andAdi—The end of a pASura becomes the beginning of the next one. What is the ‘anta’ of the first pASura becomes the ‘Adi’ of the second pASura. ‘tiru’ is a word denoting greatness. This is called mudal tiruvandAdi as it is the first to come.
taniyan
kaidai SEr poompozhil Soozh kachchi nahar vandudittapoihai pirAn kavijnar pOrEru vaiyattu |
aDiyavarhaL vAzha arum tamizh nooTTrandAdi
pADi viLanga SeidAn parindu ||
nammAzhwAr says ‘inkavi pADum parama kavihaL’; tirumangai AzhwAr says ‘senjorkavihaL’; . Of all the tamizh poets poihai AzhwAr is the greatest poet. He was born in tirukachchi mAnahar. He lighted a lamp by this divya prabandha which spreads everywhere dispelling the darkness of ignorance. Through these pASuras he pleases the minds of Sree vaiShNavas ‘toNDarkku amuduNNa son mAlaihaL sonnEn’.
kavijnar pOrEru—It is the usual practice to add words like lion, tiger, bull etc. to describe the greatness, valour etc. of a person. (eg.)—‘puruSha simha:’, ‘puruSha vyAgra:’ ‘puruSha pungava:’ etc. Similarly in tamizh also the usage in kavijnar pOrEru (a great poet).
aDiyavarhaL vAzha—The study of this prabandha alone sustains the life of Sree vaiShNavas.
arum tamizh nooTTrandAdi—It should be ‘arundamizh andAdi’ to suit the metre. But even piLLai lOkAchAryar has commented the word as ‘arundamizh nooTTrandAdi’. Hence the latter version is considered as right.
pADi viLanga –There are many meanings for the word ‘pADi’.
pADi—in this earth vilanga—to live forever i.e. this prabandha is going to be in this world forever.
pADi—tirumEni viLanga—to appear i.e., poihai AzhwAr lighted a lamp ‘vaiyam tahazhiyA…’ for pEyAzhwAr to see Him, ‘tirukkANDEn un pon mEni kaNDE’ ‘varuttum puraviruL mATTra em poihaippirAn maraiyin kuruttin poruLaiyum sendamizh tannaiyum kooTTi onra tirittu anru eritta tiruviLakku’—rAmAnuja nooTTrandAdi of amudanAr.
parindu—With great love for Him.
kaidai—tAzhampoo in tamizh kEtaki—in Sanskrit.
kAnchi mA naharam—becomes kachchi in tamizh. SEr poompozhil Soozh
kachchi nahar vanduditta poihai pirAn –periyavAchchAn piLLai in his introduction to this tiruvandAdi says ‘inkavi pADum parama kavihaL enrum sendamizh pADuvAr enrum ivarhaL avadarittadu OrO dESangaLilE Ahilum kAla pazhamaiyAlE innaviDam enru nichchayikka pOhAdu’.
On reading this commentary of periyavAchchAn piLLai, the versions of maNavALa mA munihaL and others (regarding the place of birth) seems to be questionable. He has mentioned clearly the birth places of poihai AzhwAr as tirukkachchi, of that of boodattAzhwAr as mallai and that of pEyAzhwAr as mayilai. But he is not wrong and he cannot be wrong. The divyasooris charitam, tiruvandAdi taniyans, guruparampara praBAvam, prabandhasAram, upadESa ratna malai etc. states positively the star, month and place of birth of these AzhwArs. If we take them as pramANas thus periyavAchchAn piLLai’s statement should be analyzed before one comes to a conclusion in haste. On the perusal of several old manuscripts a statement was found in one of them—‘inkavi pADum parama kavihaL—sendamizh pADuvAr—ennumivarhaL avadarittadu OrO deSangaLilE Ahilum jnAnapperumaiyAlE inna iDattavarenru nichchayikka pOhAdirE’. The next sentence is ‘AzhwArhaLir kATTil Bagavat viShayattil uNDAna avagAhanattAlE mudalAzhwArhaL moovaraiyum nityasoorihaLopaDiyAha ninaittiruppArhaL’. The first sentence is the explanation of the second one. The meaning of these is—even though these AzhwArs were born in different places on this earth, on considering their ‘jnAna mahima’ we doubt whether they are really born as men or as nityasooris themselves come down to earth.
‘aDiyAr nilAhinra vaihundamO vaiyamO num nilaiyiDamE’, ‘atri jamadagni panktirata vasunanda soonuvAnavanuDaiya yuga varNakramAvatAramO? vyAsAdivat AvESamO? mooduvar karai kaNDOr seeriyarilE oruvarO? munnam nOTTra anandanmEl puNNiyangaL palittavarO enru sangippArhaL’ (AchArya hrudayam)—so much is said about nammAzhwAr. The same can be said about these AzhwArs too.
periyavAchchAn piLLai who has written vyAKyana for all the 4000 prabandhas has not mentioned the dates and the place etc. of the AzhwArs except here. He has mentioned here only and says ‘they are ambiguous since their period is very much earlier’ cannot be right. The other statement found in the other manuscript with the added word ‘jnAna perumaiyAlE’ seems to be right.
The details such as the dates, places and the history of all the AzhwArs are given to us by Sreeman nAdamunihaL only which he got through his yogic power. Therefore their authenticity cannot be doubted.
Muthal Thiruvanthathi
vaiyam tahaLiyA vAr kaDalE neyyAha
veyya kadirOn viLakkAha Seyya |
SuDarAzhiyAn aDikkE SooTTinEn son mAlai
iDarAzhi neenguhavE enru || One ||
AzhwAr compares the hard earth as the lamp, the liquid water as the oil, the bright sun as the light.
He wants to reveal the truth that the parama puruShArtha is to do kainkarya to Him; that He is not devoid of guNas and form; that He has infinite kalyANa guNas and a divine divya mangaLa vigraha. He is sarvESwara with infinite Sakti to create and run this world and He has guNa like jnAna, bala etc.
The sun who rises, travels, sets with absolute accuracy and without pause shows there is a Lord who ordains him to be so. The deep vast sea and the hard huge earth too reveal the same truth. The sea does not increase its volume even a bit by the flow of all the rivers of the world into it or reduce a little by the lack of it. Similarly the hard earth is a rocky surface in the midst of water allowing all kinds of creatures, plants etc. to exist on it. All these prove His presence. To Him who is sarvaSaktimAn what can one give except do kainkarya at His tiruvaDi?
This kainkarya is of three kinds—kAyika (body) vAchika (speech) and mAnasika (mind). AzhwAr says I prefer doing the second one (son mAlaihaL sooTTinEn). Let the pApas and duhKas which prevented me so far form doing so perish now’.
In this pASura AzhwAr proves His existence through anumAna pramANa (ignorance) like the tArkikas do. He says ‘He who has created this vast Boomi in the midst of ocean with a shining sun above is the Supreme Lord’. But in the brahma sootra, in the adhikaraNA called ‘SAstra yOnitvAt’ it is said that the Supreme Lord should not be proved by reasoning or anumAna, but only through SAstra. In this be so, how can AzhwAr prove Him through anumAna? The answer is—AzhwAr is not trying to prove anything contrary to vEda but proves through anumAna what is already proved in the SAstra. This is approved even by BAShyakAra (Sree rAmAnuja).
iDarAzhi neenguhavE enru—In order to get rid of the duhKa which is the result of pApa that prevent my worshipping Him; in order to remove the duhKa that is the result of not worshipping Him, in order to remove the duhKa of samsAris who read this pASura.
enru kaDal kaDaindadu evvulaham neerETTradu
onrum adanai uNarEn nAn anradu |
aDaittu uDaittu kaN paDutta Azhi idu nee
paDaittu iDandu uNDu umizhnda pAr || Two ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr proved Him through anumAna. Now he says there is no need for that. You just look at His atimanuSha chEShTitas like churning the pArkaDal and measuring the worlds etc, thus you will believe His existence ‘tvAm Seela roopa charitai:’ (ALavandAr)—stOtra ratnam. ‘chitraichcha kaichchiduchitaih Bavatah charitah’ (koorattAzhwAn) Sree vaikuNTha stavam—speak the same idea. AzhwAr says BagavAn’s these deeds speak of His greatness.
enru kaDal kaDaindadu—is not a question. AzhwAr wonders and says ‘how wonderful’. This sea which You churned long ago is seen now full of lather, foam, waves and roar as if happened now.
evvulaham neerETTradu—‘How wonderful! This earth in which I am standing now is measured by Him! Since they are very clean in his vision He feels very sad about his absence during those periods. Therefore he says ‘onrum adanai uNarEn nAn’.
nammAzhwAr says in tiruvAimozhi ‘matturu kadai veNNai kaLavinil uraliDai AppuNDu’ and forgets himself immersed in that thought. Similarly AzhwAr forgets himself immersed as he is in the act of churning the ocean and measuring the land. So he says ‘onrum uNarEn nAn’.
At the mention of sea and Boomi AzhwAr remembers at once what He did about them. He not only churned the sea but bound it by a bridge, broke it after His victory and lie on it. ‘marikaDai neripaDa malaiyAl arikulam paNikoNDu alaikaDal aDaittAn’ ‘veLLai veLLattin mEloru pAmbai mettaiyAha virittu adan mElE kaLLa nittirai koLhinra’.
He not only measured the earth but lifted it, created it, swallowed it and manifested it.
By such acts Sreeman nArAyaNa proves His Supremacy over all others.
pAraLavum OraDi vaittu OraDiyum pAruDutta
neeraLavum Sella nimirndadE sooruruvin |
pEyaLavu kaNDa perumAn arihilEn
neeyaLavu kaNDa neri || Three ||
pAraLavum—Of all the chEShTitas of BagavAn the measuring act is the favourite of all AzhwArs especially so of mudalAzhwArs.
In the last pASura He said ‘evvulaham neerETTradu?’ He is so much moved by the act that he speaks more about it in this pASura.
sooruruvin pEyaLavu kaNDa perumAn—Those who try to measure Your capacity will suffer what pootana suffered. She came disguised as His mother in order to kill Him. But she in turn, was killed by Him.
neeyaLavu kaNDa neri arihilEn—Oh! pirAn! How did You measure the earth. It is beyond my imagination! To measure anything one has to move from where he stands and measure it. But BagavAn measured it from where He stands without moving an inch! Oh! swAmi! Your one tiruvaDi spreads over the whole earth and the worlds under it; the other tiruvaDi spreads and covers the whole of upper worlds. Where did You move to measure? So how can anyone say You actually measured?
nammAzhwAr in tiruviruttam says ‘kazhal talam onrE nila muzhudAyiTTru oru kazhal pOi nizhal tara ellA viSumbum niraindadu----tAmarai kaNNan ennO ingaLakkinradE’.
periyavAchchAn piLLai in his vyAKyAna says—‘aLakkaikku oru avakASam kANgirilOm; ninra nilaiyilE ninrArai aLandArenna voNNAdirE; aDimAriyiDilirE aLandadAvadu; ivan ingu aLandAnAha onrum kANginrilOmee!’
sooruruvin pEyaLavu kaNDa—pootana took the form of divine mother yaSOda (deivanangai- kulaSEKara AzhwAr) and planned to kill Him by giving her poison-smeared breasts to suck. Instead she got killed by Him.
aLavu kANgai—to know the span of life i.e. to cut short of life.
neri vAsal tAnEyAi ninrAnai aindu
porivAsal pOrkkadavam sArtti arivAnAm |
Ala mara neezhal aram nAlvarkku anru uraitta
alam amar kaNDattu aran || Four ||
AzhwAr says ‘one who has gained jnAna through the grace of god thinks he has not understood Him fully but Siva who knows very little of Him through His own effort seems to be very proud and calls himself a jnAni and a guru daring to teach four siShyas under the banyan tree. (aran arivAnAm!) ‘aran nerivAsal tAnEyai ninrAnai arivAnAm!’ Therefore take Him as upAya to reach alone.
vassal-also means goal i.e., fruit (upEya)
It is said in purANas that Siva taught four riShis—agastya, pulastya, dakSha and mArkaNDEya about the nArAyaNa tattva. tirumazhisai AzhwAr in nAmuhan tiruvandAdi says ‘Ala nizharkeezh ara neriyai nAlvarkku mElaiyuhatturaittAn meittavattOn jnAlam aLandAnai AzhikkiDandAnai AlmEl vaLarndAnai tAn vaNangumAru’.
arivAnAm—Once a person called BAlAki who hadn’t had brahmajAna wanted to do upadESa to ajAtaSatru, a brahmajAni. This episode is told in bruhadAraNyaka upaniShad and kouSeetaki upaniShad. Similarly Siva who hasn’t got brahmajnAna wants to teach nArAyaNa tatva to siShyas.
‘arivAnAm’ is used sarcastically.
aindu porivAsal—The five indriyas and five doors. If one is closed the other open. Thus are like mechanical doors that refuse to shut even for learned men (pOr kadavam). Therefore it is extremely difficult to control them. Siva who has not conquered his indriyas is doing upadESa!
When emberumAn churned the pArkaDal—deadly poison called hAlahala came out of it. Sreeman nArAyaNa asked Siva to swallow it, and he did so. Fearing for his safety pArvati, his consort came and put her hand on his throat. From then on Siva has blue neck due to the presence of poison. So he is called kAla kaNTha. AzhwAr calls him 'Alam amar kaNDan' suggesting he does tAmasic acts in accordance with his tAmasic nature. He cannot do anything sAttvic like doing upadESa etc.
aran nAraNan nAmam AnviDai puLLoordi
urainool maraiyuraiyum kOyil vari neer |
karumam azhippaLippa kaiyaduvEl nEmi
uruvam eri kAr mEni onru || Five ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr said sarcastically ‘aran arivAnAm’. On hearing this some of the Siva Baktas asked him ‘why do you say so? Haven’t you seen people like us prostrating before him? He is called eeSwara. How can you insult our supreme god?’ AzhwAr answers them in this pASura declaring thereby the Supremacy of Sreeman nArAyaNa.
First let us take these name—one is called haran and the other is called nArAyaNa. haran means one who destroys everything; nArAyaNa means one who lives in all nityavastus to protect them. Who is greater? –One who is sarva BakShaka or one who is sarvarakShaka?
Take their vAhanas-One has bull as his vAhana and the other has garuDa. Bull is known for its slowness and stupidity whereas the bird is known for its swiftness and sharpness. ‘suparNOsi garutmAn’ (vEda) ‘vEdAtma vihagESwara;’ (stOtra ratna) ‘chiram chEtanan vizhi dEham Sirai pin Sirai padam kandaram tOLhaL ooru vaDivam peyar yajus sAmamumAm….arangan tam oordi suvaNukkE’— aiyangAr pASuram. He is called periya tiruvaDi.
Take the pramANas that speak both of them. Agamas are written testaments that speak of his chEShTitas contrary to vEdas followed by rAjasa, tAmasic puruShas. vEdas that speak of Sreeman nArAyaNa are not written documents (andAdi) that speak nothing but truth.
Siva resides on a hard mountainous region called kailAsa whereas nArAyaNa lies on pArkaDal—a place suited to their guNas.
One’s job is nothing but destruction but the other’s is only protection.
One holds fierce and terrible triSoola where as the other holds protective chakrAyudha.
It is said ‘roopamEva asya Etan mahimAnam vyAlakShatE’- the form speaks of the greatness. vEdas say Siva is red in colour like a burning coal whereas nArAyaNa is cool and pleasant rain-cloud like. tirumangai AzhwAr says ‘onru Sendee onru mA kaDal uruvam’ in tiruneDundANDaham.
upaniShads say ‘angAnyanyA dEvatA:’ all the dEvatas are His Sareera and He is Sareeri. Who is greater? the Sareera or Sareeri?
AzhwAr says—‘Oh! Men! Now you decide for yourself who is the Supreme Lord!’
mEni onru—Siva is Sareera is the meaning; nArAyaNa is the Sareeri is understood meaning. This is explained in detail in antaryAmi BrAhmaNa.
mEni onru can also be read as ‘uruvam eri kAr mEni onru’.
onrum marandariyEn Odaneer vaNNanai nAn
inru marappanO EzhaihAL anru |
karuvarangattuL kiDandu kaitozhudEn kaNDEn
tiruvarangam mEyAn tiSai || Six ||
In the last pASura sarcastically remarked ‘aran arivAnAm’. People ask him ‘Oh! AzhwAr! You say Siva does not know anything about Him, but pose himself as jnAni and does upadESa too like sarvajna. Well! are you in anyway better than him? Are You sarvajna regarding Bagavad viShaya? Do you teach us after fully understanding nArAyaNa tattva? You try to teach us through your prabandha. Justify yourself.
AzhwAr answers them in this pASura. ‘There are lots of differences between Siva and me. When his satva guNa predominates he understands Him a little and that too by his own effort and appears like a sAdhu. When his rajas and tamas predominates he calls himself eeSwara and says ‘who else can be an eeSwara other than me!’ I am not like him. I was chosen and blessed by Him (nirhEtuka katAkSha) even when I was lying in the womb. I was shown His guNa, swaroopa etc. ‘jAyamAnam hi puruSham yam paSyEt madhusoodanah sAtvikah sa tu vijnEyah sa vai mOkShArtha chintakah’—he who gets the katAkSha of madhusoodana even when in the womb becomes a sAtvika and desires mOkSha. then I had been a paramasAtvika and spent my life explaining and enjoying His guNas etc. How can I ever forget Him whom I was thinking about even while lying in the womb? There is no chance of rAjasic and tAmasic guNa overpowering me (as it does on Siva). Therefore these differences in us made me a better person’.
Oda neer vaNNanai—To those in whose minds His beautiful form is imprinted, it is difficult to forget Him. As He revealed His divine form to me when I was in the womb, He reveals it even now. Moreover He is doing nityavAsa in (mEyan) order to reveal Him to all those who worship Him in tiruvarangam.
It is the known truth that poihai AzhwAr had his birth in lotus pond. How can he say ‘in the womb etc? The explanation is—He does not mean the womb of a woman wherein the foetus lies in the midst of all kinds of filth. What he mean, therefore is the flower of the pond from where he is born. In the vAzhi tirunAmam of this AzhwAr it is said ‘vanasa malar karuvadanil vandamaindAn vAzhiyE’. tirumazhisai AzhwAr says ‘anru nAn pirandilEn pirandapin marandilEn’.
tiSaiyum tiSaiyuru deivamum deivattu
iSaiyum karumangaL ellAm aSaivil Seer |
kaNNan neDumAl kaDal kaDainda kArOda
vaNNan paDaitta mayakku || Seven ||
There is a question –if, as you say, Sreeman nArAyaNa is the Supreme God why should there be so many smaller gods having powers to give boons. AzhwAr gives the answer in this pASura—since He is the Supreme Lord He has created these dEvas in order to make people, who don’t come to Him, to go and seek them and get the fruits even though they are temporary.
