Daily Archives: June 21, 2016

Arththi prabandham – 8

June 21, 2016 Published by: santhanam rajagopalan

SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:

pAsuram 8

than kuzhavi vAn kiNaRRaich chArndhirukkak kandirundhAL
enbadhanRO annai pazhiyErkinRAL – nangu uNaril
ennAlE en nAsam mElum ethirAsA
unnAlE Am uRavai Or

than kuzhavi – If one’s child (who is)
chArndhirukka – near
vAn kiNaRRa – a grand (big and wide) well, (if the child falls in the well and dies)
enbadhanRO – then the world will say that
kandirundhAL – the mother saw it (going near the well but paid no attention to it)
annai – (Eventually) the mother
yErkinRAL – assumes responsibility for the
pazhi – fault
nangu uNaril – If thought about carefully,
ennAlE – me who is in the abysmal pit called “sins”
en nAsamElum – even if were to destroy myself
ethirAsA – Oh! yathirAja!!!
Or – please explain to me!!!
uRavai – relationship
Am – that is established
unnAlE – because of you (and me) (there by saying that the mother-son relationship that SrI rAmAnuja and maNavALa mAmunigaL shares would lead the world to say that it is the fault of the mother and not the son for not protecting the child.

Simple Translation

In this pAsuram, maNavALa mAmunigaL replies to a question posed by SrI rAmAnuja. SrI rAmAnuja asked him, “You said that I need to protect you by performing the tasks on behalf of you just like how a mother protects her child. But look at you. Your bad karma is growing and you do not have any good karma to begin with. How can I protect such a person? maNavALa mAmunigaL replies that if SrI rAmAnuja does not protect him, then it will cast a black mark on SrI rAmAnuja. This point is being illustrated with an example of a beautiful analogy where people would blame a mother if something happens to her child who does not know how to take care of itself. SAsthram says that if a child under the age of 5 dies, then it is the fault of the mother for her carelessness that caused the death.

Explanation:

If a child who is under the age of five dies unexpectedly, SAsthram says that the fault falls upon its mother for her negligence. In order to eschew this, a mother should always guard its baby with vigil. The mother should be awake and alert as if she had applied butter in the eyes. Let us say for example that she has a child, who is very young (less than five), goes near a well that is very big and deep. Even though the mother does not see the child going, if something bad happens (child falls in the well and dies), the fault will be borne by its mother. The world will tell that the mother saw the child yet did not pay attention to it. maNavALa mAmunigaL says “Oh! yathirAja!!! Similarly, even if adiyEn, who is in the abysmal pit of bad karmas (sins), tries to destroy myself, then please remember the relationship between you and me. You are my mother and I am your son. This very relationship will land you in trouble as the mother will have to be responsible for the child’s death. Hence please look at our relationship carefully and examine my condition again. Hence, adiyen requests you to protect me at all times, just because of our relationship. At this juncture, we need to recollect the same thought that is being told by piLLai lOkAchAryAr in his SrIvachana bhUshaNam sUthram #371 “prajayaik kiNaRRin karayil ninRum vAngAdhozhindhAl thAyE thaLLinAL ennak kadavadhirE”.

Additional notes:

maNavALa mAmunigaL’s shrewdness is to be observed in this pAsuram. He simply does not imply that just like how a mother is responsible for her child’s death, yathirAja is responsible for his (maNavALa mAmunigaL’s) sins. He simply does not mean that here. He says that only his (maNavALa mAmunigaLs) karma is responsible for him to fall in the abysmal pit of sins and consequential sufferings. yathirAja is no way connected for his sins. However, he tells yathirAja to think about the relationship he shares with him (maNavALa mAmunigaL) which is “mother-son” relationship. As a result of this relationship, he maNavALa mAmunigaL asks yathirAja to come to his rescue, failing which the world will talk ill of yathirAja for not protecting him when he was going to perish.

adiyEn santhAna rAmAnuja dAsan

archived in http://divyaprabandham.koyil.org

pramEyam (goal) – http://koyil.org
pramANam (scriptures) – http://granthams.koyil.org/
pramAthA (preceptors) – http://acharyas.koyil.org
SrIvaishNava education/kids portal – http://pillai.koyil.org

iyaRpA rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi

rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – 24

June 21, 2016 Published by: raghuram

SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:

Full Series

<< previous (vaippAya vAn poruL enRu)

Introduction (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

When asked ‘You said there is no one equal to you in committing bad deeds. To such person as yourselves, how did it come about that you are able to praise him at all times?’, he replies by talking about his state earlier, and about the way he got this eminence.

