Monthly Archives: December 2014

srI:
srImathE satakOpAya nama:
srImathE rAmAnujAya nama:
srImadh varavaramunayE nama:

Full Series

As the guard of the thirumALigai of nandhagOpar removed the lock, opened the doors and let them in, they are going inside and waking up nandhagOpar and others. First they wake up nandhagOpar who was lying down in the front as he was wondering whether the gOpikAs are trying to steal kaNNan. If women would steal anirudhdhAzhwAn (grandson of krishNan), does it not go without saying that they would steal krishNan from whom anirudhdhan came?

அம்பரமே தண்ணீரே சோறே அறம் செய்யும்
எம்பெருமான் நந்தகோபாலா எழுந்திராய்
கொம்பனார்க்கு எல்லாம் கொழுந்தே குலவிளக்கே
எம் பெருமாட்டி யசோதாய் அறிவுறாய்
அம்பரம் ஊட அறுத்து ஓங்கி உலகு அளந்த
உம்பர் கோமானே உறங்காது எழுந்திராய்
செம்பொற் கழலடிச் செல்வா பலதேவா
உம்பியும் நீயுன் உறங்கேலோர் எம்பாவாய்.

ambaramE thaNNIrE sORE aRam sEyyum
emperumAn nandhagOpAlA ezhundhirAi
kombanArkkelAm kozhundhE kula viLakkE
emperumAtti yasOdhAi aRivuRAi
ambaramUdarththu Ongi ulagaLandha
umbar kOmAnE uRangAdhu ezhundhirAi
sempoR kazhaladich chelvA baladhEvA
umbiyum nIyum uRangElOrempAvAi

Word by Word Meaning

emperumAn nandhagOpAlA – O nandhagOpa who is our swAmi!
aRam – who donates
ambaramE – clothes
thaNNirE – water
sORE – and food (all the time, all of it),
ezhundhirAi – please wake up;
asodhAi – dear yasOdhai pirAtti!
kozhundhE – fine one among us
kombu anArkkellAm – women who are like vanji tree that is full of flowers
kula viLakkE – who is a bright lamp for the cowherds
aRivuRAi – please wake up!
umbar kOmAnE – O dhEva dhEva!
ambaram Udu aRuththu – who pierced the AkAsam (space)
Ongi – raised
ulagu aLandha – and kindly spanned/measured all the worlds,
uRangAdhu – without sleeping,
ezhundhirAi – please get up;
selvA – O srImAn!
baladhEvA – O baladhEvA!
sem pon kazhal adi – (who is) having reddish gold thiruvadi (of wealth),
umbiyum nIyum – your brother kaNNan and you
uRangEl – please do not sleep.

Simple Translation

ambaramE thaNNIrE sORE

Clothes, water, food whatever is needed for people, nandhagOpar gives them all;

The ‘E’ and the end of these words is to question whether this is all what nandhagOpar has learned to do; that it looks like as if he keeps doing each and every one of it only.

ambaram: saree; also means sky/space (this meaning is used in 5^th line of this pAsuram – ambaram Udu aRuththu).

aRam seyyum

he is giving all these things out of kindness, and as if that is his life, and without expecting anything in return.

Like how you give the people what they need for life, please give us what We need for our life – kaNNan!

emperumAn …

You give sarees/clothes (bhOgyam as it gives comfort), water (dhArakam, life-saving), and sOru (bhOshakam, nurturing); go got us these things for us which is in one form that is krishNan;

Can all the three be one krishNan? Yes, nammAzhvAr agrees! ‘uNNum sORu (bhOshakam), parugu nIr (dhArakam), thinnum veRRilai (bhOgyam), ellAm kaNNan’.

[This applies to AchAryan as well – he can be many at the same time for sishyas:  srI vachana bhUshaNam of piLLai lOkAchAryar: manthramum, dhEvathaiyum, Phalamum, PhalAnubandhigaLum, palasAdhanamum, aihika bhOgamum ellAm AchAryan enRu ninaikkak kadavan / “mAthA, pithA, yuvathaya:”  engiRa slOkaththilE, ivvarththaththai paramAchAryarum aruLich cheidhAr. (ஸ்ரீவசந பூஷணம்: மந்த்ரமும், தேவதையும், பலமும், பலாநுபந்திகளும், பலஸாதநமும், ஐஹிகபோகமுமெல்லாம் ஆசார்யனென்று நினைக்கக் கடவன். “மாதா பிதா யுவதய:” என்கிற ஸ்லோகத்திலே, இவ்வர்த்தத்தை பரமாசார்யரும் அருளிச்செய்தார்).]

Since you are intending to give kaNNan to us who are always living for him, you are our perumAn.

As it seemed that nandhagOpar woke up and gave his permission, they proceed to wake up yaSOdhA.

Unlike how they are going to wake up nappinnai first and then krishNan, why did they first wake up nandhagOpar instead of yaSOdhA? Since she wanted to be near kaNNan, she is sleeping inside.

This refers to emperumAnAr as well. [-Ar: adding Ar is to show more respect. (maman-ar).]

svApadhEsam for the above lines: AthmA‘s nature of working on emperumAn’s happiness, removal of bhOgam of our own when doing that, and because of that the kainkaryam – our AchAryan gives these as if this is all he is going all the time for his sishyAs.

kombanArkkellAm kozhundhE

She (yaSOdhA) is the head of all the people who have got daughters. She is the only mother who had the joy of enjoying perumAn compared to all other mothers of various avathArams of perumAn.

kombu – ‘vanji’ tree’s.

anAr – like the kombu

kozhundhu grows first out of the tree, so it is the head; if any problem happens to the root, it is the kozhundu that would first look dull.

kozhundhE –  if any gOpikA is having any problems, isn’t it your face that becomes dull?

kula viLakkE – you are the light of the families of all these gOpikAs

emperumAtti – you got our krishNan for us, and so you are our swAmiNi!

yaSOdhAi – Unlike nandhagOpar, being the same gender you can understand our angst; when nandhagOpar who is strict has himself woken up, you who is kind (to kaNNan) can still be sleeping?

like yaSOdhai, prapannas also can tie Him – with thirumanthram (srI vachana bhUshaNam: thirumanthram kai pugundhavARE Iswaran kai pugurum… prApaka lAbham thirumanthraththAlE. ஸ்ரீவசந பூஷணம்: திருமந்த்ரம் கைபுகுந்தவாறே ஈஶ்வரன் கைபுகரும்… ப்ராபக லாபம் திருமந்த்ரத்தாலே.).

aRivurAi – if you wake up then all our troubles will go away

After getting the acceptance from yaSOdhai pirAtti, they proceed to inside and wake up krishNan.

svApadhEsam: Like how the vanji plant would bend and accommodate to the flows of the river, of all the manthrams that make themselves appropriate based on the interest of samsAris, thirumanthram is considered the head, like a lamp for the prapannas, natural swami for them, which can give life in good ancestry and other benefits. (mumukshuppadi: chEthanar ninRa ninRa aLavukku IdAyirukkum. முமுக்ஷுப்படி:  சேதநர் நின்ற நின்ற அளவுக்கு ஈடாயிருக்கும்.)

ambaram Udu aRuththu Ongi

For dhEvas, who come to you asking for their own benefits, you grew big and strong (as thrivikraman) into all the space regardless of whether they are good ones or not;

You grew with your kindness, with your guNam of protection as the water for growing.

ulagaLandha

Like a mother who keeps her arm on her child while sleeping next to it, you grew while placing your kind thiruvadi on everyone regardless of whether they were aware of it or interested in it;

umbar kOmAnE

And by doing them the favor you got dhEvas/nithyasUris under your spell. They and these gOpikAs are lost to the simplicity/approachability of perumAn who used His most supreme feet for small tasks like covering the forests and small places  (the world).

urangAdhu ezhundhirAi

Do we have to be men or be those who come to you asking for own benefits in order for you to pay attention? Can it not be gOpikAs who came to you for doing only kainkaryam? You touched your lotus feet on all the people, made it so easily available to even those who did not realize your greatness – we know its greatness, can you not show your feet to us?

Can you at least show us your face?

You who stole our sleep, is happily sleeping here? We had heard that you deeply missed a woman and suffered with no food or sleep (anidhra: sathatham rAma:). We thought that would happen here too, and what we see here is upside down. அழகிதாயிருந்தது!

The gOpikAs woke up and got their acceptance in this order:

adiyAr – nandhagOpar;
pirAtti – yasOdhai;
perumAn – krishNan.
~~~~~ praNavam.

Since He did not wake up even after saying all these, they realize their mistake that they should have woken up nambi mUththa pirAn (balarAmar) first (that is, go to perumAn through adiyAr), so they wake up balarAmar:

sem poR kazhal adich chelvA baladhEvA

krishNan came to this world after you – you were born here first and blessed this place with your golden feet; The wealth that iLaiya perumAL (lakshmaNan) got after being born later, you got by being born earlier; Like lakshmaNan you also got the wealth that is kainkaryam, shouldn’t you also be awake like lakshmaNan? Didn’t he stay awake to protect pirAtti and perumAL when they slept! Aren’t you too great in getting krishNan together with this gOpikA (ANdAL)? If so, is it acceptable for you to be sleeping now?

When AzhvArs are having Udal (tiff) with perumAn they would refer to Adhi sEshan as ‘thI mugaththu nAgaNai‘ (bed of serpent who emits fire from his face); when are happy about perumAn they would be kind and say ‘nAgaNai misai nampirAn (perumAn who is on a comfortable bed of Adhi sEshan)’. Here they are being nice and saying ‘sem poR kazhal adi chelvA‘.

[perumAL requested lakshmaNan (Adhi sEshan), “You are born as younger brother and are doing so many kainkaryams to me in this avathAram. During another avathAram please be born as elder brother to me”. In krishNa avathAram, Adhi sEshan was born as elder brother balarAmar, and did kainkaryams to kaNNan!]

umbiyum nIyum urangEl

(addressing balarAmar). “He is beloved to you and you are beloved to Him, and both are sleeping with legs on each other; He being younger brother is nice to you, you being adiyAr (chenrAl kudaiyAm…) is nice to Him and we in the middle are losing His time with us as you both are sleeping”.

“Those who lie on the bed would sleep, but is there sleep to the bed itself? You (balarAmar) who is His bed, please wake up, and also wake Him for us; we are His bed, and give Him to us.”

In this pAsuram ANdAL wakes up nandhagOpar, yasodhai pirAtti, then both krishNan and balarAman. They go through the proper order to krishNan.

---

English translation Raghuram srInivAsa dhAsan

archived in http://divyaprabandham.koyil.org

srI:
srImathE satakOpAya nama:
srImathE rAmAnujAya nama:
srImadh varavaramunayE nama:

Full Series

~~~~~~~~

nammAzhwAr sang ‘vEdham vallArgaLai-k koNDu viNNOr perumAn thiruppAdham paNindhu’. (phrase-wise translation: Through those who know/understand vEdhas, / the god of the dhEvas, nithyasUris, and mukthas, / pray unto His divine feet).

ANdAL has laid out pAsurams in the same order of these words in thiruppAvai.

– vEdham -> first 5 pAsurams told us what the vEdham and upanishads have told: nArAyaNanE namakkE paRai tharuvAn (only nArAyaNan will give us mOksham), through, ‘pizhaigaL … thIyinil thUsAgum’ (perumAn would remove the sanchitha (accumulated) karmAs of those who have surrendered to Him).

