Saturday 20 December 2025 (5th Verse) (Section I -5 of 5)
Maayanai mannu vada Madurai maindhanai
The magician Lord the boy from Northern Mathura
Thooya peru neer yamunai th thuraivanai
from the banks of the pure waters of the river Yamuna
Aayar kulathinil thondrum ani-vilakkai
The bright lamp who was born into the clan of cowherds
Thaayai k kudal vilakkam seydha Damodaranai
The child who made his mother proud and was tied up with a rope
Thooyumai vandhu naam thoomalar thoovi thozhudhu
We have come to you pure and with beautiful flowers to worship
Vayinar padi manathinaal sindhikka
to sing your praise with our tongues and to contemplate in our minds
Poya pizhaiyum pugutharuvan nindranavum
All our past sins and mistakes without remiss
Theeyinil thoosagum cheppelor empavai
will be made to disappear like cotton burnt in a flame
The way to worshipping the lord is described here in this fifth verse as follows – come with cleansed body and pure mind, offer fresh flowers to the Lord, sing verses and songs in praise of the Lord with your mouth and think deeply of the Lord in your mind. And how do you think of the Lord – think of Him in his many forms, as the One who incarnated in Mathura, as the one who is the Lord of the Yamuna, as the scion of the cowherd community, as the One who made his mother proud, as the One who was bound by a rope as a naughty child.
And if you do so, all the sins that one had done unknowingly and our bad thoughts will be burnt away like cotton in a flame, therefore come my dear friends, let us worship and perform our Nonbu.
Thus concludes the first section of the Thiruppavai consisting of the first 5 verses, Sri Andal has established the fact of the worship, described the do s and don’t s, described the Lord in whose name the prayers are to be performed, described the method of doing the worship, explained the benefits that will accrue on account of the worship and put the energy and motivation into the worship.
Good idea to recite these five verses together at one go and imbibe their essence; will give you the energy to keep you going for the month – make time for it. We will go the next section (10 verses) the next day.