All the AzhwAr's are blessed by emberumAn by ‘mayarvara madi nalam’. pEyAzhwAr’s prabandha is called moonrAm tiruvandAdi because it comes 3rd in the series of tiruvandAdi’s by mudalAzhwArs. This is placed as the 3rd prabandha in the 3rd Ayiram called iyarpa (as arranged by Sreeman nAdamunihaL).
poihai AzhwAr in mudal tiruvandAdi had sAkShAtkAra of His swaropa, roopa, guNa, viBooti etc. due to His nirhEtuka kaTAkSha. In his paraBakti daSa he speaks of this viBooti as tahaLi and light a limp to remove the ajnAna andhakAra. What is ajnAna?—to think a jeeva is swatantra and anyaSESha. The jnAna vikAsa is to find out that jeeva is paratantra; a SESha of emberumAn; and the kainkarya to His tiruvaDi alone is puruShArtha; and the upAya and upEya are He alone.
Both boodattAzhwAr and pEyAzhwAr were with him when he had these experiences so they also had similar experience. Thus what one experienced the other two had the same. Therefore boodattAzhwAr passed on from parajnAna daSa to paraBakti daSa and experiences His guNas. pEyAzhwAr experienced both parajnAna and paraBakti. Now he is in parama Bakti daSa. He has the sAkShAtkAra of emberumAn and sings what his experiences are. He explains the swaroopa, upAya and puruShArtha etc.
The first two AzhwArs lighted 2 lamps, vaiyam tahaLiyA and anbE tahaLiyA. In that prakASa the three of them get the sAkShAtkAra of emberumAn. pEyAzhwAr is ‘manniya pEriruL mANDapin kOvaluL mAmalarAL tannODu mAyai kaNDamai kATTum tamizh talaivar’.
poihaiyAr says He is ‘uBayaviBootinAtha’; boodattAr says ‘He is nArAyaNa Sabda vAchyan’; pEyAzhwAr says ‘Sreemat should be added to nArAyaNa Sabda’.
taniyan
(tirukkuruhaippirAn)
SeerArum mADa tirukkOvaloor adanuL
kArAr karu muhilai kANa pukku OrA |
tirukkaNDEn enru uraitta SeerAn kazhalE
urai kaNDAi nenjE uhandu ||
tirukkuruhai kAvalappan advises his mind to seek pEyAzhwAr’s tiruvaDi. The three mudalAzhwArs meet in tirukkOvaloor on a dark rainy night. The two AzhwArs light lamps. All the three get the vision of emberumAn with periya pirATTi who came and stood among them. Since it was a rainy day the poet says ‘kArAr karu muhilai’. ‘mazhai muhilE pOlvan tannai’—tirumangai AzhwAr says about tirukkOvaloor emberumAn.
moonrAm tiruvandAdi
tirukkaNDEn ponmEni kaNDEn tihazhum
arukkan aNi niramum kaNDEn serukkiLarum|
ponnAzhi kaNDEn purisangu angai kaNDEn
ennAzhi vaNNan pAl inru || One ||
The three mudalAzhwArs were wandering individually meditating on Him alone unmindful of the world around them. Once by the will of god the three of them met in tirukkOvaloor. It was a rainy night. poihaiyAr came first to worship mrugaNDu riShi. Since it was raining he took shelter in a small ‘iDaihazhi’ (passage). Then came boodattAr who saluted poihaiyAr ‘vaiShNavO vaiShNavam druShTvA danDavat praNamEt Buvi’—vEda. poihaiyAr said ‘there is place for 2 to sit and one to sleep. Please come and join me’.
Then came pEyAzhwAr to whom the other two AzhwArs said ‘there is place for one to sleep, two to sit and three to stand’. The three of them talked nothing but Him. After a while they felt some fourth person with a huge form pushing them. They wondered who it was. To see the ‘stranger’ the first two AzhwArs lighted a lamp ‘vaiyam tahaLiyA’ and ‘anbE tahaLiyA’. The darkness vanished and they saw Him with periya pirATTi standing there revealing all His beauty and glories.
Even though he could have very well said ‘emberumAnai kaNDE’ pEyAr says ‘i see this’, i see this’ and so on. ‘i see periya pirATTi who is ‘puruShakAra Bootai’ and i see her golden colour mixed with ShyAmaLa varNa (of emberumAn). i see the tiruvAzhiyAzhwAr (chakra) who is constantly on the look out for any enemy and is ready to go to behead anyone ‘looking like an enemy’ (asthAnE Baya SanKa). i see His pAnchajanya, the valamburi sangu whose very noise causes the death of the enemies.
tirukkaNDEn pon mEni kaNDEn—It is customary to start any work by the words denoting mangaLa. Hence the word tiru is used first.
pon mEni kaNDEn—‘hiraNya varNAm hariNeem’—vEda. Due to her nitya samslESha even the dark tirumEni of emberumAn becomes golden (or)
pon mEni—very desirable tirumEni
arukkan—Sun (arka in Sanskrit) ‘uruvu karidAi muham seidAi udaya paruppadattin mEl viriyum kadirE pOlvAnai vrindAvanattE kaNDOmE’—nAchchiyAr tirumozhi of ANDAL.
serukkiLarum ponnAzhi---‘snEhAt asthAna rakShA vyasaniBiraBayam sArnga chakrAsi muKyaih’— Sree guNa ratna kOSa of BaTTar. ‘karudumiDam porudu kai vanda chakkarattAn’ — tiruvAimozhi.
puri sangam kai kaNDEn—puri—valamburi; sangam—sangu (or) puri sanga am kai kaNDEn—the valamburi sangu in His beautiful (am) kai kaNDEn—in His hand (or) puri—looking here and there in search of enemies, (or) puri—very humble due to SEShatva.
AzhivaNNan—Azhi-sea, the SanKa, periya pirATTi and kaustuBa maNi are got from the churning of pArkaDal. He who has all these look like sea.
inrE kazhal kaNDEn Ezhpirappum yAnaruttEn
pontOi varai mArbil poonduzhAi anru |
tirukkaNDu koNDa tirumAlE unnai
marukkaNDu koNDu en manam || Two ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr enjoyed Him who has SanKa and chakra. As soon as he saw Him all his virOdhi vargas (the group of enemies like ahankAra etc) were killed.
‘Oh! perumAn! You have a tirumArbu which periya pirATTi loves. Hence she does nitya vAsa there. Today is the best day in my life because i had Your vision with periya pirATTi. Today is the day when my janma paramapara (the chain of births) is destroyed (i.e., i am going to enjoy the ever lasting bliss).
AzhwAr first said ‘pon mEni kaNDEn’ Now He says ‘inrE kazhal kaNDEn’, A baby just born spontaneously seeks the breasts of the mother for milk. Similarly Baktas mind seek the tiruvaDi by instinct.
pon tOi varai mArbil—‘pon’ here means pirATTi i.e, the tirumArbu which is sought by pirATTi. (or) ‘pon’ means gold. i.e. the tirumArbu of emberumAn where He wears gold ornaments. He was wearing ornaments and tuzhasi mAla when He churned the sea.
manattuLLAn mAkaDal neeruLLAn malarAL
tanattuLLAn taNDuzhAi mArban sinattu |
serunar uha seTTruhanda tEngOda vaNNan
varu naraham teerkkum marundu || Three ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr said his mind seeks emberumAn. Now he says emberumAn seeks his mind. ‘He who lies in tiruppArkaDal and on the tirumulai taDam of periya pirATTi now lies in his mind. He likes to live in tiruppArkaDal for Asrita rakShaNa. periya pirATTi likes to live in His tirumArbu decked with golden ornaments and tuzhasi mAla. He gets angry at His Bakta’s enemies and kills them. He feels happy after killing them since His dAsas feel happy and safe. Because of His happiness His form becomes more effulgent than before. He is the medicine to cure the ills of samsAra. He is verily in my mind.
marundum poruLum amudamum tAnE
tirundiya sengaNmAl AngE porundiya |
ninrulahamuNDu umizhndu neerETTru moovaDiyAl
anrulaham tAyOnaDi || Four ||
AzhwAr says the upAya swaroopa is tiruvaDi alone from anAdikAla. It s He who is always doing the task of rakShaNa. He whose tiruvaDi measured the worlds is my health, wealth and nectar.
marundu—The medicines are used to cure diseases. Similarly His tiruvaDi cures the illness of samsAra.
poruL—The wealth begets all the things and pleasures that we want. Similarly His tiruvaDi provides us all that we wish.
amudam—the tiruvaDi not only removes samsAra tApa (aniShTa nirvitti), gives all that we wish (iShTa prApti) but also is swayam BOgya (itself enjoyable)
tirundiya sengaNmAl—His lotus-like eyes reveal His sarvESwaratva and make us fall at His tiruvaDi ‘kariyavAhi puDai parandu miLirndu sevvariyODi neeNDa apperiyavAya kaNgaL’ — tiruppANAzhwAr in amalanAdipirAn.
AngE porundiya—He is always engaged in the act of rakShaNa. How? He puts all the worlds inside His tiruvayiru to protect them from praLaya (uNDu); He puts them back again to enable them try for mOkSha (umizhndu); gets back the property (Boomis) which mahAbali unrighteously claimed as his (moovaDiyAl ulaham tAyOn). These acts manifest His guNas called rakShakatva. Hence i take His tiruvaDi as upAya and upEya.
tirundiya—is interpreted by periyavAchchAn piLLai—‘ivvAtmAkkaL tirundAviTTAl ivaTTrai tirutta pArAdE ivaTTrukku eeDAha tannai tiruttikkoNDirukkum sarvESwaran’.
aDivaNNam tAmarai anrulaham tAyOn
paDivaNNam pArkkaDal neervaNNam muDivaNNam |
OrAzhi veyyOn oLiyumaKdanrE
ArAzhi koNDArkku azhahu || Five ||
It is a well known fact that mudalAzhwArs are engrossed in trivikrama avatAra. The word ‘ulaham tAyOn’ of the previous pASura reminded him of the avatAra. He dives into the sea of beauty of trivikrama. His tiruvaDis are like red lotuses; His tirumEni is like dark cool sea, His crown is like the bright sun. ‘kadirAyiram iravi kalandAlotta neeN muDiyan’. His effulgence has no comparison at all. If it can be compared it is done only with the brilliance of the sun only. This is the beauty of emberumAn who holds chakra in His hand.
OrAzhi veyyOn—‘aptayunjanti ratham Ekachakram’—taittireeya AraNyaka; ‘oru kAluDaiya tEn oruvan’—peirya tirumozhi of tirumangai AzhwAr; ‘taniyAzhi tErAr nirai kadirOn’—siriya tirumaDal.
azhahanrE AzhiyArku Azhineer vaNNam
azhahanrE aNDam kaDattal azhahanrE |
angai neerETTrArku alarmElOn kAlkazhuva
gangaineer kAnra kazhal || Six ||
AzhiyArku Azhi neer vaNNam azhahanrE—There are many tirunAmas. One of them is ‘kaDal vaNNan’. People simply say ‘kaDal vaNNan’ without going deep in to the significance of the name. AzhwAr says we should not simply chant His names; but should meditate on all aspects of kaDal and aspects of BagavAn and then enjoy the beauty of the name from the bottom of the heart. If you do so you will understand the beauty and find you are elated because of that new understanding.
This kaDal vaNNan does not wear any ornaments to enhance His natural beauty.
azhahanrE aNDam kaDattal—The most learned speak about His wonderful act of measuring the worlds as a marvelous feat and an act accomplished by His mAya Sakti with the least effort etc. But alas! They fail to appreciate His beauty when He lifted the tiruvaDi.
angai neerETTrArku alar mElOn kAl kazhuva gangai neer kAnra kazhal azhahanrE—When He lifted His tiruvaDi it reached satya lOka of brahma. There brahma washed His tiruvaDi with his kamaNDala jala which became ganga at the touch of His tiruvaDi. Siva became pure only after receiving the ganga water that flowed from satya lOka. Thus the pure water is born from the purest tiruvaDi. AzhwAr says one should not stop at these explanations; they should further enjoy the beauty of the scene—the lotus-like tiruvaDi; the kamaNDalu jala washing the tender tiruvaDi; etc. etc. In short all the chEShTitas should be enjoyed along with His Saktitva aspect.
kazhaltozhudum vAnenjE kArkkaDalneer vElai
pozhilaLanda puLLoordi selvan ezhilaLandu |
eNNarkariyAnai epporuTkum sEyAnai
naNNarkariyAnai nAm || Seven ||
In the previous pASura AzhwAr was enjoying the beauty of emberumAn. Now he asks his mind to come, enjoy and do kainkarya to His tiruvaDi.
He measured all the worlds surrounded by seas. He has garuDa as His vAhana that suggests His lordship. He is the sole owner of all the aiSwarya of all the lOkas. His beauty par excellence cannot be even imagined. He is so unique that He cannot be compared with anything on this earth. He cannot be reached by any amount of self effort. He paramapuruSha. What can we do but to worship.
nAmam palasolli nArAyaNa enru
nAm angaiyAl tozhudum nannenjE vA maruvi |
maNNulaham uNDumizhnda vaNDaraiyum taNDuzhAi
kaNNanaiyE kANga nan kaN || Eight ||
AzhwAr wants all his indriyas to be engaged in Him only. His mouth should chant only His tirunAmas; the hands should be making anjali mudra; the eyes should always be looking His vigraha; since the mind is necessary for all the indriyas to do their respective functions he asks his mind to help the indriyas get engaged in such activities.
vaNDaraiyum taNDuzhAi kaNNanai—The ears should hear the humming of the bees that sit on the tuzhasi mAla, drink honey. ‘tOLiNai mElum nan mArbin mElum suDar muDi mElum tALiNai mElum punainda taNNanduzhAi mAlai’. The nose should smell the tuzhasi. Thus he mentions all indriyas like in mukundamAla stOtra it is said ‘jihvE keertaya kESavam muraripum chEtO Baja Sreedharam pANi dwandva samachaya achyuta kathA srOtra dwaya tvam SruNu kriShNam lOkaya lOchana dwaya harEr gachchAngri ugmAlayam jigra grANa mukunda pAda tuzhasim moordhan nama adhOkShayam’.
kaNNum kamalam kamalamE kaittalamum
maNNaLanda pAdamum maTTravaiyE eNNir |
karumA muhil vaNNan kArkkaDal neer vaNNan
tirumAmaNi vaNNan tESu || Nine ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr said ‘kaNNanaiyE kANga nangaN’. BagavAn appears before him and reveals His beauty. AzhwAr now describes Him. His tirumEni is as beautiful and charming like kALamEGa dark sea and sapphire; His tiruvaDis and tirukkaihaL are like lotuses.
