Our srivaishnava sampradayam is called as EmperumAnAr darshanam not because
EmperumAnAr invented this sampradayam but our vaishnava matham is a parama
vaidhika matham that was brought to light by EmperumAnAr. Andal’s vAzhi
thirunAmam says, “perumbhoodur mAmunikku pinnAnAl vAzhiyE”. How did andal
being an azhvar become the younger sister of EmperumAnAr who took birth so many
years later? Our acharyas immediately reply that since swamy udaiyavar made
andal’s words come true by submitting 100 vessels of butter and akaravadisal as
per andal’s paasuram “maliruncholai nambikku nAn noor thadA niraintha vennai
vAi nErdhu parAvi vaiththEn nooru thadA niraintha akkAravadisal sonnEn” andal
herself accepted him to be her brother and called swamy with pleasure as “nam
kOil annano!” So even more than the other Azhvars, EmperumAnAr had a special
attraction towards andal and her prabhandams.
When we start reciting the thaniyan for Periya thirumozhi we say, “engal gadhiyE
rAmAnusa muniyE sangai keduththu Anda thava rAsa pongu pugazh mangaiyar kOn
Endra marai Ayiram anaiththum thangu manam nee enakku thA” and while reciting
thaniyans for thiruvAimozhi we say, “A-indha perunkeerthi rAmanusamunithan
vAintha malarpAdham vanangugindren AindhaperunseerAr sadagopan senthamizh
vEdham tharikkum pErAdha ullam pera”. This shows the involvement and deep
knowledge of emperumAnar in the above two prabhandhams. But we don’t find
anything about emperumAnar in the thaniyan for thiruppavai. Even while writing
sribhasyam emperumAnar is supposed to have taken guidance from azhvar’s
erachchorkal (nectarine words). Here we have to know the difference between
learning and anubhavam.
ThiruvAimozhi is the essence of sAma vedam and Periya thirumozhi is a veda
angam. No doubt that EmperumAnAr was well versed in all the vedas and veda
angas but is just learning enough? What about putting it into practice? And
that anubhavam swamy got only from thiruppAvai and hence swamy is praised by
our acharyas as “THIRUPPAVAI JEEYER”. Among the many thirunamams of swamy
this is one of the special thirunamams.
Each day when swamy started to unja vruththi, it was his practice to recite the
thiruppavai and go from one door to the other. Once he stood in front of Periya
nambigal thirumAligai (some say it as thirukkoshtiyur nambi thirumaligai) and
nambi’s daughter andal (or devaki piratti) opened the door with akshadhai and at
that very instant udaiyavar fell to the feet of andal. Perplexed by swamy’s
sudden action andal ran inside and told nambi about swamy’s action. Nambigal
immediately came outside and asked udaiyavar, “vundu madhagalitran
anubhavamO?” (Where you enjoying andal’s vundu madhagalitran paasuram?). In
this paasuram andal says, “seerAr valaiolippa vandhu thiravAi” Andal begs nappinai
piratti to come and open the door amidst the sound of the divine bangles in her
hands.
While swamy was reciting this line, andal opened the door and hence swamy
considered nambi’s daughter to be nappinai piratti and hence prostrated her.
What a deep anubhavam? And that is why swamy is praised as thiruppAvai Jeeyer.
For further anubhavam, our acharyas show places in thiruppavai which points to
EmperumAnAr.
In the very first paasuram in thiruppAvai “mArgazhi thingal” soodikkoduththa
nAchiyar sri andal praises emperumAnar as, “kadir madhiyam pOl mugaththAn”.
Swamy’s face glowed like the sun when he did sribhasya kalashepam and
established the significance of our srivaishnava sampradhayam whereas while
swamy did bhagavat vishaya kalashepam on thiruvAimozhi swamy’s thirumugam
was like a cool full moon.
