SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
avathArikai
In the third pAsuram when asked “what is the limit for the bhagavath bhakthi?”, AzhwAr replies it starts from bhagavath SEshathvam (having servitude towards emperumAn) and goes up to bhAgavatha SEshathvam (having servitude to his devotees). When asked “what will these bhAgavathas do together?”, AzhwAr says that they will be singing mangaLASAsanam (UzhithORUzhiyOvAdhu, vAzhiya enRu) to emperumAn as in thiruppallANdu 2 “adiyOmOdum ninnOdum pirivinRi Ayiram pallANdu” (I should be with you forever). periyAzhwar in his thiruppallAndu, performs mangaLASAsanam by placing “pallANdu” (many years) as the base year, and finally multiplies that by many (countless) crores of years; here AzhwAr not satisfied at that level, starts with “Uzhi” (kalpa, a day of brahmA which contains 1000 four yuga cycle) and then multiplies that by many times.
Let us look at the pAsuram and its meanings.
UzhithORUzhi OvAdhu vAzhiya
enRu yAm thozha isaiyum kol,
yAvagai ulagamum yAvarum illA
mElvarum perum pAzh kAlaththu, irum porutku
ellAm arumpeRal thani viththu, oruthAn
Agith theyva nAnmugak kozhumuLai
InRu, mukkaN IsanOdu dhEvupala
nudhali mU ulagam viLaiththa undhi,
mAyak kadavuL mAmudhal adiyE
Listen
Word by Word Meaning
yAvagai ulagamum – all the categories of the world
yAvarum illA – all kinds of living beings
illA – without
mElvarum – the past times
perum pAzh kAlaththu – very long
irum porutku ellAm – for the countless living beings
peRal arum – emperuman who is difficult to attain
thani oru viththu – He is the distinct, independent primordial cause.
thAn Agi – emperumAn himself (alone)
dheyvam nAnmugan – the dhEvathA, brahmA
kozhu muLai – perfect sprout
mukkaN IsanOdu – along with the three-eyed rudhra
pala dhEvu – several dhEvathAs
InRu – creates
nudhali – and make sankalpam (vow them to be the incharge for creation, destruction etc)
mU ulagam – the three worlds
viLaiththa – creates
undhi – He who has divine navel
mAyan – He who has amazing ability
kadavul – being the supreme god.
mA mudhal – emperumAn who is the supreme primordial cause, his
adi – divine feet
UzhithORUzhi – during every kalpa (eon)
Ovadhu – incessantly
vAzhiya – to live
enRu – that
yAm – us
thozha – to praise (by performing mangaLASAsanam)
isaiyum kol – will it be possible?
vyAkyAnam
UzhithORUzhi – Every kalpam. It is unlike “nithya agni hOthram” [which is done at specific times every day]. [When asked “can we do mangaLASAsanam during every kalpa at a particular time?”, AzhwAr replies,]
Ovadhu – It should be done incessantly every second (without even a momentary break), and when asked “what are the things to be done further?”, he replies,
vAzhiyavenRu – one should always perform mangaLASAsanam to emperumAn as “pallAndu (long live)”. AzhwAr starts describing about emperumAn’s SEshithvam (lordship) in first pAsuram, and in third pAsuram he says that it goes upto his devotees, and here in this pAsuram he says that those who attain the bhAgavatha SEshathvam (having servitude to bhAgavathas) should always perform mangaLASAsanam to emperumAn.
yAm – We who were thinking for self as said in yajur ashtakam3.5 “AyurASAsthE” (praying for long life) until now; leaving that state,
thozha – thozhugai (worship) means performing mangaLASAsanam.
isayum kol –there is a lot of difference between living for oneself and living for bhagavAn;
when asked “which act of emperumAn is meditated upon by those who desire to attain this impossible state?”, AzhwAr says,
yAvagai ….. mUvulagam viLaiththa undhi – Instead of just bestowing specific qualities for an existing entity, for the great favour of creating the entire universe from scratch and facilitating us.
yAvagai ulagamum – unlike the deluge where just up to the three lOkas [bhU:, bhuvar and suvar] are destroyed and the jana lOkam becomes uninhabitable leading the residents to shift upto the mahar lOkam, here AzhwAr is talking about the total deluge [where everything is destroyed].
