Thiruppugazh Songs Numerical List kaiththala niRaikani - vinAyagar thudhi. If you do not see Tamil characters or for 'offline' viewing.
Sri Andal The Month of Margazhi is here, for simpler understanding it is the period approximately mid Dec to mid Jan. Introduction What does this mean for us all in 2018-19, living in cities across this wide world? We are not going to bathe in a river, wake up very very early morning, draw a Kolam (rangoli) in front of our doors and keep a nice yellow pumpkin flower stuck on a blob of cowdung (gobar) in the center of that kolam (rangoli) et al. We may not be able to do many of the physical acts (rituals?) but that is okay; but we can pray to God amidst all the hustle and bustle that our lives today are, right? The most famous thing about Margazhi is Thiruppavai. Sri Andal’s thirty verses for the thirty days of this holy month, dedicated to the worship and praise of the Lord to the exclusion of all other celebrations and earthly events. Sri Andal’s story very briefly is as follows.
Andal was discovered as a baby by her foster father Periazhwar in his garden at a town called Srivilliputhur in Tamilnadu India. Andal grew up with intense devotion to the Lord and was so fond of Lord Krishna that she pictured herself as one of the Gopikas and aspired to wed the Lord. Her father used to make a garland for the Lord everyday and take it to the temple and adorn the God. Andal used to take that garland and wear it herself and picture the scene of the Lord putting the garland on her (symbolic of the marriage) and then admire the enhancement of her beauty and glow as she wore the Lord’s garland. Legend has it that one day, like every other day she had worn the garland before her father took it to the temple.
But on that day the priest notices a strand of hair on the garland and refused to put it on the Lord saying this is not pure and that someone had already worn it. Periazhwar was totally crestfallen at this very inauspicious happening and came home dejected and scolded the child severely. In some time, the Lord appears in the mind of the priest and orders him to bring the garland back saying that is the garland that He likes, The priest and andal’s father Periazhwar, realise the true nature of Andal’s intense devotion and the appreciation of the same by the Lord and wear the garland on the Lord to everyone’s joy. Andal trying out the flower garland meant for God Andal continues to celebrate her Lord and sing his praises in many a verse and does her penance to attain him.
The Thiruppavai is one such work in which her worship manifests. Eventually the Lord one fine day comes and marries her and takes her into His fold. Let me take you through my simplistic, simplified sometimes trivialized explanation of how I understand the Thiruppavai. I claim no correctness or completeness of my understanding – my merit is that it is my interpretation (perhaps influenced partly by what I have heard or read ) written by me, my admiration for the work is sincere and my devotion to the Lord in whose name it is written is total and has no ulterior motive. The framework – before we commence the study of the 30 verses let us see the framework of the Thiruppavai. Once you understand the framework it is that much easier to understand and appreciate the work and also slowly divine the inner meanings that emerge from the rich poetry in these verses. Thiruppavai can be broadly split into three major sections with a few subsections inside them.
Section 1 ( Verses 1 – 5 )– Andal announces the intention to a perform a month long Nonbu (let’s say a project) a sustained and intense worship of the Lord Narayana manifesting in the form of Lord Krishna. This section has five verses. In these five verses the fact of the Nonbu, some details of how it is going to be done, some do s and don’t s are described in the first two stanzas and in the next three verses the glory of the Lord in whose name the Nonbu is being done is extolled to create the motivation and the energy for carrying on the Nonbu and achieve success in the project. Section 2 (Verses 6 – 15)– Any good activity is enhanced when done together by a group of like minded good people. Every project works with a good team right?
So here is Andal in section 2 collecting her team, a group of ten young girls like her to join her in her penance. Section 2 contains 10 verses. Each verse describing how Andal goes to the house of one of the girls, waking her up and imploring her to join the band. Each verse besides waking up the girl is rich in poetry describing the environment then, alluding to the Lord in His many forms and glory. Section 3 (Verses 16 -20 waking up the Lord, 21-28 His praise and Worship 29 – the Prayer 30- the blessing) – In the Sixteenth verse Andal and her friends reach the entrance to the Temple of the Lord and beseech the guard there to let them inside.
The next four verses gently wake up the Lord and his consort Nappinnai. And as the Lord wakes up, opens his Lotus Eyes and walks up majestically to the yard, the next verses sing eloquent praise of the various great qualities and victories of the Lord. More about these later as the days unfold.
Let me recall the verses in English for the benefit of those who cannot read Tamil, and then the simplified meaning of the verses and some comments. An exquisite exposition of the Thiruppavai is this, indeed. The beauty of this lies in the way it is presented to make it easy for everyone, both the informed and not so well informed, to comprehend its underlying philosophy in a pellucid manner and enjoy its structural beauty of prosody. After going through this page in it’s entirety, I am a bit curious to know in this Tamil year Dhurmukhi the Tamil month Marghazhi had just 29 days only as against 30 days as we assume a month to be normally and in such scenario what is the correct practice in concluding the ritual recitations, going by convention- whether or not to include the palasruthi pasuram of ” Vanga kadal” along with the previous and 29th “- chittran sirukale.” or adopt it as the pasuram of the 1st day of ‘thaih’ as followed in the exposition above?
The truth is one. Truth is eternal. It is beyond time and place. Bhagavatam begins and ends with the words; “May we meditate upon this truth” (Satyam Param Deemahi). Though there are great scriptures like Upanishads, Bhagavatam and Bhagavad Gita and though each one revealed in different ways, they all arrived at the same truth.
