thiruppAvai special

chUdikkodutha nAchiyAr ANdALs thiruppAvai the essence of vEdhAntham

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Preface
sri: srimathE rAmAnujAya nama: srimadh varavaramunayE nama: sri vAnAchala mahAmunayE nama: ANdAL, an avathAram of bhUmi pirAtti and daughter of periyAzhwAr, has blessed us with two divine prabhandhams - thiruppAvai and nAchiyAr thirumozhi. Of these, thiruppAvai is the simplest and most glorious prabhandham which reaches every where and spreads the glories of emperumAn and his adiyArs. In this series of articles, we will see the essence of thiruppAvai as presented by our pUrvAchAryas. Meditating on the lotus feet of asmadhAchAryan srImath paramahamsa ithyAdhi pattarpirAn rAmAnuja jIyar (29th pattam, vAnamAmalai mutt), adiyen is submitting this small work at the thiruvadis of Srimath paramahamsa ithyAdhi kaliyan rAmAnuja jeeyar swAmy (30th pattam, varthamAna swAmy, vAnamAmalai mutt).

adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan Email: sarathy.thothathri@gmail.com Web: http://ponnadi.blogspot.com , http://guruparamparai.wordpress.com NaNdhaNa - thai pUrattAdhi (Jan 16th, 2013)

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asmadhAchAryan

Srimath paramhamsa ithyAdhi pattarbhirAn rAmAnuja jeeyar (29th pattam, vAnamAmalai mutt)

varthmAna swAmy

Srimath paramhamsa ithyAdhi kaliyan rAmAnuja jeeyar (30th pattam, vAnamAmalai mutt) 3

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Table of Contents
thiruppAvai sAram by nAyanAr ............................................................................................................................ 5 thiruppAvai - artha panchakam ..........................................................................................................................12

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thiruppAvai sAram by nAyanAr

ANdAL is an avathAram of bhUdhEvi nAchiyAr, the divine consort of srIman nAryAyaNan. bhUdhEvai nAchiyAr appears in this world as ANdAL (also known as gOdhA dhEvi) to explain the glories of emperumAn in very simple thamizh and help the jIvAthmAs to relieve their sufferings in this samsAram and accomplish the true goal of every jIvAthamA - blemishless kainkaryam to emperumAn. She compiled two dhivya prabhandhams when she was very young. First, she sung thiruppAvai, requesting emperumAn to engage her in his kainkaryam, purely for his own pleasure. Subsequently, since emperumAn did not fulfill her request, with great sorrow out of the separation from emperumAn, she sung nAchiyAr thirumozhi and finally periya perumAL invites her to srIrangam and accepts her and she returns back to paramapadham leaving us behind these two precious gems (thiruppAvai and nAchiyAr thirumozhi).

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Many pUrvAchAryas like emperumAnAr, bhattar, periyavAchAN piLLai, piLLai lOkAchAryar, azhagiya manavALa perumAL nAyanAr, vEdhAnthAchAryar, maNavALa mAmunigaL, ponnadikkAl jIyar, etc have glorified ANdAL and her thiruppAvai through their pAsurams, sthOthrams, aidhihyams and/or vyAkyAnams. thiruppAvai is glorified by our pUrvAchAryas as follows: pAthaganGgaL thIrkkum paramanadi kAttum vEdham anaiththukkum viththAgum kOthai thamizh aiyaiNthum aiNthum aRiyAtha mAnidarai vaiyam chumappathum vambu

