mudhal thiruvandhAdhi – 69 – bAlan thanadhu uruvAy

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avathArikai

In the earlier pAsuram, AzhwAr said that others cannot know about emperumAn. In this pAsuram he is asking emperumAn whether he [emperumAn] knows about himself.

Let us go through the pAsuram and its meanings:

bAlan thanadhu uruvAy EzhulaguNdu Alilaiyin
mEl anRu nI vaLarndhadhu mey enbar AlanRu
vElai nIr uLLadhO viNNadhO maNNadhO
sOlai sUzh kunRu eduththAy sollu

Word by Word Meanings

bAlan thanadhu uruvAy – having the form of a child
Ezh ulagu uNdu – swallowing the seven worlds
Al ilayin mEl – on top of a banyan leaf
anRu – during deluge
nI vaLarndha – your sleeping
mey enbar – (vaidhikas, experts in vEdhas) would say (that it) is true
anRu – during that time
Al – that banyan leaf
vElai nIr – inside the oceanic water (where you had slept)
uLLadhO – was it?
viNNadhO – was it in the sky (which does not have a support)?
maNNadhO – was it in the (dissolved) earth?
sOlai sUzh kunRu eduththAy sollu – one who lifted the (gOvardhana) hill surrounded by gardens
sollu – only (you) have to tell

vyAkyAnam

bAlan thanadhu uruvAy – he was so small that if milk falls on one cheek, it will fill up the other cheek!

Ezh ulagu uNdu – keeping the seven worlds inside the stomach [here seven implies all the worlds other than his nithyavibhUthi, SrIvaikuNtam]

Al ilayin mEl – on top of a banyan leaf which formed just then

anRu nI vaLarndha – that you had rested on that day

mey enbar – great people will say that this was true and not any act of magic

bAlan thandhu uruvAy – even though he was in a form (as an infant) needing someone else’s protection, he protected the worlds. He contracted his form that is transcendental [emperumNa’s divine form, unlike ours, is not composed of the five elements but is composed of upanishaths) and became an infant.

Ezhulagu uNdu – without any discrimination (that he likes some and dislikes the others) he kept all the entities, other than himself, in his stomach, and on top of the banyan leaf which was smaller than his form . . . .

anRu nI vaLarndha mey enbar – the rishis (sages) said that it is true that you [emperumAn] slept on top of a banyan leaf on the day when there was total annihilation

mey enbar –  For men of truth, this will appear as truth and for the others, it will appear as false. While the entire universe was under deluge, and there was flood everywhere, when there was not a piece of straw as far as the eye could see, where was that banyan leaf – was it on top of the ocean or was it on the unsupported sky [ether] or was it in the dissolved earth? If one were to ask where it was, it appears as if emperumAn wanted to hear it from AzhwAr himself.

sOlai sUzh kunRu eduththAy sollu – one has to mention the wondrous activity of your [emperumAn] lifting the hill, supporting all the objects which were on the hill. The opinion here is that his ability to do the impossible acts can only be seen and enjoyed, and cannot be examined [by way of how he did it]. AzhwAr says that nowhere else can one see the objects being supported and the person supporting them in the same entity. Thus, AzhwAr says that he himself cannot explain his qualities. AzhwAr says that it was because of him that the earth, which was the support for the banyan leaf on which he was lying, did not dissolve in the deluge.

We shall take up the 70th pAsuram next.

adiyEn krishNa ramanuja dhAsan

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