October 12, 2017 – dhivya prabandham

SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:

Full series >> Sixth Centum >> First decad

Introduction for this pAsuram

Highlights from thirukkurukaippirAn piLLAn‘s introduction

No specific introduction.

Highlights from nanjIyar‘s introduction

In the third pAsuram, parAnguSa nAyaki sees the flocks and flocks of birds, considers them to be flocking together to fulfil her desire, tells them “Please inform my sorrow to emperumAn who is in thiruvaNvaNdUr”.

Highlights from vAdhi kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar‘s introduction

Subsequently, parAnguSa nAyaki sends some birds who are staying together to emperumAn who is greater than all in his protection and enjoyability.

Highlights from periyavAchchAn piLLai‘s introduction

See nanjIyar‘s introduction.

Highlights from nampiLLai‘s introduction as documented by vadakkuth thiruvIdhip piLLai

See nanjIyar‘s introduction.

pAsuram

thiRangaLAgi engum seygaL Uduzhal puL inangAL!
siRandha selvam malgu thiruvaNvaNdUr uRaiyum
kaRangu chakkarak kaik kani vAyp perumAnaik kaNdu
iRangi nIr thozhudhu paNiyIr adiyEn idarE

Listen

Word-by-Word meanings (based on vAdhi kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar‘s 12000 padi)

thiRangaLAgi – in flocks
engum – everywhere
seygaLUdu – amidst the fertile fields
uzhal – roaming
puLLinangAL – Oh flocks of birds!
siRandha – matching his greatness
selvam – wealth
malgu – existing in abundance
thiruvaNvaNdUr – in thiruvaNvaNdUr
uRaiyum – eternally residing
kaRangu – spinning around (due to the joy of experiencing bhagavAn and setting out to destroy his enemies)
chakkaram – having divine chakra (disc)
kai – having divine hand
kani – infinitely enjoyable
vAy – having beautiful lips
perumAnai – one who is having supremacy (acquired due to his protective and enjoyable nature)
kaNdu – seeing

(matching such supremacy)
nIr – you
iRangi – lowering yourself
thozhudhu – worshipping
adiyEn – me who am parathanthra (to have my deeds accomplished as per your desire), my
idar – sorrow in separation
paNiyIr – inform.

Simple translation (based on vAdhi kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar‘s 12000 padi)

Oh flocks of birds roaming everywhere amidst the fertile fields in flocks! emperumAn, the supreme lord who is having divine chakra which is spinning around in his divine hand and who is having infinitely enjoyable divine lips and who is eternally residing in thiruvaNvaNdUr where abundant wealth matching his greatness exists. Seeing such emperumAn there, lower yourself, worship him and inform him the sorrow in separation, of me who am parathanthra.

vyAkyAnams (commentaries)

Highlights from thirukkurukaippirAn piLLAn‘s vyAkyAnam

See vAdhi kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar‘s translation.

Highlights from nanjIyar‘s vyAkyAnam

See nampiLLai‘s vyAkyAnam.

Highlights from periyavAchchAn piLLai‘s vyAkyAnam

See nampiLLai‘s vyAkyAnam.

Highlights from nampiLLai‘s vyAkyAnam as documented by vadakkuth thiruvIdhip piLLai

thiRangaLAgi – In flocks. parAnguSa nAyaki is thinking that these cranes are roaming around in flocks to help her. Due to her recollection from thiruvAimozhi 2.1 “vAyum thiraiugaLum“, she is thinking that they have all gathered unable to bear her sorrow. There – she was thinking that they were distressed not having fulfilled their own desires. Here – she is thinking that they are distressed for her not having fulfilled her desire. Is this possible? Well, if she is not able to understand “these are birds and really cannot fulfil our task”, then this too is possible.
thiRangaLAgi engum – When SrI rAma was in sorrow due to separation from sIthA, all the revered devotees (monkeys etc) went to all four directions searching for her. Similarly, here too the cranes are searching for emperumAn.
engum – They searched everywhere, even in places where there is no scope of finding him. They [monkeys] even entered the pit which was self illuminous [in search of sIthA].
uzhal puL inangAL – The cranes are struggling just as the monkeys who searched in places where there is no scope of sIthA’s presence, not seeing her there and vowing to fast until hanuman’s return. From the time of SrI rAmAvathAram, AzhwAr thinks that thiryaks (animals, birds) are those who unite the separated couples.
siRandha … – It is not his fault. It is the richness of the town which stops from thinking about anyone else.
siRandha selvam malgu – Very opulent town.
thiruvaNvaNdUr uRaiyum – Highlighting the difference from avathArams (incarnations) and paramapadham (spiritual realm).
siRandha selvam – Matching wealth. parAnguSa nAyaki thinks – when emperumAn was with her together, he would say “you are my wealth”, but now having acquired rich wealth, he is not caring for her. By saying thiruvaNvaNdUr, the distinction from paramapadham is highlighted. By saying uRaiyum (reside eternally), the distinction from avathArams is highlighted. The wealth there made him forget about everything else as said in chAndhOgya upanishath 8.12.3 “nOpajanam smaran idham SarIram” (AthmA will not contemplate about the material body after reaching the spiritual realm).
kaRangu chakkarak kai – SarvESvaran who is having in his hand, the divine chakra which is spinning around due to the urge in destroying the enemies. Alternative explanation – [bhattar’s explanation] emperumAn smiling with the chakra spinning in his hand with supremacy having captivated her.
kani vAyp perumAnaik kaNdu – Seeing emperumAn who smiles revealing his internal bliss and captivating me with that. Though he has other wealth, for us there is no wealth other than him. He is praised in periya thirumozhi 7.7.1 “thiruvukkum thiruvAgiya selvA” (Oh wealth of SrI mahAlakshmi who is wealth personified herself).
iRangi nIr thozhudhu paNiyIr – She is telling them to worship him; don’t just stop with worshipping, but since he is the lord, he will have his ministers with sticks close to him waiting to hit those who don’t fall at his divine feet; so you fall at his divine feet; if you fall at his divine feet, he will feel happy; so you give up your pride and fall at his feet – says parAnguSa nAyaki as said in SrI rAmAyaNam yudhdha kANdam 116.3 “nibrutha: praNatha: prahva:” (that hanuman with joined palms offered obeisances and mentally surrendered).
paNiyIr – She should address them the way emperumAn would address them when they arrive there from her. The way everyone else praises emperumAn, emperuman praises those who arrive from her. If one respectfully addresses bhagavAn due to his supremacy, there is nothing surprising in bhagavAn respectfully addressing her messengers due to his love towards her.
adiyEn idar – paNiyIr – You have to inform him what he does not know. Had he known, would he have waited for the messengers for me?
adiyEn idar – [What if he knew?] While both have similar joy during union, now I am the one in sorrow – so inform him about my suffering.

In the next article we will enjoy the next pAsuram.

adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan

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SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:

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avathArikai

Can’t we hold on to other deities? Why talk ill of them? AzhwAr says that these other deities approach emperumAn and obtain the authority that they need and the [limited] ability to fulfil their followers’ wishes. Hence, it is appropriate for us for the remainder of our lives to hold on to emperumAn’s divine feet only (in the second explanation for the earlier pAsuram it was said that the other deities worship emperumAn. In the same way, they get their authority for administrative purposes).

Let us go through the pAsuram and its meanings:

avar ivar enRillai aravaNaiyAN pAdham
evar vaNangi EththAdhAr eNNil pavarum
sezhum kadhirOn oNmalarOn kaNNudhalOn enRE
thozhum thagaiyAr nALum thodarndhu

Word by Word Meaning

eNNil – if we analyse (who all get their sustenance from emperumAn)
avar ivar enRu illai – there is no distinction between one person and the other when it comes to attaining him [for getting favours]
aravu aNaiyAN pAdham – the divine feet of emperumAn who has AdhiSEshan as his mattress
vaNangi – worship
EththAdhAr – those who do not praise
evar – who? (there is none)
pavarum sezhum kadhirOn – sun who has well spread out rays in thousands
oNmalarOn – brahmA who has the beautiful lotus (growing out of emperumAn’s navel) as his seat
kaN nudhalOn – rudhra who has an eye in his forehead

(all these deities)
nALum – every day
thodarndhu thozhum thagaiyAr anRE – aren’t they having the quality of seeking out the place where emperumAn is dwelling and worshipping him?

vyAkyAnam

avar ivar enRillai – There is no difference between lowly people or great people. (emperumAn is attained, without any distinction, by all entities, including the dhEvars such as brahmA, rudhra et al who are famous for being attained by others, and the people who attain such dhEvas . Is there any child who is not liked by its mother? (thus all the entities attain emperumAn).

Who do they attain?

aravaNaiyAn pAdham – the divine feet of emperumAn who is reclining on the mattress of AdhiSEshan in thiruppARkadal (milky ocean). Isn’t reclining on AdhiSEshan a unique identification for emperumAn! AdhiSEshan is there with him in order to speak on our behalf and carry out purushakAram (recommend us to emperumAn). Hasn’t it been said in SrI rAmAyaNam yudhdha kANdam 17-1 “yathra rAmassa lakshmaNa:” (where rAma is together with lakshmaNa) – vibhIshaNa came to that place where the two were together (that vibhIshaNa came to surrender to SrI rAma who was with lakshmaNa (an incarnation of AdhiSEshan) to play the role of recommending, is mentioned here). When nammAzhwAr surrendered to emperumAn he did so in the presence of AdhiSEshan as in thiruvAimozhi 5-10-11 “nAgaNai misai nambirAn charaNE SaraN”. ANdAL too said the same in her nAchchiyAr thirumozhi 10-9 “nAgaNaiikE senRu” (going to the mattress of AdhiSEshan)

evar vaNangi EththAdhAr – who does not hold on to emperumAn? Everyone attains him. This is because one has to attain the divine feet of one who does not have to hold on to someone else (that particular quality is present only with emperumAn)

eNNil – if one were to analyse; or, if one were to think.

pavarum sezhum kadhirOn oN malarOn kan nudhalOn anRE – these people are famous for being attained by others. But even these people attain emperumAn.

pavarum sezhum kadhirOn – sun with spread out, infinite number of rays.

oN malarOn – brahmA who is in the lotus shooting out of emperumAn’s navel.

kaN nudhalOn – rudhra who has an eye in his forehead.

Don’t these people…

thozhum thagaiyAr nALum thodarndhu – have the quality of following emperumAn wherever he goes, compel him and attain him.

nALum thozhum thagaiyAr – every day they are worshipping emperumAn. Just as a rope will lose its strength if it is untwisted, these people also think that they will lose all their power if they do not worship emperumAn and hence keep following him. Instead of worshipping him because this is what has been ordained, they worship him in order to get some benefits [and lose the more important benefit of enjoying him]. How unjustified is this that they are treating their worshipping of emperumAn as a wage for getting some benefits instead of treating the act of worshipping itself as the benefit!

We shall move on to the 13^th pAsuram.

adiyEn krishNa ramanuja dhAsan