Vidya Shankar's Blog

𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒂𝒛𝒉𝒊 𝑺𝒂𝒅𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒂 𝑫𝒂𝒚 30, 2024-25𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒂𝒗𝒂𝒊 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆 30𝑽𝑨𝑵𝑮𝑨(𝑲) 𝑲𝑨𝑫𝑨𝑳 𝑲𝑨𝑫𝑨𝑰𝑵𝑫𝑯𝑨 𝑴𝑨𝑨𝑫𝑯𝑨𝑽𝑨𝑵𝑨𝑰 𝑲𝑬𝑺𝑨𝑽𝑨𝑵𝑨𝑰 Krishna, Margazhi ends today and so doThe thirty verses of ThiruppavaiBut I will continue seeking You Even beyond.Are thirty poems enough to praise Your Greatness Revel in Your beauty and sing Your Glory?Kothai, Your Thiruppavai initiates meOn a quest to find Krishna And merge with Him as You once did.I may not have found Him yetBut just thinking about Him and singingHis praises is in itself KrishnaanubhavamAnd for this, I am blessed.My Lord Parthasarathy, my PreceptorPlease guide me as I move forwardShowing me what is pleasure, what painWhat is right, what isn't.My obeisance in total surrenderAt Your Lotus Feet.Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya!Om Namo Narayanaya!Andal Thiruvadigale Sharanam!#vidyashankarpoetry #vishnumayam

www.facebook.com

Margazhi SadhanaDay 29, 2024-25

Thiruppavai Verse29

SITRAM SIRU KAALEVANDHU UNNAI SEVITHTHU UN

Krishna, this sadhana of verses

Was not to proclaim my compositions

But to get closer to You. 

I may not have perceived You this time too

But all the early mornings of waking up

Has had its fruits.

In the completeness of the void before me

There must be a nook for the incomplete me

That makes me complete.

My Lord Parthasarathy, I may not have been

From here, but it is my good fortune

To have been brought here

To this holy place of Your temple.

I bow down at Your Lotus Feet

With the prayer

Wherever I am there You are.

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya!
Om Namo Narayanaya!
Andal Thiruvadigale Sharanam!

#vidyashankarpoetry #vishnumayam

www.facebook.com

Margazhi SadhanaDay 28, 2024-25

Thiruppavai Verse28

KARAVAIGAL PINSENRU KAANAM SERNDHU UNBOM

Krishna, sometimes I quarrel with You

Sometimes I call You out to share a meal

As if You are a friend

But this was because of my ignorance.

The void You showed me yesterday

Has been so overwhelming 

It makes me feel I am but a baby 

In the realm of bhakti.

My Lord Parthasarathy, my Preceptor

The in-dweller of y being,

I fall at Your Feet in total surrender.

How many ever janmas, that is where 

I would wish to be.

Please pardon me my ignorance

And accept me unto You.

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya!Om Namo Narayanaya!Andal Thiruvadigale Sharanam!#vidyashankarpoetry #vishnumayam

www.facebook.com

Margazhi SadhanaDay 27, 2024-25

Thiruppavai Verse27

KOODAARAI VELLUMSEER GOVINDHAA UNDHANNAI(P)

And just like that, Krishna, You open the door

But I don't see You yet.

I know You are there, You always are

For me, yet all I can perceive

Is a void, yet again

Except that this time, it is phenomenal. 

I take this not as a failure 

But as a step closer to You

Because I realise there is no door after all.

The door was of my own making

My own ignorance trying to subjectify

The incomparable, complete, limitless You!

Govinda, Your Grace dissolved 

The last vestiges of ego 

Releasing me from the recurring cycle

Of herd conditioning, 

The pull of need to be one with the crowd

But the journey continues with more ego-filled plots.

My Lord Parthasarathy, my Preceptor, 

Bless me with the garment of a healthy body

Embellished with ornaments of joyous love

That make my feet dance to the rhythm 

Of the Universe

And my breath free-flowing as through 

A conch

So I could journey forward through the continuum

Seeking liberation from other samskaras 

Until I reach You

Until there is no You no me

Just the blue of a brilliant light

Suffusing the universe.

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya!Om Namo Narayanaya!Andal Thiruvadigale Sharanam!#vidyashankarpoetry #vishnumayam

 

www.facebook.com

Margazhi SadhanaDay 26, 2024-25

Thiruppavai Verse26

MAALE! MANIVANNAA!MAARGAZHI NEERAADUVAAN

Krishna, this Margazhi dawn is chill 

But the early morning bath is not frightening anymore. 

The cold is of no consequence

What matters is You.

You who floated as a baby, 

Unperturbed, upon the waters of the pralaya

That consumed this universe

Is the You who floated in the pralaya of my mind

The me who was asleep

In a state of unawareness.

But I have now built the strength of faith

By the repetition of Your Name and the knowledge 

Imparted by my Guru Parampara.

My Lord Parthasarathy, having turned inward

I, undaunted, with abated breath

In a dissolved state of no I-ness

Wait outside the closed door of  Your chamber 

To surrender completely

Body, mind, and soul to Your Love.

I live only so that Your Love 

Deep as the blue of a sapphire

Shines through me as if there is no me,

No body-mind but only You-me

Wrapped in an infinite, timeless-spaceless embrace.

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya!Om Namo Narayanaya!Andal Thiruvadigale Sharanam!#vidyashankarpoetry #vishnumayam

 

 

www.facebook.com

Margazhi SadhanaDay 25, 2024-25

Thiruppavai Verse25

ORUTHTHIMAGANAAY(P) PIRANDHU OR IRAVIL

Krishna, You show us by example

How life can change overnight.

