AzhwAr started his pASuras by ‘vADinEn vAdi’ and visited many divya dESas enjoying the moortis in those places. BagavAn wanted AzhwAr to renounce the world. Similarly AzhwAr sings about his dislike towards samsAra ‘ATTrangarai vAzh maram pOl’ ‘kATTrittiDaippaTTa kalavar manam pOl’ ‘pAmbinODu oru kooraiyilE payinrArpOl’ ‘iru pADeri koLLiyinuL erumbE pOl’ ‘veLLattiDaippaTTa nariyinam pOl’ and so on. Finally he requests Him ‘paNiyAi enakku uyyum vahai paranjOdee’ ‘andO aDiyErkku aruLAn un aruLE’. But emberumAn would not give immediately as a mother would delay the next feeding of the child (even if it cries) till the food is digested. Similarly BagavAn waits for the birth of parama Bakti in him. In tirukkurundANDaham AzhwAr behaves like a man haunted by thirst. He sings, worships, prostates, thinks and meditates on Him alone like the thirsty man on seeing water drinks, splashes it on his face, jumps in to it to swim.
tANDaham is a type of prabandha in tamizh. It is a song in praise of iShTa dEvata in ‘aruSeer koNDa aLavotta aDihaL nAnginAl’ or ‘eN Seer koNDa aLavotta aDihaL nAnginAl’. The former is called kurundANDaham and the latter neDundANDaham.
1. nidiyinai pavaLattooNai nerimaiyAl ninaiyavallAr
gadiyinai kanjanmALa kaNDu mun aNDamALum |
madiyinai mAlai vAzhtti vaNangi en manattuvanda
vidiyinai kaNDu koNDa toNDanEn viDuhilEnE ||
‘vaitta mA nidiyiAm madusoodan’- nammAzhwAr ‘yO vai nihitah guhAyAm’- taittireeyaOpaniShad. There are many similarities between a treasure and emberumAn. Both of them gives sleepless nights. ‘kaNNAra kaNDu kazhivadOr kAdaluTTrArkum uNDO kaNgaL tunjudalE’. One is lucky enough to get a treasure if a siddhAnjana is applied. One is lucky to get Him if He wears Bakti siddhAnjana. If a Bakta does not see Him he does not sleep and if He sees Him he does not sleep.
pavaLattooN —A pillar is one which bears the weight on itself; It gives shade to those who seek it. Similarly BagavAn takes all the yOgakShEma of a Bakta on Himself; gives shade to those who are tormented by heat of samsAra and seek Him. He is pavaLattoN not an ordinary tooN.
nerimaiyAl ninaiya vallAr gadi— ‘ninaidOrum SollundOrum nenju iDanduhum’ ‘uLLellAm uruhi kural tozhuttozhindu uDambellAm kaNNa neer SOra’—This is how it is when He is thought of. To such people He presents Himself.
kanjan mALa kaNDu mun aNDamALum—When kamsa was the king there was no Bagavat chintana (thought of Him) in the minds of people. Hence kriShNa killed him and reestablished His rule. ‘nATTai eerakkaiyAlE taDavi kamsanAl paTTa nOvu teera rakShittu’—periyavAchchAn piLLai Sree sookti.
madiyinai— To think in our minds. ‘eippennai vandu naliyumpOdu angEdum nAn unnai ninaikkamATTEn appOdaikku ippOdE solli vaittEn arangamA naraharuLAnE’---periyAzhwAr.
AmiDattE unnai solli vaittEn’—When we are young and strong, fit mentally and physically we should chant His name and meditate on Him. Then when we become old and disabled by diseases He thinks of us. ‘aham smarAmi madBaktam nayAmi paramAm gatim’ He says in varAha purANa.
mAlai—has several meanings—great, dark, infatuated etc., ‘AsA tESam uDaiyavar pakkal vyAmugdanAi iukkumavanai’ Though He does every thing to His aDiyArs He never feels He has done enough. ‘What more should I do for them’ He keeps thinking.
vAzhtti vaNangi en manattu vanda vidiyinai—vidi here means fortunate. AzhwAr says his luck has taken the form of emberumAn. I shall never leave Him who has voluntarily come to my mind.
