January 10, 2018 – dhivya prabandham

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

avathArikai

AzhwAr says that the benefit obtained out of engaging with matters relating to emperumAn is great. But it is essential not to have desire with worldly pursuits, thinking of the ruins that one would end up with such acts. He says that the reason for attaining emperumAn and for removing of hurdles in this path is not worshipping emperumAn but the ability to see the faults in worldly pleasures.

Let us look at the pAsuram and its meanings:

idhu kaNdAy nannenjE ippiRaviyAvadhu
idhu kaNdAy ellAm nAmuRRadhu idhu kaNdAy
nAraNan pEr Odhi naragaththarugaNaiyA
kAraNamum vallaiyE kAN

Word by Word Meaning

nal nenjE – Oh good heart!
ip piRavi Avadhu idhu kaNdAy – the cruelty of samsAram (materialistic realm) is like this, do observe.
nAm uRRadhu ellAm idhu kaNdAy – the sorrows that we experienced (in this samsAram) are like these.
nAraNan – SrIman nArAyana’s
pEr – divine names
Odhi – reciting them well
naragaththu – the hell called samsAram
arugu – near
aNaiyA kAraNamum – the reason for hating that we should not be here
idhu kaNdAy – is only the fault of this samsAram, do observe.

(for me, not having to tell each and everything like this)
vallaiyEL – if you are capable of knowing
kAN – see for yourself (the lowliness of this samsAram).

vyAkyAnam

nal nenjE – Oh heart who agrees with me when I say that life in this world is terrible!

idhu kaNdAy ippiRaviyAvadhu – The nature of this samsAram (materialistic realm) is not what we had thought of, earlier. It is that which has been shown to us by emperumAn. Life on earth is the epitome of sorrow. All that we had thought of life on this earth as something great is mere delusion. Even faults in this life will appear to our eyes as faults, only with the grace of emperumAn. Otherwise, they will appear to be without faults. Just as we cannot see emperumAn unless he reveals himself to us, we cannot see the faults too in life unless he reveals them to us.

idhu ellAm nAm uRRadhu – just as there is only happiness in enjoying emperumAn, there is only sorrow in life. Hasn’t this (samsAram) given to us only sorrow, in the garb of pleasure, for a very long time! Just as there is only happiness in paramapadham (SrIvaikuNtam) with emperumAn’s grace, there is only sorrow in samsAram. Has not ALavandhAr mercifully mentioned in sthOthra rathnam 25 “abhUthapUrvam mama bhAvi kim vA sarvam sahE mE sahajam hi dhu:kam” (there is no sorrow that I have not experienced. I am tolerating all the sorrows. Isn’t sorrow born with me)! It appears that sorrows will be there as long as AthmA is there [in this samsAram]. Even though this AthmA belongs to emperumAn, have you [referring to his heart] not seen all the sorrows that we experienced!

idhu kaNdAy nAraNan pEr Odhi naragaththu arugu aNaiyAk kAraNamum – The reason for reciting the divine names of the apt Lord emperumAn and for not going towards naragam (hell) is only seeing (knowing) the faults in the worldly life that I had mentioned earlier [says the AzhwAr to his heart]. Just as emperumAn enables us to attain him and relieves us from worldly pursuits, seeing the faults in worldly pursuits will enable us to relieve ourselves from these and to hold on to emperumAn.

vallaiyEl kAN – Some people will lose their belongings even when they are awake. In the same way, even while we know about worldly pursuits, their faults will not dawn in our hearts. Hence, even you have to suffer, see clearly the nature of the worldly pursuits. Even as we are experiencing the sorrows, isn’t our sin the reason for not moving away from the worldly life! In this matter, doesn’t even seeing with our eyes become useless! Just as we desire if we see something good, should we not become averse if we see something bad? The opinion here is that since attaining emperumAn is not due to our efforts and since the involvement in worldly pursuits is our desire, what is needed for the jIvAthmAs is to see the faults in the worldly pursuits. Doesn’t SrI vishNu purANam 6-7-28 say “mana Eva manushyANAm kAraNam bandha mOkshayO!” (it is the person’s mind which is responsible for both bondage and liberation). When the chEthana (sentient entity) gets involved in unnecessary pursuits, emperumAn, who helps in attaining the necessary entity and avoiding the unnecessary, prevents the chEthana from involving in the unnecessary and gives what he really needs. nammAzhwAr initially saw emperumAn as the head of nithyasUris (imaiyOr thalaivan). This AzhwAr says that he should help in releasing us from falsified knowledge, bad conduct and impure body, all of which are opposite of his being the lord of nithyasUris.