In the second paasuram kOdhai nAchaiyar shows how perumbhoodhur mAmuni is
none other than the divine serpent, adishesha on which the lord reclines. The lord
Sriman nArayanan lays as an impeccable divinity, as the start and end for
everthing, the Adimoolam on top of ananthan, the divine serpent. Ananthan who is
the divine bed to emperuman, is blessed with a rekha called svasthikam and
has 12000 heads, in this kaliyuga has taken birth as Sri rAmAnuja in
sriperumbhoodhur on chittrai thiruvAdhirai. Swamy went all over the place and
spread the fame of emperuman and paved way for bhakthas to reach the holy feet
of emperuman. So nAchiyar says, “pArkadalul payyath thuyindra paraman adi pAdi”
having EmperumAnAr in her minds.
In the third paasuram, “Ongi vulagalandha” Sri andal talks about the charitable
nature of EmperumAnAr. She regards swamy rAmAnujar as a cow full of charitable
love, which sheds the milk without anyone milking it. Swamy doesn’t allow his
shisyas to just glance through any divine meanings instead he fills their mind
with deep knowledge and makes them great jnani’s. That is what anju kudi koru
sandhadhi Andal says, “kudam niraikkum vallal perum pasu”. The big cow
EmperumAnAr fills the minds and hearts of his disciples with deep knowledge and
anubhavams.
In the fourth paasuram, “Azhi mazhai kanna!” andal refers to swamy as her elder
brother. In tretha yugam adisesha became the younger brother of Sri rama,
as lakshmana. In the dvapara yugam he became the elder brother of Sri Krishna,
balarama. The same adisesha in kaliyugam is going to become the elder brother
of nAchiyar, Sri Andal in order to establish the srivaishnava sampradayam and
give the great Sribhashyam. So Andal proudly calls her brother as “Azhi
mazhaikku annA!”
In the fifth paasuram, “mAyanai mannu vadamadurai maiyindhanai” Andal proudly
declares the efficiency of swamy ethirajar to win over the mayAvAdhis. Like
Krishna who won over all his enemies through his mayai, emperumAnar won over all
the mayAvAdhis and established our sampradayam. So andal refers to swamy as
“mAyanai”. In yethiraja vimsathi, mAmunikal praises EmperumAnAr as
“mAyavAdhi bhujanga bhanga garuda: trividhya choodAmani:”
In the sixth paasuram, “pullum silambhinakAn” Pullaraiyan koil refers to
srirangam in bharatha kandam where the biggest garudan gives darshan. The great
acharya who is going to adorn the acharya peedam in srirangam, Sri rAmAnujar who
has a beautiful neck similar to the beauty of the white conch (vellai vili
sanghu) and a striking voice is going to spread the srivaishnava matham all over the world. This is what andal means while she says, “pullaraiyan kOil vellai
vilisanghin pEraravam” (The sound of the white calling conch belonging to
srirangam).
In the seventh paasuram, “keesu keesendru” Andal says “kalandhu pEsina
pEcharavam” referring to the debating talent of EmperumAnAr both in Sanskrit and
tamil. EmperumAnAr showed his vedantic knowledge to all the kudarka vAdhis and astonished them and more over explained to them how all these meanings were
flooded inside the Azhvars arulicheyalgal. This is what andal says as “kalandhu
pEsina pEchu”. This shows emperumAnAr’s ubhaya vedantha knowledge. Even
today that is why srivaishnavas well versed in Sanskrit and tamil vedas are called as
ubhaya vedanthins.
In the eighth paasuram, “keezhvAnam vellendru” Sri kOdhai nAchiyar refers to the
saddest incident in the history of kanchi devAdhirajan. Some araiyar from
srirangam will go in front of devadhirAjan and will sing and enact beautifully
some azhvar paasurams. Deva perumal who has a craze for azhvar paasuram will
get immersed in the divine anubhavam and will accept to give anything other than
him and his consorts. Immediately the araiyar will ask for EmperumAnAr and the
big tragedy will occur in the history of devaperumal. That is what andal says,
“devAdhidevanai sendru nAm sEviththAl AvAendru Araindhu aruluvAn”.