2. kATTrinaippunalai teeyai kaDimadiL ilangaiSeTTra
ETTrinai imayam mEya ezhil maNittiraLai inba |
ATTrinai amudamtannai avuNanAr uyiraiyuNDa
kooTTrinai guNam koNDu uLLam kooru nee koorumArE ||
AzhwAr tells his mind to meditate on His guNas. At once the mind does so. He is astonished at the minds immediate response. Hence he says ‘nee koorumArE’!
kATTrinai punalai teeyai—Only three are mentioned here. But they should be taken to mean all the pancha Bootas. Here it means the world is made of five Bootas which form His body.
kaDi madiL ilangai SeTTra ETTrinai—lankApuri was a well guarded city by several strong forts. Sree rAma destroyed the city and took seeta pirATTi who was imprisoned there.
The inner meaning of this is—lankApuri is our Sareera. It is surrounded by sea of samsAra. It is ruled by rAvaNa—the mind—having ten heads, the ten indriyas. seeta pirATTi was suffering being imprisoned in the aSOka vana. Similarly jeevAtma is imprisoned and suffers duhKa. hanumAn talks to her about Sree rAma and helps her to come out of the aSOka vana. Similarly our guru helps the jeevAtma to get mOkSha by chanting Bagavat guNas. In the end emberumAn destroys the city (Sareera) and takes seeta pirATTi (jeevAtma) with Him.
imaiyam mEya—imaiyam may mean gold. Then it is He who is shining like gold. If it is taken to mean himAlayas, then it is He who resides in the divya dESa tiruppiridi in the himAayas. ‘ eN kaiyAn imayattAn’.
inba ATTrinai—He is the river water that quenches the thirst of a man haunted by three kinds of duhKa—AdhyAtmika, AdiBoutika and Adideivika. The tank water too quenches the thirst but does not reach the man as it stays in one place only. But the river water flows to facilitate everyone, come near it from any side. The divya dESas are the places through which the ‘river flows’ and one can got to any place to see Him.
amudam tannai—He is ArAvamudam to His dAsas. ‘EtadEva amrutam druShtva’
avuNan Aruyir uNDa kooTTrinai—He is amruta to His Baktas but mrutyu (yama) to the enemies of Baktas. avuNan means any rAkShasa.
3. pAyirum paravaitannuL paruvarai tirittu vAnOrku
Ayirundu amudam koNDa appanai embirAnai |
vEyirum SOlaiSoozhndu virikadiririya ninra
mAyiram SOlai mEya maindanai vaNanginEnE ||
He is a great upakAraka. When indrAdi dEvas requested Him to get nectar from pArkaDal He took the trouble of churning it with mandara mountain as the rod and vAsuki as the cord. What use of nectar to Him who is avApta samsata kAman? It is for the sake of others He does everything. Like sandal tree or moon that live only for the sake of others’ happiness, emberumAn does chEShTitas for the happiness of His Baktas. Similarly His avatAras are restricted to particular period only. For the sake of those like us who missed them, He stands in divya dESas as rAma and kriShNa for us to worship.
4. kETkayAn uTTraduNDu kEzhalAi ulaham koNDa
pookkezhuvaNNanArai pOdarakkanavilkaNDu |
vAkkinAl karumam tannAl manattinAl SirattaitannAl
vETkaimeedoora vAngi vizhunginErku iniyavArE ||
AzhwAr says he wants to ask Him one question and asks Him to reply. He says He had a dream in which he saw varAhamoorti lifting Boomi pirATTi with His tusk. He enjoyed Him with great zest, love and eagerness. He says ‘I have been enjoying the illusory suKa of this world. To me this dream experience was very tasty (parama rasyam) Tell me why it is so?
kETka yAnuTTraduNDu—tirumangai AzhwAr asks Him why should His experience give him joy? How is it so?
Similarly nammAzhwAr asks Him many questions –‘aruhum SuvaDum terivuNarOm anbE paruhum miha iduven pESeer’ ‘puviyum iru viSumbum ninnahatta nee en Seviyin vazhi puhundu ennuLLAi avivinri yAn periyan nee periyai enbadanai yAr arivAr oonperuhu nEmiyAi uLLu’ ‘inru ennai poruLAkki tannai ennuL vaittAi anru ennai puram pOna puNarttadu en SeivAn kunranna tihazh mADangaL Soozh tiruppErAn onru enakku aruL Seyya uNarttaluTTrEnE’. Thus AzhwAr asks many questions to which emberumAn does not reply.