thiruppAvai removes our hurdles in accomplishing the ultimate goal - kainkarya prApthi for his pleasure and leads us to emperumAn's thiruvadi. It is the essence of all the vEdham. One who does not know thiruppAvai is just a burden for this earth. It is seen that, every mArgazhi month, thiruppAvai is recited, lectured, spoke about and written about every where. Right from a 3 year old child to a 90 year old elder can be seen engaged in thiruppAvai anusandhAnam. Such is its power and attraction. And all of that is because, ANdAL presented all the essence of the sAsthram in these 30 pAsurams. So, what is the essence of sAsthram? It is explained by nammAzhwAr in the simplest terms in thiruvAimozhi 4.6.8 - "vEdham vallArgaLaik konNdu vinNnNOr perumAn thiruppAdham panNi"
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( ) meaning one should take the help of the experts of sAsthram (pUrvAchAryas) and approach emperumAn through nithyasUris (periya pirAtti, etc) and serve the divine lotus feet of emperumAn. NammAzhwAr who was blessed with divine blemishless knowledge explains the essence of sAsthram in such simplest terms. If only every jIvAthmA understands this and puts it into practise, they will definitely accomplish the ultimate goal of blemishless eternal service to emperumAn. azhagiya manavALA perumAL nAyanAr who is the younger brother of piLLai lOkAchAryar, has done a wonderful elaborate vyAkyAnam for thiruppAvai. His expertise in aruLicheyal is unparallel to any one. For example, he has explained all of the rahasya thrayam (thirumanthram, dhvayam and charama slOkam) fully using the words from aruLicheyal in a beautiful prabhandham called aruLicheyal rahasyam.

ANdAL's greatness is because of the specific fact that she included everyone in bhagavath anubhavam. It is said in sAsthram that "Eka svAth na bhunjItha", one should not enjoy anything alone without sharing the same with others. This is most applicable in bhagavath vishayam. While vishayAntharam (pleasures of this material world) is privately enjoyed because of its defective nature, bhagavath vishayam on the other hand is common to all and is to be shared and enjoyed together. ANdAL showed this by her own anushtAnam to us. Following in the foot steps of his father who invited aishvaryArthis (one who is looking for wealth), kaivalyArthis (one who is looking for AthmAnubhavam) and bhagavath kainkaryArthis (one who is looking for bhagavath kainkaryam) to do mangaLAsAsanam to emperumAn in his thiruppallANdu, ANdAL also invites every one to engage in bhagavath kainkaryam. In his 6000 padi vyAkyAnam, in the avathArikai of the vangak kadal (last) pAsuram, nAyanAr beautifully summarizes the meaning of each of the first 29 pAsurams in thiruppAvai. nAyanAr's
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expertise in explaining the essence of the whole pAsuram in a single line will be greatly appreciated by true scholars. Let us now see the essence of thiruppAvai through those divine words.

