Tiruppavai (1) Margazhi Thingal

மார்கழித் திங்கள் மதிநிறைந்த நன்னாளால்;

நீராடப் போதுவீர்! போதுமினோ, நேரிழையீர்!

சீர்மல்கும் ஆய்ப்பாடிச் செல்வச் சிறுமீர்காள்!

கூர்வேல் கொடுந்தொழிலன் நந்தகோபன் குமரன்,

ஏரார்ந்த கண்ணி யசோதை இளஞ்சிங்கம்,

கார்மேனிச் செங்கண் கதிர்மதியம் போல்முகத்தான்

நாராயணனே, நமக்கே பறைதருவான்,

பாரோர் புகழப் படிந்தேலோ ரெம்பாவாய்.

maargazhi(th) thingaL madhi niRaindha nannaaLaal

neeraada(p) pOdhuveer pOdhuminO nErizhaiyeer

seer malgum aayppaadi(ch) chelva(ch) chiRumeergaaL

koorvEl kodundhozhilan nandhagOpan kumaran

Eraarndha kaNNi yasOdhai iLam singam

kaar mEni cengaN kadhir madhiyam pOl mugaththaan

naaraayaNanE namakkE paRai tharuvaan

paarOr pugazha(p) padindhElOr empaavaay..!!!

Meaning:

Oh the well ornamented maidens!

desirous of taking the bath (in the YamunA)
on this full moonday of MARGALIplease JOIN.
Oh the prosperous young girls of
AaypAdi (Gokulam) that is rich and grand
(in beauty and wealth)!
Lord NaarAyana will surely yield to us alone
the drum (paRai).
He is the son of King NandagOpa,
(KrishNa), the young lion-cub of YasOdhA
with very charming eyes.
He (Lord NaarAyaNa) has a dark cloud-like
divine complexion, (lotus like) reddish eyes
and (lustrous) face (shining) like the
bright Sun and Moon.

(This Lord Narayana alone is the Savior).
(Let us) resort (to Him) is performing the
Paavai-Nonbhu and get the benefit of praise
from the people of the world.
(Oh dear friend, may you recite and learn this)-
know the purport of this hymn}.




Broader View:

Month of Marghazhi (Dec/Jan) is the most celebrated month of the year. In Bhagavad
Gita verse 10.35, Krishna says, "Of the hymns in Sama Veda (I am) Brhatsama; of

mantras, I am Gayatri; of months (I am) Margazhi (Dec-Jan); of all seasons, I am

flower-bearer (spring-vasantha).

Month of Margazhi is the month of hope for the young girls who
pray to Manmatha (Cupid) to obtain good husbands, rain and prosperity. Bhagavatam
speaks of Katyayani Vratam. Katyayani Vratam: It is a custom and vow among the
unmarried cowherd girls to worship goddess Katyayani (Durga) on the banks of
Yamuna after bathing in the river. Each one beseeches Durga that she gets Krishna as
her husband. While they are bathing in the River, Krishna steals their garments and
stays perched on the Kadamba tree on the bank. When they find out that their clothes
were stolen, they ask him to give them back their clothes. Krishna points to them that they committed an infraction against the Devatas by bathing in the river naked. (Waters
of the rivers and lakes are sacred and should not be contaminated.) To atone their sins,
they have to come out and get their clothes from him, which they do. He promises them
that he would be the husband for each one of them. Thus He is One and many are his
forms. Andal (She who rules--over the heart of Narayana) received advice to perform
this ritual to marry Krishna. The refrain ஏலோ ரெ ம்பாவாய்(El or empaavaay; (or
r hymes with oar) El = listen. empaavaai = Em + paavaavai = my lass. There are many
other meanings given by learned pundits.

Maragazhi is for the young girls to observe Nonbu (Penance, religious austerity)

which dictates an early morning bath before the sunrise. Narayana gives them the

fulfillment of their desires. This verse touches on the goal and the means to attain

fulfillment of their desires which eventually lead to Bliss and merger with the Lord. This is surrender and Bliss; this is finality (Saranam).

neeraada(p) pOdhuveer : Shall we go to bathe; who is willing to go, O
jeweled maidens. Commentators say that water-play or ritual bathing means in this

context that the cowherd girls should immerse themselves in BhagavAn's lake of

auspicious qualities: JnAna, Bala, aisvarya, Virya, sakti, Tejas (Spiritual wisdom, strength,

Supreme Powers, valor, Sakti, Splendor). This immersion in Bhagavan is a guaranteed panacea

for all mental, physical and spiritual ills. This immersion is Saranagati and means becoming a
Prapannan, unconditional surrenderer to Bhagavan, the SarvAtmA, BhuthAtmA, SuddhAtmA,
EkAthmA, AnEkAtmA (Soul of all, Atma of all Bhutas--matter, Pure Soul, One Atma,
many souls). This immersion helps the Prapannan to get a little bit of the auspicious
qualities of the Lord.

