rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – 35

SrImathE SatakOpAya nama:  SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama:  SrImadh varavaramunayE nama:

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Introduction (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

Even though you say that all your karmas went away due to emperumAnAr taking you, what if prakruthi came and encroached due to your connection with it? amudhanAr replies, there is no way/path for it to come and occupy me.

Introduction (given by piLLailOkam jIyar)

You said about your happiness due to the greatness of connection with emperumAnAr where he has taken you up without any efforts from you, and so you said that the karmas of time eternal would not affect you. During all the time that you are connected to the prakruthi materialistic world, as said in ‘nAbuktham ksheeyathE karma’ (how much ever one experiences its effects, karmas are never ending), wouldn’t the experience here be based on the effect of karmas? (amudhanAr replies) only if one does things like dhEvathAnthara bhajanam (worshiping other dhEvathAs), asEvaya sEvai (praising those who are unqualified), and so on, would there be an opportunity for eternal karmas to occupy us. I have given them up fully and strongly, and am living without ever forgetting emperumAnAr’s divine feet; after this has happened, there is no way/entrance for the cruel karmas to come and affect me.

nayavEn oru dheyvam nAnilaththE sila mAnidaththaip
puyalE enak kavi pORRi seyyEn ponnarangam ennil
mayalE perugum irAmAnusan mannu mAmalarth thAL
ayarEn aruvinai ennai evvARu inRu adarppadhuvE            35

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Word by word meaning (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

nayavEn – would not be involved in
oru dheivam –  any deity outside of this (other than emperumAn);
kavi pORRi seyyEn – will not praise with poetic words
puyalE ena  – like comparing dark clouds for the generosity
sila mAnidaththai – of some lowly persons
nAnilaththE – in this world.
pon arangam ennil – If the word admirable thiruvarangam is uttered,
mayal perugum irAmAnusan – that would drive emperumAnAr crazy due to love;
ayarEn – I will not forget (at any time), the
mannu – matching each other and well set
mA – extremely worship worthy
malar – and enjoyable
thAL – divine feet (of such emperumAnAr);
So,
evvARu – in what way/path
aru – could the hard to cut off
vinai – karmas
ennai inRu adarppadhu – occupy me now?

Devotion towards insignificant deities, services to wrong ones, thoughts towards insignificant matters are the paths for karmas to come and occupy us; since I don’t have any of these, karmas can’t have any ways to come occupy me, is the point here.

kavi pORRi seyyEn can be seen split as kavi seyyEn (won’t write poetic words on others), pORRi seyyEn (won’t heap ill-deserved praises on others);
puyal – rainy clouds;
mayal ­– madness/loss of sense (due to love).

vyAkyAnam

nayavEn oru dheivam – I don’t involve in any dhEvathA other than emperumAnArnayavEn – would not like;

as said in ‘nAnyam vadhAmi na bhajAmi na chinthayAmi nAnyam smarAmi na SruNomi nacha ASrayAmi | mukthvA thvadheeya charaNAmbujamAdharENa SrI SrInivasa purushOththama dhEhi dhAsyam’ (will not speak of others, will not worship others, will not think of others, will not reflect/recollect about others, will not hear about others; and will not surrender to others either; will liberate from here, till the end will be for your divine feet, Oh Srinivasa! purushOththama!, wish to be your servant ), ‘ninRa Adhip pirAn niRka maRRaith theyvam nAduthirE [thiruvAimozhi – 4.10.1](~when AdhippirAn emperumAn is there standing, you are running to worship other demi-gods!), ‘maRRaith theyvam viLambhuthirE [thiruvAimozhi – 4.10.8]’ (~you are talking about other demi-gods!),

I am not having affinity to anyone including prathama parvam (emperumAn); instead, as said in ‘gurOranyam nabhAvayEth’ (will not consider others as my guru), and in ‘thEvu maRRu aRiyEn [kaNNinuN chiruththAmbu – 2]’(~ do not know any other god (than nammAzhvAr)), I am attached to emperumAnAr as the highest deity;

Also, ‘unnai ozhiya oru dheyvam maRRu aRiyA, mannu pugazh sEr vaduga nambi than nilaiyai, en thanakku nee thandhu ethirAsA ennALum un thanakkE At koL ugandhu [Arththi prabandham – 11](~ Oh emperumAnAr! please give me that state of the ever glorious vaduga nambi who does not know any god other than you, and happily make me yours for ever), and in this way jeeyar also prayed for it.

