raghuram – Page 8 – dhivya prabandham

pramEyam (goal) – http://koyil.org
pramANam (scriptures) – http://granthams.koyil.org/
pramAthA (preceptors) – http://acharyas.koyil.org
SrIvaishNava education/kids portal – http://pillai.koyil.org

rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – 82

March 1, 2017 Published by: raghuram

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

<< previous (sOrvinRi undhan)

Introduction (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

Thinking about emperumAnAr’s advice which was part of the benefit for him, that is the divine feet, as said in previous pAsuram as ‘arangan seyya thAL iNaigaL pErvinRi inRu peruththum’, and being happy about it amudhanAr says ‘Oh! how virtuous he is!’.

Introduction (given by piLLailOkam jIyar)

As part of getting the most distinguished destiny, that is the divine feet, as said in previous pAsuram as ‘arangan seyya thAL iNaigaL pErvinRi inRu peruththum irAmAnusA’, I was deep in actions for enrichment in this material world, and was not getting proper knowledge, giving importance to body related matters due to very cruel bad karmas, and not being stable on anything, and wavering in everything;

unlike as said in ‘AndugaL nAL thingaLAy’ (for years, days, months), not after being with him for a long time, but just in one moment, emperumAnAr advised me clearly about truth, good means, and destiny up to and including its inner meanings, and made me unequaled in knowledge (due to hearing emperumAnAr’s advises), such emperumAnAr who is of ultimate help, and who pours all such matters like a rainy cloud – Oh! what a virtuous one he is! Thinking so, amudhanAr becomes very happy.

therivuRRa gyAnam seRiyap peRAdhu ventheevinaiyAl
uruvaRRa gyAnaththu uzhalginRa ennai oru pozhudhil
poruvaRRa kELviyan Akki ninRAn enna puNNiyanO
therivuRRa keerththi irAmAnusan ennum seer mugilE – 82

Listen

Word by word meaning (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

seRiyap perAdhu – not having
gyAnam – knowledge of
therivuRRa – interest in distinguishing between truth and false
vem thee vinaiyAl – due to most cruel karma,
uzhalginRa ennai – I not being stable in anything, and being transient in everything with
gyAnaththu – knowledge
uruvaRRA – which is not having any specific form,
for such me,
ninRAn – (emperumAnAr) came and incarnated in this world, and
even without being together for a very long time,
oru pozhudhil – but in just one moment itself,
kELviyan Akki – (he) made me get such knowledge (as I heard from his advises),
poruvaRRa – which is not having an equal (no example like me);
as said in ‘dhikkuRRa keerththi’, he, without any distinction of noble or common people – for everyone to know,
therivuRRa – as having bright (famed)
keerththi – auspicious qualities,
as said in ‘guNam thigazh koNdal’, (having kind qualities like rainy clouds)
seer mugil ennum – most generous
irAmAnusan – emperumAnAr,
enna puNNiyanO – Oh! what a virtuous one he is!

When recited as ‘uruvaRRa gyAlaththu: uru -> beauty, that is goodness; aRRa -> opposite, that is, not having goodness. That is, world that does not have any goodness; in that case, for ‘therivuRRa gyAnam’,etc., not having interest in the knowledge of discerning good from bad, in the world which due to cruel karmas is without any goodness and which is to be avoided, as said in ‘eeNdu pal yOnigaL thORu uzhalvOm’, me who am going through birth and death through all sorts of creatures;

Or, by ‘therivuRRa gyAnam’, beautiful knowledge that is sharp for understanding as is about the true nature of everything; therivuRRa keerththi – glory due to brightness of knowledge spread all over the world;

seer mugil – beautiful cloud (generosity).

vyAkyAnam

therivuRRa gyAnam seRiyap perAdhu – therivu – ability to distinguish; that is, having the knowledge about AthmA and other matters; that is, distinguishing that, AthmA is to be pursued, and non-sentient (achith) is to be given up;

Twenty qualities of knowledge, as bhagavAn krishNan said in SrI bhagavath gIthA chapter 18:

uRRa gyAnam – having knowledge that is enthusiastic about this.

Sruthi also said ‘asthi brahmEthi chEdhvEdha [thaiththiriya upanishath]’ (when he knows that brahmam exists (he becomes learned));

[SrI bhagavath gIthA 13.8 to 13.12 is explained here]