In the nineth paasuram, “thoomani mAdaththu” Andal calls EmperumAnAr to come
and save all the baddha jeevatmas from this samsAric world by bringing to light the
divine arthas which has been passed on from one acharya to other in a very safe
manner and not being allowed for everyone. EmperumAnAr will learn the same from
thirukkoshtiyur nambi after many hardships and make it known to all so that
everyone can reach the divine abode of emperuman, though he will be punished for
disobeying the orders of his acharya. That is what andal says, “manikkadhavam
thAl thiravAi” (open the doors to the divine abode)
In the tenth paasuram, “nOttru cuvargam” Sri andal adorns the divine qualities
of EmperumAnAr. EmperumanAr will spread to the world the great divine qualities
of sriman narayanan and establish the vishistAdvaita philosophy through his
sribhashyam and win over all other philosophies and show the right path to the
world. So andal praises Sri ethirajar to be “arunkalamE” (a vessel of grace).
In the eleventh paasuram, “kattru karavai” Sri andal talks about the master
genius who is going to spread bhakthi in the hearts of the people. ElaiyAzhvar
will be regarded as “panchAcharya padhAsritha”. He will learn the vedas,
vedantha, ethihasa, puranas, divya prabhandam and other strotra padams from 5
great acharyas and will spread bhakthi throughout the world. In the meantime,
ethirAjar will win over anyone who comes in his way and make them loose their
charm and fame (“chettrAr thiralazhiya”). Sri kOdhai nAchiyar praises that elaiyAzhvar as “kattru karavai kanagal pala karandhu chettrAr thiralazhiya
sendru seruch cheiyum kuttramondrillAdha kOvalar”.
In the twelfth paasuram, “kanaiththilam kattrerumai” nAchiyar talks about
ethirajar the “narchelvan” (good fortune) to his disciples. There never exists
any idol worship for any religious heads in any other religion. But in all our
temples we have the idol of Sri rAmAnuja. Sri rAmAnuja is seen in the archa
roopam as thamarugandha thirumeni (thirunArAyana puram), thAnugandha
thirumEni (sriperumbudoor), thAnAna thirumEni (Srirangam). Even after the
completion of the vibhava avatharam, swamy still remains in his archa roopam to
shower his grace on one and all. Predicting the kind nature of swamy andal praises
him as “narchelvan”.
In the thirteenth paasuram, “pullinvAi keendAnai” Andal talks proudly about the
genius who is going to pick pearls from deep inside the ocean. Ethirajar will
immerse himself in the deep ocean of vedantha, ithihasa puranas and divya
prabhandam and bring to light all the indepth rahasya arthas and give to the
world the essence of the same. Predicting the same, pattarbiran kOdhai in great
ecstasy says, “kulla kulira kudaindhu neerAdi”
In the fourteenth paasuram, “vungal puzhakkadai” Andal talks about what sort of
an acharya ethirajar is going to be. As the days pass, due to the effect of
kali people will start going towards materialistic pleasures and live an
unworthy life. At that time the birth of sri rAmAnujar will bring a dramatic
change in the world. The nastika vAdhis will loose their charm, the petals of
the flower which flourished under the name of nAstikam will wither (“Ambal
koobinakAn”). Like making Azhvars words “kaliyum kedum kandu konmin” true
the faces of the Asthika vAdhis will enlighten (“senkazhuneer vAi negizhindhu”)
due to the avatharam of ethirajar.
In the fifteenth paasuram, “ellE elankiliyE” Andal calls EmperumAnAr as elankili
(young parrot) as he repeats the words of his poorvAcharyas and follows their
divine path. EmperumAnAr’s way of sticking to poorvAcharya vyakhyanams and at
the same time giving detailed and easy interpretations of the same is
extraordinary. That is why andal admires and says “ellE” (what a wonder!)
In the sixteenth paasuram, “nAyaganAi nindra” Sri kOdhai nAchiyar regards
EmperumAnAr as the king of leaders. Sri rAmAnujar will show the path to moksha
and he himself will act as the guide for the route. About 12,000 Srivaishnavas,
thousands of ammaiyars (female disciples), 700 jeeyers will follow EmperumAnAr
and will always remain in his shadow and hence Andal clearly says, “nAyaganAi
nindra” He is going to be the head of all acharyas.
In the seventeenth paasuram, “ambaramE thanneerE” andal shows how
EmperumAnAr is going to be everything for his disciples. Swamy will be like foodand life for all his disciples. Andal calls EmperumAnAr as “ambaramE! thanneerE!
Sore!” indicating that he is going to be all three purusharthas for adiyars (dharma,
artha, kama) since Srivaishnavas never worry about their food, water or shelter
swamy will be thirumanthram, dvayam and charama slokam for Srivaishnavas.
Further indicating that adisesha who took avatharam as balarama is again going
to take another avatharam as ramanuja andal does mangalAsAsanam as
“semporkazhaladi selvA baladEvA!”.
In the eighteenth paasuram, “vundhu madhakalittran” andal talks about the
strength of EmperumAnAr. Sri rAmAnuja will gain all his strength from the
knowledge attained from his panchAcharya and will win over all the pAshandhis
and mAyAvadhis and remain with fame. That is why andal praises as “vundhu
madhakalittran OdAdha thOlvaliyan”
In the nineteenth paasuram, “kuththu vilakkeriya” andal tells about the bright
lamp of knowledge and bhakthi that is going to glow to enlighten the lives of
all the disciples. EmperumAnAr will have the four vedas as his cot’s 4 legs and
the vedantha will be his cozy bed. In the room the light which will glow will
be his works namely, vedantha saram, vedantha deepam, Sribhashyam, geetha
bhashyam, gadhyatrayam. That is what andal says, “kuththu vilakkeriya kOttukAl
kattil mEl meththendra panja sayanaththil” lies Sri ramanuja.
In the twentieth paasuram, “muppaththu moovar” Sri andal praises how Sri
rAmAnujar will remain like a fire to all his enemies. EmperumAnAr will appear
like a fire of knowledge in front of all those who have come to argue with him
and will burn all their ignorance and will make them realize the heat of fear.
Those who come opposing ramanuja will be burnt in the fire of defeat. That is
what Sri andal says, “settrArkku veppam kodukkum vimalA!”
In the twenty-first paasuram, “Ettra kalangal” Sri Andal, talks about the
greatness of the acharya who is going to be a refuge to all jeevatmas.
Ethirajar will even change the wrong attitude of his acharya, yadhava prakasa
who wrongly misinterpreted the verses in vedas. Yadhava will later become the
shisya of ethirajar. Yagna moorthi, who once opposed rAmAnuja will later
surrender to his divine feet and will be named as ‘arulAlapperumAl emperumAnAr’.
In this way, rAmAnujar will win over all those who opposed him and later they
will surrender to his divine feet and become his sath sishyas. This Sri andal
celebrates as, “mAttrAr vunakku vali tholaindhun vAsarkan AttrAdhu vun
adipaniyumApOlE”.
In the twenty-second paasuram, “angan mA nyAlaththu” Sri kOdha piratti enjoys
the calm nature of ethirajar. Ethirajar will be a master in both Sribhashya
tattvams and in bhagavat vishaya kalashepams. But while teaching the same to
his disciples he will not just show off his talents but with great mercy on the
ignorant disciples, the acharya will make the meanings clear and make it stay in
the minds of the disciple for ever. After explaining the points in a slow pace
swamy will glance at the disciples’ inorder to make sure that the point is clear
in the minds of the disciple which Sri andal celebrates as “senkan chiruchirithE
enmEl vizhiyAvO!”
In the twenty-third paasuram, “mAri malai muzhanjil” Andal regards emperumANAr
as the great lion ruling over the crown of Srivaishnavism. Ramanujar will
remain as the sleeping lion when he stayed in thirunArayanapuram, regarded as
the jnana mandapam by srivaishnavas. He will remain as the awakened energetic
lion when he stayed in bhoga (Srirangam) and pushpa (thiruppathi) mandapams and
then he will remain with great charm along with the 74 simhAsanAdhipathis which
andal praises as “seeriya singam”.