AzhwAr does not say ‘kaNNum kaittalamummaN aLanda pAdamum kamalamE’ as the poetic rule requires. But he says ‘kaNNum kamalam kamalamE kaittalamum maNNaLanda pAdamum maTTravaiyE’. Since all the avayavas are compared only to lotus He could have very well expressed it in one sentence. But why doesn’t he do it? The strict grammarians would object to this type of construction of sentences and would label him as a bad poet. We should remember on point—in AnandAnuBava grammar has no place. Those who don’t argue to this are arasikas (who don’t have aesthetic sense) ‘arthAswAdana vELAyAm sabdaSAstra vimarSakah neevee viSramsa vELAyAm vastra moolya vichArakAh’—when one is expressing his emotions and feeling the listener should grasp the import of the utterances and not find fault with the grammar. When the lovers are embracing each other they don’t engage in tasks like ‘what is the price of the saree’. when did you buy it’ etc. ‘tOL kaNDAr tOLE kaNDAr toDu kazhar kamalamanna tAL kaNDAr tALE kaNDAr taDakkai kaNDArum akdE’—kamba rAmayaNa. Similarly AzhwAr sees His kaNgaL first and says kaNNum kamalam. He could not lift His eyes from there. Slowly he shifts his eyes to the hands and says ‘kamalamE kaittalmum’. Then after a very long time he sees His tiruvaDi and says ‘maNNaLanda pAdamum maTTravaiyE’. emberumAn’s avayava soundarya never diminishes by kAla. But the lotus flower fades with passing of every minute. How can it be compared with emberumAn’s everlasting beauty? That is why AzhwAr says with indifference ‘pAdamum maTTravaiyE’ ‘kai vaNNam tAmarai vAi kamalam pOlum kaNNinaiyum aravindam aDiyum akdE’—tiruneDundANDaham of tirumangai AzhwAr. ‘abja pAdam aravinda lOchanm padma pANitalam’—Sree koorattAzhwAn sudarabAhustava.
tEsum tiralum tiruvum uruvum
mAsil kuDipirappum maTTravaiyum pEsil |
valampurindu vAn sangam koNDAn pErOda
nalam purindu senraDaiyum nangu || Ten ||
People think all cannot speak about the beauty of emberumAn. It needs only mahAns and riShis to speak like this. AzhwAr says no. Anyone and everyone can chant His names. That all that is good will come to him as their abode is the magic of tirunAma. He gets the tEjas (that attracts everyone), a dignified look (that makes everyone turn to see you), the charm (that makes people gaze at you), the good birth etc.
Those born of low castes area also worshipped if they worship Him. ‘paNDai kulattai tavirndu’— says periyAzhwAr.
nangOdum nAlvEdattuLLAn naraviriyum
pongOda aruvi punal vaNNan sangOda
pArkaDalAn pAmbaNaiyin mElAn payinruraippAr
noorkaDalAn nuNNarivinAn || Eleven ||
AzhwAr said in the last pASura that all good things come to those who chant His names. ‘nalam purindu senraDaiyum nangu’. ‘Oh! AzhwAr! Will the chanting of His tirunAmas bring the understanding of His swaroopa and swaBAva?’ AzhwAr says ‘No! They are difficult to understand by self effort alone’. He is the one who is revealed by all the 4 vEdas; whose divya mangaLa vigraha defeats the sweetness of honey; He is the one who is revealed not only by the vEdas but also by smritis, itihAsas and purANas. He is nuNNarivinAn. He cannot be reached by anyone who resort to means other than Him.
nuNNarivinAn—also interpreted as He who has sookShma jnAna. He cannot be understood by those having sthoola jnAna.
arivennum tALkOLuvi aimpulanum tammil
serivennum tiNkadavam semmi maraiyenrum |
nangOdi nanguNarvAr kANbarE nADOrum
paingOda vaNNan paDi || Twelve ||
when AzhwAr said ‘nuNNarivinan’ people ask him ‘Oh! AzhwAr! Is He like the sky flowers (AhAya tAmarai) or son of a barren woman (malaDi mahan) that He is absolutely impossible to reach? ‘No. He is not absolutely impossible like that ‘flower’ or the ‘son’. He is very well understood if you read the vEdas, understand their meanings, control your senses and desire to see Him’.
Shut the exit door, put a latch, control the indriyas well inside the mind and meditate on Him who is both inside and outside. One cannot have both indriya suKa and BagavadanuBava simultaneously.
paDivaTTa tAmarai paNDulaham neerETTru
aDivaTTatAl aLappa neeNDa muDivaTTam |
AhAyam ooDaruttu aNDam pOi neeNDadE
mAhAyamAi ninra mArku || Thirteen ||
In the previous pASura AzhwAr said ‘nangOdi nanguNarvAr-nADOrum paingOda vaNNan paDi kANbar’. They will see Him as trivikrama or any such form. They will have the vision of His acts that happened in the past with their own eyes. Perhaps they will see Him as trivikrama growing tall as to touch the upper worlds and go further to reach aNDa kaTAha.
vaTTam—Circle. paDivaTTam—The round Boomi.
tAmarai paDi vaTTam—The round Boomi looking like a fully bloomed lotus. Since BagavAn’s lotus like tiruvaDi measured it, the Boomi also looks like lotus.
marpAl manamsuzhippa mangaiyartOL kaiviTTu
noorpAl manam vaikka noividAm nArpAla |
vEdattAn vEngaDattAn viNNOr muDitOyum
pAdattAn pAdam paNindu || Fourteen ||
AzhwAr said ‘arivennum tAL koLuvi’—that one should learn SAstras, understand the meaning, control the indriyas and meditate on Him. ‘Oh! AzhwAr! What you say is beyond our capacity. We don’t know to read SAstras; we don’t understand even if we read; our indriyas are out of our control; what to talk of meditation! AzhwAr says ‘what you say is right. But He who is talked by all the vEdas is sarva sulaBa. That is why He is in tirumalai for all the people including dEvas to worship Him. If only you seek Him it is easy to renounce the pleasures of this world as you will gradually acquire a taste in SAstra learning’.
It is said if you renounce the desires you will have the desire for Bagavad viShaya; and if you develop a desire for Bagavad viShaya the desire for objects drop easily. This is called anyOnya ASraya—each one depends on the other. The answer is—we see many people who seek the pleasures of women and to temples too. After a long time, a time comes when his interest is more on BagavAn than on women. Thus AzhwAr’s words ‘mAl pAl manam suzhippa mangaiyar tOL kai viTTu’ becomes true. Thus there is no anyOnya ASrayadOSha.
paNinduyarnda bouva paDutiraihaL mOda
paNinda paNa maNihaLAlE aNindangu |
anandan aNai kiDakkum ammAn aDiyEn
manandan aNai kiDakkum vandu || Fifteen ||
When AzhwAr said ‘mAr Al manam suzhippa mangaiyar tOL kai viTTu noor pAl manam vaikka noividAm’. he is asked ‘Well! AzhwAr! You say one develops a gradual interest in vEdas. Did you follow this path?’ AzhwAr says ‘No. Mine is different. It is His nirhEtuka kaTAkSha that enabled me to see Him. In fact SAstra jnAna becomes useless if there is His nirhEtuka kaTAkSha. If He desires to shower His blessings who can prevent Him from doing so? Isn’t He sarva swatantra? He who was lying on the soft bed of tiruanandAzhwAn could stay there no longer but has come to stay in my mind!
vandudaitta veNDraihaL sembavaLa veNmuttam
andiviLakkum aNi viLakkAm endai |
oruvalli tAmaraiyAL onriyaseer mArban
tiruvallikkENiyAn senru || Sixteen ||
AzhwAr says before coming to my mind from tiruppArkaDal He had a stop over at tiruvallikkENi. The first two lines describe tiruvallikkENi where the waves lash pushing red corals and white pearls which shine like the mangaLa deepas lighted in the temple making the place always bright.
senranAL sellAda sengaNmAlengaL mAl
enra nALennALum nALAhum enrum |
iravAda endai iNaiyaDikkE ALAi
maravAdu vAzhttuhaven vAi || Seventeen ||
If today is the day when i sing ‘SengaN mAl engaL mAl’ then all the days become good. ‘Oh! AzhwAr! What do You mean by that? Do you mean to say by just singing Him only one day i.e. today, all your past and future become good? What about your past days when you were a samsAri and the unpredictable future when you don’t know how you will be?’ AzhwAr replies—there is a man who suddenly becomes rich. All the sufferings of the past is over; his hungry days are not going to come back since his stomach is full. He is happy today because he is rich he thinks his future will be the same and feels secure about it. There fore his happy day of today makes him happy forget the sad days of yesterday and hopes for the same happiness of coming days’. Therefore if today is my good day because i feel i am His dAsa all my previous samsAri state is gone and my future samsAra will not show its ugly teeth at me. i become a nitya mukta. ‘enrum iravAda endai iNaiyaDikkE ALAi en vAi maravAdu vAzhttu peTTrA, senra nAL sellAda nAL SengaN mAl engaL mAl enra annAL Ahiya ennALum nALAhum’—is the prose order.
vAimozhindu vAmananAi mAvalipAl moovaDimaN
neeyaLandu koNDa neDumAlE tAviya nin |
enjA iNaiyaDikkE EzhpirappumALAhi
anjAdirukka aruL || Eighteen ||
Oh! ulahaLanda perumAn! Please give me nitya kainkarya at Your tiruvaDi and remove the samsAra Baya (fear) which impedes that anuBava.
vAmana got back all the worlds that was His from mahAbali who claimed them as his. Similarly AzhwAr asks Him to maintain His dAsatva since he is His property.
vAi mozhindu—The small brahmachAri uttered certain sweet words attracted by which mahAbali gave Him what He asked.
anjAdirukka—i fear this Bagavat kainkarya which i got today may be lost tomorrow and i may consequently fall into samsAra again. Please remove this fear.
aruLAdozhiyumE AlilaimEl anru
teruLAda piLLaiyAi sErndAn iruLAda |
sindaiyarAi sEvaDikkE semmalar tooi kaittozhudu
mundaiyarAi nirpArkku mun || Nineteen ||
‘Oh! AzhwAr! As soon as you say ‘anjAdirukka aruL’ will He do the same without any question?’
‘Yes! He will certainly do anugraha since He is waiting or someone to ask Him. Therefore He will not refuse my request’ ‘AzhwAr! If He is so merciful will He give mOkSha to all?’ ‘No! In that case there will not be any leela viBooti at all. He will give those who with pure mind offer the beautiful flower at His tiruvaDi, stand with anjali and seek His blessings’. He is the one who as a small baby lay on a tiny banyan leaf after swallowing all the worlds and keeping them in His tiruvayiru! His enthusiasm to protect His aDiyArs does not diminish at any time ‘Alilai mEl anru teruLAda piLLaiyAi sErndAn’.
iruLAda sindaiyarAi—Those who have only suddha satva guNa without a trace of rajas and tamas.
mundaiyar—They push each other to stand first in the queue to serve Him.
munnulaham uNDu umizhndAikku avvulaham eeraDiyAl
pinnaLandu kODal peridonrE ennE |
tirumAlE sengaNeDiyAnE engaL
perumAnE neeyidanai pEsu || Twenty ||
In the 18th and 19th pASuras AzhwAr talked about His ‘ulahaLanda’ chEShTita and ‘ulahuNDa’ chEShTita. In this pASura he combined both these acts and says ‘Oh! perumAn! You as a small babe swallowed all the worlds, put them safely in Your small tiruvayiru. To You is it a difficult task to measure all the worlds with Your tiruvaDi? Why do talk people with wonder Your ‘ ulahaLanda’ act? Tell me!
pEsuvAr evvaLavu pEsuvar avvaLavE
vAsamalar tuzhAi mAlaiyAn tEsuDaiya
chakkarattAn sanginAn sArngattAn pongarava
vakkaranai konrAn vaDivu || Twenty One ||
It is normally believed His glories can be spoken not by anyone except by maharShis. But AzhwAr refuses this. In fact anyone who has the faculty of speech can speak to Him. Perhaps the only difference is maharShis can speak His glories in volumes where as a commoner can speak only a few words. Even a lengthy speech does not fully reveal Him. In this respect jnAnis and ajnAnis stand on the same platform revealing this is a parity to fully justify His grandeur. It is said even AdiSESha if speaks for infinite days with his 1000 mouths the list does not get exhausted. ‘periyavar pEsilum pEdaiyar pEsilum tan guNangaTku uriya sol enrum uDaiyavan’—tiruvarangattu amudanAr
vakkaranai konrAn—dantavakra was the friend of SiSupAla. He was killed by kriShNa when dantavakra came to fight Him as He was taking away rukmiNi.
vaDivAr muDikOTTi vAnavarhaL nALum
kaDiyAr malartoovi kANum paDiyAnai |
semmaiyAluLLuruhi sevvanE nenjamE
meimmeyE kANa virumbu || Twenty Two ||
Oh! Mind! Desire to see Him who is worshipped by the nityasooris with their crowned heads bent down offering fragrant flowers at His tiruvaDi. Is it easy to see Him? Yes and no. If He Himself desires to reveal Himself to us it is easy; if we try to attain Him by our own efforts it is not easy. “semmaiyAl sevvanE meimmeyE kANa virumbu”.
virumbiviN maNNaLanda anjiraiya vaNDAr
surumbu tuLaiyil senrooda arumbum |
punanduzhAi mAlaiyAn ponnangazharkE
mananduzhAi mAlAi varum || Twenty Three ||
emberumAn wears tuzhasi mAla on His crown, shoulders and tirumArbu. The bees seeks the honey attracted as they are by the sweet smell of honey, drink it causing the buds to open. AzhwAr says his mind is engrossed in the beauty of our swAmi.
vaNDAr—can be split as vaN tAr—beautiful mAla (or) vaNDu Ar—female bees surumbu—male ones.
varungAlirunilanum mAlvisumbum kATTrum
nerungutee neer uruvumAnAn porundum |
suDarAzhi onruDaiyAn SoozhkazhalE nALum
toDarAzhi nenjE tozhudu || Twenty Four ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr said his mind is fully engrossed in His tiruvaDi alone. Now he wants this state to continue for ever.
He is the antaryAmi of the 5 Bootas suggest His Lordship over the leelAviBooti. The word ‘porundum suDarAzhi onru uDaiyAn’ suggests His Lordship over the nityasooris (i.e. His nitya viBooti). Thus He is uBaya viBooti nAtha whose tiruvaDi alone is my refuge. Oh! Mind! worship His tiruvaDi and do nityakainkarya.
tozhudAl pazhuduNDE? tooneerulaham
muzhuduNDu moikuzhalALAichchi vizhuduNDa |
vAyAnai mAlviDaiyEzh seTTrAnai vAnavarkkum
sEyAnai nenjE sirandu || Twenty Five ||
AzhwAr told his mind ‘soozh kazhalE nALum toDar Azhi nenjE! tozhudu’. Perhaps the mind did not obey immediately. So he addresses him again ‘Oh! Mind! What is wrong in me asking you to worship Him who swallowed all the worlds during praLaya and ate all the butter that aichchi had stored in ‘uris’ as a remedy in tiruvAippADi? What is wrong in worshipping Him who killed the 7 fat mad bulls for the sake of nappinnai pirATTi? He is difficult even for the brahmAdi dEvas to be approached.
sirandaven sindaiyum sengaNaravum
niraindaseer neeLkachchiyuLLum uraindaduvum |
vEngaDamum vehKAvum vELukkai pADiyumE
tAngaDavAr taNDuzhAyAr || Twenty Six ||
emberumAn who wears cool tuzhasi mAla resides in many divya dESas like tirukkachchi, tiruvEngaDam, tiruvehKA, tiruvELukkai and tiruppArkaDal (tiruanandAzhwAn). He also happily resides in my heart.
siranda en sindaiyum—He resides in pure hearts only
tiruvehKA—yathOtkAri sannidhi
tiruvELukkai—azhahiya singaperumAL both these diyva dESas are in kancheepuram.
vELukkaippADi—can be split in to 2 words
tiruvELukkai and tiruvAippADi (or) it can be taken as one divya dESa-vELukkai-tiruvELukkai pADi means place.
ArE tuyaruzhandAr tunbuTTrAr ANDaiyAr
kArEmalinda karungaDalai nErE |
kaDaindAnai kAraNanai neeraNaimEl paLLi
aDaindAnai nALumaDaindu || Twenty Seven ||
tuyaruzhandAr tunbuTTrArE ArE—tuyar normally means duhKa but here contextually means papa, the cause of duhKa, Bagavat Baktas do not experience any duhKa even if they commit grave sins. ‘vAyinAl pADi manattinAl sindikka pOya pizhaiyum puhudaruvAn ninranavum teeyinAl toosAhum’ (tiruppAvai of ANDAL)
ANDaiyAr—are there anyone anywhere—no! No one and nowhere.
kArE malinda karungaDalai nErE kaDaindAnai—He has such compassion over His dAsas that even though they are selfish He does not refuse any on their requests. When indra and others asked Him to get ‘amruta’ from the pArkaDal He consented willingly to do so and churned the sea Himself, gave them the nectar and felt happy He had fulfilled their desires. Such is His udAra guNa. Hence it is obvious He does to let His Baktas suffer on any account.
kAraNanai—do children suffer when they are with their parents?
neeraNaimEl paLLi aDaindAnai—He lies lying in tiruppArkaDal waiting for His Baktas who may come to Him telling their tale woes.
kAr malinda karungadalai nErE kaDaindAnai nALum aDaindu tunbuTTrAr Ar?
kAraNanai nALum aDaindu tubuTTrAr Ar?
neeraNaimEl paLLi aDaindAnai nALum aDaindu tunbuTTrAr Ar?
tuyarunzhandAr (Ayinum) tunbuTTrAr Ar?
aDainda aravaNai mEl aivarkkAi anru
miDaindadu bAradavempOr uDaindaduvum |
AichchipAl mattukkE ammanE! vALeyiTTru
pEichchipAluNDa pirAn || Twenty Eight ||
He was lying in tiruppArkaDal on the cozy bed of tiruvanandAzhwAn before kriShNAvatAra ‘ESha nArAyaNa; SreemAn kSheerArNava nikEtanah’. kriShNa was the closest friend of pancha pANDavas and participated in the BArata war. He who has such an extraordinary Sakti feared the rod in the hands of yaSOda pirATTi ‘uzhandAL naru nei OrO, taDA uNNa izhandAL Ochcha bayattAl tavazhndAn’ –periyAzhwAr. Even before this, when He was a mere baby He killed pootana, a rAkShasi sent by kamsa to kill Him. Thus He wonderfully exhibits His chEShTitas that reveal His Sakti and aSakti. Oh! swAmi! How is this possible?
pEichchipAluNDa perumAnai pErndeDuttu
Aichchimulai koDuttAL anjAdE vAitta |
iruLAr tirumEni in pavaLa sevvAi
teruLA mozhiyAnai sErndu || Twenty Nine ||
When yaSOda was taking a nap pootana came to Him disguised as His mother. She gave Him the poisoned milk but fell dead killed by kaNNan. yaSOda came out, saw the sprawling huge figure; did not know what really happened and who she was. But she did not run away out of fear. Instead she took Him in her hands, gave her milk and pacified Him. AzhwAr wonders about her love for kriShNa.
anjAdE—here is the rAkShasi lying on the floor dead because she gave Him milk. But a mother like yaSOda not only not feared but also gave Him milk.
‘ninnuruhi pEittAi mulai tandAL pErndilaLAl pEramar kaN AittAi mulai tandavAru’— poihai AzhwAr. Why did she not fear Him?—because she saw His ‘iruLAr tirumEni in pavaLa sevvAi’.
tiruLA mozhiyAnai—like a small baby who prattles incoherent words on seeing its mother He, the sarvESwara, did the same thing on seeing yaSOda pirATTi.
sErnda tirumAl kaDal kuDandai vENgaDam
nErnda vensindai niraivisumbum vAinda |
maraipADaham anandan vaNDuzhAi kaNNi
iraipADi Aya ivai || Thirty ||
AzhwAr enjoys speaking about some of the divya desas where He does nityavAsa., To cite a few they are tiruppArkaDal, tirukkuDandai, tiruvEngadam, paramapadam, the vEdas, AdiSEsha and also my mind. He always includes his mind as one of the dwelling places since emberumAn finds it as one of the divya dESas similar tirumalai etc.
vAinda marai—He reveals His divya mangaLa vigraha in these divya dESas and also through the vEdas.
irapADi—capital city.
ivai avan kOyil iraNiyanadu Aham
avai seidu ari uruvamAnAn seviteriyA |
nAhattAn nAlvEdattu uLLAn naravETTrAn
bAhattAn pArkaDaluLAn || Thirty One ||
‘kaDal kuDandai vEngaDam en sindai nirai visumbu vAinda marai pADaham anandan’ are His dwelling places (ivai avan kOyil). He who split open the chest of hiraNyAsura, who lies on AdiSESha in tiruppArkaDal who is revealed by all the vEdas and who gives place for rudra in His body dwells in all the divya dESas mentioned above.
sevi teriyA nAhattAn—It is said the serpents see and hear with their eyes and have no separate organ for hearing. It is called ‘kaTsevi’ in tamizh and ‘chakShuSravas’ in Sanskrit. tiruvanandAzhwAn perform may jobs as the occasion call for ‘senrAl kuDaiyAm irundAl singAdanamAm ninrAl maravaDiyAm neeL kaDaluL enrum puNaiyAm maNiviLakkAm poombaTTAm puhum aNaiyAm tirumArku aravu’ To suggest this AzhwAr uses the word ‘sevi teriyA nAhattAn’
naravETTrAn—aravu means honey. Here it means honey-like sweet ganga’. It is said ganga flows from tirumAl’s tiruvaDi ‘viShNo; padE paramE madhva utsah’—vEda. A flood of honey flows from emberumAn’s tiruvaDi. Since ganga flows from His tiruvaDi the word naravu is interpreted as ganga.
ETTrAn-rudra carries on his head ganga (or) ETTrAn means he who has Eru (bull) as his vAhana. He carries ganga and the bull carries him.
pArkaDalum vEngaDamum pAmbum panivisumbum
noorkaDalum nuNNoola tAmaraimEl pArpaTTu |
irundAr manamum iDamAha koNDAn
kurundositta gOpAlahan || Thirty Two ||
AzhwAr continues the same thought in this pASura too. He resides in tiruppArkaDal, tiruvEngadam, truvanandAzhwAn paramapada, vEda vEdAntas, yogis hearts etc.
pani visumbu—The paramapada is given the adjective ‘cool’ (pani) because it is where the muktas come and take rest after burnt by the tApas of samsAra.
noor kaDal—the sruti, smriti, itihAsa, purANas are like an ocean.
nuNNoola tAmarai—‘padma kOSa prattkASam hridayanchApyadhOmuKam’—vEda vAKya. The hrudaya tAmarai is upside down. It is where the yogis concentrate and meditate. ‘BaktAnAm yadvapuShi daharam paNDitam puNDareekam’—Sree varadarAja stava.
nuNNoola tAmarai—lotus flower with tender filaments where periya pirATTi stays. manam— tirumArbu. kurundoSitta—One of the rAkShasas sent by kamsa to kill kriShNa haunted a kurunda tree which kriShNa used to climb to pluck flowers. The idea is to let Him climb and then break the branch on which He sits and kill Him by doing so. But kriShNa uprooted the tree and killed the rAkShasas.
bAlahanAi AlilaimEl paiya ulahellAm
mElorunALuNDavanE meimmeiyE mAlavanE |
mandarattAl mAneerkkaDal kaDaindu vAnamudam
andarattArkku eendAinee anru || Thirty Three ||
Oh! tirumAl! You remove the aniShTa (undesirable of Your Baktas and fulfill their iShTha (desirable). The act of protecting all the worlds by swallowing them, keeping them in Your tiruvayiru safely is an act of aniShTha nivAraNa and the act of churning the sea with a mandara mountain in order to get amruta for the dEvas in the fulfillment of their iShTha (iShTha prApaNa)
anru ivvulaham aLanda asavE kol
ninrirundu vELukkai neeNaharvAi anru |
kiDandAnai kEDil neerAnai mun kanjai
kaDandAnai nenjamE kAN || Thirty Four ||
Does He sit in tiruvELukkai and lie in tiruvehKA to take rest after the hectic task of measuring the worlds?
neeNahar—The AchAryas interpret this divya dESa as tiruvehKA.
The same idea is expressed in tiruvAimozhi ‘koDiyAr mAda kOLoorahattum puLinguDiyum maDiyAdinrE nee tuyil mEvi mahizhndadu tAn aDiyAr allal tavirtta vasavO anrEl ippaDi tAn neeNDu tAviya vasavO paNiyAnE’.
kANkANena virumbum kaNgaL kadirilahu
pooNDAr ahalattAn ponmEni pAN kaN
tozhil pADi vaNDaraiyum tongalAn sembor
kazhal pADi yAm tozhudum kai || Thirty Five ||
AzhwAr says His indriyas are better than those of samsAris because they like to enjoy the beauty of sarvESwara whereas the indriyas of samsAris desire to enjoy the worldly objects only. ‘my eyes desire to see Him alone; my mouth wants to sing His chEShTitas alone; my hands like to do anjali to His tiruvaDi alone. Thus all my indiryas are happily engaged in enjoying His beauty who wears tuzhasi mAla and gold ornaments on His tirumArbu’.
kaiya kanalAzhi kArkkaDalvAi veNsangam
veyyagadai SArngam venjuDarvAL seyya |
paDaiparavai pAzhi panineerulaham
aDiyaLanda mAyar avarkku || Thirty Six ||
He measured all the worlds with His tiruvaDi (pani neer ulaham aDi aLanda mAyan). The brilliant chakra, the sharp edged sword, the white SanKa, the cruel gada and sAranga bow are His Ayudhas. His bed is tiruppArkaDal.
avarkkaDimai paTTEn ahattAn purattAn
uvarkkum karungaDal neeruLLAn tuvarkkum |
pavaLavAi poomahaLum panmaNi pooNAram
tihazhum tirumArvan tAn || Thirty Seven ||
The main idea lies in the phrase ‘ahattAn purattAn’ ‘i seek Him to enjoy and He seeks me to enjoy. He surrounds all around me—both inside and outside. i have no way of escape. ‘ippaDi tAm avanai anuBavikk pukkavArE avanum tan perumaiyai pArAmal tan pakkalilE atyabiniviShTanAi koNDu pala vaDivu koNDu tammai anubaviya ninrAn engirAr’ ‘nAn aDimaiyilE anvayikka soubariyai pOlE avan anEham vaDivu koNDu bujikka Asai paDA ninrAn engiradu’—our AchAryas Sree sookti.
tAnE tanakku uvaman tannuruvE evvuruvum
tAnE tava uruvum tArahaiyum tAnE |
erisuDarum mAlvaraiyum eNDiSaiyum aNDattu
irusuDarum Aya irai || Thirty Eight ||
emberumAn wants to enjoy the company of AzhwAr. Hence He is outside as well as insider. Now AzhwAr says He is puruShOttama, not an ordinary dEva. He is the Sareeri and all the chEtana and achEtana are His Sareera. He alone has this special guNa. Hence there is nothing says He has no comparison. ‘induh induriva SreemAn’ (the moon is beautiful as the moon) ‘rAma rAvaNayOr yuddham rAma rAvaNayOriva’ (the war between rAma and rAvaNa is like the war between Sree rAma and rAvaNa) Sreemad rAmAyaNa.