amAnithvam – treat noble ones with respect
adhambithvam – not having hypocrisy when doing service to emperumAn
ahimsA – not causing harm to anyone by mind, speech, or body;
kSAnthi:- not getting agitated if others cause harm to us,
Arjavam – being honest in mind, speech, and body,
AchArya upAsanam – having sincerity in serving one’s AchAryan
Saucham – cleanliness; mind – not be greedy; speech – not lying; body – not eating the items to be avoided;
sthairyam – whoever argues to try to convince you to leave the truths of vEdhas, not getting confused, and staying in the path shown by vEdhas as advised by AchAryan;
Athma vinigraha: – controlling the mind, focusing on matter related to AthmA and focussing away from material/bodily matters;
indhriya arthEshu vairAgyam – steadfastness in avoiding material aspect sought by senses of body; (being a virAdhan)
manO ahankAra Evacha – losing affinity towards thinking body as AthmA
janma mruthyu jarA vyAdhi: dhu:ka dhOsha anu dharSanam – reflecting everyday about the sorrows of being born, death, old age, disease, etc.
asakthi: – not having interest to be involved in matters other than that of AthmA,
anabishvanga: puthra dhAra gruhAdhishu – not having attachment towards child, wife, house/land, etc.
nithyam cha sama chiththa’thvam ishtam anishta upapaththishu – – having neutral handling of good and bad happenings;
mayicha ananya yOgENa bhakthi: avyapachAriNee – keeping your pure devotion towards me only;
viviktha dhESa sEvithvam – be interested in being alone (and involve in devotion towards me),
harathi jana samsadhi – not interested to be among crowd (of worldly people) (as it affects devotion towards emperumAn)
adhyAthma gyAna nishtathvam – having thoughts only about the utmost greatness of AthmA (and not about body);
thathva gyAnArtha chinthanam – thinking through about sentient, non-sentient and being clear about them;
Ethath gyAnam ithi prOktham agyAnam athOnyathA – I only accept (the aforementioned) these as ‘gyAnam’ (knowledge). Everything else is ‘agyAnam’ (ignorance)
sAvidhyA yA vimukthayE – this is the way to know what is to be learned and not learned about based on what would allow or not allow mOksham (liberation) from this world.

that is, having complete knowledge of distinguishing between matters of truth and untruth;.

Or, therivuRRA gyAnam – is – knowledge to be bright to see the state and nature of truth; uRRa – having such knowledge well set;

seRiyap peRAdhu – not achieving (such knowledge)

vem thee vinayAl – starting from time eternal till now, I was being tied to this material world (nithya samsAri), due to doing fully well the prohibited deeds, etc;

by redundant (multiple) words of ‘vem’ (hot), ‘thee’ (fire), it shows the extreme cruelty of such karmas.

uruvaRRa gyAnaththu – having knowledge of no form; that is, the life/essence of knowledge is not present; since it says ‘agyAnam athOnya dhuktham’ (~other knowledge are of no use / brings sorrows), any knowledge that is interested in such (lowly) matters, are of no meaningful form;

uru -> Shape/form; and, so, since it is said ‘arthEnaiva viSEshOhi nirAkArathayA dhiyAm’ (we understand an item along with its qualities of form, etc, only when we gain knowledge (is the argument of emperumAnAr in support of viSishtAdhvaitham as opposed to adhvaitham which did not accept that the form is involved in gaining knowledge (so emperumAn is not having form is their argument)),

so for the knowledge, the shape / form is part of it,

and because of saying ‘santhamEnanthaO vidhu:’, that is since SrI:pathi is inside of such matters, all the knoweledge that is Not about matter together with SrI:pathi that is insider it, are formless knowledge (ignorance);

uzhalginRa ennai – even if not having interest in devotion, surrendering, etc., it is about not having any goal/principle, I am like a roaming cow, being unstable and being related to worldly matters;

when reciting as ‘uruvaRRA gyAlaththu’ – it shall mean: uru -> beauty, that is being of good; aRRu -> not having that; in this world which does not have anything that can be named good; as said in ‘eeNdu pal yOnigaL thORu uzhalvOm’, being born in many births and dying and being born again – and so roaming along in this world in such ways.

oru pozhudhil – (within a short moment (emperumAnAr made me knowledgeable); upanishath says the following:

samith pANi: SrOthriyam brahmanishtam, thasmai, savidhvan anupasannAya samyak praSAntha chiththAya SamAnvidhAya, EnAkSharam purusham vEdha sathyam prOvAchathAm thathvathO brahmavidhyAm (~ When a disciple goes to an AchAryan to learn, he need to go with joined/folded hands, eager to understand brahmam; that AchAryan shall teach such disciple having netrual mind towards good and bad, about utmost knowledge about brahmam), and,

‘thadh vidhdhi praNipAthEna pari praSNEna sEvayA, upadhEkshanthi thE gyAnam gyAninas thathva dharSina: [SrI bhagavath gIthA]’ (~submissively approach an AchArya, and render service to him with humility and ask him questions submissively; the AchArya will teach that knowledge as he has understood the real truth (that is bhagavAn)), and,

‘samvathsaram thathardhamvA mAsathrayam athApivA – pareekShya vividhOpAyai: krupayA nispruhaL vadhEth’ (serve AchAryan for at least a year, or at least six months, or at least three months; check whether disciple performs such services, and give him knowledge being neutral and out of your kindness), and

‘sadhbhudhdhi: sAdhu sEvee samuchitha charitha: thathva bOdhAbilAshee SuSrUshu: thyakthamAna: praNipadhanapara: praSnakAla pradheekSha: Santha: dhAntha: anasUyu: SaraNam upagatha: SAsthra viSvAsa sAlee – Sishya: prAptha: pareekShAm kruthavidhabhimatham thathvathO SikShaNeeya: [nyASa vimSathi]’