Introduction (given by piLLailOkam jIyar)

In the previous pAsuram – he was distressed about keeping emperumAnAr of great qualities in his cheating mind and praising him; in this pAuram – when asked ‘For such a person as yourselves, is there any authority for praising him?’ – amudhanAr replies: like how the flies would swarm the bee hive, due to terrible effects of sins surrounding my AthmA, I have been repeatedly born in various bodies, being born in the wombs from time eternal, and was in pathetic state; emperumAnAr who defeated the lowly ones who belonged to the philosophies of performing various penances accepted by SAsthram; that is, emperumAnAr who has the true knowledge; such emperumAnAr became my ‘dark rainy cloud’ (showered his kindness on me); I got eminence after reaching him, so I am singing praises about him.

moyththa ventheevinaiyAl palludal thoRum mUththu – adhanAl
eyththozhindhEn muna nALgaLellAm – inRu kaNdu uyarndhEn
poyththavam pORRum pulaich chamayangaL nilaththaviyak
kaiththa mey gyAnaththu irAmAnusan ennum kAr thannaiyE 24

Listen

Word by word meaning (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

moyththa – Like swarming a bee hive, it (karma) swarms the AthmA, and is such that it cannot be nullified by experiencing its effect, or by doing any amends,
vem thee – such cruel
vinaiyAl – karmAs
(due to my having that)
muna nALgaL ellAm – from time eternal (till now)
mUththu – I lived by being born and until getting old
pal udal thOrum – in innumerable bodies,
adhanAl – and due to it
eyththu ozhindhEn – I was sunken;
kaiththa – (emperumAnAr) destroyed
pulaich chamayangaL – inferior philosophies
poy – which vEdham has not allowed, which are done for own interest,
pORRum – like those that go after such deeds
thavam – even related austerities like disinterest in material world, riddance of trouble to others, services to ones guru, etc., (that are not done for the only purpose of making emperumAn happy),
nilaththu aviya – such philosophies fell like a dead body
mey gyAnaththu – (due to emperumAnAr) having true knowledge
irAmAnusan ennum kAr thannai – that is emperumAnAr who is the rainy cloud (extremely generous); he himself is the cloud – such generosity.
kaNdu – I saw such emperumAnAr as he showed himself to me
inRu uyarndhEn – and today I have become eminent.

When considering the phrase as ‘moyththa ven thee vinaiyAr palludal’, it is about the many bodies taken that are filled with innumerable and cruel karmas.

vyAkyAnam

moyththa – The bad deeds I performed from time eternal would swarm my AthmA. Like how kara dhushaNas’ fourteen thousand rAkshasas swarmed chakravarthy thirumagan (SrI rAma) in the forest, the bad karmas swarm him (amudhanAr); surrounding and troubling him like said in ‘Avi thigaikka aiyvar kumaikkum chiRRinbam, pAviyEnaip pala nee kAttip paduppAyO [thiruvAimozhi 6.9.9]’ ((why) would show me lowly pleasures that make my heart get disturbed, and destroy me?);

vem – could tolerate if its surrounding of me was favorable or harmful at different times; but it is unlike that, always very cruel;

thee vinaiyAl – not that I did good and bad deeds – everything has been bad only. Or, even if there were some good deeds done by him, since they prevent him from reaching the goal, they are also bad deeds in his opinion; as said in ‘athapAdhakapeethasthvam’, the good deeds are also mentioned using the words of those that prevent from reaching the goal; this is said in vishNu dharmam as well; in the word ‘anaga:’ of SrI rAmAyaNam (where rAma bhakthi is a hindrance for SathrugnAzhvAn who is focused on devotion to the devotee of rAmAn, that is, to bharathan), as quoted in eedu vyAkyAnam (of thiruvAimozhi).

moythha ven thee vinaiyAl – Like in the place of rAvaNan, the rAkshasa women like EkAkshi (one eyed), EkakarNi (one eared) had surrounded seethA pirAtti and uttered cruel words like ‘dhaha, pacha’ (will cut you, cook you); ven->fire/cook, I am also downtrodden due to being surrounded by and burnt by the cruelty of my bad deeds.

pal udal thoRum – in various forms of bodies of dhEvas, animals, humans, and immovable ones like plants and trees; it is through the connection with material body that bad deeds are carried out (and in turn, due to bad deeds we get born in such bodies);

mUththu – and in each of those bodies I lived till becoming very old (and suffering); also applies to being in the womb, etc.

thoNdaradippodi AzhvAr, who got mayarvaRa madhi nalam (non-blemished knowledge) from emperumAn, too opined – ‘vEdha nUl pirAyam nURu manisar thAm puguvarElum, pAdhiyum uRangip pOgum ninRa ippadhinai ANdu pEdhai pAlakan adhAgum, piNi pasi mUppu thunbam [thirumAlai – 3]’ (Even though humans would live as specified in SAsthram for a hundred years, half of it is spent sleeping, remaining time is gone as a baby, as a small one, and unthinkably horrible youth, and with disease, hunger, and suffering);

abhiyukthar too said, ‘garbha janmAthayavasththAsU dhukkamadhyantha dhussaham | nakinchithgaNan nithyam charAmindhriya gOchara: || Evam vishaya thrushNAya vachakasya jarAmama | thathbhOgakaraNAnAncha chaithilyam guruthEprusam’ (~ I suffer through the birth from womb, go through intolerable sorrows, do not have time to think about Him due to getting pushed by my faculties, and pushed and I don’t even realize that I am getting old, getting damaged through experiencing material pleasures”;

also, parAsara maharishi said, “idhuthu panchamyAm AhuthavApa: purushavajasO bavanthi” (~one goes through five ways as put in Ahuthi of birth and rebirths),

and “athyamla katu theekshNa ushNa lavaNai: mAthru bhOjanai: athithApibhi: athyarththam vardhdhamAnam thAnam jAyamAna: prUshaspruha mUla Shukla AvilAlana: prAjApathyEna; adhO mukhai: kriyathE prabalam sUthi mAruthai: klESan nishkrAnthi mApnOthi jatarAn mAthurAtha: kandUyanEpicha aSaktha: parivarthEpyaneeSvara: snAna pAnAdhicha AhAram avApnOthicha parEchchaya:” (~ the type of food items that the mother eats, the baby inside is not able to tolerate it, and that is the time from when the heat starts for him; as he gets ready to be born, brahmA sets up such that as he comes out his back near the backbone is tapped hard and he cries out of pain, and types of gases surround him (hiding the AthmA’s pure knowledge); he comes out with great difficulty; he needs to depend on others for cleaning himself, to turn to other side when lying down, or to bathe or eat; in these ways I suffered from the beginning);

adhanAl eyththozhindhEn – in this way as my body decayed I died. Only to be born again and go through the suffering again. As abhiyukthas said in ‘athadhEhavAsAnEchAdhukka: mukhthrAnthi sambhavam | kruchchrENa dhEhAn nishkrAnthim yAmya kinkara dharsanam ||‘ (~ as he comes out (of the body) he sees the servants of yamA), ‘yAthanA dhEha sambandham yAmya pAsaischa karshaNam | ’ (~pulled by the servant of yamA inflicting pain), ‘ugra mArga kadhakklESam yamasya purathassthithim ||’ (~suffers going through terrible route to the place of yamA), ‘thanniyOgavacha yAthayAthanASchacha sahasracha: |’ (~ takes the form of thousands of painful bodies), ‘SruthvA smruthAvAcha dhUyEham thath pravESa bhayAkulaha: ||’ (~ I hear about all the aforementioned dangers, and am very afraid to enter into this); ‘punascha garbha janmAdhi pravESam karma nirmitham | muhUr vichinthyamachchiththambathE jalachandhravath (~ like how moon’s reflection in the water gets disturbed and takes time to settle down, my mind is disturbed and is afraid about what I need to go through in these births).

muna nALgaLellAm – these are from time eternal; all these days; he is saying – I have become downtrodden after going through all these births and deaths.

inRu – now.

