SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
avathArikai
AzhwAr says that those who praise emperumAn like this will not feel happiness or sorrow whether they get or do not get other benefits. He says that those who hold on to the divine feet of emperumAn, who is very sweet to nithyasUris (permanent dwellers of SrIvaikuNtam), will not bother about getting wealth or losing it.
Let us go through the pAsuram and its meanings:
uLadhenRu iRumAvAr uNdillaiyenRu
thaLardhal adhanarugum sArAr aLavariya
vEdhaththAn vEngadaththAn viNNOr mudi thOyum
pAdhaththAl pAdham payinRu
Word by Word Meaning
aLavu ariya vEdhaththAn – one who is mentioned by the boundless vEdhas
vEngadaththAn – one who is dwelling in thiruvEngadam [thirumalai hills]
viNNOr mudi thOyum pAdhaththAn – emperumAn whose divine feet are worshipped by (the crowns of) nithyasUris
pAdham – in his divine feet
payinRu – those who are familiar with
uLadhu enRu iRumAvAr – will not feel proud that they have (wealth)
uNdu illai enRu – (wealth was) there yesterday and got destroyed today, saying so
thaLardhal adhan arugum sArAr – they will not go anywhere near the characteristic of being slack
vyAkyAnam
uLadhu enRu iRumAvAr – a person, who has been in abject poverty right from birth, suddenly gets a huge treasure. Soon he starts behaving unlike anyone else in the world. Forgetting his past, he insults his parents and his teachers due to his being wealthy now. If someone talks about paralOkam (SrIvaikuNtam) he will laugh derisively at them. However, those who are always with emperumAn will not respect wealth as an entity at all. Hence they will not even know its existence.
uNdu illai enRu thaLardhal adhan arugum sArAr – if one has to say the opposite of the earlier phrase (uLadhu enRu iRumAvAr), it should be said as “illai enRu thaLarAr”. However, in the phrase present in the text, it is seen as uNdu illai enRu thalArAr. The purpose of saying this way is that in the case of one who has been in penury for a long time, if that state of penury continues, he will tolerate it and will not feel sad. Unlike that, if a wealthy person becomes poor in between, it will create a huge sorrow for him and make him feel slackened. Isn’t it the thought that he was rich once upon a time and that he is not so now, that would make him feel enervated? Those who attain emperumAn will be without this listlessness. Being rich once and not having that wealth later would make the person feel “we were comfortable earlier. But we are suffering now” and be a reason for the weariness. When arthArthi (one who is asking for wealth for the first time) does not get it, it will not make him feel sad. But an Arththan (one who wants to get back lost wealth) will feel sad if he does not get back his wealth. Just as being with emperumAn and being separated from him are desirable, getting wealth and losing it will create sorrow. Would being separated from emperumAn be desirable? In thiruviruththam 2nd pAsuram it says “azhunIr thuLumba alamaruginRana vAzhiyarO” – the friend of the nAyaki (lead female character), looking at her tears, says “these tears are due to the deep love that the nAyaki has towards the nAyakan (lead male character, in this case emperumAn himself) and this sight is a great one, being reflective of that love. Hence, this love should remain like this always, without any change” and blesses her (vAzhiyarO). In aSOka vanam (in lankA), sIthAppirAtti was suffering in separation from SrI rAma and was in tears. Seeing this, hanuman asks her “kimartham thava nEthrAbhyAm vAri sravathi SOkajam” (who for are the sorrowful tears welling up in your divine eyes?) (These indicate that there are instances where separation from emperumAn is also celebrated). The distinction of gyANis from the worldly people is the sorrow that they have because of separation from emperumAn! Isn’t it this separation which is mentioned in thiruvAimozhi 6-7 “uNNum sORu” and 6-5 “thuvaLil maNimAdam” decads? thiruvAimozhi 6-5-7 says “munnam nORRa vidhikolO mugilvaNNanthan mAyangolO” (it is either due to my good deeds or his (emperumAn’s) mercy (that she has become like this)). bhImasEnan on seeing the exhaustion in hanuman’s body says “nirguNa:paramAthmAsau dhEham thE vyApya thishtathi” (emperumAn having the bow without the arrow in place, is seen all over your body). Thus in several instances, it has been said that separation is also desired.