(disciple should be having a grasping mind, interested among devotees and serve them, have been having good conduct and habits for a long time, interested in knowing thathvam (real truth), interested in serving AchAryan, not having wrong thoughts like dhurabhimAnam, ahankAram, mamakAram, etc., always prostrating to AchAryan, waits for apt time to ask about doubts, control of external senses, control of mind, not having jealosy towards other disciples, surrendering to AchAryan, having full faith in the SAsthram taught by AchAryan; if such a disciple becomes available, then AchAryan has to test him well and the disciple should have gratitude for such test and acceptance by AchAryan – An AchAryan is to teach only such a disciple.

thus, even as SAsthram has said in these ways that one should test the state of a disciple in many ways and teach only then, even though he has divined his walk to thirukkOshtiyUr eighteen times for learning the important principles, he did not take into account such efforts, due to his generosity, and blessed me; in one moment itself –

poruvaRRa kELviyan Akki – as with the meaning of SAsthram of ‘sa Esha dhESa: kAla’, having the knowledge (of hearing advises), me having no equal;

poru -> upamAnam (equal/comparable).

As said in “thasmAn nyAsamEshAm thapasAm athirikthamAhu: [thaiththirIya upanishath nArAyaNavalli – 50]” (Thus, this nyAsa (SaraNAgathi) is said as the top-most penance), and,

‘sathkarma nirathASSudhdhA: sAnkyayOgavidhasthadhA – nArhanthi SaraNa: thasyakalAm kOti thameemabhi’ (the pure ones who are interested in good karmas, and who do know sAnkyam, yOgam,etc., they understand that those ways do not equal even in a small way to SaraNAgathi), and,

‘thEnathEnabhyathE thath thath nyAsEnaiva mAhAmunE’ (it is through SaraNAgathy that we reach emperumAn (after realizing that other ways are futile));

That is, emperumAnAr advised prapaththi (surrender) and made (me) become a prapannan (surrendered one).

ninRAn – As said in ‘abhiShichyacha lankAyAm rAkShasEndhram vibheeshaNam – kruthakruthyasthadhA rAmO vijvara: pramumOdha ha (rAma’s fear (fever) whether vibheeshaNan like other brothers would not accept to be throned as the king (of lankA) was present till vibheeshaNan accepted it, and then rAma’s fever receded. How amazing!.), (emperumAnAr) is present in this world as the only ruler, only after the achievement of reforming me (which was thought to be impossible); (he could not rest/stand til that time) till reforming me, he was like ‘nAthisvaththamanA:’(rAman started breathing only after achieving it), you see.

therivuRRa keerththi irAmAnusan ennum seer mugilE – Similar to his ‘dhikkuRRa keerththi’ (fame in all directions), having the qualities that are bright and available regardless of whether they are special or ordinary people. As said by ‘guNam thigazh koNdal’ (generous like rainy cloud), being most generous everywhere;

therivuRRa keerththi – fame that is bright for everyone to see; seer mugil – graceful cloud; gracefulness for cloud is its pouring water in land or sea, without any distinction.

enna puNNiyanO – Oh! what a virtuous one he is! As said in ‘yath thvath priyam thadhiha puNyam’ (what makes emperumAn happy is good karma), thus it can be concluded, that, emperumAnAr, for the happiness in the face of emperumAn, reformed amudhanAr and made him subservient to emperumAn.

From AzhwAr thirunagari SrI u.vE. vidhwAn thirumalai nallAn chakravarththi rAmakrishNa iyengAr’s ‘amudha virundhu’ :

uruvaRRa gyAnaththu – Formlessness of knowledge is about not fully maturing to the level of understanding of emperumAn who is present inside of all the things known.

Due to karma, the existing knowledge would go after some material (unstable) thing; when that item changes, that lowly knowledge would look for something else; and that would go on and on. So such knowledge would not be stable about anything;

Akki ninRAn – only after making me proper, was he able to rest.

– – – – –

Translation: raghurAm SrInivAsa dasan

rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – 81

February 27, 2017 Published by: raghuram

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

<< previous (nallAr paravum irAmAnusan)

Introduction (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

I shall perform all sorts of services only to those associated to the ones associated to emperumAnAr – this in previous pAsuram. Since it is due to emperumAnAr’s grace that he who was indifferent earlier has got this interest now, and so, thinking about such help of emperumAnAr to him, he addresses emperumAnAr with his respectful note that there is no equal to his grace.

Introduction (given by piLLailOkam jIyar)

In the previous pAsuram, amudhanAr talked about the interest towards those associated to the ones associated to the most distinguished personality in the world that is emperumAnAr, that is, the interest in doing services at any place, any time, any situation, using all the faculties of body, and all types.