Alternative explanation :
yAvarumillA – unlike the deluge where at least rishis such as mArkaNdEya et al who are present, the deluge where no one exists.
mEl varum – In the past times. Here “mEl“ means past and “varum” means “gone” [implying the past times which are gone].
perum pAzh kAlaththu – Just as a farmer would spend a long time draining the salt from the field [to make it fertile] by filling it with water, emperumAn makes the AthmA stay attached with primordial matter for the whole life span of brahmA, to eliminate the evil interests of the AthmA.
irum porutkellAm – for jIvAthmAs who are all connected with infinite forms such as dhEva (celestial), manushya (human), thiryak (animal) and sthAvara (plant).
arum peRal – since there is none other than emperumAn who shows them compassion even at this state, he cannot be attained easily (with self effort).
thani viththu oru thAnAgi – bhagavAn himself being all the three causes [for creation] viz nimiththa kAraNam (efficient cause), upAdhAna kAraNam (material cause) and sahakAri kAraNam (instrumental/ancillary cause). Since AzhwAr said “viththu” (seed), he is the upAdhAna kAranam. Since AzhwAr says “thani” (singular), as said in mahA upanishath 1 “EkO ha vai nArAyaNa (During creation only nArAyaNa was there and there was no brahmA, no Siva, no water, no fire, no moon, no stars in the sky, no sun), he adhvithIya (there is no other nimiththa kAraNam). Alternatively, AzhwAr is saying there is no one desiring to create us. Since AzhwAr says “oru”, it implies that there is no other sahakAri kAraNam.
thAnAgi – emperumAn being the cause for everything that is effected. In this manner emperumAn performs samashti srushti and let brahmA perform vyashti srushti as emperumAnAr appoints SrI madhurakavi dhAsar to take care of the SrIrangam temple activities.
dheyva nAnmugan – Four-headed brahmA who is one among the AthmAs
kozhu muLai InRu – It is said that emperumAn who created brahma who has great abilities to perform the entire creation of the universe.
Since he cannot perform all three primary tasks viz srushti (creation), sthithi (sustenance) and samhAra (annihilation), for that,
mukkaN IsanOdu dhEvu pala InRu – emperumAn created rudhra who is capable of performing samhAram and other dhEvathAs for various purposes.
When asked “what did he do to create all these dhEvathAs”?, AzhwAr replies,
nudhali – emperumAn vowed as said in chAndhOgya upanishath “bahusyAm” (let me become many). Here “nudhali” means “to consider”.
mUvulagam vilaiththa undhi – It is the emperumAn’s divine navel which created the three worlds (lower, upper and middle). It is his divine navel which is the independent cause for the entire creation; the divine navel is like a lotus and is the origin for the entire leelA vibhUthi (material realm).
mAyak kadavuL – emperumAn who is the supreme lord with amazing abilities.
mAmudhal – Also explained as emperumAn who is the supreme primordial cause. Alternative explanation – the divine feet (mAmudhaladi) of the supreme lord who is the supreme cause and is with amazing abilities; or it can be explained as – the divine feet of the amazing lord, which are the apt goal.
adiyE vazhiyavenRu yAm thozha isaiyum kol – AzhwAr out his desire asks “will I be fortunate to perform mangaLAsAsanam to emperumAn’s lotus divine feet?”, similar to how periyAzhwAr performs mangaLAsAsanam in thiruppallAndu – 1 “un chEvadi chevvith thirukkAppu (long live! emperumAn’s reddish lotus divine feet)“.
Let us see 5th pAsuram next.
adiyen boomA rAmAnuja dAsi
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