Pasuram 9: Tūmaṇi Māḍattu

Ma-Mayan

When a feeling of hopelessness surrounds you or when you feel that you are stuck in loop of performing  Karma, gyana and bakthi yoga it means that you have not performed Prapathi (Saranagathi). 

Prapathi does not mean that you can stop your nithya karma, whereas, it means you now start trusting that the nithya karma is performed  by his grace. 

When Indran started punishing the village of  Nanda for performing the offering to Govardana hill instead of him, the whole village came to the lotus feet of Sri Krishna. Sri Krishna was a kid but the whole village blindly believed that only Krishna can help. So Sri Krishna lifted the Govardana hill with his little finger so that the whole village can take shelter. Now think about it, how big he must have grown  in order to lift the hill and how small he should be to stand under he hill along with the villagers. So he goes out of his way, out of the definition of laws of nature to protect the saranagathan hence  Andal attributes him with term Ma-Mayan.  Following are the four key quality of Saranagathan.

1. Does not talk bad about anybody.
2. Does not hear anything bad about anybody.
3. State of understanding that everything is happening due to Bhagavath Sankalpam.
4. Always understand the Ananya Sheshatwam, Ananya Bogyathwam and Anaya Sharanthwam towards paramathma.

Bhakthi Upayam

We have seen  the word "Bhakthi Upayam" in the previous pasuram. One may be asking, if the ultimate aim is to get mukthi,  should we be talking about "Mukthi Upayam"? What will happen to me, once I attain Mukthi?  Once I attain Mukthi, what will I be doing?

As we have seen from the earlier explanations, the first step towards attaining Moksha is Srimannarayana's blessings. This means he will conduct a test to see if  Jeeva is ready for it. Or,  It would be more apt to say, Paramathma does not need this to find out if  Jeeva is ready to attain mukthi, as he resides inside the Jeeva annd with Sankalpa-shakthi, he will be able to determine if the Jeeva is ready for it (In lighter terms, no application or recommendation required) . If there is no application required, what is the importance of the steps to attain paramathma described in the 8th pasuram?

There are quite a few outstanding questions , let us try to  answer them all with following explanation.

Last pasuram's explanation mentions 6 steps to attain perfection in Upasanam and the word rehabilitation (not of mind but of the soul) was mentioned. Means that you are training to change your lifestyle to perform kainkaryam to Srimannarayana. Now just think, if you perform Bhakthi and saranagathi for the sake of attaining moksha, this means that you are assuming that your journey towards bakthi ends there. Whereas, if you perform your Bhakthi and Prapathi as kainkaryam, you are going to continue this after Moksham. Once a jeeva attains Moksham,  jeeva is relieved from bondage of sharira(body), samasara(bond of relations), the balance sheet of karma and rebirth and attains the permanent state of bliss. Once the jeeva crosses the Viraja river, it attains muktah state and there is no need or way to return back to Baddha state. So once  Jeeva attains Mukta state,  Jeeva continues to perform Kainkaryam to Srimannnarayana without hindrance as Satyam , Manam & Vaakku are unaffected by the act of Karma . 


Maman Magal:

In this paasuram Andal wakes up the fourth kind of Bhaagavath who has  full knowledge about the self and has performed Saranagathi towards Srimannarayana.  Andal with her company comes to the door of her maman magal (uncle's daughter) who was sleeping on the beautifully decorated bed with lights on, means she is in yoga nidra(State of being connected to god and still be awake).  She asks her Mami(Aunt) to wake her up. by mentioning the verse "umaiyō? anṛic ceviḍo? anantalō? |ēmap perunduyil mandira pāttāḷō" she refers to the 4 quality mentioned above. Bhagavathas will choose to remain dumb when there is a chance to complain or speak bad about about any one, will choose to be deaf when some one complains or talks bad  about some one, will choose to have yoga nidra to understand that everything is happening because of bhagavat sankalpam and bounded by the manthra "Oum Namo Narayana". She invies her to join the satsangam by singing sahasranama for mā māyan( refers one who can perform miracle to save bhaagavatas), Mādhavan  (easily  accessible by one and all) and Vaikuntan ( the Ultimate aim to reach).

Saranagathi is a very important step here. Once on Phanguni Uthiram, Lord Sriman Narayana appeared in front of Bhagavat Ramanuja praising the amount of Kainkaryam he has done. Lord Srimannarayana granted Moksham to Bhagavat Ramanuja. Bhagavat Ramanuja requested  that he should also give moksham to his sambandhi(reffered by term Ramanuja Dasan) and  the Lord agreed. So by performing your Samashrayanam and sarangathi, you are already in the list. Have you performed the Bhakthi, Prapathi and Samashrayanam from your acharya yet?

Thiruppavai - Pasuram 9

தமிழ்

தூமணி மாடத்துச் சுற்றும் விளக்கெரிய
     தூபம் கமழ துயில் அணை மேல் கண் வளரும்
மாமான் மகளே! மணிக்கதவம் தாள் திறவாய்!
     மாமீர்! அவளை எழுப்பீரோ? உம் மகள் தான்
ஊமையோ அன்றிச் செவிடோ அனந்தலோ
     ஏமப் பெருந்துயில் மந்திரப்பட்டாளோ?
மாமாயன் மாதவன் வைகுந்தன் என்றென்று
     நாமம் பலவும் நவின்று ஏல் ஓர் எம்பாவாய்.

English Text

tūmaṇi māḍattuc cuṛṛum viḷakkeriya |
 dhūpam kamazha tuyil aṇaimēl kaṇvalarum |
māmān mahaḷe! maṇi kadavam tāḷ tiṛavāy |
 māmīr! avaḷai yezhuppīrō?  un mahaḷ tān |
umaiyō? anṛic ceviḍo? anantalō? |
 ēmap perunduyil mandira pāttāḷō? |
mā māyan mādhavan vaikuntan ennennu |
 nāmam palavum navinnēlōr empāvāy ||