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Though they came in different versions, the underlying truth remained the same in all their works. The Upanishads say; “that which exists is ONE, sages call it by various names (Ekam Sat Vipra bahudha vadanti). Though they appeared to tread different path, they all sought to reach the same end; the liberation. Many saints like Sri Guru Dakshinamurthy, Sri Ved Vyasa, Sri Adi Sankara appeared in this holy land and brought about a spiritual awakening. They came as Guru to remove the veil of darkness and to reinstate the truth; ‘Aham Brahmasmi’ (I am Brahman).
Arunagirinathar too came in the glorious lineage of Gurus with a view to remove the darkness and elevate humanity to the realization of the divinity within. Though Arunagirinathar presented us with the ideal form of worship, the Thiruppugazh, it underlined the same truth, the Advaita Vedanta, which Adi Sankara postulated. We find glimpses of Advaita philosophy at many places in Thiruppugazh. Throughout Thiruppugazh we find the principle of oneness.
He did not find any difference between Hari and Hara. Just as Adi Sankara, Arunagirinathar also embarked on a long pilgrimage and visited temples and met saints. In the song rendered at Kasi (Dhaaranikathi), Arunagirinathar seeks the blessings of Lord Viswanatha to be able to go beyond the realm of body and mind and attain knowledge by which he would be able to experience the Muruga within. The Manisha Panchakam composed by Adi Sankara conveys the message that he who goes beyond bodily concepts like caste attains Self knowledge. We find glimpses of Advaita philosophy in many songs of Arunagirinathar. Just as Sankara’s ‘Viveka Chudamani’ paves the way for liberation from this world of illusion, Arunagirinathar’s thiruppugazh also opens the door for Jnana, the way towards ‘Amritatvam’ immortality. In Kandhar Anubhuti, he describes Muruga as Brahman, without any attribute or quality.
“Muruga has no form but he is not formless either. He is not present but he is not absent either” (Uru anru aru anru, ulathu anru ilathu anru.). In another verse, he says: “Oh Lord, my individuality having been swallowed by you, I have become one with you”, (Yaanakiya Enai Vizhungi Verum Thanai Nilai Ninrathu Tharparame Kandhar Anubuti 28). In his Swami Malai song, Arunagirinathar prays: “Grace me the knowledge that you are not different from me” (Naveru paa manatha). Here, the poet implies that the Self (Atman) that shines in one is the same that shines in others. In the song rendered at Tiruchendur (Iyalisayil.) Arunagirinathar says: “Oh Lord, open my inner eyes so that I will be able to see you within me”. In “Perutha Vasana Vakuppu’ which shines as the crowning glory of all Arunagiri’s works, he says: “The Mahavakya symbolizes the state where all thoughts that arise from mind and all actions that arise from body are controlled, where the illusory world of forms and images subside, where silence alone prevails resulting in peace and bliss.
The four Great Words of Truth (Perutha Vasanam), Tat Tvam Asi (You are That), Ayam Atma Brahma, Prajnanam Brahma, Aham Brahmasmi convey the truth that the divinity (chaitanya) within the individual is the reflection of Brahman, the eternal reality. Thus we find that basically, Arunagirinthar was an Adwaitin. He did not believe in any difference. He saw Muruga as another form of Siva and as related to Lord Vishnu. He saw all Gods having different forms as manifestation of one reality, the Brahman. He gave the message that God is not anywhere outside but within. Thiruppugazh is like Kalpaka Vriksha, (Karpagamena vinai kadithekum.Kaithala), a wish-full-filling tree which gives whatever the devotee asks for.
In fact, by reciting Thiruppugazh, a devotee gets blessed with whatever he thinks best for him. (Avar avar ichayil evai evai utrana), but that is only the first stage. From being blessed with whatever he thinks best for him, he ultimately gets blessed with what Muruga thinks best for him; to liberate him from the morass of repeated life and death. Thiuruppugazh gives him the nectar by which he does not have to come back to this world of sorrows, the nectar by which he attains immortality (Amritam Gamaya).
Having been a student of Thiruppugazh for many years, I thought that by the excuse of a book, I can learn more and hence this attempt. I have selected certain songs which dealt with the question of liberation (Mukti) and made an attempt to interpret the verses from my own limited understanding. I have done the commentary purely from the point of view of a seeker or a student. Thiruppugazh is meant to be rendered in harmony with Raga, in rhythm to thala, with full knowledge of the meaning and with full devotion (bhava). It is rare to have combination of all these qualities in one person. A devotee may not have the skill in music.
A devotee may not have the full knowledge of the meaning. How such a devotee would adopt Thiruppugazh as his means of worship?
“It is enough”, Guruji used to say “if you just listen. Prahlada, the embodiment of devotion ranks ‘Sravanam’ (listening), among the first nine ways of attaining liberation (Srimad Bhagavatam). You may not be able to sing in accordance with Raga, you may not be able to comprehend the meaning. It is enough if you lend your ears. It is enough if you attend a Thiruppugazh satsang. It is enough if you be the part of Thiruppugazh culture which kindles the spirit of devotion in your heart and elevates you to the experience of the presence of Muruga within.
Whatever little gems and pearls that we collected from this vast ocean of Thiruppugazh, we decided to share them with other devotees through the book, “Thiruppugazh, Glory to Lord Muruga”. Though this website was launched to introduce the book, it continued to survive even when all the books were sold out. It continued to be the medium to highlight the glory of Muruga through the verses of Sri Arunagirinathar. We are delighted to have you as a visitor to this website and we pray Lord Muruga to bless you not necessarily with all that your mind wishes but certainly all that your heart, the abode of Muruga, wishes. Krishnan Email: [email protected] /[email protected] Phone.