In the 1st pAsuram, ANdAL is celebrating the kAlam (time - mArgazhi month, beautiful day), gOpis and gOpas who are fully dependent on kaNNan emperumAn and who help her engage in krishNAnubhavam and emperumAn himself who is shown by ANdAL as both upAyam (means) and upEyam (goal). While her primary goal is to engage in krishNAnubhavam, she performs the sankalpam (vow) to observe the nOnbu (as a secondary reason) to engage herself and all her gOpikA friends in bhagavath anubhavam. In the 2nd pAsuram, she identifies what is to be accepted and what is to be rejected while wanting to engage in bhagavath anubhavam. She clearly establishes that "mElaiyAr cheyvanagaL" ( ) meaning that which is observed by our elders (pUrvAchAryas) is the most important pramANam for us (prapannas). In the 3rd pAsuram, she desires for the well being of all the people of vrindhAvan as a consequential (secondary) benefit because they are the ones who allowed her and her friends to engage in krishNAnubhavam. The primary goal is ofcourse krishNAnubhavam for every one. In the 4th pAsuram, she orders the parjanya dhEvan (rain god) to bring in sufficient rain (3 times a month - once every 10 days - once for the brAhmANas, once for the king and once for the chaste women), so the people of vrindhAvan can be prosperous and the krishNAnubhavam can happen uninterruptedly. In the 5th pAsuram, she identifies that by constantly engaging in nAma sankIrthanam, the karmA (virtues and vices) of the past and future will be destroyed. As shown in the upanishadhs when some one surrenders to emperumAn, their previous karmA are removed like cotton being destroyed by fire and their future karmA will be removed like water does not stick to a lotus flower. It is also to be clearly understood that all the past karmA will be removed unconditionally by emperumAn. But for the future, only karmA which gets accrued out of any action that is done unintentionally are removed and any karmA which gets accumulated intentionally will have to be exhausted by reaping the fruits of the same. From the 6th pAsuram to 15th pAsuram, ANdAL goes to 10 different gOpis' (who are totally attached to kaNNan emperumAn) houses to wake them up. While going there, she brings along several other gOpis who are very eager finally go to kaNNan emperumAn's thirumALigai. In the 6th pAsuram, she wakes up a gOpi who is very new to krishNAnubhavam. This means, this gOpi is satisfied with just enjoying kaNNan emperumAn on her own - that is the initial stage - prathama parva nishtai. Once, when the underlying principle of bhAgavatha samslEsham (association) is understood, that will lead to charama parva nishtai. In the 7th pAsuram, she wakes up a gOpi who is expert in krishNAnubhavam, but still purposefully waiting inside to hear the beautiful voices of ANdAL and her friends. In the 8th pAsuram, she wakes up a gOpi who is very excited (and unable to sleep) because of her being much liked by kaNNan emperumAn. In the 9th pAsuram, she wakes up a gOpi who is very determined in emperumAn being the upAyam. She is like sIthA pirAtti who said to hanumAn "let srI rAman come and rescue me".
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In the 10th pAsuram, she wakes up a gOpi, who is very dear to kaNNan emperumAn. She is explained as a sidha sAdhana nishtar, one who has surrendered fully to emperumAn and so emperumAn likes her the most. In the 11th pAsuram, she wakes up a gOpi who is the most favourite girl of vrindhAvan (just like kaNNan himself is the most favourite boy of vrindhAvan). In this pAsuram the importance of performing one's varNAsrama duties perfectly is emphasised. In the 12th pAsuram, she wakes up a gOpi who is the sister of kaNNan emperumAn's most dear friend who does not perform any varNAsrama duties. When engaged in constant loving service to emperumAn, one may not have the time and necessity to perform their external duties. But the moment one is relieved from the devotional service to emperumAn, the other duties immediately resume and assumes importance. In the 13th pAsuram, she wakes up a gOpi who is enjoying the beauty of her eyes herself privately. eyes generally mean jnAnam - here since she has full knowledge about emperumAn, she thinks that kaNNan emperumAn will come to her automatically. Since kaNNan emperumAn is aravindha lOchanan (lotus eyed) this gOpi who has beautiful eyes is explained as a good match for him. In the 14th pAsuram, she wakes up a gOpi who commits herself to come and awake everyone else but forgets about her commitment and is still staying in. In the 15th pAsuram, she wakes up a gOpi who is waiting to behold the beautiful sight of ANdAL and all her friends arrive at her thirumALigai. In the 16th and 17th pAsurams, she wakes up the local representatives for nithya sUris viz kshEthra pAlakas (security guard for the main entrance), dhvAra pAlakas (gate keepers), Adhi sEshan, etc. In the 16th pAsuram, she goes to wake up the security guards at the main entrance and the gate keepers outside the room of nandhagOpan. In the 17th pAsuram, she wakes up nandhagOpan, yashOdA and balarAman. In the 18th, 19th and 20th pAsurams, since she could not awake kaNNan emperumAn, she realised that she is missing the purushakAram of nappinnai pirAtti. In these 3 pAsurams, ANdAL glorifies nappinnai pirAtti's greatness, intimate dealings with kaNNan emperumAn, unlimited pleasure potency, delicate nature, beautiful form, being the lovable darling of kaNNan emperumAn and finally her purushakArathvam (recommendation capability) towards emperumAn. It is explained that desiring for emperumAn ignoring pirAtti is like sUrppaNakai (who just wanted srI rAman) and desiring for pirAtti ignoring emperumAn is like rAvaNan (who just wanted sIthA pirAtti). It is identified that the 18th pAsuram, undhu madhakaliRRan pAsuram is very dear to emperumAnAr. In the 21st pAsuram, she