iraiyAi nilanAhi eNDiSaiyum tanAi
maraiyAi maraiporuLAi vAnAi piraivAinda |
veLLattaruvi viLangolineer vEngaDattAn
uLLattinuLLE uLan || Thirty Nine ||
He who resides in tirumalai and in my heart is the antaryAmi of all the objects in this world.
pirai vAinda—the tirumalai is so high as to touch the moon. Its beauty is added by the streams that flow with thunderous noise. He stays in tirumalai only to enter my mind. ‘malai mEl tAn niru en manattuL irundAnai’—tiruvAimozhi.
uLankaNDAi nannenjE uttaman enrum
uLankaNDAi uLLuvAruLLattu uLankaNDAi |
viNNoDunga kODuyarum veengaruvi vEngaDattAn
maNNoDunga tAnaLanda man || forty ||
Oh! Mind! There is no room for duhKa when He, the sarvAdhika, has come to reside in you! He exists only to make us exist. (our existence depends on His) whether you accept His existence or not He is always there very keen on our rakShaNa. He livers for ever in the minds of those who think and meditate on Him. That is the reason for His staying in tirumalai. He exhibits all these guNas in His trivikrama avatAra.
mannu maNi muDi neeNDu aNDampOi eNDiSaiyum
tunnu pozhil anaittum soozhkazhalE minnai |
uDaiyAha koNDu anrulahaLandAn kunram
kuDaiyAha A kAtta kO || Forty One ||
AzhwAr describes tirvikrama avatAra. Sree kriShNa prevented the Ayars from giving the offerings to indra and asked them to give them to the gOvardhana mountain instead. They did as told. indra, the king of three worlds, however could not tolerate this insult. He poured heavy rains for 7 consecutive days. kriShNa held the gOvardhana mountain as an umbrella to save the Ayars and cattle. But He helped the same indra when the latter begged Him. He measured all the worlds received from mahAbali to give them back to indra. When He started to grow immensely His tirumuDi reached brahmalOka and His tiruvaid teached the bottom of the lower worlds. The lightning of the antrikSha (the in between worlds) formed the peetAmbara of emberumAn.
kOvalanAi AnirahaL mEittu kuzhaloodi
mAvalanAi keeNDa maNi vaNNan mEvi |
ariyuruvamAhi iraNiyanadu Aham
teri uhirAl keeNDAn sinam || Forty Two ||
Both the love towards His Baktas and His anger towards their enemies are Apatdhanas (to be used in use of need) ‘Therefore’ AzhwAr says ‘we need not fear anyone when we understand He is there to take care of us our welfare’. ‘koNDa SeeTTram onru uLadarindu unnaDiyanEnum vandu iNaiyaDi aDaindEn aNi pozhil tiruvarangattu ammAnE’—peirya tirumozhi of tirumangai AzhwAr. We should understand His love towards prahlAda as well as His anger towards his enemy hiraNya. Only then we understand Him fully, His rakShakatva and His concern for His dAsas. periyavAchchAn piLLai— ‘aruLanru namakkuddeSyam; ASrita virOdhihaL pakkal avanukku uNDAna sinam uddeSyam; achchinattai teri-anusandhi’.
This pASura can also be explained as—He, who is born as a shepherd boy, grazed the cattle wandered in the forests playing on His flute, is the one who took narasimha avatAra to kill the niraNyAsura the enemy of His Bakta. He is the one who killed kESi, the asura who came disguised as a horse.
teri uhirAl—With His beautiful nails iraNiyanadu Aham keeNDAn.
sinamA madakaLiTTrin tiNmaruppai sAittu
punamEya boomiyadanai danamAha |
pErahalattu uLLoDukkum pErAra mArvanAr
OrahalattuLLadu ulahu || Forty Three ||
All the creation exist because of His sankalpa. kriShNa killed the mad kuvaLayApeeDa, an elephant appointed to kill Him as soon as He entered kamsa’s court. He swallowed all the worlds during praLaya in order to protect them from getting destroyed as one would save his belongings during a flood. Out of happiness that His belongings are saved He wears beautiful garlands on His tirumArbu. All the worlds lie in one fraction of His sankalpa.
ulahamum oozhiyum Azhiyum oNkEzh
alarkadirum sendeeyum AvAn palakadirhaL |
pAritta paimbon muDiyAnaDiyiNaikkE
pooritten nenjE puri || Forty Four ||
AzhwAr asks his mind to do Bakti at paravAsudEva of paramapada who is the controller of all the luminaries and agni. He, who destroyed all the worlds except kAla and He who wears a golden crown studded with precious gems, in Your asylum.
purindu madavEzham mAppiDiyODu ooDi
tirindu sinattAl porudu virindaseer |
veNkOTTu muttudirkkum vEngaDamE mElorunAL
maNkOTTu koNDAn malai || Forty Five ||
The paramapadanAtha, Sreeman nArAyaNa, the Supreme Lord of all the worlds does nitya vAsa in tirumalai for the people like us to worship Him. there are plenty of wild elephants in this mountain moving in pairs. One of them had misunderstanding with his mate and went away from her. He was wandering aimlessly in the forest. He showed his anger by hitting his tusk against a rock breaking the tusk and scattering the pearls.
iporudu—can also be interpreted as—the elephant saw its won reflection in the marble stone, mistook it as the foe and hit the slab with His tusk breaking it in the act.
malai muhaDu mElvaittu vAsukiyai suTTri
talaimuhaDu tAnorukai paTTri alaimuhaTTu |
aNDam pOi neerterippa anrukaDal kaDaindAn
piNDamAi ninra pirAn || Forty Six ||
emberumAn takes lot of pains to accomplish the task of helping the Baktas even though their aim is selfish.
Once the dEvas were cursed by doorvAsa muni. They lost their aiSwarya because of this curse. They went to Sreeman nArAyaNa and requested Him to come to their rescue. For this sake He churned the tiruppArkaDal with the help of mandara mountain and vAsuki. He took a divine tortoise form (koorma) when the mountain started to sink and supported it on His back. He took two forms to stand on the tail end and head end of vAsuki and churned the sea all by Himself. The sea was so much agitated that the droplets of water rose as high as brahmANDa.
piNDamAi ninra pirAn—piNDa means kAraNa. As a lump of clay becomes a pot, a vessel etc. He is the upAdAna kAraNa for the whole jagat. In other words He is sookShma chidachid viSiShTha.
ninra perumAnE neerETTru ulahellAm
senra perumAnE sengaNNA anru |
turagavAikeeNDa tuzhAi muDiyAi nangaL
narakavAi keeNDAyum nee || Forty Seven ||
How can i speak the beauty of Your vAmana roopa, Your begging a piece of land, Your receiving it by pouring water and Your act of measuring it with trivikrama roopa? How can i speak the beauty of Your lotus-like eyes that speak vividly Your ASrita pakShapAta? How can i describe Your valour when You killed kESi who came to kill You disguised as a horse? How can i express my wonder at Your tuzhasi mAla which did not fade even after You fought with the asuras? To You who tore the mouth of kESi it is mere child’s play to tear (destroy) the path of naraka (samsAra).
neeyanrE neerETTru ulahamaDi aLandAi
neeyanrE ninru niraimEittAi neeyanrE |
mAvAyuram piLandu mAmarudinooDu pOi
dEvAsuram porudAi seTTru || Forty Eight ||
Oh! pirAn Your actions reveal both Sakti and aSakti. How is that? You begged from mahAbali just 3 feet of land as a poor brahmachAri, but You measured all the worlds with Your tiruvaDi’s of trivikrama roopa. You, as an illiterate shepherd in AyarpADi grazed the herds of cattle by leading them to green pasture and fresh water but at the same time You tore open the mouth of the great asura kESi as easily as one tears a blade of grass! You broke the twin huge maruda trees by crawling between them like a baby abut You caused the death of many asuras in the dEvAsura yuddha. Thus You are a mahAnuBAva who reveals both Sakti and aSakti!
seTTraduvun sErA iraNiyanai senrETTru
peTTraduvum mAnilam pinnaikkAi muTTral |
muriyETTrin munninru moimbozhittAi moori
suriyEru sanginAi soozhndu || Forty Nine ||
emberumAn! There is no limit to Your efforts which You put forth in the case of Your ASritas to remove their duhKa and fulfill their wishes (aniShTa nivritti and iShTa prApti) You killed hiraNya since he would not stop torturing Your Bakta prahlAda. You could not tolerate to see dEvEndra cry over his lost kingdom. So You took the vAmana roopa, begged from mahAbali a piece of land for his sake. You would not hesitate to take any risk for the sake of nappinnai pirATTi whom You loved very much. So You fought with the dark wild powerful bulls and defeated them. You carry a beautiful white SanKa in Your hand, the sound of which augurs Your arrival to Your Baktas.
sErA iraNiyan—No doubt the enemies of Your Baktas become Your enemies.
soozhnda tuzhAi alangal sOdi maNimuDimAl
tAzhnda aruvi taDaivaraivAi Azhnda |
maNineer sunaivaLarnda mAmudalai konrAn
aNineela vaNNattavan || Fifty ||
Of all the deeds that He performed for the sake of His aDiyArs the one done to gajEndra is very special. Hence AzhwAr mentions it exclusively in this pASura. All His acts of rakShaNa put on one scale and the act of gajEndra mOkSha on the other scale will undoubtedly reveal the weight of the latter as far more than the former.
AzhwAr describes emberumAn in the first and last lines and recounts the story of gajEndra in the middle lines. He is the sarvESwara since He wears a glittering crown and a tuzhasi mAla as a mark of His supremacy. Before the crocodile was killed His rakShakatva was lying dormant and His diadem was luster less and tuzhasi mAla was not fresh. But after His rakShaNa kArya both of them regained their splendour. ‘soozhnda tuzhAi alangal sOdi maNi muDi mAl’. After killing the enemies His tirumEni shone with effulgence ‘aNi neela vaNNattavan’.
avanE aruvaraiyAl AniraihaL kAttAn
avanE aNimarudam sAittAn avanE |
kalangA peru naharam kATTuvAn kaNDeer
ilangApuram erittAn eidu || Fifty One ||
dEvEndra always sought Him alone for help whenever He was in trouble. He too helped him without any hesitation. But was he grateful? No. In fact he got angry at AyarpADi folks when they worshipped and offered the food to the mountain instead of indra contrary to their usual practises. To punish and finish them he poured heavy rains for 7 consecutive days. kriShNa could have easily killed him for causing trouble to His dear people and animals. But He thought He would teach him a lesson instead. So He lifted the gOvardhana mountain as an umbrella and protected the aDiyArs. indra accepted his defeat and stopped the rain.
kaNNan crawled between the twin maruda trees and felled them thereby releasing the sons of kubEra of their curse and killing the two asuras haunting the trees.
AzhwAr says emberumAn who did such chEShTitas as kriShNa and who killed the rAkShasa kula as Sree rAma pirAn should shower His nirhEtuka kaTAkSha and give paramapada. It is impossible to reach this kalangA perunaharam with our own efforts and without His grace.
avanE avanE avanE—The repetition three times is to stress the point that ‘He alone’ is capable of aniShTa nivritti and iShTa prApti and nirhEtuka kaTAkSha.
periyavAchchAn piLLai—‘paramapadam avanE kATTa kANumattanai; swayatnattAl kaNbArkku kANa pOhAdu’.
kalangA perunaharam—paramapada where bliss alone is juxtaposed to BoolOka where there is duhKa alone.
eidAn marAmaram EzhumirAmanAi
eidAn ammAn mariyai EndizhaikkAi eidaduvum |
tennilangai kOn veezha senru kuraLuruvAi
munnilam kaikkoNDAn muyanru || Fifty Two ||
Some times emberumAn, known as sarvaSakta, has to prove His Sakti to those who doubt it. sugreeva was given aBaya (‘fear not’) by Sree rAma. Still he had doubts in His Sakti as he had witnessed vAli’s valour several times. To satisfy him Sree rAma pierced 7 sAla trees with one arrow which returned to Him after piercing the 7 lOkas. He kicked the heap of bones of dundhuBi to a distance of 200 yOjanas.
eidAn—is repeated twice. The first word means ‘discharged, throw’; the second one means ‘chased, followed’.
EndizhaikkAi—EndizhaikkAi ammAn mariyai eidAn EndizhaikkAi tennilangai kOn veezha eidAn.
muyanru tozhunenjE moorineer vElai
iyanra marattu AlilaiyinmElAl payinrangOr |
maNNalangoL veLLattu mAya kuzhaviyAi
taNNalangal mAlaiyAn tAL || Fifty Three ||
AzhwAr asks his mind to worship His tiruvaDi with love who lies on a banyan leaf on the deluge water. poihai AzhwAr asks Him ‘bAlan tanaduruvAi EzhulahuNDu Alilaiyin mEl anru nee vaLanda meyyenbar Alanru vElai neeruLLadO viNNadO maNNadO sOlai soozh kunreDuttAi sollu’—Oh! emberumAn! From where did the Alamara (banyan tree come?)—is it from the praLaya jala? or is it from the heaven? or is it from the Boomi itself?
To him pEyAzhwAr finds an answer ‘emberumAn with His wonderful mAyA Sakti creates the Alamara from the praLaya jala ‘moori neer vElai iyanra marattu Alilaiyin mElAl’.
moori neer—moori means ‘anAdi’, ‘huge’, ‘mighty’. All the meaning suit the context.
tALAl sahaDam udaittu pahaDundi
keeLA marudiDaipOi kEzhalAi meeLAdu |
maNNahalam keeNDangOr mAduhanda mArvarku
peNNahalam kAdal peridu || Fifty Four ||
The samsAris are interested in topics like food, drink, clothes, gold, money, women, gambling etc. They speak about them without any boredom. Since AzhwArs are interested in topics like BagavAn, His guNas, chEShTitas, avatAras etc. they don’t feel bored to talk about them continuously.
