Selected Excerpts from MahA VidvAn Sri U.Ve. PerukkAraNai Swamy ' ThiruppAvai Monograph'
 

Sixteenth Pasuram ( Nayakanaay ninRa..)

The ten girls symbolizing " the pancha- Laksham gOpis" of Gokulam are awakened now and proceed together to NandagOpan's palace to awaken the residents of that mansion. They start with the awakening of the guards at the flag-staff gate first. Here is the literal meaning of this paasuram according to Dr.V.K.N.S.Raghavan:

" Oh the guard at the entrance of the mansion of our overlord NandagOpan! Oh the guard at the flag-staff decorated with festoons ! May you please release and open the lever bolt of the bejewelled doors with bells ! (let us submit to you
that ) the Lord , Sri KrishNA --who is very charming with the color of blue-sapphire gem (maNi vaNNan) , and who is of mysterious deeds (Maayan)-- has assured us even yesterday that He would give the announcing drum ( paRai) to us ,
the young maidens of the cow-herd clan (gOpis of Gokulam ) We , who are pure in heart and soul , have come here to sing
in praise of , and awaken , the Lord.Please , Oh Mother-like compassionate guard , for the first time (munnam munnam) without refusing , kindly open the giant-like heavy doors (and grant us entry).

Upanishada BhAshyakAra Swamy sets the scene for this paasuram in the following way : " SarvA gOpakanyA udhbhOdhya
milithA: , sadhyO Nanda bhavana dhvAram aagathya , dhouvArikam yAchanthE ".( after having woken up all the gOpa KannikaikaL , and with that assembly , they arrive at the front gate of NandagOpan's mansion and appeal to the gate keepers to open the door and to let them in ) .

The awakening of the ten gOpis is Upalakshanam for awakening the gOpis of the five lak ( Pancha Laksham ) house holds of Gokulam.

The Inner Meanings of Paasuram by PerukkAraNai Swamy
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PramANam , PramEyam and PramAthA are of three kinds. Vedam ,Smruthi , PurANam , IthihAsam , dhivya prabhnadhams , Brahma soothram are PramANams. Lord Sriman NaarAyaNan in Parama padham, vyUham , Vibhavam , Archai and antharyAmi are PramEyams. AchAryAs lie Naathamuni are PramAthAs. Similarly , Rahasya- Thrayams ( The three manthrams) are PramANams; PerumAL is PramEyam;the AchAryan initiating us into these manthrams is PramAthA.

In the context of this Paasuram , " Koil KaappAnE" denotes Moola manthram; "kodit thOnRum --vaasal KaappAnE " refers to
Dhvayam; nennalE vaai nErnthAn " stands in for Charama slOkam of the Lord. The Gopis describe themselves as the ones that
have arrived with MukkaraNa suddhi ( Vaak, Manas , Kaayam) at the Lord's door . MukkaraNa Suddhi here also refers to that
they have come with paripoorNa visvAsam in the holy triad-- Manthram , Devathai and AchAryan-- forliberation from the deep
sleep of SamsAram and to gain MokshAnandham.

There are two sections to the door defended by the guards :

One door of Moola Manthram is made up of the two linked doors of

(1)"praNavam and Nama:" and
(2) NaarAyaNAya .

The two doors of Dhvayam in this connection are:

(1) Sriman NaarAyana --PrapadhyE and

(2) srimathE--Nama: These are the poorva and utthara KaanDams. The charama slOkam is also constituted by its two doors of PoorvArtham (Sarva DharmAn--SaraNam vraja and aham thvA -- maa sucha:). These twin doors of each of the three manthrams/rahsyams reveal the Lord with affection(nEsamudan)to us. Thus manthram , EmperumAn and AchAryan are
covered in this paasuram as PramANam , PramEyam and PramAthA respectively.

Inner Meanings of Padha Vaakyams
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NaayakanAi ninRa       Of the Lord , who is the Swamy for all

NandagOpanuadya        Of the Lord , who is the embodiment of  Aanndham and who protects us (the cows/ pasus) as a Cowherd

Kovil KaappOnE         Oh protector (of the gate) of the Lord's Sri Vaikuntam and who initiate us into the Moola manthram that reveals the Lord to us .Oh MahOpakAri who bless us with  the gift of AshtAksharam and its meanings!

Kodit thOnRum          Oh initiator of Dhvaya manthram that grants
ThOraNa Vaasal         us Sri Vaikuntam with festoons, thOraNams
KaappAnE !             and gates(vaasal).

MaNik Kathavam         Please perform upadEsam for us about
ThALL thiRavAi         the meanings of these manthrams , which  are like powerful doors.

Aayar siRumiyOmukku    For us without discriminating Knowledge ,the Lord who has performed
Maayan MaNivaNNan       many adhisaya- seyalkaL (many avathArams) befitting His name as MaayAvi

nennalE                  at the ocean side as Raamachandran and on the front of ArjunA's chariot as ParthasArathy has assured us
                                that He will  will protect one and all , who seek His RakshaNam

aRai paRai vaai        ( He has ) performed with joy this UpadEsam
nErnthAn                  of Charama SlOkam such a  long time ago!

