The relationship between the Lord and the bhakta is a very complicated one. One really does not know who is manipulating whom. The Bhakta thinks that it is the Lord who loves him less and that His love is ever wavering. All the while though, it is the Lord who should be hurt and pained. But He does not for obvious reasons. He only strings the bhakta along for a ride standing by him should they fall and suffering more with every pain to the bhakta than the bhakta himself.
What I really wanted to write about was the various instances in Divya Prabhandam which made me think about this. How deeply should they have loved the Lord for them to cease thinking, even breathing to try and express their love.
Thiruppanazhwar in his amalanathipiran raptures, "seiya vaai - aiyo - en sinthai kavarnthathuve!" and yet again as "Neela meni aiyo! Nilai kondathu en ninjinaiye!
Every one knows that the Lord carries a conch. He blows it at the start of the Mahabharat. The conch is meant to blown from the mouth. Who else but the Naachiyar herself will realize and proclaim " Thirupavazha sevvai than thithuthu erukumo? - sol aazhi vensange!" (Why did not I ever think that the conch has seen the insides of His mouth? :((( )
Periazhwar who became renowned forever and has the starting honours of the Divya Prabhandam as Muthalayiram - He sings paalandu for the Emperuman Himself and worries that no one should cast an evil eye on the Lord.
Periazhwar's description of young Krishna beckoning to the moon (personifying himself as Yashoda) are beyond compare. The way He describes Krishna as "Yen siru kuttan".
Even those pasurams wherein he describes the love of the gopas and gopis of Nandagokula - "Engum arivazhindhanar Aayipadi ayare!" - They lost their senses by merely thinking of the Lord.
Swami Nammazhwar praying for eternal servitude for the Lord - "Ozhivil kallam ellam udanai manni vazhuvila adimai seiya vendum naam!!"
Thirumangai azhwar asking us to think about the Lord - when we are asleep, when we are struck by sadness - "Thunjum pothu ninaimin, thuyar varil ninaimin, thuyarileer sollinum nandram!"
Thirumangai again when he cries out " Emperuman Arullanna - Anthamil varaiyal mazhai thaduthaanai" on Thiruvallikeni Perumal
But when one thinks of Siriya Thirumadal, there seems to be nothing more pining than love of that young maiden lying in a swoon forgetting her parents, her name and why! Even herself by merely thinking about the one with the thousand names!
But then there is the Naachiyar Thirumozhi in which Thayar sings about all Her wishes to be united with Her own Lord - She dreams, she observes fasts, she sends messages, cries and pants to be with Her Lord.
I know so little about the 4000 that these are the only ones I was able to quote. How many 1000s more must there be!
But everything else is nothing compared to the Lord's own love to the bhakta as Thirumangai azhwar - "Petra thaiyinum ayina seiyum" - One who cares for His bhakta more than the mother who gave birth to him.
The love for the Lord opens the eyes of the bhakta to his follies; makes him see the maya in the world; raises aspirations in him to achieve the perfect being; reminds him of his faults and makes him forgiving and accommodating to the faults of other beings like him. It destroys his ego and makes him impervious to illness, pain, hunger, wretchedness, darkness and self pity. It elevates him to a rank above the rank of Siva and Brahma by the thought of never aspiring for those positions himself and wishing only for Saranagathi and Vaikunta Prapthi.
What can be more uplifting to the bhakta than his love for the Lord? Only the thought that the Lord loves him even more.
Monday, November 08, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Madal
I was listening to Siriya Thirumadal today and I was reminded of something that my husband had shared with me. He has had the blessing of listening to the Kalakshepams of HH the 45 Jeer of Ahobila Madam in His Poorvashramam - which refers to the period of life prior to becoming the Jeer. From when he was literally in the cradle - around one and half years of age, M has been attending the lectures with amma. HH had also given Kalakshepams in my MIL/FIL house at one point.
There are things which give a deep sense of loss in one's life. As though we have lost something - something which we may never have been aware at that point of time. For me, it has been never been to listen to MSS -though she was performing at a point of time when I realized music was divine and she was divinity herself. The next thing which I realized only after I got married - The association of great people and listening to their words - their Asirvadams which is higher and difficult to get - even than Emperuman Anugraham.
This was association with the then Villivalam swami , now the 45th Jeer of Ahobila Mutt - My Acharayan. But there was a difference in the cases. In this instance Emperuman was kind enough to give me Aacharya Sambandam. But the voice of MSS, I lost permanently. But that is a different story altogether. I cannot compare.
So back to what I started with. I was listening to Siriya Thirumadal which is from 4000 Divya prabhandam and is sung by Swami Thirumangai alwar. Thirumangai Alwar is special in many respects esp. that Thirunaraiyur Nambi, Srinivasan - The Emperuman Himself was His Acharyan. He performed Samashreyanam to the Alwar in His very Sannidhi in Thirunaraiyur - Naachiyar Kovil.
A popular epithet of the the Lord is " Azhwargal madal edukkum azhagudaiya Peruman!"
Madal refers to a set of poems where the the lover - expresses his/her love for the beloved through poems and gestures,etc. But tamil grammar has a whole different set of rules regarding madal or madal erudhal which I do not seek to elaborate.
In this set of hymns, Azhwar assumes Himself to be "Parakala nayagi", a woman who is not able to bear her love for the Lord and is totally lost to the world sunk in her love for Him -who might not even be attainable. Her parents do not know who this Man is - who has bewitched their daughter. So goes the madal.
So has Swami Nammazhwar written as Parangusa Nayagi.
But the azhwars are basically men. They are not women. So they do not realize what a woman may shy away from in public when approached by her lover. This is reflected in their hymns when they ask the Lord to come to their "imagined female form" and ask Him to show His affection for them in a very public form.
But Aandal who was a woman knew that certain displays of affection are not welcome to a woman even when she has been long separated or is pining to see her lover. So she says to the Lord in her hymns not to bother her with these public gestures which embarass her to a point unimaginable.
Swami HH had commented on this to a gathering that even though Azhwars composed madals, they truly were only imagining. Andal was the only one among them who could most realistically pine for and then enjoy His love for Her as a lady.
Adiyen has not expressed this well at all. Blame a part of it to English and most of it to me. Yet it was a eureka moment for me.
There are things which give a deep sense of loss in one's life. As though we have lost something - something which we may never have been aware at that point of time. For me, it has been never been to listen to MSS -though she was performing at a point of time when I realized music was divine and she was divinity herself. The next thing which I realized only after I got married - The association of great people and listening to their words - their Asirvadams which is higher and difficult to get - even than Emperuman Anugraham.
This was association with the then Villivalam swami , now the 45th Jeer of Ahobila Mutt - My Acharayan. But there was a difference in the cases. In this instance Emperuman was kind enough to give me Aacharya Sambandam. But the voice of MSS, I lost permanently. But that is a different story altogether. I cannot compare.
So back to what I started with. I was listening to Siriya Thirumadal which is from 4000 Divya prabhandam and is sung by Swami Thirumangai alwar. Thirumangai Alwar is special in many respects esp. that Thirunaraiyur Nambi, Srinivasan - The Emperuman Himself was His Acharyan. He performed Samashreyanam to the Alwar in His very Sannidhi in Thirunaraiyur - Naachiyar Kovil.
A popular epithet of the the Lord is " Azhwargal madal edukkum azhagudaiya Peruman!"
Madal refers to a set of poems where the the lover - expresses his/her love for the beloved through poems and gestures,etc. But tamil grammar has a whole different set of rules regarding madal or madal erudhal which I do not seek to elaborate.
In this set of hymns, Azhwar assumes Himself to be "Parakala nayagi", a woman who is not able to bear her love for the Lord and is totally lost to the world sunk in her love for Him -who might not even be attainable. Her parents do not know who this Man is - who has bewitched their daughter. So goes the madal.
So has Swami Nammazhwar written as Parangusa Nayagi.
But the azhwars are basically men. They are not women. So they do not realize what a woman may shy away from in public when approached by her lover. This is reflected in their hymns when they ask the Lord to come to their "imagined female form" and ask Him to show His affection for them in a very public form.
But Aandal who was a woman knew that certain displays of affection are not welcome to a woman even when she has been long separated or is pining to see her lover. So she says to the Lord in her hymns not to bother her with these public gestures which embarass her to a point unimaginable.
Swami HH had commented on this to a gathering that even though Azhwars composed madals, they truly were only imagining. Andal was the only one among them who could most realistically pine for and then enjoy His love for Her as a lady.
Adiyen has not expressed this well at all. Blame a part of it to English and most of it to me. Yet it was a eureka moment for me.
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