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

Twenty fifth Pasuram ( oruththi mahanaay..)

 Lord KrishNA's avathAra rahasyam is being celebrated here. He is "ajAyamAno BahudhA  vijAyathE" ( He manifests Himself in many forms  although He has no birth ). "Devaki mahanAi piRanthu , YasOdhai mahanAi " vaLarnthAn .Swamy NammAzhwAr addresses Him as "piRantha MaayA " ( A master-trickster taking  birth in this world as one of us )in a ThiruvAimozhi paauram.

The avathAra rahasyam of this MaayAvi is hinted in another of Swamy NammAzhwAr's ThiruvAimozhi:" piRanthavARum vaLarnthavARum " ( How You were born ,How You grew up  and what miracles You wrought --when I reflect on that ,
my soul melts).You were born in Vada Mathurai as the son of  Devaki and grew up in Gokulam as the son of YasOdhai.
Devaki did penance to have You (SarvEsvaran) born as her  son and got her wish fulfilled.The Lord moved to Gokulam on
the head of His father, VasudEvan on the same dark night of  JanmAshtami ( his birth thithi: ashtami )and grew up as
the son of YasOdhai. The heart-broken Devaki cried out  over missing the enjoyment of seeing her son grow up
and perform all those miraculous deeds elsewhere , far far away from her:" ThiruvilEn onRum peRRilEn ,  yellam dhaiva nangai YasOdhai peRRALE " ( I do not have  any auspicousness, I have not attained any soubhAgyam . All of those auspiciousness has been attained by  the divine woman ,YasOdhai ). Thus complains Devaki .

In Her ThiruppAvai Paasuram , ANDAL does not mention explicitly the name of Devaki or YasOdhai , but refers to  both of them as "oruthi". Here "Oruthti " is a respectful  reverence to the matchless ones (adhvidhyALs) , who had the Bhaagyam of giving birth to Him and raising Him . SampradhAyam suggests that we do not call the great ones by their given names , but refer to them by their place of birth or vamsam (e.g: ThirukkOttiyUr nampi ,Vangipuratthu Aacchi et al)Following this sampradhAyam , MaNavALa Maamuni refers to Swamy Desikan as "Ubhayukthar " ( The great One).  In this traditional way , ANDAL refers to both Devaki and  YasOdhai respectfully as "Orutthi" .He was born to one (orutthi) and was raised by the other (orutthi).

That sarvasaktha-EmperumAn hid all His glories and power and grew up in Gokulam ( oLitthu VaLara). He was defenitely not hiding from Kamsan , while  growing up at Gokulam. Because of His aasritha- VyAmOham ( deep attachment to His beloved
devotees ), He chose to grow up in Gokulam. ANDAL reminds us of these tatthuvams with the first two lines  of this Paasuram: " Orutthi mahanAi piRanthu , Oriravil Orutthi mahanAi oLitthu vaLara ".By choosing the word , "Oriravil", ANDAL reminds us that the dark night of  His birth is the same rainy night , when the waters of  YamunA receded to let Him enter Gokuam to take residence ( "piRantha nadu nisiyum , puhuntha nadu nisiyum onRE") in Gokulam .

AchAryAs are said to be born in Gayathri and to grow up in AshtAkshari ; they are also said to be born in  Thrumanthiram and grow up in Dhvayam . This AchAryan , who is JagadAchAryan revealing His avathAra rahasyam  was born to One and grew up with another.This JagadhAchAryan talks about those noble souls , who comprehend His avathAra rahasyam in the tenth chapter of His GithOpanishad:

yO maam ajamanAdhim cha vEtthi lOkamahEsvaram
asammUDa: sa marthyEshu sarva paapai: pramuchyathE
--Githai: 10.3

(Meaning): "He who knows Me as unborn and without  a beginning and the greatest Lord of the worlds--he  among mortals is undeluded and is released from every sin".

yEthAm vibhUthim yOgam cha mama yO vEtthi tatthvatha:
sOavikampEna yOgEna yujyathE naathra samsaya:
--Githai: 10.7

(Meaning):" He who in truth knows this supernal mainfestation and splendour of auspicious attributes  of Mine , becomes , united with the unshakable YogA of Bhakthi . Of this , there is no doubt".

As UttamAdhikAris , the Gopis knew of this Bhakthi/Prapatthi route to the Lord and declared in His presence " Unnai  arutthitthu vanthOm , parai taruthiyAhil , Thiruttakka  selvamum sEvakamum yaamm paadi , vaarutthamum theernthu MahizhvOm "( We have woken up all the gOpis and we have come in a state of great purity to You seeking the greatest of purushArthams .If You would grant us the boons sought by us , we will sing about the great and matching wealth of You and Your PirAtti and engage in sEvaka vruthti to You both and be rid of all of our dukkhams and attain bliss (BrahmAnandham). "uRREn uhanthu paNi seythu unn paadham peRREn " is  One AzhvAr's Sri Sookthi ( adiyEn became dear to You and  joyfully performed kaimkaryam for You and attained  the parama bhAgyam of Your sacred feet). The Gopis  say in this context : " Thirutthakka Selvamum ,
sEvakamum yaam paadi , varutthamum  theernthu mahizhvOm".

Lord KrishNa talks about those born to divine destiny (dhaivI sampadhi )and the others born  to demonic destiny (aasuri bhUthA:).The Gopis are the dearest to Him since they have dhaivI sampadhi. The Lord resides in their Hrudh puNDarIkams
with great vaathsalyam . Kamsan and his ilk are the aasuri (demonic) type and the lord stays  inside their stomach as huge  fire
( Kanjan  karutthai pizhaipitthu vayiRRil neruppu yenna ninRa NedumAlE) to destroy them.Gopis arrive  at the Lord's feet with prArthanA-poorvaka  vijy~Apanam and are rewarded . Kamsan and his ilk  approach with arrogance , pride and conceit and
are destroyed like the firefly entering a blaze. Upanishad BhAshyakArar describes the Lord  staying as fire in the belly of Kamsan and  and as the cool beloved One in the minds of  His devotees this way : " Kamsasya JaDarE anala samAnatayA sTithavAn , aasritha vishayE dheerga vyAmOha-saalin".

The Gopis say: " unnai aruthtitthu vanthOm " .We have come to Your court not to receive  the PaRai (VrathOpakaraNams) but to get You  as our boon . The wealth of parai that we seek  is the supreme wealth of Bhagavath-BhAgavatha- AchArya Kaimkaryams.

The inner meaning here according to Abhinava Desikan  is that the gOpis pray to the Lord to perform His  Baahya AarAdhanam (external aarAdhanam) well. In the earlier paasurams , they had invoked  the presence of the Lord (aavAhanam) for AarAdhanam, started with anthar-yaj~nam and eulogized next His  Svaroopa-Roopa-guna-gaNa -Aayudhams  in " anrivuulaham
aLanthAi adip poRRI).Here, they pray for blesings to perform His BaahyArAdhanam to His satisfaction .

PerukkAraNai Swami's svApadesams
*********************************
Oruriavil          = In this dark samsAric world

oruthti mahanAi    = being born as the son of Gayathri
piRanthu orutthi     and growing up (puthalvanAhi) as
mahanAi vaLarnthu    as the son of Moola Manthram

oLitthu vaLara     = and staying engaged in thoughts
                     about the Supreme One and discarding
                     all perishable pleasures (siRRinbhams)

tarikkilAnAhi      = (we ) who can not bear with
                      the SamsAric tApams

thaann ninaintha   = thinking about our current and
                     previous (sins)

theenku karutthai  =  thinking about Your ways to quell
pizhaippitthu         the power of those paapams and
                      their phalans

kanjan              = thinking about the fierce nature
                      of these sins being destroyed
                      in those with demonic nature

vayiRRil neruppenna = and thinking about You standing
ninRa NedumALE !      majestically like the JaadarAgni in
                      their stomach to destroy them .
                      Oh Taapa thraya samanArthi ! Oh Bhagavan!

unnai arutthitthu   = We have arrived at Your side seeking
VanthOm               Moksham.

Parai taruthiyAhil  = If You are pleased to grant us Moksham

Thirut takka        = we will do Saama GhAnam about Your heroic
selvamum yaamm        deeds and sing about the glories of You ,
paadi sevahamum       the wealth of Your PirAtti ( PirAttikku
yaamm paadi           anugunamAna varam EmperumAn yennum nidhi)

varuttham           = and will be rid of the sorrows of
theernthu             samsAram and be immersed in paripoorna
mahizhnthu            BrahmAnandham.

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

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