Moreover,
adhan arugum sArAr – Even the gyAni (knowledgeable person) who does not have any listlessness due to loss of wealth, will have the sadness of not having wealth. But those who have attachment towards emperumAn will not have even that repentance. Only if they consider wealth as important will they have repentance! They are not the people who think initially that wealth is permanent and later feel that it is not. The feeling of sorrow will happen only if something which was considered as permanent disappears! The reason for such people not having happiness or sorrow is because emperumAn, to whom they are attached, does not have them.
aLavariya vEdhaththAn – Unlike the wealth that we have seen so far, which is not there one day and appears later, this wealth [emperumAn] is always present. The supreme being is not identified by inference or by perception. He is established by vEdhams (sacred texts) which have not been written by any one person and which are unbounded and faultless. emperumAn is known only through vEdhams.
aLavariya vEdhaththAn – He is established by the boundless vEdhams. He is like a wealth which will not diminish even as it is being consumed. Hasn’t thirukkuRundhANdakam mercifully referred to him as “nidhiyinai”(emperumAn is the wealth)! Is it not this wealth which remains after excesses such as aiSvaryam (worldly wealth) and kaivalyam (AthmA enjoying itself) have been filtered out! The material wealth’s pride is that it can be seen. Unlike this, should emperumAn’s greatness be felt only through inference? For one who wishes to see emperumAn, what is the purpose in telling him that emperumAn is established only through vEdhams?
vEngadaththAn – emperumAn who has the pride of being known only through vEdhams, is dwelling in thiruvEngadamalai [thirumalai hills] only because he can be seen by everyone and he remains there as the epitome of simplicity .
Is such an entity, who has all the greatness in him, and who has to be known only through vEdham, equal to others? If that were the case, your (AzhwAr’s) wealth has become manifested to the eyes just like our (material) wealth.
viNNOr mudi thOyum pAdhaththAn – AzhwAr says that even nithyasUris (permanent dwellers of SrIvaikuNtam) will suffer like him. thiruvEngadamalai has some greatnesses which are not seen in paramapadham (SrIvaikuNtam). nithyasUris, who have no connection with samsAram (materialistic realm) at all, thinking of emperumAn’s simplicity, give themselves up to him and offer their heads at the divine feet of emperumAn . He is very much liked by nithyasUris. If one accepts emperumAn, and is an expert on vEdhams, should he not support when emperumAn, who is liked very much by nithyasUris, takes residence at thirumalai?
vEdhaththAn vEngadaththAn – As mentioned in thaiththirIya upanishath 1-4 “yO vEdha nihitham guhAyAm paramE vyOman” (whoever knows about the treasure hidden in paramAkASam (SrIvaikuNtam)), apart from reading in copper inscriptions (vEdhams) that wealth exists, the place where that wealth manifested itself so that it could be seen by the eyes is thiruvEngadam. For experts in vEdham, the great treasures are only the divine places (dhivyadhESams) where emperumAn takes residence with happiness.
viNNOr mudithOyum pAdhaththAn pAdham payinRu uLadhenRu iRumAvAr – For those who have attained the divine feet of such an emperumAn, is there anything else to think of?
payinRu uLadhenRu iRumAvAr – When they approach emperumAn they will not think of the profit/loss which accrue out of material wealth. There is no place for these people either to feel arrogant or listless. This is because the entity emperumAn is such that one cannot think of anything else.
uLadhenRu iRumAvAr – arrogance due to scholarliness, wealth and clan that one is born in, will surround ignorant people, as mentioned in the saying “vidhyAmathO dhanamatha:” while gyANis (those with knowledge) will ride over them.
arugum sArAr – Just as vibhIshaNa gave up everything prior to approaching SrI rAma as said in SrI rAmAyaNam yudhdha kANdam 19-5 “parithyakthA mayA lankA mithrANi cha dhanAni cha” (the kingdom of lankA, friends and wealth have been given up by me), while they have to give up all materialistic things, they will feel happy that all these entities have gone away from them.
We shall take up the 46th pAsuram next.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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