In Bhagavad Gita (18.66), Bhagavan says, "Abandoning all duties, surrender unto Me
only. I shall deliver you from all sins. Do not lament."

sarva dharmAn parityajya mAm ekam saranam vraja |

aham tvAm sarva pApebhyo moksayisyAmi mA sucah ||

The critical statement of Bhagavan is, "Surrender to me Only." Once this is done there is no more trembling fear of sins. Liberation is at hand; there is no need to worry.

This is one of the most celebrated statements of Krishna and the final Sarama

Slokam meaning that it is the verse that teaches the meaning of attaining final bliss.

Saranam = finality, the end. It is the Maha Mantra of Krishna. What it means is that a devotee can give up daily injunctions of the nature of Yagnas, difficult to pursue in Kali Yuga. What a devotee can attain in terms of benefits by Yagnas can be obtained just by uttering His sacred names by way of Sahasranamam.(Even For Sahasranamam Lord Siva has given a shortcut for us:

 sri rAma rAma rAmeti rame rAme manorame
    sahasra nAma tat tulyam rAma nAma varAnane
(As stated by Lord Siva to PArvati - if you just chant the name "RAma", it
is equivalent to chanting the 1000 names of Sri MahA Vishnu")

Abandoning all daily duties means NOT giving up Sandyavandanam (and Matyanikam--
Rites performed by the twice-born daily at noon-- but (giving up performance of)
Yagnas (Sacrificial worship). Uttering the names of Bhagavan gives three kinds of
benefits: Dhrista Balam, Adhrista Balam, and Dhrishtadhrishta Balam.

Dhrishta Balam is the benefit open for all to see.

Adhrishta Balam is the benefit derived by the devotee from Bhagavan with His invisible hand.

Dhrishtadhrishta Balam is a combination of the previous two.

Surrender to the Lord has its own advantages. Saranagata Raksa is surrender-
protection and God is Saranagata Raksakan (Surrender-protector = protector of the
surrenderer). When a king surrenders to an emperor, the latter accepts the surrender, forgives and forgets all enmity and animosities of the surrendering king and offers him protection from other enemies. If you go to Bhagavan with all sincerity, devotion and love and surrender to him, he forgives all your sins and gives you Moksa.

Going to Moksa is attaining Paramapadam (salvation as highest bliss; also means his feet; his retinue in milk ocean). Paramapadam means living close to Vishnu lying on Adhi Sesa in the milk ocean with his conch, discus, club, bow and lotus, and attended by his Bhagavatas including Sri, Bhu, Neela, Garuda, Gandharva, Kimpurusa.

Bhagavan points the easy way to reach Him. What Bhakti, Jnana, Raja, Karma

Yogas can obtain for a devotee is attainable (with one-pointed devotion) for a

Prapannan who surrenders himself to Bhagavan, who confers Paramapadam to

Prapannan. 

 During Pralaya, Bhagavan is portrayed to be floating on a banyan leaf. How is it possible for a Being who has
swallowed the whole universe to float on a leaf? That quality is what is called
Akaditakatanaa Saamarthiyam (versatile doer of the impossible). It appears that the leaf supports Bhagavan. Is it the leaf that supports Bhagavan? Is it Bhagavan who supports the leaf? It is the latter supporting the former.

He is the one who supports all the weight of the universe and the leaf itself. Akaditam = The impossible. Saamarthiyam =adeptness.

Learned pundits consider bathing is just not for physical and ritual external purity alone. The bathing Pond is Bhagavan's Satchitananda (Being, Consciousness and Bliss); To bathe in the pond is to immerse in the Bliss of Bhagavan. That tells us the ayarpadi girls have obtained Saranagata Raksa from Krishna. Wealth here refers to the spiritual wealth.

Andal performs the bath rituals, invites the girls as if they were the Gopis of Ayarpadi

with Sri Villiputtur as the Gokulam, Vatapatrasayee Temple as Nandagopan's palace,

and Vatapatra Saye perumal as Krishna

The Ayarpadi girls were in the past the Gopis who are born again to serve Krishna.

Thus Aandal invites all of us to bath in Bhakthi ocean along with her, Let us join with her by reciting the following paasuram, through youtube :)

Nandhagopan Kumaran Alankaram @ Kannadi arai Aandal ,Paramapadha nadha Sannidhi,Srirengam.