glorifies kaNNan emperumAn's great qualities such as being born as the dear son of nandhagOpan, his parathvam (supremacy), his dhruda prAmAnyathvam (established by sAsthram that he is the supreme), etc. In the 22nd pAsuram, she informs to emperumAn that she along with her gOpi friends have no other refuge and they have come to emperumAn like vibhIshaNan who had come to take shelter of srI rAman. She also informs to emperumAn that she has given up all other attachments and only want his divine blessings. In the 23rd pAsuram, when kaNNan emperumAn feels that he made ANdAL wait for so long and asks her what she needs, she requests emperumAn to arise from his bed, walk a few steps and seat himself in his simhAsanam and then listen to her in the assembly like a lion king. In the 24th pAsuram, having seen him seated, ANdAL happily performs mangaLAsAsanam to him. Naturally, being the daughter of periyAzhwAr, her ultimate goal is to perform mangaLAsAsanam to emperumAn. Just like sIthA pirAtti, rishis of
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dhandakAraNyam, periyAzhwAr, etc., ANdAL and her friends also perform mangaLAsAsanam to emperumAn as soon as they see him walk and realised they made him walk with such tender lotus feet. In the 25th pAsuram, emperumAn asks them if they really require anything for the nOnbu and they say since they have glorified emperumAn's divine qualities all their sorrows are removed and they really only want kainkaryam to him. In the 26th pAsuram, she reveals that she needs some instruments for her nOnbu. When ANdAL previously says she does not require anything other than emperumAn, now she asks for some instruments such as his pAnchajanyam, some kainkaryaparars to do mangaLAsAsanam for him, a lamp to see his face clearly, a flag showing his presence from distance and a protective cloth which acts like an umbrella. It is explained by our AchAryas that ANdAL requires these so that krishNAnubhavam can be done fully and perfectly using these instruments. In this pAsuram, it is shown by ANdAL herself emperumAn's love towards ANdAL her friends is far greater than their love towards him. In the 27th and 28th pAsuram, prApyam (goal) and prApagam (path) are clearly established as "emperumAn only" by ANdAL. In the 27th pAsuram, emperumAn's special quality which brings both anukUlars (bhakthas who are favourable) and prathikUlars (enemies or the ones who dont accept emperumAn towards him is explained by ANdAL. She also establishes the nature of the ultimate result/goal (kainkaryam) which is sAyujya mOksham which means eternally serving emperumAn for his pleasure without interruption. In the 28th pAsuram, she explains emperumAn's nirupAdhika sambandham (eternal relationship) with all jIvAthmAs, her own incapability to do any sAdhana anushtAnam (performing anything that can be the means to attain emperumAn) and emperumAn's greatness and ability to uplift anyone on his own (without expecting anything from the jIvAthmA other than having adhvEsham like the cows of vrindhAvan). This pAsuram is one of the most important pAsurams for us - nAyanAr identifies the following 6 requirements for a sharaNAgathan: o One who is sidhOpAya nishtan (accepting emperumAn as the only path), has nothing in him to offer to emperumAn to achieve him o Because there is no qualification, they should consider ourselves very meek and lowly o Always thinking about the divine qualities of emperumAn who is the mUla sukruth (root cause of all auspiciousness) o Realizing the eternal relationship between us and emperumAn o Begging for pardon from emperumAn for our anAdhi (time immemorial) mistakes o Requesting kainkaryam from emperumAn In the 29th pAsuram, she reveals the most important principle, that kainkaryam is for the pleasure of emperumAn (not herself). She also says that, all along she took up the nOnbu as a vyAjam (a reason), out of her extreme desire to engage in krishNAnubhava. In the 30th pAsuram, since emperumAn agrees to fulfill her desire, she sings now as ANdAL herself (all the first 29 pAsurams are sung in gOpi bhAvam). She declares that any one who learns and sings these 30 pAsurams, even though they may not have the same pure bhAvam like herself, will get the same kainkarya prApthi like her. This means that by the merciful heart of ANdAL, the result will be the same for gOpis who had immense love for kaNNan emperumAn when he was present in vrindhAvan, ANdAL who manifested the same bhAvam in srIvilliputhUr and any one who subsequently learns and recites the same. bhattar identifies that "Just like a cow which lost its calf will
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still give milk seeing a fake calf (made of straw covered with the skin of the calf), even when some one recites these pAsurams (that were sung by the ones who are dear to emperumAn), we will also get the same result as them". ANdAL ends thiruppAvai with the charithram of churning the kshIrAbdhi (milk ocean) since the gOpis wanted to have kaNNan emperumAn and to get emperumAn we need pirAtti's purushakAram and emperumAn churned the milk ocean mainly for him to bring her out of the ocean and marry her. Since she is AchArya abhimAna nishtai, she finishes the prabhandham saying she is pattarpirAn kOthai. Thus, nAyanAr beautifully summarizes the whole of thiruppAvai in one big paragraph in the avathArikai - such is his scholarship. We are not qualified to talk about his scholarship but we cant help but be amazed by his intellect and when such intellect is blended with immense bhakthi towards emperumAn, the result is great bhagavath anubhavam for us. thiruppAvai is glorified so much by our pUrvAchAryas and has a very unique place in our sampradhAyam and nithya anusandhAnam. Let us pray at the lotus feet of ANdAL, so we can also develop atleast a small fraction of her love towards emperumAn and bhAgavathas.