Is He now going to answer tirumangai AzhwAr? No. AzhwAr know that too. But he asks out of anxiety. Why doesn’t He answer? If someone says ‘i put sugar in my mouth. It tastes sweet. Why?’ There is no answer to this question. Similarly madhurakavi AzhwAr says ‘aNNikkum amudoorum ennAvirkkE’ and expressed his Ananda. Here too AzhwAr expresses his AnandAnuBava He asks question which does not have any answer.
5. irumbu ananruNDa neerpOl emberumAnukku enran
arum peralanbu pukkiTTu aDimai pooNDu uindupOnEn |
varum puyalvaNNanArai maruvi en manattu vaittu
karumbinin SArupOla paruhinErku iniyavArE ||
Oh! emberumAn! Tell me why You are sweet like sugarcane juice. Like a red hot iron drinks water till it becomes cool i drank the great nectar of BagavadanuBava and became cool after getting rid of samsAra tApas. The nature of a samsAric mind is to involve in worldly affairs and love an utterly worthless person. It is possible for a lotus to bloom in fire but absolutely impossible for an ahankAric mind to love emberumAn. Therefore AzhwAr says ‘arumperal anbu’.
aDimai pooNDu—kainkarya (aDimai) is the ornament to be worn (pooNDu) by the Atma.
varum puyal vaNNanArai—He is not like the cloud that stays in one place. He is the cloud that travels in the sky pouring rain as it goes. He goes to His dAsas, touch them and pacifies them with love and tenderness. AzhwAr says ‘i placed Him in my heart and drank the Ananda. It is beyond words and thoughts.’
6. moovaril mudalvanAya oruvanai ulaham koNDa
kOvinai kuDandaimEya kurumaNittiraLai inba |
pAvinai pachchaittEnai paimbonnai amarar Senni
poovinai puhazhum toNDar en Solli puhazhvartAmE ||
Those who are standing outside the Bagavat sAgara (ocean) cannot praise Him as He is. But they speak too much about Him. Those immersed in the Bagavat sAgara cannot open their mouths. They find no words to talk. They keep quiet.
moovaril mudalvanAya oruvanai— brahma, viShNu and rudra are the three moortis. Among them viShNu is the chief. Or it can be taken as brahma, indra and rudra . Our swAmi is above these three.
ulaham koNDa kOvinai—Since He is the ‘mudalva’ He is naturally the rakShaka too. When indra asks Him to get back his land from mahAbali He took vAmana avatAra, begged from mahAbali the lands and gave them to indra.
kuDandai mEya kurumaNi tiraLai—It is not indra who alone is protected. Any common man can approach Him to plead for help. For their sake He has shifted His bed from pArkaDal to tirukkuDandai and lies there.
inbappAvinai—‘andamizh inbappAvinai’—says kulaSEkara AzhwAr. Like good poetry He is very sweet to the ears.
pachchai tEnai—He is sweet not only to the ears but also to the tongue like a fresh honey.
paimbonnai—Gold when worn as ornament gives pleasure. Similarly He gives pleasure on touching.
amarar Senni poovinai—He is borne by the nitya sooris on their heads. ‘emmA veeTTu tiramum seppam nin semmA pAdaporpu talai SErttu---ammA aDiyEn vENDuvadE’- nammAzhwAr pleaded for this anugraha which the nitya sooris got without asking. AzhwAr feels jealous about this. He says ‘i may praise in many words. But that doesn’t touch even the fringe of the His glory. i speak only because it pleases me to do so.
7. immaiyai marumaitannai emakku veeDAhi ninra
meimmaiyai virinda SOlai viyan tiruvarangam mEya |
Semmaiyai karumai tannai tirumalai orumaiyAnai
tanmaiyai ninaivAr enran talaimiSai mannuvArE ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr said ‘amarar Senni poovinai’. BagavAn tells him ‘AzhwAr! Show me your head. I shall stand on it like an ornament worn on your head.’ AzhwAr says ‘No. You need not trouble Yourself. There are BAgavatas who always speak of Your guNas who stand on my head and decorates it as an ornament with their tiruvaDi’.
