maayanai mannu vada madhurai maindhanai(th)
thooya peru neer yamunai(th) thuRaivanai
aayar kulaththinil thOnRum aNi viLakkai(th)
thaayai(k) kudal viLakkam seydha dhaamOdharanai(th)
thooyOmaay vandhu naam thoomalar thoovi(th) thozhudhu
vaayinaal paadi manaththinaal sindhikka(p)
pOya pizhaiyum pugudharuvaan ninRanavum
theeyinil thoosaagum cheppElOr embaavaay 5
(All of our sins vanish like a blade of grass thrown into fire , when we sing in praise of KrishNan and worship Him ). Him--the mysterious Lord ; the young courageous Lord born at north MathurA , the One who sports in the pure waters of the great river , YamunA ; the emerald-like shining Lamp that has risen from the race of cowherds;and the Lord DaamOdharA (the One
bound by the rope around the waist)who has brought high esteem to His mother YasOdhA (literally, who illumined the mother's womb)--Him let us approach with sincerity (purity--physical and mental); let us worship Him with fresh and fragrant flowers;let us pay our obesiance to Him;let us sing in praise of Him , by words of mouth; let us think of Him in our mind;if we do so approaching worshipping ,obeying,singing and thinking of Him alone), our sins of past , present and future will vanish like
straw put into fire.Therefore let us sing His glory.
ஸ்ரீ Velukudi Krishnan Explanation ...
(1)"MaayOnai":
Our Lord is a MaayAvi. He hinted that much in Githai: " sambhavaami aathma maayaya" .All the Maaya ChEstithams from His avathAram at Vada Mathurai to growth in Aayarpaadi, many leelais in Gokulam and BrundhAvanam ,
His serving as the charioteer for ArjunA, converting day into night in the battle field of Kuru KshEthram , taking the disc in His hand inspite of His vow not to use weapons in that war , are examples of the MaayA of the MaayOn..As the Controller, commander of this Maayai , through His sankalpa visEsham blesses the DevAs and incarnates as PadhmanAbhan in the milky ocean and later jumps out of the pillar as
Lord Narasimhan ,goes to the Yaaga saalai of Bali as Vaamanan and transforms into Thiruvikraman and now incarnates as KaNNan , the MaayOn or adhbhuth
.Our Lord stands on top of this AchArya Paramparai and is therfore MaayAthi Maayan.
ANDAL appropriately addresses Him next this MaayOn as " Mannu Vada Mathurai Mainthan".
Mannu stands for the place most desired and where the Lord krishna has blessed through His long resdence there. That place is Vada Mathurai with Bhagavath Saaniddhyam.
Mainthan means kumAran of VasudEvar and Devaki .
(2)"Thooya peru neer Yamunai":
YamunA is most sacred and pure. Infact , it is more sacred than GodhAvari , which failed to describe what it saw (Seetha Abahranam by RaavaNan) to Raama , when Rama asked Godhavari whether it had anything to say as to what had happened there.
YamunA on the other hand cleaved and let VasudEvar walk across its sandy bed , when he was transporting baby KrishNan on His head during the dark rainy night of JanmAshtami.Yamunai also had deha sambhandham with the Lord through His Jala kreedais there with Gopis Our Lord came to be called Yamunai ThuRaivan or the Lord of Yamunai for these reasons.
(3)"Aayar Kulatthinil thOnRum aNi viLakkai":
Our Lord was born in Raaja Kulam with the parents of King VasudEvA and queen
Devaki. He surfaced in the community of cowherds (AaypAdi). Lord has mentioned to ArjunA that He has had many janmams.
ANDAL does not agree. She says therfore here : "ThOnRum" instead of "PiRanthum" deliberately. "ThOnrum" means "aavirbavitthAn" /appeared instead of being born.Next , ANDAL saluted Him as " ThOnRum aNi ViLakkai" or the most beautiful , lustrous lamp that appeared amidst the aayar kulam . Another AzhwAr (KulasEkarar) has commented in a similar way about Lord Raamachandran's appearance in Soorya Kulam as a beautiful , bright lamp ( VemkathirOn kulatthiRkku Ohr aNi ViLakkAi).
