SrI: SrImathE satakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
Glories of thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr
thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr was named as vipra nArAyaNan at birth. He was born in a beautiful place called thirumaNdangudi in kumbakONam region, in the month of mArgazhi (mid-December to mid-January) on kEttai star. He has given us two dhivya prabandhams – thirumAlai and thiruppaLLiyezhuchchi. thirumAlai is highly celebrated, such that it is said, “thirumAlai aRiyAdhAr thirumAlaiyE aRiyAdhAr”, that is, those who don’t know thirumAlai prabandham cannot know thirumAl, SrIman nArAyaNan. Only very few people have sung thiruppaLLiyezhuchchi (hymns to wake up emperumAn in the dawn) for emperumAn. It is widely known that sage viSwAmithra sung thiruppaLLiyezhuchchi for perumAL, SrI rAma. Next to him, we are able to understand that, only thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr has sung thiruppaLLiyezhuchchi for periya perumAL, SrIranganAthar.
thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr has not performed mangaLASAsanams to any other perumAL other than SrIranganAthan. He only enjoyed SrIranganAthan among the many archAvathArams of perumAL. In his most important work thirumAlai, he has shown the glories of thirunAma sankIrthanam (chanting the divine names of emperumAn all the time) and has also shown how to surrender to emperumAn. Further, in this composition, he has clearly shown that one should not discriminate against devotees of emperumAn based on their birth, wealth or knowledge.
thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr vAzhi thirunAmam
maNdangudiyadhanai vAzhviththAn vAzhiyE
mArgazhiyil kEttaithanil vandhuthiththAn vAzhiyE
theNdirai sUzh arangaraiyE dheivamenRAn vAzhiyE
thirumAlai onpathanjum seppinAn vAzhiyE
paNdu thiruppaLLiyezhuchchip paththuraiththAn vAzhiyE
pAvaiyargaL kalavithanaip pazhiththa selvan vAzhiyE
thoNdu seydhu thuLapaththAl thulanginAn vAzhiyE
thoNdaradip podiyAzhwAr thuNaippadhangaL vAzhiyE
Explanation for thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr vAzhi thirunAmam
maNdangudiyadhanai vAzhviththAn vAzhiyE – Long live thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr who brought great glories and fame to the place called thirumaNdangudi by being born in that place.
mArgazhiyil kEttaithanil vandhuthiththAn vAzhiyE – emperumAn has glorified the month of mArgazhi in SrI bhagavath gIthA by saying that among the months, he is mArgazhi. Long live thoNdaraippodi AzhwAr who was born in that month of mArgazhi on kEttai star.
theNdirai sUzh arangaraiyE dheivamenRAn vAzhiyE – arangar refers to periya perumAL SrI ranganAthan. thoNdaraippodi AzhwAr has shown SrI ranganAthan as the supreme lord – para dheyvam in many of his pAsurams. For example, in thirumAlai, he says “nAttinAn dheivam engum nalladhOr aruL thannAlE kAttinAn thiruvarangam vuibavarkku vuiyum vaNNam”. Also, through the line “kaRRinam mEyththa endhai” he shows that kaNNan emperumAn is the supreme bhagavAn. Like this in many pAsurams, he firmly establishes that the archAvathAra SrI ranganAthan is the supreme bhagavAn. In this line, it is said – long live that thoNdaraippodi AzhwAr who established SrIranganAthan, the one who resides in SrIrangam, surrounded by the clear kAvEri river with many waves, as the only bhagavAn.
thirumAlai onpathanjum seppinAn vAzhiyE – thoNdaraippodi AzhwAr has merifully given a prabandham called thirumAlai which has 45 pAsurams. In this prabandham, he beautifully explains how perumAL reforms us through his beauty. Furthermore, he explained the principles of SaraNAgathi in the 38th pAsuram “mEmporuL pOga vittu”. Not only that, he also explains the devotion of adiyArs (devotees) who have done SaraNAgathi to emperumAn and explains through the 41st pAsuram “pOnagam seidha sEdam tharuvarEl punidhamanrE”, how one should respect the devotees of bhagavAn . One may be born in a lower birth or may have engaged in lowly acts before becoming an adiyAr, thoNdaraippodi AzhwAr says, after they have become devotees of bhagavAn, it is a blessing for one to eat the remnants of their food. Long live thoNdaraippodi AzhwAr who has graced us with these great 45 pAsurams.
paNdu thiruppaLLiyezhuchchip paththuraiththAn vAzhiyE – Long live thoNdaraippodi AzhwAr who composed the ten pAsurams, thiruppaLLiyezhuchchi, to wake up emperumAn from his yOganidhrA.
pAvaiyargaL kalavithanaip pazhiththa selvan vAzhiyE – In his work thirumAlai, thoNdaraippodi AzhwAr has mentioned about how one enjoys all comforts/pleasures with the help of women (if the reader is a woman, the sentence will change to “one can enjoy all comforts/pleasures with the help of men”) thinking that he is enjoying, without knowing that he is taking on himself very huge problems – “peNdirAl sugangaLuyppAn periyadhOr idumbai pUNdu”. We can also learn more about the difficulties and pain AzhwAr himself had to go through due to his attraction for a woman from his life history. Before he became to be known as thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr, he was vipra nArAyaNan, during that time, due to emperumAn’s leelA, he was attracted to a woman by name of “dhEvadhEvi”. Later, emperumAn course corrected him and engaged him in his kainkaryams again. We are able to understand from his life that later on thoNdaraippodi AzhwAr lived a dispassionate/detached life. In his prabandham thirumAlai, thoNdaraippodi AzhwAr explains in detail about how sensual pleasures cause great hindrance to spiritual advancement. SAsthram has permitted some pleasures for us in this world. But the same SAsthram has clearly shown that if we look at our real svarUpam and its relation to emperumAn, all the worldly pleasures experienced through the body are against the real svarUpam and should be avoided. In vEdhAntham, it is clearly said that for those who desire mOksham, the worldly pleasures should be given up. But for those who do not have that maturity yet, SAsthram says they can experience the worldly pleasures in a regulated manner through marriage. Once the true knowledge dawns, they themselves will realise that these are not really required and they will indulge in the experience of emperumAn at all times. Because thoNdaraippodi AzhwAr was in such an elevated state, detached from worldly pleasures, he explained the reasons for avoiding such worldly pleasures in his pAsurams. Long live that thoNdaraippodi AzhwAr who practiced such renounced life and showed us how to live such a detached life.
thoNdu seydhu thuLapaththAl thulanginAn vAzhiyE – AzhwAr created a garden, collected flowers and tulasi leaves from there, made garlands for emperumAn with those flowers and served emperumAn. He looked radiant due to this kainkaryam for perumAL. thuLabam refers to thulasi. Long live that thoNdaraippodi AzhwAr who performed pushpa kainkaryam and offered thulasi garlands to perumAL.
thoNdaradip podiyAzhwAr thuNaippadhangaL vAzhiyE – Long live the pair of glorious divine feet of thoNdaraippodi AzhwAr. Thus ends the vAzhi thirunAmam of thoNdaraippodi AzhwAr.
AzhwAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE SaraNam
adiyEn chithrA rAmAnuja dhAsi
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