Thread by @_Nisarga

'Āṇḍāḷ – The Girl Divine' - My article on the greatness of Āṇḍāḷ Devi, Her life and sacred works, and the disturbing attempts to appropriate Her.
Please read and share:
tamizhportal.org/2018/09/aṇḍaḷ-…

Much Thanks to the inimitable @TamizhPortal for hosting this post.

Āṇḍāḷ, a pure hearted little girl of 8 years, holds a very special and reverential place in the hearts and minds of Indians. In this post I explore how she naturally achieved this through her own sāttvik life, kainkaryams, and compositions. #Andal

Āṇḍāḷ has stated herself in her pāsuram-s that her sacred songs and the accompanying vratam are sāttvik in nature.

They should be recited and observed by those who wish to acquire sāttvika guṇa-s.
#Andal

Āṇḍāḷ possessed extraordinary Bhakti and sāttvika guṇa-s, she functioned at a higher level of consciousness than the mundane laukika world and the limited worldly viewpoints of ordinary people.
#Andal

Āṇḍāḷ and her pāsuram-s cannot be understood by those who seek to impose their own superficial materialistic laukika viewpoints and interpretations onto her sacred works.
#Andal

Āṇḍāḷ is falsely described as a grown woman in much of academia and by the media.

She was only a child of 8 or 9 years when she composed her two mystical sacred works: Tiruppāvai and Nāciār Tirumoḻi.

#Andal

Revisionists and feminists trying to appropriate Āṇḍāḷ claim her pāsuram-s are about "coming of age”-a mundane dumbing-down of her incredible contributions
Āṇḍāḷ has beautifully embedded and woven the knowledge of the Veda-s,Upaniṣad-s,and Bhagavad Gīta in her sacred songs

Āṇḍāḷ's Tiruppāvai and Nāciār Tirumoḻi elucidate the complex stages in Bhakti yoga exploring:
para-bhakti, para-jñāna, paramā-Bhakti, prappatti and śaraṇāgati.

These can only be experienced through sādhana and cannot be understood thru mere academic study or translations.

One theme permeates throughout Āṇḍāḷ’s pāsuram-s: the jīvātma striving to unite with the Paramātma,thereby attaining mokṣa.
Āṇḍāḷ's compassion for others pushed her to share this jñāna with them, and thus she is honored as an Āḻvār in the Śrī Vaiṣṇava sampradāya.

There is another subtle aspect about Āṇḍāḷ:
Āṇḍāḷ embodies the essence and spirit of Indian girlhood.
An aspect that cannot be comprehended by videśi-s (male or female) or those who see her from an outsider lens (feminists).

#Andal

The famous incident of the child Āṇḍāḷ wearing the mālai (garland) before it was offered to the Vatapatraśāyi is not an instance of rebellion or disobedience.
It shows that Āṇḍāḷ felt one with the Paramātma. Garlanding herself was the same as garlanding Sri Krishna.

#Andal

The Nāciār Tirumoḻi is mischaracterized as sensual in obsolete speculations of Indologists and those donning the outsider lens.
But for centuries,Ācāryā's commentaries show it is rooted in the Veda-s,Upaniśad-s and steeped in sāttva. Āṇḍāḷ says Bhakti is never rājasik/tāmasik

The beautiful sacred poetic works of an 8 year old girl -Āṇḍāḷ have been continuously sung and revered in temples and homes by both men and women, girls and boys, across socio-economic divides, for over 1200 years!

Such is the power of Āṇḍāḷ

#Andal

Āṇḍāḷ's explains in her pāsuram-s that true Bhakti is an arduous path in which the Bhakta must practice karma and jñāna yoga as prerequisites along with 7 sādhana-s

Bhakti yoga is neither easy nor a feel-good escape for doing whatever one wants.
tamizhportal.org/2018/09/aṇḍaḷ-…

Academics, and feminists who force-fit Āṇḍāḷ into their framework with speculative interpretations are actually marginalizing and belittling the Hindu women who have nurtured and preserved Āṇḍāḷ's sacred works for centuries.

More in my post:
tamizhportal.org/2018/09/aṇḍaḷ-…

As important as her pāsuram-s is the Dhanur Māsam sacred vratam that Āṇḍāḷ initiated and practiced as a child. She magnanimously shared this with other bhakta-s.
It's telling that academia/revisionists ignore the vratam,which is inseparable from Āṇḍāḷ's pāsuram-s.

From my post:
"It is an unfortunate tendency of many Hindus to transform our Deities into solely domestic mundane laukika entities, resulting in the loss of understanding their true Vedic spiritual meaning."
- applies to Āṇḍāḷ and other Deities.

"Though her works are in Tamiḻ, Āṇḍāḷ crosses the barriers of gender, language, regions, cultures, and varṇa-s, and cuts across social and economic distinctions."

Āṇḍāḷ's pāsuram-s and vratam are recited and observed all over India.

As Gōdai (Āṇḍāḷ) says in her pāsuram-s, she is misunderstood by those stuck in the laukika world, her wishes transcend all worldly emotions.

Āṇḍāḷ's vision of the Vāraṇam Āyiram is not a worldly wedding marking the start of grihastāśrama, but of her attaining mukti.