Here AzhwAr talks of kriShNAvatAra chEShTitas like the breaking of maruda trees, the lifting of Boomi from aNDaBitti etc. ‘kAr kalanda mEniyAn kai kalanda AzhiyAn pAr kalandu val vayiTTrAn pAmbaNaiyinAn seer kalanda sol ninaindu pOkkArEl soozh vinaiyin Azh tuyarai enninaindu pOkkuvar ippOdu’—peirya tiruvandAdi.
peNNahalam kAdal peridu—peNNahalam can mean both periya pirATTi Boomi pirATTi. He has great love towards periya pirATTi who lives in His tirumArbu (or He has great love for Boomi pirATTi for whose sake He took varaha roopa ‘mAsuDambil neer vArA mAnamilA panriyAm’—(ANDAL)
periya varaimArvil pErAram pooNDu
kariya muhiliDai min pOla tiriyungAl |
pANoDunga vaNDaraiyum pangayamE maTTravantan
neeNeDungaN kATTum niram || Fifty Five ||
AzhwAr talks about the beautiful tirumEni which looks like dark rain cloud, the gold hAra with precious gems glitter like the lightning in the cloud. When He walks the hAra moves as lightning moves in the sky.
pANoDunga—pAN means song. oDunga means sweeter than that. The bees hum sweet songs sitting on the lotus. His eyes are like lotus with bees in it.
niram veLidu seidu pasidu karidenru
iraiyuruvam yAmariyOm eNNil niraivuDaiya |
nAmangai tAnum nalampuhazha vallaLE
poomangai kELvan polivu || Fifty Six ||
The SAstras say emberumAn takes different colours in different yugas. ‘pAlin neermai sempon neermai pAsiyin pasum puram pOl un neermai porpuDaittaDattu vaNDu viNDulAm neela neermai’ (tiruchchada viruttam of tirumazhisai AzhwAr) ‘nihazhndAi pAl pon pasuppu kAr vaNNam nAngum ‘ (nAn muhan tiruvandAdi of tirumazhisai AzhwAr).’ ‘But’ says AzhwAr ‘ i don’t know anything about His tirumEni for He cannot be seen by our sthoola eyes (gross indriya) ‘enrEnum kaTkaNNAl kANAda avvuruvai’ (periya tiruvandAdi) Even saraswati is unable to know the truth as it is (nAmangai tAnum nalam puhazha vallaLE) Why? mAreecha tells rAvaNa ‘apramEyam hi tattEjO yasya sA janakAtmajA’—He is the consort of the daughter of janaka. He is paranjOti. So no one can even think of His form if so what to talk of speaking about it?
polindiruNDa kArvAnil minnEpOl tOnri
malindu tiruvirunda mArvan polinda |
garuDan mEl koNDa kariyAn kazhalE
teruL tan mEl kaNDAi teLi || Fifty Seven ||
emberumAn heard AzhwAr saying ‘niram veLidu seidu pasidu karidu enru irai uruvam yAm ariyOm’ in the last pASura. He could not keep quiet. He remembered AzhwAr’s first pASura ‘tirukkaNDEn pon mEni kaNDEn tihazhum arukkan aNi niramum kaNDEn serukkiLarum ponnAzhi kaNDEn puri sangam kai kaNDEn ennAzhi vaNNan pAl inru’. Now AzhwAr says ‘iraiyuruvam yAm ariyOm’. Suddenly He appears before him riding on garuDa. AzhwAr sees Him and sings this pASura. ‘Oh! Mind! Worship Him who has periya pirATTi in His tirumArbu like a streak of lightning in the dark rain cloud!
iteruL tan mEl kaNDAi—teruL—jnAna. When we say ‘karma jnAna Bakti’ Bakti is superior to jana or when it said ‘para Bakti prajnAna parama Bakti’ then too Bakti is superior to jnAna.
If it is taken as ‘Bakti and jnAna’ are two sides of the same coin, then teruL tan mEl means Bakti; kazhal kaNDAi—do worship the tiruvaDi.
teLinda silAtalattin mElirunda mandi
aLinda kaDuvanaiyE nOkki viLangiya |
veNmadiyam tAvennum vEngaDamE mElorunAL
maNmadiyil koNDuhandAn vAzhvu || Fifty Eight ||
In the last pASura emberumAn came on garuda to give darSan to AzhwAr. Then He disappeared saying ‘AzhwAr! you can always see me in tirumalai’. Now AzhwAr describes tirumalai. There is a female monkey sitting on a clear slab on the peak of the mountain which is so high as to touch the moon. She wants to see her face ans wants a mirror. So she asks her mate who is sitting near her watching her lovingly to get the moon for her. This tirumalai is the place where He happily resides for the sake of His aDiyArs.
mandi—female monkey; kaDuvan—male monkey.
maN madiyil koNDu—He knows mahAbali is a dhArmika who never refuses to give away anything if asked. Knowing this nature of the asura He took the form of a brahmachAri to beg and got the land that duly belonged to indra.
vAzhum vahaiyarindEn maipOl neDuvaraivAi
tAzhumaruvi pOl tArkiDappa soozhum |
tirumAmaNi vaNNan sengaNmAl engaL
perumAnaDi sEra peTTru || Fifty Nine ||
emberumAn wears a golden hAra studded with rubies and diamonds, that dangles on either side of His mountain-like dark huge shoulders. It appears like the streams falling form either side of the mountains. periya pirATTi is enchanted by this extraordinary beauty stays always with Him never leaving even for a second. i seek His tiruvaDi who is sengaNmAl. i feel this is the way to liberation. i shall, therefore, never turn my eyes away from Him to fall on wordly matters.
aruvi pOl tAr kiDappa—If the stream are taken to be white in colour then the meaning is He is wearing white pearl hAra; if it is taken as red in colour (due to the minerals and herbs present in it then the meaning should be—He wears a hAra made of red rubies and diamonds. ‘uBau yadi vyOmni prthakpatE tAm AkASa gangA payasah pravAhu tEnOpameeyEta tamAlA neela mAmukta muktAlA tamasya vakShah’—SiSupAlavadha.
‘engaL perumAn aDi sErappeTTru vAzhum vahai arindEn’ is the meaning of this pASura.
peTTram piNaimarudam pEimulai mAsahaDam
muTTrakAttooDu pOyuNDudaittu kaTTru |
kuNilai viLanganikku koNDerindAn veTTri
paNilam vAi vaittuhandAn paNDu || Sixty ||
AzhwAr enjoys talking the chEShTitas of kaNNa pirAn. He grazhed the herds of cattle with so much care that He gives attention to each one of them. He like this job more than being the Lord of nitya sooris in paramapada. ‘divattilum pasu nirai mEippuvatti sengani vAi engaL Ayar dEvE’. He broke the twin maruda trees by crawling between them. He drank the poisonous milk of pootana and made her fall dead. Crying for milk He kicked the cart under which yaSOda placed Him when she went out to take bath. The cart fell down shattered into tiny pieces and the asura got killed. He said He would get them (the shepherd boys) the viLangani, threw the calf (haunted by an asura) over the tree and killed both the asuras (haunting the calf as well as the tree) like a thorn used to remove a thorn and both are thrown away. He blows His conch and declares to the world His victory.
veTTri paNilam vAi vaittu—paNilam—SanKa (pAnchajanya) rukmaNi loved kriShNa and wanted to marry Him alone was engaged to SiSupala, her brother’s friend. The marriage day was approaching but kriShNa did not come to when she sent a message. Suddenly He came at the eleventh hour, and announced His arrival by blowing His conch bringing hope in her mind.
veTTri paNilam vai vaittu—During the BArata war He blew His white SanKa causing tremors in the hearts of enemies.
paNDellAm vEngaDam pArkaDal vaihundam
koNDangu uraivArkku kOyil pOl vaNDu |
vaLangiLarum neeL sOlai vaNpoongaDihai
iLangumaran tan viNNahar || Sixty One ||
There are two interpretations –1. emberumAn’s vAsasthala is paramapada. He also resides in the diyva dESas like tiruppArkaDal, tiruvEngaDam, tirukkaDihai, tiruviNNahar, etc. He happily used to reside in these places as His kOyil before He came to my mind to take it up as His permanent residence. Now He seems to reside in this new place more willingly than in those places.
2. AzhwAr says He who resides in paramapada likes to reside in tirukkaDihai which is beautiful with big forests full of flowering trees and bees than the other places like tiruppArkaDal, tiruvEngaDam, tiruviNNahar etc.
tirukkaDihai—is one of the toNDanATTu tiruppadis. It is popularly called SOLa simha puram. GaTika is a Sanskrit word meaning one nAzhikai. If one stays in this place even for a ‘kaDihai’ one gets mOkSha. Hence the name.
viNNaharam vehKa viritiraineer vEngaDam
maNNaharam mAmADa vELukkai maNNahatta |
tenkuDandai tEnAr tiruvarangam tenkOTTi
tankuDangai neerETTrAn tAzhvu || Sixty Two ||
tiruvarangam periya kOyil—Sree rangam and tirukkOTTiyoor are all divya dESas where He resides for the sake of His aDiyArs.
tan kuDangai neerETTrAm tAzhvu—He as vAmana went to mahAbali with all humility to beg a small piece of land and received it with His out stretched hands with humility and ease He lives in these diyva dESas.
tAzh saDaiyum neeNmuDiyum oNmazhuvum chakkaramum
soozharavum ponnANum tOnrumAl soozhum |
tiraNDaruvi pAyum tirumalaimEl endaikku
iraNDuruvum onrAi isaindu || Sixty Three ||
emberumAn takes several avatAras and one of them is SankaranArAyaNa avatAra. It is also called harihara avatAra. It is half Sankara and half nArAyaNa. To a Bakta His avatAras are very enjoyable.
tirumalaimEl endaikku irANDuruvum onrAi isaindu tOnrum—Even very learned men comment on this line as—in the vigraha of vEngaDanAtha both the form of Siva and nArAyaNa are seen. He has jaTAmuDi, kireeTa, mazhu, chakra, nAgABaraNa and ponnAN. Hence He is Sankara nArAyaNa only. This interpretation is totally wrong since the moorti does not have any sign of Siva swaoopa. It is Sreeman nArAyaNa alone with kireeTa, chakrAyudha and ponnAN. The sentence, therefore, should be interpreted as follows—He who is in tirumalai is the one who took Sankara nArAyaNa avatAra. Let us see some examples from divya prabandha—‘mAmuni vELviyaikkAttu avabiradam ATTiya aDutiral ayOddi emmarasE! arangattammA! paLLi ezhundaruLAyE’—tiruppaLLiyezhuchchi. The pASura means He who is in tiruvarangam on tiruvanandAzhwAn is the one who took rAmAvatAra and protected the yAga of viSwAmitra muni. They are Ekatatva. Similarly ‘attiyoorAn puLLaiyoorvAn aNimaNiyin tutti sEr nAhattin mEl tuyilvAn’ –boodattAzhwAr. Does it mean the emberumAn kachchi nahar pEraruLALan lies on tiruvanandAzhwAn? It simply means both are Ekatatva. Like wise the above pASura should be interpreted as Sankara nArAyaNa and tirumalaiyappan are Ekatatva.
‘yaSOdAnguLya grOnnamita chubukAGrANa muditou kopOlAvadiyApi hyanoopara tadharSha gamakou virAjEtE----sundaraharE:’—sundarabAhu stava of Sree koorattAzhwAn. (yaSOda lifted the chin of kaNNa pirAn with her fingers and kissed Him on His cheek that happiness is still seen in His cheeks in the azhahar tirumAlirunjOlai.
isainda aravamum verpum kaDalum
pasaindu angamudu paDuppa asaindu |
kaDainda varuttamO kachchi vehKAvil
kiDandirundu ninraduvum angu || Sixty Four ||
emberumAn goes to any extent to help those who ask for it (out of their selfish motive) and accomplishes them by painstaking means. Thus He churns the pArkaDal with mandara mountain binding it with vAsuki to get nectar for the dEvas who wanted to live for many more years. When He churned He had to stand on either side holding the two ends of the serpent and also support the churning mountain on His back (as koorma) He had to draw the rope this side and that side swaying His body as He did so. Exhausted by this strenuous task does He lies on AdiSESha in kAncheepuram?
kachchi vehkAvil kiDandu irundu ninraduvum angu— In tiruvehKA emberumAn is in Sayana tirukkOlam. If that is so why does AzhwAr say He sits and stands in kAnchi vehKA? The answer is AzhwAr’s idea is He takes rest by standing, sitting and lying down in various tiruppadis of kAncheepuram.
The other two divya dESas are supposed by wise men as ooraham and pADaham. ‘ninradendai oorahattu irundadendai pADahattu anru vehKaNai kiDadadu’—tirumazhisai AzhwAr in tiruchchanda viruttam.
‘naDanda kAlhaL nandavO naDunga jnAlam EnamAi iDanda mei kulungavO vilangumAl varai suram, kaDanda kAl paranda kAvirikkarai kuDandaiyuL kiDandavAru’—tiruchchanda viruttam. Similarly nammAzhwAr asks Him ‘kODiyAr mADakkOLoorahattum puLinguDiyum maDiyAdinnE nee tuyil mEvi mahizhndadutAn aDiyAr allal tavirtta vasavO anrEl ippaDittAn neeNDu tAviya asavO paNiyAyE’. Similarly here too AzhwAr asks Him ‘asaindu kaDainda varuttamO kachchi vehKAvil kiDappadu’. He adds ‘irundu ninraduvum angu’. The idea is He sometimes stands, another time sits and yet another time lies down to take rest after churning the sea.
angar kiDarinri andi pozhudattu
manga iraNiyanadAhattai pongi |
ariyuruvamAi piLanda ammAnavanE
kariyuruvam kombosittAn kAindu || Sixty Five ||
AzhwAr says He who took kriShNa and narasimhAvatAra is our swAmi Sreeman nArAyaNa only.
angarku iDarinri—in Sanskrit son is called Atmaja, It is angan in tamizh i.e, born from the body. Here means prahlAda, hiraNya’s son.
angarku iDar—The duhKa of prahlAda caused by his father. So He took narasimhAvatAra to kill him. BagavAn will pardon any asura even if he commits any sin against Him but will never tolerated even the slightest offence against His Baktas.
