SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
periya thirumozhi >> Fourth centum >> Ninth decad
Highlights from avathArikai (Introduction)
No specific introduction.
pAsuram
nummaith thozhudhOm nundham paNi seydhirukkum nummadiyOm
immaikku inbam peRROm endhAy! indhaLUrIrE!
emmaik kadidhAk karumam aruLi AvA! enRirangi
nammai orugAl kAtti nadandhAl nAngaL uyyOmE?
Word-by-Word meanings
nummai – Your highness
thozhudhOm – surrendered, considering to be the means;
nundham – your highness’
paNi – kainkaryam (service)
seydhu – performed
irukkum – to sustain
num adiyOm – became servitors;
immaikku – now
inbam peRROm – got the joy of acquiring knowledge;
indhaLURIr – one who is mercifully present in thiruvindhaLUr
en thAy – you who are like my mother!
emmai – for me
kadidhA – quickly
karumam – kainkaryam which is the ultimate goal
aruLi – mercifully grant
A A enRu – saying “Alas! Alas!”
irangi – being merciful
nammai – for us
oru kAl – some time
kAtti – showing your divine form
nadandhAl – if you mercifully come
nAngaL – we who are ananya prayOjanar (who don’t seek anything other than kainkaryam)
uyyOmO – will we not live well?
Simple translation
We surrendered to your highness considering you to be our means; we became your servitors and performed kainkaryam to sustain ourselves; now, we got the joy of acquiring knowledge; oh you who are like my mother who is mercifully present in thiruvindhaLUr! Mercifully grant me kainkaryam which is the ultimate goal, quickly; will we who are ananya prayOjanar not live well if you mercifully come and show your divine form some time, being merciful to us and saying “Alas! Alas!”
Highlights from vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
nummaith thozhudhOm – Should we remain patient due to worshipping you through other dhEvathAs where you remain their antharyAmi? SrI bhagavath gIthA 7.21 “yO yO yAm yAm thanum bhaktha: SradhdhayArchithum ichchathi | thasya thasyAchalAm SradhdhAm thAm Eva vidhadhAmyaham ||” (Whichever devotee of the dhEvathAntharams (other dhEvathAs) who desires to worship faithfully whichever dhEvathA who is [my] SarIra (body), I bestow unshakeable faith to such devotee towards that dhEvathA only). When one surrenders to dhEvathAs thinking “dhEvathAs such as indhra et al, are bhagavAn’s body. He is their antharyAmi”, since the result will be appropriate to their abilities, there will be delay in the attainment of the goal.
Alternatively,
nummaith thozhudhOm – We have been destroyed. That is – we did not get to surrender unto someone where if we separate from that person, we can survive playing chess or gambling.
thozhudhOm – Previously we thought that there were two kings (self and bhagavAn). Only for those who accept that performing kainkaryam is the goal, it will be possible to be subservient.
nundham paNi seydhu irukkum num adiyOm – We can sustain ourselves if we can manage without performing kainkaryam or if we don’t have the scope to perform kainkaryam. We are exclusively surrendered unto your highness where we will live if we get to perform kainkaryam at your highness’ divine feet, else we will die. SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam 53.31 “na cha sIthA thvayA hInA na chAham api rAghava | muhUrtham api jIvAva: jalAn mathsyA vivOdhruthau ||” is elaborated here.
- na cha sIthA … – When separated from your highness, sIthAp pirAtti will not exist; I will also not exist. When separated from your highness, there is no question of survival.
- api jIvAva: – yathi jIvAva: (If we survive)
- muhUrtham – A moment.
- jalAn mathsyAviva – When a fish separates from water, it will survive only as long as it has some water left on it; similarly, we will survive only until we find out that your word “Don’t come with me” is coming from your divine heart. His (lakshmaNa’s) saththA – truth, is similar to moon, southerly breeze, sandalwood and water which exist for others; one’s true nature is attained by bringing greatness to SEshi (lord).
adiyOm – One’s scope is to have the true nature of the self bringing greatness to bhagavAn.
immaikku inbam peRROm – For us who consider servitude is the true benefit matching our true nature, your highness nicely gave us water when we were thirsty [i.e you gave us something to survive here]. Alternatively – AzhwAr is speaking about the sustenance by acquiring knowledge. While AzhwAr is speaking about not attaining bhagavAn, is this satisfaction apt? It is this knowledge which makes him feel anguished. If it was not there, one can live joyfully in this world like others.
en thAy … – Oh you who descended from SrIvaikuNtam and are mercifully present in thiruvindhaLUr to grant such knowledge! Oh you who announced this principle of “This AthmA is your servitor”! Why did you who are staying relaxed today previously did mischief and grant the knowledge about our mutual relationship!
emperumAn asks “You said we granted you this knowledge about our mutual relationship; if this is what you got, what have you not received?” AzhwAr responds,
emmaik kadidhAk karumam aruLi – You mercifully granted knowledge about servitude; you should also mercifully accept service matching my servitude.
emmai – Is my state such that “We will take you to paramapadham in time and engage you in kainkaryam there”? My state is similar to that of Sri vibhIshaNAzhwAn who could not remain comfortably in rAvaNa’s abode and could not enter SrI rAma’s assembly as well, as said in SrI rAmAyaNam yudhdha kANdam 17.17 “kshipram nivEdhayatha mAm” (Inform about my arrival quickly to SrI rAma); I too am suffering being unable to remain comfortably in this samsAra due to acquiring knowledge and unable to engage in kainkaryam which is the result of reaching paramapadham.
kadidhAk karumam aruLi – AzhwAr’s saukumAryam (tenderness) is such that his inability to remain patient to get the result in time has to be announced to emperumAn who is omniscient.
While mercifully granting such kainkaryam …
A A enRu irangi – Thinking about my pitiable state as in “One who is not having anything in his side and who has no other refuge and is withered due to not getting to do kainkaryam”, he should give his mercy thinking “Alas! Alas!” We cannot force him saying “We surrendered”; while getting our desired result, it should occur only by his mercy.
nammai – It is not that you have not seen you in a mirror and known about you; should you not remain thinking “Those who have separated from us, will not survive”?
orugAl kAtti nadandhAl – Don’t think that if I show myself, he is forcing me to do so; this is like one who is affected by fever saying “I just need to sip water once”.
kAtti – As said in SrI rAmAyaNam yudhdha kANdam 1.13 “Esha sarvasva bhUthasthu” (This embrace of mine is equivalent to everything else), showing your form saying “See how I look”.
nadandhAl – It is not merely coming. But if you place a few steps in front of me. He should give the feast that was given to pirAtti as said in SrI rAmAyaNam AraNya kANdam 11.1 “agratha: prayayau rAma:” (SrI rAma walks first), to AzhwAr.
When asked “What do you get if I walk like that?” AzhwAr says,
nAngaL uyyOmE – We will get back our lost lives. Does it need to be said that when a big rain falls on withered crop, the crop will come back to life?
In the next article we will enjoy the next pAsuram.
adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan
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