It is as said in ‘thruNeekrudha virinchAdhi nirankuSa vibhUthaya: | rAmAnuja  padhAmbOja samASrayaNa sAlina:’ (those who have surrendered to emperumAnAr would consider even the world of brahmA as insignificant grass).

nAnilaththE sila mAnidaththaip puyalE enak kavi pORRi seyyEn – As said in ‘en nAvil in kavi yAn oruvarkkum kodukkilEn [thiruvAimozhi – 3.9.1]’ (~ I would not give the sweet poetry coming from my tongue, to anyone else), and ‘mAnidam pAda vandha kaviyEn allEn [thiruvAimozhi – 3.9.9]’ (~ I am not a poet who would sing praises about humans), and ‘kshONee kONa sathAmSa pAlana mahAdhurvAra garvAnala kshubhyath kshudhra narEndhra chathu rachanA dhanyAn namanyAmahE | yankinchith purushA thamangathi payakrAmE samalpArthatham’ (~ we don’t accept, do not consider them as rich – the place he (human king) is ruling is nothing but a small square area in this world, the pride he has got for this is burning big like a fire, these kings are lowly – they cannot give the greatest benefit; they might give some benefit/money which is limited and unfulfilling),

in this big world that is surrounded by the oceans on all the four sides, I would not praise a (lowly) person that he is like the generous rain cloud that pours without any distinction of land and sea,  I would not write poetry for that, or praise by my words, in this way I will not worship (inappropriate) persons.

puyal – cloud.

Or, since amudhanAr is in his charama parva nishtai (service only to AchAryan), he considered even sarvESvaran as to be included with other deities to be ignored, and do not praise Him too as ‘SrI vEnkatAdhri SikarAlaya kALa mEgham’ (kALa mEgham -> rainy cloud), like how he (emperumAnAr) did, instead I shall be like said in ‘thEvu maRRu aRiyEn [kaNNinuN chiruththAmbu – 2]’ (I do not know any other god (than nammAzhvAr)), and ‘gurOr anyan na bhAvayEth’.

When they asked, In this way up to this point you have placed aside the other deities and lowly people, because they are not the ones to be reached, and in case of sarvESvaran who is worthy of reaching, you ignored Him since He is common to both ties here and to liberation, and so you abandoned all the adverse ones; but, have you considered anything, in some form of disguise even, as favorable and so reach that?’, amudhanAr replies, Yes.  What is that? He replies, ‘pon arangam ennil mayalE perugum irAmAnusan mannu mA malarth thAL ayarEn’.

pon arangam ennil mayalE perugum – As said in ‘vAnum maNNum niRaiyap pugundhu eeNdi vaNangum nal thEnum pAlum kalandhu annavar sEr then arangamE [periya thirumozhi – 5.4.8]’ (the beautiful SrIrangam that includes devotees who are like milk and sweet honey mixed together, being fond of the beautiful arangam), the devotion of emperumAnAr towards emperumAn has extended to His devotees, and if some one just mentions the word arangam, then he (emperumAnAr) would lose his sense out of love (brAnthi / vyAmOham).

irAmAnusan – such emperumAnAr’s

srirangam golden vimana historypon arangam

mannu mA malarth thAL  – divine feet; mannu -> nithyam -> exists for ever, mA -> vikasitha -> blossomed (ever); comparison of emperumAnAr’s divine feet is not to just some flower that blossoms one day and wilts the next day; if there was some flower that was always fresh and blossomed and which was in that way by its nature, and becomes fresh and fragrant every day, and is able get all the people of the world under its spell, then that might be considered to some extent to be comparable emperumAnAr’s divine feet;

ayarEn – as said in ‘guru padhAmbujam dhyAyEth’, ‘dhyAyEth japEth namEth bhakthyA’ (should give to, pray to, worship, and be devoted towards the guru), I will always be thinking about that divine feet without ever forgetting it.    ayarvu -> forgetting.

As said in ‘yE nAthavanthOhi bhavanthi lOkE thE nAthma kAryANi samArabhanthE’ (~ whoever has got a lord, they would not depend on anybody, and would give all responsibilities to him), after emperumAnAr has taken up responsibility for my protection, I am being without any worries/burden.

After that, aru vinai ennai evvARu inRu adarppadhuvE.

aru vinai – being hard to remove by experiencing its effects or by amends, the forms of good and bad deeds done from time eternal, could come and –

ennai – (me) – as said in ‘yEna yathra cha bhOkthavyam sukam va dhu:kamEvavA – sathathra rajvA badhvaiva balAdh dhEvEna neeyathE’ (whoever, in which ever place, has to experience happiness and sorrows that would happen by tying them to it by rope, and god would make those to happen (based on our karmas)),

all these days I had experienced the respective effects and He had kept me in worldly affairs, now due to my having esteemed relationship with emperumAnAr – such me;

inRu – now

evvARu adarppadhu – by what means would it affect me (now that emperumAnAr has taken me up)?

