Thiruppavai series 2020, Day 17 of Margazhi: 01 January 2021

THE MANTRA
Kothai inserted the golden key into the keyhole and gave it a twist. They heard the clink of several levers, for it was no ordinary lock. And then the sound stopped and the doors shuddered slightly as if to indicate they were ready to be accessed.


With appropriate guidance from their acharya, the Aayapadi girls were able to push open the magnificent doors. 
“O Kothai! O Paavai pengale,
Blessings be yours for opening these doors,
You are now going to cross over a threshold  
From where there should be no return,
Let this monumental step you are going to take now,
The result of diligent perseverance,
Be not in vain.
Take a deep breath and place your right leg Across this sacred threshold
To enter the holy realm.
Remember the mantra I gave you,Om! Om! Om!Forget not to chant it, for ignite this will for you
The light you will need
To find your way in the myriad corridors within,
The path that will lead you to my Lord Nandagopan.”


“Lord Nandagopan? But no, we have come to awaken the Krishna in us. While we are deeply respectful of Lord Nandagopan and Mother Yashoda, and would love to meet them, it is our Nandagopa Kumaran that we seek.”
“O Kothai, my Lord Parthasarathy will awaken for you, definitely. But to reach His chambers, you will need the grace of my Lord Nandagopan, the Guru Tattwa.”
“But, aren’t you our Guru?” asked Kothai innocently.
“I am your Guru, but just a physical manifestation of the Guru Tattwa, so I may help remove the darkness and show you the way of your Sadhana. But it is the Guru Tattwa, that immortal energy that pervades over all of us, which is the true nourisher of the Atman. Recognise that greatness in my Lord Nandagopan and invoke his blessings. Do as he bids you, revere the Guru Parampara, and you will eventually be able to sing before our Lord Krishna to awaken Him.”
The innocent girls looked bewildered, but having come this far, they were not going to give up.
“Here, take my hand and cross this Moksha Dwara, the gateway to the transcendental Truth-Consciousness.”
The crossing of the Moksha Dwara was a blissUnlike any before.
The inner precincts seemed so vast with passages in plenitude
That Kothai and her Thozhis, speechless with amazement,
Felt lost.
But forget they did not to repeat with purposeful devotionthe mantra their Guru had initiated them into:Om! Om! Om!
The darkness around them transmuted ever so subtlyAnd as the sounds of their chanting reverberated,A soft glow bounced off the walls,
Which soon illuminated their way for them.
The light leading them, they soon came
To a chamber wherein lay a sleeping figure.

Burst into a song did the girls,
A mellifluous melody that stirred Nandagopan.
Eyes wide awake, and a smile upon his lips
As if he had not been disturbed in his sleep
But was expecting a bevy of singers to wake him up,
Nandagopan, the most congenial and courteous entity,Bestowed upon themThe space of individuality,
The waters of life’s essence,
And the food of knowledge from the Upanishads.


“O Lord Nandagopa, blessed are we to receive such grace,
For, aren’t these the three worlds
That our Lord Thrivikkraman paced?”

Nandagopan, impressed with their profundity, gave them a second mantra to chant.
“Namo,” said he. 
“Om Namo,” said the Paavai pengal.

The tenor of the chant illuminated a few more lamps. The chanting girls followed the course, their hearts beating wildly. The path led them to the sleeping chambers of mother Yashoda, the exemplification of prana, that life-giving energy force that courses through our breaths.

Sang again did the girls, a song so sweet and pleasant,
That mother Yashoda had to rise.“O Mother of a divine son, we beseech you with aching hearts,
Take us please to our Gopala, our Madhusudhana.
Fatigued are we not from the journey,
It is the separation from our Lord that makes us listless.”

Mother Yashoda was compassion incarnate, and obviously too. Why else would Krishna have chosen her! She spoke to Kothai and the other pengal in a voice dripping with empathy:
“To Krishna I cannot take you directly,
For His brother, Balarama, the kundalini shakti,Guards His realm.But come, to Balarama I will, 
Please him with your song and he will lead you To your highest reward, our Lord Ranganatha.”
And so the Paavai pengal received from mother Yashoda a third mantra upadesham, “Narayana!”

“Om Namo Narayana!” they chanted in fervent unison,Stepping forth upon a path now well illumined, Their hearts beating rhythmically
Yet ever so patiently,
For they knew now that one can never hurry
To behold the splendour of Hari.

Balarama, that elusive serpent, was fast asleep. But Kothai knew that with the help of Prana, she and her girls will be able to sing a soulful song, full throated. Balarama stirred, but eventually woke up.
“Om Namo Narayana!” chanted the girls.
“Om Namo Narayana!” responded Balarama.
Noticing Kothai and the Pengal standing devotedly by the doorway of his bedchambers, Balarama asked them, “Ah! For self-realisation you come? Well then, let me not stop you. But remember, it will do you well not to rush. But waver not in your progress.”
The overwhelmed girls nodded their heads.
“Om Namo Narayana!” said Balarama. “Here we go.”
“Om Namo Narayana,” chanted Kothai and her Thozhis and followed him.





Moksha Dwara, the gateway to the transcendental Truth-Consciousness: from the book 'Guru-Bhakti Yoga' by Sri Swami Sivananda
Photographs courtesy: Shankar Ramakrishnan
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Please note: This is NOT a translation of the divine verses sung by the revered poet-saint Andal. I have not the qualifications for that undertaking, my greatest limitation being my inability to read and write Tamil. Nor can I claim to be as devoted and as passionate as Andal was to Her Rangamannar. But I do love Krishna in my own way and these verses are just my attempt at writing a poem a day, as Kothai did over the thirty days of Margazhi, centuries ago. The muse for each of these thirty verses are the thirty songs that form the thirty paasurams of Thiruppavai. As I can't read or write Tamil, I have had to look up the Internet for translations and transliterations of Thiruppavai. I have provided the links below. Also for the same reason is why my poetry is in English. 
I offer this humble work at the Lotus Feet of my Lord Parthasarathy, my Krishna, my Flautist of Brindaranyam.
Click here for Thiruppavai series 2020, Day 16 of Margazhi: 31 December 2020THE ORNATE DOORS
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