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thiruppAvai special

thiruppAvai - artha panchakam

thiruppAvai is the essence of ubhaya vEdhAntham. When one understands the esoteric meanings of thiruppAvai properly, all the hurdles in their journey towards emperumAn is easily removed.

ANdaL - rangamannAr, srIvilliputhUr

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It is explained by piLLai lOkAchAryar in mumukshuppadi that a mumukshu (one who desires to be freed from bondage in samsAram and want to eternally serve emperumAn in paramapadham) must have proper understanding of "artha panchakam" (meaning of 5 aspects). "artha panchakam" includes:

paramAthma svarUpam (nature of supreme god), jIvAthma svarUpam (nature of individual soul), upAya svarUpam (nature of the means by which the individual soul can reach supreme god), upEya svarUpam (the activity/goal of the individual soul after reaching supreme god) and virOdhi svarUpam (the hurdles which stop the individual soul from achieving the ultimate goal).

In the first pAsuram of thiruppAvai itself, ANdAL briefly shows us artha panchakam. Here, she declares "NArAyanNanE NamakkE paRai tharuvAn" ( ) where we can understand that:

nArAyaNan is explaining the paramAthma svarUpam - Here nArAyaNa shabdham has two meanings: o His parathvam (supremacy) - that emperumAn is the AdhAram (resting place or foundation) and all jIvAthmAs are AdhEyam (that which rests on that foundation). o His saulabhyam (easy accessibility - being present everywhere) - that emperumAn is the antharyAmi (inner soul) of all the jIvAthmAs. namakku is explaining the jIvAthma svarUpam - all jIvAthmAs depend on emperumAn. With the EvakAram (namakkE) ANdAL establishes the nature of the person who is ready to surrender to emperumAn, i.e., one who declares his Akinchanyam (that he has nothing to offer), ananya gathithvam (no other refuge) and is fully surrendered to emperumAn. nArAyaNanE tharuvAn is explaining the upAya svarUpam - nArAyaNanE tharuvAn means "Only nArAyaNan will give the ultimate benediction to jIvAthmAs". paRai is explaining the upEya svarUpam - paRai means kainkaryam to emperumAn without any tinge of expectations for ourselves. virOdhi svarUpam is implicitly explained as our sva svAthanthriyam (independence) that stops emperumAn from helping us.

This is further explained by many pUrvAchAryas in their detailed vyAkyAnams.

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thiruppAvai special thiruppAvai vyAkyAna karthAs (commentators)

periyavAchAn piLLai - 3000 padi

azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr - 6000 padi

Ay jananyAchAryar - 2000 padi, 4000 padi 14

ponnadikkAl jIyar - svApadhEsam

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paramAthma svarUpam is further explained in:

"pARkadaluL paiya thuinRa paraman" ( ) - the supreme emperumAn who is lying on the milk ocean "OnGgi ulagaLaNtha uththaman" ( ) - the most elevated person who measured the 3 worlds "paRpaNAbhan" () - one who has a lotus flower in his naval from which brahmA appears "thUya peruNIr yamunaiththuRaivan" ( ) - One who lives on the banks of the pure yamunA river. "gOvindhan" - One who takes care off the cows, one who gives happiness to the cows, one who gives happiness to mother earth