immaiyai marumai tannai—AzhwAr considers the jnAna, vivEka etc., as immai skuKa (the jnAna is knowledge about His swaroopa, roopa, guNa, viBava, aiSwarya, etc.,) (vivEka is the discriminative knowledge). To do kainkarya at all times, in all places , by all means is marumai suKa. Therefore he says emberumAn gives both immai suKa and marumai suKa.
emakku veeDAhi ninra meimmaiyai—meimmai in this context means upAya. He is the only upAya to give immai and marumai. He is sarva sulaBa for all to seek Him, since He is in tiruvarangam.
semmaiyai karumai tannai—He takes different hues in different yugas. In kruta yuga He is milky white, in trEtAyuga, He is red in dwApara yuga He is green and in kali yuga He takes His natural hue i.e. dark. ‘pAlin neermai Sempon neermai’—tiruchchanda viruttam. ‘tihazhndAi pAl pon paruppu kAr vaNNam nAngum’—nAn muhan tiruvandAdi. Though only two colours are mentioned the other two are understood.
tirumalai orumaiyAnai—‘tAnOngi nirkinrAn taNNaruvi vEngaDamE vAnOrkkum maNNOrkkum vaippu’, ‘kaNNAvAn enrum maNNOr viNNOrkku taNNAr vEngaDa viNNOr verpanE’. He is equal to both nityasooris and samsAris. tiruvEngadam is in between nitya viBooti and leelAviBooti. People of this Boomi go there to worship Him and the nityasooris come down to worship Him. The former enjoy His paratva in tirumalai where as the latter enjoy His soulaBya there.
tanmaiyai ninaivAr—Those who understand tiruvEngaDa nAthan as said above are fit to stand on my head.
8. vAniDai puyalai mAlai varaiyiDaippiraSameenra
tEniDai karumbin SATTrai tiruvinai maruvivAzhAr |
mAniDa piraviyandO madikkilar koLha tandam
ooniDai kurambai vAzhkkaikku urudiyE vENDinArE ||
AzhwAr feels much concerned about the human beings who like to stick to their notion of body consciousness rather than seek His tiruvaDi.
vAniDaippuyalai—He is like kALamEGa in the sky. Why use the word ‘vAniDai’? the cloud seeks the sky which has no support. Similarly BagavAn seeks me who has no other support. Why should He do so? Because He loves His dAsas and is infatuated by them (mAlai)
varaiyiDai pirasam eenra tEniDai karumbin SATTrai—Sugarcane is naturally very sweet. If the field of sugarcane is irrigated by the honey flowing from the mountain how much sweeter would that be.’ AzhwAr compares Him to such sweet sugarcane juice.
tiruvinai—tiru means periya pirATTi. He is very dear to her. He is the cause of her glories.
When there is such an emberumAn who is sarvasmAt para and sarva sulaBa why should not men seek Him instead of seeking wine, women, wealth, food, clothes etc., and make a waste of their rare human births. If statistics is taken of all sentient and insentient in this jagat, the sentient is only a fraction of the number of insentient. Even among the sentient the human beings are a very small minority. If such is the case, the man leads a life of an animal, why should he be given the human life? The purpose of man is to seek Him for the other births are devoid of such a chance.
mAniDappiravi madikkilar—is interpreted in another way too. ‘teeNDAvazhumbum Senneerum Seeyum narambum Seri taSaiyum vENDA nATTramum mihum uDal’. Possessing this kind of ‘uDal’ (body) are you not ashamed of feeling proud about it?
kurambai— Literally means hut. This body is the house in which Atma lives. Instead of honouring the Atma we honour this ‘house’ neglecting the development of Atma guNas. How sad!
9. uLLamO onril nillAdu OSaiyil erininruNNum
koLLimEl erumbupOla kuzhaiyumAl enranuLLam |
teLLiyeer dEvarkkellAm dEvarAi ulaham koNDa
oLLiyeer ummaiyallAl ezhumaiyum tuNaiyilOmE ||
AzhwAr finds that no one listen to him and heed his advice. He, therefore, gets dejected and decides ‘let them have their own way; let them suffer for what they do. Let me have my own way and mind my own business. i shall never leave His tiruvaDi. He expresses his ananyagatitiva. He says his mind is always thinking about janana and maraNa (birth and death). i don’t know a way to stop it. i seek Your help alone.
uLLamO onril nillAdu—When oorvasi (a celestial damsel) is sought after even by riShis after much tapas, she voluntarily came to arjuna and asked him to marry her. arjuna was not tempted by her charm and beauty. He told her ‘ammA! you are like mother to me. Take me as your son.’ He is called jitEndriyan. He tells in Bagavat geeta ‘kriShNa, my mind always waves. i don’t know how to stop it—‘chanchalam hi manah kriShNa’. Similarly AzhwAr who has no worldly desire says ‘uLLamO onril nillAdu’. What to talk of us whose mind really waves?
