Found Book : Sri Periyavachaan Pillai’s commentry on Thirupallandu in English

Another wonderful initiative by The Kinchitkaram Trust – to translate all the Commentaries of Swami Periyavaachan Pillai to English. This simply means we will soon have English Translation for the entire Divyaprabhandhams (As Swami Periyavaachan Pillai has commented on all the 4000+ Divine Hymns). This is really a very commendable effort by the trust as this will help people with limited knowledge of Tamil & Sanskrit learn more in-depth about Sri Vaishnavam.

Kinchitkaram Trust's English translation of Thirupallandu vyakhanam.

As a part of the project, Kinchitkaram Trust have brought out an English Translation of Swami Periyavaachan Pillai’s commentary on Periyalwar’s ThiruPallandu. Before I read the book, I was impressed by the neat design and print quality of the book. The content is also equally good. The explanations are very clear and elaborate.

After every Pasuram {Hymn/Song}, meaning for every word is given. The meaning for every word is then followed by a brief explanation of the pasuram as a whole. After this, detailed explanation and the inner meaning of every word is given. These explanations highlight the beauty of the songs. The pasurams can be explained in 4 – 5 lines or 4 – 5 pages. Either ways the message conveyed by these lines are same, the greatness of Sriman Narayana and the trivial nature of this world.

Here’s how the meaning of every pasuram is explained. I have taken the 4th paasuram of ThiruPallandu “Edu Nilathil…” for an example.

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The Pasuram

 

yEdu nilatthil iduvathanmunnam vanthu
yengaL kuzhAm puhunthu
koodu manamudayeerkaL varam pozhi
vanthollaik-kooduminO!
Naadu Naharamum nankaRiya
NamO NaarAyaNAya yenRu
paadu-manamudaip-pattharuLLeer
vanthu PallANDu kooRuminE

Word to Word Meaning

Edu nilattil : To the gory place, viz., burial ground
iduvadan munnam : Before taking you
vandu : Come out of your group
Engal kuzham pugundu : Enter our group
Kudum manam udayirgal : Those who have the mind to join
varambu ozhi vandu : Come breaking your boundary (of self enjoyment)
ollai kudumino : join us quickly
naadum : common folk living in villages (city outskirts)
nagaramum : knowledgeable folks living in cities
nangu ariya : in a way that they clearly understand
namo narayana enru : uttering the eight syllabled mantra
paadum manam udai : those who have the inclination to sing, as a vent to their pleasure
pattar ullir : if there are loving devotees
vandu : come, join us
pallandu kurumine : and sing this auspicious benediction

Brief Meaning

Those who wish to join our group should give up their old contacts and join us quickly (before its too late) being taken over to the burial ground. Break your boundaries of Self Enjoyment. Chant the Eight Syllabled Mantra in a way that those who live in villages & towns clearly understand it. If there are loving devotees, let them come and join us in singing this Auspicious Benediction.

Explanatory

(This is given for every word. Here I have just given for one word)
Nilathil Iduvadhan munnam : Before merging it with the Primordial Nature, its original source. This is how it is to be interpreted. The word yEdu means “body” both in its gross & subtle states; before it becomes one with the Prakrti from which it has come into existence. It has to be understood that Alwar is inviting them (who are interested in Kaivalya) after seeing te great calamity that awaits them.

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In short, this is a wonderful book for those with limited knowledge in Tamil & Sanskrit. Lets pray that Kinchitkaram Trust comes out with more such translations for the entire Divyaprabhandhams.

 

Published By : Kinchitkaram Trust
Price : Rs.120 / $ 5
Contact info : USA : 001-508-3978635, UK : 00-44-208-7554813, INDIA : 91-44-24992728
Book available at Kinchitkaram Trust Offices

Western culture has a ghastly hole in it – A westerner

This westerner is Martin Buckley, a well known and respected Journalist and Travel Writer. Ever since Martin Buckley bought the Ramayana as a 22 year old, he had a dream – to retrace the route of Sri Rama from his birthplace in north India to the climax of his confrontation with Evil in Sri Lanka. 25 years later he fulfills his dream and his book “An Indian Odyssey” is all bout his travels through India, using the Ramayana as the compass.

Here is a part of his interview that was published in The Hindu.

Q: Also, there’s a definite nostalgia about the India that was, a sense that the nation is losing some essence of Indianness.

A: I feel that India is at a point of cultural crisis. I see that the English-speaking classes, the secular classes, are very patronising of religion, and there’s this notion that somehow to have the secular state, you can’t embrace Hinduism. Certainly you shouldn’t persecute any minorities, but why this knee-jerk rejection of what is the richest, continuous, unbroken culture of its kind in the world? Hinduism is just a deep, deep well of wisdom and I hate to see the English-speaking sophisticates turn their back on it.

Q: If there was one thing you’d want the reader to take away from this book, what would it be?