poi thavam – false ones like – doing penance (even though) accepted by SAsthram, putting up a front like that of rAvaNan coming as a saint, and muttering prayers like kAla nEmi (a previous birth of kamsan);

pORRum – as said in ‘aSasthra avihitham ghOram thapyanthEyE thapOjanA: | yajanthEnAmayagyaiScha dhambEna avidhipUrvakam | karSayamSchaSareerANi bhUthagrAmam achEthanam | mAnchaivAnthaS Sareerasththam thAnvidhdhyAsUranishchayAn’ (~doing those not specified in SAsthram, not mandated by SAsthram, doing terrible penances and suffering from it, reciting names, etc. – and they do these for showing others that they could do these hard ones; they make their bodies thin to show that they are doing penances; these are evil characteristics), they would go in the way against SAsthram, incorrect material interest, incorrect avoidance of troubling other beings, servitude to an incorrect guru (teacher), (for the purpose of gaining fame, name, etc.); they are like ‘senkal podik kUrai veN pal thavaththavar [thiruppAvai – 14]’ (ascetics with kAshAya dhothi and white teeth) on the outside.

pulachchamayangaL – lowly customs and philosophies, like Saiva, mAyAvAdha, SakthEya, gANApathya, chArvAka, baudhdha, etc.

nilaththaviya – are destroyed in this world; (and emperumAnAr established the custom of SrIvaishNavam and philosophy of visishtAdhvaitham); as said in ‘SamithOdhaya sankarAthitha: sarva svabhalAth uthuthrutha yAdhava prakAsa: | avarOpithavAn chruthEr apArththAn nanu rAmAnuja varajas sayEsya bhUya:’ [yathirAja sapthathi – 13] ((this has got two meanings that imply krishNa as well as rAmAnujar) – He put those like sankaran in their place (like in the case of bANAsuran), by His strength uplifted the yadhu kulam (clan of cowherds), by his bhagavath gIthA – he defeated the enemies of arjuna (pArth), that is balarAma’s brother krishNa; when interpreted as talking about ramAnujar – he defeated sankara philosophy that is adhvaitham, by the greatness of his divine feet he changed yAdhavaprakAsa who was adhvaithi, into a SrIvaishNava; defeated those who gave wrong meanings to vEdhas – that is ramAnujan; So, is the brother of balarAma (rama anujan), incarnated as this ramAnujan?,

and in ‘gAdha thatha kathAnAm [yathirAja sapthathi – 70]’ (~ EthirAjar decorated the seat set by the three vEdhas. What happened next? Other customs and philosophies lost their luster and disappeared), etc., those were destroyed in this world; emperumAnAr corrected the people like yagyamUrthy, yAdhavaprakAsan and made them amicable to the sampradhAyam, and removed those like baudhdha in thirunArAyaNapuram, and made such philosophies to be burned to ash in this world – such doing of emperumAnAr is very famous.

kaiththa – (holding in his hands the sword that is) divining SrI bhAshyam, gIthA bhAshyam, vEdharththa sangraham, etc., and giving meanings. Or, kaiththal -> with the granthams he demolished the ideas of those other lowly customs and philosophies.

mei gyAnaththu – emperumAnAr who has got the knowledge of knowing the correct ones of SAsthram as is.

irAmAnusan – emperumAnAr

ennum kAr thannaiyE – that pregnant cloud that is emperumAnAr.

The most merciful emperumAnAr

Here he (amudhanAr) does not think of emperumAnAr’s establishing the correct path of vEdhas as his kindness that is the rainy cloud; he (amudhanAr) who is like that kAkAsuran who did immensely bad deed, whom chakravarththy thiumagan let live with his kindness, (vyAkyAtha uses SrI parAsara bhattar’s words itself to describe about kAkAsuran), here emperumAnAr protected him (amudhanAr) like how rain pours in land and water without considering any qualification, is how emperumAnAr showed his kindness towards me; so saying, amudhanAr is praising emperumAnAr’s quality.

kANdu – saw such generous emperumAnAr in kOyil (SrIrangam); surrendered to him through the recommendation of kUraththAzhvAn.

After emperumAnAr considered me, I became eminent; due to that I started this praising of him.

From AzhwAr thirunagari SrI U.Ve. vidhwAn thirumalai nallAn chakravarththi rAmakrishNa iyengAr’s ‘amudha virundhu’

I was pretending to be good, and emperumAnAr showed himself to me and made me be good in real, says amudhanAr.

Straining oneself to do penance, not causing harm to animals, etc., and doing service to a guru – when these are done through the concepts of other philosophies that either don’t accept vEdhas or give wrong meanings of vEdhas, are to be considered false penances, etc.