In this pAsuram – looking at the divine face of emperumAnAr, all these times when I did not have acceptance to do services to those devoted to you, as emperumAn makes those whom He likes to be subservient to those in his antha:puram (queen’s private quarters), and for those who are not in the state of doing services to His devotees He would not give His divine feet – to such periya perumAL’s divine feet is what you have united me – there is no equal to such grace of yours, says amudhanAr.

sOrvinRi undhan thuNai adikkeezh thoNdu pattavar pAl
sArvinRi ninRa enakku arangan seyya thAL iNaigaL
pErvinRi inRu peRuththum irAmAnusA – ini un
seeronRiya karuNaikku illai mARu therivuRilE – 81

Listen

Word by word meaning (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

enakku – to me (who)
sArvinRi ninRa – was without any attachment
thoNdu pattavar pAl – towards those who are subservient like shadow and lines of feet
adik keezh – to the divine feet
undhan – of your highness
thuNai – which are beautiful as a pair
sOrvinRi – and they not having separation of mind towards some other matters,
due to giving birth to the thought in me that I am subservient only to such noble ones,
as said in ‘adiyArkku ennai At paduththa vimalan [amalanAdhipirAn – 1] (the emperumAn who is most pure, who can make me be devoted to His devotees)’, and, ‘adiyArrku At paduththAy [thiruppALLiyezhuchchi – 10]’ (please make me subservient to your devotees), He being of the nature of associating those liked by Him to His devotees, of being in the state that except for those devoted to His devotees He would not give His divine feet, such –
arangan – periya perumAL’s
thALgaL – divine feet (which are)
seyya – reddish, as a match to the color of his divine body that is green
iNaigaL – and having beauty of being together,
inRu – now/today
peRuththum – (you made me) get (to such divine feet) in that way
pErvu inRi – (that I) never get separated from (such divine feet) at any time;
irAmAnusA – Oh emperumAnAr!
ini – having this becoming like so,
therivuRil – if we think about it
mARillai – there is no equal to the
seer onRiya – most admirable
karuNaikku – grace
un – of your highness.

Or,

For ‘sORvinRi’ etc. – it could also be read as: arangan seyya thAL iNaigaL – pErvinRi – undha thuNai adik keezh thoNdu pattavar pAl sArvinRi ninRa enakku – due to my concurrence for service to emperumAn I was staunch in holding on to the divine feet of emperumAn, but due to blemished thought I did not concur to be subservient to His devotees and so I was not associated to those who serve your divine feet – now/today your highness has got that service/concurrence for me – there is no equal to such grace of your highness;

pErvu – leaving
seer – strong/solid; also, beauty;
onRi – coming/being together
mARu – concurrence.
therivuRu – research/think about it.

vyAkyAnam

sOrvinRi undhan thuNai adikkeezh – As geethAchAryan divined – ‘mayichAnanya yOgEna bhakthi: avyapichAriNee [SrI bhagavath gIthA]’ (thinking of something else in the mind other than me is corruption of mind), mind not deviating towards some other matter (than emperumAnAr!);

as said in ‘kruthvA madhyamayeem thanum – magnAn udhdharathE lOkAn kAruNyAch chAsthra pANinA’ (SrIman nArAyaNan incarnates as AchAryan for the uplifting of worldly people, using SAsthram in His hands), under that which is having the beauty of togetherness, that is, the divine feet of You who lift everyone up from the ocean that is this material world;

thoNdu pattavar pAl – towards those who are subservient like shadow and lines of feet, (to such divine feet of yours);

as said in ‘yushmath pAdhAravindha yugaLam bhajathAm gurUNAm – kUrAdhinAtha kurugEnamukAdhya pumsAm [yathirAja vimSathi – 3]’, towards such noble ones devoted to you;

( kUrAdhinAtha: ) kUraththAzhvAn

sArvinRi ninRa – not having association with them;

enakku – from time eternal till the time of surrendering to emperumAnAr, not knowing the meaning of ‘thasmAth mathbhaktha bhakthAScha pUjaneeyA viSEshatha: [SrI bhagavath gIthA]’ (So, my devotees and their devotees are to be worshiped like I am worshiped), I who was being ‘nanamEyam ’ ((rAvaNan saying) I will not fall towards His feet even when falling dead), and so was adverse; to me of such stature;

arangan seyya thAL iNaigaL – Like a mother who shows her child who due to sickness got disinterested in life sustaining and enjoyable food, to an expert who cures by medicine, as said in ‘mama math bhaktha bhakthEshu preethirabyadhikObhavEth’ (My love is more towards devotees of my devotees), and ‘adiyArkku ennai At paduththa vimalan [amalanAdhipirAn – 1]’ (the pure One who can make me subservient to His devotees), and, ’un adiyArkku At paduththAy [thiruppaLLiyezhuchchi – 10]’ (Please make me subservient to Your devotees),

being very loving towards His devotees, being an expert who knows how to make His loved ones to be subservient to His devotees for ‘Ezh AtkAlum [thiruppallANdu – 3]’ (for generations), as said by ‘chediyAr vinaigaL theer marundhE [thiruvAimozhi – 6.10.7]’ (~ Oh the medicine that cures the dense karmas), and ‘marundhE nangaL bhOga magizhchchikku [thiruvAimozhi – 9.3.4]’ (~emperumAn who is the medicine is also our enjoyment), such periya perumAL who graces the removal of bad karmas that does not give concurrence to subservience towards emperumAn and towards His devotees – His divine feet having the redness in matching contrast to the divine (green) body of emperumAn, and having the beauty of being together – such divine feet of emperumAn;

pErvinRi – to never leave (such divine feet); pErvu – leaving;

inRu peRuththum – now, (you) made me get the great benefit of being subservient (to Him) like a shadow and lines of feet; enabling such benefit;

irAmAnusA – Oh! such emperumAnAr!

