Hinduism

Sundarar’s Thevaaram

Continued from last week

- Place: Thiruvadhikai(Near Kadaloor)

- Pan: Kollikkouvaanam

Thammaanai ariyaadha saadhiyaar ularee thalaimeyrkkol piraiyaanai vidaimeyrkkol vigirdhan Kaimmavin uri poorthu kari kaattil aadal vudaiyaanai vidaiyaanai karai konda kandaththu Ammanran adikkonden thalaimeyl vaiththidumen aasaiyaal vazhginra arivilaa naayeen Emmaanai yerikedila vada veerattanathth uraivaanai iraippodhum igazhvan kol yaanee. Sundharar once when in Thiruvaaroor was praying to God to bless him to sing the glory of his devotees. God asked him start with His statement as “Thillai vaazh andhanar tham adiyarkkum adiyeen”. In this hymn Sundharar sang about 63 devotees of the Lord.

This particular song is called “Thiruth thondaththogai”.

- Place: Thiruvaaroor

- Pan: Kollikkouvaanam

Thillaivaazh andhanar tham adiyaarkkum adiyeen Thiruneela kantaththu kuyavanaarkku adiyeen Illaiyee ennaadha iyarpagaikkum adiyeen

illayaandran kudimaaran adiyaarkkum adiyeen Vellumaa miga valla meypporulukku adiyeen Viripozhin sool konraiyaar virnmindarkku adiyeen

Allimen mullaianthaar amarneethikku adiyeen Aarooran aarooril ammaanukku aalee.

Kundaiyuur kizaar used to give rice to Sundharar ‘s house. At one point there was a famine. Kizaar prayed to Lord. Lord made a rice rain to fall and a big heap of rice was formed. People were astonished how that can be mobilised to Sundharar ‘s house in Thiruvaaruur. Sundharar sang this song and short buudhaas came and took it to Sundharar ‘s house in Thiruvaaruur. Paravaiyaar (Sundharar ‘s wife) distributed them to all.

- Place: Thirukkoolili

- Pan: Nattau raagam

Neela ninaindhadiyeen umai niththalum kai thozhuveyn Vaalana kan madavaal aval vaadi varundhaamey Koolili emperuman kundayoor chila nellup petreeyn Aalilai emm perumaan avayattiththarap paniyee Sundharar was on his way to Thirumudhukunram (Virudhdhaachalam). Then the God appeared in the form a old man.

Sundharar asked Him what is the way to go to Thirumudhukunram. God told that this is the path to kuudalaiyaatroor and disappeared. With this pleasent shock Sundharar sang this song.

- Place: Thirukkoodalaiyaatroor

- Pan: Pura neermai

Vadivudai mazhuveeyndhi madhakari yuri poorththu Podiyani thirumeeynee surikuzhal vumaiyoodum Kodiyani nedu maada koodalai aatrooril Adigal ivvazhip poondha adhisayam ariyeenee When Sundharar was coming near Thirukkurugaavuur, he was quite tired and hungry.

Then God made a small shelter and waited there as an old man. There Sundharar and other devotees took rest and had food. After that God disappeared with the shelter. Amused, Sundharar sang this hymn.

Source: www.shivam.org

Thiruvalluvar’s Thirukkural is a treatise par excellence

Chelvatamby Maniccavasagar

“Thiruvalluvar” was one of the greater Tamil poets whose “Thirukkural” is a poetic composition of great antiquity in the Tamil literature. Many great minds have shed their powerful, radiant light on this gem and justly famous classics of Tamil literature.

In its essence Thirukkural is a treatise par excellence on the art of living. Thiruvalluvar, the author diagnoses the intricacies of human nature with such penetrating insight, perfect mastery and consummate skill absorbing the most subtle concepts of modern psychology, that one is left wondering at his depth.

Thiruvalluvar’s prescriptions on ethics, morality and humanisness are sagacious and practical to the core. They cut across castes, creeds, climes and ages and have a freshness which makes one feel as if they are meant for the present times.

The uniqueness of Thiruvalluvar’s “Thirukkural” is that the noblest thoughts are expressed with master strokes of elegance and charm, imaginative splendour and poetical grandeur. Thiruvalluvar postulator a comprehensive code which would meet the realities of all major situations that life gives rise to. Further, aspiring for a classless society is an ideal, but the existence of the rich and the poor classes of men is a reality.

In fact, “Thiruvalluvar” appeals to both of them to conduct themselves in a certain ethical way towards each other so that they lead a harmonious way of living.

He exhorts the rich to give to the poor and mitigate the poor man’s hunger and he also advise the wealthy to give alms to beggars without hiding and in the same breath asks the beggars not to feel angry when the rich man refuses to give.

According to Thiruvalluvar, wealth is important for all of us and so he asks men to create wealth through righteous ways. Indeed, Thirukkural defines the pathways for man to tread to reach the human goals. Man is the architect of his own life and the life of the society. He can create a Heaven an earth as great men life Mahatma Gandhi and degrade himself into heel as Hitler did, bringing misery and suffering on a global scale.

Indeed, Thirukkural of Thiruvalluwar is a human document. Stunning as a guideline to humanity to promote human happiness, harmony and peace.

Furthermore, Thirukkural was written 2,000 years ago and it has been poetically acknowledge by “Mahakavi Subramania Bharathy” when he said that Tamil Nadu has attained glory by giving to the world the Thirukkural’s author “Thiruvalluvar.”