A: The fundamental message of the book is that the Ramayana is an eternal story, such as the Odyssey or the Iliad. Another huge purpose of the book was to talk about spirituality. I had a deeply spiritual experience in India, which was a turning point in my life. I believe that people who don’t have a spiritual dimension have a lack in their lives; I think Western culture has a ghastly hole in the middle of it.

The entire article from the Hindu can be read here.

Myth, travelogue and holy writ, the Ramayana – the Journey of Rama – is India’s best-loved book, an inspiration to schoolchildren, monks and movie-makers. It’s one of the world’s great epic tales, yet is largely unread in the Western world.

An Indian Odyssey – A rich account of a country bursting with piety and mysticism. Travelling by land, sea and a small plane Martin Buckley recreates one of the great journeys in world literature, the Ramayana.

Some pages from the book “An Indian Odyssey” can be read here.

Kulasekara Alwar Thirunakshatram

Today is the Thirunakshatram of Kulasekara Alwar. Alwar’s vaibhavam can be read in this blog post & also from our own blog post last year.

Kulasekara Alwar is famous for his Mukundamala, the only Sanskrit composition by any Alwar. All the lines show Alwar’s immense devotion to the Lord. There’s an interesting commentry / translation of Alwar’s Mukundamala by Srila Prabhupada. You can find it at the end of the post. The translation is very simple and makes an engaging read.

Today is also the Thirunakshatram of Kandhadai Aandaan, son of Swami Mudhali Aandaan {an important sishya of Swamy Ramanujar}. Kandhadai Aandaan has said that a Sri Vaishnava should live without any fear and have faith in Sriman Narayana. A person who has fear cannot be a Sri Vaishnava.

Srila Prabhupada’s Commentry on Mukundamala.

View this document on Scribd

Good Platform for Sri Vaishnava e-books

Generally if we need to find a variety of   Sri Vaishnava e-books, we look for them in a number of Sri Vaishnava websites. But recently I have come across a good site to find & even publish a good number of Sri Vaishnava (and any other book) e-books – Scribd.

Scribd is a site where you can read, write and publish books. You can  just copy and paste text or upload Word, OpenOffice & PDF files. Documents on Scribd gets frequently indexed by Google, and will be viewed with its unique fonts, graphics and other details. So if you have been looking for a way to share your work with hundreds of other readers, Scirbd is a good way.

When you are uploading make sure you give a proper description of the work, so it will be indexed & searched properly. If you are uploading files that you don’t own, clearly mention the source.

If you are just searching for Sri Vaishnava books, Scribd is equally good. Just use the search at the top right and you will find a lot of Sri Vaishnava books. Though the collection is not exhaustive, its still a good place to find out e-books by different authors.

You can also embed the article in your website & blog. Below is a sample article – Thiruppallandu Vyakhyana Saram (written by TCA Venkatesan, acharya.org).

View this document on Scribd

Book : Stories from Vedanta

A book actually meant for Children, “Stories from Vedanta” presents the teachings of Vedanta in simple stories that can be easily understood by everyone. There are stories from Mahabharatha, Upanishads & from lives of many saints.

One interesting story is that of Narada’s marriage. Once Narada wanted to see what Maya was really like. So he asks Sri Krishna to show him the powers of Maya. After some days, Sri Krishna asks Narada to accompany him for a trip, to which Narada readily agrees. As they were walking, Sri Krishna asked Narada to get Him some water. Narada being a ardent devotee immediately ran to find some water, but he couldn’t find water anywhere. After sometime he found a hut and went there to get water for Sri Krishna.  A pretty girl opened the door and Narada was captivated by her beauty. They started speaking and Narada totally forgot about Sri Krishna and the glass of water. All that was in Narada’s mind was the pretty girl.

He asked the girls parents for marriage and they both marry. They set up a house on a river bank and lived happily for 12 years with kids. One day, towards the end of the monsoon season, the river overflowed and floods his hut. Narada decides to move to a safer place with his kids and wife. Initially Narada managed to hold his wife & children steadily. But soon the river becomes more violent and Narada looses his wife and all children. Narada is swept away and after a full hour is washed ashore. Narada, exhausted began to lamanet his misfortune.

Suddenly Narada hears a voice “It’s been half an hour, you had gone to get me some water”. It’s Sri Krishna behind, smiling at him. It dawns on Narada that Sri Krishna had shown him a glimpse of Maya, 12 years of expereince in 30 minutes! Narada immediately requests Sri Krishna, “I have seen enough of Maya, let’s get back”.

Maya [the world we see] is only an illusion and once spiritual wisdom dawns,we will no longer be affected by it. The foremost amongst alwars, Nammalwar threw away this Maya right after birth. So, Nammalwar never experienced hunger or misery. Sriman Narayana was his only source of happiness. When all the other alwars went to temples to sing on the Gods, all the Gods of various temples would come before Nammalwar, so that Alwar will sing about Them.

Book Available at all Ramakrishna Missions.

ISBN : 81-7505-241-4

Price : Rs.25

Publisher : www.advaitaashrama.org