ini un seer onRiya karuNaikku – As said in ‘upAyEnathu yachchakyam nathachchakyam parAkramai: [dharma SAsthram]’ (~ using expertise, but do not use inappropriate tools to show your greatness), having the expertise; as said in ‘thvath dhAsa dhAsa gaNanA charamAva dhauya: thath dhAsa dhAsaika rasathA avirathA mamAsthu [yathirAja vimSathi – 16]’ (~ wish to be always interested in serving the last of series of hierarchy of servants of your devotees), after correcting me to be in the stage of prathama parvam (devotion to emperumAn) which is the entry state for the stage that is ultimately wished for, that is charama parvam (devoted to devotees) – for your grace that is of great glory, which made me get this devotion towards emperumAn;

seer – beauty, also greatness;

onRi – being together; along with;

therivuRil – if we thought about it well,

mARu illai – there is no equal;

Since it is said ‘sidhdhirbhavathivA nEthi samSaya: achyutha sEvinAm’ (those surrendered to achyuthan’s (emperumAn’s) divine feet would always have uncertainty whether they would get liberated) – even the beautiful grace of ‘then arangar’ would not equal that of emperumAnAr, is the thought running in amudhanAr’s mind, you see!

Since it is said ‘nasamSayasthu thath bhaktha paricharyArathAthmanAm’ (there is no uncertainty about liberation for who love to do services to His devotees) – this meaning is achieved;

mARu – equal / substitute;

Or,

When read as – ‘arangan seyya thAL iNaigaL(il) – pErvinRi, – sOrvinRi unthan thuNai adikkeezh thoNdu pattavar pAl sArvinRi ninRa enakku – inRu peRuththum irAmAnusA – un seer onRiya karuNaikku – thirivuRil – mARu illai’ – due to my concurrence for service to emperumAn I was devoted to the divine feet of periya perumAL, but due to being proud of it, not knowing the wonderfulness of His devotees , I was not associated to those who serve your divine feet – now/today your highness has enabled that service/concurrence in me – for such unmatched grace of your highness, if we analyze it, there is no one equal to that.

From AzhwAr thirunagari SrI u.vE. vidhwAn thirumalai nallAn chakravarththi rAmakrishNa iyengAr’s ‘amudha virundhu’ :

sOrvinRi undhan thuNai adi keezh… enakku – By this amudhanAr thinks about his previous state. By ‘undhan’ it shows the attained association with emperumAnAr, and ‘thuNai adi’ the enjoyable quality of those divine feet. ‘adi keezh’ shows being of service under the feet like shadow and lines under the feet.

Like how shadow and lines under feet always stay with the feet, and is not useful for anything else, being under the divine feet of emperumAnAr itself is considered as the destiny and so not doing it for any other benefit – such are the devotees of emperumAnAr.

Since such devotees would do service with love, it is shown with ‘sOrvinRi thoNdu pattavar’. sOrvu – separation/deviation. Separation in mind is about focusing on something else.

Since it is done with love, it is said in ‘thoNdu pattavar’ (being of service) and not ‘thoNdu seybavar’ (doing service); their identity is that they serve out of love – their identity is not based on their clan or lineage.

Being associated with such devotees was not present before in me – laments amudhanAr.

emperumAnAr made me understand that this AthmA belongs to such devotees.

Due to being subservient to the devotees, arangan’s divine feet was possible to be available by Him.

Because of that association with Him made possible by emperumAnAr, He enriched in me the devotion towards His devotees.

– – – – –

Translation: raghurAm SrInivAsa dasan

rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – 80

February 25, 2017 Published by: raghuram

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

<< previous (poyyaich churakkum)

Introduction (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

amudhanAr was sad seeing the state of samsAris who did not accept surrendering to this matter – that was in previous pAsuram; When asked ‘What is it the state you are in?’, amudhanAr replies, ‘I will serve those who consider as their destiny, the people who consider this matter (emperumAnAr’s divine feet) as their destiny, like in ‘ozhivil kAlam ellAm [thiruvAimozhi – 3.3.1]’ (at all times without break) – this in this pAsuram.

Introduction (given by piLLailOkam jIyar)

In the previous pAsuram, amudhanAr talked about the state of those in this world that instigates ignorance, who have sunken due to searching everywhere and floundering looking for some other god who might save them, by not accepting to surrender to emperumAnAr, even though emperumAnAr is there who has won the bad philosophies and established the true path of vEdhas.

