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