AzhwAr says my mind is like an ant caught in a burning coal. (it keeps moving here and there). But You are always quiet. Steadfastness is Your very nature (teLLiyAr). As one collects mud from a mound and fills the pit so too You should fill my mind (pit) with Your nature (mound).
dEvarkkellAm dEvarai ulaham koNDa oLLiyeer—You are certainly dEvAdi dEva. But when it comes to aDiyArs You feel You are their dAsa and help them in all ways. When indra came to beg You to help him, didn’t You go to mahAbali to beg three pieces of land? You never feel proud of Your supremacy and never feel shy to beg from an asura for the sake of a small fellow like indra. Your tEjas does not diminish by such acts. In fact it increases. If i think of Your guNa i don’t feel like seeking anyone else as my rakShaka.
10. Sittamum SevvainillAdu en SeihEn teevinaiyEn
pattimaikku anbuDaiyEn AvadE paNiyAi endAi |
muttoLi maragadamE muzhangoLi muhilvaNNA en
atta nin aDimaiyallAl Adumonru arihilEnE ||
Oh! BagavAn! i sought Your tiruvaDi only to escape from samsAra. But how wonderful! i have got in return a Bakti towards You!
Sittam Sevvai nillAdu—A person wanted to swim caught hold of a log of wood. Even at the first stroke he lost the support. Similarly i wanted to meditate on You . But i lost my mind. ‘uruhumAl nenjam uyirin paramanri peruhumAl vETkaiyum en SeihEn toNDanEn’ nammAzhwAr cries bitterly. tirumangai AzhwAr says i wanted to do Bakti to You. But Alas! i lost my mind! What am i to do now?
pattimaikku anbuDaiyEn AvadEpaNiyAi—pattimai is the largest measure of Bakti, anbu means the lest measure. AzhwAr wanted pattimai. Now he says please give me anbu at least. He wanted to enjoy BagavAn maximum but he lost his mind even at his firs thought.
Now he feels everything is lost. Hence he requests Him to give at least anbu so that he can enjoy Him. ‘Oh! BagavAn! Give me food to satisfy my great hunger or give me huger to suit the food available’.
‘kaNapurattu pon malai pOl ninravan tAn ponnahalam tOyAvEl ennivaidAn vALA enakkE poraihAhi munnirundu mookinru moovAmai kAppadOr mannu marundu ariveer illaiyE’—periya tirumaDal.
What is the reason for this pattimai? His charm! He is like pearl, emerald—muttoLi marahadamE! muzhangoLi muhil vaNNA! Poet kambar says ‘tOL kaNDAr tOLE kaNDAr toDukazhar kamalamanna tAL kaNDar tALE kaNDAr taDakkai kaNDArum akdE’. If you see His arm you don’t shift your eyes from there. If you see His tiruvaDi it is the same story. AzhwAr says ‘if my mind stands still how can i do kainkarya? But my desire is to do kainkarya alone. Hence ‘pattimaikku anbuDaiyE AvadE paNiyAi’.
11. toNDellAm paravi ninnai tozhudu aDipaNiyumAru
kaNDu tAn kavalai teerppAn AvadE paNiyAi endAi |
aNDamAi eNDiSaikkum AdiyAi neediyAna
paNDamAm paramaSOdi ninnaiyE paravuvEnE ||
AzhwAr says ‘i have no power to remove my duhKas. i seek Your help and anugraha since You can only do it! toNDellAm paravi—nammAzhwaAr says ‘ozhivil kAlamellAm uDanAi manni vazhuvillA aDimai SeyyavENDum nAm’ ‘vavAmstu saha vaidEhya giri SanuShu ramsyatE aham sarvam karShyAmi jAgratah; swapatachcha tE’ lakShmaNa tells rAma to be happy with vaidEhi in the forest for he shall take care of everything. Similarly AzhwAr wants to do all kinds of services.
