hence, he was respected by everyone in the
locality.

He became highly devoted to Sriman NarayaNa and he
took a vow to stay as a bachelor throughout his life
so that he could devote his full time and energy to
perform kainkaryam to the Lord Sriya: patih. Like
periyAzhwAr, vipranArAyaNa too was interested only in
poomAlai kainkaryam. He migrated to Srirangam (which
he was longing to visit) after his father's death) and
he made a beautiful nandhavanam with nice trees to
give shadows and cool breeze, flower creepers which
yield excellent sugandha flowers,which can be offered
to Sriman NarayaNa, like, Lotus, karunkuvaLai,
Alli(lily), Thulasi, etc., stream of water flowing in
the middle as an offshoot of CAuvEri where swans swim
gracefully, and so on and so on. It was a serene
divine atmosphere in the Nandhavanam and our
VipranarayaNa stayed there within the garden in a
small hermitage. It used to allure anybody walking
down there to visit and get a divine experience. Not
only that, our vipranArAyaNa's singing pAsurams in
praise of Arangan along with the sruthi of bees and
birds humming add beauty to the place. 

Every day our AzhwAr gets up in the wee hours, takes a
holy dip in nearby CauvEri, applies bright TirumaN
kAppu, carries out NityakarmAnushtAnangal, plucks the
flowers and ThuLasi leaves, makes beautiful garlands,
and takes them to Arangan for adorning Him. He enjoys
when archakAs place them on the Lord and he stands
stupefied by the inexplicable beauty of The Black
Emerald; He melts with tremendous amount of Bhakti
rasam generated by the sowndharyam of the Lord and
enjoys His ThirumEni which is like a big huge
mountain; Red Coral lips and mouth(PavaLacchevvAi);
Red Lotus eyes; He addresses the Lord:"Oh AchutA!
There is no enjoyment which is equal to admiring your
such beauty. Even you give me a post of Indra to rule
the Indra lOkam and enjoy that position, I still DO
NOT NEED them; I just want to serve your feet!". Such
a great AzhwAr is he! 

It is said that Vipranarayana was one day captivated
by the beauty of one lady named Deva devi, who
accidentally came to his garden. He found her charm
alluring and fell into her trap. By the grace of
Almighty, he was later rescued from the degraded life
and made to repent the grave error committed by him. 

Thereafter he dedicated himself not tonly to serve
Him; but more to His devotees as well. He sinecerely
believed that he is servant of servants of the Lord
and thus called himself as duct at the feet of
Bhaagawathas. In the last verse of
Thirupalliyezhuchhi, he prays to the Lord to wake up
and bless him to be the servant of His servants
always.  

[VaikuNta vaasi Sri Uttamoor Swami rejects this
incident in AzhwAr?s life saying that AzhwAr would not
have fallen into such a trap. It is because of
AzhwAr?s verses of Thirumaalai some verses of which
are quite strong against Buddha, jaina mathams, there
could have been false allegations against AzhwAr
spreading such concocted stories. Whatever, these are
more meant for us that for AzhwArs.. [just like the
verse below sung by the same AzhwAr] 

"OorilEn kANiyillai; uRavu maRRu oruvar illai;/
pAril nin pAtha moolam paRRilEn parama moorthee;/
kAroLi vaNNanE (en) kaNNanE! kadharuginREn;/
AruLar kaLaikaN ammA! arangamA nagaruLAnE!/"

Meaning: I have no place; no properties; no relatves;
none other than you; I know only your Lotus feet; O
Lord of Blue hued sky colour! You only are my refuge.
Can you not hear my cries? Is there any one else to
save me except you?"
    
An excellent pAsuram and how aptly it matches with our
lives! May Lord Sri RanganAthA and His AzhwAr
ThoNdaradippodiAzhwAr shower Their grace and blessings
on us, poor mortals, (running amuck after material
pursuits knowing fully well to help us get rid of this
vicious circle of samsAra sAgaram.

ThoNdaradippodiAzhwAr thiruvadigaLe saraNam
Regards
Namo Narayana
Bhakthaangri rEnu rEnu:



                
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