There are shops for the rich to sell sugar, cashew, raisins, etc. There are shops for the poor, who are not able to buy them, to sell cheaper goods like salt etc. Similarly there are shops that sell costly gems like diamonds, gold etc. for those who can buy them. To those who want to wear jewels but cannot afford these, there are shops that sell cheaper jewellery. To those who don’t worship nArAyaNa but want boons and fruits there are dEvatas created by Him to satisfy their needs. (tiSaiyum tiSaiyuru deivamum deivattu iSaiyum karumangaL ellAm kArOda vaNNan paDaitta mayakku).
tiSaiyum—means different kinds of lOkas like Siva lOka, indra lOka etc.
tiSaiyum deivamum—it is kArOda vaNNan who employed them as the Lord of this world and that world.
deivattu iSaiyum karumangaL—He ordered ‘let brahma do the creation; let Siva destroy the worlds; let kubEra be the Lord of wealth; let sun and moon travel in this way etc. etc. Even the so called great feats like tripura dahana, kAma dahana, vritrAsura vadha etc. are done according to His wish.
kaDal kaDainda—When the pArkaDal was churned, nectar came out of it. There ensued an argument between dEvas and asuras as to sharing the nectar among themselves. BagavAn took mOhini avatAra and deluded the asuras who are always averse to Bagavad viShaya. Similarly He deludes those non worshippers by giving them these small dEvatas to worship. He ordered not only amruta to come from the pArkadal but also airAvata, apsaras, etc. to satisfy the desires of others.
mayanga valamburi vAi vaittu vAnattu
iyangum erikadirOn tannai mayanga maruL |
tEr AzhiyAl maraittadu en nee tirumAlE
pOr AzhikkaiyAl porudu? || Eight ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr said emberumAn created the dEvatas to delude (mayakka) people who don’t worship Him. A question arises—emberumAn sarvaSakta. He should, therefore be protecting even those who don’t worship Him to justify His title. If so, is it proper on Him to behave in this manner? The answer is—sarva rakShakatva means duShTa nigraha and SiShTa paripAlana. If this definition is well understood then emberumAn’s actions will not be criticized. His aim is to protect those who have surrendered to Him and who look at Him as the only rakShaka. Hence Asrita paripAlana is what is meant by sarva rakShakatva.
In the BArata yuddha He blew His conch and sent tremors among the foes and joy among the friends. This act and the act of hiding the sun by His chakrAyudha in order to enable arjuna to kill jayadratha and the act of running towards BeeShma with uplifted hand holding chakra in the war field—all these show His Asrita pakShapAta (bias towards His Baktas).
erikadirOn tannai tErAzhiyAl maraittu— On the 13th day of the mahABArata yuddha, aBimanyu, the son of arjuna was killed by the king sindhu, jayadratha, the brother-in-law of duryOdana. arjuna vowed to kill him before the sunset the next day and if he failed to do so would jump into fire. The duryOdanAdis placed jayadratha well hidden by the array, which was difficult to enter even by arjuna. This served two purposes—jayadratha would be saved and arjuna will die. The war went on but arjuna could not put his hand on the enemy jayadratha. The dusk was fast approaching. kriShNa suddenly hid the sun with His chakra. All of them thought the sun had set. arjuna got the fire ready. The enemies felt happy about it and gathered round him to witness the scene. jayadratha too was there. Suddenly kriShNa removed His Ayudha from the sun. The sun was still there in the sky. arjuna suddenly took up his arm and killed jayadratha. Thus kriShNa helped His Bakta. ‘nAzhihai kooriTTu ninra arasarhaL tam muhappE nAzhihai pOha paDai porudavan dEvaki tan Siruvan’— peiryAzhwAr.
There is a question here. It is said chakrAyudha of BagavAn is million times brighter than sun. Then how come it could hide the brightness of the sun and create darkness? There are many explanations given by many paNDiTs. But one is enough to satisfy the doubting minds that it had a curse that it would lose its luster on some occasion. Be it as it may, kaNNan can do anything to save His friend. If He willed won't the tiruvAzhi lose its brilliance?
pOrAzhi kaiyAl porudu—kaNNan who promised He would only drive the chariot and not take up arms in the BArata war, on one occasion took His chakrAyudha to kill BeeShma. The details of this episode is found in the BeeShma parva –59th chapter of mahABArata.
AzhwAr asks emberumAn—‘Oh! swAmi! Why did You blow Your conch? (malanga valampuri vAi vaittadum); why did You hide the sun with Your chakra? (eri kadirOn tannai AzhiyAl maraittadum); why did You break Your promise of not taking up arms and took charAyudha to kill BeeShma? (pOrAzhikkaiyAl porudadum). How can You break promise? How can You behave like a cheat? How can You act to bring blemishes to Your guNa?—The answer is His great guNa called souhArda (to help the needy) makes Him act in favour of His Baktas.
porukOTTOr EnamAi pukkiDandAikku anru un
oru kOTTin mEl kiDandadanrE viritOTTa |
SEvaDiyai neeTTi tiSai naDunga viN tuLanga
mAvaDivil nee aLanda maN || Nine ||
porukOTTOr EnamAi pukkiDandAikku—hiraNyAkSha was the wicked brother, an asura, of hiraNyakaShipu. He hid the Boomi under the praLaya water. At the request of dEvas He took a varAha roopa, fought with the asura and lifted the Boomi with His huge tusk. There is another version which says BagavAn nArAyaNa brought back the Boomi from the aNDa Bitti during the praLaya of pAdma kalpa, the previous kalpa to the present SvEtavarAha kalpa. ‘pArAr ulaham mudu munneer paranda kAlam vaLai maruppil ErAr uruvattu EnamAi eDutta ATTral ammAn’—tirumangai AzhwAr.
From these varAha and vAmana episodes it is understood that BagavAn not only vows to protect the Baktas but goes to any extent, even at the cost of taking the form of a boar or a dwarf, to protect them. periyavAchchAn piLLai—Abattu vandAl talaiyAlE sumandu nOkkudal (varAha), talaiyAlE kAlai vaittu nOkkudal (vAmana) SeyyumavananrO nee; rakShya vargattai nOkkumaLavil unakkoru niyadiyuNDO enru uhandu anubavikkirAr’. ‘udAranAyiruppAn oruvan nAlu pErukku SOriDa inaittu nArppadu pErukku iTTu mihumpaDi; SOruNDAkkumA pOlE rakShyattin aLavinrirE rakShakan pArippu’.
The Boomi which gave Him space for His tiruvaDi when He measured by His huge trivikrama form, was so mall like a pebble on His tusk when He lifted her as varAha moorti. How wonderful! ‘pirAn! un perumai pirar ArarivAr urAi ulahaLanda nAnru varAhattu eyiTTraLavu pOdAvAru en kol? undai aDikku aLavu pOndapaDi’—84th pASura of this prabandha.
maNNum malaiyum marikaDalum mArutamum
viNNum vizhungiyadu mei enbar eNNil |
alahaLavu kaNDa SeerAzhiyAikku anru
ivvulahaLavumuNDO unvAi ? || Ten ||
In this last pASura AzhwAr enjoyed bagavn’s chEShTita of keeping the Boomi on His thus (as varAha perumAn) as a pebble. Now He remembers another chEShTita—that of swallowing all the worlds and lying on a baby on a leaf. Oh! emberumAn! vaidikas well versed in vEdas say that You swallowed all the worlds and lay as a baby on a leaf! I wonder how You did it! How big was Your mouth to swallow them all? Was it bigger than these worlds. Astonishing!’.
These questions are asked not out of ignorance but out of wonder as to how He could do all these! He is baffled by His wonderful Sakti of swallowing all as a child smaller than a leaf!
alahaLavu kaNDa Seer—alahu means groups of numbers like one, tens, hundreds, thousands-millions etc.
aLavu kaNDa—To reach the highest limit and to transcend it. In other words it means ‘infinite’. ‘asamKyEya kalyANa guNa gaNouGa mahArNava’—says Sree rAmAnujar.
vAi avanai alladu vAzhttAdu kaiyulaham
tAi avanai alladu tAntozhA pEimulainanju |
ooNAha uNDAn uruvODu pErallAl
kANAkaN kELA Sevi ||
AzhwAr says his indriyas enjoy Him alone, not anything else. He says his eyes see Him alone; His ears hears His guNas, chEShTitas etc. only; His hands do anjali to Him alone; His mouth will speak His kathA and sing His glories. Isn’t He ASrita rakShaka? Didn’t He measure the worlds by placing His tiruvaDi on all alike without any bias as trivikrama? Isn’t He the punisher of the wicked? Didn’t He kill pootana who came to kill Him?
tAyavan—reveals His ASrita rakShakatva—SiShTa parigraha
pEi mulai nanju ooNAha uNDa—duShTa nigraha (punishing the wicked).
jihvE keertaya kESavam muraripum chEtO Baja’—mukundamAla stOtra.
sevi vAi kaNmookku uDalenra aimbulanum sendee
puvikAl neerviN boodamaindum aviyAda |
jnAnamum vELviyum nallaramum enbarE
EnamAi ninrArkku iyalvu ||
vaidikas well versed in SAstras say Bakti etc. are upAyas to reach Him. Alas! How can these wise people get deluded by such ideas! What a pity they don’t realize He alone is upAya and upEya.
EnamAi nirArku—When there is any threat or danger to His Baktas He immediately comes to their rescue by taking any form, fish, tortoise, boar—just anything! ‘mASuDambil neer vAra mAnamilA panriyAm’ (ANDAL). All these He does out of His nirhEtuka krupa—compassion without expecting any result.
emberumAn is always very alert regarding the safety of His Baktas. He is always helping us but we are not aware of it. Our tendency is to help ourselves, which we think is correct. He feels sad ‘Alas! These foolish men know not what to do. They have limited jnAna. They hinder what I, the sarvajna, do. What can I do!’. If we can have full faith in Him and keep quiet He is happy. He counts every little act or world done or uttered unknowingly—‘en oorai SonnAi; en pErai SonnAi; en aDiyArai nOkkinAi; avarhaL viDAyai teerttAi; avarhaLukku odunga nizhalai koDuttAi’—You told the name of my place; You uttered my name; You say my aDiyAr; You gave them water; You gave them shelter. Such unintentional acts or words are taken into our account of puNya. Like a goldsmith who tests gold on rubbing it on a stone, collects the powder and hits daily and finally gets a lump of gold, BagavAn collects our little doings and shower His anugraha by multiplying it in hundreds and thousands. Therefore no amount of sAdhana on our part can get Him. He alone is upAya. To resort to any other upAya is contrary to our SEShatva. ‘Arenakku nin pAdamE SaraNAha tadozhindAi’. AzhwAr feels sad that even well versed in vEdas say Bakti which comes out of karma and jnAna is upAya.
They put forth the argument ‘If You say He is upAya and tit is enough if You keep quiet not trying any other means like karma, jnAna etc. then people will sit quiet, not try anything. Even the SAstras become redundant’. The answer is—there was a fisherman who once caught a diamond in his net. He did not know the real value of it. Hence he sold it at a very cheap rate to a diamond merchant. The latter who know the real value of it sold it at a higher price to the king. The king, however did not sell it to anyone but wore it on His necklace. There are three states for the same diamond.
1. To be sold at a very low price 2. To be sold at its real value 3. Not sold but worn and enjoyed. Similarly there are three states of Bakti. Like the fishermen who was ignorant of the value but exchanged it for a small gain, some exchange Bakti for little gains like kaivalya, aiSwarya etc. Like the diamond merchant who got its real value some use Bakti as upAya to gain mOkSha sAdhana. Like the king the wise make Bakti itself as puruShArtha.
There is a mango tree full of ripe mangoes. Some sell them for a price but some eat them and enjoy its sweetness. Similarly some make use of Bakti as upAya where as some enjoy it as upEya. The same mango acts both as upAya and upEya. Why should we belike the fishermen or diamond merchant or mango seeker? Let us be the king and eater of mangoes.
‘vanaTTiDai EriyAm vANNamiyaTTrum iduvallal mAriyAr peihirpAr maTTru’—iraNDAm tiruvandAdi. Some dig the ground to collect water when it rains. This pit does not cause rain but holds rain water. Similarly the little acts of good are not themselves mOkSha sAdhana but when the shower of anugraha pours these acts collect the blessings.
AzhwAr talks about five indriyas and five Bootas. It means Sareera with five indriyas. Body itself is not mOkSha sAdhana but without body no sAdhana like Bakti can be done. Similarly vELviyum (agnihOtrAdi karmas) nallaramum (sAtvika guNas like vivEka, compassion etc) are not direct sAdhanas but indirectly help to develop Bakti in the mind.
People, out of foolishness, say Bakti etc. are upAyas but in truth no upAyas are upAyas except Himself.
iyalvAha een tuzhAyAn aDikkE sella
muyalvAr iyal amarar munnam iyalvAha |
neediyAl Odi niyamangaLAr parava
AdiyAi ninrAr avar ||
Who can worship emberumAn and do nityakainkarya befittingly? Of course the nityasooris can. But how can people like us do so even if we wish to do so? This pASura is an answer to this question. ‘nityasooris, no doubt, have the natural jnAna. But that does not negate our right to do so does it? We are given vEdas which one should study, chant, understand chalk out our lifestyle as instructed. If we pursue this path emberumAn will be pleased and fulfill our wishes. We need not worry about mOkSha and does everything to attain that goal. edir soozhal pukku enaittOr pirappum enakkE aruLhaL seyya vidi soozhndadal enakkEl ammAn tirivikkiramanaiyE’—tiruvAimozhi. This is the meaning of ‘AdiyAi ninrAr’. ‘nidAnam tatrApi swayam aKila nirmANa nipuNah’—Sree rahasya traya sAra of vEdAnta dESika.
avaravar tAm tAm irandavAru Etti
ivarivar emberumAn enru suvarmiSai |
SArttiyum vaittum tozhuvar ulahaLanda
moortti uruvE mudal ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr said ‘AdiyAi nirAravar’. This pASura further explains this statement. People think their own iShTa dEvatas alone are Supreme Lord. They draw their figures on the walls or install idols in the shrine and worship them with the words and songs coined by them (i.e. not vEdic). But it should be understood that from piDAri to paramSiva our swAmi Sreeman nArAyaNa alone is the swAmi. All these gods exist because o Him.
avaravar—Those people who are highly rAjasic and tAmasic with only a small percentage of satva guNa.
tAm tAm arindavAru—This knowledge is not based on vEdas nor SAstras; their conduct too not based o n elders (SiShTAchAra). They coin the song and SlOkas of their own words to sing their dEvatas. This pooja vidhis are their own.
ulahaLanda moorti—This word has significance. He placed His tiruvaDi on such people (described above) as well as the deities worshipped by them. Now You know who is greater.
mudalAvAr moovarE ammmoovaruLLum
mudalAvAn moori neer vaNNan mudalAya |
nallAn aruLallAl nAma neer vaiyahattu
pallAr aruLum pazhudu ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr said ‘ulahaLanda moorti uruvE mudal’. Some ask him ‘AzhwAr! These gods whom You call as inferior deities do give boons and shower their anugraha to those who worship them and fulfill their wishes. Thus they make their devotees happy’. AzhwAr answers them in this pASura. ‘Oh! men! I agree with You that there are many gods worshipped by men. Of them the trimoortis brahma, viShNu, and rudra—are foremost. Of the three Sreeman nArAyaNa, the kaDal vanna, is the Supreme Lord, since He is the cause of all creations. He has many guNas of which vAtsalya is one.
Therefore He does only what is good. The boons that the other gods give are short lived and give only worldly pleasures. But what Sreeman nArAyaNa gives is the Supreme Pala called mOkSha. ‘mudalAya nallAn aruLE nanru, pallAr aruLum pazhundu!’
Some read the first line as ‘mudalAvAr moovar’ instead of ‘mudalAvAr moovarE’. We feel the first version does not go with metre. Fo r that they say the sentence should be read as ‘moovarinuLLum’ it does not harm the metre. But our humble request is not to tamper with AzhwAr’s words as we please. Let us not use our rights and literary knowledge in such matters.
moori neer—moori means great and strong.
nAma neer—nAma here means ‘pEr’ which in turn means ‘big’. Therefore nAma neer means ocean.
pazhudE pala pahalum pOyina enru anji
azhudEn aravaNai mEl kaNDu tozhudEn |
kaDalOdam kAl alaippa kaNvaLarum SengaN
aDalOda vaNNar aDi ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr said ‘mudalAya nallAn aruLallAl-------pallAr aruLum pazhudu’. In this pASura He feels sad about the loss of His anugraha all these days.
There are three things mentioned in this pASura—1. Sadness about the past 2. Happiness about the present 3. Fear about the future.
‘kaDalOdam kAl alaippa kaN vaLarum SengaN aDalOda vaNNar adi aravANai mEl kaNDu (inru) tozhudEn’—he expresses his happiness over being fortunate to obtain BagavAn’s kaTAkSha.
pazhudE pala pahalum pOyina enru anji azhudEn—he expresses remorse at the loss of this experience all these days before this day ‘anji azhudEn’—he expresses the fear as to whether the future would also be like past.
A question arises—AzhwAr says ‘kaNDu tozhudEn’. Thus why should He he fear about the future? The past is over when he hadn’t had the experience. Now at present he has it why should he lose it in future? The answer is—AzhwAr is afraid of this samsAra. This ‘iruL tarum jnAlam’ tends to drag him into the mire of samsAra.
‘viNNuLAr perumArku aDimai seivAraiyum serum aimpulanivai maNNuLa ennai peTTrAl enna seyya’—tiruvAimozhi. When AzhwAr thinks of the luring nature of this leela vibooti He cannot but fear. ‘ATTrangarai vAzh uram pOl anjuhinrEn’—says tirumangai AzhwAr.
In the 6th pASura he said ‘onrum marandariyEn Oda neer vaNNanai nAn’ and ‘anru karuvarangattuL kiDandu kai tozhudEn kaNDEn’—AzhwAr has said since the time he was in the womb he has not forgotten Him even for once. He also says he saw Him, made anjali to Him and so on. Then how can He say in this pASura pazhudE pala pahalum pOyina’ etc? The answer is—What He means is in all the previous janmAs he had not worshipped Him and got no experience of Him.
pEyAzhwAr, on the other hand, says—‘senra nAL sellAda SengaNmAl engaN? mAl enra nAL ennALum nALAhum’—he feels elated at the present when He is able to see Him and feels all days past and future are good. He expresses like this due to his ecstacy. Well! Each AzhwAr has his own way of thought.
aDiyum paDikaDappa tOL tisaimEl sella
muDiyum viSumbaLandadu enbar vaDiyuhirAl |
eerndAn iraNiyanadAham irunjiraippuL
oorndAn ulahaLanda nAnru ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr said ‘pazhudE pala phalum pOyina’. This pASura explains it further. He says ‘in this janma I am fortunate to be born as a human. I must have had many janmas in many yOnis. jeeva does not die or is born. But the Sareera takes many births. Not that I was not there when He took many avatAras. Perhaps I was not born with discriminative faculties. Therefore I was not aware, though born, the greatness of emberumAn. My births were in vain. Therefore I cry ‘pazhudE pala pahalumpOyina’. This is the meaning of ‘-----muDiyum viSumbaLandadu enbar’.
enbar—means ‘so I have heard.’ I have no knowledge about it.
In the 2nd pASura AzhwAr said ‘enru kaDal kaDaindadu evvulaham neerETTradu!’ as if He had witnessed those acts. Now he laments he was not present during those avatAras. Why this contradiction? The answer is---even in the 2nd pASura what AzhwAr feels is the chEShTitas appear as if it happened now (even though they occurred earlier). Here too he says they occurred long time back when he was not present. Hence to an intelligent reader no contradiction will be seen.
aDiyum paDi kaDappa—AzhwAr feels sad ‘Oh! swAmi! Why should You place Your tender lotus- like tiruvaDi on mountains, seas, etc. as uneven grounds, where You should be placing them on the heads of Your dAsas as SirO BooShaNa (ornament on the head)?
tOL tisai mEl sella—‘Oh! mAdhava! The shoulders and arms that should be embracing periya pirATTi should be spreading in all directions! Alas!
muDiyum viSumbu aLandadu— AzhwArs, riShis, vaidikas, vaiShNavas sing ‘muDichchOdiyAi unadu muhachchOdi malarndaduvO’ on seeing Your crown. But You prefer to grow tall Your crown reaching the upper lOkas where reside dEvas who are ahankAris ignorant of your glories.