Born to Devaki but called Yashoda "ma",

This is Love, the Love I seek, the Love of Union.

By birth I may have been this body-mind

But by Your Grace, I am in a state of pratyahara

Learning to let go of attachments

And the dictates of the ego.

Just as You grew up in Gokulam in secret

So Kamsa wouldn't find You,

So did this turning inward happen 

Ever so silently.

Just the thought of You kindled fires of fear

In Kamsa's stomach.

The thought of You kindles a fire in me too

Not of fear but the fire of the Manipura

That burns the vasanas 

And clears the path for change.  

My Lord Parthasarathy, You are my preceptor

And You are the Lord of my heart.

I know now that all it takes

Is a kshanam, an immeasurable moment

For You to reveal Yourself to me,

For love to become Love,

And for that, I must dissolve.

But I fret not anymore. I no longer feel abandoned. 

I offer myself at Your Feet in complete faith

And this saranagati I sing a song of peace.

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya!Om Namo Narayanaya!Andal Thiruvadigale Sharanam!

#vidyashankarpoetry #vishnumayam

 

www.facebook.com

Margazhi SadhanaDay 24, 2024-25

Thiruppavai Verse24

ANRU IV ULAGAMALANDHAAY ADI POTRI

Krishna, You belong not just to the past

When You, as Rama, vanquished Ravana

Or, when You, as Trivikrama, brought down Mahabali.

Many eons ago, You lifted a mountain with Your little finger

To provide shelter to Your people from a raging storm

And crushed the evil Sakatasura with just a playful kick.

But You are timeless, omnipresent.

Today, came to me in an instant

When all my defenses were down.

Today, Your compassion gives me 

A roof over my head

And by the strength of Your blessings

I overcome tamas.

Praise be unto You Who clears out 

My mental baggage and reveals to me

What is good. 

My Lord Parthasarathy, You as Guru

Bless me with illumination

To discern the limitedness

Of time, space, matter 

And revel in the glory of Your infinite Grace.

Praise be unto You!

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya!

Om Namo Narayanaya!

Andal Thiruvadigale Sharanam!

#vidyashankarpoetry #vishnumayam

www.facebook.com

Margazhi SadhanaDay 23, 2024-25

Thiruppavai Verse23

MAARI MALAIMUZHAINCHIL MANNI(K) KIDANDHU URANGUM

And then, Krishna, You wake up

And when You step off Your bed

And place Your Feet on the ground,

The earth trembles. 

It is as if a most regal lion

After a hiatus in its cave because of rain

Steps out, stretches itself, 

Shakes its golden mane, raises its head 

And lets out a deep bellowing roar.

My Lord Parthasarathy, it's not just the earth 

That trembles.

I am shaking too, not from the cold

But from intense joy

For, when You woke up

The core of my being stilled.

I am not this body now.

I am not this mind now.

I am not 'I' even.

In this loss, I gained You.

In this abdication of the ego

I perceive You ascending 

The throne of my heart which is now suffused 

With blue, the blue of Your Being.

In this pristine colour of my inner space

I feel the vibrations of the Pranava

So strong that my whole being trembles.

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya!Om Namo Narayanaya!Andal Thiruvadigale Sharanam!#vidyashankarpoetry #vishnumayam

www.facebook.com

Margazhi SadhanaDay 22, 2024-25

Thiruppavai Verse22

ANGANMAGYALATH ARASAR ABHIMANA

Krishna, rulers of kingdoms and people of fame

Flock Your temple as beggars 

Or as those with egos vanquished.

I come to You because of Love

To lay at Your Feet the ego 

That often drives me away from You.

The vanquished rulers lay down their arms

At Your Feet in fear

I lay down my arms too, but in Love.

I surrender all doership to Your Will.

My Lord Parthasarathy, please open Your Eyes

And look at me.

Just Your glance will be as if

The fiery sun and the cooling moon 

Have arisen together, and the ida and pingala

Flow harmoniously.

Fear is destroyed at the mooladhara

And just as lotus petals face inwards

I turn inwards too, in a state of pratyahara 

To seek You within.

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya!Om Namo Narayanaya!Andal Thiruvadigale Sharanam!#vidyashankarpoetry #vishnumayam

 

www.facebook.com

Margazhi SadhanaDay 21, 2024-25

Thiruppavai Verse21

 

ETRA KALANGALEDHIR PONGI MEEDHALIPPA

Krishna, is it to test me 

That You do not wake up?

But I will continue to persevere

With all my strength.

Even Your enemies become weak

But not me. 

See, even Nappinnai has opened the door

And stepping out, has joined me in waking You up.

My Lord Parthasarathy, glorious as You are

Outshining even the sun, 

You as Preceptor

Have given me the esoteric knowledge 

Of how to seek my true nature.

And I must have, for, isn't that why 

Nappinnai has joined me in waking You up?

You with the most compassionate heart

With Love that flows ever so abundantly

Like milk from a cow's udder,

Don't You not know that all I seek

Is to fall at Your Feet in total surrender,

Sing Your praises, do Your bidding

So that one day You will

With all the Love that Your Heart holds

Embrace me unto You?

My Lord Parthasarathy, wake up for me please.

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya!

Om Namo Narayanaya!

Andal Thiruvadigale Sharanam!

#vidyashankarpoetry #vishnumayam

www.facebook.com