The Tamil lyric Thiruppavai contains the quintessence
of the Upanishads and is an excellent blend of the Sanskrit and Tamil cultures and literatures. The Vaishnava tradition of worship with the focus on the act of surrender to God, Saranagati, as the surest way to liberation is emphasised in this poem, Sri R. Rangarajan said in a discourse. In the Charama Sloka ‘Sarvadharman Parityajya,’ Lord Krishna
claims sole proprietorship for granting liberation, and says He can absolve us of all our Karma. This implies that the devotee implicitly accepts the absolute supremacy of the Lord knowing that He alone is the goal and also the means.
Andal makes this concept clear in the very first verse when
she says only Narayana can give each one of us the most cherished gift, salvation.
Seeking His feet at all times is the only way. She suggests ways for cultivation of devotion such as — worship of the Lord, leading an upright life, being grateful to Him for the world and its infinite riches, recognising that air, water,
natural resources, etc., are His precious gifts, partaking of
these after offering them to Him, refraining from those
deeds that the Sastras have advised against and learning to
share and care for others whatever we have been bestowed
with. The hymn recreates the life in Ayarpadi where the Gopis had occasion to live and mingle with the Lord. Andal imagines herself to be a Gopi and wishes to observe the Paavai Nombu in the month of Marghazhi as was their custom.
Aware of the fact that His name is a superior law of its own,
she exhorts us to sing His name. When Draupadi’s modesty was outraged in the Kaurava court, it was the name of the Lord that came to her rescue.
When uttering each Nama, the Lord’s greatness can be savoured. Andal describes the Trivikrama Avatar in the term
‘Ongi Ulagalanda.’ Did He not assume a diminutive form as Vamana to seek alms from Bali and then visibly manifest as the Lord of three worlds? That He did this to restore the kingdom that Indra had lost to Bali stands testimony to his magnanimity.
Andal’s prescription is not in the strain of dry philosophical
teaching; it is something pertaining to day-to-day living.
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