0085.Abhirami Andhadhi Slogan 83 Poem by rajagopal. h..

(Dear Readers

On 4 11 08 I completed the translation; I was thinking about the commentary part; so I stopped there; in the meanwhile, during dinner I suggested my wife that we watch the film “ Deivam “ in tamil which means “ Almighty “; its about the miracles of Murugan/Karthigeyan, the son of Siva and Parvathi; there are 6 episodes; after 2 episodes we closed; today morning I suggested my daughters and wife to watch the rest of the film as they are on holiday; they were reluctant to see without me; but in the afternoon I got a call from my wife that the same film is being telecast in Vijay TV which they watched.

When I completed the commentary I felt compelled to share this experience, which I normally do not do; if there is a strong bond between the devotee and Almighty, both of them become complimentary to each other; one says and the other does.

Then i completed the commentary taking almost 5 hours; still i feel i am in adequate in expressing myself)

To get those things Beyond Our Reach

Tamil Transliteration

Viravum pudhumalarr ittu ninn paadha viraik kamalam
Iravum pagalum iraigna vallaar imayyoar evarumm
Paravumm padhamum ayiravadhamum Bagheerathiyum
Uravum kulisamum karrpagakk kaavum vudaiyavarae

Translation

Abhirami! My Mother! Devotees who offer blooms-
So fresh, thronged by the bees for the nector,
Meditating on Thee day and night nonstop,
Shall attain the state so divine achieving post indra-
The post venerated by those who never flick the eyelids,
Bestowed with the gifts Airavatham, the heavenly Ganges,
Vajrayudham the backbone missile, the weapon invincible
And the oasis of karpaga, the wish fulfilling tree!

Simple Meaning:

Those who offer fragrant flowers at the feet of Abhirami meditating on Her feet incessantly, will be gifted with the post of Indra who is worshipped by all heaven dwellers (by virtue of his being the default leader to them) along with Airavatham, the white elephant, the heavenly ganges, the vajrayudham, a weapon made of backbone and the oasis comprising of Karpaga tree.


Commentary


Indra who is the supreme god of the world above, has no requirements; but still he is given all the things listed above; Karpaga tree itself can give him whatever he asks; over and above that he is given the elephant which can fly to any place he wishes, Vajrayudham the weapon which makes Indra invincible, the genges which never goes dry;

What is the purpose? What is the message given by Abhirami Bhattar?

To understand Bhattar, we need to know what Moksha means..
In the state of Moksha or Mukti, lies ultimate peace (Shanti) , ultimate knowledge (Videh) , and ultimate enlightenment (Kaivalya) . Paradise (Swarga) is believed to be a place of temporal attractions to be avoided by the seeker in order to pursue the ultimate goal of yoking up with God through Yoga. In fact, even acquiring intermediate spiritual powers (Siddhis) is to be avoided as they can turn out to be stumbling blocks in the path towards ultimate liberation, Mukti.
In Hinduism, atma-jnana (self-realization) is the key to obtaining Moksha. The Hindu is one who practices one or more forms of Yoga - Bhakti, Karma, Jnana, Raja, knowing that God is unlimited and exists in many different forms, both personal and impersonal.
There are believed to be four Yogas (disciplines) or margas (paths) for the attainment of Moksha. These are: working for the Supreme (Karma Yoga) , realizing the Supreme (Jnana Yoga) , meditating on the Supreme (Raja Yoga) and serving the Supreme in loving devotion (Bhakti Yoga) . Different schools of Hinduism place varying emphasis on one path or other, some of the most famous being the tantric and yogic practices developed in Hinduism. Today, the two major schools of thought are Advaita Vedanta and Bhakti branches.
1. Bhakti sees God as the most worshippable object of love, for example, a personified monotheistic conception of Shiva or Vishnu or Sakthi.Unlike Abrahamic traditions, Smartha Hinduism does not prevent worship of other aspects of God, as they are all seen as rays from a single source. The concept is essentially of devotional service in love, since the ideal nature of being is seen as that of harmony, euphony, its manifest essence being love. By immersing oneself in the love of God, one's Karmas (good or bad, regardless) slough off, one's illusions about beings decay and 'truth' is soon known and lived. Both the worshiped and worshiper gradually loose their illusory sense of separation and only One beyond all names remains.
2. Vedanta finds itself split threefold, though the dualist and modified non-dualist schools are primarily associated with the foregoing thought of Bhakti. The most famous today is Advaita Vedanta, a non-dual (i.e. no separation between the individual and reality/God/etc.) perspective which often played the role of Hindu foil to contemporary Buddhist philosophy. In general, it focused on intense meditation and moral realignment, its bedrock being the Upanishads, Brahma Sutras and the teachings of its putative founder, Adi Shankara. Through discernment of the real and the unreal, as a peeling of the layers of an onion, the sadhak (practitioner) would unravel the maya (illusion) of being and the cosmos to find nothing within, a nothingness which was paradoxically being, and transcendentally beyond both such inadequate descriptions. This was Moksha, this was atman and Brahman realized as the substance and void of existential duality. The impersonalist schools of Hinduism also worship various deities, but with the idea that such worship is ultimately abandoned - both the worshiped and worshiper lose their individual identities.
One must achieve Moksha on his or her own under the guidance of a Guru. A Guru or a Siddha inspires but does not intervene.
Lets see something about my favourite personality Nammaalvaar.
He must have been born fully enlightened because as a baby he never cried or suckled and never opened his eyes. According to tradition, as a child he responded to no external stimuli and his parents left him at the feet of the statue of Vishnu. The child then got up and climbed into a hole in a tamarind, sat in the lotus position, and began to meditate. It appears he was in this state for as long as sixteen years when a Tamil poet and scholar in North India named Madhurakavi Alvar saw a bright light shining to the south, and followed it until he reached Nammalvar's tree. Unable to elict any reaction from the child, he asked him a riddle: ' If the small is born in a dead's body(or stomach) , what will it eat and where will it stay? ' meaning, if the subtle soul is embodied in the gross body, what are its actions and thoughts? Nammalvar broke his lifelong silence and responded, 'That it will eat, and there it will rest! ' meaning that if the soul identifies with the body, it will be the body but if it merges with the divine, it will stay in vaikunta and eat(think) of God. Madhura-kavi realized the holiness of this child yogi
He also writes that he does not want the other world like the one suggested by Bhattar;
“ ich chuvai thavira yaan poai indira loagam aalum, achchuvai perinum vaendaen aranga, a nagarullalae”
its only to divert the devotee from the main object, that is Abhirami.
But the assurance is that whoever is at the feet of my Mother Abhirami are guaranteed of all the facilities possible in the cosmos.

5 11 08