And Now The Perfect Ending For The Perfect Love Story!

Sriniketan,
Take your own time. If I have time I'd give the explanation.Have already posted the paasuram here.
regards,

Originally Posted by Sriniketan

Sridhar,
Nice to know the explanation for that pasuram...I was a little bit busy today..I got hold of this computer only now...
I will be back tomorrow with the next paasuram...i went through all today...but to understand the meaning...I had to wait till tomorrow..
I think in this next one...Azhwar describes about Thirumal's kandam ... the throat...

sriniketan

Dear Kamla,
You are most welcome. Your joining us will increase the strength by a clear third and our moral support by 100%.
All of us are learning here. I will have to thank Sriniketan for initiating this discussion and for driving me to the reference books.
And Lalitha for her active, encouraging and interesting participation.
Whenever you have time just go through the posts and replies and should you require anything please do let us know.
love,

Originally Posted by Kamla

O wow!

Dear Sridhar, Lalitha and Sriniketan,

I didn't know that you three were carrying this thread forward and you have been discussing, teaching and learning Pasurams etc. Just goes to show how big IL has become and how varied its themes are.
Well, this sure has been my loss.
But, it is too late now...I shall look into your discussions when I have some real good time for myself and take the full pleasure of it.
Thanks to all of you and especially Sridhar:)

L, Kamla

Dear Lalitha,
thanks for coming in again. You are right. We don't know how many births are still left in our account. Be it one or one billion. We care a damn for it. As Manikkavasagar said,
Puzhuvai pirakkinum punniya unnadi en manathe vazhuvathirukkum varam thara vendum.
In our Hindu Religion especially in the Vaishnava tradition, the devotees hold a higer position even than God. God would tolerate the bad people hurling abuses against Him; but he wont let them do anything against His devotees.

Our prayer should be something like this:
"Oh my dear loving Lord, if I am to be born as a worm, let it be.
But please, my Lord and master, grant me this only boon.
That I should be crushed to death while I am crawling in your temple
By the lotus feet of those who come to you with real love!

And if I am good enough for that boon, O Lord
Let me take a hundred million births as an earthly worm
And crushed a hundred million times by the feet
Of those who come to you with love.

I want no more than this, My Lord!
I want no more than this, My Lord!"

Love,

Originally Posted by lalitha shivaguru

Dear Sridhar,

Saw your post yesterday but just could not come to give a fb due to work pressure. Hence today first thing I came here to give my

It was a beautiful narration..... without total surrender to HIM, his grace will not be there fully on us. The azwar had surrendered to him so he became a slave. When all our thoughts and actions are unto him, maybe with his grace we can try to be his slave but ethanai janam endru yarukku theriyum......... avan illamal naam illai. Andha karunai kadaldhan anugruhikka vendum.

Waiting for more !

Dear Sridhar,

The prayer is toooooooooooo good.I just bow down to HIM and thank you from my heart for all this. No other words come dear.

Dear Sriniketan, Lalitha and Kamla
(This is the advantage of having a small class; can call each one of you by your first name.)
Seeing the Lord's neck the Azhwar is first reminded of His greatness. The moment he seeks the Lord's neck he is reminded of Lord Shiva. For was it not Shiva who is famous as Thiruneelakandan. For Shiva drank the Alahaala Visham, something, a hundred times more powerful than cyanide, so that Devas could taste the nectar of immortality.
Shiva once was hit by a curse and the myth says that it was Vishnu who removed it. That's why Azhwar says thunda ven piraiyaan(one who has a piece of moon over him) thuyar theerthavan (one who removed his misery).
And here lies the problem, the discordant note between Saivites and Vaishnavites. I am tempted to think that the Saiva-Vaishnava controversy is far more acrimonious than Hindu-Muslim controversy or Hindu-Christian one. Shiva, Vishnu, Ganesh, Parasakthi are all different forms of the same God who is nothing but love.
I would love to quote an example here. You see, my wife loves me with my mush. (One who is without a mush is not a man at all is her theory) My Dad wants me to be clean-shaven. A writer friend told me that she'd like to see with a beard as well. Another friend of mine wants me to shave my head off.
Now in my absence if my wife, Dad, writer friend and the other friend meet in a place and discuss.
"Clean-shaver sridhar is simply awful. Sridhar with mush is my favourite." - my wife would start the argument.
"You are absolutely wrong. Anyday clean-shaven sridhar has my vote. Sridhar with mush is ugly. You don't know,Indhu."
"Both of you are silly" would say,my writer friend. "Sridhar with a mush and a beard would be great. You two do not know the truth. Nor do you know sridhar well."
"All of you are idiots" chimes in my friend and continues,"have you ever seen him with nothing on his head?"
"Whenever he talks to me I strongy suspect that there is nothing inside his head. Oh, you are talking about his hair, you silly.... "my wife.