Since they are not done out of love for kaNNan, not done for making kaNNan happy, and not to a guru who shows kaNNan to them, those acts are false only.

– – – – –

Translation: raghurAm SrInivAsa dasan

archived in http://divyaprabandham.koyil.org

thiruvAimozhi thiruvAimozhi 2nd centum

thiruvAimozhi – 2.10 – kiLaroLi

June 21, 2016 Published by: Sarathy Thothathri

SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:

Full series >> Second Centum

Previous Decad

Audio

Highlights from thirukkurugaippirAn piLLAn‘s introduction

kiLaroLi – AzhwAr enjoys thirumalai (divine hill of thirumAlirunjOlai, a beautiful dhivya dhESam located near madhurai) where emperumAn who mercifully united with him is mercifully standing.

Highlights from nanjIyar‘s introduction

In the tenth decad – emperumAn mercifully agrees to bestow the purushArtham (goal) that was prayed by AzhwAr in emmA vIdu (previous decad); AzhwAr prays to emperumAn that he bestow that result while he is in his current body itself. emperumAn seeing AzhwAr’s great desire, shows thirumalai (thirumAlirunjOlai) to accept his service there; seeing that, AzhwAr becomes greatly pleased and says “Do I even need to serve you? This divine abode of thirumalai is my ultimate goal”.

Highlights from vAdhi kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar‘s introduction

In the tenth decad – AzhwAr settled on the ultimate goal which is kainkaryam (service) in line with pArathanthriyam (total dependence) on emperumAn; emperumAn not desiring to delay fulfilling his desire, revealed his presence in south thirumalai (thirumAlirunjOlai) [thiruvEnkadam – thirumalA thiruppathi is called as north thirumalai]; AzhwAr becomes very blissful and highlights the following aspects:

azhagar’s radiance
his most matching form
his magnanimity
his nature of being the saviour/protector
the tools which he uses to protect
his great love for his devotees
his nature of helping during dangers
his favourable attitude towards his devotees
his ability to destroy the enemies/obstacles
his character of bestowing knowledge

Explaining these, AzhwAr establishes that thirumAlirunjOlai which is dear to such emperumAn is the ultimate goal and instructs his enjoyable nature to his own heart in the first five pAsurams and to other worldly people in the next five pAsurams.

Highlights from periyavAchchAn piLLai‘s introduction

See nampiLLai‘s introduction.

Highlights from nampiLLai‘s introduction

thirumAlai ANdAn said that ALavandhAr mercifully explained this decad as “AzhwAr approaching thirumalai (thirumAlirunjOIai) to achieve the goal that was established in the previous decad of ‘emmA vIdu‘”.

But emperumAnAr says that it is not like that and explains it further. emperumAn observed in the previous decad that AzhwAr highlighted in each pAsuram his urgency to attain the goal by saying “ollai” (immediately), “kAlak kazhivu seyyEl” (don’t delay) etc; he thinks “AzhwAr already informed his desire to me and I have also already agreed to fulfil his desire saying ‘it will be fulfilled at the end of this body for you’; looking at his urgency, he seems to want to have this goal fulfilled while being in this body itself; so, let me find a nice abode where he can serve me” and went through different places and made his presence in thirumalai thinking “this looks like a nice and secluded place”; he then said to AzhwAr “I have arrived here and am standing here to be friendly with you; you can come here and enjoy with me to your full satisfaction” and manifested his presence in south thirumalai to AzhwAr. AzhwAr too, meditated upon that and thought “if bhagavAn is the goal, the abode he resides is also equally enjoyable” and thus enjoyed the thirumalai, its surroundings, his own full desire to enjoy thirumalai – all as part of the goal and becomes blissful.

[ALavandhAr‘s explanation is focussing on thirumalai being the prApakam (the means/process to attain emperumAn); emperumAnAr‘s explanation is focussing on thirumalai being the prApyam (the goal which is as good as emperumAn himself).]

Each pAsuram is discussed subsequently.

adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan

archived in http://divyaprabandham.koyil.org

pramEyam (goal) – http://koyil.org
pramANam (scriptures) – http://granthams.koyil.org
pramAthA (preceptors) – http://acharyas.koyil.org
SrIvaishNava education/kids portal – http://pillai.koyil.org