The Thirukkural contains three parts, dealing with three aspects of human pursuit namely ARAM, PORUL and INBAM. In fact, such a great literary work, the first among the Tamil classics was translated by several people into several langauge.

Undoubtedly, Thirukkural is a document of universal application and everyone should possess this Thirukkural consisting of 1330 complete given by this great and universal poet Thiruvalluvar.

Chariot Festival at Modera:

Arul Mighu Venkateswara MahaVishnu Temple

Chelvatamby Maniccavasagar

The Annual Festival of Modera Arul Mighu Sri Poomi Neela Pathmawathy Sri Venkateshwara Maha Vishnu Temple commenced with the hoisting of the flag on Friday 30-04-2010 and the Chariot Festival will be held on Monday 10-05.2010 and the water-cutting ceremony will take place on Wednesday 12.05.2010 at the sea.

Sri Venkateshwara Maha Vishnu is venerated by large number of devotees as the preserves of the universe. Maha Vishnu is one of the Thiru Murthy Gods of the Hindu Pantheon. As the preserves of the universe Lord Vishnu is the object of devotion and he is considered on earth as a great hero to save mankind and to establish Dharma. He therefore assumed several births known as Incarnation or Avatars in various forms.

“Whenever there is decline in Dharma or righteousness I will come down to establish righteousness and dharma.” Further Maha Vishnu took ten major Avatars. They are Matsya Avatar or the Fish Incarnation. His second Avatar was Kurma Avatar or the tortoise incarnation. His third Avatar was Varaha Avatar or the Boar incarnation. His fourth Avatar was Narasimha Avatar. His fifth Avatar was Vamana Avatar. His sixth Avatar was Parsu Rama. His seventh Avatar was Sri Rama.

His eighth Avatar was Bala Rama Avatar and his nineth Avatar was Maha Vishnu Avatar and the “Kalki Avatar” is yet to happen when there is decline in morality and spirituality.

According to historians 3,000 years before the birth of Jesus Christ, Sri Krishna took a Divine Birth in the Indian City of Madurai. The scriptures call him Purna Avatara, that is the full manifestation of God. Maha Vishnu was a teacher and lover of mankind. He is most accessible to the pure hearted who have cultivated true love for him.

Further, Maha Vishnu is the greatest “Karma Yogi” of all times. He was the friend of the poor whom he protected from the oppressors. He was the embodiment of humility. His immortal teachings and “Karma Yoga”, “Bhakthi” and “Gnana” have no parallel in the religions literature.

The Bhagavata Purana, Vishnu Purana and Mahabharatha proclaim that there was none to match Maha Vishnu in beauty, in wisdom and perfection. He was the towering figure and embodied in himself all the great qualities of head, heart and hand. Every word of his teachings and every act of his life was full of substance and meaning.

Furthermore, during the Chariot festival of Sri Venkateshwara Maha Vishnu Temple the statue of Maha Vishnu is decorated and illuminated and taken along the streets in a Chariot followed by poojas and Bhajans.

The Chariot symbolises human body and the statue of Maha Vishnu is the soul. In front of the Chariot are the wooden horses depicted as galloping and the reins attached to their mouths are held in the hands of the image of Lord Vishnu. These horses represent human passion and the reins symbolise the necessity of guiding these positions. The journey of the chariot through the streets symbolises the progress of life.

This shows that throughout his life a man must control himself and guide his passions. These passions are the motive powers, the driving force of life, but unguided will wreck a man’s life. This is the symbolic meaning of chariot festival.

Karma & Reincarnation in Hinduism

As per Hinduism, the life on earth is not a discrete one time event. It is just one episode in the play. There would be multiple appearances (births) before the soul finally takes leave from the cycle. The birth is not just limited to being born as human, it includes the births as the animals, plants, even as the divines who rule the parts of nature ! After-all, all these things have a life.

The appearance of the soul in any of such forms is called reincarnation. After so many births when the soul is freed of any more reincarnation, it is in the state of mukti or liberation. This is the ultimate state.

Karma

As the soul moves from one body to another, it carries forward something along with it, which is nothing but what it has accumulated performing various deeds. This can be thought of as a global account that each soul is associated with, irrespective of the place it is in currently.

This account would have both the logs of good and bad deeds it performed similar to the credit and liabilities. This account is what is called karma.

This karma is further categorized. In the example let us assume the person on moving to the new place gets a new local account into which initially some of the credits and liabilities from the global account get transferred to start with. Subsequently till the person is in that location the day to day transactions occur onto that local account.

Similarly from the global account of karma, which is known as prarabdham, some portion is transferred to the new local account when the soul reincarnates into a new body and this portion of karma is called sanchitham.

In the day to day affairs the soul enjoys the fruits of the good deeds from the karma bank and suffers the fruits of bad deeds.

In the process due to the deeds it performs the soul accumulates new good and bad karma to add to its account. This newly earned karma is called AkAmiyam. When the soul leaves that body the balance gets transferred back into the global account. The journey goes on.

Internet

Last week a photo mix-up occured. We regret the error. The correct caption of the photo should read as follows:

Multilingual scholar T. Kangaratnam’s book “Senthamil Valamplra Valihal” was launched on April 25 at the Kotumbu Thamil Sangam. The author gave a few copies of his book to the Sangam. The sale of the book was utilized as a donation given to the Rev. Fr. Jesuthasan of St. Henry’s College, Ilavali in the North. The amount will be used to maintain 109 students, many of whom are orphans, affected by the war in the north.In the picture were V. A. Thirugnansundaram advisor of the SLBC and C. Baskara were at the launching of the book.