jIvAthma svarUpam is further explained in the 6th to 15th pAsurams. Here it is established that jIvAthmas should always be looking for the association of srIvaishNavas and always approach emperumAn through them. Further in 16th and 17th pAsurams, it is explained that jIvAthmAs should glorify nithyasUris who are very dear to emperumAn. In 18th to 20th pAsurams, it is established that jIvAthmAs should go to emperumAn with the purushakAram of pirAtti (nappinnai nAchiyAr who is the incarnation of nILA dhEvi and is the most dear wife of krishNan in vrindhAvan). virOdhi svarUpam is further explained in the 2nd pAsuram mainly as neyyuNNOm, pAluNNOm meaning we wont accept anything other than emperumAn as enjoyable objects while we are in pursuit of bhagavAn. ANdAL also says "cheyyAthana cheyyOm" ( ) meaning we should not do/perform whatever that is not done/performed by our pUrvAchAryas. Beyond these, upAya svarUpam and upEya svarUpam are most important for us to understand. ANdAL explains these most important principles in the 28th and 29th pAsurams of thiruppAvai by talking in the bhAvam of gOpis/gOpas. periyavAchAn piLLai and nAyanAr have written beautiful vyAkyAnams (commentaries) for these pAsurams. nAyanAr's vyAkyAnam is in great detail with lots of classic explanations. Let us see the essence of these pAsurams: upAya svarUpam - kaRavaigaL pinchenRu ( ) - 28th pAsuram ANdAL establishes emperumAn is the sidha sAdhanam (established upAyam which need not be achieved by our individual efforts) in this pAsuram.

She first declares that she does not have any anvayam (involvement) in karma yOgam, jnAna yOgam and bhakthi yOgam. We have no karma yOgam since none of the requirements for karma yOgam is fulfilled by us as in: o One should follow great scholars, here we are going behind cows instead of going behind great scholars. o One should go to dhivyadhEsams, here we are going to the forest. If one thinks that even going to forests to perform thapasya can be considered as part of karma yOgam, here we are going to the forest to feed the cows. Even if feeding the cows can be

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thiruppAvai special considered as part of their varNa dharmam, we are only feeding the cows which gives milk (kaRavai) and ignoring the other ones. o Even eating has many restrictions, and we follow no such restrictions, we eat while walking, we eat with either hands and we eat without even bathing. We have no jnAna yOgam since we are part of "aRivonRum illAtha Aykkulam" ( ) meaning we have no real intelligence. As bhakthi is jnAna visEsham (an evolved state of jnAnam), since we dont even have jnAnam, there is no question of performing bhakthi yOgam. But we do have one puNyam (good fortune - virtue) - that we are feeding and nourishing bhagavAn who is the ultimate dharmam (krishNam dharmam sanAthanam - kaNNan emperumAn is the eternal religious principle). And this is not achieved by our own efforts - you have yourself voluntarily chosen to come and live amongst us. So, neither we have the external enemies (karma/jnAna/bhakthi yOgams) nor we have the internal enemy (svagatha svIkAram we ourselves approaching emperumAn and considering our effort as upAyam). Just like we have no intelligence, you also have no defects whatsoever. You are full of auspicious qualities. That too your auspicious qualities are fully manifested when you are in the form of gOvindhan amongst the gOpas. When you are amongst the nithyasUris, only your supremacy is fully manifested but when you are amongst the cow herd boys and girls, your saulabhyam (easy accessibility) is fully manifested. Not only you are full in auspicious qualities and you are the sidha sAdhanam (established upAyam which need not be achieved by an individual's effort), you also have the relationship with every jIvAthmA. You are the in-dwelling paramAthmA in every jIvAthmA and without your presence, no entity can sustain themselves. thirumanthram which is revealed by you yourself identifies the nine different relationships between the paramAthmA and jIvAthmA viz pithAputhra (father-son), rakshaka-rakshya (protector-protected), sEshi-sEsha (master-servant), bharthru-bhAryA (husband-wife), jnEya-jnAtha (known-knower), svAmi-svam (owner-owned), AdhAra-AdhEya (sustainer-sustained), AthmA-sarIra (Super soul-individual soul). Thus you have the responsibility to protect the us who are surrendered to you. Out of ignorance and love, we have sometimes called you nArAyaNA. You are here establish your simplicity as gOvindhan, but forgetting that we called you nArAyaNA. So please forgive us for that (nAyanAr explains that ANdAL is showing that we should always seek pardon for our mistakes while surrendering to emperumAn ). Because you are the ultimate upAyam and since we have Akinchanyam (nothing in our hands) and ananya gathithvam (no other refuge) and since we have vilakkAmai (not stopping emperumAn from protecting us), please give us the ultimate kainkaryam.

