SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
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Introduction (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)
When those who thus heard emperumAnAr’s glories asked how great is his bhakthi (devotion), amudhanAr divines here about his love for matters related to emperumAn and His devotees, and in thiruvAimozhi which emphasizes those two aspects.
Introduction (given by piLLailOkam jIyar)
In previous pAsurams, amudhanAr divined about emperumAnAr’s establishment of the path of vEdhas, his strength to win those philosophies outside of vEdhas, his complete knowledge of vEdhas, and his teaching that knowledge to all in the world; in this – he divines about the three points – emperumAnAr’s, as part of that distinguished knowledge, unbounded love 1) towards emperumAn, and 2) towards His devotees who are like shadows under emperumAn’s divine feet, and 3)_ towards thiruvAimozhi which emphasizes these two aspects, and divines about emperumAnAr’s magnanimity which enables him to help about these three aspects to everyone.
uNarndha mey gyAniyar yOgam thoRum thiruvAimozhiyin
maNantharum innisai mannum idam thoRum – mAmalarAL
puNarndha pon mArban porundhum pathi thoRum pukku niRkum
guNam thigazh koNdal irAmAnusan em kulak kozhundhE 60
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Word by word meaning (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)
yOgam thoRum – In each assembly of
uNarndha mey gyAniyar – those who possess true knowledge of knowing what needs to be known, and.
idam thoRum – in each place
mannum – which always
maNam tharum – possesses the fragrance
thiruvAimozhi yin – of thiruvAimozhi
in isai – with distinguished music,
pathi thoRum – and in each divine temple
porundhum – where there is gracious and happy presence of
mArvan – one who is having beautiful divine chest
puNarndha – which is resided in at all times
mAmalarAL – by periya pirAttiyAr,
irAmAnusan – emperumAnAr
guNam thigazh – who is having the bright qualities of true self
koNdal – and helping everyone in all the ways using such qualities,
kozhundhu – and who is the head
em kulam – of our clan/group,
pukku – (such emperumAnAr would) enter each such place due to desire to involve in them
niRkum – and would get immersed in them;
This is how the glory of his devotion is, is the thought here.
OR,
It can also be said that amudhanAr , after speaking about the glory of emperumAnAr’s wisdom (gyAna vaibhavam), he himself thought about emperumAnAr’s glory of devotion (bhakthi vaibhavam), became brightened by such quality, and says that emperumAnAr who helps everyone about that love, is the head of our group/clan.
kozhundhu – Also can be said as – head (shoot, blossoming tip of a tree). With the clan/group as the root, and emperumAnAr as the top part, like how if there is any dryness in the root then the shoots would first dry up, if there is any danger to this (SrIvaishNava) clan, then it is emperumAnAr who would be having his divine face go dull.
Music giving out fragrance is – (thiruvAimozhi) having elegance of songs.
vyAkyAnam
uNarndha mey gyAniyar yOgam thoRum – devotion (bhakthi) is – since it is the result of maturing of knowledge, that is, first understanding completely that SrIpathi (emperumAn) is the owner/lord, and then knowledge that takes in about emperumAn who posses all the auspicious qualities, who is the most joyous, and who enjoys and is enjoyed the most as said in ‘sarva gandhassarva rasa:’, that aspect in us blossoms into something that is just based on love, and is having the name as devotion.
So, uNarvu (in uNarndha) means devotion.
Such devotion
– is the true knowledge, knowledge of what is fact;
– immersed without any barrier, in emperumAn’s nature, form, and qualities;
– non-blemished knowledge;
Such knowledge driven by devotion (bhakthirUpApanna gyAnam) – which is possessed by AzhvArs – wherever there are group of such AzhvArs – in each such place;
yOgam – group that is together; conference (parishath).
All the devoted AzhvArs had first gotten non-blemished knowledge (mayarvaRa mathi nalam), were having full knowledge, understood thathva thrayam (chith, achith, eeSvaran), and considered them as is, and were involved in sarvESvaran who is the most enjoyed/enjoyable as said in ‘appozhudhaikku appozhudhu en ArAvamudham [thiruvAimozhi – 2.5.4]’, and as they said in ‘ayarppilan alaRRuvan thazhuvuvan [thiruvAimozhi – 1.3.10]’ due to desire to be with Him in any which ways, had worn women’s clothes, sent messengers, performed madal (going around and announcing their love to the people, etc.), and so were having boundless love; so, it is not inaccurate to say that AzhvArs are ‘uNarndha mey gyAniyar’.
thiruvAimozhiyin maNam tharum innisai mannum idam thoRum – The collection of words from the divine mouth of nammAzhvAr who is the head among the ten AzhvArs, which are known as dhivya prabandham’s; since thiruvAimozhi talks about the one said as ‘sarva gandha:’, it is also fragrant, and it gives that (Him/fragrance) to those who recite it, that music which is in the form of songs to recite as said in ‘yAzhin isai vEdhaththiyal [thiruvAimozhi thaniyan]’, and ‘thoNdarkku amudham [thiruvAimozhi – 9.4.9]’, and thus is one of the most enjoyable – wherever such music is present and well set, in each such place;
mAmalarAL puNarnda pon mArvan – periya pirAttiyar who is having the most distinguished lotus flower as her seat, is having her togetherness in the divine desirable chest of Him – such sarvESvaran.
{Translator’s note: The above three phrases could be read together (anvayam) as being applied to emperumAn (pon mArvan): as, in the gathering of SrIvaishNavas, as maNavALa mAmunigaL gave eedu kAlakshEpam (thiruvAimozhi), it was sarvESvaran who had entered that place and got immersed in it (and submitted a thaniyan to His AchAryan)}.