(4)"ThAyai Kudal Vilakkam seytha DhAmOdharanai" :
KaNNan was caught by YasOdhA in the act of stealing butter and she wanted to punish Him by tying Him up with a rope to a mortar to keep Him stationary. YasOdhai was His mother and a Bhakthai. Hence , the Lord out of His Bhaktha paara-tanthryam permitted Himself to be bound ( KaNNinuNN SiRutthAmpinAL KattuNNupatta peru Maayan) .He is adiyavarkku yeLiyavan and therefore got Himself tied up with a DhAmam (rope) around His waist (udharam). This UdhAra Utthama Moorthy carried the welt marks(Thazhumpu) from that happening and came to be known as "DhAmOdharan". YasOdhA got all credit for managing Her "wild" son .AzhwArs described the glory of YasOdhA's role as His Mother this way :
" Ivanai peRra VayirudayAL"
"MaNi Vayiru VaaytthavaLE"
"Unnaik KaNDAr yenna nOnbhu nORRArkaLO"
This helplessness of the Lord in being tied up by a human (mother) moved Swamy NammazhwAr so much that He stayed in a state of trance for six months. Such is His MaayA (MaayOn).Even today , One can see the three welt marks on the waist of Lord RanganAtha (Moolavar) bearing witness to this incident . ParAsara Bhattar refers to these welt marks in periya PerumAL's
Udharam .It is generally accepted that the Moolavar at Srirangam is KrishNan and the Uthsavar is Raaman .
(5)"ThUyOmAi Vanthu ":
If we approach Him (DhAmOdharan) with suddhi(purity) through observance of nithya karmAs, abandoning proscribed acts (nishitthangaLai vittu), avoiding BhaagavathApachArams and knowing that SaraNAgathi done at His feet is only for attaining His grace , then we will be cleansed of all dhOshams.
(6)"ThUmalar thoovi thozhuthu , VaayinAL paadi, ManathinAl chinthikka":
Suddha pushpAnjali as at Thirumalai is Thoomalar Thoovuthal ; Among the flowers , Utthama pushpam is the one grown by one in one's own garden(nandhavanam )for the Lord like periyAzhwAr and ThoNDaradippodi); madhyama pushpam is one grown in
common ground; the adhama pushpam is one , which are collected through yaachakam from others.TuLasi Pushpa samarpanam and manthra Pushpa samarpaNam are very dear to our Lord's heart.Hence ANDAL recommends them here .After PushpAnjali, the naama sankIrthanam (VaayinAL paadi) has to be conducted.Bhagavath guna dhyAna Chinthanai (dhyAnam) follows next
(7)" ManathinAl chinthikka, pOya Pizhayum , puhu taruvAn ninRanavum theeyinil thUsAhum CHEPPU":
If we offer pushpAnjali with a suddha manas , sing the glory of His naamAs and meditate on Him , all of our accumulated sins as well as the ones accrued after prapatthi will be burnt to ashes like the bale of cotton thrown into a blazing fire.
(8) "Cheppu":
The paasuram ends with the command, "cheppu" (say).When we perform a rite (sandhyAvandhanam , Yaagam , AarAdhanam et al) ,there are deficencies such as KriyA lobham , Dhravya LObham and Niyama lObham . To overcome this deficencies , we do
prAyachittha hOmam. Even there , deficencies may occur. To banish that too , we say " Sri KrishNAnu smaraNam Param" as saathvika Thyaagam (KrishNArpanam). That KrishNa dhyAnam removes all aparAdhams and blesses one with auspiciousness. Therefore ANDAL ended the fifth Paasuram(from the first set of Sextet ) dealing with the methods to perform nOnbhu with
the word "Cheppu" to remind Her friends to utter the name of Lord KrishNA for sudhdi (KrishNAnu Smaranam param ).
Maayanai | Of the One who is the Swami of Moola Prakruthi as LeelA VibUthi Naathan |
mannu | Of the Para VaasudEva MUrthi |
Vada Mathurai
Mainthanai |
Of Sri VaikunTanAthan from whose sacred feet the nectar of bliss flows |
Thooya Peru neer
Yamunai ThuRaivanai |
Of the One , who resides at the bank of VirajA river (in Sri Vaikuntam ) |
ThAyai Kudal
ViLakkam seytha |
Of the One ,who explained the "nama: Bharga" section
of Gaayathri manthram , which is
equal in sacredness to one's own Mother during His avathAram as NaarAyaNA at BadrikAsramam to perform upaEsam for Naran |
DhAmOdharanai | Of the One , who got Himself tied up with a small rope by a cowherd woman because of the Bhakthi of that devotee |
ThUyOmAi Vanthu | if we approach that One ( BhagavAn) with purity of Vaak, Manas and KaraNams |
ThUmalar thoovi | and offer auspicious flowers (TuLasi) dear to Him (aanUpura paryantham ) |
Thozhuthu | and perform archanai with them |
vAyinAl paadi
ManathinAl Chintthika |
and control our Indriyams so that Vaak, mind and body will be fulfilled with respect to their saasthrEic functions |
pOya pizhayum | (then) all of our accumulated sins |
puhu taruvAn
ninRanavum |
(and) the ones (sins) acquired after SaraNAgathi consciously |
theeyinil thUsAhum | all of them will be destroyed like cotton thrown into the fire. |