As said in ‘vAnO maRi kadalO mArudhamO theeyakamO, kAnO orungiRRuk kaNdilamAl [periya thiruvanthAdhi – 54]’ ((where have my karmas gone after I surrendered to kaNNa pirAn? Into the space? Into the ocean of stepping waves? air? fire? forest? Oh! What a pity! ), for the karmas which run away like the ordinary animals that run away upon seeing the lion, and as said in ‘summenAdhE kai vittu Odith thURugaL pAyndhanavE [periyAzhvAr thirumozhi – 5.4.3]’ (~ (emperumAn! after I took your shelter) even the sins of all in this world have shut up and run away into the bushes (samsAram)),

the karmas have to run away without anyone knowing, and there is no way for it to affect me.

In the pAsuram of ‘nayavEn piRar poruLai [mudhal thiruvanthAdhi – 64]’ (Would not consider the property of emperumAn that is AthmA as mine, won’t have connection with samsAris, won’t spend time other than with SrIvaishNavas, won’t worship any god other than emperumAn, would not feel proud that I got such sathva guNam -> in this way I who am the target of grace of emperumAn, how would I get the anger (effects of bad karmas) of emperumAn?), even prathama parva nishtar (devoted to emperumAn) had said this (but towards emperumAn).

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

mAnidaththai – He is saying in this form of neuter gender instead of ‘mAnidar’ that is higher gender, because there is no one worth saying that way in this world.

One who does not understand his own true nature (as AthmA) is equivalent to non-sentient (achith) – in eedu vyAkyAnam of thiruvAimozhi – 3.9.2.

pon arangam – arangam that is desirable like gold. Or, pon -> thiru -> her arangam.  In nAchchiyAr thirumozhi – 11.9 vyAkyAnam, periyavAchchAn piLLai has written, ‘that place’s name is periya pirAtttiyAr’s place of dancing’; pirAtti has ignored her birth place and husband, she has found this place to be suitable for protecting the devotees, and so she is happily present here dancing, say the learned ones. The way pirAtti protects us is through recommendation to arangan emperumAn, so the place where pirAtti’s recommendation easily works out is this thiruvarangam.

In other places, emperumAn’s svAthanthriyam (independent actions) may be pronounced, and pirAtti would have to work hard to control that and highlight his grace; but here significance of pirAtti is more and His independent acts are subdued and so as He sees her happy dance, emperumAn would be ecstatic and so protecting us through Him is easy for her.

In this context, the vyAkyAnam of thirumangai mannan’s divine words of ‘arangamE enbadhu ivaL thanakku AsaiyE [periya thirumozhi – 8.2.7] (~ her wish is the place of arangam only), periyavAchchAn piLLai’s words are to be noted – “that place is kaNNanUr (thirukkaNNapuram) (where emperumAn’s control is more), but this is SrIrangam, it is the woman’s kingdom as said in ‘nakaSchinnAparadhyathi’.

So, emperumAnAr who followed the thapas of the path of prapaththi, performed SaraNAgathi in such SrIrangam in the presence of such periya pirAttiyAr, and since this place was very helpful for that, when someone says ‘pon arangam’, emperumAnAr becomes emotionally lost and becomes like a mentally unstable person due to love (mayal / vyAmOham).

Ramanuja panguni uttiram serthi

Now, when there are many names of emperumAn, why is it that emperumAnAr is emotional about the name of the place thiruvarangam? It is because this name of the place is most loved by his AchAryan thiruvarangap perumAL araiyar, say the learned. This is included by periya jeeyar in the vyAkyAnam of periyAzhvAr thirumozhi – 4.4.1, as explained through an aithihyam – During the charama dhasai (~ending phase) of his AchAryar thiruvarangap perumAL araiyar, emperumAnAr came to him and asked, ‘What are the thoughts in your highness’s heart?’,  he replied, ‘While there are many divine names of bhagavAn, the word ‘thiruvarangam’ is of such a great set of letters! – is what I am thinking’ said araiyar. And so, emperumAnAr thinks that since it is the name loved by an Acharyan of his, that is, AzhvAr thiruvarangap perumAL araiyar, and so he also is in such a love with that name.

– – – – –

Translation: raghurAm SrInivAsa dasan

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