We shall take up the 67^th pAsuram next.

adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan

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[of driving emperumAn away]SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:

Full series >> Sixth Centum >> Fourth decad

Introduction for this pAsuram

Highlights from thirukkurukaippirAn piLLAn‘s introduction

No specific introduction.

Highlights from nanjIyar‘s introduction

In the first pAsuram, AzhwAr says “Induced by love, night and day (continuously), I got to enjoy the activities of krishNa; do I have any shortcoming?”.

Highlights from vAdhi kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar‘s introduction

In the first pAsuram, AzhwAr says “Being induced by love, we continuously spoke and enjoyed the activities of krishNa who has ananthaSAyithvam (the quality of resting on serpent bed) which is the root cause for all incarnations; do we have any shortcoming?”.

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

kuravai AychchiyarOdu kOththadhum kunRam onREndhiyadhum
uravu nIrp poygai nAgam kAyndhadhum uLpada maRRum pala
aravil paLLip pirAn than mAya vinaigaLaiyE alaRRi
iravum nan pagalum thavirgilam enna kuRaivu enakkE

Listen

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

AychchiyarOdu – with the cowherd girls
kuravai – in thirkkuravai (rAsa krIdA in vrindhAvanam)
kOththadhum – uniting (holding hands with all girls by inserting himself in between each of them, in the shape of a garland strung with different flowers)

(to stop the rain which came to interrupt his enjoyment with the cowherd girls)
onRu – a
kunRam – hill
Endhiyadhum – lifted it up and stood there holding it up for seven days effortlessly
uravu – matured
nIr – having water
poygai – in the pond
nAgam – kALiya serpent
kAyndhadhum – the way he angrily tamed
uLpada – like those
maRRum – other
pala – many [such acts]

(as said in “nAgaparyankam uthsrujya“, to incarnate)
aravil paLLi – the serpent bed on which he was resting
pirAn than – krishNa, the benefactor who left it behind, his
mAyam – amazing
vinaigaLaiyE – activities
alaRRi – reciting out of overwhelming love
nan – having goodness to facilitate us to think about his qualities
iravum – night
pagalum – day
thavirgilam – not stopping;
namakku – for us
enna – what
kuRai – shortcoming
uNdu – present?

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

krishNa united with the cowherd girls in thirukkuravai; he lifted up a hill and stood there holding it up for seven days effortlessly; he angrily tamed the kALiya serpent in the pond having matured water; we are reciting these and many such acts of krishNa, the benefactor who left behind the serpent bed on which he was resting, without stopping through night and day which are having the goodness to facilitate us to think about his qualities; what shortcoming is present in us [who have such experience]? Implies that there is no shortcoming of limited experience and experience which is stopped.

