It is said that when Sri Rama was searching for Sri Sita, He inquired river Godavari whether she had seen Mother Sita. Out of fear for RAvanA, GOdAvari kept mum even though she was aware of the abduction of Sita by RAvanA . Thus, she had incurred a sin. She got this expiated when NAchiyar took avatAram and assumed the name of “Goda”. Such is the glory of Her name. In this penultimate post, we will sing AndAl’s glories by looking at Her VAzhi ThirunAmam and a few selected verses from gOdA Stuti.
Our beloved thAyAr had grave concerns about our intellectual capacity to comprehend the deeper meanings of rahasya mantrAs, the concept of SaranAgathi and artha panchakams. It is very difficult for most of us who are easily distracted (sanchala buddi) to learn about such profound concepts and their significance. Azhahiya MaNavALa PerumAL nayanAr has summed up in a beautiful verse the substance of what gOdhA PirAtti has taught us and what we have seen so far in the past few weeks:
etttezhutthin iNaipporuLum irandin poruLum
iyal valitthEr arucchunanakku Iraivar tammaith–
totttu vaittha maRai iruthipporuLai yellaam
tOnrum vahai PuduvairkOn Godhai
kavi paadal poruL teriyakkAttinALE
(Meaning ) : The daughter of the seer of SrivilliputthUr revealed to us through Her paasurams , the meanings of the AshtAkshari , Dvayam and the Charama slOkam given to ArjunA by our Lord ParthasAarathy. This verse also points out that gOdhA performed upadEsams for us through Her prabandams in such a way so that the profound meanings of the three Srivaishnava manthrams and artha panchakam can be easily understood (பொருள் தெரிய காட்டினாளே)
Veda pirAan Bhattar goes a step further and celebrates Her birth place Srivilliputtur in Her Vazhi ThirunAmam
“godai pirandavoor Govindan Vaazhumoor
Jodhi manimaadam thonrumoor – needhiyaal
Nalla patthar vaazhumoor naan marai Odhumoor
Villiputtur Vedakkonoor”
SrivilliputtUr is the birthplace of GodA Devi which is also the abode of Lord GovindA as VadapatrasAyI. The place has gem studded palatial mansions where the devotees of the Lord glorify Him by chanting the vedAs (நான் மறை ஓதும் ஊர்)
SwAmi Desikan in GodA Stuti, hails Her as the kalpakA creeper that satisfies the wishes of everyone. She has infinite compassion (க்ஷமாம்) with the aparAdhis who transgress the Lord’s commands. He performs prapatti at Her sacred feet by declaring that he has no other recourse except Her!
SrivishNuchittha kulanandana kalpavaleem
Srirangaraaja harichandana yoga drusyaam I
SakshAth KshamAm karuNayA KamalAmivAnyAm
GodhAm ananya saraNa: SaraNam prapathyE II
Why is she called KshamA? The following verse from gOdA Stuti amply explains it. SwAmi DesikA compares Her to a mother who nourishes and continues to feed her baby out of the great affection for it even if that baby bites the mother’s breast. With infinite compassion, She forgives all our aparAdhams.
jaathAparAdhamapi mAmAnukampya GodhE
gopthree yadhi tvamasi yukthamidham bhavathyA
vAtsalya nirbharatayA jananee kumAram
sthanyEna vardhayathi dhashta payOdharAapi
AndAl with Her limitless mercy has given us Her prabandam ThiruppAvai. This is not an ordinary literal verse. They have layers and layers of deep meanings and messages for the samsAric afflictions. They will remove all the sins that stand in the way of mOksham and show the means to reach His divine feet. Nammaazhwaar’s Srisookthis may be the essence of Vedas, Mahaabhaarata may be the fifth Vedam, But, TiruppAavai is hailed as the very seed from which the Vedas sprouted. If someone does not know these 30 (5×5+5=30) verses, they are a burden on mother earth.
paathakangal theerkkum
Paraman Adi Kaattum
Vedam anaithukkum vithu aagum
Godai tamizh aiyaindum aindhum
ariyaadha maanidarai
vaiyam sumappathum vambu
Will be concluded in the next post.
Azagiya Singer Thiruvadigale Saranam
AndAl Thiruvadigale Saranam
