Summary: The nature of yoga lies in nothing but trying to yoke the "I" aka the individual self aka jivatma aka Krishna's gopis to the "universal self" aka paramatma aka padmanabha aka Krishna expressed across centuries in Indian mythology through various voices that served to evoke awe that could silence our default mode network in the prefrontal cortex and cingulate and angular gyrus that in turn served to silence our jivatma selves enabling us to bind with our Padmanabha self. More about it here: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10018061/
In this write up it's introduced through the poetry of a 9th century Tamil poetess called Antal aka Ondal who talks about the full moon of Margazi aka Margashirsha that currently offers two supermoons in succession, falling on December 4, 2025 aka the cold moon and January 3, 2026 aka the wolf moon. In Tamilnadu currently the margazi month begins on December 16 while here's more about the North Indian equivalent margashirsha:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrahayana. All this coming closer of the moon to earth forming super moons coincide also with the Earth's axis tilt aka winter solstice and globally across various cultures this is celebrated as the festive season as detailed here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_solstice
Introduction:
To quote from Archana Venkatesan:
"The Tiruppāvai (The Sacred Vow) is a short poem of thirty verses composed by Kōtai, a 9th century mystic and poet. The poem describes a vow undertaken by young cowherd women of Gokula (Tamil, Āyarpāṭi) to win Krishna for themselves. The poem has a complex, multi-layered structure, animated by the quest for a mysterious paṟai-drum and eventually Krishna himself. The poem ends with a refrain, ēl ōr empāvāy (Hey girls, this is our vow), which is likely what gives it its name. The poet Kotai comes to be known by the name Āṇṭāl, She Who Rules, for legend has it that she did in fact win Vishnu’s love, merging with him at the temple in Srirangam.
Excerpted from. Venkatesan, Archana. The Secret Garland: Andal’s Tiruppavai and Nacciyar Tirumoli. New Delhi: Harper Collins, 2016.
- Mārkaḻi Tiṅkaḷ
It’s the full moon of Margali
a good day
to bathe
precious girls, richly adorned
dear to Ayarpati
land of abounding prosperity.
The son of Nandagopa
fierce with his sharp spear,
the youthful lion-cub of Yasoda
woman of matchless eyes,
dark-hued and lotus eyed
his face the sun and moon
that Narayana alone can grant us the parai-drum.
Undertake this vow
the world will rejoice
el or empavay
More here:
https://archana.faculty.ucdavis.edu/translations/andal-tiruppavai/In recent times neuroscientists have recognised that:
"Awe engages five processes—shifts in neurophysiology, a diminished focus on the self by switching off the default mode network (facilitating the jivatma to paramatma transition also celebrated in the moon's 11th day of waxing during this period termed the Vaikuntha ekadashi), increased prosocial relationality (more about it here:, greater social integration, and a heightened sense of meaning—that benefit well-being.
Andal's verses , especially 24 aims to switch off the default mode network where the sense of self aka jivatma aka gopis dissolves in the universal aka paramatma or Padmanabha.
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