SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
Introduction (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)
In this pAsuram – amudhanAr, seeing that the world got corrected by the advice of emperumAnAr, says that even after emperumAn had done many incarnations and showed Himself to the worldly people, they had not taken a look at Him, but during the time of emperumAnAr , they acquired true knowledge and became His devotees.
Introduction (given by piLLailOkam jIyar)
In the previous pAsuram, amudhanAr talked about the greatness of emperumAnAr’s advice, and in this pAsuram – sarvESvaran incarnated in many forms including that of human, animals etc., and made Himself easy for the people delighted in worldly matters, to see Him. But they did not realize that He had incarnated for saving the noble ones – such worldly people – after emperumAnAr who is our father incarnated, due to his grace, they became knowledgeable about true self, understood clearly that SrIman nArAyaNan only is the set lord for us in every which way, and made themselves as His servants – says amudhanAr.
maNmisai yOnigaL thORum piRandhu engaL mAdhavanE
kaNNuRa niRkilum kANakillA ulagOrgaL ellAm
aNNal irAmAnusan vandhu thOnRiya appozhudhE
naNNaRu gyAnam thalaik koNdu nAraNarku AyinarE 41
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Word by word meaning (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)
As said in ‘enninRa yOniyumAyp piRandhAy [thiruviruththam – 1]’ ((Oh the lord of dhEvas) You were born in many different kinds of births)
maN misai – In the earth,
engaL – our lord
mAdhavanE – Sriya:pathi (emperumAn, husband of thAyAr) Himself
yOnigaL thORum piRandhu – incarnated in the ways of human, animals etc.
He who is said to be ‘namAmsa chakshu: abiveeksha thEtham’,(He cannot be seen with the eyes of this material body)
kaNNuRa niRkilum – stood making Himself visible (through such incarnations),
ulagOrgaL ellAm – but all the worldly people
kANakillA – could not see that He is our master;
aNNal – (But, when) one having the lordship who considers others’ loss and gain as that of himself,
irAmAnusan vandhu – such emperumAnAr came and
thOnRiya appozhudhE – at that time appeared bright through SrIbhAshyam etc., then
naNNi arum – the one who is hard to get using one’s own efforts (or emperumAn using His efforts),
gyAnam thalaik koNdu – that is, knowledge, had risen (for the people), (gyAnam – knowledge)
Ayinar – and they became subservient to (anushtAnam – application of acquired knowledge)
the one being the owner, and all the sentient and insentient being the part (nAra, ayana)
nAraNaRku – that is, (they became subservient) to the one having the divine name of nArAyaNan.
Or, thOnRiya appozhudhE – at the time when emperumAnAr had incarnated.
vyAkyAnam
maN misai yOnigaL thORum piRandhu – Like these sentient who as said in ‘mARi mARip pala piRappum piRandhu [thiruvAimozhi – 2.6.8]’ (in many births (such as dhEva (celestial), thiryak (animal), manushya (human), sthAvara (plant) forms), while being born again and again (in same forms of birth too)), He had incarnated in many ways as humans, animals, plants, etc., (rAma, krishNa, varAha, kubhjA tree, vAmanan (as upEndhra (dhEva)), as said in ‘enninRa yOniyumAyp piRandhAy [thiruviruththam – 1]’ ((Oh the lord of dhEvas) You were born in many different kind of births), and thus incarnated in the form of rAmAn, krishNan, etc.,
engaL mAdhavanE– That He came through such lowly ways and incarnated is due to His extreme kindness of not able to witness your loss (not reaching Him). That is, it is for saving you.
mAdhavanE – amudhanAr is thinking about periya pirAttiyAr since She is the one who supports/instigates that quality of kindness in emperumAn. As said in ‘lakshmyAsaha hrusheekEsO dhEvyA kAruNya rUpayA – rakshakas sarvaSidhdhAnthE vEdhAnthEpi cha geeyathE [lakshmI thanthram]’ (He protects everyone in the world; along with laskhmI who can be said to be in the form of kindness itself; ), since ISvaran’s protection is well manifested when being with periya pirAttiyAr, She too for the protection of these sentient is being as said in ‘agalakillEn iRaiyum [thiruvAimozhi – 6.10.10]’ ((pirAtti) saying that She cannot separate (from Him) even for a second), is always without separating Him, and based on that, amudhanAr is saying ‘mAdhavan’.
