Tiruppavai 10

 25-12-25 | Utsav , Bhagavatha , Tulasi Priyam , Gopika , Tiruppavai , Guru and Devotee , Vishnu

Next Andal wakes up another devotee of the topmost order, immersed in devotion to Krishna (the Azhwars). 

“O’ dear sakhi!  You’ve got absolute confidence in completing the austerities (kanya vrata) and attaining heaven! (Here heaven means union with the Lord - not Indra’s heaven, where our senses wander - looking for worldly pleasures.)  

“You sleep like Kumbhakarna, not answering our efforts  to wake you up. Has he ceded his wealth of sleep to you? The righteous Rama made him leap to death.

“Oh, wait!  Are you already clinging to his feet in total surrender?  There’s a divine fragrance of Tulasi leaves wafting from inside!!   

 

“O’ great devotee!  You’re a gem of a character and the most precious ornament in our group. Please come out and lead us in singing paeans of Narayana, adorning the fragrant Tulasi* garland on His head.” 

——————— 

*Among flowers, Tulasi is considered the most sacred. Tulasi emerged from the great churning of the ksheersagar. 

Tiruppavai 09

 24-12-25 | Bhagavatha , Gopika , Tiruppavai , Guru and Devotee

Andal next wakes up her cousin. (Supportive of the spiritual quest to serve Krishna and his devotees). 

The cousin is sleeping in a mansion of defect-free gems (a treasure which is a wealth of wisdom of our scriptures — the vedas). She is peacefully asleep, with a certainty of reaching Krishna.

 

The mansion is lit with lamps all around. (Gita, Upanishad and Puranas which explain the esoteric meanings of the scriptures.) 

 

And wafting with the smell of incense. (the sincere practice of daily duties as ordained, and Vairagya — a dispassionate view of life’s joyous and challenging moments.)

Despite many calls, the girl does not respond. 

Andal then asks her aunt*  “Please wake her up. Is she deaf, dumb or blind?”

The aunt says, you try reciting the many names of the Lord. She may respond. 

Andal says, we have already recited the names of Maayavi, Madhava, and Vaikunthan and a thousand names, but she doesn’t budge. 

 

Andal asks her aunt to unlock of the bejeweled door. (The door represents the ego — attachment to the body).

 

Once the Acharyas gives them the upadesha (spiritual teaching) — the key to the door, the student becomes deaf (to others blaming them), dumb (to criticism from others) and blind (in seeing the faults of others). 
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*The supreme mother Mahalakshmi/ the acharya

Selvapillai Sri Ramapriyan