Here you can see koor vel konda Nandhagopan,Yashoda and Cows are delighted by Karmeni Krishnan Birth..

Karmeni kannan,thotilil :)

Tiruppavai-Intro

வேதம் அனைத்துக்கும் வித்தாகும் கோதை தமிழ்
ஐயைந்தும் ஐந்தும் அறியாத மானிடரை
வையம் சுமப்பது வம்பு.
"
vEdam anaittukkum vittAkum kOdai tamizh"

"Kodai thamizh aiyandu aindhayum (5*5 +5)
Ariyada Manidarai Vaiyyam Sumapathu Vambu"

Bhattar says that Tiruppavai includes summary of all Vedas. Those who does'nt know this 30 Pasurams bhoomi piratti is carrying them as a burden.

So I would like to add here, please recite  this Kodai Tamizh to get blessings of Lord Narayana and Lakshmi.

"Sanga thamizh maalai muppadum thappame, ingu parai uraipava, enrum Thiruvarul Petru Inpuruvar" (Last line of 30th Vanga kadal pasuram)

I am embedding pics and videos of Tiruppavai from various site, along with its meaning.I hope all Srirangam vasis would know very well about Paramapatha perumal sannidhi's Kannadi arai aandal Dhina alankara. I am including pics of  Aandal during Margazhi and Aadi with Dhina Alankaram .If anybody does nt visit this during that time,please look into this blog.

Please visit daily and recite Aandal's Paasuram.

Aandal Thiruvadigale Saranam !

NITHYA ANUSANDANAM - Dhaniyan 1

NITHYA ANUSANDANAM

Nithya Anusandanam is a set of Pasurams from Dhivya Prabhandam, which a Srivaishnava have to recite daily.I would like to share the meaning of it daily along with Pasurams.

First We look into Dhaniyan, What is Dhaniyan? Why to recite Dhaniyan?

Each generation expresses its devotion and gratitude to  its acharya in a unique composition called a dhaniyan 

Whenever you start reciting Slokas,Pasurams,Upanyasam start it with this PODHU DHANIYAN. Also you have to recite your Acharyar Dhaniyan. It is insisted because reaching lord through your Acharyar is great. Adiyen Belongs to Anandhazvar Acharya Thirumaligai.

An Acharya dispels the darkness of the mind and enlightens us with knowledge. There is no way in which the sishyas can repay the Acharyan for his great help .Even  the God canot describe the right way to repay his acharyan for this great help.

The only way sishyas can do is to meditate on his acharyas glories and praise him. All these attempts of eulogizing their acharya Will never compensate , for the abundant help that they received from their acharya Tanian represents .Our involvement ,our sincerity, our duty, and our respect towards our Acharya. Acharyas are many  and Tanians are also many. 

Depending upon the Acharya Parampara, tanians will also differ.There may be two tanians for the same Acharya depending upon their vaibhavam.A tanian may be small or big but have the same respect.The greatness of the Tanian can really be understood only by the those, who have  Acharya sambandham .It is essential one should learn and recite the Tanian of his Acharya everyday and be blessed.

Please Listen to the above video, its SANDHAI murai of Dhaniyan.

So here we start from the 1st Dhaniyan of Manavala Mamunigal, given by Lord Renganathar (Azhagiya Manavalan)

SrisailEsa dayApatram dhIbhaktyAdi gunArnavam

yatIndra pravanam vandE ramyajAmAtaram munim.

SrisailEsa dayapatram – SrisailEsa Lord Srinivasa = 'a'. dayApAtram - one who is bestowed with His kripa = jIva = 'ma'. So 'ma' is the servant of 'a'. SrisailEsa would actually mean tiruvoimozhi pillai. Even in this case acharya is none other the Lord himself "sAkshAt nArAyanO deva:...". So he can also be denoted by 'a'

dhIbhaktyAdi gunArnavam - wisdom and devotion. In our sampradAya - jnAna would in fact mean seshatva jnAna only. Devotion would also come to a servant only. So both these denote seshatvam.

yatIndra pravanam - Who is a yatIndra ? one who unites the jIvatma with the paramAtma with his upadesa = a bhagavata or an acharya. pravanam - servitude to a bhagavata or an acharya. A person is acclaimed as a servant to the Lord only if he is a servant to a bhagavata. bhagavatseshatvam is fulfilled only if he is a bhAgavata sesha. This is the inner meaning of om. So this also connotes seshatvam.

ramyajAmAtaram munim - ramyajAmAta = azhagiya manavalan = ranganatha  = 'a'. muni = one who meditates (mananam karoti iti muni:)= jIva = 'ma'. So one who always thinks about ranganatha as his Lord is His sesha.  This phrase also denotes seshatvam

Since all the four parts of SrisailEsa mantram explains the meaning of Om , this is praised as a mantram.