How silly these people would look to you. There is only one sridhar and these people want to see him in different hair-styles and appearances.
The same is the case with the Shiva-Vishnu debate, Jesus-Allah debate or whatever.
The Vedas foresaw this and roared for all us to hear.
"Ekham sath. vipra bahudha vadhanthi"
"Truth is one. Learned people say that in different ways."

Will post the next part of the meaning of this paasuram shortly.
love,

Dear Sridhar,

This was really an apt example........... Whatever be the name, form but all unite to form one. Then why do we mortals fight that shiva is great or vishnu is great, i will chip in as our Lady is great. this shows our foolishness and we are binded by petty things and so engrossed in that, we forget to see the Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient. If all were to follow the path of LOVE, can you imagine how the world will be?

Atleast let me forget the world and start with myself and in this journey of Love, I seek His blessings and grace.

hi sridhar sir,
had been reading the paasurams and catching up with your explanations for the past two or three days...
definitely the understanding becomes much easier when it is broken down and explained like this...
thanks for taking the pains to do this inspite of your busy schedules...
i loved the mara prabhu anecdote...how true...he is the mara prabhu, amara prabhu, he is the jagath prabhu...
thanks for the udhara bandhanam explanation...the next time i'll look carefully for the rope marks ...
i was reading the fifth and sixth paasurams for the past two days...
i was'nt clear about "Vaaramaakki" - thanks for explaning that...so the same word (Vaaram) means both slave (as in God-devotee relationship) as well as bejewelled...?

The Alwar says, “ My Lord snapped the thread that
linked me to my past (பாரமாய பழவினைப் பற்றறுத்து) Thus he
unburdened me of my past karma of a million births. Not only did he do that, but also made me His slave. (தன் வாரமாக்கி)
How can I ever hope to describe his Love. Not only that he entered my heart to live there for ever.

its very true when you say that only He can sever us from the bondage of Karma...our actions only result in accumulation of more Karma, both good and bad...
Andal's lines pouring out her unwavering love are simply beautiful....

Did not Aandal say,
எற்றைக்கும் ஏழேழ் பிறவிக்கும் உன்தன்னோடு
உற்றாமேயாவோம் உனக்கே நாம் ஆட்செய்வோம்

and yes, dosen't Andal emphatically state more than once about her surrender, now and forever.... "இம்மைக்கும் ஏழேழ் பிறவிக்கும் பற்றாவான்... "
so, when we make Him as our only 'patru', i guess He automatically frees us from every other....

coming to the sixth, i could guess that " thunda ven pirayan " means Shiva, and was wondering if there was any story behind "thuyar theerthavan"...
Azhwar says "mutrum unda kandam"... i guess its because He showed the entire universe inside His mouth...?
i'll wait for the next part of your explanations...
hmmm, its sad that most do not realise that the Truth is one, and we are merely fighting over forms....
i am reminded of Bharathiyaar's words, echoing exactly the same statement of the Vedas...

"...பலவகையாகப் பரவிடும் பரம்பொருள் ஒன்றே,
அதன் இயல் ஒளியுறும் அறிவாம்..."

RAvanan with ten heads is same as (=)ten
(patthu)inthiriyangal which pulls the jeevAthma.

Sridhar,
with your permission, I like to add one more to your explanation to Lalitha for the Ten-headed Ravana..in that context...

The above-said explanation I found on the net in relation to her question..

sriniketan

srini maam,
thanks for surfing the net and giving us this explanation...

Originally Posted by Sriniketan

RAvanan with ten heads is same as (=)ten
(patthu)inthiriyangal which pulls the jeevAthma.

Sridhar,
with your permission, I like to add one more to your explanation to Lalitha for the Ten-headed Ravana..in that context...

The above-said explanation I found on the net in relation to her question..

sriniketan

Hi sowpar,
welcome once again to the world of devotion,Azhwars and the Lord of love. Only after reading your detailed post do all of us here (Sriniketan, Lalitha, Kamla and I) feel what we have been missing all along.

Thanks for the nice words and thanks for the explanation.

எற்றைக்கும் ஏழேழ் பிறவிக்கும் உன்தன்னோடு
உற்றாமேயாவோம் உனக்கே நாம் ஆட்செய்வோம்

I am happy you quoted the above lines from my post. And Sowpar, Andal bowls us over with the next line in the same paasuram.
மற்றை நம் காமங்கள் மாற்று
The great devotee, the only Azhwar from the fair sex, Lord's Consort, Andal says, that it is possible that we have other desires. (other than being his slave). And oh God, only you have to change them.
We are used to asking God for fulfilment of our desires. But Andal's prayer is for changing her desires so that she can love Him for all time to come.
What a devotion!
Thanks once again, Sowpar.
love,