The place of gathering & fragrance of thiruvAimozhi’s musical hymns (who is immersed in it here?)
porundhum pathi thoRum – in all the divine temples where He is present happily; in the perumAL kOyil where pEraruLALar Himself came with him showing the way and got him reach safety, in the namperumAL kOyil by the command of periya perumAL, in thiruppathi when Saivites came from kALahasthi and caused lowly trouble, in thirunArAyaNapurm for winning the ones whose philosophy did not accept vEdhas, and moreover in each of the many dhivya dhESams like thirunagari, thirumAlirunchOlai, and more,
pukku niRkum – due to the desire to enjoy those places, he went to each such dhivya dhESam in many ways, and organized them completely, due to the higher plane of devotion of fear of separation he was fully immersed in them, and present there doing mangaLAsAsanam (wishing Him well) at all times, and having love higher than that of the distinguished ones referred to in ‘uNarndha mey gyAniyar ‘ (AzhvArs), he would without separation ever would be immersed in the three aforementioned places.
guNam thigazh koNdal – As such great quality that is bhakthi got into him and became something worth and became significant, as said in ‘mugach chOdhi vAzhi [Arththi prabandham]’ (Wishing long life to the light on the divine face of emperumAnAr), his knowledge, devotion, and steadfastness, and the glory of those pramAthas (learned ones mentioned above), and the glory of those texts, and periya pirAttiyAr who says ‘apramEyam hithaththEjO yasya sA janakAthmajA:’, His glory that would make us lose ourselves – emperumAnAr pours and gives all these to everyone, everywhere, at all times, like how the rain would pour without distinction of land or sea – such ultimately generous –
rAmAnusan – emperumAnAr
em kulak kozhundhE – em kulam is – our clan/group – SrIvaishNava group. For that group, emperumAnAr is ‘kozhundhu’ – that is, for growing into a tree or to spread around as a creeper, the root cause is the tender shoot, so for our group he is the root cause. kozhundhu – head/lead.
Or, his saying ‘em kulak kozhundhu’ is – our group being the root, and emperumAnAr being the tender shoot (from which leaves etc., grow), and so like how if the root gets a dry spell then it is the tender shoots which would become dull and dry first, if some drawback happens to our group, it is his face that would become dull first.
We can think of the arrangement of lines as “The generous one having great qualities, our root cause, emperumAnAr, would go to each of those noble places and be immersed”.
From AzhwAr thirunagari SrI u.vE. vidhwAn thirumalai nallAn chakravarththi rAmakrishNa iyengAr’s ‘amudha virundhu’ :
uNarndha ….. yOgam thoRum – As said in ‘svagyAnam prApaka gyAnam prApya gyAnam mumukshubhi: | gyAnathrayam upAdhEyam Ethadhanyannakinchana || ‘ (For those who wish to get liberated, it is only three types of knowledge that is to be gained – about self (AthmA), about the means (upAyam), and about the goal (upEyam); nothing else is needed),
he is referring to such people who have learned what needs to be learned, when saying ‘uNarndha gyAniyar’. After learned them, those who say and do as is, are ‘uNarndha mey gyAniyar’. Now, since it talks about thiruvAimozhi, they would have understood its meaning, that is, of ‘mikka iRai nilaiyum..’, that is, artha panchakam.
yOgam – place of assembly. As said in ‘vasanthi vaishNavA yathra thathra sannihithO hari:’ (wherever vaishNavas live, emperumAn is present in those places), emperumAnAr goes in and involves himself in those places where such people assemble/ are present.
thiruvAimozhiyin … innisai mannum idam thoRum – In all the places where those like madhurakavi AzhvAr who sings the sweet music of kurugUr nambi, emperumAnAr goes in and gets involved. Since nammAzhvAr ‘s earlier three prabandhams are of type iyarpA (not in the poetic form that is singable), he is referring to his thiruvAimozhi (which is not iyarpA category) as ‘innisai’ (sweet music).
Wherever raghunAthan’s glory is sung, thiruvadi (hanuman) would stand there with folded hands and tearful eyes listening to it – likewise, wherever there is the music of thiruvAimozhi, emperumAnAr gets involved and immersed.
porundhum pathi – place where emperumAn is present well set (in this world). It would seem that there would be places where emperumAn would Not be well set – that would be paramapadham. Unlike in paramapadham where He cannot be peaceful due to thinking about us who are suffering here, He is able to be present well set in here amongst us and is happy to be so.
As said in ‘SrI vaikuNta virakthAya’ , and ‘thyakthvA vaikuNtamuththamam’, He got disinclination towards paramapadham, and leaving it he came here living happily in divine temples, and the reason is – pirAttiyAr in his divine chest. The divine couple are together in enjoyment here, and have discarded and forgotten about paramapadham.
emperumAnAr goes to various dhivya dhESams and gets immersed – like thirumangai AzhvAr.
For nammAzhvAr ‘thaniyE pugum Ur thirukkOLUr’ (goes by ‘her’self to thirukkOLUr only); for thirumangai AzhvAr who is ‘mada mAn’, ‘kALaiyOdu pugum Ur – aNi Ali’ only. Whereas in case of emperumAnAr, he goes to all the dhivya dhESams along with all his group and gets immersed.
thirumangai AzhvAr divining ‘pathiyE paravith thozhum thoNdar [periya thirumozhi – 7.1.7] (~ devotees who go across to dhivya dhESams), he might have meant emperumAnAr and his group itself!
The three places referred to in this pAsuram in which emperumAnAr gets immersed, are about pramAthA (those who learn from the authoritative references), pramANam (authoritative references), and pramEyam (who/what is learned using such references).
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