In this pAsuram – unlike such people, those who are most distinguished compared to them, and not forgetting at any time and also being devotional and loving towards the supreme souls who always have reliance on emperumAnAr – I shall do services only to such devotees whatever few they may be – at all times, at all states, and of all types, and using all faculties of body, and under everyone’s knowledge about it (serve together) – says amudhanAr about his state.

nallAr paravum irAmAnusan thirunAmam namba
vallAr thiRaththai maRavAdhavargaL yavar avarkkE
ellA idaththilum enRum eppOdhilum eththozhumbum
sollAl manaththAl karumaththinAl seyvan sOrvinRiyE – 80

Listen

Word by word meaning (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

nallAr – As said in ‘nallAr navil kurugUr nagarAn [thiruviruththam – 100]’ (those having auspicious qualities and good actions praise nammAzhvAr who incarnated in thirukkurugUr (AzhvAr thirunagari)), all the noble ones
paravum – from their respective places, based on love, they praise
irAmAnsan– emperumAnAr; his –
thirunAmam – divine name; as said by kUraththAzhvAn in ‘nachEth rAmAnujEthyEshA chathurA chathuraksharee – kAmavasthAm prapadhyanthE janthavO hantha mAdhruSa:’ (If there wasn’t this powerful four letter word ‘rA.mA.nu.ja’, Oh! what state would the animals like me be in), such divine name
namba vallAr thiRaththai – which they can consider as their shelter; such people’s ways
maRavAdhavargaL yavar – is always thought about
yAvar – by some few people –
avarkkE – only to them
ella idaththilum – in all the places
enRum – at all times,
eppOdhilum – at all situations / conditions,
eththozhumbum – by all types/forms of subservience
sollAl – by voice
manaththAl – by mind
karumaththinAl – by body (physically)
as said by ‘thanakkEyAga [thiruvAimozhi – 2.9.4]’ (emperumAn should accept my service only for His benefit/enjoyment),
sOrvinRich cheyvan – will do without any separate enjoyment (pruthak rasam)

When some recite as ‘vallAr thiRaththai madhiyAdhavargaL’ , then ‘madhiththu’ to mean limiting the level of their devotion, and so this phrase to mean, those who do not look at limits of the level of their ways.

nambu – having faith; also, liking (of emperumAnAr’s divine name);
thozhumbu – slave/subservient.
By sol, karumam (words, actions), it identifies corresponding faculties, that is, speech and body.
sOrvu – deviation.

vyAkyAnam

nallAr paravum irAmAnusan – Like how nammAzhvAr is liked by the noble ones living in (AzhvAr) thirunagari as said in ‘nallAr navil kurugUr nagarAn [thiruviruththam – 100]’ (those having auspicious qualities and good actions praise nammAzhvAr who incarnated in thirukkurugUr (AzhvAr thirunagari)),

he is liked by that nammAzhvAr (nallAr) himself by saying ‘kaliyum kedum kaNdu koNmin [thiruvAimozhi – 5.2.1]’ (effects of kali yugam will be removed, you shall see), and by personal disciple of nammAzhvAr that is madhurakavigaL by saying ‘mEvinEn avan pon adi [kaNNinuN chiruth thAmbu – 2]’ (reached nammAzhvAr‘s divine feet (which is considered as emperumAnAr)), and by nAthamunigaL by doing thiruvArAdhanam to the bhavishyadhAchArya vigraham given by the grace of nammAzhvAr, and by ALavandhAr of the same clan (of SrIman nAthamunigaL) who got that vigraham, by saying ‘Amudhalvan [thiruvAimozhi – 7.9.3]’ (he shall be the head of the clan of prapannas) – in such ways they liked emperumAnAr.

As all of the aforementioned had spread emperumAnAr’s glory in this world earlier, like saying ‘innAnilaththE vandhu nAttinan’ (established in this world), getting clarity from that is how others starting from AzhvAn, AndAn had started liking emperumAnAr.

Noble ones read the words of nAradha purANam – ‘anantha:prathamam rUpam lakshmaNasthu thatha:param – balapadhra: thrutheeyasthu kalau rAmAnujas smrutha:’ (incarnated in krutha yugam as thiruvananthAzhvAn, in thrEthA yugam as lakshmaNAn, in dhvApara yugam as balarAman, and he will incarnate as rAmAnujar in kali yugam)

As said in ‘arvAnchO yath padha sarasija dhvanthvamASrithya pUrvE mUrdhnA yasyAnvayamupagathA dhESikA mukthi mApu: – sOyam rAmAnuja munirapi’, (Those who are after emperumAnAr would survive by relation with his divine feet, and those before him would survive by relation of his divine head), all the noble ones, from their respective places, due to subservience to their love (prEma paravaSar), would praise emperumAnAr.