mAdhavanE : Instead of using that wealth (She) to achieve His wishes (of getting people to reach Him), He himself directly –
kaNNuRa niRkilum – As said in ‘edhir sUzhal pukku enaiththOr piRappum [thiruvAimozhi – 2.7.6]’ ( (to transform me to apt state), He took many distinct/unique births in kalpa (day of brahmA) after kalpa, taking on different forms to do different tricks to become friendly with me), even if He came and stood for all to see – at all times – at all places – and in all the ways,
and saying ‘abhayam sarva bhUthEbhyO dhadhamyEthadh vratham mama’ (SrI rAmAyaNam – ~ Surrender to me just once only and take my refuge; I will remove all the fears and make you as mine; this is my vow) (but people did not understand His protection), and
‘manmanA bhava madhbhakthO madhyAjee mAm namaskuru – mAm EvaishyaSi sathyam thE prathijAnE priyOSimE’, (SrI bhagavath gIthA – I promise to you who is dear to me – absorb your mind and heart in me, become my devotee, give humble obeisance to me, and surely you would reach me), (but people did not understand that He loves us devotees), and
‘aham thvA sarva pApEbhyO mOkshayishyAmi mA Sucha:’ (SrI bhagavath gIthA – ~ I would remove all your sins and give you liberation – you should not worry), (but people did not understand that He can relieve us of our sins), and
‘aham smarAmi mathbhaktham nayAmi paramA gathim’ (varAha charama SlOkam – ~ I will think about you my devotee and take you to the highest place), (but people did not understand that He is our helper in our path to SrIvaikuNtam),
and in these ways he had instructed/advised (but in vein),
and He went through so much of efforts (like rAman),
and performed lowly tasks of a charioteer (like krishNan) (He told that we are His servants, and He also showed how a servant would behave, by riding that chariot; but people still did not understand), and so on;
still …
kANa killA – as said in ‘avajAnanthimAm mUdA: mAnusheem thanumASritham – pArambhAvamajAnantha: mamabhUthamahESvaram’ (SrI bhagavath gIthA – chapter 9) (~ people who are fools are not going to understand my great nature; since I have taken the form of humans they insult me (thinking that I am just a human); (they do not realize that) I am the lord of everything and of every lord)- not realizing that He is the established lord of us; (commentator is sarcastic here) – He who is said to be ‘namAmsa chakshu: abiveeksha thEtham’, (He cannot be seen with the eyes of this body), had indeed incarnated in many forms, but had ended such incarnations as said above – that is, without any one not able to see Him (for who He is)!
(Sarcasm continues)
He himself had said in the incarnation too, ‘nathumAm SakshyasE dhrashtum anEnanaiva svachakshushA – nAham vEdhair nathapasA na dhAnEna nachEjyayA – Sakya Evam vidhO dhraStum [SrI bhagavath gIthA]’ (One cannot see me with these eyes, cannot see by chanting vEdhas, cannot by researching, cannot by charity, and cannot by doing yAgams/yagyams; only by devotion one can see me) (so no wonder people did not see Him for who He is!). AzhvAr too said ‘kaNgaL kANdaRku ariyanAy [thiruvAimozhi – 3.6.11]’ (He being hard to see with eyes);
They who had not reformed even after He advised them directly in front of them –
ulagOrgaL ellAm – that is, all the worldly people (changed, when – )
aNNal – as said in ‘sahividhyAthasthamjanayathi, thach chrEshtam janma:’ (The birth in which I get the true knowledge due to correct education is the most noble birth), emperumAnAr’s incarnation that he gave himself to me is the birth that removes the blemishes of my current lowly birth; or, he having the lordship of taking up others’ good and bad as that of his own,
irAmAnusan – such emperumAnAr
vandhu – to save the people of the world, came from paramapadham with such vows,
thOnRiya appozhudhE – at that time during his incarnation; Or, vandhu thOnRiya appozhudhE – during the time he incarnated and advised the people through SrIbhAshyam, etc.