‘eeSwaran avadarittu paNNina AnaittozhilhaL ellAm BagavatApachAram porAmai enru jeeyar aruLichcheivar’—Sree vachana BooShaNa.
The meaning is—BagavAn can do anything by His mere sankalpa as He is sarva SaktimAn and sarvESwara. But He comes down to earth changing His divine form in to a half-lion half-man roopa or vAmana (dwarf) of even tortoise (koorma) fish (matsya) etc. for the sake of His aDiyArs (angarku iDarinri).
kariyuruvam—kari means elephant. The word ‘uruvam’ suggests that kuvaLayApeeDa, a mere elephant, was haunted by an asura to kill Him.
kAindiruLai mATTri kadirilahu mAmaNihaL
Einda paNakkadirmEl vevvuyirppa vAinda |
madukaiTabarum vayiruruhi mANDAr
adukEDavarkku irudi Angu || Sixty Six ||
AzhwAr spoke about narasimha moorti who killed prahlAda’s virOdhi, hiraNyAsura. Ignorant folks question His act and doubt whether it is befitting His glory to come down to earth from paramapada in order to killjust an asura which could have easily born accomplished by His mere sankalpa even from paramapada itself. To such men AzhwAr answers by narrating madhu kaiTaba story.
There are many versions about how they were killed. One of them is given here—every night of brahma is praLaya for the three worlds. BagavAn was lying on the praLaya jala on AdiSESha. From His rajas and tamas guNa came two asuras who received a boon from Him that anyone can kill them only if they say ‘You can kill us’. They snatched away brahma’s vEdas and hid them under the praLaya jala. brahma rushed to Sreeman nArAyaNa requesting His help to rescue the vEdas. BagavAn took hayagreeva avatAra and started to sing beautifully. On hearing this song, the asuras put down the vEdas and moved to where the song was coming. BagavAn immediately took the vEdas and gave them to brahma. Angered at the way they were duped, they came to where He was lying on SESha and challenged Him for a fight. After a long fight the asuras were pleased at His valour and told Him to ask a boon. BagavAn said He wants to kill them and they had to say yes but they asked Him to kill them in a place where no one was ever killed before. BagavAn placed them between His thighs pressed hard and killed them.
BaTTar in his Sree rangarAjasatava writes ‘madamiva madhukaiTaBasya----kimupamimeemahi rangakunjarOrvOh?’ Sree koorattAzhwAn in His sundarabAhustava says ‘piShTha duShTha madhu kaiTaBa keeTou’.
Since there are many versions of this story AzhwAr gives one version. When madhu and kaiTaBa came to fight with BagavAn He was lying on AdiSESha. The SESha killed them with his hot breath which burnt up their bodies.
adu kEDavarkkirudi Angu—‘enrum en piLLaikku teemai seivArhaL anganmAvarhaLE’— yaSOda curses, those who come to harm Him (her son kriShNa) she says they will have the same treatment as vatsAsura and kapittAsura had.
Angumalarum kuviyumAlundi vAi
Ongu kamalattinoNpOdu Angai |
tihirisuDarenrum veNsangam vAnil
paharum madi enrum pArttu || Sixty Seven ||
AzhwAr enjoys the beauty of the lotus of His tirunABi. It is neither fully opened nor fully closed but opens and closes alternately. There is tiruvAzhi (chakra) in His right hand which is as bright as thousands of suns (‘sudarSanam BAskara kOTi tulyam’) The nABi kalama thinks there is the sun and blooms. Then it sees the SanKa on His left hand; thinks it is the moon; and closes its petals consequently. (‘chandira maNDalam pOl dAmOdaran kaiyil---valampuriyE) Thus it opens up and closes alternately not having any clear idea of what to do.
pArtta kaDuvan sunaineer nizharkaNDu
pErttOr kaDuvanena pErndu kArtta |
kaLanganikku kaineeTTum vEngaDamE mEnAL
viLanganikku kanrerindAn verpu || Sixty Eight ||
AzhwAr narrates an incident in tirumalai. A monkey was eating some berries sitting on a tree near the banks of a stream. He saw his own reflection in the water and thought there was another monkey eating some berries. He stretches his hand and asks him (the reflection) to give him some berries to eat.
To all the AzhwArs emberumAn as well as the places where He resides are equally enjoyable. Hence they describe both the places as well as Him. Didn’t kulaSEKara AzhwAr say ‘emberumAn pon malai mEl EdEnum AvEnE’.
verpenru vEngaDam pADum viyan tuzhAi
karpenru sooDum karunguzhal mEl marponra |
neeNDatOL mAl kiDanda neeL kaDal neerADuvAn
pooNDanAL ellAm puhum || Sixty Nine ||
There are numerous ways of enjoying emberumAn—some sing His tirunAmas; some speak about His guNas; some describe His chEShTitas and some other His beauty. Some AzhwArs speak about His diyva dESas and the Sree vaiShNavas residing there. The idea is –anything connected with BagavAn is very enjoyable.
Some AzhwArs especially tirumangai AzhwAr and nammAzhwAr enjoy Him by superimposing the psyche of a mother, the nAyaki or tOzhi. They are called tAi pASuras, mahaL pASuras and tOzhi pASuras. Such superimpositions are not seen in the mudalAzhwArs whose Bakti is simple and straight forward.
pEyAzhwAr is an exception.
Though the ‘daughter’ is not addressed directly it is to be understood. The mother says her daughter speaks of tirumalai if she wants to speak of any mountain; says wearing tuzhasi alone is the mark of her chastity; says she wants to take bath in tiruppArkaDal.
This pASura stands alone as the previous one and the next one do not express this sentiment. There is no link with either of them. Hence some learned commentators say the words ‘pADum’, ‘sooDum’, ‘puhum’ should be taken as addressed to the third person (i.e. samsAris) AzhwAr says ‘Oh! Men! If you want to speak of anything talk about tirumalai; if you want to sear anything wear tuzhasi flower; if you want to take bath do it in tiurppArkaDal.
Though these words ‘pADum’ etc. are grammatically wrong if this interpretation is given, but remember poets have freedom from grammar rules.
periyavAchchAn piLLai—“ipprakaraNattil keezhum mElum anyApadESaminrikkE irukka ippATTonrum ippaDi koLLuhiraden enru nirvahipparhaL—tirumalaiyai pADungOL---- tiruttuzhAyai sooDungOL---virOdhi nirasana seelanAnavan kiDanda tiruppArkaDalilE muzhuhungOL’ enru”
marpOnra neeNDa tOLmAL—kamsa arranged strong mallas like chANoora andmuShTika to stand at the entrance to the court so that kaNNan can be killed even before He enter in. But kaNNan fought with them and killed them.
In the mahABArata it is said duryOdana arranged a hole to be made in the court which was covered by bamboos On which a chair was placed for kriShNa to sit. When kriShNa sat on the chair the bamboo collapsed sending Him to the cellar downstairs where strong mallas were kept ready with arms to kill Him. But kriShNa killed all of them and came out victorious.
pooNDa nALellAm—The sun god harnesses his horses to His chariot each morning and starts on his usual journey.
puhumadattAl vAipoosi keezhtAzhndu aruvi
uhumadattAl kAlkazhuvi kaiyAl mihumadatten |
viNDamalar koNDu viral vEngaDavanaiyE
kaNDu vaNangum kaLiru || Seventy ||
The elephant in the tirumalai plucks flowers after purifying himself with water his mouth, hands and feet. The water is the liquid that flows down his head like a stream (madajala). Not only human beings but also animals follow the proper procedure before they worship Him in tirumalai. This is because of the presence of tirumalaiyappan in the mountain.
kaLiru muhil kutta kaiyeDuttODi
oLiru marupposikaiyALi piLiri |
vizha konru ninradirum vEngaDamE mEnAL
kuzhakkanru koNDerindAn kunru || Seventy One ||
AzhwAr describes tiurmalai an elephant looked up at the huge dark clouds gathered in the sky, mistook it as an elephant. ‘madayAnai pOlezhunda mAmuhilhAL (ANDAL) kariya mA muhir paDalangaL kiDandavai muzhangiDa kaLirenru’ (tirumangai AzhwAr). He jumped to kick Him, who was watching this scene could not tolerate the proud behaviour of that elephant, pounced upon him, pulled out his tusk and killed him who fell down screaming with pain. The yALi did not stop at it; it stood there yelling loudly frightening the other animals of the mountains.
kunronrinAya kuramahaLir kOl vaLaikkai
senru viLaiyADum teengazhaipOi venru |
viLangumadi kOLviDukkum vEngaDamE mElai
iLangumarar kOmAniDam || Seventy Two ||
kunronrinAya kura mahaLir—The gypsy women whose native place is tiurmalai have never gone to any other place and feel proud of being so. They climb on the bamboo trees and play there. ‘kura mahaLir kOl viLakkai senru viLaiyADum teenagazhai.’ The bamboo tree pierce the moon and release him of the eclipse caused by rAhu, bringing brightness to the place (or) the hands of the gypsy women who wear bangles remove the tangles of the bamboo trees on the top bringing uninterrupted moonlight to the mountain (or) the bamboo trees grow so thick that the moonlight does not pass through them. The birght bangles the women are wearing are so bright that they dispel the darkness and act as the moon which is hidden from sight.
mElai iLangumarar—it is said the nitya sooris are always 12 years old.
iDam valam Ezh pooNDa iravitErOTTi
vaDamuha vEngaDattu mannum kuDanayanda |
kootatnAi ninrAn kuraikazhalE kooruvadE
nAttanAluLLa nalam || Seventy Three ||
iravi tErOTTi—The SAstras says ‘yaschAsAvAditya’ ‘dhyEyassadA savitrumaNDala madhayavantee narayanah’ i.e. soorya maNDala is one of the abodes of Sreeman nArAyaNa without His ‘entry’ (anupravESa) no dEvata can perform any work. Hence He is the antaryAmi and drives the chariot of the sun god.
Ezh pooNDa—harnessing 7 horses—gAyatree, bruhatee, uShNik, jagatee, triShTub, anuShTub, pankti—these are 7 chadas which are the 7 horses of sun god. ‘sapta yunjanti rahtam Ekachakram’ says vEda. ‘hayAScha sapta chandAmsi tEShAm nAmAni mE SruNuh—gAyatree cha bruhatyuShNig jagatee triShTubEva cha anuShTub panktirityuktASchandAmsi harayO ravEh’—upabrahmaNa. ‘kArAr puravi Ezh pooNa taniyAzhi tErAr nirai kadirOn’—siriya tirumaDal. ‘EkO aSvO vahati saptanAmA’ (one horse called saptanAmA drives the chariot). maNavALa mAmunihaL writes in AchArya hrudaya vyAKyana ‘yEtadanuguNamAha vyAKyAtamAna iDangaLilE kaNDu koLvadu’.
‘kunramEndi kuLir mazhai kAittavan----paran senra sEr tiruvEngaDa mAmalai’ It is kaNNa pirAn who resides in tiruvEngaDam. AzhwAr also says ‘kuDa nayanda koottanAi ninrAn’.
kuDakkoottu is an act of jugglery by placing many pots one upon the other on His head, on His shoulders and carrying some in both hands throwing them up and catching them.
The purpose of the tongue is to sing tiruvEngaDanAtha’s glories alone.
nalamE validukol nanjooTTu vanpEi
nilamE puraNDu pOi veezha salamEdAn |
vengongai uNDAnai meeTTAichchi ooTTuvAn
tankongai vAivaittAL sArndu || Seventy Four ||
It is yaSOda pirATTi who has greatest love for emberumAn when kaNNan was just a baby kamsa sent pootana, a rAkShasi, to kill Him. She came with her poisoned breasts, took Him (as if) with love, gave Him her breasts to suck. In the end she fell down dead as He sucked her life. Even after witnessing this incident will anyone dare come near Him to give milk? But yaSOda did and thought her milk is an antidote for poison.
nalamE validu kol—normally women are shy and shrink with fear. But in yaSOda love alone predominated lover the fear.
sArndu ahaDu tEippa taDAviya kOTTuchchivAi
oorndiyangum vaNmadiyin oN muyalai sErndu |
sinavEngai pArkkum tirumalaiyE Ayan
punavEngai nArum poruppu || Seventy Five ||
AzhwAr describes tirumalai. The peak of the mountain is so high that it touches the bottom of the moon as it travels in the sky. The black patch is described as ‘deer’ (mrugAnkah) and some as ‘rabbit’ (saSAnkah). AzhwAr describes it as rabbit.
The moon is traveling across the sky touching the peak of tirumalai. A tiger standing on the top looks at the moon’s rabbit and wonders whether to catch it or not. This tirumalai is the abode of BagavAn Sree kriShNa.
poruppiDaiyE ninrum punal kuLittum aindu
neruppiDaiyE nirkavum neer vENDA viruppuDaiya |
vehKAvE sErndAnai meimmalartooi kaitozhudAl
ahKAvE teevinaihaL Aindu || Seventy Six ||
Oh! Men! you torture your bodies by performing difficult tapas etc. why do you do tapas standing on one leg in the mountains; sitting under water in the winter; standing between 5 agnis (4 on all sides and sun above) in summer? you hope You can drive away your pApas by doing so. you are need not perform any such risky tapascharya anymore. Just offer some fragrant fresh, beautiful flowers at His tiruvaDi in tiruvehKA. your pApas will vanish without any trace. i fact when He endeavours to remove our karmas why should we too try too do the same?
‘kAyilai tinrum kAniluraindum kadi tEDi teeyiDai ninrum poovalam vandum tiriveehAL! tAyilum anban poomahaL naNban taDanAha pAyan mukundan kOyilarangam paNiveerE’—tiruvaranga kalambaham of piLLai perumAL aiyangAr.
viruppuDaiya vehKA—both BagavAn and BAgavatas desire to live in tiruvehKA.