– vallArgaLai-k koNDu (with the help of those who understand vEdham) -> In next 10 pAsurams (6 – 15), ANdAL and gOpikAs wanted the 10 sleeping gOpikAs to go with them.

Do these thiruvAyppAdi gOpikAs know vEdham? When kaNNan is following these gOpikAs, whatever these gOpikAs say, is vEdham for Him. Even if one learns the words of sAsthram by heart, there is a big difference between that and its meanings and following in action. In thiruvanandhapuram, a bhAgavathar taught srI rAmAyaNam to three students; at the end of it he asked them what they understood from SrI rAmAyaNam – 1^st student said that srI rAmAyaNam is about serving the father; 2^nd student replied that it says it is hard to be born and have relationship with this body, so one should remove such relationship; 3^rd student said ‘Unless we get chakravarthy thirumagan’s blessings, there is no possibility of reaching our goal (Him); The bhAgavatha asserted that the 3^rd student has understood rAmAyaNam well and asked him to do discourses on it from then on”.

ANdAL is not getting up and directly going to kaNNan since that is not recommended in our sampradhAyam – we go in the correct order, and through the correct people. Here she is getting all the gOpikAs (bhAgavathAs) to go with her.

– viNNOr -> Those who are always living with perumAn in srI vaikuNtam. Here, in the next 5 pAsurams (15-20) that we are starting, she talks to the people who are like them – nandhagOpar, nappinnai, and so on.

– perumAn thiruppAdham paNindhu -> finally in the last 10 pAsurams, she wakes up and talks to kaNNan himself – the one for whom all the gOpikAs have been eagerly doing this nOnbu.

 ~~~~~~~~

After the gOpikAs woke up and joined the whole of thiruvAyppAdi, In this 16^th pAsuram they go together to srI nandhagOpa’s thirumALigai/palace (ANdAL is pretending the vadaperum kOyil of srIvillipuththUr as this thirumALigai). They wake up the people who protect the temple and guard the entrance. As they took oath not to do what their pUrvars did not do (sEiyAdhana seyyOm), they show it in action, by getting helped by those two bhAgavathas for going into the temple, and avoid going directly to emperumAn. If they go to emperumAn straight without through adiyArs (devotees), they would face what sUrpaNakA faced. After all, she (ANdAL) who sang ‘valla parisu varuvipparEl adhu kANdum [nAchchiyAr thirumozhi]’ (if my father/AchAryan brings krishNan to me then I will get Him), is periyAzhwAr’s daughter.

This is also a central / main pAsuram of thiruppAvai (pAsuram also starts with ‘nAyagan‘..(central))

நாயகனாய் நின்ற நந்தகோபன் உடைய
கோயில் காப்பானே கொடித்தோன்றும்
தோரண வாயில் காப்பானே மணிக்கதவம் தாள் திறவாய்
ஆயர் சிறுமிய ரோமுக்கு அறைபறை
மாயன் மணிவண்ணன் நென்னலே வாய்நேர்ந்தான்
தூயோமாய் வந்தோம் துயில் எழப்பாடுவ
வாயால் முன்னம் முன்னம் மாற்றாதே அம்மா நீ
நேய நிலைக்கதவம் நீக்கேலோர் எம்பாவாய்.

nAyaganAi ninRa nandhagOpanudaiya kOyil kAppAnE
kodith thOnRum thOraNa vA(sa)yil kAppAnE
maNikkadhavam thAL thiRavAi
Ayar siRumiyarOmukku
aRai paRai mAyan maNivaNNan nennalE vAi nErndhAn
thUyOmAi vandhOm thuyil ezhappAduvAn
vAyAl munnam munnam maRRAdhE ammA
nI nE(sa)ya nilaikkadhavam nIkku ElOrempAvAi

Word by Word Meaning

kAppAnE – You the protector of
kOyil – thirumALigai
nAyaganAi ninRa nandhagOpanudaiya – of nandhagOpar who is (our) swAmi
thiRavAi – open
thAL – the bolt
kadhavam – (of the) door
maNi – having gem stones embedded,
Ayar siRumiyarOmukku – for us small gOpikAs;
mAyan – kaNNapirAn with admirable deeds
maNivaNNan – whose color is like that of blue diamond
aRai paRai nennalE vAi nErndhAn – promised yesterday itself that He would give paRai instrument that makes sound;
thUyOmAi vandhOm – we came with the pure mind
thuyil ezhap pAduvAn – to sing so that He would wake up from His sleep;
ammA – swAmi!
vAyAl munnam munnam mARRAdhE – do not refuse with your first words
nI – only you
nIkku – (should) open the
nEya nilaik kadhavam – door which has got the disposition of having love for kaNNan.

Simple Translation

nAyaganAi ninRa nandha gOpanudaiya kOyil kAppAnE  (O the one who is protecting the house of nandhagOpan who is our nAyagan)

They refer to srI nandhagOpa as nAyagan – Because he is a helper, AchAryan – helping the gOpikAs to get krishNan.

kOyil kAppAnE – O the one who is protecting the thirumALigai – They are saying that more than the main protector, the ones who are protecting (his) entrance are their protectors.

bhattar told his sishyar nanjIyar – ‘think of those as your protectors who think emperumAn as their protector’. (also) ‘live with the thought that perumAn is your protector; since I taught you this, live with the thought that I (AchAryan) am your protector’.

nandhagOpanudaiya kOyil –  The one we have surrendered to is parathanthran (serves His adiyArs; serves nandhagOpan); He took his avathAram to come to this place and enjoy the company of His adiyArs who agree that He would be their parathanthran ; in srIvakuNtam too He is a parathanthran, but the ones there don’t agree to that, so here He is looking for His adiyArs to tell Him what to do. Actually in srIvaikuNtam too, hH grows under the stick (scepter) of srI sEnApathi AzhvAn, in the lap of thiruvananthAzhvAn, and under the feathers of thiruvadi (garudAzhvAn).

kOyil kAppAnE – as they are very little girls, they are calling him by the work he is doing; that person also enjoys being addressed like that so they are using these words; whatever name would indicate devotees’ progress of subservience, that is the name that AthmA enjoys.

It is also considering him equivalent to a bhAgavatha. பாகவதனை முன்னிட்டுக் கொண்டு பெருமாளைப் பற்ற வேண்டும்.

kOyil – the place where He resides; He resides also in thirumanthram; kOyil kAppAnE – Oh the protector of thirumanthram from anadhikAris (those who do not have inclination/qualification to learn thirumanthram).

==> rAmAnujar. This pAsuram is addressing emperumAnAr.

nAyagan -> udaiyavar holds the central place of AchArya guru paramparai.

nandha gOpan -> emperumAnAr protected us cows.

udaiya -> ‘udaiyavar’ (holds control of both the vibhUthis of emperumAn as bestowed by Him to emperumAnAr).

‘kOyil kAppAnE’ -> protected kOyil (srIrangam) and many other temples; rAmAnujar organized all the activities of many temples, how and who should do what and when, and so on, which are followed even today. Because of him, our sampradhAyam and the temples have been protected.

kOdith thOnRum thOraNa vAsal kAppAnE

The guard of the temple gives his permission signalling with his eyes, and the gOpikAs proceed to entrance door and wake up the guard of the entrance.

Thinking “someone might stop our goal!”, they are falling on everyone’s feet. They would pray even to other dEvathais to save kaNNan – wouldn’t they go pray to the guard who is fond of kaNNan?

kodith thOnRum – since his thirumALigai looks similar to others’, nandhagOpa has hung decorative flags in front of his thirumALigai. He did that also to make sure that if gOpikAs came looking for kaNNan in the middle of the night, they would be able to identify his house without any problems;

Those who arrange for water booth would erect tall poles with flags so that people coming from afar could see this sign from a distance and feel better and rush to them for water. nandhagOpa has erected these decorations for us to come here and enjoy kaNNan. (so please open the door).

vAsal kAppAnE – kodi and thOraNam are insentient things (achEthanam), they cannot ask us to proceed. So you please let us inside.

Once, kaNNan had told the guards to allow arjunan to take away subhadhrA; to you also kaNNan would have told to allow us inside if we showed up.

Oh you who protects the meanings of ‘a’ (‘அ’) and nama: which indicate His ability to protect us.

=> rAmAnujar: kodi thOraNa vAsal -> Entrance to srI vaikuNtam -> emperumAnAr is protecting that, and enabling anyone to reach vaikuntam who has done saraNAgathy through an AchAryan associated with him. { viNNin thalai ninRu vIdaLippAn; விண்ணின் தலை நின்று வீடளிப்பான் }

maNik kadhavam

She sang ‘mAmAn magaLE maNik kadhavam‘ to gOpikas’ houses – this is krishNan’s thirumALigai so she is even more enthusiastic to sing praises of the door.

This door would attract the adiyArs to go inside; once they are inside maNi vaNNan’s beauty would make it impossible for them to go out, making us say ‘மற்றொன்றினைக் காணாவே’ maRRonRinaik kANAvE [amalanAdhipirAn] – ((after seeing your beauty), my eyes won’t see anything else).

maNik kadhavam thAL thiRavAi

“Please open this beautiful and attractive door with gems embedded”.

“This is an unsafe town (for kaNNan), and you are coming here in the middle of the night and asking to open the door. Who are you?”

“In this place where kaNNan is there, who removes our fears, what is there to be afraid of?” (prahlAdhan said to his father that there is no fear in him because he thinks of ananthan who removes our fears).

“Is this thrEthA yugam, with the father (dhasarathan) very strong who killed samparan an enemy of dhEvas, and with the sons growing like lions, with ministers like vasishtar, and a country like thiru ayOdhdhi which other kings are afraid of?  No, this is near the end of dhvApara yugam rubbing shoulders with kali yugam, father is of soft nature, the kids here are very small and naughty, this place is not even a town, kamsan the enemy, things that move turn out to be asuras bent on killing Him. Can I be without any fear?”

“should you be afraid of us girls too?”

“sUrpaNakA was a girl too”

“She was a rAkshasi. We are small cowherd gOpikAs who are born to the gOpas who fear for this boy’s safety (இவனுக்கு என்வருகிறதோ!)”

“After pUthanai I have to be afraid of even cowherd women”

maNik kadhavam thAL thiravAi: Please save us by removing any inclination towards AthmAnubhavam which results in svAthanthriyam (feeling independent of perumAn).

rAmanujar – we request rAmanujar to open our minds to receive gyAnam.

Ayar siRumiyarOmukku

We are small little cowherd gOpikAs, too innocent to know even counting, we did not come alone like phUthanai, we are the gOpikas from all of 5 lakh houses of thiruvAyppAdi.

“Can I trust because something is small? (That asuran) came as a little calf too (கன்றாயன்றோ வந்து நலியப் பார்த்தது).  Tell me what you came here for, and I will judge about you”

aRai paRai

“We came to get paRai (instrument) for nOnbu” – trying to say that it is an important matter.

“For that I will ask when they wake up. You may wait.”

mAyan – kaNNan who seems to be under the control of the gopikAs

maNivaNNan

maNi – gem – one can easily handle/control it by tying into their saree – Even if He does not get under their control, they would not let go of Him because of His beauty

rAmanujar – He is the central gem of the chain of AchAryas.

nEnnalE vAi nErndhAn – You do not have to tell Him about this, He promised us yesterday itself that we can go to Him at this time.

nennalE – not like today when we are begging you, it was the wonderful yesterday when he was begging us

vAi nErndhAn

“How can I trust His words told in public”

“He gave His word to dhraupathi in public and it did not fail. What he promised us also would not fail.”

nennalE vAi nErndhAn – rAmAnujar -> nammAzhvAr informed madhurakavi AzhvAr quite earlier about bhavishyadhaAchArya (rAmanujar) when he asked madhurakavi to boil water from thAmiraparani river. He also said long ago, ‘kaliyum kedum kaNdu kONmin‘ about how rAmAnujar would help defeat kali by spreading the truth about samskritha and thamizh vEdhams (dhivya prabandhams).

The guard continues, “Though He told you yesterday, shouldn’t there be some use of His putting us for guarding here? Aren’t we here to refuse entry to some people; Is He responsible for our duty? I need to know what you are thinking of doing. You are all here with the expectation of getting something from Him (paRai related to nOnbu)”

thUyOmAi vandhOm

“‘paRai’ is just a front. We are ananya prayOjanaigaL (not expecting anything except perumAn). We want to do kainkaryam (mangaLAsAsanam) and that is the only thing we want.

vandhOm – “we are doing what He should have done (come to us).”

“What is the sign that you are ananya prayOjanaigaL? (not prying Him for a benefit other than Him)”

thuyil ezhap pAduvAn

“We came here to sing thiruppaLLiyezhuchchi for Him (wake Him up).” sIthA pirAtti enjoyed how He was sleeping (when kAkAsuran troubled Her, before She woke Him up). Here these gOpikAs want to enjoy looking at Him slowly get up.”

These are the gOpikAs with the background of those who sang ‘arangaththammA paLLi ezhundharuLAyE [thiruppaLLiyezhuchchi]’.

Though he understood their hearts, the guard wanted to enjoy talking to them more, so he has been trying to act strict. When he says “Okay, I will open; please wait”, they say:

vAyAl munnamunnam mARRAdhE

Even if you think in your mind negatively, please do not say it in words.– it might become true and affect our goals. perumAL accepted vibIshaNan only after sugrIvan agreed that vibhIshaNan should be treated equal to them.

rAmAnujar: unlike prior AchAryas who wanted to put people through a lot of test and then give the meanings and rahasyams, emperumAnAr! You wanted to give those to anyone who sincerely wanted to learn.

ammA

Making him feel special; Is the one inside kind to us, or are you the one who is kind?

The guard finally says, “pull the lock, and push the door open”

nee nEsa nilaik kadhavam nIkku

That door is even more affectionate (to krishNan). It won’t open if we pushed; only you please open it.

All chEthanAchEthanams (sentient and insentient), all in thiruvAippAdi are for kaNNan (unlike in kamsan’s palace where everything is for killing Him).

As a protector of perumAn you are making sure that only the right people are allowed inside; because of your extreme affection towards Him, you are not allowing those who are fond of Him too? So you please get convinced and you open the door for us.

rAmAnujar/AchAryar: We the sishyAs know that our efforts won’t help, it is only YOUR wish and your blessing / anugraham that will help us to be a srIvaishNava, and to learn the meanings of vEdhams and dhivya prabhandhams (srI vachana bhUshaNam: sadhAchArya prasAdhaththAlE varugiRa bhagavath prasAdhaththAlE enRu thuNindhu – ஸதாசார்ய ப்ரஸாதத்தாலே வருகிற பகவத் ப்ரஸாதத்தாலே என்று துணிந்து).

In this pAsuram, they get permission of the guards of srI nandhagOpa’s thirumALigai, to go inside and do kainkaryam of singing thiruppaLLiyezhuchi through adiyArs.

---

English translation Raghuram srInivAsa dhAsan

archived in http://divyaprabandham.koyil.org

srI:
srImathE satakOpAya nama:
srImathE rAmAnujAya nama:
srImadh varavaramunayE nama:

Full Series

This is the 15^th pAsuram of thiruppAvai, and 10^th and final of the ones that wake up other gOpikAs.

==> This is also a nAyagak kal (central stone of an ornament) – main pAsuram, of thiruppAvai – “thiruppAvai Agiradhu ippAttu” [this song IS thiruppAvai)]. (So) it is set in the middle of the 30 pAsurams (exluding last one where ANdAL sings that as Herself and not as a gOpikA, and it is Phala SRuthi pAsuram). In the 8 lines of this pAsuram, ignoring the last line of ElOrempAvAi, in the 7 lines, the key phrase ‘nAnE thAn Ayiduga’ is in the middle line, like a gem set in the middle of a central piece of an ornament.

– mahAbhAratham was mainly for bhagavath gIthA; bhagavath gIthA was created for charama slOkam;
– ‘mEmporuL pOga vittu’ is the central pAsuram of thirumAlai.
– ‘thanakkE Aga enaik koLLumIdhE’ –  central pAsuram of thiruvAimozhi.
– Here, thiruppAvai is for this pAsuram!

In this pAsuram they wake up a gOpikA who wants to see the whole crowd.

In the prior nine pAsurams, words of the pAsurams themselves were all of the gOpikAs outside only. The conversation was not explicit. vyAkyAthAs (commentators like periyavAchAn piLLai) had added them due to their kindness, for our understanding.

The words in this key pAsuram are from both the gOpikAs outside, and the gOpikA inside. There is a strong reason for that. ANdAL wants to actually show the gOpikA inside as talking in order to tell us the ways of a srivaishNavar.

(Note: To get the deepest meanings of especially this pAsuram kindly attend kAlakshEpams, and from your AchAryan).

எல்லே இளம்கிளியே இன்னம் உறங்குதியோ
சில் என்று அழையேன் மின் நங்கையீர் போதருகின்றேன்
வல்லை உன் கட்டுரைகள் பண்டே உன் வாய் அறிதும்
வல்லீர்கள் நீங்களே நானே தான் ஆயிடுக
ஒல்லை நீ போதாய் உனக்கென்ன வேறுடையை
எல்லாரும் போந்தாரோ போந்தார் போந்து எண்ணிக்கொள்
வல் ஆனை கொன்றானை மாற்றாரை மாற்றழிக்க
வல்லானை மாயனைப் பாடேலோர் எம்பாவாய்.

ellE iLam kiLiyE! innam uRangudhiyO?
chil enRu azhaiyEnmin nangaimIr pOdharginREn
vallai un katturaigaL paNdE un vAi aRidhum
valleergaL nIngaLE nAnE thAn Ayiduga
ollai nI pOdhAi unakkEnna vERudaiyai
ellArum pOndharO pOndhAr pOndhu eNNikkoL
val Anai konRAnai mARRArai mARRazhikka vallAnai
mAyanaip pAda ElOrempAvAi

Word by Word Meaning

iLam kiLiyE – O gOpikA, who looks like a young parrot (in speech and looks)
ellE – wow! (how sweet is your speech!)
innam – even after everyone has come and stood here
uRangudhiyO – you are still sleeping? (and so they try to wake her up)
nangaimIr – (gOpikA from inside says) – dear girls!
sil enRu azhaiyEnmin – please talk without fighting (with me);
pOdharginrEn – I will start (now itself);
vallai – (from outside:) you are smart (in talks)
paNdE aRidhum – we know for quite long
un katturaigaL – about your strong words
un vAi – and about your taking in length (but no action);
nIngaLE valleergaL – (from inside:) – it is you who can talk strongly/rudely (as you are arguing with me)
nAnE thAn Ayiduga – (then truly accepts the fault as hers) – ok, I shall be the one who is talking strongly/rudely
(what do you want me to do?);
nee – (from outside:) you
ollai pOdhAi – get up quickly.
unakku enna vERu udaiyai – what separate goals/plans are you having?
ellArum pOndhArO – (from inside:) – has everyone come (who are supposed to come)?
pOndhAr – (from outside:) – they have come,
pOndhu eNNikkoL – you come out and count them
(from inside:) what do I need to do after coming out?
pAda – (from outside:) – to sing about
konRAnai – the one who destroyed
vallAnai – the strong elephant (kuvalayApIdam)
mARRArai mARRu azhikka vallAnai – and who can destroy the strength of enemies
mAyanai – that is, kaNNan, who does wonderful actions.
(so please get up).

Simple Translation

 ellE iLam kiLiyE

When the gOpikAs asked the gOpikA of previous pAsuram to sing about kaNNan who has got beautiful eyes and who carries changu and chakram in His beautiful hands, the gOpikA in this pAsuram heard that while lying down in her bed, and she started humming that song.

That sweet sound reached the ears of these gOpikAs, and they came to this house and now they are saying “ellE! iLam kiLiyE!”

kiLiyE – parrot’s sweet voice is like that of this gOpikA! (it cannot match this gOpikA’s young beauty);

also: we are kiLi, you are iLam kiLi;

ellE! – Wow! (they are wowed by the sweetness of her voice)

ellE! – calling her; Like how the people from south like vAnamAmalai dhivya dhEsam would address a girl, ‘yEdi’.

The gOpikA inside thought that they are scolding her as ‘while our lips and body are pale due to separation from krishNan, you are like a parrot with green/fresh body and red lips, thinking of krishNan?’. So she kept mum.

innam uRangudhiyO

Their calling her is disturbing her singing, so she is not responding to them. So, they are asking, “Are you still sleeping!”

Due to missing krishNan we are all tired and – sleepless in AyppAdi – and standing here waiting for your blessing, but you are not giving even that?

When we have got the best opportunity to get krishNa anubhavam (which we might lose in a few days as our nOnbu would end), can you be sleeping?

When we are going to get what we wanted, would anyone sleep like this?

sillenRu azhaiyEnmin

These words are from the gOpikA inside.

Their calling her is disturbing her singing the nAmams, so she is saying, ‘Please do not address me like this’.

Can their calling her be a disturbance? When emperumAnAr‘s sishyas were having thiruvAimozhi kAlakshEpam, the selvar came with his vAdhya gOshti which disturbed the kalakshEpam – similar to that, this gOpikA is feeling disturbed.

nangaimIr pOdharginrEn

When they asked, ‘what is it with you, ignoring us and our words?’, she felt ashamed and wanted to join them quickly. She replied,

“If you can keep your mouth closed, I will start now.”

vallai un katturaigaL paNdE un vAi aridhum

“You are curt/rude (vallai) – you are calling us ‘nangaimIr’ to imply some distance between you and us (so, they are harsh words). We know for long that you have the ability to talk like this (katturai) and put the fault on us. You want to have krishNa anubhavam by yourself inside the house”, say the gOpikAs waiting outside.

valleergaL nIngaLE

The gOpikA inside the house at first replies, “valleergaL nIngaLE (you gOpikAs are the ones who are rude/curt. You first said, ‘are you still sleeping?’, ‘you talk smart’, etc., so you are ones who are being harsh with their words.”

“you said that you will join once we closed our mouths – is it not your mistake to say that?”

“no, it is not. instead of feeling happy that the gOpikA who is joyful to hear our voice is now so involved in singing about krishNan, you gOpikAs found fault with me – so the mistake is yours”.

(Till now even though it sounds like they are arguing, it is that the gOpikAs outside think highly of the one inside, that she is having great krishNa anubhavam, singing about Him, etc. And, the gOpikA inside is also thinking highly of the ones outside as to their enthusiasm to go and be with krishNan.)

The gOpika inside says – valleergaL nIngaLE –  I too have come to your doors and got words from you earlier; they reply – that was past; see the prathyaksham (what is seen/now, we are here), instead of anumAnam (what can be guessed/ what happened long ago).  (that is how those belonging naiyAyika matham argue – they focus on anumAnam and not prathyaksham – when they see an elephant they would not say anything; but after it has left, they would look at its foot steps, etc., and say there was an elephant here).

Even though the gOpikA inside said this, because the nature of a srIvaishNavar is to accept mistakes (even if someone assigns that on the srIvaishNavar when there is none), [paraspara nIcha-bhAvai: – every srIvaishNava to have the attitude that we are of lower stature than other srIvaishnavas], the gOpikA inside says …

nAnE thAn Ayiduga

“Yes, (sorry), I am the one who is vallai’.

bharathAzhvAn too said that it is because of his own pApam that perumAL had to go to forest, and did not assign blame on those who created the problem.

இல்லாத குற்றத்தையும் சிலர் “உண்டு” என்றால், இல்லை செய்யாதே இசைகையிறே வைஷ்ணவ லக்ஷணம். (illAdha kuRRaththaiyum silar “uNdu” enRAl, illai seiyAdhE isaigaiyiRE vaishNava-lakshaNam.)
That is, even if someone assigns a non-committed mistake/fault on us, truly accepting it (even in one’s own mind) without denying is the identification of a srIvaishNava; this is the meaning given in vEdhas.

nampiLLai came and waited at thunnu pugazh kandhAdai thOzhappar’s thirumALigai, to apologize, when in fact it was thOzhappar who was ready to go to nampiLLai’s thirumALigai to apologize. And nampiLLai got the famous name of ‘ulagAriyan’ [என்ன உலகாரியனோ!  O! you are the AchAryan for the whole world!] {and we got the famous name in the great AchAryar – piLLai ulagAriyan (piLLai lOkAcharyar) as the name was given to him by his father vadakkuth thiruvIdhip piLLai because of his love for his AchAryan nampiLLai).

parAsara bhattar was happy when a (newly appointed) kovil kuRattu maNiyar (manager of some aspects of the temple)  scolded bhattar without knowing about him, when bhattar entered the sannidhi without any restrictions as usual (as he is the son of perumAL thAyar themselves). bhattar was very happy at this scolding, and he was thankful to that maNiyam for saying the faults in him which he himself was supposed to think about everyday.

This is followed by what is said in srIvachana bhUshaNam – kuRRam seidhavargaL pakkal poRaiyum, krupaiyum, sirippum, ugappum, upakAra smruthiyum nadakka vENum – குற்றம் செய்தவர்கள் பக்கல் பொறையும், க்ருபையும், சிரிப்பும், உகப்பும், உபகாரஸ்ம்ருதியும் நடக்க வேணும் – towards those who did (the mistake of) finding fault in us, we should show patience (poRai), be kind (krupai) to think that perumAn might count his faulting us as his apachAram, laughter (sirippu) because they scolded our body which is our enemy; happiness (ugappu) because due to the scolding our pApa karmA would reduce, and so be thankful (upakAra smruthi) to them.

If the svarUpam is bhAgavatha sEshathvam, then accepting the fault they assign as our own is also part of that svarUpam.

Other side of the coin is that we should not expect/pressurize vidhwAns/srIvaishNavAs to talk about our positive aspects.

The gOpikA thus showed this great attitude of a srIvaishNava in anushtAnam (doing it in action);

She  continues, “what do you want do now?”

ollai nI pOdhAi

Since we cannot be without you even for one second, quickly join our crowd.

Leave the krishNan in your bed as is (as she is doing krishNa anubhavam), and you come and join us.

For the gOpikA too this crowd is what is needed for going to krishNan.

unakkenna vERudaiyai

Do you have anything to enjoy alone, like cooking and eating alone,  that is not available to enjoy for the gOpikAs from 5 lakhs houses of thiruvAyppAdi? [Note:6000-padi adds: adhAvadhu madhyama padhamum mUnrAm padhamum – if anyone could give contextual explanation, please add it in the comments section] .

Goal is to be included in sAdhu gOshti (aruLicheyal gOshti).

There is no difference between dhEvathAntharam (worshipping someone other than perumAL), and any perumAL vishayam that excludes other srivaishNavas; and no difference between going after vishayam (materialistic), and any perumAL vishayam that avoids other srIvaishNavas.

==> We think of kUraththAzhvan‘s words in the following incident – the kirumikaNda chOzha king had ordered that emperumAnAr, and anyone associated with him, should not be allowed inside kOyil (srIrangam). Not aware of this, when emperumAnAr‘s disciple kUraththazhvAn was about to enter the temple, he was stopped by a guard and was told “You cannot enter the temple because you are one of emperumAnAr‘s people”. But then another guard said that kUraththAzhvAn is parama bhakthan of perumAL, he is not an enemy to anyone, he is a good person, so it is okay to allow him inside the temple (“நீ ஒருவர்க்கும் விரோதியல்லை; நீ புக்குத் திருவடி தொழு“). When kUraththAzhvAn understood king’s order, he returned without going into the temple saying “எம்பெருமானார் சம்பந்தமே போரும் – emperumAnAr‘s association is enough for me. (Athma guNam helps in doing AchArya kainkaryam; if that guNam is used for separating me from AchAryan, then there is no use of that.)

==> There was one subrahmaNya bhattar who was very fond of emperumAnAr and his gOshti, and he worked for the chOzha king. When there was a flood that was going to enter the temple premises, kUra nArAyaNa jIyar redirected the water – this affected a neighboring village, chinthAmani. So the villagers were arguing about it with the srivaishNavas. When subrahmanya bhattar was asked by the king to go as a mediator to solve this issue, he refused: “If I went as a mediator then I would have to be mentally separated from the two groups, which I cannot do because I don’t want to be separated from srIvaishNavas even for half a second”.

So, no separate plans/goals that separates from other srIvaishNavas.

No separate path from what our pUrvAchAryAs have followed; not follow own mind/ideas/opinions. (munnOr mozhindha muRai thappAmal kEttu pinnOrndhu; முன்னோர் மொழிந்த முறை தப்பாமல் கேட்டு பின்னோர்ந்து).

The gOpikAs continue, “So immediately join us to pray the lotus feet”.

ellArum pOndhArO

When bharathAzhvAn, accompanied by whole of ayOdhyA, came to get perumAL (srI rAman) back to ayOdhyA, iLaiyaperumAL (lakshmaNan) mistaking that bharathan was coming to kill them, had started preparing the bow and arrows; perumAL did not like this, and told him “bharathan is not interested in ruling the kingdom; if you are interested, then I will get it for you (from bharathan, and keep him here with me); iLaiyaperumAL bowed his head down and calmed down – in the same way when gOpikAs asked whether she is having her own plans, she bowed down her head, and immediately replied, ‘ellArum pOndhAro?’

“Do I have any other happiness than joining you? I was just waiting for all the smaller gOpikAs also to wake up. Have all the gOpikAs come here?”.

pOndhAr

“yes all of them, who are tired due to separation from krishNan, are here in your door step”

“you are saying this just to get me out of the bed. If they are here, why don’t you send them all inside?”

pOndhu eNNikkoL

“You show your face to us and take attendance of them (we cannot go even if one bhAgavatha has not yet joined); the benefit of that would be that you would touch and count all of us, (koL) hug each and every one of us”.

“What would we all do if we get together?”

val Anai konRAnai

The one who killed kuvalayApIdam and gave the life, that is, Himself, to us;  kamsan had set up an elephant near the entrance and was waiting to hear that the little boy was killed, and was ready to behave sad as the boy’s uncle; but the boy killed the elephant and made our life and His own life to be meaningful.

like how He killed kuvalayApIdam there, He killed our characteristics like shyness and made us take up nOnbu (so that we could go see Him).

Like ‘venjina vEzham (elephant) marupposithha vEndhar kol, endhizhaiyAr (gOpikAs) manaththai thanjudaiyALar kol’ (periya thirumozhi 9-2-6).

(“Or Anai kAththu, Or Anai konRu” (saved one elephant, killed one elephant) in thiruchandhaviruththam talks about gajEndhrAzhvAn and kuvalayApIdam).

mARRArai mARRazhikka vallAnai

who killed without any effort kamsan and his rAkshasAs who came in front of Him, and saved all the gOpikAs who were afraid of kaNNan’s safety,

Similar to that, He changed the minds of gOpars who had prevented Him from seeing His gOpikAs.

Unlike charavarthy thirumagan who said ‘inRu pOi nALai vA (go back today and come tomorrow (for the war)’, krishNan did to kamsan and his group what they wanted to do to Him, and removed the chains from His parents.

(rAmAnujar and other AcharyAs who killed the objections (mARRu azhikka) of other schools and enabled those people to join him – (aruLALaperumAL emperumAnAr, and others)).

mAyanai

what kamasan et al undergo in His hands, He undergoes in His gOpikAs’ hands, losing Himself to them –  mAyan

pAda

Sing such a wonderful krishNan’s names; sing after how we are lost to the wonder of His losing to us. Like how those who lost (arakkar) sang ‘EththuginROm nA thazhumba, rAman thiru nAmam [periya thirumozhi]’. This is the place where losing became victory. Please sing with your sweet voice.

Sing about Him who is hard to reach by our own efforts, who can remove our ahankAram, kAmam, krOdham, etc., and who is dear to His devotees.

Singing about Him makes other srIvaishNavas happy, and that is our kainkaryam to them.

– – In pAsuram 5, vAyinAl pAdi – singing krishNan’s avatharam.
– – In 7: kEsavanaip pAda;  – – in 27: pAdip paRai koNdu; and in – – 13: kIrthimai pAdi – these phrases sing about his valor, getting rid of the enemies of bhAgavathas.
– –  In 11: mugil vaNNan pEr pAda – sings about how all the people lose to His beauty.
– – In 14: changodu chakkaram Endhum thadakkaiyan pangayak kaNNAnaip pAda – sings about how we are lost to his divya changu chakrAyudham and the beautiful parts of thirumEni
– –  and, in this pAsuram, they want to sing how kaNNan without any weapons in his hands won kamsan et al, and how without any weapons He lost himself to gOpikAs.

=> For the bhAgavathas who have come together, ‘uNNum sORu, parugu nIr, thinnum veRRilai – ellAmum kaNNan‘. (food, water, enjoyment is all kaNNan).

AzhvAr ==> In this last wake-up pAsuram, ANdAL is calling  thirumangai AzhvAr as ellE iLam kiLiyE. ‘iLam‘-> young -> thirumangai azhvAr is the youngest of AzhvArs;   thirumangai mannan sang in his periya thirumozhi ‘adigaL adiyE ninaiyum adiyavargaL tham adiyAn / அடிகளடியே நினையும் அடியவர்கள் தம்மடியான்’ where he wanted to be like this gOpikA that is adiyArs’ adiyAr. He sang about himself pretending to be a gOpikA, ‘men kiLi pOl mig mizahRRum‘, ‘paN miLirak kiLi pOl mizhaRRi nadandhu‘) (‘மென்கிளிபோல் மிகமிழற்றும்’, ‘பண் மிளிரக்கிளிபோல் மிழற்றி நடந்து‘), and ANdAL is also saying ‘ellE! iLam kiLiyE‘. His words ‘kari munindha kaiththalamum / கரி முனிந்த கைத்தலமும்‘ is available here as ‘val Anai konRAnai / வல்லானை கொன்றானை ‘.

(Following are AzhvAr vishayam from srI U.Ve. M.A. vEnkatakrishNan swami’s thiruppAvai upanyAsam)

– parrot would repeat words – thirumangai AzhvAr in his prabandhams gave the six angams (parts) related to what nammAzhwAr gave us, about 4 vEdhAs;

Now an interesting conversation between ANdAL and thirumangai AzhvAr:

ANdAL to thirumangai AzhvAr – innam urangudhiyO – you who does srIvashNava thadhiyArAdhanam, are still sleeping?

AzhvAr to ANdAL – sillenRu azhaiyEnmin

ANdAL to AzhvAr – paNdE aRidhum –  we know about you even before your avathAram (through this pAsuram!);

un katturaigaL – thirumangai AzhvAr is known for strong words like ‘vAzhndhE pOm nIrE / வாழ்ந்தே போம் நீரே‘, etc.

Azhvar to ANdAL – valleergaL nIngaLE – it is ANdAL who used strong words in nAchiyAr thirumozhi, that if she does not get krishNan then she will pull her breasts out and throw away at His chest.

thirumangai AzhvAr – nAnE thAn Ayiduga

ANdAL – unakkenna vErudaiyai – whereas nammAzhvAr only said that he would do madal,  thirumangai AzhvAr actually went ahead and performed madal twice (siriya/periya thirumadal).

val Anai konRAnai – thirumangai AzhvAr‘s elephant is ‘kadamA kaLiRu‘; kaliyan is capable of controlling the elephant;

mARRarai mARRazhikka vallAnai – AzhvAr can fight and win his enemies;

mAyan – surprising aspects of thirumangai AzhvAr – given in ‘prapannAmrutham‘ – when a ship came to shore with beetle nut (pAkku), AzhvAr asked for ‘1’ pAkku – he took half of it, and gave the other half to the captain; He asked the captain to give in writing that half of it belongs to AzhvAr. Then after reaching the other shore, he claimed that half of the load of the ship was his, and argued and got it, and used that amount for kainkaryam by doing gold plating for thiruvarangan!

parAsara bhattar mentions in his srIranga sthavam about AzhvAr getting gold from a budhist temple to do kainkaryam to emperumAn – so thirumangai AzhvAr is also mAyan like emperumAn. emperumAn is also like AzhvAr in his valor – viRperu vizhavum kanjanum mallum… விற்பெரு விழவும் கஞ்சனும் மல்லும்…

ANdAL, in this key pAsuram, tells us about srIvaishNava lakshaNam, and has set this pAsuram and these words in the middle part of thiruppAvai to shows its significance.

---

English translation raghurAm srInivAsa dhAsan

archived in http://divyaprabandham.koyil.org

srI:
srImathE satakOpAya nama:
srImathE rAmAnujAya nama:
srImadh varavaramunayE nama:

Full Series

The one who was to organize everything about nOnbu, and who had talked about doing all these wake-ups, is the one being woken up in this pAsuram. This gOpikA would connect all the bhAgavathas with emperumAn; full in gyAna, bhakthi, vairAkyam.

உங்கள் புழக்கடைத் தோட்டத்து வாவியுள்
செங்கழுனீர் வாய்நெகிழ்ந்து ஆம்பல்வாய் கூம்பினகாண்
செங்கற் பொடிக்கூரை வெண்பல் தவத்தவர்
தங்கள் திருக்கோயில் சங்கிடுவான் போதன்றார்
எங்களை முன்னம் எழுப்புவான் வாய்பேசும்
நங்காய் எழுந்திராய் நாணாதாய் நாவுடையாய்
சங்கோடு சக்கரம் ஏந்தும் தடக்கையன்
பங்கயக் கண்ணானைப் பாடேலோர் எம்பாவாய்.

ungaL puzhaikkadaith thOttaththu vAviyuL
sengazhu nIr vAi negizhndhu Ambal vAi kUmbina kAN
sengal podik kURai vEN pal thavaththavar
thangaL thirukkOyil sangiduvAn pOginRAr
engaLai munnam ezhuppuvAn vAi pEsum
nangAi! ezhundhirAi nANAdhAi! nAvudaiyAy!
sangodu chakkaram Endhum thadakkaiyan
pangayak kaNNAnaip pAdElOrempAvAi.

Word by Word Meaning

engaLai munnam ezhuppuvAn – would wake us (who are your friends) up first
vAi pEsum – mentioned so with your mouth (in passing)
nangAi – who is full of good qualities
nANAdhAi – not feeling guilty (that you did not wake us up as promised)
nA udaiyAi – having a tongue (that says sweet words)
ungaL puzhaik kadai thOttaththu vAviyuL – in the pond that is in the back of your house
sengazhunIr vAi negizhndhu – lotus flowers have blossomed
Ambal vAi kUmbina kAN – Ambal flowers have closed down; see!
sengal podik kURai – (also) one with clothes brick in color
veN pal – and having white teeth
thavaththavar – having the get up of sanyAsis who do thapas
pOginRAr – are going,
sangu iduvAn – to sound the konch
thangaL thirukkOyil – in their temples;
pangayak kaNNAnai – sarvEsvaran having lotus eyes
sangodu chakkaram – and conch and the wheel (sudharsanar)
Endhum – (which he) easily holds in both the hands
thadak kaiyan – (he) having big hands,
ezhundhirAi – please get up
pAda – to sing (about him, as a conduit of our love)

Simple Translation

ungaL puzhaikkadai ….

“The red lotus flowers have blossomed, and the Ambal flowers have closed themselves (as it has become morning), and you are still sleeping?”

“Did you go to the fields?”

“No, we saw this in the backyard”

“You would have forced those flowers”

ungaL puzhaikkadai thOttaththu vAviyuL sengazhu nIr vAi nEgizhndhu Ambal vAi kUmbina

“No, we are talking about the flowers in your own backyard, the backyard to which we are not able to get into (because the entrance is still closed, and you are still sleeping)”

They are saying particularly in her backyard, to say that it is she who is still sleeping. Not because of sunlight, but because it has become morning.

“When it is just about to open up their buds, you are saying they are blossoming fully. Is there any other sign for dawn?”  (In this pAsuram, the day has progressed even further compared to that in previous pAsurams).

In the nama: that is in the middle of thirumanthram, pArathanthriyam became pronounced, and svAthanthriyam diminished/went away.

sengal podik kURai veN pal thavaththavar thangaL thirukkOil sangiduvAn poginrAr

The sanyAsis wearing clothes colored with sengal (brick color) powder, and with clean/white teeth of brahmachAris, are going to their temples;  sanyAsis have finished their sandhyAvandhanam and are getting ready to do thiruvArAdhanam, the day has progressed that much.

embAr nirvAham: even the people with thAmasa guNam (laziness, etc.,), who use sangu (conch) for pouring water on their god have woken up; you with sathva guNam have not yet woken up?

ananthANpillai who volunteered to go to thiruvEnkatam to do pushpa (flower) kainkaryam to perumAn gives the meaning as: ‘jIyar swami is already climbing up the thirumalA mountain steps to open the temple (sangu also can mean key (for opening the door to the temple)).

“those who are always thinking about perumAn might do thiruvArAdhanam even before dawn; what the ones having thAmasam do, can be a pramANam? So can it be a proof that it is already dawn”

engaLai munnam ezhuppuvAn

“Your sleeping here is also not a proof for your words yesterday that you will get up first and wake up all of us. எல்லாரையும் நானேயெழுப்புகிறேனென்று சொன்னது உன்பக்கல் கண்டிலோமீ !”

vAi pEsum

They continue, “You are talking, but not implementing. You are a close friend of krishNan – telling lies must be nothing new to you.”

Even before we ask you, you would make us gyAnis by telling us bhagavath related special meanings.

nangAi

We see how you are following your words that you will wake up all of us, that you won’t go without us, and so on. Would you do at least some of what you said?

ezhundhirAi

Please get us to save us from this (delay)

nANAdhAi

Are you not feeling anything about not following your plans?

Pumpkin’s skin has a certain roughness called suNai, without which it does not grow; ‘suNai’ also means being ashamed (for not keeping the word here). So periyavAchAn piLLai says ‘does your place not grow pumpkins?’.

(AchAryan does not shy away from explaining us the meanings)

nAvudaiyAy

“Why are you coming here even when you are upset?”

“To listen to your sweet voice and speech; how much ever hardship you give us, your speech mesmerizes us”.

(AchAryan with his gyAnam corrects us into right path)

“What do you want to do now?”

sangodu chakkaram Endhum thadakkaiyan pangayak kaNNAnai

Because of carrying changu and chakram, perumAn‘s hands grow and appear beautiful; his lotus eyes are so beautiful they have grown up to the changam and chakram in his hands; young gOpikAs fall for his beautiful eyes; people who see the changam and chakram which are like sun and moon, along with his eyes which are opening up like lotus flowers would become mesmerized. First krishNan becomes dhAsan of gOpikAs, and then with his eyes attracts them and makes them His dhAsar. Does krishNan have those in his hands? Yes, but it would be visible only to some; He uses them to scare the young gOpikAs while playing with them. (emperumAnAr asked whether embAr was present in the back of the gOshti, when embAr showed the action of changu chakram to araiyar when araiyar was showing a different action for krishNan scaring the young gOpikAs, and then corrected it based on embAr‘s sign). krishNan showed them even at the time of birth to his parents in jail – they pleaded him to hide them, fearing for his safety.

pAda

sing kaNNan so that we who are like dry land would get the rain that is kaNNan’s nAmams.

svApadhEsam: Singing thiruvAimozhi is the benefit by itself (please get up to do that)

ElOrempAvAi – think well and follow us.

AzhwAr ==> This pAsuram matches with thiruppANAzhwAr. puzhakkadai – ‘backyard’ to srIrangam is uRaiyUr where he was born;  thirukkOyil sangiduvAn – for thiruvArAdhanam, veN pal thavaththavar – lOka sAranga muni; munnam vAi pEsi – this AzhwAr talked about bhAgavatha sEshathvam first – adiyArkkennai Atpaduththa; since muni wished for AzhwAr to be in his shoulders and he agreed, even that is a kainkaryam of AzhwAr to the adiyAr; (lOka sAranga muni is seen in the thiruvadi of thiruppANAzhwar in the latter’s sannidhi at srIrangam).

In this pAsuram, ANdAL wakes up an adiyAr whom the gOpikAs want to follow to emperumAn, but who is having krishNa anubhavam and so not getting up from bed; they ask her to go with them so that their anubhavam would be fulfilling. They want to sing about the puNdarIkAkshan, who is holding majestic changu and chakkarathAzhvars.

---

English translation raghurAm srInivAsa dhAsan

archived in http://divyaprabandham.koyil.org

srI:
srImathE satakOpAya nama:
srImathE rAmAnujAya nama:
srImadh varavaramunayE nama:

Full Series

This gOpikA is thinking that if her eyes are beautiful enough (if we have the svarUpa gyAnam (that it is He who looks after us)), then kaNNan would automatically come to her. So she is just lying in her bed. She heard the gOpikAs singing praise of chakravarthy thirumagan in the previous thirumALigai, and so decides not to keep quiet and asks the gOpikAs when they came to her door, about the rAma nAma sankIrthanam. They reply, yes we can sing about not only rAman, but also about our favorite krishNan.

புள்ளின்வாய் கீண்டானைப் பொல்லா அரக்கனைக்
கிள்ளிக் களைந்தானைக் கீர்த்திமை பாடிப்போய்ப்
பிள்ளைகள் எல்லாரும் பாவைக் களம்புக்கார்
வெள்ளி எழுந்து வியாழம் உறங்கிற்று
புள்ளும் சிலம்பினகாண் போதரிக் கண்ணினாய்
குள்ளக் குளிரக் குடைந்து நீராடாதே
பள்ளிக் கிடத்தியோ பாவாய் நீ நன்நாளால்
கள்ளம் தவிர்ந்து கலந்தேலோர் எம்பாவாய்.

puLLin vAi kINdAnai pollA arakkanai
kiLLik kaLaindhAnai kIrthimai pAdippOi
piLLaigaL ellArum pAvaikkaLam pukkAr
veLLi ezhundhu vyAzham uRangiRRu
puLLum silambina kAN pOdharik kaNNinAi!
kuLLak kuLiRa kudaindhu nIrAdAdhE
paLLik kidaththiyO pAvAi nI nannALAl
kaLLam thavirndhu kalandhElOrempAvAi

Word by Word Meaning

puLLin vAi kIndAnai – (empirAn who) tore and threw away the mouth of bakAsuran who came in the form of a bird,
pollA arakkanaik kiLLik kaLaindhAnai – who very easily/casually destroyed rAvaNan who was bad deeds personified,
kIrthimai pAdip pOi – (we) go while singing of (such empirAn’s) brave deeds;
piLLaigaL ellArum – all the gOpikAs
pukkAr – entered
pAvaikkaLam – (to) the place marked by krishNan and us for nOnbu;
veLLi ezhundhu – sukran has risen, and
vyAzham uRangiRRu – guru has set
puLLum silambina kAN – (and) birds are spreading out (to look for prey);
nI – you,
pOdhu arik kaNNinAi – with the eyes like flower and deer,
pAvAi – (and) naturally having women’s greatness,
nal nAL – (we are going to be together with krishNan) in this good day,
kaLLam thavirndhu – (so) avoid the ill will (of being alone with krishNan)
kalandhu – (and) join (us);
kuLLa kuLira kudaindhu nIrAdAdhE – (you,) without taking bath well in the cold water (enjoying krishNan)
paLLik kidaththiyO – sleeping in the bed (instead)?
Al – surprised (that we got such a good day)!

Simple Translation

puLLin vAi kINdAnai

perumAn who killed the bird that was bakAsuran

For people who have surrendered to Him, He helps them get rid of their kAmam (lust) and other dhOshams (ills) which come as hindrance to kainkaryam.

pollA arakkanai

Like the arakkan (rAkshasa) who separated pirAtti from perumAn; he is a bad arakkan, unlike the good one like vibhIshaNan. Because he is so bad, they do not want to say his name in the pAsuram; thirumangai mannan also said ‘mun poLa irAvaNan’ to say that his main defect is his pollAngu (bad deeds).

Our ahankAram;

kiLLik kaLaindhAnai

Like how we snatch out the leaves affected by insects and leave the good ones in the tree, perumAn saved vibIshanAzhvAn and snatched the head of pOllA arakkans like rAvaNan.

pollA arakkanai (does not destroy the Good aspect of ahankAram, which is – when ‘aham’ (I), and ‘mama’ (mine) make us think that Isvaran and His belongings are liked by us; srIvaishNavas living with the realization that being subservient to perumAn is their nature. perumAn would help us keep this good thing.

pollA – Bad, ahankAram – feeling of an independence from perumAn, feeling that we can decide about something on our own without considering what the scriptures say – He helps us by snatching away only such bad aspects without affecting the good aspects.

kIrthimai – greatness due to valor;

Enemies, and others who supported them, lost themselves to perumAn – rAvaNan for perumAL’s valor, his sister melted for His beauty, and his brother became the target of His kindness/greatness.

So it goes without saying that we His adiyArs would fall flat on His lotus feet.

pAdip pOi

Thing to do while on our way to go to Him is to sing His names; they won’t go if they don’t sing; singing itself is their goal; mukthan would be taking puNdarIkAkshan’s divine names as the journey-food (food that is packed along for consumption during the journey), while going to paramapadham.

piLLaigaL ellArum

even those little gOpikAs whom we have to wake up have already woken up and are on their way for the nOnbu

pAvaik kaLam pukkAr

to the place where we and krishNan have marked to meet for doing nOnbu.

(bhAgavathas woke up early and went to the place of kAlakshEpam).

“Is it dawn already for them to be going now?”

veLLi ezhundhu viyAzham uRangiRRu

sukran (veLLi) has risen in the sky, and the bruhaspathi (vyAzham) is set.

(agyAnam fell and gyAnam about perumAn rose)

“Any star you see, you would think it is veLLi rising and vyAzham setting”, (because you are always thinking of a reason to start going for the nOnbu)

They reply, “not only that sign, …”

puLLum silmabina, kAN

All the birds too – they have not only woken up, but are also making noise as they have started going to find their food.

(remaining bhAgavathas have also gotten ready and gone to kAlakshEpam)

pOdhari kaNNinAi

O, gOpikA, whose eyes are like a flower (podhu: flower)

and like those of a deer (ari -> deer);

Or, like how a bee inside the center of a flower would look like. ( ari -> bee)

Or, your eyes are winning the competition against flowers on beauty.

We want krishNan to go deep in to the water that is the beauty of your eyes, and seeing that, we want to go deep in to the water that is kaNNan’s beauty and your being with him (உமிழ் நீர் உண்ணல்).  (bhAgavatha sambandham);

The gOpikA inside is a deer with beautiful long eyes; krishNan is aravindhalOchanan (lotus eyes) who owns the whole world; and we are the target of both your eyes.

(O the bhAgavathA who has the gyAnam and bhakthi to perumAn)

==> AzhvAr – In this pAsuram, ANdAL is referring to thiruppANAzhvAr by saying ‘pOdharik kaNNinAi‘. He sang so much about perumAn‘s eyes in his only prabandham of amalanAdhipirAn: ‘adiyArkku ennai At paduththa vimalan‘, ‘en kaNNin uLLana‘, ‘koNdal vaNNanai kOvalanAi … en amudhinaikkaNda kaNgaL‘… so ANdAL is calling him ‘pOdharikkaNNinAi’. He sang ‘chathura mAmadhiL sUzh ilangaikku iRaivan thalai paththu udhira Otti Or vengaNai uyththavan‘, and ANdAL is saying here, ‘pOllA arakkanai kiLLi-k kaLaindhAnai‘.

kuLLakkuLira

before the sun rises and water becomes warm

kudaindhu nIrAdAdhE

without bathing to reduce our thApam for not being able to see kaNNan, and making sure we will never miss Him, and that we would go and enjoy His anubhavam, you are still sleeping;

(without entering the place of kAlakshEpam and enjoyng bhagavath anubhavam along with other bhAgavathas)

paLLik kidaththiyO

you are lying down in the bed – you are just enjoying the fragrance of the bed that had been touched by krishNan’s thirumEni (divine form), instead of going to krishNan – this is like collecting and eating a few grains when there is so much of them available grown in the paddies.

(doing bhagavath anubhavam staying alone?)

pAvAi nI

you are not of the nature to be alone, (you always want to join the other bhAgavathas and perumAn for kainkaryam).

nan nALAl

The future from today are good days, unlike the rAvaNan days where there was separation; we don’t know what the elders will say after this month – we got a good month to be with krishNan, but you are smelling the bed lying down;

aithIhyam -> for vaikunta EkAdhasi, parAsara bhattar’s thiruththAyAr (mother) ANdAL had done upavAsam (fasting), and next day she asked bhattar for thIrtham; since vaikunta EkAdhasi comes during the great days of pagal paththu and rAppaththu uthsavams, bhattar asked his mother, ‘why did you choose this EkAdhasi for doing fasting?’ (this means, when one needs strength to enjoy the uthsavams, this EkAdhasi is coming in between the uthsavams; or it means, when during uthsavam we should be thinking of emperumAn all the time, where was the time to think of food and do upavAsam to avoid the food? [explanation is taken from Sri u.vE. vEnkatakrishNan swami’s “vAzhvum vAkkum”, item 88.]

kaLLam thavirndhu kalandhu

kaLLam – enjoying alone, thinking about krishNan’s mischief

thavirndhu – do not do KaLLam,

kalandhu – come and join us

Not showing us your face is like stealing (kaLLam) the jIvAthmA from paramAthmA.

Cannot tolerate the feeling of svAthanthryam (feeling that we are independent of perumAn and can decide right or wrong about things without considering what He has given in vEdhas).

(read also as: kalandhu kuLLakkuLira nIrAdAdhE paLLikkidaththiyO?)

In this pAsuram ANdAL is waking up a gOpikA who has got beautiful eyes (gyAnam), to sing about the great deeds of krishNan, and calling her to go and bathe in cold water to reduce their angst of missing krishNan (join with krishNan), asking her to join quickly. bhAgavathas go to kAlakshEpams early and quickly to gain gyAnam, and get anubhavam.

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English translation raghurAm srInivAsa dhAsan

archived in http://divyaprabandham.koyil.org

srI:
srImathE satakOpAya nama:
srImathE rAmAnujAya nama:
srImadh varavaramunayE nama:

Full Series

(In this article, look out for an explanation of how this pAsuram is talking about SrI rAmAnujar)

The gOpikAs wake up another gOpikA whose brother is always with krishNan, like iLaiya perumAL with chakravarthy thirumagan. krishNan does not stand straight, He always leans on someone. That someone is this gOpikA’s brother. Because of such closeness, this gOpikA is not bothering much to get up early – just sleeping in her bed.

In the previous pAsuram it talked about a kOvalan (gOpan) who was following his varNAsramam duties by milking the numerous cows; in this pAsuram, this kOvalan is ignoring those duties, but it is justified when he is going behind perumAn to help Him; to do kainkaryam to krishNan.

கனைத்து இளம் கற்றெருமை கன்றுக்கு இரங்கி
நினைத்து முலைவழியே நின்றுபால் சோர
நனைத்து இல்லம் சேறாக்கும் நற்செல்வன் தங்காய்
பனித்தலை வீழ நின் வாசற் கடைபற்றிச்
சினத்தினால் தென்இலங்கைக் கோமானைச் செற்ற
மனத்துக்கு இனியானைப் பாடவும் நீ வாய்திறவாய்
இனித்தான் எழுந்திராய் ஈதென்ன பேர் உறக்கம்
அனைத்து இல்லத்தாரும் அறிந்தேலோர் எம்பாவாய்.

kanaiththu iLam kaRRu erumai kanRukku irangi
ninaiththu mulai vazhiyE ninRu pAl sOra
nanaiththu illam sERAakkum naRchelvan thangAi
paniththalai vIzha nin vAsal kadai paRRi
sinaththinAl then ilangaik kOmAnaich cheRRa
manaththukku iniyAnai pAdavum nI vAi thiRavAi
iniththAn ezhundhirAi Idhenna pEr uRakkam
anaiththu illaththArum aRindhElOrempAvAi

Word by Word Meaning

iLam kaRRu erumai – buffaloes having young ones
kanaiththu – are making desperate calls (because no one is there to draw out the milk)
kanRukku irangi – and being kind to (its) little ones
ninaiththu – they think of the little ones,
mulai vazhiyE ninRu pAl sOra – (and because of such deep thinking , they automatically) pour out milk continuously from their nipples
illam nanaiththu – making the whole house wet (with milk)
sERu Akkum – and (due to mixing up) become slushy;
naRchelvan – (gOpan of such a buffalo; that gOpan is having – ) the best wealth that is krishNa-kainkaryam
thangAi – (and you are) his sister!
nin vAsal kadai paRRi – (we are) holding the entrance beam of your (house)
thalai pani vIzha – and the mist/snow is falling on our head;
pAdavum – even though (we) sang about
manaththukku iniyAnai – srI rAma pirAn who is sweet to our hearts
sinaththinAl cheRRa – who killed (rAvaNan) due to anger (that he separated pirAtti)
then ilangaik kOmAnai – (that is) rAvaNan the wealthy king of lankai,
nI vAi thiRavAi – you are not opening your mouth and talking;
iniththAn – at least now
ezhundhirAi – please get up;
Idhu enna pEr uRakkam – what is this great sleep?
anaiththu illaththArum – all the people (of AyppAdi)
aRindhu – have known (about your big sleep).

Simple Translation

kanaiththu

(Since the gOpan has gone to krishNan), the buffalo, without getting milked, is finding it hard on its nipples and is crying out.

(perumAn with so much of love towards us is not able to wait to help us.)

iLam kaRRu erumai

the baby of this young buffalo is not able to drink milk by itself

(samsAris are not able to fully recognize perumAn‘s love.)

kanRukku irangi

while its nipples are hurting, the cow is affectionately worrying about the state of its child.

(perumAn is worried about our gyAnam, bhakthi, saraNAgathi so that we would reach Him in srI vaikuNtam.)

chakravarthy thirumagan could not tolerate rAvaNan hurting thiruvadi (hanuman). krishNan could not tolerate the suffering of dhraupathi. vaikuNta nAthan could not tolerate the state of all jIvathmAs looking like achith during praLayam, so He gave gyAnam and equipment (body).

The gOpikAs are saying, “Like how the buffalo would suffer if the cowherd boy (kOvalan) does not get the milk out, we suffer because of your delay”.

ninaiththu mulai vazhiyE

just by looking at its calf, the mother is thinking that it is trying to drink the milk, so it is pouring out milk, even without the cowherd boy using his hands;

ninRu pAl sOra

Like the falls in thiruvEnkatam, this buffalo is continuously pouring out milk keeping its child in mind.

Why is this gOpan not milking the buffalo? He is going along with krishNan and lending his shoulder for krishNan to lean on. iLaiya perumAL too went along with chakravarthy thirumagan and did not worry about his kshathriya duties. These duties are enemies for their destiny.

nanaiththu illam sERu Akkum

Because of excessive milk pouring out, it flooded the floor in the house, and it mixed with other dirt and has become mud. So it is difficult to get inside the house.

naRchelvan

not a temporary wealth, but strong and permanent wealth which is the dharshan of krishNan’s lotus feet;  kainkaryam is the permanent wealth for all jIvathmAs; because of this cowherd boy’s wealth (srIvaishNavam), the whole world is getting the effect of it and are becoming srIvaishNavas.

thangAi

As a sister of such a great srIvaishNavan, since females would be more loving towards perumAn, the gOpikAs outside are saying that she is even better than her brother in following srIvaishNavam.

[svApadhEsam: AchAryan becomes kind and lets the sishya and their children know about bhagavath guNa anubhavam; and being thankful to AchAryan that he helped us, sishyan’s mind is fully on bhagavath guNams through AchAryan’s blessings.]

paniththalai vIzha nin vAsal kadai paRRi

With rain/fog pouring on our heads, and milk flowing from the mud near our feet, we are standing in front of your house holding the sides of your doors, like people standing on a float would dearly hold on to their support – this is our precarious situation that you are not understanding well.

panith thalai vIzha – AzhvArs got மயர்வற மதிநலம் and from their dhivya prabandham we get bhagavath guNa anubhavam.

nin – ‘na-kaaram’ (of nama:) – we hold on (paRRi) to perumAn

Even after this, she was just relaxing inside in her bed; the gOpikAs continue..

sinaththinAl – In order to wake up this gOpikA, they set aside kaNNan who sits in their hearts and who  troubles them endlessly, and now they talk about chakravarthy thirumagan whom any gOpikA’s parents would be confident about.

rAvaNan’s so many arrows on Him did not make Him upset, but when rAvaNan sent one arrow hurting thiruvadi (hanuman) that is when chakravarthy thirumagan got angry (perumAn gets angry when someone hurts his devotees- bhAgavatha apachAram) and started pouring his arrows on rAvaNan. It was only that anger which killed rAvaNan.

then ilangai

the place which houses the criminal who separated perumAn and pirAtti; as if not wanting to see in that direction, chakravarthy thirumagan went to fight

kOmAnai

as thiruvadi (hanuman) praised that place as wealthy. hanuman was glorified as great renunciant. Even he was amazed by the wealth of lankA.

cheRRa

Instead of just cutting off rAvaNan with one arrow, he decimated the chariot, broke the enemies’ bows, and the army, ego and everything, and then the heads.

destroys our ahankAram

manaththukku iniyAnai

chakravarthy thirumagan is sweet to our minds and hearts (unlike krishNan who attracts us so much but does not show up, plays foul games, makes our hearts pain us due to His separation, who does not let out a single drop of tear (as against chakaravarthy thirumagan who cries even for his enemies)).

He killed rAvaNan and others, and we say He is sweet to our heart? He killed the enemies of bhAgavathas, so He is sweet to our hearts; He kills our svAthanthryam, so He becomes sweet to our hearts.

pAdavum nee vAi thiRavAi

“You said that we kept driveling krishNan’s nAmam and troubled your heart, so we kept is names aside and are singing the sweet name of chakravarthy thirumagan which would soothe our hearts – you are still not opening your mouth”

“As you are singing perumAL’s names I am relaxing and enjoying it. Why do I have to open my mouth?”

iniththAn ezhundhirAi

You are still sleeping, even after we explained you our angst. Please get up.

Idhenna pEruRakkam?

You are sleeping so much, in yet another way, even different from perumAn‘s sleep when all the worlds slept, different from samsAris’ sleep that is out of thamO guNam (laziness, etc.). Your sleep is so big that you make the sleep of the gOpikA of previous pAsuram (who got additional sleep from kumbakarNan) look like a nap.

You are so close to Him – He gets up quickly upon seeing His devotees’ worries, but you are sleeping like this and not concerned about our worries?

samsAris’ sleep would end during the morning when there is more sathva guNam (tranquility/peacefulness); Isvaran’s sleep would end when seeing others’ troubles, because of His protectiveness towards the world;  your sleep would end when seeing eagerness of those having charama parva nishtai (living as per the last stage of being, that is bhAgavatha kainkaryam); and since it is very difficult to see such people, your sleep is not ending?

anaiththu illaththArum aRindhu  (people of all houses in the neighborhood know (about your sleeping late))

“If you wanted all the people to know about our standing in front of your house to wake you up, then yes all the people now know about this, so please get up”

==> Another meaning: ANdAL is saying to the gOpikA inside, “If you are enjoying bhagavath vishayam in secrecy (rahasyam), and if you think that nobody outside should know, well, the truth is that bhagavath vishayam is now known to everyone, and it has benefited everyone.”

==>The gOpikA inside is like thirukkOshtiyUr nambi. The gOpikA outside (ANdAL) who is saying that everyone knows about the rahasyam is like emperumAnAr! What the one inside was enjoying in secret, the one outside let everyone know. [As we know, thirukkOshtiyUr nambi, an AchAryan of emperumAnAr, gave the rahasyams to emperumAnAr but not before putting him through a lot of hardship and tests (that was the method used by AchAryas of those days – OrAN vazhi); he instructed emperumAnAr to not tell the rahasyam to anyone without putting them through similar tests. But emperumAnAr called up the bhAgavathas and gave them all the meanings of the rahasyam he learned from thirukkOstiyUr nambi (so, anaiththu illaththArum arindhAr! (everyone came to know!).

(When nambi reminded him that he would go to narakam (hell) for not following AchAryan’s words, emperumAnAr replied that if all these people would go to srI vaikuNtam because of knowing the rahasyam through your blessing, then, I am just one person, I am ready to go to narakam.)

emperumAnAr then told his sishyas that if there are sishyas with samam and dhamam (control of inner and outer faculties), have got just the interest to learn, then that qualification is enough to teach them everything (krupa mAthram). 

{{
Translator’s note: maNavALa mAmunigaL writes about this in upadhEsa rathinamAlai: பாருலகில் ஆசையுடையோர்க்கெல்லாம் ஆரியர்காள் கூறுமென்று பேசி வரம்பறுத்தார் பின். எம்பெருமானார் தரிசனம் என்றே இதற்கு நம்பெருமாள் பேரிட்டு நாட்டி வைத்தார், அம்புவியோர் இந்தத் தரிசனைத்தை எம்பெருமானார் வளர்த்த அந்தச் செயல் அறிகைக்கா. [pArulagil Asai udaiyOrkkellAm AriyargAL kURum enRu pEsi vaRambaRuththAr pin; emperumAnAr dharisanam enRE idharkku namperumAL pErittu nAtti vaiththAr, ampuviyOr indhadh dharisanaththai emperumAnAr vaLarththa andhach cheyal arigaikkA]

So, ANdAL used the word: anaiththillathArum; mAmunigaL uses: ampuviyOr;
ANdaL used: ‘aRindhu’, and maNavALa mAmunigaL uses: aRigaikkA ]
}}

==> Another meaning: The gOpikA inside is like emperumAnAr. The gOpikA inside possesses the greatness that her buffalo pours milk by itself to its calf. emperumAnAr, by just the krupA (kindness/eagerness) gave all the meanings to all his sishyas – just poured out all good things to all who were interested.

==> Another meaning: All the people are knowing bhagavath vishayam after ANdAL nAchiAr’s avathAram.

As a summary, In this pAsuram they wake up a gOpikA whose brother is not focused on his duties like getting the milk, but is always with krishNan and lending his shoulder for krishNan to lean on; the gOpikAs want to wake up a sister of such a gOpan, and they sing about manaththukku iniyAn (sweet to think about) that is srI rAman, and they ask her to get up as the neighbors are also coming to know that she is still sleeping.  In aithIhyam, ‘anaiththillaththArum aRindhu‘ is related to emperumAnAr telling the meanings of rahasyams to all interested srIvaishNavas instead of restricting it to one at a time after testing them several times.

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English translation raghurAm srInivAsa dhAsan

archived in http://divyaprabandham.koyil.org

srI:
srImathE satakOpAya nama:
srImathE rAmAnujAya nama:
srImadh varavaramunayE nama:

Full Series

If krishNan is there for all the girls, this girl is special among all. She is thinking “Do I have to do nOnbu to get kaNNan? Let him do nOnbu and come to me”, and she is sleeping early in the morning in her bed. All the girls are in front of her house trying to get her up and join their nOnbu. They think she is equal to krishNan for them.

கற்றுக் கறவைக் கணங்கள் பலகறந்து
செற்றார் திறலழியச் சென்று செருச்செய்யும்
குற்றம்ஒன் றில்லாத கோவலர்த்தம் பொற்கொடியே
புற்று அரவு அல்குல் புனமயிலே போதராய்
சுற்றத்து தோழிமார் எல்லாரும் வந்து நின்
முற்றம் புகுந்து முகில்வண்ணன் பேர்பாட
சிற்றாதே பேசாதே செல்வ பெண்டாட்டி நீ
எற்றுக்கு உறங்கும் பொருளேலோர் எம்பாவாய்.

kaRRuk kaRavai gaNangaL pala kaRandhu
cheRRAr thiRal azhiyach chenRu cheruch cheyyum
kuRRam onRillAdha kOvalar tham poRkodiyE
puRRaravalgul punamayilE pOdharAi
chuRRaththuth thOzhimAr ellArum vandhu
nin muRRam pugundhu mugil vaNNan pEr pAda
chiRRAdhE pEsAdhE selva peNdAtti
nI eRRukku uRangum poruLElor empAvAi

Word by Word Meaning

gaNangaL pala kaRandhu – draws milk from several groups
kanRu (kaRRu) kaRavai – of young cows, and
chenRu – goes to the enemies’ places
cheruch cheyyum – and fights with them
cheRRAr thiral azhiya – such that the strength of enemies get destroyed
kuRRam onRillAdha – (but) not having faults like hitting an enemy who is showing his back while running away, etc.,
kOvalar tham – O (sister) of (such) gOpAlars
poRkodiyE – who looks like a slim (and beautiful) vine made of gold
puRRu aravu algul – and having the back curved like the shape of head of a snake living in its hole
puna mayilE – and like the peacock living in its place
pOdharAi – please get up and come here;
chuRRaththuth thOzhimAr ellArum – all of your friends who are relatives
vandhu – have come (together)
nin muRRam pugundhu – into your thirumAligai’s verandah
mugil vaNNan pEr pAda – to sing the names of kaNNan who is of the color of dark blue clouds
selvappeNdAtti nI – you who is all the treasure (for us)
chiRRAdhE pEsAdhE – not moving, and not talking
uRangum poruL eRRukku – what could be there to sleep?

Simple Translation

kaRRu kaRavai

Cows that are looking young like calves – because they grow young with the fond touch of krishNan;

gaNangaL pala

gaNam -> crowd/bunch; pala-> many

It is not possible to count the cows in a bunch, and cannot count the number of such groups as well; there are so many cows, even higher than the number of stars in the sky, the number of grains in the beach; the number of pApams in an individual; similar to how there is no count for jIvathamAs.

kaRandhu

Like how one sarvESvaran is determining and controlling the actions of all the jIvAthmAs, one cowherd boy is able to follow his varnAsramam and get all the milk from all these countless cows; the cows, because of the wealth of kaNNan’s touch, are so full of milk that the cowherd boy milks the cows fully to reduce the tension in their teats;

gaNangaL pala kaRandhu – AchAryan giving gyAnam to lots of groups of sishyas.

cheRRAr

enemies of such cowherd boys – those who are trying to create problems to krishNan (that is kamsan, et al) [but krishNan would say that He does not have any enemies; only those who are enemies to his bhakthAs are His enemies]

svApadhESam: those who are upAyantharaparar (using some other means to reach their goal, e.g., gyAna yOgam etc.,) and upEyAntharaparar (asking for some other benefits/goals)

thiRal azhiya

kamsan and his group, who think that even dhEvas are not equal to them, cannot intimidate these AyppAdi men and so their ego is killed.

svApadhEsam: thiRal – trying to put in their own efforts (and the accompanying ahankAram) to achieve their goal of reaching Him or other benefits; azhiya – for that attitude to be destroyed

chenRu seruch cheyyum

AyppAdi men cannot wait for the enemies to come to them and then fight, so they would go to the enemies’ places, even if they have to cross the river, and fight with them to save kaNNan; equal in valor to chakravarthy thirumagan who went to the enemy’s place to fight him.

mathurA was very close to thiruvAyppAdi. How come vasudhEvar thought it was a safe place for kaNNan? It is because kamsan is scared of the thiruvAyppAdi gOpars. He Never entered that place. That is why he sent his asura servants instead of going there by himself – that too he told them to go in other forms (மாறு வேஷம்). And krishNan said do we need these great gOpars to kill kamsan? Just the lowly me the cowherd boy (கடையனான இடையன்) is enough.  At the end too, kamsan sent akrUrar to bring kaNNan.  krishnan chenRu (went and) killed kamsan. He killed him so that he would not commit more pApams.

svApadhESam: the ones who keep Him as their means, would do vijaya yAthrai themselves (to correct other people who use other means)

kuRRam onRillAdha

thiruvAyppAdi gOpars who would not be idle if they see anyone coming to fight; and would fight without breaking the rules, (when the enemy loses his weapon, they wait for him to gather one, and would not attack when he does not have a weapon to fight back) – inRu pOi nALai vArAi – said chakravarthy thirumagan.

Because they have surrendered to kaNNan, even if someone complains to kaNNan about something that they did, He would say, “Whatever they did was right”.

kOvalar tham poRkodiyE

Hey the (sleeping) girl,

kOvalar tham – the most favorite of this whole thiruvAyppAdi,

poRkodi – who has fully given her livelihood and well-being in her husband’s hands; jIvAthmAs who have fully given their livelihood and well-being in the hands of perumAn; like the vines that fully depend on their support; por kodi – soundharyam – samudhAya sObhai – overall beauty; and lAvaNyam – avayava sObhai – beauty of specific parts.

poRkodi – hEma, lathA

poRkodi – possessing gyAna vairAkyam (small waist)

==> AzhvAr – In this pAsuram, ‘kOvalar thum por kodiyE’ refers to periyAzhvAr. In periyAzhvAr thirumozhi he sang, ‘vittu chiththan manaththE kOil kONda kOvalanai kOzhunguLir mugil vaNNanai‘, and ANdAL in this pAsuram is singing along those lines, ‘mugil vaNNan pEr pAda‘, and he was also fond of the the kOvalar (gOpars/gOpikAs) as he sang many including ‘kaNNan kEsavan nambi piRandhinil‘.

puRRu aravu-algul

You who is slim and elegant like a snake entering its den; her beauty makes women to wish to be men (like dhraupathi’s girl friends); similar to how His beauty makes men wish to wear women’s clothes (rishis upon seeing rAman); This is consistent with how srIvaishNavas should be interested in the wellness of AchAryan’s (and srIvaishNavas’) thirumEni (divine body).  vAzhi thirunAmams describe the thirumEni too; thirukOshtiyUr nambi thinks of ALavandhAr‘s back (that is like turtle’s back) as his savior; pinbazhagiya perumAL jIyar ate medicines so that he could be in this world to see the thirumuka maNdalam (divine face) of his AchAryan nampiLLai having water drops in it, as he regularly did every morning after his AchAryan took bath in the river.

svApadhEsam ==> algul – para bhakthi

puna mayilE

like how the peacock in its home showing its beautiful tail feathers would attract the other, you have a beautiful hair that is attractive to kaNNan and all the gOpikAs too.

about parama bhakthi

pOdharAi

you don’t have to help us be with kaNNan, at least, just for our benefit walk a few steps; we want to walk behind you and see your beautiful walk; please go with us for our full satisfaction; like how it was beautiful to see rAman going to the forest (sObhayan dhaNdakAraNyam).

“Are all of you ready? Are you all here?”

suRRaththuth thOzhimAr ellArum

All the girls are her friends; all the people are her relatives; all her people are like her, doing kainkaryam for the sake of doing it (not expecting anything in return / not doing for any other reason).

ellArum vandhu

They are all here – they go to sleep everyday thinking that they live for your well-being and your relationship.

nin muRRam pugundhu

nin muRRam – The verandah(?) of your house is the favorite place for kaNNan to come and play; whenever He knows that all of us are going here to play, He wants to join us immediately so that He can be here; He would come stand here and look at us with His happy and naughty smile;

When this place is kaNNan’s favorite, it goes without saying that it is our favorite too. (muRRam pugundhu muRuval seithu nInRIr (periya thirumozhi 10-8-5); muRRaththUdu pugundhu ninmugam kAtti pun muRuval seydhu (nAchiAr thirumozhi 2-9)).

vAlmIki writes ‘vibIshaNan ‘came to rAman’ instead of using the phrase ‘went from lankA’. It was the native place to be for vibIshaNan; your muRRam is the native place to be for us, say the gOpikAs.

“What are you going to do entering this place in my house?”

mugil vaNNan pEr pAda

We will sing his nAmams thinking about His beauty and kindness which you love of Him.

chiRRAdhE pEsAdhE  (you are not moving about or talking)

The girl inside was keeping quiet reminiscing the beauty of ‘mugil vaNNan’ (kaNNan who is dark like the rain clouds).

chiRRAdhE – Not moving about to indicate that you have woken up; her mischief and words are the food for the eyes and ears of these girls who are so fond of her. They are feeling sad because of not getting these.

selvap peNdAtti nI

You are a girl with pArathanthriyam (subservient to perumAn), being with you is the wealth for us.

You are fully in krishNa anubhavam, don’t we have to get that anubhavam?

“I am also missing kaNNan; am I enjoying here with krishNan?”

If not, then:

eRRukku uRangum poruL?

Is there any use in lying down in your bed and not joining all of us?

Why are you delaying, without looking at our wishes, without looking at our anxiety, and without realizing the benefit of enjoying kaNNan?

In this pAsuram ANdAL is waking up a gOpikA whose brother is duty-bound in getting the milk from all the cows, and this gOpikA was thinking that perumAn should come and see her as that is His nature. The gOpikAs outside are desperate to go see Him, and since they want to go with her, they wake her up.  In this pAsuram it says that if one does the activities following their varNAsrama dharmam with the thought of doing it as a kainkaryam (instead of as a means), then there is no kuRRam (fault).

Additional details relating this pAsuram to mudhal AzhvArs:

kaRRuk kaRavai gaNangaL pala – mudhal AzhvArs gave lots of pAsurams made of small veNbAs (as named in thamizh grammar).

chenRu cheruch cheyyum – they roamed around as yOgis;

kOvalar – who reached (thiru)kOvalur – mudhal AzhvArs.  kuRRam onRillAdha – without any defects – mudhal AzhvArs were born not from a womb; Of the three, poRkodi is bhUdhathAzhwAr – ‘kOl thEdi Odum kodi … mAl thEdi Odum manam‘. For him the chuRRaththu thOzhimAr – related friends – poigai AzhwAr, and pEyAzhwAr (other Azhwars are friends);  algul – small waist – indicates vairAkyam;  gyAnam -> poigai AzhvAr; vairAkyam -> bhUdhaththAzhwAr; bhakthi -> pEyAzhvAr;

mugil vaNNan – this phrase was first used by bhUdhathAzhvAr;

chiRRAdhE pEsAdhE – bhUdhaththAzhvAr – did not cry out or complain in his pAsurams (unlike poigai AzhwAr and pEi AzhwAr)

selvap peNdAtti (dear wife) – bhUdhathAzvar was born in the same flower as thAyAr did;

This pAsuram is said to fit kUraththAzhvAn as well. If anyone knows how, please provide in comments.

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English translation raghurAm srInivAsa dhAsan

archived in http://divyaprabandham.koyil.org