naNNaru gyAnam thalaik koNdu – true knowledge that is established, growing / ebbing; knowledge that is distinguished, hard to acquire using one’s own efforts, the knowledge that is about the relationship of people with emperumAn, had started growing;
nAraNARkAyinarE – as said in ‘mAtha pithA bhrAthA nivAsaSSaraNam suhruth’, ( (nArAyaNan is) the mother, father, brother, shelter, etc.,), and ‘sElEy kaNNiyarum perum selvamum nanmakkaLum mElAth thAy thandhaiyum avarE [thiruvAimozhi – 5.1.8]’ (women with eyes like fish, wonderful wealth, virtuous sons, noble mother and father – are all emperumAn only for me), He being all types of relation;
and as said in ‘anthar bahiScha thathsarvam vyApya’ ((nArAyaNan is) the one who is present everywhere), and ‘karandhengum parandhuLan [thiruvAimozhi – 1.1.7]’ (He is hidden
and pervades everywhere), He being present everywhere;
and as said in ‘yasyAthmAsareeram’, and ‘Eshasarva bhUthAthmApahatha pApmA dhivyOdhEva Eka:’, ((nArAyaNan is one and all others are part of Him), and ‘thAn Or uruvE thani viththAy thannil mUvar mudhalAya, vAnOr palarum munivarum maRRum maRRum muRRumAy [thiruvAimozhi – 1.5.4]’ (emperumAn who is indicated by the word “sath” having a single form (being the instrumental cause), being the singular (being the efficient cause) seed (being the material cause), out of his sankalpam (vow) became dhEvathAs (starting with brahmA, rudhra, indhra), rishis, many forms of jIvAthmAs, human forms, animal/plant forms and all forms), He having all sentient and insentient as parts, and He being the owner, that is as nArAyaNan,
they became subservient to that nArAyaNan.
They became followers of what is explained in thirumanthram and dhvayam.
From AzhwAr thirunagari SrI U.Ve. vidhwAn thirumalai nallAn chakravarththi rAmakrishNa iyengAr’s ‘amudha virundhu’:
mAdhavan – He was born so that we don’t have to be born;
‘engaL’ mAdhavan – Since He is the lord for us, He is having to be born for us to save us; or, having lost to His qualities of being born for us, he is saying ‘our’ mAdhavan.
Even the lowly dhEvas feel disgusted to set their foot on this earth, but emperumAn was born here and went through so many troubles like a common man; hence amudhanAr is saying ‘indha maNmisai’ (in this world). Keeping that in mind, amudhanAr uses the word ‘piRandhu’ (born), instead of using the word ‘incarnated’ like how others do when describing His coming here; this is because amudhanAr thinks that He came here due to His kindness towards us, so being born is not a blemish on His part; ANdAL too said ‘oruththi maganAyp piRandhu [thiruppAvai – 25].
kaNNuRa niRkilum – He is called ‘katkilee [thiruvAimozhi – 7.2.3]’ (cannot be seen); even after He was born and was present for everyone to see they did not see Him (for who He is); He changed His nature and made Himself visible, but they did not change their nature, and did not see Him.
mAdhavanE – Shows the surprise that even He who can accomplish anything could not make people see Him.
niRkilum – He was not here just for a short duration, He was here for eleven thousand years moving among the lowly people without any loathe; He was born to remind about His place of paramapadham, but in vain;
mAdhavan – Since thAyAr is usually born at the same time, he is using the name ‘mAdhavan’. Even both of their efforts together could not work.
mAdhavan – piRandhu; emperumAnAr – thOnRi; usage of words to indicate that the former was not fruitful whereas the latter was fruitful.
– – – – –
Translation: raghurAm SrInivAsa dasan
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