AzhwAr further laments he was not present during narasimha avata when He tore the chest of hiraNya with His sharp nail an during the rescue of gajEndra from the clutches of crocodile riding post haste on garuDa.
nAnra mulaittalai nanjuNDu uriveNNei
tOnra uNDAn venri Soozh kaLiTTrai oonri |
poruduDaivu kaNDAnum puLvAi keeNDAnum
marudiDaipOi maNNaLanda mAl ||
In this pASura also AzhwAr feels sad he was not present to see kriShNa avatAra chEShTitas. ‘Alas! I was not there to see how He sucked the milk, poison and life of pootana; how He stole the butter etc. stored in uris in all AyarpADi houses; how He killed the mad elephant kuvaLayApeeDa of kamsa’s court; how He crawled in between the two maruda trees and felled them; how He tore the beak of bakAsura etc.’ Though there is no specific word to suggest the loss like in the previous asura it is understood contextually. Even the AchAryas have commented it so. ‘iDakkai valakkai ariyAdArum vAzhumpaDi iDaikulattilE vandu piranda iDattilum izhandEnirE enru sOhikkirAr’.
Or else it can taken as AzhwAr enjoys speaking about kriShNa avatAra chEShTitas.
kaLiTTrai oonri porudu—Under the pretext of dhanur festival kamsa invited kriShNa and balarAma to mathura. He planned to kill them. He ordered kuvaLayApeeDa, a wild mad, huge elephant to stand in front of the gate. As the boys entered the court the elephant charged at them. kaNNan plucked its tusk and with the same killed the elephant.
puLvAi keeNDa—kamsa sent an asura to kill kriShNa. He took the form of a crane. When kaNNan was grazing the cattle the baka swallowed Him. It burnt like fire when He was in the throat. So he spat Him out unable to bear the pain and tried to peck Him with his beak. kaNNan split the beak and killed him.
marudiDai—kubEra’s two sons naLakoobaLa and maNigreeva got intoxicated and were involved in amorons sports with some apsaras. They were lying naked. When narada muni passed that way the women grabbed their drinks and covered themselves. The men remained so. Sree narada got angry and cursed them to become trees. But on their request modified the curse saying that will be relieved of their curse by kriShNa. Once yaSOda tied Him to a mortar when she could not tolerate His mischief anymore. He crawled dragging the mortar and tried to pass between the twin maruda trees. The two trees fell with a cash. In some pASuras AzhwArs say the trees were haunted by asuras (as found in purANas) ‘orungotta iNai marudam unniya vandavarai’—periyAzhwAr and ‘poi mAya marudAna asurarai’—periyAzhwAr.
mAlum karungaDalE ennOTTrAi? vaiyahamuNDa
Alin ilai tuyinra AzhiyAn kOla |
karumEni SengaNmAl kaNpaDaiyuL enrum
tirumEni nee teeNDa peTTru ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr said ‘pazhudE pala pahalum pOyina’. He thinks whether anyone is like him or is there any fortunate being who has His nitya samslESha; He finds the sea god is that fortunate person ‘ha! ha! Here is the sea god on whom He always lies. How fortunate he is! He never leaves the samudra rAja even for a minute. Oh! King! What tapas did You perform to have His nitya tirumEni sambandha? IF You can't ell me I too shall perform the same and be like You!’
karungaDalE—Though tiruppArkaDal is white it appears dark (karungaDal) due to emberumAn’s nitya sambandha (His reflection falling on the sea). BaTTar in Sree rangarAja stava says ‘api PaNipati BAvAt SuBram antassayALOh maragada sukumAraih rangaBartuh mayooKaih sakala jaladhipAra SyAma jeemoota jaitram puLakayati vimAnam pAvanam lOchanE cha’. tiruvanandAzhwAn himself is the vimAna. Hence it is white in colour. But since the maNi vaNNan lies under him it appears dark even excelling the darkness of kALamEGA. (rain cloud).
karungaDalE---When I am pale due to virahatApa Your are dark since You have nityasamlESha with Him. I am jealous of you.
karungaDal—Every sea is pArkadal, even the salt sea is. ‘uvarkkum karungaDal neeruLLAn’— moonram tiruvandAdi.
kaNpaDai—to lie down—here yOga nidra of emberumAn is meant.
peTTrAi taLai kazhala pErndOr kuraLuruvAi
seTTrAr paDi kaDanda SengaNmAl naTTrAmarai |
malar sEvaDiyai vAnavar kai kooppi
nirai malar koNDu EttuvarAl ninru ||
People of this world and the other worlds were fortunate to worship Him when He was born as kriShNa and trivikrama. I am not that fortunate?
peTTrAi taLai kazhala pErndu—AzhwAr talks about kriShNa avatAra.
peTTrAr—vasudEva and dEvaki.
taLai—chain.
ugrasEna of yaduvamSa was a good king of mathura. His son kamsa was the friend of wicked and foe of good put him in jail and crowned himself as the king. He drove the chariot where his newly married sister dEvaki was sitting with her husband vasudEva. An aSareeri was heard telling ‘Oh! Fool! The eighth child of your sister is your yama’. kamsa was shocked to hear this. He took his sword to kill his sister. vasudEva pleaded with him to spare dEvaki’s life and promised he would hand over all the children born to them. kamsa put them in prison. He killed by smashing the babies on the walls. ‘makkaL aruvarai kalliDai mOda’. However the seventh child stayed for six months in the womb of dEvaki and six months in the womb of rOhiNi, another wife of nandagOpa. This is balarama, brother of kriShNa. Then the 8th child was kriShNa who is Sreeman nArAyaNa Himself born to vasudEva and dEvaki. As soon as He was born the fetters fell of. ‘tandai kAlilperuvilangum tALavizha naLLiruTkaN vanda endai perumAnAr’, ‘tandai kAlil vilangara vandu tOnriya tOnral’---tirumangai AzhwAr.
peTTrAi taLai kazhala pErndOr kuraLuruvAi—Should not be taken to mean vama avatAra comes after kriShNAvatAra. It means ‘He was born as kriShNa who took vAmana avatAra. He is one sarvESwara who takes many forms.
SeTTrAr padi—SeTTrar—enemies (ASrita virOdhi). Here it means mahAbali. paDi—Boomi. emberumAn is the creator. Hence all the created things belong to Him alone. But mahAbali due to ahankAra declared the Boomi as his.
EttuvarAl—dEvas who are more concerned about their well being too worship Him; whereas I was not fortunate to do so.
ninru nilam angai neerETTru moovaDiyAl
senru tiSai aLanda SengaNmArku enrum |
paDaiyAzhi puLLoordi pAmbaNaiyAn pAdam
aDaiyAzhi nenjE! ari || Twenty One ||
AzhwAr addresses his mind ‘Oh! Mind! em swAmi has souSeelya guNa which makes His paratva and one meanness not a matter of concern. He has measured all the worlds with three steps after begging from mahAbali just three feet of land. Do not be afraid of samsAra and your pApas. Doesn’t He carry chakrAyudha in order to destroy our pApas and doesn’t He ride on garuDa, a swift bird, in order to alleviate our sufferings as soon as He hear one cry for help’. AzhwAr says ‘paDai Azhi puLLoordi’.
ariyum ulahellAm yAnEyum allEn
porikoL sirai uvaNam oorndAi verikamazhum |
kAmbEi mentOLi kaDai veNNei uNDAyai
tAmbE koNDArtta tazhumbu || Twenty Two ||
AzhwAr says not only me but the whole world knows about the scar You have on Your tiruvayiru caused by yaSOda pirATTi binding You. When You stole butter and ate the whole lot of it. This reveals the height of soulaBya guNa.
Angoru nAL, AippADi SeerAr kalai alhul SeeraDi senduvar vAi vArAr vana mulaiyAL mattAra paTTrikkoNDu, ErAriDai nOva ettanaiyOr pOdumAi, SeerAr tayir kaDaindu veNNei tiraNDadanai, vErAr nudal maDavAL vErOr kalattil iTTu, nArAr uriyETTri nangamaiya vaittadanai, pOrAr vEn kaN maDavAL pOndanaiyum poyyurakkam, OrAdavan pOl urangi arivuTTru, tArAr taDandOLAl uLLaLavum kai neeTTi, ArAda veNNei vizhungi aruhirunda, mOrAr kuDamuruTTi mun kiDanda tAnattE, OrAdavan pOl kiDandAnai kaNDavaLum, vArA tAn vaittadu kANAL vayiraDittingu, ArAr puhunduvAr aiyarivarallAl, neerAm idu seideer enrOr neDungayiTTrAl, oorArhaL ellArum kANa uralODE, teerA vehuLiyaLAi chikkena Arttu aDippa’--- Siriya tirumaDal.
soulaBya is a guNa which has its value when combined with paratva and the latter is appreciated only when it has soulaBya. paratva alone or soulaBya alone will not be of any help to His aDiyArs. ‘perikOL sirai uvANam oorndAyai’—suggests paratva. uvaNa is suparNa in Sanskrit. It is a name of garuDa.
tazhumbirunda SArnganAN tOindavAm angai
tazhumbirunda tALSahaDam SADi tazhumbirunda |
poongOdai yAL veruva pon peyarOn mArbiDanda
veengOda vaNNar viral || Twenty Three ||
AzhwAr in the previous pASura said ‘tAmbE koNDArtta tazhumbu ariyum ulahellAm’. BagavAn tells AzhwAr—‘Oh! AzhwAr! You say I stole butter, yaSOda found that out, got angry with Me, bound Me to a mortar and I have a scar on my tiruvayiru. I don’t agree with You. I have no such scars!’
AzhwAr laughs and says ‘emberumAn! There is not one scar. There are so many scars on Your body. How can You deny them? Your actions towards Your ASritas leave these scars. As narasimha You tore the chest of hiraNyAsura, an enemy of Your Bakta prahlAda and there is a scar on Your finger. As rAmachandra You were always carrying bow and arrows in order to punish the wicked and protect the riShis, brAhmaNas and munis. There is a scar on Your shoulder. As kriShNa You kicked the SakaTAsura with Your tiny tender foot. There is a scar on Your tiruvaDi’.
SArnganAN tOindavAm angai tazhumbirunda—’chakAsatam jyAkiNBa karkasaih suBaih chaturBi AjAnu viLambiBih Bujaih’—ALavandAr stOtra ratnam. ‘dharmO vigrahavAn adharma viratim dhanvee sa tanveeta’—Sree dESikar’s daSAvatAra stOtra. ‘puNarA ninra maramEzh anru eida oru vilvalavA’.
tAL SahaDam SADi—yaSOda placed the sleeping child under a cart and went to yamuna to take bath. An asura entered the SakaTa and tried to kill kaNNan. But kaNNan pretending to cry for milk kicked the asura and shattered the cart in to pieces.
poongOdai yAL veruva—periya pirATTi who never leaves Him for a minute feared on seeing His narasimha roopa and thought a praLaya might come.
viralODu vAitOinda veNNei kaNDu Aichchi
uralODura piNitta jnAnru kuralOvAdu |
Engi ninaindayalAr kANa irundilaiyE?
OngOda vaNNA! urai || Twenty Four ||
emberumAn denied He had scar on His tiruvayiru. AzhwAr said not only on tiruvayiru. emberumAn! You have scars all over Your body. BagavAn again argues ‘Oh! AzhwAr! I have scars on my finger, shoulders and tiruvaDi but certainly not on my tiruvayiru. The other scars are marks of my heroism but the ‘so called scar’ on my truvayiru is a matter of laughter. I didn’t steal butter; Aichchi never caught me nor did she bind me’. AzhwAr laughs at Him and says ‘swAmi! Don’t hide a huge pumpkin under Your plate. Didn’t You say ‘satyam vada’? Then why do You lie! I am sure yaSOda bound You when she caught You red handed. You certainly dip Your hand into the butter pot and swallowed the whole lot. She saw You, got angry with You, tied You so that You will not run away. You cried bitterly for all the world to know. All the people of AyarpADi—children, women and all—came to see You, laughed at You and said You deserve this punishment. Don’t refute all these’.
Oh! swAmi! You are an avApta samasta kAman. There is no need for You to steal butter to eat it. You are sarvajna and sarva Sakta. There is no need for You to stay bound and cry as if You don’t know how to get out of it! Yet You do all these chEShTitas for the sake of Your Baktas! Wonderful!
OngOda vaNNA—periyavAchchAn piLLai ‘ivanai kaTTivaittadu oru kaDalai tEkki vaittArpOlE kANum’.
urai mEr koNDu ennuLLam OvAdu eppOdum
varaimEl marahadamE pOla tiraimEl |
kiDandAnai keeNDAnai kEzhalAi Boomi
iDandAnai Etti ezhum || Twenty Five ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr told abut kaNNan’s non-stop crying. Now he says he is going to speak non stop about His Seela guNa.
ennuLLam urai mEr koNDu Etti ezhum—My mind is going to think non stop about His chEShTitas and my mouth will speak non stop the same. ‘muDiyAnE moovulahum tozhudEttum’--tiruvAimozhi speaks similar idea.
urai mEr koNDu—Can be read as mEl urai koNDu which means with excellent words I speak of You.
varaimEl marahadamE pOla tiraimEl kiDandAnai—The way He lies in tirupparkaDal is like a huge emerald on a white mEru mountain.
keenDAnai—There is mention of whom. But it is normally understood to be hiraNyAsura. It can be taken to mean the beak of bakAsura, the mouth of kESi.
kEzhalAi keeNDAnai iDandAnai—Taking varAha roopa He first separated the earth form the aNDaBitti and then lifted it.
tiraimEl kiDandAnai keeNDAnai—He lies in tiruppArkaDal thinking about His aDiyArs and worried what harm may come to them, listening to the slightest sound of moaning or crying from them from any part of this earth. He suddenly gets up, takes any suitable form (fish, tortoise, half lion half man,) and runs to their rescue.
AzhwAr says his mind is sustained because of such thoughts.
ezhuvAr viDai koLvAreen tuzhAyAnai
vazhuvA vahaininaindu vaihal tozhuvAr |
vinaisuDarai nanduvikkum vEngaDamE vAnOr
manachchuDarai tooNDum malai || Twenty Six ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr spoke about the cheShTitas of viBavAvatAra. Now he talks of archAvatAra—of tiruvEngaDam, tirumAlirunjOlai and tiruvEngaDam are said to be the breasts of periya pirATTi. ‘tennuyar poruppum deiva vaDa malaiyum ennumivaiyE mulaiyAi vadivamainda’ (periya tirumaDal, AzhwAr enjoys the mountains more than emberumAn residing there since the things associated with Him are more enjoyable than Himself.)
The tirumalai removes the pApas of both ananya prayOjanas (who don’t expect any result) as well as of anya prayOjanas (who except some worldly pleasures).
ezhuvAr—Those greedy men who want more and more not satisfied with that they get and have, get up and go away as soon as they get aiSwarya which they pray from Him.
vinai SuDarai nanduvikkum—He will remove their papas which had been preventing the gain of aiSwarya.
viDai koLvAr—Those who want kaivalya said goodbye to Him as soon as they get it. They don’t return to earth since it is a mOkSha called kaivalya mOkSha.
vinai SuDarai nanduvikkum—will give kaivalya mOkSha after removing the obstacles (pApas)
eentuzhAyAnai vazhuvA vahai ninaindu vaihal tozhuvAr—They are parama Baktas called paramaikAntis.
vinai SuDarai nanduvikkum—He will give them paramapada after destroying their pApas of many janmas which cause repeated births.
Thus tirumalai itself does aniShTa nivritti and iShTa prApti—(removal of duhKa and getting suKa).
nandikkum—means to put out fire.
vAnOr manachchuDarai tooNDum—The malai puts out the fire of pApas of samsAris and kindles the fire of kainkarya desire in nityasooris. The nityasooris who enjoy emberumAn’s paratva in paramapada come down to tirumalai to enjoy His soulaBya.
malaiyAl kuDai kavittu mAvAi piLandu
silaiyAl marAmaramEzh seTTru kolaiyAnai |
pOrkkODu osittanavum poongurundam sAittanavum
kArkkODu paTTriyAn kai || Twenty Seven ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr enjoyed the tirumalai. Now in this pASura He enjoys emberumAn residing in that kShEtra. He enjoys the beauty and strength of His hands which are evident in kriShNAvatAra and rAmAvatAra.
malaiyAl kuDai kavittu—Every year Ayars used to offer food to indra during the festival in order to thank him for giving sufficient rain. But kriShNa asked them to offer the worship and food to the gOvardhana mountain since it gives rain. indra got angry, hungry and humiliated. He poured incessant rain to destroy all the living beings of AyarpADi. kriShNa lifted the gOvardhana mountain as an umbrella and protected them all.
mAvAi piLandu—kamsa sent many asuras to kill kriShNa. One of them is kESi who took the form of a great horse. kaNNan inserted His long arm in to his throat, swashed his teeth, split his mouth into two and thus killed him.
silaiyAl marAmaramEzh seTTru—Sree rAma felled the seven huge sAla trees in order to induce faith in His bravery in the heart of sugreeva who doubted His skill to kill vAli.
poongurundam sAittanavum—kaNNan used to pluck flowers from a kurunda tree. Once an asura entered the tree to kill His clan He climbs. But kaNNan broke the tree and killed the asura.
Thus AzhwAr says these tirukkaihaL (hands) are those that lifted the gOvardhana mountain, split open the mouth of kESi, felled the seven sAla trees and plucked the tusks of kuvaLayApeeDa and broke the kurunda tree.
kaiya valampuriyum nEmiyum kArvANNattu
aiya malarmahaL ninAhattAL seyya |
maraiyAn ninnundiyAn mAmadiL moonreida
iraiyAn nin Ahattu irai || Twenty Eight ||
AzhwAr says tiruvEngadamuDaiyAn reveals His beauty, aiSwarya and Seela guNa in His tirumEni. He has SanKa and chakra in His hands, periya pirATTi in His tirumArbu revealing His aiSwarya; His form is kAr vaNNan (kAr vaNNattu aiya) revealing His beauty; brahma and Siva are in His tirunABi and tirumEni (on the right sie) respectively revealing His Seela guNa.
malar mahaL ninnAhattAL—tiruvEngaDamuDaiyAn has periya pirATTi in His tirumArbu who says ‘ahalahillEn iraiyum’ enru alar mEl mangai urai mArba.’
seyya maraiyan-brahma chants vEdas through His four months ‘vEda mE paramam chakShuh vEdA mE paramama dhanam’— vEdangaLE enakku siranda kaN, vEdangaLE enakku siranda selvam.
mAmadiL moonreida iraiyAn—vidyunmAli, tArakAkSha, kamalAkSha are the three sons of tArakAsura. They performed tapas for a long time and obtained several boons from brahma. They reached three cities that fly in the sky. They traveled in these cities to other places harassing good souls, destroying cities and did all kinds of wicke acts puffed up with pride. dEvas and riShis prayed SivapirAn to save them. Siva took Boomi as the chariot, chandra soorya as wheels, four vEdas as horses, brahma as sArathi, mahAmEru as bow, AdiSESha as bow string, viShNu as feather in arrow, agni as the sharp point of arrow and went to war with the asuras. He laughed as they came charging at him with arms. The fire produced from his laughter burnt them and their three cities.
iraiyAn—rudra who thinks he is eeSwara out of his ahankAra.
ninnAhattu irai—irai has several meanings, one of which is ‘little bit’. AzhwAr says Siva is given the right part of His body and he lies somewhere in some corner of His huge tirumEni. ‘ErALum iraiyOnum tisai muhanum tirumahaLum koorALum tani uDamban’—tiruvAimozhi.
‘tapasA tOShitah tEna viShNunA praBaviShNunA swapArSvE dakShiNE SambOh sivAsah parikalpitah’— mahAviShNu pleased at His tapas gave him the right part of His body to stay.
iraiyum nilamumiruviSumbum kATTrum
araipunalum sendeeyumAvAn piraimaruppin |
paingaNmAl yAnai paDunduyaram kAttaLitta
sengaNmAl kaNDAi teLi || Twenty Nine ||
paramapada is His nitya viBooti and this samsAra maNDala in His leelA viBooti. He is the Supreme Lord of these two viBootis. Though He is so He is not far from His dAsaas. To a mere animal who cried for His help He came running. Thus He has paratva as well as vAtsalya. He has mEnmai as well as neermai.
irai—means swAmi. ‘veeTTrirundu Ezhulahum tanikkOl sella veevil seer ATTral mikkALum ammAn’—tiruvAimozhi. He sits with all the grandeur in paramapada revealing His paratva and swAmitva. This is His Sree vaikuNTha nAthatva or nitya viBootinAthatva.
nialnum-----sendeeyum—leelAviBootinAthatva.
In the famous episode of gajEndra mOkSha, He who is uBaya viBooti nAtha comes at once to the rescue of an animal on hearing his cry.
pirai maruppin paingaN mAl yAnai—The need for such description is---a child falls into a well. The people rescue him. The mother, look at his eyes; his hands and feet look how he is very beautiful; how sad He should fall into a well; Oh! God! Let him live long’ etc. Similarly BagavAn rescued him from the death trap and enjoys the beauty. Oh! Look at his tusks, the whiteness, the crescent moon-like shape, look at his eyes’ and so on.
teLidAha uLLattai senniree jnAna
teLidAha nanguNarvAr sindai eLidAha |
tAinADu kanrEpOl taNDuzhAyAn aDikkE
pOi nADi koLLum purindu || Thirty ||
Some ask AzhwAr ’Oh! AzhwAr! You say Your mind seeks His tiruvaDi. Why not ours do so?’ AzhwAr replies them ‘Oh! Men! First of all stop Your sense organs from roaming among worldly matters. Then realise in Your clear mind the relationship between You and Him in dAsatva and sAmitva (sambandha jnAnam) If You do so Your mind will involuntarily seek His tiruvaDi. Like a calf who has gone out of theherds of cattle seeks his mother among the thousands of cows, so too Your mind will instinctively seek Him. The sambandha jnAna does it. If this jnAna is lacking the mind will seek everything except Him.
puriyoru kai paTTri Or ponnAzhi Endi
ariyuruvum ALuruvumAhi eriyuruva |
vaNNattAn mArbiDanda mAlaDiyaiyallAl maTTru
eNNattAn AmO imai || Thirty One ||
When one thinks of the vAtsalya guNa and ASrita pAratantrya of emberumAn he cannot even dream of thinking and worshipping anyone else than Him. To illustrate this point AzhwAr talks about His narasimhAvatAra.
puri oru kai paTTri Or ponnAzhi Endi—puri here means valamburi SanKa. In all His avatAra the divyAyudhas follow Him. In some they are explicitly seen as in Sree kriShNAvatAra but in some they are not seen as in matsya koorma etc.
ieriyuruvu vaNNattAn—normally asuras are red in colour revealing their rAjasic and tAmasic guNas.
imaiyAda kaNNAl iruLahala nOkki
amaiyA poripulanhaL aindum namaiyAmal |
Aha taNaippAr aNaivarE AyiravAi
nAhattaNaiyAn nahar || Thirty Two ||
There are two interpretations for this pASura. If the word ‘aNaivarE’ is read as an assertion them it gives the sense they will certainly reach paramapada. If, it is read as a question, it gives the meaing ‘will they ever reach paramapada?’
Those who don’t control their senses and let them wander in the worldly pleasures do not go to paramapada but will travel from hell to earth and from earth to hell.
If the word Ahattu aNaivAr means ‘if emberumAn decides to bless them’ there they will certainly reach paramapada.
The first interpretation is with reference to samsAris. The second interpretation is with reference to nirhEtuka krupa katAkSha of emberumAn. This interpretation is accepted by many AchAryas and BAgavatas.
imaiyAda kaN—The eye that does not wink—the inner eye or jnAna chakShus. This eye removes the ajnAna andhakAra. Therefore AzhwAr says ‘iruLahala nOkki’.
poripulanhaL aindum—porihaL aindu and pulanhaL aindu. They are eyes, ears etc—the five indriyas and Sabda etc. The five viShayas.
amaiyA—The indriyas are never satisfied however much they are fed with. They keep demanding for more and more.
naharam aruL purindu nAnmuharku poomEl
pahara maraipayanda paNban peyarinaiyE |
pundiyAl sindiyAdu Odi uru veNNum
andiyAl Am payanangu en || Thirty Three ||
Some people do japa, chanting of vEdas, sandhyAvandanam. These karmas are vEdic injunctions no doubt. But if they are done as mere karmas without Bagavad dhyAna and Bakti they are useless. They attract people and delude them to thinking such men are great.
naharam aruL purindu –A king would provide residential places to important people like ministers, commander etc. near the palace. Similarly BagavAn has given brahma the place on His nABi to reside. He teaches him vEdas, helps him in creation, rescues the vEdas when he loses them by taking avatAras like hamsa etc.
en oruvar meyyenbar EzhulahuNDu Alilaiyil
munnoruvanAya muhil vaNNA ninnuruhi |
pEittAi mulaitandAL pErndilaLAl pEramarkkaN
AittAi mulaitandavAru || Thirty Four ||
AzhwAr says all of the Baktas none equals yaSOda pirATTi. He explains this with an episode. pootana, the rAkShasi sent by kamsa to kill kriShNa, came to AyarpADi disguised as an affectionate mother. She saw kaNNan, put Him on her lap and gave Him her poison-smeared breasts to suck. kaNNan killed her. yaSOda, at once fearing for His safety, gave Him her milk to drink. Will anyone dare feed the baby even after witnessing right front of her a women getting killed by feeding Him? But yaSOda did. This shows her pure Bakti towards Him. Is this true? Yes, since riShis and jnAnis say so. We samsAris enquire ‘is it true’ since we don’t see such an example in this world. Therefore non Baktas don’t believe.
pEramarkkaN—The battle field. AzhwAr says since pootana came to kill kriShNa and kriShNa killed her, it is a battlefield.
pEramarkkaN—if this phrase is applied to yaSOda it means—pEr—big—amar—fighting, kaN— eyes.
Ariya anbilaDiyArtam ArvattAl
kooriya kuTTramA koLLal nee tEri |
neDiyOi aDiyaDaidarkkanrE eeraindu
muDiyAn paDaitta muraN || Thirty Five ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr said no one’s Bakti can equal yaDOda’s. Even the so called great Baktas become kamsas when their Bakti is compared to hers. AzhwAr feels very depressed about it. Thus he pacifies himself saying ‘Well! The prAtikoolya (enemity) of rAvaNa towards rAma caused His next birth as SiSupAla in kriShNa avatAra period. Finally he got mOkSha too. If that be so. even my false love will certainly fetch me Anukoolya (favourable) Pala only’.
The two dwArapAlakas jaya and vijaya of Sree vaikuNTha were cursed by maharShis to be born in rAkShasa kula on earth. Therefore they were born as rAvaNa’s kumBakarNa; hiraNyAkSha and hiraNyakaShipu; and finally as SiSupala and dantavaktra. In the las tjanma SiSupAla and got mOkSha from kriShNa. ‘SETpAl pazham pahaivan SiSupalan tiruvaDi tATpal amainda’. Even thought rAvaNa performed most cruel act of separating pirATTi from perumAn ‘Suri kuzhal kanivai tiruvinai piritta koDumaiyir kaDuviSai arakkan’ he got another janma as SiSupala where he was given mOkSha. Therfore AzhwAr says ‘My supposedly good acts and good thoughts can certainly fetch me good result’.
‘Oh! swAmi! We have only an apparent Bakti. We would have uttered words which we think would please You but in fact were sinful utterances. Please forgive us. You have forgiven the rAkShasa rAvaNa who directly insulted You and gave Him a better janma. Then why not forgive our pseudo Bakti and give us better fruit?
muraNai valitolaidar kAm enrE munnam
daraNi tanadAhattAnE iraNiyanai |
puNNiranda vaLLuhirAr ponnAzhi kaiyAl nee
maNNirandu koNDa vahai || Thirty Six ||
Both hiraNya and mahAbali were proud puffed up with ahankAra. Both of them claimed the Boomi as theirs. But of them You tore hiraNya with Your sharp nails because he caused trouble to Your Bakta prahlAda. The other You approached as vAmana to beg some land, and spared his life. But You curbed his pride. This is due to Your vAtsalya and soulaBya towards those who has Your tiruvaDi sambandha. This teaches the samsAris a lesson that even though we have ahankAra we should seek His tiruvaDi.
iraNiyanai puN niranda vaLLuhirAl ponnAzhi kaiyAl—You could have killed mahAbali too as You did hiraya. But You simply subdued his pride because of Your vAtsalya.
vahaiyaru nuNkELvi vAivArhaL nALum
puhaiviLakkum poompunalum Endi tisai tisaiyin |
vEdiyarhaL senru irainjum vENgaDamE veNSangam
oodiyavAi mAluhanda oor || Thirty Seven ||
AzhwAr enjoys tirumala in the three pASuras. It is the diyva dESa where He likes to reside. vaidikas from different quarters come here and worship Him with dhoopa, deepa, puShpa and teertha. They are vahaiyaru nuN kELvi vAivArhaL—They are so learned that they analyze the SAstras threadbare and know what is real puruShArtha.
veNSangam oodiyavAi mAl—kaNNan blow white conch pAnchajanya during mahABArata war.
oorum variyaravam oNkuravar mAlyAnai
pEra erinda perumaNiyai kAruDaiya |
minnenru puTTraDaiyum vEngaDamE mElasurar
emmennum mAladiDam || Thirty Eight ||
AzhwAr says emberumAn, the Lord of nityasooris, likes to reside in tirumalai. Baktas not only love Him but love all the sentient and insentient beings in this mountains. kulaSEkara AzhwAr says in 4th tiruvAimozhi ‘vEngaDattu kOnEri vazhum kuruhAi pirappEnE’, tiruvEngaDa sunaiyil meenAi pirakkum vidiyuDaiyEnAvEnE’, ‘vEngaDakkOn tAn umizhum pon vaTTil piDittu uDanE puhapperuvEn AvEnE’, ‘vEngaDa malai mEl tambahamAi nirkum tavamuDaiyEnAvEnE’, vEngaDattuL annanaiya porkuvaDAm arundavattan AvEnE’, ‘tiruvEngaDA malai mEl kAnArAi pAyum karuttuDaiyEn AvEnE’, ‘tiruvEngaDa malai mEl neriyAi kiDakkum nilaiyuDaiyEn AvEnE’, ‘vEngaDavA! nin kOyilin vAsal paDiyai kiDandu un pavaLa vAi kaNDEnE’. Thus he desires to get any janma in tirumalai and finally concludes ‘ezhil vEngaDam ennum emberumAn pon malaiyil EdEnum AvEnE’. The riShis and jnAnis like to have emberumAn sambandha in any manner whatsoever. Therefore they take the form of snakes, anthills, elephants, gypsies and so on.
The gypsy man guard the fields at night. When elephants come they throw big diamonds to drive them away. The pythons and serpents moving there fear these shining objects as lightning coming from dark clouds (they think the dark huge elephants as dark clouds). They fear thunder also may come and burry to their ant hills to hide themselves.
In tamizh literature there are two versions—1. The snakes moving in search of prey fear the elephants and run away and 2. The pythons, huge as they are, catch hold of elephants and swallow them. In taniyan pATTu ;kaDugaN yAnai neDungai SErtti, tiDangoNDaraidal tiNNam enranji naDangoL pAmbum viDaraham puhoom tadangoL uchchi tAzhvarai yaDukkattu’—the snakes fear the elephants and run away. In naTTriNai ‘jnAl vai kaLiru pAndaTpaTTena tunjAttuyara tanju piDi poosal neDuvarai viDarahattiyambum kaDumAn pulliya kADirandOrE’; in dEvAram’pariya kaLiTTrai aravu vizhungi mazhunga iruL koornda kariya miDaTTrai seyya mEni kayilai malaiyArE’; in kamba ramAyaNam ‘iDikoL vEzhattai eyiTTrODum eDuttu uDam vizhungum kaDiya mASuNam kaTTrarindavar ena vaDangi saDaikoL senniyar tAzhvilar tAmidittEra tAzhvArai kiDappana pArAi’—these quotations say pythons swallow elephants.
oN kuravar—Great gypsies. What is the greatness about them? periyavAchchAn piLLai ‘ivarhaLuDaiya pATTan pATTanilE oruttan boomiyilE iranginAn ennum pazhi inrikkE irukkai’—the greatness lies in living in tirumalai hill alone no entering any town down the hill. They throw precious stones to drive away animals since such stones are found abundantly on the hills.
kAruDaiya minnenru puTTradaiyum—The snakes think the elephants are huge dark clouds and fear them. kariya mA muhil padalangaL kiDandu avai muzhangiDa kaLirenru periya mASuNam varaiyena peyar taru piridi’—tirumangai AzhwAr.
emmennum—emberumAn affectionately calls the nityasooris as ‘mine’. That is the greatness of them.
iDandadu boomi eDuttadu kunram
kaDandadu kanjanai mun anja kiDandaduvum |
neerOda mAkaDalE ninraduvum vEngaDamE
pErOda vaNNar peridu || Thirty Nine ||
AzhwAr talks of His different chEShTitas—during praLaya. He took mahAvarAha roopa and lifted the Boomi from the aNDa Bitti, when indra out of anger poured incessant rain in AyarpADi He lifted gOvardhana mountain to protect cattle and men. He killed kamsa who was an enemy of vaidikas and aDiyArs; He lies in tiruppArkaDal to listen to the woes of dEvas prior to His avatAras; He stands in tiruvEngaDam revealing His glories as archa moorti easy to approach by anyone. Thus He is always concerned about the aDiyArs. This is His neermai guNa.
periyavAchchAn piLLai—‘nam perumALai uhandOmenru SOTTrai uhappudOm; SOTTrai uhandOmenru nAlum pattum paTTini viDuvudOm; streehaLai uhandOmenru soodu sadurangam porudal urangudal seivudOm; onrilum snEhamillai’—there is a lot of difference between the samsAris and AzhwArs. AzhwArs spend their time in thinking over again and again on the chEShTitas of Him. If they shift their thoughts again it is on a different chEShTita or on different guNa. A man who wants to shift the head load would shift it on his shoulders. Similarly AzhwArs shift their thoughts from one guNa to other. They don’t keep the load down and walk away like samsAris. The samsAris are always deeply involved in worldly matters even there they don’t stick to one thing. They want to go to temple to worship Him but enjoy the prasAda only; they say they like to eat well but fast on this day and that day; they say they should go to a brothal to enjoy women but instead they go there to gamble, play dice and drink wine and sleep. AzhwArs desires are for emberumAn, their thoughts are on Him, they speak of Him and enjoy His chEShTitas alone. If they shift it is from one guNa to other, from one chEShTita to other.
peruvil pahazhi kuravarkai sendee
veruvi punam turanda vEzham iru visumbil |
meen veezha kaNDanjum vEngaDamE mElasurar
kOn veezha kaNDuhandAn kunru || Forty ||
tirumalai is the divya dESa where resides emberumAn who killed hiraNyAsura since he was the Bakta’s enemy and felt happy to save prahlAda. He stands there revealing His ASrita pakShapAta.
The gypsies carry bow and arrow and go to the fields to guard at night. They carry burning torches with them. The elephants run away on seeing the fire. On the way they see the bright meteors falling on the earth. They think the men had thrown fire torches at them. Similarly AzhwArs like periyAzhwAr fear for the safety of emberumAn even though they know His paratva. This is called asthAnE Baya Sanka. They sing pallANDu to Him (long live emberumAn). ‘asthAnE Baya Sankai paNNi emberumAnukku mangaLASAsanam paNNuhira mahaneeyarhaLin iruppai ninaippooTTinAr’.
kunranaiya kuTTram seyyinum guNam koLLum
inru mudalAha en nenjE enrum |
puranuraiyE Ayinum ponnAzhi kaiyAn
tiranuraiyE sindittu iru || Forty One ||
AzhwAr talks about His vAtsalya guNa. He tells his mind ‘Oh! nenjE! There are people who sing His prais e from their hearts. But we are not like that. What little that we say about Him are from our lips only. BagavAn like it since it is about Him even though they are false. He takes thus to be true. ‘mitra BAvEna samprAptam na tyajEyam kathanchana’—Sreemad ramAyaNa. (Even though he comes feigning friendship he should not be rejected. Because of His vAtsalya guNa He takes all actions and all words uttered as true. Even when we commit sins as big as mountain He interprets them as good actions ‘ennaDiyAr adu seyyAr seidArEl nanru seidAr’—periyAzhwAr.
emberumAn enjoys infinite suKa in Sree vaikuNTha surrounded by nityasooris and muktas. Yet He is worried about the samsAris alone. Like a father who has several sons one of whom is abroad and the rest are with him, thinks always of the missing son and is not happy about the other sons who are near him, He is sad that the other jeevas are not near Him. In order bring them He gives them indriyas, manas, buddhi etc, four vEdas to follow the right path, upaniShads to understand tatvatraya, sends AchAryas to teach them all. He also enters all jeevas as antayAmi but is a witness if they go the wrong way. He waits for a suitable opportunity to grab them if they do any puNya karma. But alas! They don’t seem to do anything right. Hence He takes any involuntary dharmic acts as voluntary puNya karmas and gives them a better chance to go further on the journey to mOkSha. For instance a man ardently in love with a harlot finds that she always visits a viShNu temple on Fridays, follows her to the temple in order to see her. BagavAn takes it as puNya karma done by him. A farmer drives away a cow with a cane as it has entered into his field and the cow to evade the lane goes round (pradakShiNa) a temple. The farmer too follows the animal with the raised stick. BagavAn is happy that this man is doing pradakShiNa of His temple. There is an atheist who curses BagavAn by calling His names like gOvinda etc. but BagavAn considers the act as chanting His names (nAma sankeertana). He says ‘en oorai sonnAi, en pErai sonnAi’. Hence AzhwAr says puranuraiyE Ayinum ponnAzhikkaiyAn tiranuraiyE sindittiru’.
kunranaiya kuTTram seyyinum guNam koLLum—There are two interpretations. 1. We do lots of sinful acts but BagavAn considers only our good acts and ignores these sinful acts. 2. We do lots of sinful acts which He takes as good acts if done by His aDiyArs.
In the first interpretation it is understood we do both good and bad acts of which emberumAn takes into account the former and ignores the latter. In varadarAja stava, koorattAzhwAn says ‘akrta sukrtakas suduShkruttarah SuBaguNa lavalESadESAdhikah aSuBaguNaparasahasrAvrutah varadamurudayam gatim tvAm vruNE’—there are no good acts done by a man; he does nothing but bad acts. Therefore we feel the second interpretation is more appropriate.
We want to further elaborate on this statement. There are many schools of thought—One is vEda bAhya—who don’t accept the authority as vEda; the other is vEda sammata but are called kudriShTi mata who accept vEda’s authority but twist the meaning of the vEdic statements like nirguNa vAdins; some accept vEdas and Bagavad guNas but say they are limited. Ours is sAtvika siddhAnta which say vEdas are authorities, BagavAn had infinite guNas. nammAzhwAr says ‘uyarvara uyarnalam uDaiyavan evanavan’. emberumAnAr says ‘anavadhikAtiSaya asamKyEya kalyANa guNa gaNouGa mahArNava’. If these guNas vAtsalya tops the list. there are two definitions for vAtsalya –1. To ignore aDiyAr’s dOShas is vAtsalya 2. To take even dOSha as vAtsalya. The argument against the second definition is—The vEdic injunctions are useless; everyone can suppose they can do any kind of sinful acts and justify them by saying BagavAn will take them as guNas. Sruta prakASika in samanvayAdhikaraNa of Sree BAShya accepts the second definition. If BagavAn does not takes our dOShas as guNas there is guNa hAni for Him (we should say He does not have such a guNa—which makes Him less by one kalyANa guNa falsifying AzhwAr’s statement ‘uyarvara uyarnalam uDaiyavan’ and also Sree rAmAnuja’s statement ‘asamKyEya kalyANa guNa gana’ ) .
There is another argument—When guNa is imagined as dOSha, thus it becomes only our imagination not real i.e. brAntijnAna. One who is jnAna swaroopa cannot have such brAntijnAna. One who is jnAna swaroopa cannot have such brAntijnAna. The answer is—this brAntijnAna of BagavAn is due to to His great love for His Baktas not out of ajnana. He who declared all the created things are His Sareera and He is the Sareeri (Atma) says in another place ‘jnAni tu Atmaiva mE matam’. Is this brAntijnAna? He who is the SEShee of all is the SESha to His Baktas. He who is sarvESwara becomes the charioteer of His Baktas. Can we call this as dOSha? periyAzhwAr out of love for Him does mangalASAsana (pallANDu, pallANDu) to emberumAn who is sarvarakShaka. Can we call it brAntijnAna? ANDAL in order to obtain kaNNan performed nOnbu, worshipped kAmadEva and went out in search of Him—can we call all these as dOSha? ‘jnAna vipAka kAryamAna ajnAnattAlE varumavai ellAm aDikkazhanju perumE ) aDikkazhanju—greater than the greatest)—Sree vachana BooShaNa. Therefore ‘dOShE guNatva buddhi’ and the statement ‘kuTTram seyyinum guNam koLLum’ is a great kalyANa guNa.
Some argue—one who does not know dOSha has ajnAna and one who takes dOSha as guNa has anyathAjnAna (mistaken knowledge). Does BagavAn has anyathAjnAna? NO. If anyone says yes he is not different from advaitavAdin who says brahman has ajnAna.
siddhAntins says BagavAn has both the guNas—dOSha adarSitva (not looking at dOSha) and dOShaBOgyatva (taking dOSha as guNa). But some accept only dOSha adarSitva not dOSha BOgyatva. But the truth is dOSha adarSitva is the first step of preeti (love) and dOSha BOgyatva is the final step of love.
Arguments and counter arguments can thus go on without coming to an end. This is the dOSha of an argument. piLLAn says ‘SAstrangaL ellAm oru taTTum avanuDaiya kalyANa guNa prasaram oru taTTumAi irukkum’.
He has infinite kalyANa guNas, ‘kEvalam svEchchayA aham prEKE kanchit kadAchana’—(I decide to whom, where and when I should do kaTAkSha) No one should commit sinful acts just because He has kShamA guNa (forgiveness) or dOShadarSitva or dOShaBOgyatva. Therefore it should be concluded that He says ‘if a sin is committed without knowing by my aDiyArs or if committed for a good cause then they are considered as guNa by me’.
Sree dESikar in varadarAja panchASat says ‘leaving great abodes like paramapada and tiruppArkaDal etc. You have come to reside in my Sareera who is a mahApApi’. ‘mangavOTTun mAmAyai’ tiruvAimozhi speaks of the dOShaBOgyatva. ‘poinninra jnAnamum pollAvozhukkum azhukkuDambumAna nampOlvarhaLin SareerattilE virumbi uraihinra emberumAnin dOSha BOgyan enna iSaiyAdAr chArvAkAdihaLaiyE nallAr AkkinArhaL’—jnAnappirAn. ‘ippaDi emberumAnukkuLLa dOShaBOgyatva guNattai sAgrahamAha illai seyyum avarhaL nirguNa brahmavAdi kODiyilE antarbavikkai azhahidu’—eNNuvAriDaraikkaLaivAn piLLai.
To conclude the long argument we want to say only this—there are innumerable kalyANa guNas in emberumAn. Of them these guNas, which declare His love towards His dAsas are the pradhAna guNas (important) Therefore dOShaBOgyatva and paraduhKitva (to feel duhKa on seeing the others duhKa) reveal the love towards others. About those who keep arguing against this we can only say ‘karuvilE tiruvilAdAr’.
tirumahaLum maNmahaLum AimahaLum sErndAl
tirumahaTkE teerndavAru en kol tirumahaL mEl |
pAlOdam sinda paDa nAhaNai kiDanda
mAlOda vaNNar manam || Forty Two ||
What is the reason for His dOSha BOgyatva? The reason is He is with SreedEvi, BoodEvi and neeLAdEvi.
AzhwAr asks ‘pAlOdam sinda paDanAhaNai kiDanda mAlOda vaNNaradu tirumahaL mEl (vaitta) manamAnadu tirumahaTkE teerndavAru en kol?’ There are two interpretations. tirumalai anandAzhwAn interprets it thus—The phrase ‘teerndavAru en kol’ should bee added separately like ‘tirumahaTkE teerndavAru en kol’ ‘maN mahaTkE teerndavAru en kol’ ‘AimahaTkE teerndavAru en kol’. The meaning of this is explained with a story—Soubari was a riShi who was performing tapas under water. He saw some pairs of fish playing happily with each other. He had a sudden desire to enter into grihasthASrama. He went to the king mAndAta who had many daughters of marriageable age. He asked the king to give his daughter in marriage. On seeing his ugly odd face and form the king did not like to take him as his son-in-law but was afraid to openly refuse his request. So he told him to go to the harem where the daughters are and ask their consent. The king thought he won't be cursed by the riShi if the daughters refuse. But the riShi took a very youthful handsome form and went to the harem. There were 50 daughters of the king who fell immediately in love with him. All of them married the riShi. Because of his tapObalal the riShi built 50 palaces with all amenities, took 50 forms and engaged in amorous sports with each of them. Each girl thought that she was more fortunate than the others. The king was surprised at His Sakti. Similarly emberumAn enjoys the company of the three dEvis individually and simultaneously each one feeling the enjoyment is more than the others.
BaTTar gives a different interpretation—When emberumAn is enjoying the company of periya pirATTi the other two dEvis would feel He is having samslESha with them only. In his Sree guNaratnakOSa he says ‘Oh! periya pirATTi! When You and periya perumAL are together the other dEvis act like sandal paste, flower etc.
teerndavAru—To engage the mind fully on the object without shifting the attention anywhere. ‘tAmarai kaNhaLukku aTTru teerndOm’—tiruvAimozhi.
manamAsu teerum aruvinaiyum sArA
danamAya tAnE kaikooDum punamEya |
poonduzhayAnaDikkE pOdODu neerEndi
tAm tozhA nirpar tamar || Forty Three ||
AzhwAr in the last pASura said pirATTimArs are always present near Him. Hence no one need to hesitate to go near Him. One should worship with teertha, puShpa etc. according to his Sakti. then the dOShas of mind like ahankAra, ajnAna, viShaya anurAga (attachment to worldly matters) etc. go away; the pApa karmas which are the cause for all these dOShas get burnt (aruvinaiyum sArA); Then the parma Bakti reveals itself (danamAya tAnE kooDum).
poonduzhAyan aDikkE—He wears tuzhasi mAla as a mark of sarvarakshakatva. The tuzhasi is ever fresh, in fact fresher than when it was unplucked.
aruvinaiyum sArA—The pApa karmas can be exhausted only experiencing duhKa. They cannot be removed by any other means. Only Bakti and prapatti can do that magic.
danamAya—To AzhwArs and BAgavatas Bakti alone is wealth. ‘ninnaiyE tAn vENDi neeL selvam vENDAdAn’—kulaSEkara AzhwAr.
tamaruhandadu evvuruvam avvuruvam tAnE
tamaruhandadu eppEr maTTrappEr tamaruhandu |
evvaNNam sindittu imaiyAdirupparE
avvaNNam AzhiyAnAm || Forty Four ||
AzhwAr said in the last pASura what happens if He is worshipped with Bakti. Now he further elucidates on that point. He will take any form in any material—mud, metal, stone, etc—that the aDiyArs use and invoke Him. He will accept any name given by them as good as nArAyaNa nAma. Again the superimposed guNas and chEShTitas He makes them true. This is the soulaBya of archAvatAra. periyavAchchAn piLLai gives some incidents to prove these points—‘emberumAnAr madhukarattirku ezhundaruLAnirka sila piLLaihaL kAlAlE keeri ‘ummuDaiya emberumAn tirumEni’ enru kATTa pATrattai vaittu daNDaniTTaruLinAr’—Sree rAmAnujar was walking with a BikshA pAtra in his hand to beg food. At that time some children playing in the street drew some figure with SanKa and chakra and said ‘uDaiyavarE! Here is Your perumAL’. uDaiyavar thought of this pASura immediately did SAShTAnga namaskAra to that figure.
kOyililE sila piLLaihaL viLaiyADuhiravarhaL tiruveediyilEyirundu perumALum nAichchimArum periya tirumaNDapamum karpittu perum tiruppAvADaiyum amudu seivittu ‘ emberumAnAr! prasAdappaDum’ enru maNalai kaiyAlE muhandeDukka, tatkAlattilE madhukarattirkku ezhundaruLuhinra uDaiyavar avviDattilE adu kETTaruLi daNDaniTTu avarhaL eDutta prasAdattai pAtrattilE ETTrAr enru jeeyar aruLicheidAr’—Some children were playing near the temple imagining perumAL, tAyAr, maNDapa etc. and were having mud in the coconut shell as prasAda. They called out ‘jeeyA’ as they do in the temple, Sree rAmAnujar passing that way for BikSha came immediately and stood submissively saying ‘nAyindE’ and received the ‘prasAda’ in his bowl.
‘engaLAzhwAr pADE AyardEvu senru nAvarpazham vENDa, nee yAr enru avar kETka ‘jeeyar mahanAna AyardEvu’ enna, jeeyaraikkaNDu ‘ummuDaiya piLLai engaLai kuDiyirukka oTTuhirilan’ enrAr’—nanjeeyar’s tiruvArAdhana perumAL was ‘AyardEvu’. He appeared in the dream of engaLAzhwAn, the SiShya of tirukkuruhai pirAn piLLAN, and begged some naval pazham from him. He won't go till He got some. The next day he met nanjeeyar and said ‘Your perumAL is pestering me for some nAvalpazham’. What kaNNan desired in viBavAvatAra He desired the same in archAvatAra too.
AmE amararku ariya adu nirka
nAmE arihirpOm nannenjE poomEya |
mAdavattOn tALpaNinda vALarakkan neeNmuDiyai
pAdamattAl eNNinAn paNbu || Forty Five ||
There is a story--Once rAvaNa sought the tiruvaDi of brahma with one head (hiding the other heads) But BagavAn lying on the lap of brahmha as a baby told brahma ‘Oh! brahma! This is none other than rAvaNa. He has come with one head to disguise his identity and has come to get some boons from you. If you give them he will use them to terrorize good souls’. Then He showed brahma the ten heads by counting them with His small tiruvaDi.
This episode is not found in any purANa or itihAsa, but AzhwAr says so. Even in moonrAm tiruvandAdi AzhwAr says ‘Ainda arumaraiyOn nAnmuhattOn nangurangil vaindu kuzhaviyal vALarakkan Einda muDippOdu moonrEzh enru eNNinAn Arnda aDippOdu nangaTkaraN’ tirumazhisai AzhwAr in nAnmuhan tiruvandAdi says ‘koNDu kuDangAl mEl vaitta kuzhaviyAi daNDavarakkan talai tALAl paNDu eNNippOngumaran’.
AchAryAs says what is not found in purANas and itihAsas, the AzhwArs do see in these jnAna druShTi. ‘seemAlihan avanODa tOzhamai koLLavum vallAi sAmAru avanai nee eNNi chakkarattAl talai koNDAi’—peiryAzhwAr and ‘elliyam pOdu inidiruttal irundadOr iDavahaiyir mallihai mA mAlai koNDu angu Arttadum Or aDaiyALam’—periyAzhwAr. These episodes are not found in purANas.
nAmE arihirpOm—can be taken to mean 1. What the dEvas don’t know we only know. 2. When even dEvas don’t know how can we know.
paNpurinda nAnmaraiyOn senni baliyETTra
veNpurinool mArban vinaiteera puNpurinda |
AhattAn tALpaNivAr kaNDeer amarartam
bOgattAl boomiyALwAr || Forty Six ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr spoke about His anugraha to brahma; now he speaks of His anugraha to Siva. Once SivaperumAn who did not like brahma to have five heads like him cut off one head. the head (kapAla) stuck to his hand and would not leave. riShis and dEvas told him that he should beg BikSha in that kapala and when the skull gets filled it will leave his hand. Siva did so but it didn’t get filled. Finally he went to Sreeman nArAyaNa who split open His chest and poured blood in to it. The kapAla left his hand. Therefore AzhwAr say ‘nAn maraiyOn senni baliyETTra veNpurinool mArban vinai teera’.
Those who worship His tiruvaDi who blessed brahma and Siva will certainly rule over both nityaviBooti and leelAviBooti.
vAri surukki madakkaLiru aidinaiyum
sEri tiriyAmal senniree kooriya |
meijnAnattAl uNarvAr kANbarE mElorunAL
kainnAham kAttAn kazhal || Forty Seven ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr said ‘puN purinda AhattAn tAL paNivAr kaNDeer amarartam bOgattAl Boomi AlwAr’ . Who can seek His tiruvaDi? He answers them ‘those who control the indriyas’.
The indriyas are like mad elephants very difficult to control. vAri—water. If they are on land they are very powerful but if they are inside the water they can be easily caught by crocodiles. Similarly if the indriyas go wayward they suffer like elephants inside the water. Hence one should control them (vAri surukki). Again in the second line AzhwAr says sEri tiriyamal senniree’ since he wants to stress the point that they are difficult to control.
Those who are able to achieve this difficult task and do Bakti with jnAna they will certainly enjoy His tiruvaDi sambandha.
kainnAham—gajEndra is such an adhikAri (fit person).
kazhalonru eDuttu orukai SuTTri Or kaimEl
suzhalum surAsurarhaL anja azhalum |
seruvAzhi EndinAn sEvaDikkE sella
maruvAzhi nenjE mahizh || Forty Eight ||
AzhwAr tells his mind to seek His tiruvaDi and be happy about it. Sree vAmana moorti received the BoodAna from mahAbali and measured it as trivikrama moorti. Immediately namuchi, the son of mahAbali, stopped Him ‘What is this! You are cheating my father!’ and hold firmly His tiruvaDi.
BagavAn—namuchi! Why do you stop me? Can't I measure what I have got as dAna?
namuchi—But You are cheating!
BagavAn—Do you deny what your father gave me as dAna as not mine?
namuchi—My father is innocent. He does not know Your fraudulent ways.
BagavAn—Why do you call me a cheat?
namuchi—If You are truthful, measure the land with the vAmana roopa in which You received the dAna.
BagavAn—I cannot do so. Look! This body keeps changing every minute. How can you say I should measure it with the Sareera I had before?
namuchi still did not allow Him to measure. He caught hold of His tiruvaDi with His hands. BagavAn lifted him with His tiruvaDi, whirled him in the air, dropped him down. ‘ennidu mAyam ennappan arindilan munnariya vaNNamE koNDaLavAi enna mannu namuchiyai vAnil suzhaTTriya’— periyAzhwAr.
suzhalum surAsurar anja—suzhalum surarhaL anja and suzhalum asurarhaL anja. suzhalum—worried. The dEvas were worried about the success of His mission. There are many hurdles even from the beginning—first SukrAchArya prevented bali from giving the vAmana the dAna; the king could not pour water as the hole was blocked by SukrAchArya; after the dAna there was namuchi who prevented Him from measuring.
The asuras were worried what BagavAn would do to them taking this extraordinary vAmana roopa.
AzhwAr tells his mind not to worry like suras and asuras but be happy to worship trivikrama’s tiruvaDi.
mahizhalahu onrE pOl mArum palyAkkai
nehizha muyalhirpArkku allal muhizhvirinda |
sOdipOl tOnrum suDarpon neDumuDi en
Adi kANbArkkum aridu || Forty Nine ||
mahizh alahu –The seed of mahizhampoo is used by mathematicians and accountants to count. They place the seed as the smallest number (kaNisthAna) at one time and use the same seed on the highest digit (kOdisthAna). Similarly our body gets the lowest janma at one time and highest janma at other time. Those who desire to avoid these janmas and get a no-janma status should worship Him. Only such people get it but not those who keep quiet not bothered about the janmas.
ariya pulanaindaDakki Aimalar koNDu Arvam
puriya parisinAl pulhil periyanAi |
mATTrAdu veeTTrirunda mAvalipAl vaNkaineer
ETTrAnai kANbadeLidu || Fifty ||
Controlling all the senses from wandering among the matters of the world, if one uses them towards Bagavad ArAdhana and approach Him with Bakti offering selected flowers at His tiruvaDi He is very easy to get.
eLidil irANDaDiyum kANbadarku ennuLLam
teLiya teLidozhiyum sevvE kaLiyil |
porundAdavanai poraluTTru ariyAi
irundAn tirunAmam eN || Fifty One ||
‘Oh! Mind! If you chant His names with all love He will definitely destroy your virOdhis (enemies) and makes Himself yours like He killed hiraNyAsura (enemy) and presented Himself to prahlAda (His dAsa). For that you should possess a clear mind and pure thoughts. How do you get it?—by chanting His names.
eNmar padinoruvareeraruvar Oriruvar
vaNNa malarEndi vaihalum naNNi |
orumAlaiyAl paravi OvAdu eppOdum
tirumAlai kaittozhuvar senru || Fifty Two ||
The lightly egoistic, arrogant dEvas think they are the eeSwaras. Even such dEvas worship Him with garland made up of different kinds of excellent flowers and words. The 33 dEvas mentioned here are upalakShaNa for 33 kOTi dEvas. ‘iru nAlvar eeraindin mEloruvar eTTOdora nAlvar Oriruvar’— periya tiruvandAdi.
senrAl kuDaiyAm irundAl singAsanamAm
ninrAl maravaDiyAm neeL kaDaluL enrum |
puNaiyAm aNiviLakkAm poompaTTAm pulhum
aNaiyAm tirumArku aravu || Fifty Three ||
pulhum aNaiyAm – When periya pirATTi leaves Him out of love anger he becomes the pillow to hug. Since he does all kinds of kainkarya at all times he is called SESha (dAsa). ALavandAr says ‘nivAsa saiyyasana pAdukamsukOpadAna varShAtapa vAraNAdiBih Sareera BEdaistava SEShatAngataih yathOchitam SESha iteeritE janaih’ piLLai perumAL aiyangAr in tiruvarangattu mAlai says—‘senrAl kuDaiyAm kaDarpuNaiyAm tiurteevihaiyAm ninrAl iruttiruppAduhaiyAm nittiraikkaNaiyAm kunra maNiyoLiyAsanamAm paunai kOSihaiyAm anrAlilaiyil tuyil arangESarkku aravarasE’.
aravamaDalvEzham An kurundam puLvAi
kuravai kuDamulaimar kunram karavinri |
viTTiruttu mEitosittu keeNDu kOttADi uNDu
aTTeDutta sengaNavan || Fifty Four ||
In last pASura AzhwAr said anandAzhwAn does all sorts of kainkarya at all times. Hence he says in order to kill the Asrita virOdhi He leaves even the paramapada and its BOga to come down to earth to uproot the adharma and establish dharma.
All the nouns are grouped together and all the verbs are grouped together respectively. This style is called ‘yathAsanKyAlankAra’ in Sanskrit and ‘niraniraiyaNi’ in tamizh. There is no full stop in the pASura. AzhwAr enjoys His chEShTtas so much that he does not end the sentence.
avan tamarevvinaiyarAhilum engOn
avantamarE enrozhivadallAl namantamarAl |
ArAyapaTTariyAr kaNDeer aravaNaimEl
pErAyarkku ATpaTTAr pEr || Fifty Five ||
AzhwAr says even yama BaTTas are afraid of going near BAgavatas. yama is appointed by BagavAn to keep an account of all the pApas and puNya karmas of all the jeevas, and the BaTTas are employed by yama to execute his orders. Even they are ordered not to touch the viShNu bakts. They salute them saying these BAgavatas are very powerful that even BagavAn is a dAsa to them. They know that even if periya pirATTi who does puruShakAra tells Him that this BAgavata has committed this sin He says ‘ennaDiyAr adu seyyAr seidArEl nanru seidAr’ and protects them at all costs at all times from all sins.
yama ordered them ‘Oh! BaTTas! Don’t go near viShNu Baktas; don’t commit any apachAra to them; go away if you happen to see them’. ‘tirambEnmin kaNDeer tiruvaDi tan nAmam marandum puram tozhA mAndar irainjiyum sAduvarhaLAi pOduminhaL enrAn namanum tan tooduvarai koovi sevikku’—nAnmuhan tiruvandAdi. ‘swapuruSham aBiveekShaya pASahastam vadati yamah kila tasya karNamoolE parihara madusoodana praBuraham anya nruNAm na vaiShNavAnAm’—Sree viShNu purANam. ‘keDum iDarAyavellAm kESavA enna nALum koDuvinai seyyum kooTTrin tamarhaLum kuruhahillAr’—tiruvAimozhi ‘venri koNDa veeranAr vEru seidu tammuL ennai vaittiDAmaiyAl naman, kooru seidu koNDu iranda kuTTram eNNa vallanE’—tiruchchanda viruttam.
aravaNaimEl pErAyarkku ATpaTTAr pEr ArAyapaTTariyAr kaNDeer—Even if a non-Bakta has the name of a BAgavata he is not approached by yama BaTTa.
pErE varappidaTTral allAl em pemmAnai
ArE arivAr adu nirka nErE |
kaDikkamalattu uLLirundum kANgilAn kaNNan
aDikamalam tannai ayan || Fifty Six ||
AzhwAr says no one knows the truth of emberumAn however close he may be. A man living on the shore of the sea does not know the depth of it. Similarly brahma born in the nABi kamala and living there fore ever does not know Him fully. If he cannot know how can we as this earth know Him? Therefore whatever we utter becomes His name and we utter them without knowing its full meaning. But we hear abut ‘brahmajnAni’ ‘brahmavit’ who know and realized Him. How is it possible? AzhwAr says these brahmajnAnis are not those who have known Him fully but are men who know He cannot be known fully.
A calf calls ‘ammA’ and the cow runs to it immediately out of love. Similarly we call Him by any name without knowing its meaning but He comes to us at once as the cow to the calf. So we need not worry thinking we don’t know Him well!
ayaninra valvinaiyai anjinEn anji
uyanin tiruvaDiyE sErvAn nayaninra |
nanmAlai koNDu namOnAraNA ennum
sonmAlai kaTTrEn tozhudu || Fifty Seven ||
AzhwAr says ‘I still have the terrible pApas with me’. I fear them for they can drown me in samsAra sAgara. Then I had an idea that if I seek His tiruvaDi I will extricate myself from their sambandha. But how to do it? Well! I found there is a way and it is to speak about Him alone and nothing else. Hence I started singing these pASuras which explain the meaning of tirumantra.
The tirumantra explains five things—paramAtma swaroopa, jeevAtma swaroopa, upAya swaroopa, virOdhi swaroopa and puruShArtha swaoopa. AzhwAr’s prabandha also speaks of this artha panchaka only.
tozhudu malar koNDu doobam kaiyEndi
ezhudum ezhuvAzhi nenjE pazhudinri |
mandirangaL karpanavum mAlaDiyE kaitozhuvAn
andaramonrillai aDai || Fifty Eight ||
The very purpose of learning SAstras is to worship Him. If you are able to do the worship don’t waste your time in learning them. Gather some good flowers, take dhoopa, deepa etc. go now to the temple, worship Him. Don’t waste time’.
When AzhwAr asks his mind ‘malar koNDu doopam Endi tozhudu ezhudum ezhu’ . The mind immediately obeys him. So he says ‘vAzhi nenjE’ He wishes his wavering mind would not change.
pazhudinri karpanavum—The very purpose of learning SAstras from the guru is to understand Him, love Him and worship Him. If one can do so then why waste time in leaving SAstras? you cannot afford to waste time for life is short. So do it now.
aDainda varuvinaiyODu allal nOi pAvam
miDaindavai meeNDozhiya vENDil nuDangiDaiyai |
mun ilangai vaittAn muraNazhiya munnorunAL
tanvilangai vaittAn SaraN || Fifty Nine ||
your only way out of all kinds of hurdles which are in the form of pApa karmas, duhKas, diseases etc. is to seek His tiruvaDi and do SaraNAgati to Him. He will certainly take care of you. In rAmAvatAra He killed rAvaNa who refused to surrender to Him out of ahankAra. But He would rescue the aDiyArs if they seek Him as rakShaka as He did for seeta pirATTi.
SaraNAm maraipayanda tAmaraiyAnODu
maraNAya mannuyirhaTkellAm araNAya |
pErAzhi koNDa pirAnanri maTTrariyAdu
OrAzhi soozhnda ulahu || Sixty ||
It is the law of nature that if you want to attain something only you have to try to get it. But AzhwAr says in the case of mOkSha puruShArtha if you want to attain Him, He alone is the upAya. Why? because our buddhi is limited and our indriyas are limited. Thus limited by so many factors it is not possible for us to reach Him who is infinite, sarvajna and sarva SaktimAn. The sat sampradAya is—He alone is upAya and upEya. He is the means and the end. If a man loses his treasure he has to go in search of if, get it and enjoy it. It is not, however, the job of the treasure to go in search of its master. BagavAn is the owner and we are His property. If we are lost (in the midst of worldly affairs) He has to come in search of us and feel happy on obtaining us. Sree rAmAnuja in Sree BAShya says ‘parama puruShah jnAninam laBdhvA’. This theory has the consent of vEdas and vaidikas.
SaraNam marai payanda—He who is the upAya for all the jeevas right from brahma upto an ant. There is no other upAya.
araNAya pErAzhi koNDa pirAnanri maTTrariyAdu OrAzhi soozhnda ulahu—This can be taken to mean ‘The world surrounded by sea does not know anything other than emberumAn who carries chakrAyudha. Here ulahu is taken to mean people. But all the people do not know emberumAn. Hence the word ulahu means only jnAnis. nanjeeyar interpreted it this way. BaTTar said ‘if ulahu is taken to mean jnAnis then the adjective of ulahu ‘Azhisoozhnda’ does not go with it. Hence the sentence should be taken to mean this world surrounded by seas does not know what is good for them—(OrAzhi soozhnda ulahu araNAya ariyAdu) only emberumAn knows (pErAzhikoNDa pirAn anri).
ulahum ulahiranda oozhiyum oNkEzh
vilahu karungaDalum verpum ulahinil |
sendeeyum mArudamum vAnum tirumAltan
pundiyilAya puNarppu ||Sixty One ||
AzhwAr said in the last pASura that the world does not know Him, only He knows what is good for them. The reason for this is He is the creator who created all the jagats out of His sankalpa alone. Thus there is an inseparable sambandha between Him and the world. He is the protector who protects all the created objects by placing them in His tiruvayiru during praLaya. Again He brings them back by His nirhEtuka kaTAkSha (uncontidioned love). He gives the jeevas avayavas (limbs) indriyas, buddhi, manas etc, provides them with SAstra in order to attain mOkSha. Therefore He alone is the upAya.
puNarmarudinooDu pOi poongurundam sAittu
maNamaruvamAl viDaiyEzh seTTru kaNamveruva |
Ezhulahum tAyinavum eNDisaiyum pOyinavum
soozharava pongaNaiyAn tOL || Sixty Two ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr said all the jagats with charAchara are His creations. Not only does He create but takes care of them too. A gardner not only plants but takes good care of it by plucking out the weeds too. Thus His hands do so many jobs like crawling between the twin maruda trees to fell them; break the kurunda tree full of flowers, kill the seven powerful bulls in order to marry nappinnai pirATTi; measure the worlds and spread Himself in all directions. He who does all these lies on tiruvanandAzhwAn who is cool, soft cozy bed for Him. Being a rakShaka He cannot lie on the bed for a long time. He gets up and does all these acts out of great love for His Baktas. AzhwAr is very grateful for His love.
tOLavanai allAl tozA ensevi iraNDum
kELavanadu in mozhiyE kETTirukkum nAnALum |
kONAhaNaiyAn kuraikazhalE kooruvadE
nANAmai naLLEn nayam || Sixty Three ||
AzhwAr says all his indriyas desire to serve Him only. Even if I ask my hands to do anjali to a king or any boss they refuse to do so but insist on doing anjali to Him alone. Even I ask my ears to hear the gossip they refuse to do so and desire to hear His kathAmruta only. Similarly my tongue does not gossip but sings the glories of my swAmi. Thus all my indriyas are very firm in their stand. Therefore I don’t go after worldly things as samsAris shamelessly do.
kEL—relations. ‘sElEi kaNNiyarum perum selvamum nan makkaLum nalla tAi tandaiyarum avanE iniyAvarE’. Thus He is all my bandhus.
nayam—all desired objects. ‘nayam taru pErinbamellAm’---rAmAnuja nooTTrandAdi.
nayavEn pirarporuLai naLLEnkeezhArODu
uyavEn uyarndavarODellAL viyavEn |
tirumAlai alladu deivamenrEttEn
varumAren enmEl vinai ||Sixty Four ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr said all his indriyas indulge in His vyApara alone and refuse to roam among the worldly matters, as they do in the case of samsAris. ‘Oh! AzhwAr! Don’t you know the vAsanas are very strong and they certainly will drag you in to the samsAra sAgara. What are you going to do?’ AzhwAr replies ‘It cannot happen to me because I have poorNa anugraha of emberumAn.’
pirar poruLai—Here ‘pirar’ means He who is different from chEtana and achEtana. ‘poruLai’ means the property i.e. Atma which belongs to Him. ‘nambinEn pirar nan poruL tannaiyum’—madhurakavi AzhwAr. emberumAn wears the precious kousthuBa gem which represents jeevAtma. If anyone calls his Atma as his own he is a rAvaNa.
naLLEn keezhArODu—I don’t associate myself with those who are like mAreechas, who helped rAvaNa.
viyavEn—can be read as tirumAlai alladu viyavEn—I feel happy when I see Him, I don’t feel so when I see other dEvatas.
varumAru en mEl vinai—The SAstras say ‘avaSyam anuBOktavayam krutam karma SuBASuBam’—one’s puNya and pApa karmas have to be exhausted by experiencing suKa duhKa. But AzhwAr says this rule does not apply in the case of Bagavat BAgavatas.
vinaiyAl aDarppaDAr vennarahil sErAr
tinaiyEnum teegadikku ATchellAr ninaidarkku |
ariyAnai sEyAnai AyirampEr sengaT
kariyAnai kaitozhudakkAl ||Sixty Five ||
When AzhwAr said he had poorNa anugraha of emberumAn they ask ‘AzhwAr! Why don’t we have the poorNa anugraha like you?’ AzhwAr replies that anyone can have it if only he worships Him.
vinaiyAl aDarppaDAr—‘vinai’ means both puNya and pApa karmas. ‘tadA vidvAn puNya pApE viDhooya niranjanah paramam sAmyamupaiti’—he who desires paramapada casts away both puNya karmas and pApa karmas as both of them are hurdles to mOkSha. It is said pApa karmas are iron chains whereas puNya karmas are golden chains both bind men to samsAra. pApa karmas fetch naraka whereas puNya karma fetches swarga lOka. That is all the difference.
vennarahil sErAr—It is said in Sreemad rAmAyaNa ‘yastvayA saha sa swargO nirayO yastvayA vinA’—hell is separation of from emberumAn, heaven means to be with Him.
tinaiyEnum teegadikku sellAr—‘tinai’ is a small grain. It means ‘even a little bit’. periyavAchchAn piLLai ‘darma puttiran naraha darSanam paNNinavOpAdiyum kooDAdu ivarhaLukku’. In the mahABArata yuddha yudhiShThira was forced to tell a lie ‘aSwattAma hatah (kunjarah)’. After his death he has to pass through the naraka and witness the terrible scene there. AzhwAr says even that will not be there for them.
kAlai ezhundu ulaham karpanavum kaTTruNarnda
mElai talaimaraiyOr vETpanavum vElaikkaN |
OrAzhiyAnaDiyE Oduvadum Orppanavum
pErAzhi koNDAn peyar || Sixty Six ||
AzhwAr says what the mumukShu want is to read the SAstras, meditate on His guNa kathas, seek His tirvadi and chant His names.
ulaham—means great men ‘ulahamenbadu uyarndOr mATTE’—tolkAppiyam. Here it means mumukShus—desiring mOkSha.
mElai talai maraiyOr—vEdas have two portions—karma kANDa and jnAna kANDa; mEl vEdam means janan kANDa . Therefore the term suggests vEdAnta.
peyarum karungaDalE nOkkumAru oNpoo
uyarum kadiravanE nOkkum uyirum |
darumanaiyE nOkkumoN tAmaraiyAL kELvan
oruvanaiyE nOkkum uNarvu || Sixty Seven ||
Knowledge is about various things. A man well versed in tarka SAstra calls himself jnAni; one who is skilled in the knowledge of AyurvEda, astrology, mantra, tantra etc. calls himself a jnAni. Thus each one expect in some field of knowledge can call himself a jnAni. Sruti defines who is a jnAni and what is jnAna. The knowledge about emberumAn alone is jnAna and he alone who has this knowledge is jnAni. In Sree viShNu purANa parASara muni says ‘samjnAyatE yEna tadastadOSham Suddham param nirmalam Ekaroopam samdruShyatE vApyadhigamyatEvA tadjnAnam ajnAnam atOnyaduktam’ and in the same purANa prahlAda tells his father the karma that takes you to samsAra is called karma and those jnAna that leads to mukti is called jnAna. The karma which takes you to samsAra is a waste and the jnAna which does not take you to BagavAn is a waste. Any knowledge other than Bagavat jnAna is called ajnAna. The sentence ‘oN tAmaraiyAL kELvan oruvanaiyE nOkkum uNarvu’ explains this SAstrArtha.
The river run to the sea, the lotus blooms at the sun and the life goes to yama. All these are natural happenings. Similarly the jnAna goes to emberumAn alone. ‘tokkilangi ArellAm paradODi toDukaDalE pukkanri puram nirka mATTAda maTTravai pOl mikkilangu muhil nirattAi vittuvakkOTTammAnE un pukkilangu SeerallAl pukkilan kAN puNNiyanE’—Sree kulaSEkara AzhwAr.
piLLai lOkAchAryar quotes this sentence in mumukShupaDi in the tirumantra prakaraNa. Sree maNavALa mAmunihaL in his vyAKyAna writes that uNarvu means Atma who is jnAnamaya. This pASura reveals the SAstrArtha that jnAnamaya jeeva is ananyArha SEShaBoota of paramAtma.
In this pASura three things are expressed—1. the knowledge about emberumAn alone is called jnAna . 2. Atma belongs to Him alone. 3. mithuna SEShatva laone is jeevAtma lakShaNa. (a jeeva should be a SESha to both emberumAn and pirATTi—oNtAmaraiyAL kELvan oruvanaiyE).
uyirum darumanaiyE nOkkum—It is said in purANas that only avaiShNava alone go to yama lOka not vaiShNavas. But AzhwAr uses the word ‘uyir’ a general term to denote all jeevas. periyavAchchAn piLLai—‘uyirum Bagavat pararallAda nATTil prANihaLaDangalum’. Some commentators say—Atma is different and life is different. The Atma of a Sree vaiShNava goes to paramapada but the life goes to yama. Some other say—yamO vaivasvatO rAja yastavaiSha hrudi sthitah’ ‘kriShNam dharmam sanAtanam’. These quotations reveal the meaning that emberumAn alone is called yama and dharma. Hence ‘darman’ means emberumAn alone.
uNarvAr Ar unperumai oozhidOroozhi
uNarvArAr un uruvam tannai uNarvAr Ar |
viNNahattAi maNNahattAi vENgaDattAi nAlvEda
paNNahattAi neekiDanda pAl || Sixty Eight ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr said only knowledge about Him is jnAna. But who can know Him fully? It is not, however, the dOSha of the buddhi but the greatness of the emberumAn.
uNarvAr Ar—Even You, the sarvajna, cannot know yourself fully. ‘tanakkum tan tanmai arivariyAn’ —nammAzhwAr.
bAlanranaduruvA Ezhulahu uNDu Alilaiyin
mElanru neevaLarnda meyyenbar Alanru |
vElaineer uLLadO viNNadO maNNadO
sOlai Soozh kunreDuttAi sollu || Sixty Nine ||
AzhwAr poses an intelligent question here. Oh! emberumAn! the great seers and riShis say You lie on a small banyan leaf after swallowing all the worlds shrinking Your from to that of a baby. AzhwAr is very astonished at this marvelous feat. It is more wonderful than Your lifting of a gOvardhana mountain to hold it like an umbrella when You were seven years old for seven days. I wonder from where did that banyan leaf come? Is it from the praLaya jala or from the sky or from the Boomi that dissolved in the water? Oh! swAmi! Tell me!
The idea expressed in this pASura is there is no answer to such question. Even He who is sarvajna cannot answer this. The only explanation is—all such actions are done due to His aGatita GaTanA Sakti (to make possible what is impossible). There is no use of arguing further. AzhwAr says in his atimAnuShastava ‘mugdhaSSiSur vaTadalE SayitOtitanvA tanvA jaganti-----------------‘ His vaTapatrasAyitva is due to His aGaTtaGaTanA Sakti. He in his Sree vaikuNTha stava says ‘kim sAdhanah kvanivasan kimupAdidAnah ----------‘ expressing the same idea.
sollundanaiyum tozhumin vizhumuDambu
sellundanaiyum tirumAlai nallidazh |
tAmattAl vELviyAl tandirattAl mandirattAl
nAmattAl EttudirEl nanru || Seventy ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr said He has aGaTita GaTanA Sakti. Now he says one should worship such an emberumAn of infinite Sakti. ‘vizhumuDambu sellundanaiyum nallidazh tAmattAl vELviyAl tandirattAl mandirattAl tirumAlai tozhumin sollundanaiyum nAmattAl EttudirEl nanru –is the prose order.
This body is highly impermanent—is going to perish today or tomorrow. ‘idam Sareeram paniNAma pESalam patatyavaSyam slatha sandhi jarjaram’—mukundamAla stOtra. Therefore make haste to worship Him with offering a garland made up of fresh beautiful flowers at His tiruvaDi. you can, if possible, worship Him through yAga, mantra, tantra etc. If you are not able to do these then at least chant His names till the body falls.
nanru piNimooppu kaiyahaTTri nAngoozhi
ninru nilamuzhudum ANDAlum enrum |
viDalAzhi nenjamE vENDinEn kaNDAi
aDalAzhi koNDAn mATTu anbu || Seventy One ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr advised the samsAris who are averse to Bagavad viShaya and it fell on deaf ears. He feels it is better to educate his own mind who is a little inclined towards Him. Throw away all your aiSwarya (which is the sum total of all the aiSwaryas of all the worlds) and kaivalya mOkSha to worship Him who carries chakrAyudha to exterminate the enemies of His Baktas.
piNi mooppu—are upalakShaNa for death. ‘jarA maraNa mOkShAya mAmASriya yatanti yE’— Bagavadgeeta. Even though the disease of the body and mind and old age etc. are not in kaivalya mOkSha, it is to be neglected since the AnandAnuBava of kaivalya is very negligible when compared to BagavadanuBava. Even if you get all the aiSwaryas of all the worlds including brahma lOka renounce them for they are the causes to forget Him. Though AzhwAr has got ‘Azhi nenjam’ he tells his mind all these in order to warn him about the danger of aiSwarya and kaivalya.
anbAzhiyAnai aNuhennum nA avantan
paNbAzhi tOLparavi Ettennum munboozhi |
kANAnai kANennum kaNsevi kELennum
pooNAram pooNDAn puhazh || Seventy Two ||
In this pASura there is exchange of roles of guru and SiShya i.e, guru becomes SiShya and SiShya becomes the guru. In the last pASura AzhwAr advised his mind ‘nenjamE vENDiEn kaNDAi’. Since all his indriyas are already engaged in His anuBava they advice him.
anbu AzhiyAnai aNuhu ennum—Here the word ‘anbu’ is taken to mean ‘manas’ since it has Bakti and nothing but Bakti. Similar usages are found in ‘tadguNa sAratvAttu tadvyapadESah prAjnavat’ — brahmasootra ‘vijnAnam yajnam tanutE’—upaniShad.
paNbAzhittOL—It can be split as paNbu + Azhi where paNbu—beautiful, Azhi—sea meaning the tOL is like a beautiful sea (or) paN + pAzhi where paN beautiful, pAzhi—strong meaning the tOL is beautiful as well as strong.
munboozhikANAnai—oozhi means kAla. He who has not seen the past. What does it mean? If a mahApApi seeks Him, He never looks into his past.
puhazhvAi pazhippAinee poonduzhA yAnai
ihazhvAi karuduvAi nenjE tihazh neer |
kaDalum malaiyum iruviSumbum kATTrum
uDalum uyirum ETTrAn || Seventy Three ||
AzhwAr knows very well the mind is the most unsteady one. ‘chanchalam hi manah kriShNa’—says arjuna in Bagavad geeta. ‘ninravA nillA nenjinai’—says tirumangai AzhwAr in periya tirumozhi. ‘Oh! Mind! You can do anything—praise Him (like prahlAda), criticize Him (like SiSupAla), seek Him (like jnAnis), neglect Him (like samsAris). None of your action and attitude can change Him even a bit. They neither increase His glories nor decrease His vaiBava. It is He who supports the seas, mountains, sky, Boomi etc.
ETTrAn—He has all the sentient and insentient matters as His Sareera and He is the Sareeri.
ETTrAn puLLoorndAn eyilerittAn mArviDandAn
neeTTrAn nizhalmaNi vaNNattAn kooTTrorupAl |
mangaiyAn poomahaLAn vArsaDaiyAn neeNmuDiyAn
gangaiyAn neeLkazhalAn kAppu || Seventy Four ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr said He is the supporters of all things and beings. ‘But AzhwAr! We hear people say Siva is the dhAraka. What is your reply?’ ‘He alone is the rakShaka of even Siva’—replies AzhwAr. He explains the aparatva of Siva and paratva of emberumAn.
Siva who is ETTrAn, eyil erittAn, neeTTrAn, kooTTrorupAl mangaiyAn, vAr saDaiyAn and gangaiyAn is controlled by emberumAn who is puLLoorndAn, mArviDandAn, nizhal maNi vANNattAn, poomahaLAn, neeN muDiyAn and neeL kazhalAn.
In this pASura AzhwAr has not enumerated all the qualities of Siva and nArAyaNa separately but has mixed them so as to enable easy comparison, and thereby establish the paratva of one and the aparatva of the other.
Siva has bull (a dull stupid animal) as his vAhana whereas emberumAn has garuDa (vEdaswaroopa) as His vAhana; Siva burnt the cities whereas our swAmi is the rakShaka of His ASrita (“prahlAda) whose virOdhi is killed (hiraNya); Siva poses himself as a renunciate by smearing Basma (ash) all over his body whereas sarvESwara has a pleasing form like that of a blue diamond; he has given part of his body to His consort whereas Sreeman nArAyaNa has kamalachelvi who is the incarnation of all the aiSwaryas as His consort; Siva has long matted hair to proclaim that he is a tapasvi whereas our swAmi has a tall diadem that reveals His supremacy over all others; He wears ganga to purify him whereas ganga is born form His tiruvaDi.
kAppunnai unna kazhiyum aruvinaihaL
Appunnai unna avizhndozhiyum mooppu |
unnai sindippArkkillai tirumAlE ninnaDiyai
vandippAr kANbAr vazhi || Seventy Five ||
Oh! emberumAn! Those who meditate on you get rid of all mOkSha virOdhis, cross over all hurdles get away from prakruti sambandha, obtain divya lOka. Bagavat sambandhis do not come under the spell of karma is explained in the first part of the pASura and their mOkSha prApti is explained in the second part.
kAppu—is also interpreted as the 14 witnesses of all the karma of a jeeva. They are sun, moon, vAyu, agni, dyoolOka, Boomi, water, hrudayam, yama, ahas, rAtri, the two sandhyAs, dharma dEvata. ‘Aditya chandrAvanilO analachcha dyaur BoomirApO hrudayam yamascha ahachcha rAtrischa uBEcha sandhyE, dharmascha jAnAti narasya vruttam’—mahABArata SlOka.
AzhwAr says even these 14 karmasAkshis employed by emberumAn do not count the karmas done by His Baktas.
moopu—Old age. It is an upalakShaNa for the six changes that all the jeevas undergo—asti (exists), jAyatE (born), pariNamatE (change), vardhatE (grow), apakSheeyatE (decline), viaSyati (dies).
vazhi kANbar—They will not go through the path that leads to naraka but go by the archirAdi mArga to reach paramapada.
vazhininru ninnai tozhuvAr vazhuvA
mozhininra moorttiyarE Avar pazhudonrum |
vArAda vaNNamE viNkoDukkum maNNaLanda
SeerAn tiruvEngaDam ||Seventy Six ||
AzhwAr says the very mountain tirumalai itself that has Bagavat sambandha is capable of giving mOkSha to the worshippers of vEngaDanAtha. ‘maNNaLanda SeerAn tiruvEngaDam pazhudonrum vArAda vaNNamE veN koDukkum, ninnai vazhi ninru tozhuvAr vazhuvA mozhi ninra moortiyarE Avar’. When even the mere mountain tirumalai can do this what to talk of emberumAn who resides there? This is called kaimutika nyAya.
vazhuvAr mozhi—vEdas. The moorti said there is swaroopa AvirBAva i.e. jnAnAnanda vikAsa. ‘paramjyOtirupasampadya swEna roopENa aBiniShpadyatE’—Sruti. ‘tammaiyE nALum vaNangi tozhuvArkku tammaiyE okka aruL seivai’—tirumangai AzhwAr in periya tirumozhi.
periyavAchchAn piLLai—‘embAr vidivOrE anusandhikkum pATTu’. embAr used to sing this pASura daily in the early morning.
vEngaDamum viNNaharum veKAvum aKAda
poongiDangin neeLkOval ponnaharum nAngiDattum |
ninrAnirundAn kiDandAn naDandAnE
enrAl keDumAmiDar || Seventy Seven ||
When we meditate on Him who is in all diyva dESas and who stands, sits, lies and walks in such places our karmas will vanish. These karmas which we did while standing, sitting, lying and walking go away. viNNaharam—means paramapada. Some commentators take thus as tiruviNnahar (oppiliyappan sannidhi). In that case the term ‘irundAn’ does not go with it. Some takes it paramEchchura viNNaharam in kachchi mAnahar.
poongOval naDandAn—He is ulahaLanda perumAL in tirukkOvaloor. Therefore AzhwAr uses the word ‘naDandAn’.
iDarAr paDuvArezhu nenjE vEzham
toDarvAn koDu mudalai soozhnda paDamuDaiya |
painnAha paLLiyAn pAdamE kaitozhudum
koinnAha poombOdu koNDu || Seventy Eight ||
When we think of all the things done by Him for our sake we cannot but fall at His tiruvaDi and become His dAsas. When we thus seek Him by offering flowers at His tiruvaDi all our duhKas vanish. Even we get duhKas they are destroyed at once by Him. Didn’t He save the gajEndra by killing the crocodile that caught him?
koNDAnai allAl koDuttArai yAr pazhippAr
maN tA enavirandu mAvaliyai oNDArai |
neerangai tOya nimirndilaiyE neeLvisumbil Ar
angai tOya aDuttu || Seventy Nine ||
AzhwAr wants to say that emberumAn has such a vAtsalya towards His Baktas that He never shirks from taking any form (changing His excellent divine form) even like a dwarf in order to beg, for indra’s sake, the (and the mahAbali claimed as His. But the people, ignorant as they are of the realities, praise the asura for gifting the land and blame the Lord).
It was proper to kill mahAbali like rAvaNa but because of the oudArya (benevolence) He mercily sent him to pAtALa lOka and spared his life.
Since He is the creator and sarvESwara every thing belongs to Him alone. But mahAbali claimed the Boomi as his and aimed at indra’s seat too. At indra’s request our swAmi had to take vAmana roopa and beg the land for him. Ignorant people praise him as dAnaSoora. They argue what did BagavAn do in return? He measure the lands as trivikrama what He received as vAmana, and sent the giver to pAtALa lOka! Is it fair? They don’t realize the facts that mahAbali was an ahankAr, claimed what was not his as his, he has asuric qualities etc. It is a pity that these samsAris out of their ignorance take what is guNa as dOSha and what is dOSha as guNa. ‘koNDAnai allAl koDuttArai yAr pazhippAr’.
neer kaitOya—He received the water form mahAbali.
neeL viSumbilAr angai tOya—brahma washed His tiruvaDi. Both the incidents happened simultaneously.
aDutta kaDum pahaijnarkku aTTrEn enrODi
paDutta perumpAzhi Soozhnda viDattaravai |
vallALan kaikoDutta mAmEni mAyavanukku
allAdum AvarO AL || Eighty ||
mAtali was the sArathi (charioteer) of indra. He had a daughter called guNakESi. mAtali along with nArada maharShi went to all the lOkas in search of a suitable groom for his daughter. But he could not find one. At last he went to nAgalOka where there was a city called BOgavati. There he saw a nAgakumAra called sumuKa born in the kula of airAvata, and the grandson of Aryaka and the son of chikura. He liked sumuKa very much and asked Aryaka about it. But Aryaka said garuDa has vowed to eat chiruka and sumuKa.
mAtali said he would take sumuKa and leave him under the protection of dEvEndra. When he met indra upEndra (viShNu) was also present. upEndra suggested if amruta is given to sumuKa he will not die. indra replied garuDa is very powerful and he cannot be taken lightly, even amruta pAna is no guarantee for his life. Hence him a boon of long life. mAtali’s daughter married sumuKa. On hearing this gaurDa got angry and reprimanded indra for His action. sumuKa became afraid of garuDa and caught hold of thelegs of AdiSESha. (ODi paDutta perumpAzhi soozhnda) and pleaded to be protected. garuDa turned to tirumAl, said ‘Oh! tirumAl, I bear You who bears the whole world. Who is powerful? You or me?’ emberumAn replied ‘garuDa! Mind Your words! All the worlds are supported by Me. You are not bearing Me but I bear You! Dong brag! Just try to bear my right hand! So saying He placed His right hand on garuDa’s shoulders. garuDa could not bear the weight of His hand and swooned with pain. Thus after sometime he got up, worshipped tirumAl and begged His pardon. upEndra pacified him, lifted sumuKa with His toe and placed him on garuDa’s shoulders and said ‘garuDa! From today you are his guardian. Take good care of him.’ From that day both garuDa and sumuKa become friends.
ALamar venri aDukaLattuL ajnAnru
vALamar vENDi varainaTTu neeLaravai |
suTTri kaDaindAn peyarenrE tonnarahai
paTTri kaDattum paDai || Eighty One ||
AzhwAr says emberumAn’s tirunAmas alone are the boat that help the samsAris to cross over the ocean of samsAra . emberumAn is such an upakAraka that He made all efforts to churn the pArkaDal to get amruta for the dEvas who are anyaprayOjanas (want other fruits than mOkSha).
A fight between dEvas and asuras occured regarding the sharing of the nectar. Hence AzhwAr says ‘ALamar venri aDukaLattuL’. ‘ArAda pOril asurarhaLum tAnumAi kArAi varai naTTu nAham kayirAha pErAmal tAngi kaDaindAn’—siriya tirumaDal.
paDaiyArum vAL kaNNAr pArasi nAL paimpoom
toDaiyalOdu Endiya doobam iDaiyiDaiyin |
meenmAya mAsooNum vEngaDamE mElorunAL
mAnmAya eidAn varai || eighty Two ||
In tirumalai emberumAn does nityavAsa and is sarva sulaBa that even women come and worship Him easily. Why should AzhwAr make a special mention of women when He is worshipped by all aDiyArs? (paDaiyArum vAL kaNNAr) He is such a samASrayaNeeya that even the ignorant tribal women can worship Him with dhoopa, deepa and flowers. The Sree vaiShNavas who fast on EkAdaSi break the fast on dwAdaSi early in the morning. They come to worship Him early in the morning on dwAdasi days before they break the fast.
varaikuDai tOL kAmbAha AniraikAttu Ayar
niraiviDaiyEzh seTTravArennE uravuDaiya |
neerAzhiyuL kiDandu nErA niSAcharar mEl
pErAzhi koNDa pirAn || Eighty Three ||
AzhwAr enjoys BagavAn’s ASrita pAratantrya. There are two things that He does—ASrita rakshaNa and virOdhi nirasana. If the latter is done the former gets completed. Hence He carries chakrAyudha. He killed madhu and kaiTaBa and such duShTa vargas in order to ASrita rakShaNa. AzhwAr asks why does He lift gOvardhana mountain to protect the cattle where He could have easily killed indra with His chakrAyudha when he caused trouble to His ASritas? Whey did He not use His chakrAyudha to kill the 7 bulls instead of fighting with them? Why does He take all these pains? because He thinks it is His duty towards His Asritas to take such troubles to help them. In fact He is capable of achieving these things by His mere sankalpa. But He doesn’t like to do it since He feels He gets the satisfaction of helping His Baktas only if He personally takes trouble to do virOdhi nirasana. ‘mazhungAda vainudiya chakkara nalvalattaiyAi, tozhungAdal kaLiraLippAn puLLoorndu tOnrinaiyE, mozhungAda jnAnamE paDaiyAha malarulahil tozhumbAyArkku aLillAl un suDar sOdi maraiyAdE’—tiruvAimozhi expresses this idea.
pirAnun perumai pirar ArarivAr
urAi ulahaLanda nAnru varAhattu|
eyiTTraLavu pOdAvAr en kolO endai
aDikkaLavu pOnda paDi || Eighty Four ||
Oh! My swAmi! When You took a huge trivikrama form to measure the Boomi, she seemed to be so big that You had to move here and there to measure her (urAi). But when You lifted her with Your tusk during varAha avatAra she seemed so tiny as to sit in one corner of Your tusk! Such explicable acts of Yours no one can understand except perhaps those who get Your nirhEtuka kaTAkSha. Those who try to understand Your activities through their own buddhi and effort fail miserable.
urAi—BaTTar interpreted as ‘without any effort’.
paDi kaNDaridiyE pAmbaNaiyinAn puT
koDi kaNDaridiyE koorAi vaDivil |
poriyaindum uLLaDakki pOduDu neerEndi
nerininra nenjamE nee || Eighty Five ||
When AzhwAr said ‘pirAn un perumai pirar ArarivAr’ his mind tells him ‘Well! I know!’ AzhwAr addresses his mind and says ‘Oh! Mind! It is true You have conquered the indriyas. But I don’t think you have experienced Him who rushes with garuDa flag fluttering to the Baktas to protect them; and you have not experienced Him when He lies on AdiSESha thinking of the ways to protect them! If you have experienced any one of them tell me!
AzhwAr desires to enjoy Him as garuDArooDha and SEShasAyee.
neeyum tirumahaLum ninrAyAl kunreDuttu
pAyum panimarutta paNbALA vAsal |
kaDaikazhiyA uLpuhA kAmar poongOval
iDaikazhiyE paTTri ini || Eighty Six ||
It is the popular story of the three AzhwArs—poihaippirAn, boodattAzhwAr ad pEyar met in a small passage in tirukkOvaloor where emberumAn came with periya pirATTi and stood there pressing and pushing them. This pASura justifies the story. ‘pAvarundamizhAl pEr peru anuval pAvalar pAdinAL iravin moovaru nerukki mozhi viLakkETTri mukundanai tozhuda nannADu’.
‘Oh! pirAn! We three AzhwArs who never stay in a place for more than a night met in the iDaikazhi of tirukkOvaloor with periya pirATTi You came and blessed us and revealed You form (mEGa vaNNam) and hers (lightning like) to us’.
kunreDuttu pAyum pani marutta paNbALA—Where You lifted the gOvardhana mountain all the inmates of AyarpADi—men and animals—came to crowd under it. You too were there each one pressing against You. Similarly we are here pressed against each other by You’.
iDaikazhi—Outside there are samsAris and inside there are maharShis and in-between are those like AzhwArs who are ananyaprayOjanas.
In the previous pASura AzhwAr told his mind ‘paDi kaNDaridiyE pAmbANaiyinAn; puTkoDi kaNDaridiyE koorAi’. When he said this BagavAn took pity on him and reveals Himself ‘ivar tammuDaiya tiru uLLattai kurittu ‘sAkShAtkarttilaiyirE’ enna dariyAninrE avan’— periyavAchchAn piLLai.
iniyAr puhuvAr ezhunaraha vAsal
muniyAdu moorittAL kOmin kanisAya |
kanrerinda tOLAn kanaikazhalE kAnbadarkku
nangarinda nAvalam soozh nADu || Eighty Seven ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr was very happy. He remembered how he was pressed and pushed by Him and pirATTi in tirukkOvaloor iDaihazhi. He decides to correct all the samsAris by upadESa. His imagination runs fast as to feel that all the jeevas had become too good, all had felled at His tiruvaDi and no one need to go to naraka.
‘Oh! naman tamarhAL! neengaL naraha vAsalai aDaittuviTTu OdippOhalAm; ini ungaL nATTukku atitihaLAha varuvAr Arumillai; ungaTkum kAriyam onrumillai; injnanE uNmaiyai eDuttu uraikkinra en mEl neengaL kObam koLLa vENDA’.
This jamboodweepa alone can be called as a city (nADu)—where there are AzhwArs; the other places are only jungles (kADu).
‘poliha poliha poliha pOyiTTru valluyir sAbam naliyum narahamum nainda namanukingu yAdonrumillai’—tiruvAimozhi.
arinda—is in the pastense. AzhwAr is so sure of the good future for all the jeevas that he uses the past tense here.
ezhu narahum—There are many types of narakas of which 7 is an upalakShaNa (or) it can be taken as 7 types of important narakas.
‘perungaLiTTru vaTTam, perumaNal vaTTam, eriyin vaTTam, poohaiyin vaTTam, iruLin vaTTam, perungeezh vaTTam, aripaDai vaTTam ena ezhu vahai naraham’ ‘kooDa, sAlam, kumbee pAham, aLLal adOgadi, Arvampoo, sendee enrEzhum teeraha peyar’---thus say tamizh literature.
rouravam, mahA rouravam, tamas, nikruntanam, apratiShTam, asipatram, tapta kumBam’,-- sanskrit literature.
muniyAdu—The yama BaTTas are waiting at the doorstep of narakas for us jeevas to enter so that they can inflict various types of tortures to their hearts’ content.
moorittAL kOmin—Lock the doors tightly and get lost.
mniyAdu—When AzhwAr says so they may get angry. Hence he says ‘muniyAdu’.
kaisAya kanrerinda—kamsa sent kapittAsura who took the form of a tree of wood apple waiting for an opportunity to kill kriShNa.
At that time vatsAsura (another asura in the form of a calf) came chasing at Him. kriShNa caught hold of his hind legs and whirled him, threw him at the haunted tree, killing both of them simultaneously.
kanai kazhal—When kriShNa ran with vatsAsura to throw him at the time the ornament worn on His legs jingled.
nADilum ninnaDiyE nADuvan nADOrum
pADilum ninpuhazhE pADuvan sooDilum |
ponnAzhi EndinAn ponnaDiyE sooDuvErku
ennAhil ennE enakku || Eighty Eight ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr was very confident that ‘iniyAr puhuvAr ezhunaraha vAsal’ but now he feels perhaps his hopes are falsified since these samsAris seem to run after (not the tiruvaDi of emberumAn) food and clothing. (uNDiyE uDaiyE uhandu ODum) But he pacifies himself saying he does not follow these stupid fellows because of Bagavadanugraha. He is happy that his three karaNas—mind, body and speech—think, work and speak about Him alone. ‘I don’t care for these samsAris. Let them seek You or anything else, why should I worry about these worthless creatures? Let me mind my own progress’.
nADilum—mental activities
pADilum—speech
sooDilum—physical activities
ennAhil—can be interpreted as what do I care whether I remain here or go to paramapada!
enakku AvAr AroruvarE em perumAn
tanakkAvAn tAnE maTTrallAl punakkAyAm
poomEni kANa podiyavizhum poovaipoo
mAmEni kATTum varam || Eighty Nine ||
This pASura is the continuation of the previous one. In the last pASura AzhwAr said he was very happy that his three karaNas are engaged in His activities only. Now he says when he sees any dark flowers like poovaipoo or kAyAmpoo he is reminded of His tirumEni alone (i.e. he is not like the samsAris who, on seeing such flowers, walk on thinking are wild flowers). Even the flowers bring my swAmi to my mind. He who has no equal is not equal to me.
AzhwAr is very proud of himself. But this pride is not born of his ego but born of his being a dAsa to his swAmi. Many AzhwArs express such type of pride in their pASuras ‘enakkiniyAr nihar neeNilattE’ ‘enakkArum niharillaiyE’. Such a pride is not to be condemned but one should certainly possess.
‘poovaiyumkAyAvum neelamum pookkinra kAvimalar enrum kANDOrum pAviyEn mellAvi mei mihavE poorikkum avvavai ellAm pirAn uruvE enru’—periya tiruvandAdi.
varattAl valininaindu mAdava ninpAdam
SirattAl vaNangAnAm enrE urattinAl |
eerariyAi nErvaliyOnAya iraNiyanai
OrariyAi neeyiDandu oon || Ninety ||
emberumAn never gets angry at asuras even if they commit any offences against Him but certainly gets angry if they commit the least offence against His Baktas. ‘mAdavanE! nee iraNiyanai ooniDandadu (avan) nin pAdam SirattAl vaNangAnAmenrE?’ AzhwAr asks Him ‘Oh! pirAn! I don’t think you split open the body of hiraNya with Your sharp nails because he refused to worship Your tiruvaDi. It is I am sure, because he inflicted sufferings on Your Bakta, prahlAda.
‘eeSwaran avadarittu paNNina Anai tozhilhaLellam BagavaapachAram porAmai enru jeeyar aruLichcheivar’—Sree vachana BooShaNam. The meaning is—BagavAn can do nigraha or anugraha by meare sakalpa Sakti alone. If that be so why should He take any form (like narasimha etc) and even wage war with rAkShasas like rAvaNa and hiraNya? The answer is—He can tolerate any amount of insult done to Him but will never tolerate any little bit of offence committed by anyone to His aDiyArs. He come down from His divine realm even if a little bit of apachAra is done to His Baktas (prahlAda and others) and maharShis. He not only comes down but also punishes or kill them.
‘tvayi kinchit samApanne kim kAryam seetayA mama’—Sreemad rAmAyaNa. When rAvaNa stood on the gOpura opposite to rAma, sugreeva jumped to that peak, went to him and fought with him unmindful of his safety. When he comes back rAma tells him ‘sugreeva! You jeopardize your life for no reason. If anything happens to you what use to me of seeta?’ In this manner emberumAn shows His ASrita pakShapata (bias) when samudrarAja did not obey His request rAma ‘invited anger upon Himself’—(kOpam AhArayat teevram) when hanumAn was wounded by rAvaNa vAlmeeki says ‘tatO rAmO mahArAjah rAvanEna krutam vraNam druShTvA plavaga Sardoolam kOpasya vaSamEyivAn’—He became a slave of His anger.
Several times hiraNya had done BagavadapachAra. But He did to mind them. But when he did BagavatApachAra He became a narasimha and killed him mercilessly.
AzhwAr in this pASura merely asks a question. He has not given any answer to his question.; But koorattAzhwAn in His varadarAja stava gives an answer to this question. ‘yadaparAdha sahasramajasrajam tvayi SaraNya! hiraNya upAvahat varada! tEna chiram tvam avikriyah vikritamarBaka nirBajanAdagAh’ Thus koorattAzhwAn in his panchastavas replies many unanswered question of AzhwArs ‘SeerAr pirandu SirappAl vaLarAdu pEr vAmanAhAkkAl pErALA! mArbAra pulhi nee uNDu umizhnda Boomi neerErparidE, sollu nee yAmariya soozhndu’—periya tiruvandAdi.
To this question AzhwAn replies in atimAnuSha stava ‘tvannirmitA jaTharAkASa tava trilOkee kim BikShaNAdiyamrutE BavatA durApA?’ ‘maDyE kada tu na vichakramiShE jagachchEt tvat vikramaih kahtamiva SrutiranjitA syAt’. Sometimes AzhwArs mentally ask a question and give replies in their pASuras. In these cases AzhwAr gives the questions (in their minds) in his staves for example in tiruvAimozhi AzhwAr says ‘mazhungAda vainudiya chakkara nal valattaiyai tozhungAdal kaLiraLippAn puLLoorndu tOnri naiyE mazhungAda jnAnamE paDaiyAha malarulahil tozhumbAyArkku aLittAl un suDar sOdi maraiyAdE’ koorattAzhwAn in his Sree vaikuNTha stava writes ‘viSwam dhiyaiva virachayya nichayya Booyah sanjahruSassati samASrita vatsalatvE AjagmuSastava gajOttama brmhitEna pAdam parAmamruSuShOpi cha kA maneeShA?’
varattAl vali ninaindu—hiraNya and other asuras become proud of their strength due to the boons they receive from the gods. They never think for a moment the greatness of emberumAn by whose grace these gods got the power to give boons.
oona kurambaiyinuL pukku iruL neekki
jnAna chuDar koLee nADOrum Enattu |
uruvAi ulahiDanda oozhiyAn pAdam
maruvAdArkku uNDAmO vAn || Ninety One ||
AzhwAr talked about narasimhAvatAra in the last pASura. Now he talks of vAmana avatAra the previous one to narasimha.
oonakkurambaiyinuL pukku—Mentally entering into the kurumbai and realizing the bitter truth that is made up of flesh, blood, bile, bone, etc a vessel of all filthy things and realize that this Sareera which is so dear and valued high is nothing but a bundle of disgusting things. This realization will remove the ignorance about the Sareera and Atma. Those who have ajnAna andhakAra is removed and who realize the satyajnAna of Atma will seek the tiruvaDi of jnAnappirAn and ultimately reach paramapada.
The others who don’t analyze and discriminate, the paramapada is far away.
oozhiyAn—Since He protects them even when they are in His tiruvayiru during praLaya, He is called oozhiyAn.
vAnAhi teeyAi marikaDalAi mArudamAi
tEnAhi pAlAm tirumAlE AnAichchi |
veNNei vizhunga niraiyumE munnorunAL
maNNai umizhnda vayiru || Ninety Two ||
Oh! emberumAn! You are called ‘ulahamuNDa peruvAyan’ i.e. You swallow all the worlds. You still have place inside Your stomach for many more such worlds. If that be so did all the butter churned and kept in vessels by not only yaSOda but all the Aichchis of AyarpADi swallowed by You fill Your stomach? Then why did You eat them? I am sure You did so because You like to have things which have BAgavata sambandha. By doing so You sustain Yourself.
‘uNDAi ulahEzh munnamE umizhndu mAyaiyAl pukku uNDAi veNNei siru manisar uralai Akki nilai eidi maNDAn sOrndaduNDElum manisarkkAhum peer siridum aNDA vaNNam maN karaiya neyyooN marundO mAyOnE—tiruvAimozhi.
‘ASrita sparSamuLLa dravyattAlalladu darkkamATTAda paDiyAa vyAmOhattAlE amudu seidAyattanaiyanrO’—periyavAchchAn piLLai.
‘tAzh kuzhalAr vaitta tayiruNDa pon vayiru ivvEzhulahum uNDum iDamuDaittAl SAzhalE’— tirumangai AzhwAr. ‘uriyAr naruveNNei uNDuhanda pon vayiTTrukku erineerulahanaittum eidAdAl SAzhalE’—tirumangai AzhwAr.
Only four Bootas are mentioned which includes the 5th Boota too. Thus the worlds made up of 5 Bootas are put into Your tiruvayiru in order to protect them.
tEnAhi pAlAm tirumAlE—The jnAnis want to enjoy You as milk, honey etc. but You enjoy eating butter etc. which had the sambandha of Aichchis.
vayirazhala vALuruvi vandAnai anja
eyirilaha vAimaDuttaden nee poriuhirAl |
poovaDivai eeDazhitta ponnAzhi kaiyA nin
sEvaDimEl eeDazhiya seTTru || Ninety Three ||
Oh! pirAn! You placed the asura hiraNya having hard heart and rough body on Your flower-like soft lap and tore his body with great anger. Even after killing Your anger did not decrease. You stood showing Your teeth and biting Your lips. Why? Why not Your anger vanish after the ASrita virOdhi is dead? The answer is—the anger that He showed before, during and after killing the virOdhis is an indication of His ASrita lakShaNa. The SaraNAgatas know His anger is due to His love for them and is directed towards their virOdhis. ‘koDiyavAi vilanginuyir malanga koNDa seeTTramonru uLadenru arindu unnaDiyanEnum vandaDiyiNai aDaindEn aNi pozil tiruvarangattammAnE’—tirumangai AzhwAr.
‘daridranAnavan danikanai aDaiyumApOlE seeTTramuNDu enrAittu ivar paTTruhiradu; -- - virOdhi nirasanttukkuk parikaramirE SeeTTram’—periyavAchchAn piLLai.
‘eyirilaha vAimaDittaden—‘ASrita virOdhi viShayattil uNDAna ippadippaTTa aLavu kaDanda seeTTramE ungaTkellAm tanjamenru maTTrum pala BaktarhaLukku kATTudarkkAhavAm.’
seTTrezhundu teevizhittu senra inda Ezhulahum
maTTrivai Avenru vAi angAndu muTTrum |
maraiyavarku kATTiya mAyavanai allAl
iraiyEnum EttAdu en nA || Ninety Four ||
maharShi mArkaNDEya (who had a boon that he will always be 16 years old) performed a tapas on a river bank. Sreeman nArAyaNa appeared before him. The maharShi asked Him a boon that he would witness the praLaya. emberumAn created by His mAya a praLaya . The maharShi got tossed about in the water. He at last found a small child lying on a banyan leaf. He entered His tiruvayiru and found all the worlds intact inside.
piLLai perumAL aiyangAr in tiruvarangattu andAdi and nooTTreTTu tiruppadi andAdi says ‘eitta mArkaNDan kaNDiDavamalaikkum ulahazhiyAdu uLLirundadennE’ ‘Alattilai sErndazhiyulahai uLpuhunda kAlattil evvahai nee kATTinAi…………vEdiyarku meeNDu’.
emberumAn could not tolerate the rule of adharma so He got terrible angry and destroyed all the worlds, and kept them inside His stomach.
nA vAyiluNDE namO nAraNAya venru
OvAdu uraikkum uraiyuNDE moovAda |
mAkkadikkaN sellum vahaiyuNDE ennoruvar
teegadikkaN sellum tiram || Ninety Five ||
AzhwAr says there is absolutely no chance of missing the mOkSha. There is the aShTAkShara mantra which unlike the sahasrAkShari mantra that requires non-stop chanting, can be easily chanted; there is the tongue just inside the mouth which can chant the mantra (instead of using it in unnecessary gossips and harsh words); there is the paramapada very near when this mantra is chanted. Alas! The foolish men do not have minds to do all these! What a pity! ‘nArAyaNEti SabdOsti vAgasti vaSavartneeti tathApi narakE GorE patanteeti kimadButam’—purANa SlOka.
‘tAmuLarE tammuLLam uLLuLadE, tAmaraiyin poovuLadE Ettum pozhuduNDE vAman tirumaruvu tA maruvu senniyarE sevvE aru naraham sErvandarifu’—iraNDAm tiruvandAdi.
OvAdu urai—There is a mantra called sahasrAkSharee (that has 1000 letters) which should be chanted at one stretch with so much difficulty and strain. But this aShTAkShara mantra is very simple with only 8 letters and easy to chant.
When all these are given to men, they don’t do that but seek the path that lead to cruel samsAra.
tirambAden nenjamE sengaNmAl kaNDAi
aram pAvam enru iraNDum AvAn puram tAn |
immaNtAn marikaDaltAn mArudam tAn vAntAnE
kaNDAi kaDaikkaT piDi || Ninety Six ||
Oh! Mind! I felt sorry for the samsAris that they simply fall in to the ditch out of ignorance. Now I tell you I cannot bother about them. Let them perish if they want. I ask You not to go away from Your decision that He alone is the nirvAhaka of all things. This is the final truth. Believe this.
‘This emberumAn makes a person do good karmas if He wants to uplift him; He alone makes him do bad karmas if He wants to push him to samsAra’—vEdas. Therefore AzhwAr says ‘aram pAvam enriraNDum AvAn’.
piDisEr kaLiraLitta pErALA unran
aDi sErndu aruLpeTTrAL anrE poDiSEr |
anar gangai ETTrAn avir saDaimEl pAinda
punar gangai ennum pEr pon || Ninety Seven ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr said ‘aram pAvam enriraNDum AvAn’. Now he elucidates this point with two examples. Sree gajEndrAzhwAn was a great Bakta in his previous janma. Even though the same Bakti he had I this janma because of his birth in the elephant race he had the desire for sense enjoyment too. Therefore he is called ‘piDi SEr kaLiru’ (piDi means female elephant). The ganga has got purifying nature. She purifies Siva too by staying on his head. Because of BagavAn’s sankalpa the elephant gets its nature and ganga gets her nature. Therefore the objects have their natural tendencies as ordained by Him alone. ‘Anin mEya aindum nee avaTTruL ninra tooimai nee’—tirumazhisai AzhwAr. The ‘pancha gavya’ is pure and purifies everything. This is so because BagavAn has the sankalpa to be so.
pon tihazhum mEni purisaDaiyum puNNiyanum
ninrulaham tAya neDumAlum enrum |
iruvar angattAl tirivarElum oruvan
oruvan angattu enrum uLan || Ninety Eight ||
When AzhwAr said the pure ganga purifies Siva who wears her on his head, some ask him why does he say so. Isn’t rudra a god who does samhAra and isn’t he worshipped by many as the Supreme Lord? AzhwAr answers them—Siva has His eeSwaratva only because emberumAn gives him half of His body. His (Siva’s) eeSwaratva is not his natural quality. It is only given to him by Sreeman nArAyaNa. ‘paran tiramanri pallulaheer deivam maTtrillai pESuminE’—nammAzhwAr.
puriSaDai puNNiyan—his very appearance speaks of his non eeSwaratva. He is called puNNiyan because he does sAdhana and has acquired puNya out of it.
Though both of them appear as different individual gods one is the part of another. (Siva is given a place in His body so that he will get some eeSwaratva).
ninrulaham tAya neDumAl—tirumAl placed His tiruvaDi on all including Siva. This proves without doubt who is real sarvESwara.
uLankaNDAi nannenjE uttaman enrum
uLankaNDAi uLLuvAr uLLattu uLan kaNDAi |
veLLattin uLLAnum vEngaDattu mEyAnum
uLLattin uLLAn enru Or || Ninety Nine ||
AzhwAr tells his mind—‘Oh! Mind! Know this well that He who is in tiruppArkaDal and He who is in tirumalai stays there only waiting for an opportune moment to enter the hearts of jnAnis. ‘anguttai vAsam sAdhanam; inguttai vAsan sAdhyam’—periyavAchchAn piLLai. The goal of emberumAn is to finally reach the hearts of jnAnis and make it His permanent abode. Therefore He waits lying in tiruppArkaDal and tirumalai (these are His temporary abodes) Oh! mind! Be happy that He is in you.
OraDiyum sADudaitta oNmalar SEvaDiyum
eeraDiyum kANalAm ennenjE OraDiyil |
tAyavanai kESavanai taNDuzhAi mAlai SEr
mAyavanaiyE manattu vai || One Hundred ||
AzhwAr says if emberumAn alone is taken as upAya (mAyavanaiyE manattu vai) we can reach His tiruvaDis.
When AzhwAr should have said both the tiruvaDis that measured the worlds (one-the upper worlds and the other lower worlds) he says one tiruvaDi that measured and the other tiruvaDi that killed the asura. Why? The tiruvaDi that measured by placing it on all heads alike stands for iShTaprApti. The other tiruvaDi that kicked and killed SakaTAsura stands for aniShTa nivritti. emberumAn’s tiruvaDi do both these for His aDiyArs.
SADudaitta sEvaDi—When yaSOda had gone to river yamuna to take bath she placed young kriShNa under the card in a cradle. The asura who was sent by kamsa to kill kriShNa haunted the cart and tried to kill Him. kriShNa under the pretext of carrying for milk by kicking His feet, kicked the asura shattering the cart to thousand pieces killing the asuras.
Of all the avatAras of emberumAn AzhwAr seems to have more liking towards trivikrama and kriShNa. upAya and upEya are He alone. We need to believe this firmly and seek His tiruvaDi. This is what every jeeva should do in order to get liberation from samsAra. Thus AzhwAr ends the prabandha.
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