He continues ‘Oh! BagavAn! My manOratha alone will not accomplish my desires. You should be willing to receive my services. If You wish to take my kainkarya all my worries will be over. Therefore please make such a sankalpa. ‘paranda Sindai onri ninru ninna pAda pangayam nirandaram ninaippadaha nee ninaikka vENDumE’—tiruchchanda viruttam.
eN tiSaikkum AdiyAi—You are the controller of all the dikpalakAs.
paNDam—means wealth, aiSwarya. ‘SElEi kaNNiyarum perum Selvamum nan makkaLum mElA tAi tandaiyarum avarE’.
12. Aviyai aranga mAlai azhukkuDambu echchilvAyAl
tooimaiyil toNDanEn nAn SollinEn tollainAmam |
pAviyEn pizhaittavArenru anjinErku anjalenru
kAvipOl vaNNarvandu en kaNNuLE tOrinArE ||
emberumAn is paramapuruSha. i am a dirty fellow with a spittle mouth (echchil vAi). Shamelessly i chanted His names who is very pure. ‘Ah! Alas! Alas! What an offence (apachAra) i have committed!’ But emberumAn said ‘Don’t fear’.
AviyAi—He is the prANa of all the creatures. But He can be seen (not like prANa which cannot be seen). He is seen as sarvasulaBa in tiruvarangam.
azhukkuDambu echchil vAi—My body became impure when i fell at the feet of all who i thought were great. My mouth became foul when i praised those worthless fellows. With such a dirty body and an echchil mouth i chant Your names which the nityasooris chant since anAdi kAla. Alas! i have polluted Your pure names! And i was more stupid to feel proud of chanting them! How foolish! ‘Ah! Ah! apachArappaTTEn! apachArappaTTEn! ini namakku uyyum vazhi uNDO?’—thus i feared. But emberumAn said ‘AzhwAr! Don’t fear’ and showed His beauty which was the soothing medicine to my wounded mind.
13. irumbananruNDa neerum pOdarum koLha enran
arum piNipAvamellAm ahanrana ennai viTTu |
Surumbamar SOlaiSoozhnda arangamA kOyil koNDa
karumbinai kaNDu koNDu en kaNNiNai kaLikkumArE ||
irumbu ananru uNDa neerum pOdarum—It is possible, i think, for the red hot iron not to absorb water but spit it out. When i sought His tiruvaDi all my pApas, physical and mental afflictions and all kinds of duhKas vanished completely! Impossible it sounds isn’t it? But i have my own experience to justify the fact. When they disappeared i saw with my own eyes Sree ranganAthan who lies on tiruanandAzhwAn and felt the joy inexplicable. Oh! How fortunate i am!
14. kAviyaivenrakaNNAr kalaviyE karudi nALum
pAviyEn Aha eNNi adanuLLE pazhuttozhindEn |
tooviSEr annam mannum Soozhpunal kuDandaiyAnai
pAviyEn pAviyAdu pAviyEn AyinEnE ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr was very happy that he had His vision ‘karumbinai kaNDu koNDu en kaNNiNai kaLikkumArE?’ He is now having remorse that he had not done so in the past. He thinks of his past actions—how he was infatuated by women’s eyes, wanted their samslESha alone, praised their beauty, longed for their company, thinking that alone is the puruShArtha. He thinks he is a mahapApi not never uttering His names, never singing His praise.
kariyavAhi puDai parandu miLirndu SevvaiyODi neeNDa apperiyavAya kaNgaL ennai pEdaimai SeidanavE’—tiruppANAzhwAr. Those who are fascinated by the beauty of His eyes are puNyavans and those who are fascinated by the karunguvaLai—like eyes of women are indeed mahapApis.
AzhwAr says he never had done even a bit of puNya karma. He had foolishly fallen into the pit of worldly pleasures and stayed happily inside thinking that was the aim and end of life. ‘daSaratha chakravarti veN koTTrakkuDai nizhalilE pazhuttArpOlavum, nammAzhwAr ‘undu pAlE pOl Seeril pazhuttozhindEn enru Bagavat guNangaLilE pazhuttozhindAr pOlavum, AzhwAr anda pAvangalilE pazhuttozhindEn engirAr’!