In the twenty-fourth paasuram, “andru evvulagallanthAn” Sri andal talks about
the bhashyakArar who is going to measure whole of India with his foot. Inspite
of no means of transport and lot of hindrances on the way ethirajar will go to
all the divya desams from Kashmir to kanyakumari (including vadari, salagramam
etc.,) on his foot and spread the great philosophy of vishistAdvaitam to one and
all. Andal does mangalasasanam to those divine feet well in advance as
“vulagamalthAi adi pOttri”
In the twenty-fifth paasuram, “oruththi maganAi pirandhu” andal tells about the
ethirajar who is going to get lost for a night and will be saved by the divine
couples, like attaining a new janma. Yadhava getting angry towards rAmAnujar,
talking against his interpretations will try to kill him during the ganga
yathra. Coming to know about the plan from his cousin, govindan ethirajar will
escape through the forest where he will loose his way. A hunter and his wife
(devaperumal and perundEvi thAyar in disguise) will show him the way. While
rAmAnujar goes to fetch water for the couple who are in thirst the couple will
disappear. Coming to senses, ethirajar will realize that the place where he was
standing, was kanchi and also that the couples where none other than the divine
couples and from that day will start to do theertha kainkaryam to devAdhirAjan
and perundevi thayar. Andal predicts this incident and says, “Oriravil …..
oliththu valara”
In the twenty-sixth paasuram, “mAlE! ManivannA!” puduvaiyarkOn kOdhai talks
about the great muni who holds the tridandam in his hand. Andal praises the
bright face of the great teacher, Sri rAmAnuja filled with knowledge as the
“kOla vilakku”. She calls the tridandam as the winning torch (jaya kodi).
Thereby andal does mangalasasanam to ethirajar as, “kOla vilakkE! KodiyE “
In the twenty-seventh paasuram, “koodArai vellum seer” andal predicts the
greatness of EmperumAnAr who will win over all those who were on the other side
opposing him. Not only will the lord Krishna win over anyone who opposed him
and make them his bhakthas, his greatest devotee rAmAnujar will also have the
same capacity to make everyone his adiyars.
In the twenty-eighth paasuram, “karavaigal pin sendru” andal admires the
relationship, which is going to be built between emperuman and EmperumAnAr.
Periazhvar her father, thiruvaragan, her manavalan (husband), and all the divya
desa emperumans who dissolved her in love mesmerizing her with their beauty
(thirumAliruncholai azhagar, thiruvenkatamudayAn) are going to consider udayavar as their close relative and she herself is going to enjoy calling udayavar as
her brother. This thoughts in andal’s mind is reflected behind her words,
“vunthannOdu vuravEl namakku engu vozhikka vozhiyAdhu”
In the twenty-nineth paasuram, “chittranchiru kale” andal shows the desire of
empermAnAr (adisesha avatara) in doing divine service to the lord. In
rAmAvatharam adisesha did service to ramapiran as lakshmana. In the Krishna
avathara, adisesha became the elder brother balarama and now in this kali yuga
he will take avathara as rAmAnuja to serve all the archa emperumans and hence
andal says, “vunakkE nAmAt seivOn” reflecting the mind of adisesha.
In the thirtieth paasuram, “vanga kadal kadaindha” andal says, “engum thiruvarul
petru enburuvar”. This thiruvarul is going to be granted by EmperumAnAr as he
will be the “Vishnu lOka mani mandapa mArgadhAyee” (the one who will show the
route to srivaikundam). People who are interested in attaining paramapadam as
per azhvar’s words “vaikundam puguvadu mannavar vidhiyE” may ask, “Who is the
emperuman who will grant moksha –emperuman+yAr? The answer is simple,
EmperumAnAr. Thereby sri andal all through her 30 paasurams in thiruppavai has
kept in mind the future avatharam of EmperumAnAr and reflects the prediction in
her words.
Andal thiruvadigalE sharanam
EmperumAnAr thiruvadigalE sharanam
PB Annangarachariar swamy’s anubhavams on
Thiruppavai
(Thiruppavai Jeeyer in Thiruppavai)
Translated in English by Smt. Sumithra Varadarajan
