The Divine Garland: Commentary on Goda Devi's 30 Pasurams

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The Divine Garland is the quintessence of Shree Goda Devi's (Andal's) thirty Pasurams of Tiruppavai, with an underlying theme of sharanagati or complete surrender to the Lord as a last resort for salvation, as advocated in Geeta in the sloka, 'sarvadharmaan parityajya...'

Shree Kuntimaddi Seshasarma, a well-known scholar in Telugu and Sanskrit, authored Melinomu, an extensive commentary of Tiruppavai, in Telugu, published by TTD. Dr. K. Sadananda, his son, who also published extensively on Vedanta, now with the help of his siblings provided a free translation of this work here, under the title, "The Divine Garland'.

Dr. K. Sadananda is a Material Scientist by profession and worked at the Naval Research Laboratory as head of Deformation and Fracture, published extensively in Science, and received many awards. After retiring in 2005, he works as a private consultant for six months of the year and spends six months in India. He was a visiting professor at the I.I.T., Madras.

He is a disciple of Swami Chinmayandaji and founding trustee of Chinmaya Mission Washington Regional Center and Shree Siva Vishnu Temple in Maryland, USA. He teaches Vedanta on behalf of the Chinmaya Mission. Many of his books on Vedanta have been published by Indic Academy, and his talks are also made available on YouTube by the Academy under the title Acharya Sadaji. He is married to Smt. Mrinalini Sadananda, a well-known Kuchipudi dancer and choreographer.

This work is based on my father's extensive Th commentary in Telugu on the Tiruppavai. The book was entitled 'Meli Nomu' and was published by Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanam (TTD). The first publication came out in 1991, and the second one in 2003. It is currently out of print. In this book, I am providing my free English translation of his commentary on the Tiruppavai. The English translation does not project the original literary beauty of his commentary but hopefully could provide a glimpse of my father's philosophical and devotional offerings. With prostrations at his holy feet, I am daring to venture into this. Of course, a big push also came from my wife, a Vishishtadvaitin at heart, for doing this. Our families are originally from Tirumala, with Shatamaharshan Gotram. In the Vaishnava community, we are normally referred to as Tirumala people. Our forefathers moved out of Tirumala and settled in various villages in Rayalaseema when they were given some land. In the process, they picked up the village name as the family name. Thus, we became Kuntimaddi family. Krishnadevaraya's guru, Tirumala Tatacharyulu apparently is one of our ancestors.

The Tirumala people are known for their scholarships. There are many Ashtavadanis and Shatavadanis in our family. Our ninth great, great-grandfather had written a shatakam (a hundred slokas) in Sanskrit on Lakshmi Devi. My father found that work written on leaves in the attic of one of our relatives, but in a poor condition. He rewrote it, filling up the missing words or lines damaged by the insects, with his commentary on it. He considered that the work was scholarly since each sloka depicts several alankaras or similes.

My father has written many books both in Sanskrit and Telugu. TTD has published many of his works. The works include the Sanskrit translation of Amukata Malyada of Shree Krishnadevaraya which depicts the story of Goda Devi, also known as Shree Andal, the author of this Tiruppavai. He introduced Telugu chandas into Sanskrit, such as Seesam, Ataveladi, Tetageeta, Kandam, etc., with their characteristic yati and praasa. Many of his books are on Vishishtadvaita. As the story goes, he was offered to head the Parakala Matt but declined it since he had to take up Sanyaasa. Several of his books remain unpublished. The notable one is his extensive commentary on Vedanta Desika's Tamil work, 'Rahasyatraya Saara. My father studied Telugu and Sanskrit in Tirupati. But late in his life, he mastered Tamil and wrote the commentary on this Tiruppavai and also on Rahasyatraya saara.

Alwars are well known to everybody. Among Them was born the divine incarnation of Bhu Devi, as Andal, or Goda Devi. Her work Tiruppavai is widely sung in temples, particularly in Vaishnava Temples in the South. Shree Kuntimaddi Seshasarma has written an excellent commentary called Melinomu in Telugu, published by Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanam (TTD). He was a well-known pundit and author of many books in Telugu and Sanskrit, several of which were published by TTD. To make his work available to all, his son, Shri Sadananda, with the help of his siblings, translated this work into English while keeping many of the Telugu poems intact.

Every word in the Tiruppavai has a deeper meaning, and Shree Sarmaji brings this out for us. The underlying theme of the Tiruppavai is a complete surrender of oneself to Lord Narayana through Saranagati or prapatti that Vishishtadvaita advocates. Shree Sarmaji establishes this using various pramanas from smriti and shruti texts. In this work, Pothana Bhagavatam is quoted extensively.

The Tiruppavai can be divided into mainly three sections. In the first section, Andal Devi decides to perform the Margasira-ritual with her fellow milkmaids. Now the question arises, why should one always worship Narayana? Shree Seshasarma says, "Only Shreeman Narayana can bless a Jeeva to reach His abode. Hence Shree Goda Devi says, 'Narayanane namakke parai tharuvaan. Lord Narayana alone can fulfill our desires. Hence, we must serve Him only". But why Narayana alone can provide the final stage? To answer this question, Shree Seshasarma says, "Those who surrender to other Gods such as Brahma, Shiva, etc. will gain only very little, and that too momentary happiness. It is because their powers are limited. Hence, one cannot get liberated from this samsara by surrendering to them" He quotes Lord Krishna's statement mamevaye prapadyanti maayaam itaam tarantiti, only by surrendering to Me one can cross this ocean of maayaa. Since the worship of Narayana is a must to gain moksha, Shri Adal invites everybody to join her in the prayer. Shree Sarmaji reveals, "One should not enjoy sweets alone, mainly when there are others around. Is there anything sweeter than the Hari-Bhajan? Hence it should be shared with others". it might appear as though the worship of Hari is expensive and not everyone can afford it. Shree Sarmaji says that is not true. Why? He says, "Offering with total devotion even a handful of food is sufficient instead of offering a big pot full of donkey's milk without devotion. God does not look at the price and quantity of things one offers. He only takes the devotion and leaves the rest.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages