thiruppAvai – 12 – kanaiththiLam kaRRerumai

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

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