If at last for a moment i had thought of the tirukkaNgaL of tirukkuDandai emberumAn i would have long back got rid of my pApas’—says AzhwAr.
toovi sEr annam mannum kuDandai—The swans symbolize guru since they separate asAra from sAra. The two beautiful wings are jnAna and anuShThAna (practice).
15. munpolA rAvaNan tan mudumadiL ilangaivEvittu
anbinAl anuman vandu AngaDiyiNaipaNiya ninrArku |
enbelAm uruhiyukkiTTu ennuDai nenjamennum
anbinAl jnAnaneer koNDu ATTuvan aDiyanEnE ||
yaSOda pirATTi’s kainkarya to kriShNa is an actual experience. periyAzhwAr’s anuBava of kainkarya to kriShNa was an experience super imposing her state of mind (anukAra) on himself. Here tirumangai AzhwAr’s experience in this and the next pASura is one of mAnasAnuBava.
AzhwAr wants to do kainkarya to BagavAn. He wants to choose a right moment to ask Him—Sree rAma felt very happy when hanumAn returned from south after seeing seeta pirATTi and burning lanka and gathering all the information about the city, army etc., so that he can report to rAma in detail about everything. Sree rAma felt very happy at his successful completion of the mission. AzhwAr refer to this incident and says he wants to do aBiShEka to rAma with jnAna neer.
16. mAyamAn mAyaSeTTru marudiranaDandu vaiyam
tAyamA pravai ponga taDavarai tirittu vAnOrkku |
eeyumAl embirAnArkku ennuDai SorkaLennum
tooyamAmAlai koNDu SooTTuvan toNDanEnE ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr did tirumanjana to Him. In this pASura he garlands Him with the words strung as a ‘mAla’ (SorkaL ennum tooya mA mAlai).
AzhwAr mentions four avatAras in this one pASura
‘mAya mAn mAyachcheTTru’—Sree rAmAvatAra
‘marudiDai naDandu’—Sree kriShNAvatAra
‘vaiyan tAi’—vAmana avatAra
‘paravai ponga taDavarai tirittu’—koormAvatAra
tAi—tAvi becomes ‘tAi’ ‘pAyOraDi vaittAn keezh paravai nilamellAm tAi’—nammAzhwAr.
17. pESinAr piravi neettAr pEruLAn perumaipESi
ESinAr uindu pOnAr enbadu ivvulahin vaNNam |
pESinEn ESamATTEn pEdaiyEn piravi neettarku
ASaiyO peridu koLha alaikaDal vaNNar pAlE ||
We know from SAstra that those who praise Him get mOkSha and those who unsure Him also get mOkSha (like SiSupAla and others). i don’t belong to either group. i am an ignorant person. How can i praise Him, His guNa or glories? What do i know about Him? Nothing. As for people like SiSupAla, certainly i am not like them for i can never criticize Him. i don’t want mOkSha by talking ill of Him. Therefore i don’t get mOkSha in either way. But i have an unceasing desire to get mOkSha. His enchanting form makes me think of Him and thirst for Him. What can i do? i am helpless.
pEruLAn perumai pESinAr piravi neettAr—AzhwAr mentions the divya dESa tiruppEr which is an upalakShaNa for all divya dESas. The list is endless if one is to mention all the names of those who sang His glories and got mOkSha.
EsinAr uindu pOnAr—ANDAL in nAchchiyAr tirumozhi says ‘kaTTrinam mEikkalum mEikkappeTTrAn kADu vAzh SAdiyum AhappeTTrAn paTTri unaliDai AppumuNDAn pAvihAL ungaLukku Echchu kolO’. Of those who unsure Him SiSupAla is the foremost. They too get mOkSha because even to scold one has to utter His names. ‘kETpAr sevi SuDum keezhmai vasavuhaLE vaiyum SETpAl pazham pahaivan SiSupAlan tiruvaDi tATpAl aDaindu’—nammAzhwAr. ‘chaidyasya krisha pratiBavam aparAddhuh mugdha sAyujyadO aBooh’ .
enbadu ivvulahin vaNNam—‘ulaham’ means SAstra. elleerum veeDu peTTrAl ulahillai enrE’—tiruvAimozhi. ‘na ninditam karma tadasti lOkE’—ALavandAr. It can be taken to mean in the positive sense. It is an ironical expression to mean ‘am i eligible to speak about Him?’
There are only two ways to get mOkSha—to praise or to unsure. The former i am incapable of doing and the latter i am unwilling to do. There fore there is no chance of mOkSha for me. But I desire to get mOkSha. Oh! What can I do?
18. iLaippinai iyakkam neekki irundu mun imaiyaikkooTTi
aLappil aimbulan aDakki anbavar kaNNEvaittu |
tuLakkamil SindaiSeidu tOnralum SuDarviTTu AngE
viLakkinai vidiyil kANbAr meimmaiyE kANhirpArE ||
Some people try to see Him with their own efforts. As said by patanjali muni there are eight steps—yama, niyama, Asana, prANayAma, pratyAhAra, DaraNa, dhyAna and samAdhi. They control their senses which fly like kite and win over the five kLESas (duhKas)—avidya, asmita, rAga, dwESha and aBinivESa.
avidya—ajnAna (ignorance); asmita—ahankAra (ego); rAga—attachment; dwESha—hatred; aBinivESa—the fear of death
The upAsakas sit firmly in an Asana, control their senses (aimbualnaDakki), concentrate on the tip of the nose (munnimaiyai kooTTi) and meditate on Him without break (tuLakkamil Sindai Seidu anbu vaittu) which is otherwise called Bakti. In this state they have the vision of His tEja swaroopa. (SuDar viTTu tOnralum viLakkinai)
‘But’ AzhwAr wonders will they see Him really? Unless He wills (since He is swatantra) to appear before them can they bring Him because of self effort? Does He ever come subject to the conditions of dhyAna etc? He should, out of His nirhEtuka kripA should give darSan. ‘oon vADa uNNAdu uyir kAvaliTTu uDalir piriyA pulan aindum nondu tam vADa vADa tavan SeidAl’ –with such self effort will they see Him?
‘No’, says AzhwAr. ‘peNNulAm SaDaiyAnum piramanum unnai kANbAn eNNilA oozhi oozhi tavam SeidAr velhi nirpa viNNuLar viyappa vandu Anaikku anru aruLai eenda’— toNDaraDippoDi AzhwAr. brahma, rudra and others perform austere penance for yugas and yugas but He doesn’t appear before them. In fact He appeared before the mere elephant (gajEndra) when he called out His name!
periyavAchchAn piLLai concludes ‘athavA ippaDi yOga SAttirattil SolluhirapDiyE upAsittu kANbArukku kANalAm enrunAm’—When SAstra says one can see Him through upAsana, it is not entirely impossible. They do get the vision, but think of the amount of effort which is almost impossible. Think of the efforts of gajEndra SaraNAgati.
19. piNDiyAr maNDaiyEndi pirar manai tiritanduNNum
uNDiyAn SAbam teertta oruvanoor ulahamEttum |
kaNDiyoor arangam meyyam kachchi pEr mallaiyenru
maNDinAr uyyalallAl maTTraiyArkku uyyalAmE ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr said do not strain yourself too much in order to see Him by your own efforts (iLaippinai iyakkam neekki----). Do not think that you can get Him by renunciation alone like Siva (carrying a begging bowl and begging food). The only way to have His vision is to go to diyva dESas like kaNDiyoor, mallai, meyyam, pEr, kachchi etc., and experience His paratva as well as soulaBya in the moortis. AzhwAr speaks his anuBava and advises the world to follow the same. ‘kANbarO talai Siraittu un kaDaittalai irundu vAzhum Sombarai uhatti pOlum’—toNDaraDippoDi AzhwAr.
20. vAnavar tangaL kOnum malar miSai ayanum nALum
tEmalar tooviyEttum SEvaDiSengaNmAlai |
mAnavEl kaliyan Sonna vaNDamizh mAlai nAlaindum
oonamadinrivallAr oLiviSumbALvar tAmE ||
Those who learn these twenty pASuras sung by tirumangai AzhwAr on emberumAn who is for ever worshipped by indra, brahma and others, will certainly go to paramapada and worship Him and in turn worshipped by others.
onamadinri—the ‘mistake’ meant here is to expect any other result like worldly or other worldly. Hence those who sing Him without any expectation (ananya prayOjana) will be worshipped by nityasooris.
tirunkkurundANDaham sampoorNam
tirumangai AzhwAr tiruvaDihaLE SaraNam
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