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

kuravai AychchiyarOdu kOththadhum – Why is AzhwAr directly enjoying this activity of emperumAn, instead of starting with his birth in “piRandhavARum“? Since emperumAn’s act of eliminating AzhwAr’s romantic anger in “minnidai madavAr” and uniting with him subsequently resembles emperumAn’s act of giving joy to the cowherd girls by performing rAsa krIdA with them, AzhwAr is starting with this particular act of emperumAn here. Only when AzhwAr enjoys them with his own effort, he can go in sequence! When emperumAn himself makes AzhwAr experience according to his will, AzhwAr’s experience would only be random [as in here]; emperumAn manifested his union with the cowherd girls in rAsa krIdA first. The joy emperumAn acquired by uniting with the cowherd girls from 5 lakh families in vrindhAvanam, is acquired just by his uniting with this one AzhwAr. Due to his great desire to be with each of the cowherd girls, he made himself secondary in the array of cowherd girls and held their hands. He is enjoying now as he previously desired in thiruvAimozhi 5.10.2 “kuravai piNaindha kuzhagum“. He mingled with them as one amongst them while staying in between the cowherd girls. Usually, girls will hold with each other while playing. Just as the girls could not sustain without krishNa in rAsa krIdA, in “minnidai madavAr”, he could not sustain without AzhwAr. kOkkai – stringing together. kuravaik kUththu (rAsa krIdA) is a dance which is done, holding hands together [forming a circular array].
kunRam onRu Endhiyadhum – There is an abode named svargam (heaven) which is focussed on enjoyment; and there exists a person named indhra who is reaping the fruits of his puNya (virtuous deeds) by enjoying with apsaras girls (celestial dancers) ; seeing that krishNa is having the same enjoyment with the cowherd girls without any constraints in earth, he becomes jealous and citing “krishNa stopped my feast” as a reason, sent hailstorm; at that time, emperumAn lifted a hill which was within his hands’ reach and stood with it. indhra is of the nature that if he sees someone in earth holding their nose (doing anushtAnams, yOga), he will fear for the safety of his throne and will try to disturb him as much as possible by sending these dancer girls. He does not realise that the one who enjoys in this manner is sarvESavaran (supreme lord) himself; that is because emperumAn presented himself as a cowherd boy, one amongst the cowherd clan. emperumAn eliminating the danger for the cows and cowherds during that hailstorm is much smaller compared to eliminating the danger for AzhwAr in “minnidai madavAr” [i.e., AzhwAr shunning emperumAn].
Endhiyadhum – Since this was done to help others, the hill appears like an ornament for his hand and does not trouble him at all. It appears as if emperumAn is holding a flower in his hand. How amazing that a seven year old boy held up the hill for seven consecutive days!
kunRam onRu Endhiyadhum – He remained as a sagOthri [close family member with paternal link] so that one need not worry “How are we going to pay him back for holding the hill up for seven days when he is only seven years old?”.
uravu nIr – The water having pride due to the depth of the river for which the bottom cannot be easily seen; or, due to the poison from kALiya, the water is so strong and unapproachable by anyone; or, since it is an ancient river, the water is strong due to its age. uravu also means poison.
nAgam kAyndhadhum – Driving the kALiya serpent away. It is after this deed of overcoming kALiya that he engaged in water-sports with the cowherd girls.
uLpada maRRum pala – There is no count for such activities of emperumAn. In “piRandhavARum“, he [AzhwAr] could not speak about all activities due to his weakened state; here he is unable to speak due to overwhelming bliss. There were many such hurdles to unite with the cowherd girls, which were eliminated by emperumAn.
aravil paLLip pirAn – The sleep of worldly people is for selfish purpose and due to their thamO guNam (lethargy, ignorance etc); emperumAn’s sleep [yOga nidhrA] is for the protection of others. He is known as in thiruvAimozhi 5.4.11 “uRanguvAn pOl yOgu seydha perumAn” (emperumAn who pretends to be sleeping but really meditating). When he sleeps, it is for the protection of others; when he is awake too, it is for the same purpose. How amazing is his benefactorship!
aravil paLLip pirAn – Previously his mismatch with a serpent was explained; here his union with a serpent is explained. There, his discarding of the bhOga (serpent/enjoyment) is explained; here his attachment towards bhOga is explained. He drove away kALiya who was inimical; he has as his bed, AdhiSEsha who is friendly. AdhiSEsha performs services in many different ways and emperumAn too accepts his services in many ways. AdhiSEsha is known as in periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 4.3.10 “Ayiram paindhalaiya ananthan” (the thousand hooded anantha).
aravil paLLip pirAn – Since thiruppARkadal (kshIrAbdhi – milk ocean) is the root for all incarnations, AzhwAr is explaining it here; alternatively – AzhwAr is re-emphasising what he said previously in thiruvAimozhi 5.10.11 “nAgaNai misai nampirAn saraNE saraN” (the lotus feet of our lord who is resting on AdhiSEsha, is our refuge).
than mAya vinaigaLaiyE alaRRi – Praising his amazing activities in the form of sthOthrams.
iravu nan pagalum thavirgilam – When [day and night are] not favourable for bhagavath anubhavam, they are felt as said in thiruvAimozhi 2.1.4 “sudar koL irAp pagal” (night and day which are identified by the radiance (heat) of moon and sun); since these nights and days are favourable for bhagavath anubhavam, AzhwAr is prefixing them with “nal” (good). In separation, they feel like molten fire being poured on.
enna kuRaivu enakkE – Am I having the shortcoming of having to prepare food [to consume during the journey] to go seek for paramapadham where day and night have no effect as said in SrIvishNu purANam “na kAlas thathravai prabhu:“? In paramapadham, only singular experience [enjoying his supremacy] is present; but here, as said SrI rAmAyaNam bAla kANdam 77.26 “ … vijahAra bahUn ruthUn” (SrI rAma enjoyed with sIthAp pirAtti in different seasons without any restraint), I enjoyed emperumAn matching every season; in such case, do I have any shortcoming? There in paramapadham, only parathva anubhavam (experience of his supremacy) exists; his Seela guNa anubhavam (simplicity and other qualities) is only available here.

In the next article we will enjoy the next pAsuram.

adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan