Right Company Enhances Devotion

Right Company Enhances Devotion

The Hindu

The Tiruppavai of Andal occupies a unique place among the various compositions enshrined in the Nalayira Divya Prabandham which is a collection of the works of the Alwars of the Shrivaishnav tradition. The only woman mystic exalted to the status of an Alwar, Andal is variously known as Goda and Sudikkodutha Sudarkodi. She poured out her divine love in two works: Tiruppavai and Nacchiyar Tirumozhi.

In the collection of 30 verses of the Tiruppavai which is in the form of a call to fellow devotees, Andal urges them to overcome spiritual apathy. The month in which she had chosen to perform a vow (Pavai nonbu) along with her friends is the Margashirsa, important spiritually. She recreates Gokul were Lord Krishna performed His childhood leelaa, in the lanes of her village Shrivilliputtur, where she lived in the house of her foster father.

In the opening verses of the hymn till the fifth one, the goal to be attained -- eternal service to the Lord -- is mentioned and the succeeding verses until the fifteenth one, there is a stirring progression in the enactment of the vow, the young maidens awakening one another to proceed together to the house of Nanda. The maidens in the verses mentioned are interpreted esoterically by the commentators of the tradition to refer to the other Alwars, whose association she seeks in her progress to attain divine communion.

In his discourse Shrimad Andavan Swami said, the importance of the company of devotees of Paramaatmaa (Satsangh) was emphasised in the Tiruppavai. In the last among the hymns in which the girls awaken their mates, there is an exchange of words between the maidens getting ready for the vow. The girl who is awakened being an ardent devotee allows herself to be blamed for the improper drift in the conversation when they jest with one another, which shows that she is aware of the sanctity of the spritual goal.

Awareness of one's shortcomings is a trait found only in a mature seeker of Paramaatmaa and to accept the blame for the lapse of other fellow devotees is indeed a remarkable quality. In spite of her submission, her friends tease and admonish her for the delay in joining them, which is a test to find out whether she is established in her spritual nature.

And, it is with great elan that this maiden who is awakened last, enquires whether the others have all come. This is interpreted to show her eagerness to meet other devotees. Commentators in this context interpret the importance of Satsangh for spritual progress. A staunch devotee of Paramaatmaa seeks the company of other devotees. The last girl to be awakened is a reference to Tirumangai Alwar who is chronologically placed last among the Alwars.

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