Thus, ANdAL establishes emperumAn's nirapEksha upAyathvam (protecting us without any expectation) in this pAsuram. It is still to be understood that Akinchanyam, ananya gathithvam and vilakkAmai are identified here as requirements for emperumAn to protect us - they are not part of upAyam but they are simply adhikAri visEshaNam (qualities of a mumukshu). These qualities differentiate the jIvAthmAs who want to surrender to emperumAn from the jIvAthmAs who dont want to surrender to emperumAn. upEya svarUpam - chiRRam chiRukAlE ( ) - 29th pAsuram ANdAL establishes that kainkaryam to emperumAn which exclusively pleases him is the ultimate goal in this pAsuram.

We have come early in the morning to surrender unto you. Early morning is compared by nAyanAr to early days of being mumukshu - this state is when we have been cleared of the ignorance but not fully developed attachment towards emperumAn since morning is explained as fully awake and knowledgable state. While you should have come to protect us (because you are the owner and we are the owned), we have ourselves come here. Just like when the dhandakAraNya rishis came to see srI rAman, 16

thiruppAvai special he became very sad that, he made them come and explain their problems in front of him, instead of himself going to them and enquire about them first. svagatha svIkAram is thus explained as some thing that will bring sadness in emperumAn's heart since that is not natural. Not only we have come, but we have also now offered our praNAmams (obeisances/worship) to you. While dhEvathAntharams (other dhEvathais) expect their worshippers to keep on worshipping them, emperumAn being svArAdhyan (easily worshippable) does not even expect his bhakthas to offer their obeisances towards him - he is most happy to just see them come towards him. Such is emperumAn's greatness - he is just like a father who becomes happy as soon as he sees his sons without expecting anything else from them. We glorified your golden lotus feet which is dear to all vaidhIhas. We are not glorifying you and your lotus feet to get anything else - our purpose is to glorify them and that itself is the process and the goal. Now you listen to us, we are going to explain what is paRai (the goal). It is not enough that you have descended to vrindhAvan, you now have to fulfill our desires. You have now voluntarily and willingly born in this clan of cow herd boys and girls. You have to engage us in confidential and appropriate kainkaryam to you. This is ordained for you - because you have now reformed us and developed utmost attachment towards you in us, you have to engage us in kainkaryam as well. When emperumAn says "I will just give you the result of the vratham (nOnbu)", they explain further that the vratham is just a reason to engage with him fully and we have not come to accept any other result than kainkaryam. She says wherever he is in - paramapadham or samsAram, she wants to be with emperumAn. Just like iLaya perumAL (lakshmaNan) went to forest with perumAL (srI rAman) and never separated from him at any cost, ANdAL also says that she always want to be with kaNNan emperumAn. She says that because he is the owner and she is the owned and the relationship is eternal, she always wants that sambandham (relationship) to visibly manifest. She finally establishes the ultimate goal that she wants to only serve emperumAn and only for his pleasure. She says she wants to serve like lakshmaNan who served him always instead of bharathAzhwAn who lived apart from him for some time. By saying "maRRai Nam kAmanGgaL mARRu" ( ) meaning remove all other desires from us, she declares that neither she want to have any pleasure on her own nor she wants emperumAn to think that she has any pleasure on her own. This same concept is explained by nAmmAzhwAr in thiruvAimozhi emmA vIdu (2.9) padhigam, "thanakkEyAga enaikkoLLumIdhE" ( ) meaning emperumAn should engage him in his service exclusively for emperumAn's pleasure.

Thus ANdAL establishes the ultimate goal in this pAsuram. Also, "maRRai Nam kAmanGgaL mARRu" ( ) is explaining virOdhi svarUpam - which is engaging in kainkaryam for our own pleasure instead of emperumAn's pleasure. Thus, we can understand the artha panchakam through the divine words of ANdAL nAchiyAr's thiruppAvai and the classic explanations given by many AchAryas who have done excellent vyAkyAnams for this dhivya prabhandham.

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