Thuyilezha              singing about His mahimai to get release
paaduvAn                from the deep sleep of SamsAram

thUyOmAI vanthOm        we have arrived here with thrikaraNa  suddhi

VaayAl munna munnam       Oh Most merciful AchAryan! Please don't turn us back from our quest through
mARRAthEyammA             rigorous tests to ascertain our qualifications as proper to receive such upadesams.We are simple
                                             cowherd folks , who are standing in front of You with thrikaraNa suddhi .

nee nEsa nilai                 ( Oh AchAryAs) please initiate us into the myriad and powerful meanings of the rahasyams ,
Kathavam neekku          which are like the doors that describe the DayA Saagaran, our Lord !

Sri UtthamUr Swamy's anubhavam:
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Abhinava Desikan has correlated the awakening of the ten Gopis to the different steps constituting the Saasthram- prescribed pancha Kaala Prakriyai of a Sri Vaishnavan . Swamy Desikan in his VaishNava Dinasari following that of the nithya grantham of AchArya RaamAnujA has blessed us with a Sri Sookthi , which describes step by step the five assigned ways of dividing the day of a Sri VaishNavan. adiyEn has posted two articles in the Bahkthi list ( July 25,1999) on these five divisions of time: Abhigamanam , UpAdhAnam , Ijyai , SvAdhyAyam and Yogam . Abhinava Desikan maps this slOkam with the activities of a VaishNavan, who after UpAdhAna Kaalam performs his snAnam and gets ready to perform Ijyai (AarAdhanam).

Abhinava Desikan has also commented that the awakening of the ten Gopis to the dialog with ten Indhriyams ( Five karmEndhriyams and Five Jn~AnEndhriyams). He identifies this paasuram to that of the eleventh indhriyam : Manas; latter is the most important among Indhriyams since , it is the reason (Kaaranam) behind bondage as a SamsAri and release as a Mumukshu
( Mana yEva manushyANAm kaaraNam Bhandha-mOkshayO:). IsAvAsyOpanishad states that the Manas is like
a golden vessel , which is hidden with a shroud of ajn~Anam (Rajas and Tamas ), which prevents it (manas) from enjoying the Lord. ChEthanan's (dharma BhUtha) Jn~Anam is prevented by this aj~nam from experiencing the SaakshAthkAram of the Lord.The Upanishad prays for the removal  of the shroud of aj~nanam to reveal Mukhya Jn~Anam .

Abhinava Desikan reminds us that our hrudhaya pundarIkam as the temple of the Lord ( BrahmapurE dhaharam PundarIkam vEsma-ChAndhOgyam) . Manas protects that temple. The Upanishad establishes five dhvArams in the heart and describes their connections to the five PrANans , Five Indhriyams and the associated devathais and recommends the UpAsanai of the dhvAra-
paalakAs there for BrahmOpAsanam. This thought is associated with the identification of Manas with this Paasuram.We pray to the Lord resident at the heart lotus to intervene on our behalf and bless us as prescribed by the Upanishad.

"Maayan MaNivaNNan nennalE Vaai nErnthAn" : The moment one seeks the AchAryan's feet and receives the UpadEsam
from Him , Lord committs to protect us.

" nEsa nilaik Kathavam " :nEsam means snEham and Bhakthi.  nilai " means the one that grows without interruption.

"neeku": please remove all that stands in the way of ever growing "preethi roopApanna smruthi sandhathi"
( dhruva Smruthi /uninterrupted smaraNam of the Lord through banishment of all other vishayams that keep us tied to samsAram)

Illustrative Examples of padha Vaakhyams
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"kOil KaapAn and Vaasal KaappAn":Two kinds of gate keepers (DhvAra PaalakAs) are referred to here as SaamAnya and VisEshAdhikAris guarding the gates of the Lord's temple. Bhattar refers to the way in which one has to seek the permission of the two kinds of gate keepers ( KshEthrAdhipathi and dhvAra adhyakshAdhipathi)to enter the temple to worship the Lord in Srirangaraaja Sthavam . These (seeking the permission of the dhvAra PaalakAs) are the commands of Saasthram .

At Srirangam, Chanda-Prachandar guard the eastern temple gate; at the southern gate, Bhadra-Subhadrars preside. at the western gate, Jaya-VijayAs have guard duty. The Northern gate is protected by DhAthA-VidhAthAs. This called "TadhIya puraskaaram " before  Bhagavath Sevai . The gate keepers permit entry by "anukoolars" and turn away the "prathikoolars".Seeking permission from them is an important step to enter devAlayams .
 

Soodikkoduttha NaacchiyAr ThiruvadigaLE Saranam ,
Sarvam KrushNArpanam asthu
RaamAnuja Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SatakOpan

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