SrisailEsa mantram is not only equal to tirumantram. In fact it excels. tirumantram is a rahasya. But since it is a part of veda - any one who has the right to chant veda can chant tirumantram. He may be a karma or jnAna or bhakti yogi. Hence in the true sense it is not a rahasya. But is that the case with SrisailEsa mantra ? No. Only  prapannAs chant this. So this truly is the rahasya. Moreover the Lord first propounded tirumantram. Realising its limitations, later on brought out SrisailEsa mantram in his anushtanam.

After all these, will anyone have a doubt that SrisailEsa dayapatram is THE MANTRAM. Let us all chant on the greatness of Manavala Mamaunigal - acharya of the prathamacharya.

SriVaishnava

Namaskaram !

Adiyen Sri Ramanuja Dasan.

It is my humble attempt to jot down all that I have heard and read about Sri VaishNavam. Though it is nothing new what all Acharyas and Upanyaskars have already discussed, it is still my sincere intent to reach the beginners and novices like me who are just in Kinder gardens of Sri VaishNavam;Initially I would like to share meaning of Nithyanusandanam (Paasurams to recite daily) and Daily a  dhivya Namam stotram from Vishnu Sahasranamam . I refer from different sites and Sloka books, will mention the source also. I also welcome srivaishnava's comments and articles.

 I hereby start my first post about who is SRIVAISHNAVAN.

A SriVaishnava is one who exudes sympathy, compassion and mercy is a Vaishnava. Whoever stops, to render whatever help is possible to one in suffering is a SriVaishnava .Whoever surrenders, to the Lotus Feet of Lord Maha Vishnu and is occupied with the thoughts of others' welfare and does good deeds to others, such a person is a SriVaishnava.

The term SriVaishnava as describing a person is not restricted to any particular caste or race. He (or she) is a Vishnu Bhakta, who lives for the welfare of the world beyond race and religion.

Quoted by: Srimad Azhagiyasingar of Ahobila Mutt (45th Jeer)

The word "Iyengar" is a relatively new name and was not used in any medieval works or scriptures. The word "Sri Vaishnava" would therefore be the right word to describe them, though all of them could be called as Sri Vaishnava Brahmins.The word Iyengar is derived from Ayya a Prakrit version of the Sanskrit word Arya along with the Telugu honorific plural suffix garu. Some others believe that the word "Iyengar" means one who is characterized by five attributes(Aindu angangal).

Lester, Robert C.claims that the word “Ayyangaar” was first used by Kandhaadai Ramanuja Ayyangaar of Tirupathi around 1450 AD.

Broader View:

1. A Srivaishnava thinks of himself as a servant of God (Sriman Narayana)

and of His votaries only and not as either independent, self-esteemed or

servant to any other.

2. He avoids the company of persons in pursuit of worldly pleasures.

3. He considers any votary of God (Sriman Narayana) as his own relative.

4. He always regards worshipful images of God (of Sriman Narayana and

his incarnations) as his father and of Goddess Lakshmi (and Her

incarnations) as his mother.

5. He welcomes his preceptor with as much warmth and liking as a hungry

person welcomes appeasing food.

6. If he is a preceptor, he welcomes his disciple as being most cherishable.

7. A Srivaishnava is helpful to others, free from haughtiness, greed and

avoids the praise of unwonted persons.

8. He tries to gain the twenty good characteristics mentioned in the

Bhagavad Gita (13th Chapter, verses 7 to 11 as well as 16th chapter verses

1-3) and prays for getting it by the merciful dispensation of God through

his preceptor.

9. A Srivaishnava desires not to prolong life in the mortal body, and prays

for spiritual welfare only.

10. He contemplates intently on the suffering inherent in worldly

enjoyments.

11. Cares for his physical body and material situation for the satisfaction of

Sriman Narayana only, knowing that it is His (God's) property.

12. He considers all the ills and mishaps and experiences as due to his own

previous deeds; but he considers his benefits as due to the merciful

dispensation of God towards him.

13. He is convinced and confirmed in his belief that he could not get

liberation from suffering by his own actions but by the grace of God

only.

14. He tries to live near places of worship of God in the Archa (Image) form

or near the acharya.

15. He wishes ardently for uninterrupted and everlasting contact with God

and dislikes any other pleasure.

So these are all essential qualities of SRIVAISHNAVA. As mentioned above its not particular Caste/race. Those who are all follow  above and pray Lord Vishnu are considered as real Vaishnavite.