Ainda varumaraiyOn nAnmuhattOn nangurangil
vAinda kuzhaviyAi vALarakkan Einda |
muDippOdu moonrEzhenreNNinAn Arnda
aDippOdu nangaTku araN || Seventy Seven ||
Once rAvaNa came to brahma with one head disguising his identity in order to seek some boons from him. emberumAn lying on brahma’s lap as a small child counted the heads of rAvaNas 10 with His tiruvaDi and thus revealed to brahma the danger of giving boons to him.
This episode is not found in any itihAsa or purANa. but they were visible to AzhwAr’s jnAnakkaN.
There are many such episodes not found in itihAsa purANas but mentioned by AzhwArs. poihaiyAzhwAr in his mudal tiruvandAdi refers to this episode ‘poomEya mAdavattOn tAL paNinda vALarakkan neeN muDiyai pAdamattAl eNNinAn paNbu’, koNDu kuDangAl mEl vaitta kuzhaviyAi taNDavarakkan talai tALAr paNDeNNi pOngumaran’— nAn muhan tiruvandAdi of tirumazhisai pirAn.
periyavAchchAn piLLai and other commentators say—What vAlmeeki and vyAsa did not know AzhwArs know by their jnAna druShTi. That is the greatness of AzhwArs. In periyAzhwAr’s pASura ‘seemAlihan avanODu tOzhamai koLLavum vallAi sAmAru avanai nee eNNi chakkarattAl talai koNDAi’, ‘elliyampOdu inidiruttal irundadOr iDarahaiyil mallihai mA mAlai koNDu angArttadum Or aDaiyALam’. These two episodes are available to AzhwAr’s vision alone.
araNAm namakkenrum Azhi valavan
muranAL valam suzhinda moimban saraNAmEl |
Edugadi Edu nilai Edu pirappennAdE
Odugadi mAyanaiyE Orttu || Seventy Eight ||
No doubt emberumAn is sarva rakShaka. But His rakShakatva does not apply to those who try to do their own rakShaNa. He protects only those who sprad both their hands in despair and seek His help not trying anything for their rakShaNa. droupadi at first was holding her saree when duShAsana pulled it. When she left both her hands lifted them above her head prayed kriShNa to save her, He at once came to her rescue ‘gajantu karShatE teerE grAhantu kouShatE jalou’ As long as gajEndra was trying to save himself from the crocodile BagavAn did not come to help. But as soon as he abandoned all his efforts and cried for help He came fast to his rescue. Thus there are many such examples. In short when we try to protect ourselves He keeps quiet. Bagavat pravrutti virOdhi swaprayatna nivrutti; prapatti; i.e. not only swaprayatna (self effort) are useless, they also hinder His rakShaNa kArya. The abandonment of swaprayatna alone is prapatti. This pASura explains this point. Azhivalavan saraNAmEl namakku enrum araNAm—emberumAn is rakShaka at all times. As long as we try for our own rakShaNA He will not interfere. If we don’t try He will come as rakShaka and we should not interfere. We are His Sareera. If this Sareera destroy it is His job to wash off the dirt. the Sareera does not wash its own dirt.
He does not look at our ignorance or jnAna; Our jAti whether it is high or low; Our conduct whether it is good or bad. He wants us to be firm in our belief in His rakShaNa. Nothing else matters to Him. ‘Edugadi Eru nilai Edu pirappennAdE’.
When He lifted Boomi as varAha a son was born due to His sparSa. He was called naraka. He was an asura born of His rajO guNa. He was a wicked king of prAgjOtiSha, He imprisoned many beautiful dEvata women, princesses by force. He took away the umbrella of varuNa, ratna parvata of mandaragiri, the beautiful kuNDala of aditi. He tried to take away the white elephant airAvat of indra. indra came to Sreeman nArAyaNa to pour out his woes. kriShNa took satyaBAma (BoomAdEvi’s avatAra) went to prAgjOtiSha and killed anrakAsura. He killed his minister mura in the war. Hence He is called murAri.
Ortta manattarAi aindaDakki ArAindu
pErttAl pirappEzhum pEikkalAm kArtta |
viraiyAr narunduzhAi veengOda mEni
niraiyAra mArvanaiyE ninru || Seventy Nine ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr said ‘Odu gadi mAyanaiyE Orttu’. Is it possible to think and meditate on Him when the 5 indriyas go out to seek only sabdAdi viShayas of the world? How is it possible when as a result of this we take janma after janma, a seemingly never ending chain? AzhwAr says ‘Well! Think of Him, His beauty (a sarvESwara who wears fresh fragrant tuzhasi mAla over His crown, His shoulders and on the tirumEni) ‘tOLiNai mElum nan mArbin mElum SuDar muDi mElum’. In mukunda mAla AzhwAr says ‘jihvE keertaya kESavam muraripum chEtO Baja sreedharam paNee dwandwa samarchaya achyuta kathA SrOtra dwaya tvam SruNu; kriShNam lOkaya lOchana dwaya harEr gachcha angri yugma Alayam, jigra grANa mukunda pAda tuzhasim moordhan nama adhOkShajam’. If only we engage all our indriyas in Him alone, the samsAra chain can be cut off easily for ever.
ninredirAya niraimaNittEr vANan tOL
onriya veerainooruDan tuNiya venrilangum |
ArpaDuvAn nEmiyaravaNaiyAn sEvaDikkE
nErapaDuvAn tAn muyalum nenju || Eighty ||
vANan tOL eerainooru tuNinda—bANAsura, born in the race of balichakravarti, once played on mrudanga when Siva was dancing. Siva was pleased at his performance and gave him 1000 arms, a fort of fire, great wealth and power and also promised he himself would stand at the gat of his palace with all his retinues to guard him. Once bANAsura’s daughter uSha had a dream where in she saw anirudha, the grand son of kriShNa and the son of pradyumna. She asked her friend to find him and bring him somehow. She, adept in yOga, brought him to the harem of uSha. Both of them had nice time with each other. bANAsura came to know about this bound him by a nAgAstra. kriShNa, through nArada came to know about this and came to the city of bANAsura riding on garuDa, with all His army along. He encountered Siva and His gaNas at the gate, fought with them and defeated them. Siva sent a jvara dEvata on kriShNa, who made her run away by sending a more powerful jvara dEvaka against her. Siva ran away with His retinue from the battle field. kriShNa then encountered the agni fort and fought with 5 agnis. Thus He came to bANAsura, fought with Him, chopped off his hands like the branches of a tree with His sundarSana chakra. Siva requested kriShNa to show mercy on the asura. So kriShNa cut off the arms except four. He married uSha and anirudha and went away.
nenjAl ninaipariyanElum nilaipeTTrEn
nenjamE pEsAi ninaikkungAl nenjattu |
pErAdunirkum perumAnai en kolO
OrAdu nirpadu uNarvu || Eighty One ||
The first two lines are addressed ot his mind. The las two lines he talks to himself. ‘en nenjamE! (avan) nenjAl ninaippariyanElum nilaippeTTru pEsAi’—manamE! His aiSwarya is beyond our region of imagination. Don’t be depressed about it. Try to think of His soulaBya guNa and talk about how sulaBa He is.
AzhwAr’s mind refuses to think of His soulaBya even though azwhar encourages him to do so. To him he says ‘ninaikkungAl nenjattu pErAdu nirkum perumAnai uNarvadu OrAdu nirpadu enkolO?’ What a pity! My mind hesitates to think of Him who takes it as an incentive to enter refusing afterwards to move away.
uNarvu- Mind. ‘vijnAnam yajnam tanutE’ (vEda) AzhwAr who said in the previous pASura ‘aravaNaiyAn sEvaDikkE nErpaDauvAn tAn muyalum nenju’ Now speaks in a different tone. Why? The reason is the more AzhwAr thinks of Him, the more he feels His greatness is beyond words and thought. Whatever he thinks about Him is only a negligible part. Therefore he says ‘Bagavad viShayattil nAm innam aDiyiDavEyillai pOlum’. A very learned scholar feels he does not know anything as he goes deeper and deeper into the matter. He says ‘What do i know after all! i know nothing’. Similarly AzhwAr feels he does not know Him well.
periyavAchchAn piLLai—‘keezh, samsArihaLukkillAdadu tamakkuNDAnavArE nenju Bagavad viShayattilE maNDiTTru enru koNDADinAr; viShayattai pArttavArE aDiyiTTilarAyirundAr’.
uNaril uNarvariyan uLLam puhundu
puNarilum kANbariyan uNmai iNaraNaiya |
kongaNaindu vaNDaraiyum taNDuzhAi kOmAnai
engaNaindu kANDum ini || Eighty Two ||
In the previous pASura AzhwAr was sad ‘ninaikkungAl nenjattu pErAdu nirkum perumAnai uNarvu OrAdu nirpadu en kolO? Why should i feel sad? Anyway the truth is He cannot be known by anyone fully. If this is the case why should i feel sorry and blame myself? Oh! How can i ever seek to know Him? ‘uNaril uNmai uNarvariyan; uLLam puhundu puNarilum uNmai kANbariyan’—it is true that He cannot be known by any self effort. It is also true that ‘tAm tam perumaiyariyAr’ ‘tanakkum tan tanmai arivariyAn’. i.e. His glories are infinite. He Himself does not know the limit of it. So how can He make us understand?
iniyavan mAyan ena uraipparElum
iniyavan kANbariyanElum iniyavan |
kaLLattAl maN koNDu viNkaDanda paingazhalAn
uLLattinuLLE uLan || Eighty Three ||
People say emberumAn is a great mAyakkAra, i.e. as nammAzhwAr says ‘vandAi pOlE vArAdAi pOlE varuvAnE’. He comes to my mAnasAnuBava and makes me believe it is true. When i think ‘He can never be reached’ He comes to me all of a sudden out of His own free will. Some say ‘He can never be seen’. i don’t care what they say. Let Him be a mAyAvi.Let Him be difficult to get. He, as i know, has gone to mahAbali to take back what belonged to Him. He, as i know, has entered my mind not having an idea to leave it on any account. What do i care about His swaroopa?
uLanAya nAnmaraiyin uTporuLai uLLattu
uLanAha tErnduNarvarElum uLanAya |
vaNDAmarai neDungaN mAyavanai yAvarE
kaNDAruhappar kavi || Eighty Four ||
Many say He who is known only through the vEdas, is in the hearts of jnAnis who say ‘en nenjinuLLAn en nenjinuLLAn’. But i don’t think anyone has seen this puNDareekAkSha. But what is the meaning of the Baktas exclamation ‘kaNDEn, kaNDEn’? ‘Well! They are good poets who can speak what is unreal as real. They feel happy when they say so’.
kaviyinAr kaipunaindu kaNNAr kazhalpOi
seviyinAr kELviyarAi sErndAr puviyinAr |
pETTriyuraikka poliyumE pinnaikkAi
ETTruyirai aTTAn ezhil || Eighty Five ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr asked ‘mAyavanai yAvarE kaNDAr?’ i.e. no one has really seen the reality of Him. ‘Well! Is there anyone who can at least speak really of Him?’ No. Even if all the people of this earth speak about Him, still they cannot do so fully His beauty, guNas, chEShTitas etc
Even if all the men chant incessantly His glories, meditate with concentration on His tiruvaDi, make anjali to Him, (stOtra dwaya tvam SruNu) hear His punya keertana, try to understand Him fully, they fail in their effort. kaNNa pirAn who killed the 7 powerful bulls for the sake of nappinnai pirATTi is beyond words and thoughts.
pinnaikkA ETTruyirai aTTA—kumBa, a leader of shepherds promised to give his daughter nappinnai in marriage to anyone who kills the 7 powerful bulls that he had. kaNNan successfully killed them and married nappinnai, an avatAra of neeLAdEvi.
ezhil koNDa minnu koDiyeDuttu vEha
tozhil koNDu tAn muzhangi tOnrum ezhil koNDa |
neermEha manna neDumAl nirampOla
kArvAnam kATTum kalandu || Eighty Six ||
It is true His beauty is beyond the words of anyone. But can we keep quiet just because it is so? ‘His tiruvaDi are like this’ ‘His tirumEni is like this’—thus one is forced to describe Him by comparing the avayavas with lotus etc. AzhwAr does the same in this and the next pASura.
The winter sky resembles Him. The dark clouds full of water particles move fast with the flashes of lightning and the claps of thunder. The tirumEni is dark like cloud, the pAnchajanya makes loud noise like thunder announcing His arrival to the distressed and SreedEvi is like lightning who resides in His tirumArbu.
kalandu maNiyimaikkum kaNNA ninmEni
malarndu marahadamE kATTum nalandihazhum |
kondinvAi vaNDaraiyum taNDuzhAi kOmAnai
andivAn kATTum adu || Eighty Seven ||
emberumAn! You wear koustuBa gem on Your tirumArbu (kuru mA maNi pooN kulAvi tihazhum). The great maragada (emerald) resembles Your tirumEni (pachchai mA malai pOl mEni). The fresh and green tuzhasi mAla worn on You reminds one of sandhyAkAla AkASa. The tirumEni is red like lotus (kai vaNNam tAmarai vAi kOmalam pOlum kaNNiNaiyum aravindam aDiyum aKdE) and the green tuzhasi enhances the beauty.
adunanru iduteedenru aiyappaDAdE
maduninra taNDuzhAi mArvan poduninra |
ponnangazhalE tozhumin muzhuvinaihaL
munnangazhalum muDindu || Eighty Eight ||
AzhwAr addresses the samsAris—Oh! Me! you lack the discrimination as to what is good and what is bad. You spend your life like this not having any clear cut idea about good and bad, what to do what not to do. i tell You—‘to worship Him and love Him is good; to have desire for worldly pleasures is bad; trust these words of mine and worship Him who wears tuzhasi mAla as a sign of rakShakatva. If only you do so all your pApas will vanish at once’.
adu—BagavadviShaya; nanru—is good. idu—samsAraviShaya; teedu—bad. Have no doubt about this.
podu ninra—‘dEvAnAm danavAnAntu sAmanyam aDhideivatam’. emberumAn’s tiruvaDi belongs to all alike. Even if rAvaNa and SiSupAla seek them He is ready to accept them as His dAsas.
muzhu vinaihaL munnam kazhalum—The very moment the desire to worship Him comes, that very moment the pApas vanish without any trace (muDindu). They don’t go anywhere, but simply melt away losing their identity.
muDinda pozhudil kuravANar Enam
paDinduzhusAl paindinaihaL vitta taDindezhunda |
vEingazhaipOi viNtirakkum vEngaDamE mElorunAL
teenguzhalvAi vaittAn silambu || Eighty Nine ||
AzhwAr describes tirumalai. The gypsy men earn their livelihood by collecting honey, hunting animals. But these tough jobs the old gypsy men are not able to do. So they give uptheir family profession and live by agriculture. Even here they are unable to plough the land. The wild boars in the forests dig the lands to uproot the huge bamboo trees (to show their strength) In these furrows they sow the seeds and do farming. They throw away the trees while weeding. They, however, grow again in the fresh soil and pierce the sky. In this tirumalai resides Sree kriShNa who played lovely music in His flute.
Normally gypsies do not give their family profession. But due to their old age and inability they take to farming to earn their livelihood (muDinda pozhudin)
silambum serikazhalum senrisaippa viNNAr
alambiya sEvaDipOi aNDam pulambiyatOL |
eNDisaiyum soozha iDampOdAden kolO
vaNDuzhAi mAlaLanda maN || Ninety ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr described the tirumalai where bamboo trees grow so tall as to touch the sky. This made him remember how trivikrama measured the worlds by lifting His tiruvaDi and spreading His arms in all directions. He wonders why people say this Boomi is very vast (peridu peridu buvanam peridu). i don’t think so because emberumAn could not stretch His hand well in all directions. There was actually no place for Him to further stretch them fully!
vaNDuzhAi mAl maN aLandadu en kolO—One should measure a land step by step. But when trivikrama took one step it covered the whole earth and there was no room for another step. That is why AzhwAr wonders how He measured the land?
maNNuNDum pEichchi mulaiyuNDum ATTrAdAi
veNNei vizhunga vehuNDu Aichchi kaNNi
kayiTTrinAl kaTTa tAn kaTTuNDirundAn
vayiTTrinODATTrA mahan || Ninety One ||
vayiTTrinODu ATTrA mahan—is a beautiful phrase that describes aptly His non-satisfaction even after eating everything. At first He swallowed all the worlds during praLaya. Not satisfied at it, He drank the milk of pootana who came like yaSOda to feed Him. Not satisfied still, He stole all the butter, milk, butter milk etc. of all the houses in AyarpADi and ate them all. yaSOda got very angry at His chEShTita and bound Him by a cord full of knots. Only then He found satisfaction.
kaNNi kayiTTrinAl—kaNNan would steal the butter from the houses of AyarpADi. They would come to yaSOda to make a complaint against Him. She would often bind Him so that He won't move from that place. kaNNan would cut the cords into small pieces so that she won't bind Him. Now yaSOda is fully determined to bind Him at all costs. So she puts the small bits together, ties them with knots and binds Him.
Though this cord full of knots is easy to break He pretends, out of love for His mother, that He is bound. This episode reveals His soulaBya, souSeelya and ASrita pAratantrya. To reveal these guNas He has left His excellent abode of paramapda and has come down to AyarpADi as a common shepherd boy.
vehuNDu—angry. She is not angry about the missing butter but is so because of her anxiety about His health. Can a small child digest so much butter?--is her worry.
mahan oruvarkku allAda mAmEni mAyan
mahanAm avan mahan tan kAdal mahanai |
sirai seida vANan tOL seTTrAn kazhalE
nirai seidu en nenjE ninai || Ninety Two ||
emberumAn is the father as well as the mother of all the creatures of all the worlds. He is the sarvESwara who has no necessity to be born as a son of any mortal. Yet He does so even though He has no karmas. ‘ajAyamAnO bahudhA vijAyatE tasya dheerAh parijAnanti yOnih’ He takes births only to shower His anugraha to Baktas and BAgavatas. In the kriShNAvatAra He has a son (pradyumna) and a grandson (aniruddha). The episode of aniruddha and uSha (bANAsura’s daughter) is told in detail in the pASura.
ninaittulahilAr teLivAr neeNDa tirumAl
anaittulahum uLLoDukki AlmEl kanaittulavu |
veLLattOr piLLaiyAi meLLa tuyinrAnai
uLLattEvai nenjE uittu || Ninety Three ||
BagavAn is ever the same since He is beyond all changes. Since He has no karma His form undergoes no sankOcha and vikAsa (to grow small and large) Yet He makes vAmana and trivikrama roopas for the sake of His aDiyArs like indra. He takes the form of a small child to lie on a tiny banyan leaf for the sake of all the people in the worlds. Thus His form grows small or big to protect His ASritas. But no one seems to have any gratitude for His rakShaNa kArya. Oh! Mind! At least you should take efforts to meditate on Him with love and gratitude.
uittuNar vennu oLikoL viLakkETTri
vaittavanai nADi valaippaDuttEn mettenavE |
ninrAnirundAn kiDandAnen nenjattu
ponrAmai mAyan puhundu || Ninety Four ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr said ‘uLLattE vai nenjE uittu’. AzhwAr puts Him inside the cage of his mind. Then he finds him with the help of a jnAna viLakku as one would find an object with the help of a lamp. BagavAn could not get out of his mind as He was well caught in the net. He sometimes sits, stands and lies down. All His activities take place in his heart as in tiruvooraham, tiruppADaham and tiruvehKA. The jnAna viLakku is ‘oLikoL’ because it is not an ordinary lamp that tarnishes or gets oily and dirty as time panes.
ponrAmai—emberumAn finds his heart quite big that He is able to sit, stand or lie down as He pleases.
puhundilangum andi pozhudattu ariyAi
ihazhnda iraNiyanadAham suhirndengum |
sinda piLanda tirumAl tiruvaDiyE
vanditten nenjamE vAzhttu || Ninety Five ||
AzhwAr asks his mind to think of His tiruvaDi alone who took narasimhAvatAra to kill hiraNya, who committed BagavatApachAra. He split open his body that made blood flow from all parts of his body.
hiraNya asked a boon of immortality. Refused a boon of this kind, he was asked to specify the place, time, instrument and the person who would kill him. Accordingly BagavAn took an avatAra neither man nor an animal, chose a place neither inside nor outside, at a time which is neither day nor night, with an instrument i.e. the nails.
ariyAi—If it is read as ‘ari’ it means ‘enemy’ which refers to hiraNya, a BAgavata virOdhi. If it is read as ‘hari’ it refers to Him who came as narasimha.
vAzhttiya vAyarAi vAnOr maNimahuDam
tAzhtti vaNanga tazhumbAmE kEzhtta |
aDittAmarai malarmEl mangai maNALan
aDi tAmaraiyAm alar || Ninety Six ||
tirumAl’s tiruvaDis are so soft that even if periya pirATTi presses them with their tender hands with much care these lotus tiruvaDi’s become red. ‘vaDiviNaiyillA malar mahaL maTTrai nilamahaL piDikkum mellaDi’. AzhwAr fears these tiruvaDi’s are hurt when the dEvas bow down with their crowns.
poihaiyAzhwAr says ‘tazhumbirunda tAL sahaDamsADi’ kriShNa got scars in His tiruvaDi because He kicked the sakaTAsura. This AzhwAr says His tiruvaDi’s are scarred because the dEvas bow touching them with their diamond crowns.
BaTTar in Sree guNaratnakOSa says ‘pAdA runtudamEva pankaja rajah chETeeBruSAlOkitaih angamlAnih kathAmba sAhasavidhou leelAravindagrahah DOlA tE vanamAlayA hariBujE hA kaShTa SabdAspadam kEna SreeratikOmaLA tanuriyam vAchAm vimarda kShamA’. Oh! peirya pirATTi! The pollen dust of the lotus flower on which You sit hurt Your tiruvaDi. Your tirumEni is wounded when You hold and act of whirling it causes tremendous strain on You. To add to all these woes in Your stay in His tirumArbu along with vanamAla which makes me say Alas! Alas!’. Here AzhwAr’s statement ‘vAnOr maNi muhuDam tAzhtti vaNanga tazhumbAmE’ is not an exaggeration.
alareDutta andiyAn angezhilAya
malareDutta mAmEni mAyan alareDutta |
vaNNattAn mAmalarAn vArsaDaiyAnenru ivarhaTku
eNNattAnAmO imai || Ninety Seven ||
Siva, brahma and indra described by vEdas are very powerful gods (‘sabrahmAsa SivasEndrah’) are not able to even think of Him who is sarvESwara. ‘alar’ of the first line means lotus –tirunABikamala. ‘malar’ of the second line refers to kAyAmpoo—the dark tirumEni of emberumAn. ‘alareDutta vaNNattAn’—indra whose colour is like that of kAnchi flower. itruviLiyADarpurANam says ‘sengadir mEiyAn pOlavizhndana sezhumpalASam mangaloor selvan pOla malarndana kAnchi, tingaT pungavan pOla pootta poonjinai maravam, sengaiyangadirAzhiyAn pOlalarndana virindakAyA’ (manguloor selvan means indra whose vAhana is cloud)
imamsoozh malaiyum visumbum kATTrum
amamsoozhndu araviLangi tOnrum namanjoozh |
narahattu nammai naNuhAmal kAppAn
turahattai vAipiLandAn toTTu || Ninety Eight ||
kriShNa killed an asura called kESi who came in the form of a horse to kill Him. This horse was bigger than the himAlaya mountain, taller than the sky and faster than the air. kriShNa killed him effortlessly by splitting open his mouth. AzhwAr says ‘this emberumAn alone should protect us’.
imam soozh malai—imam means ice. Why the special mention of himAlayas? This name is the upalakShaNa for all the 7 kula parvatas. amam soozh—amam means disease i.e. the mountains, sky, air etc appeared as if struck by disease when compared to the kESi.
toTTa paDai eTTum tOlAda venriyAn
aTTa buyakarattAn nAnru kuTTattu |
kOLmudalai tunja kuritterinda chakkarattAn
tALmudalE nangaTku sArvu || Ninety Nine ||
In this and the next pASura AzhwAr talks about aTTabuyakarattAn, adivya dESa in kAnchi.
toTTa paDai eTTum tOlAda venriyAn—tirumangai AzhwAr in periya tirumozhi says ‘sempon ilangu valangai vALi tiN silai taNDoDu sangam oL vAL umbar iru suDarAzhiyODu kEDaham oN malar paTTri eTTrE—aTTAbuyakarattEn enrArE’. He holds in His eight hands—vALi, bow, gada, SanKa, sword, chakra, shield and a lotus. All these weapons bring nothing but victory to Him. He carries all of these as easily as one would carry a flower (toTTa).
aTTabuyakarattAn—aShTaBujan is the tirunAma of emberumAn who resides in aTTabuyakara.
kuTTattu kOL mudalai tunja—King indradyumna was a great Bakta. He was once doing pooja and did not notice sage agasthya’s arrival. The sage was waiting for a long time but did not find the king coming to receive him with honour. The sage thought the king did so purposely out of his pride. So he cursed him to be born as an elephant. Because of his poorva punya karmas the elephant remembered his past life. He continued his pooja in this janma too. He would pick beautiful lotuses everyday to offer them to god. He was once caught by a crocodile who was a gandharva born as an animal due to the curse of a riShi. gajEndra cried ‘Adi moolamE’. BagavAn immediately came to his rescue. He killed the crocodile with his chakrAyudha.
AzhwAr asks Him to save us who are caught by several crocodiles in the form of indiryas. If we cry for Him as did the gajEndra, He would immediately come to rescue us.
sArvu namakkenrum chakkarattAn taNDuzhAi
tArvAzh varaimArban tAn muyangum kArArnda |
vAnamarum min imaikkum vaNDAmarai neDungaN
tEnamarum poo mEl tiru || One Hundred ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr said ‘emberumAn tiruvaDihaLE SaraNam’. Here in this pASura he says ‘pirATTi tiruvaDihaLE SaraNam’. mumukShuppaDi—‘neerilE neruppu kiLarumAppOlE kuLirnda tiruvuLLattilE abarAdattAlE SeeTTram pirandAl poruppadu ivaLukkAha’. periya pirATTi always forgives all our sins (sarvapApa). Taking her as our sole refuge one would approach emberumAn. She does puruShakAra for us. AzhwAr too does the same and ends this prabandha. ‘tEnamarum poo mEl tiru namakku enrum sArvu’. ‘chakkarattAn taNDuzhAi tAr vAzh varai mArban tan muyangum’ ‘kArArnda vAnamarum minnimaikkum’—These are the adjectives qualifying periya pirATTi.
Because she is so perumAn never leaves her side even for a minute. emberumAn is called ‘ahalahillEn iraiyum enru alarmEl mangai urai mArban’. pirATTi is called ‘chakkarattAn taNDuzhAi tAr vAzh varai mArban tAn muyangum tiru’.
kArArnda vAnamarum minnimaikkum—lightning reveals itself only as a flash and vanishes in a second. But periya pirATTi though as bright as a lightning stays in the dark cloud (His tirumEni) for ever. (vAnamarum) vaNtAmarai neDungaN—While describing the eyes of beautiful women poets use words like ‘kuvalayangaNNi’, ‘karungNNi’, ‘asitEkShaNA’ etc. They do not normally compare their eyes to lotus (which is the special quality of emberumAn alone—‘puNDareekAkSha’) But there are instances where we find their eyes compared to red lotus as in Sree sookti ‘padmAlayE padmini padmahastE padmapriyE padmadaLAyatAkShi’ and in the words of some poets ‘padmAkShee’ ‘pankajAkShee’ etc. The lotus is given as comparison when the length of the eyes are described; the kuvaLai malar is taken as comparison if their darkness is described.
AzhwAr finally says ‘periya pirattiyE tanjam’ and ends this prabandha.
moonrAm tiruvandAdi muTTriTTru
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