An anecdote on the Chanting of Prabandham

[Guest guest]

Sri:

Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:

 

Dear bhAgavatas,

 

This discussion about the chanting of the prabandham

reminded me of an anecdote involving adiyEn's great

grandfather's brother known as Cunnapakkam Swami, that

I had read in a magazine.

 

During Manavala Mamunigal's Utsavam in Deva Perumal

Sannidhi in Kanchipuram one year at the turn of the

last century, on the ninth day evening, the ninth

decad of Thiruvaymozhi was being recited. Present

in the grand ghosti were Srimad Paramahamsa Azhagiya

Manavala Ramanuja Jeeyar Swami, Srimad Cunnapakkam

Swami and others. The last pasuram in the ninth

Thiruvaymozhi of the ninth decad is as follows:

 

avanaivittaganRuyirARRakillA

aNiyizhaiAycchiyarmAlaippUsal,

avanaivittagalvadhaRkEyirangi

aNikurukUrcsadakOpanmARan,

avaniyuNdumizhndhavanmEluraiththa

aayiraththuLLivaipaththumkoNdu,

avaniyuLalaRRininRuymminthondeer

acchonnamAlainaNNiththozuthE

 

Here the first word in the first two lines are

"avanai" and the first word in the second two lines

are "avani". While most people in the ghosti were

reciting it correctly, some were saying avanai for

the second two lines also. Thus the third line

became "avanai uNdu umizhnthavan mEl uraiththa".

 

Apparently one of these people was standing right

behind Cunnapakkam Swami. After the sarrumurai was

completed, Cunnappakkam Swami told Jeeyar Swami that

he thought that Sriman Narayana was the one who

swallowed and brought out everything, but it looks

like there is one who swallows even Him! Since others

had not heard the misuse of the word avanai for avani,

no one understood Swami. They asked him to explain,

but Swami would say no more. The bhAgavata who had

made the mistake understood what had happened and

came forward, explained his mistake, explained how

he had been making the same mistake for a long time

and seeked the ghosti's pardon. At that point, Jeeyar

Swami said that perhaps Azhvar knew such things

would happen and as such had used the phrase "enganE

sollilum inbam payakkumE".

 

adiyEn's thoughts on this discussion: it is imperative

that we recite Azhvar's works, even if initially one

does not know how to say it correctly. Not having

someone to teach us or a lack of understanding of

Tamil should not be used as excuses to get out of the

chance to recite prabandhams (or Sanskrit shlokas).

This, however is only the first step. One then has to

make attempts to read the text correctly or search for

some books that explain the simple meanings or listen

to audio cassettes or seek a learned bhAgavata and try

to correct our mistakes. Just as not doing the first

step is wrong, so too is staying at the first step.

 

Azhvar had said enganE sollilum for sure, but that

cannot be used as an excuse to not make attempts to

correct ourselves. Perhaps inbam would happen to Him

(not surprising considering His nature) and to other

bhAgavatas (not surprising considering the nature of

a Srivaishnava), but it should make us feel bad. We

should definitely get no inbam from making mistakes

or knowing that we might be making mistakes but

making no efforts to correct them.

 

If whatever I said has hurt anyone's feelings, I seek

your pardons.

 

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan

TCA Venkatesan

 

 

 

Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop!

http://platinum.

[Guest guest]

Sri:

Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:

Dear TCA Venkatesan,

Accept my pranams. I broke into a laughter when I read your

reply and sorry for my late reply. This laughter was not at the

bhAgavatha but imagining about what PerumAL must have thought:"who is

the guy who swallows even Me;oh boy My kids are inventing new new

thathvams and making pun of My parathvam!" and hence He Himself must

had a hearty laugh. When we recite without knowing the meanings,all

our chantings would become anecdotes only to those who know the

meanings and those who are experts in thamizh. Just as PeriAzhvAr

(unlike other AzhvArs) and EmperumAnAr(unlike other AcAryAs)thought

that PerumAL must be lonely and hence He needs people around Him & be

entertained,we surely entertain PerumAL by kaimkaryam of prabandha

recitation(with lot of anecdotes like this). Laughter is the elixir

of life. By making PerumAL laugh we fulfil PeriAzhvAr's perpetual

concern for the safety of PerumAL:-)

 

AzhvAr EmperumAnAr JIyar thiruvadigaLE sharaNam

NC Nappinnai

 

 

> Apparently one of these people was standing right

> behind Cunnapakkam Swami. After the sarrumurai was

> completed, Cunnappakkam Swami told Jeeyar Swami that

> he thought that Sriman Narayana was the one who

> swallowed and brought out everything, but it looks

> like there is one who swallows even Him!

 

> adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan

> TCA Venkatesan

>