Such emperumAnAr’s –

thirunAmam namba vallAr thiRaththai – thirunAmam : divine name (of emperumAnAr); As said in ‘nachEth rAmAnujEthyEshA chathurA chathuraksharee – kAmavasthAm prapadhyanthE janthavO hantha mAdhruSa:’ (If there wasn’t this power four letter word ‘rAmAnuja’, Oh! what state would the animals like me be in’), and in ‘rAmAnuja dhivAkara:’ (the sun that is emperumAnAr (bringing light (knowledge)), and in ‘rAmAnuja padhAmbhOja samASrayaNA sAlina:’ (those having glorious quality of surrendering to emperumAnAr’s divine feet), and in ‘rAmAnuja padhach chAyA’ ((being a) shadow of emperumAnAr’s divine feet (always being with him and serving him, like embAr)), and in ‘thasmai rAmAnujAryAya nama:parama yOginE [vEdhArtha sangraham thaniyan]’ (salutations to that emperumAnAr who is a great ascetic), and in ‘rAmAnujAryam namethEdhyavAdheeth’ (hey rAmAnujA! it is to you that I salute) , and in ‘thasmin rAmAnujAryE’ (towards that emperumAnAr), and in ‘rAmAnujaSSaraNamasthu’ (let emperumAnAr’s divine feet be our shelter), and in ‘rAmAnujam yathi pathim praNamAmi mUrdhnA’ (~we surrender to emperumAnAr’s divine feet ), they are not able to tolerate separation from the chathuraksharee (four letter word), that is, ‘rA.mA.nu.ja’ – they consider only that name as their shelter and are having strong conviction in it – the ways of such nobles ones, like AzhvAn, AndAn,

emperumAnAr – SrIperumbUthUr , mudhaliyANdAn (haritha vAraNa puram (Nazarethpettai))

(SAsthram shows that we should follow what the preceptors like the aforementioned have done) :-

‘yathA thE thathra varthEran, thathA thathra varthEthA: athAbhyAkhyA thEshu‘, (in the ways of AchAryan what he speaks, where he lives, do services to him till the end), and,

‘yAnyasmAkagum sucharithAni, thAni thvayOpAsyAni ‘ (what are to be followed by you are whatever the ancestors have done), ‘nO itharANi’ (there is no other shelter for us),

‘yE kE chAsmachchrEyagumSo brAhmaNA:’ and ‘thAni thvayOpAsyAni’,

and,

‘yanthvAdhyA: kriyamANam praSamSanthi svadharma yam vigarhasi sOdharma (what the preceptors say as correct path (dharma) is the correct path; what they show as adharmam is adharmam),

‘ vEdha SAsthra rathA rUdA: gyAna kadga dharAdhvijA: kreedArthamapi yath brUyu: sa dharma na ithara smrutha:’ (preceptor climbing the chariot that is vEdha SAsthram, with the big knife that is knowledge, whatever he says even as humor is dharmam),

‘yAm thvEshAm svairakathA: thA Esha bhavanthi SasthrANi samaya niyatha sAdhu vruthyA samEdham’ (even if such preceptors say something casually, that would end up being SAsthram to be followed);

As said in ‘parigrAhyam pUrvAchAryargaLudaiya vachanamum anushtAnamum [SrIvachana bhUshaNam]’ (~what preceptors said you say that, what they do, you do),

in these thousand ways that show the state of intellect and corresponding actions of emperumAnAr’s disciples;

the divine name rAmAnuSan as written by svAmi himself

maRavAdhavargaL yavar – As said in ‘svAdhyAyAnmA pramadha: (do not skip even one day from reciting vEdhas),

AchAryAyapriyam dhana mAhruthya prajA thanthum mAvyavachchEthSee: (earn the wealth (service) that is dear to AchAryan, stay with him at all times for doing service),

‘sathyAnna pramadhi thavyam, dharmAnna pramadhi thavyam’ (mind, speech, and body should be aligned – do not deviate from it; do not deviate from what SAsthram said as dharmam),

and so

instead of forgetting those (noble ones) due to weakness of faith, whatever few ones who are always thinking of the devotees of emperumAnAr;

To begin with amudhanAr meditates upon emperumAnAr’s divine name as said in ‘nenjE solluvOm avan nAmangaLE’ (oh mind! let us recite his names),

and he advises to people of the world as he said in ‘irAmAnusan enRu solluminE’ (say (the name of) emperumAnAr),

and he made it as a prabandham (this prabandham) about emperumAnAr for all the prapannas to recite about him as said in ‘sayam tharu keerththi irAmAnusa muni thAL iNai mEl uyarndha guNaththuth thiruvarangaththu amudhu Ongum anbal iyambum kaliththuRai anthAdhi Odha [rAmAnusan nURRanthAdhi thaniyan]’ (oh mind! please accept to recite the rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi) – for me to get such capability/interest, they reformed me who was like a barren land (karunthaRai); they are the ones like AzhvAn;

When recited as ‘namba vallAr thiRaththai madhiyAdhavargaL’ – it shall mean – those who do consider the limits in the ways of those who have the state of conviction on emperumAnAr’s divine name;

avarkkE – Avoiding doing in a common way that is both for the happiness in their face, and for my survival – doing it with staunchness that it is only for the happiness in their face as my destiny, as said in ‘thanakkEyAga [thiruvAimozhi – 2.9.4]’ (emperumAn should accept my service only for His benefit/enjoyment); from the ‘E’ in ‘avarkkE’ – this meaning of ‘only’ is formed.

ellA idaththilum enRum eppOdhilum – As said in ‘sarvEshu dhESa kAlEshu sarvAvasthAsu sAchyutha – kinkarOsmi’ (all, all places and time, in all situations I wish to be able to serve you), and in ‘ozhivil kAlam ellAm [thiruvAimozhi – 3.3.1]’ (at all times without break, being always with you in all states/situations), and in ‘kAlam sakalamapi sarvathra sakalAsu avasthAsu Avisyur mama’ (at all times, all places and in all ways let me be a servant for You)– like how the involvement was in prathama vishayam (emperumAn), since He himself divined – ‘thasmAth madhbhaktha bhakthAScha pUjaneeyA viSEshatha: – math bakthaissahasam vAsa:’ (so my devotees and their devotees are to be worshiped; so you stay with them and worship them), and, ‘thasmai dhEyam thathOgrAhyam sacha pUjyOyathAhyaham [kaNNan’s words in gAurda purANam]’ (whoever wishes to do services to me, see them, they are my devotees),

in all the places, at all times, and in all situations;

ellA idaththilum – in all the places

enRum – in whichever place you are in (mountain, forest, or ocean) (avasthai),

eppOdhilum – at all times.

sollAl manaththAl karumaththinAl – by these three; in all the three of manO (mind), vAk (speech), and kAyam (body/physically); by sol, and karumam (words, actions), it identifies corresponding faculties, that is, speech and body.

eththozhumbum – in whatever form, any type of service/subservience; in any situation;

sOrvinRiyE – As prayed in ‘vazhuvilA adimai seyya vENdum nAm [thiruvAimozhi – 3.3.1]’ (we shall do services without any blemishes/deviation), without any break/deviation; sOrvu – deviation;

seyvan – I shall do.

Among those three, even within each of them, I shall do all kind of service by using each faculty of the body – says amudhanAr.

‘vAcha yatheendhra manasA vapushA cha yushmath pAdhAravindha yugaLam bhajathAm gurUNAm – kUrAdhinAtha kurugESamukAdhya pumsAm pAdhAnu chinthanaparas sathatham bhavEyam’ [yathirAja vimSathi – 3] is how jeeyar also has prayed.

Thus amudhanAr expressed his staunchness of service as said in ‘nanRum thiru udaiyOm nAnilaththil evvuyirkkum – onRum kuRai illai OdhinOm, kunRam eduththAn adi sEr irAmAnusan thAL – pidiththAr pidiththAraip paRRi [by piLLai uRangAvilli dhAsar in iyal sARRu]’ (we have the blessing of pirAttiyAr in this world, there is no shortcoming for anyone, we who hold on to the divine feet of those who hold on to the divine feet of emperumAnAr who holds on to the divine feet of the One who lifted gOvardhana mountain).

From AzhwAr thirunagari SrI u.vE. vidhwAn thirumalai nallAn chakravarththi rAmakrishNa iyengAr’s ‘amudha virundhu’ :

Let samsAris’ state be so. What is your state? Replying to those asking so – I have not stopped at the stage of taking emperumAnAr as god. I got the attainment of state of doing service without any break to those who consider as their god the people who consider emperumAnAr as their god – says amudhanAr.

nallAr paravum irAmAnusan – those in any place and at any time – even in the past – who have praised emperumAnAr due to their love for him; vyAsa said ‘kalau kaSchith bhavishyathi’ (there is going to be one (emperumAnAr) born in kali yugam), and nammAzhvAr said, ‘kaliyum kedum kaNdu koNmin [thiruvAimozhi – 5.2.1]’ (~(due to emperumAnAr’s birth) bad effects of kali yugam will be nullified – you shall see).

There are two main 4-letter names – nArAyaNa which is prathama parvam, and rAmAnuja which is charama parvam. To show the greatness of the second name, it includes a special qualification as ‘chathurA’ chathuraksharee’. While nArAyana can give the joy of SrIvaikuNtam as well as ties of material world, the word rAmAnuja gives only the joy of SrIvaikuNtam – thus it has got this special skill.

{translator’s note: chathuryati could mean ‘wish for four of anything’. Here we wish for four letters of the name rAmAnuja} .

No need to consider their clan or gOthram (lineage of birth), if one is always thinking without forgetting, the great ways of those having staunch faith in rAmAnuja manthram, then I will do all kinds of service only to them, says amudhanAr.

nammAzhvAr says about himself, ‘thirumAl thiruppEr vallAr adik kaNNi sUdiya mARan [nammAzhvAr who wears the garland that is divine feet of the devotees who are well versed in the names of emperumAnAr who is the husband of lakshmI]’ (thiruviruththam – 100); but amudhanAr says that he would be subservient to those who always remembers those who have faith in the divine name rAmAnujar, and thus talks about his greatness being one level up.

eppOdhilum – in all levels/states. Whichever level/state I may be in. This is because the previous two phrases (ellA idaththilum, enRum) were about any place and any time.

sOrvinRi cheyvan – sOrvu – deviation; deviation in doing service is – considering the joy of service as one’s own and enjoying that by oneself. Unlike that, considering only the happiness of one who is accepting that service is the service without deviation.

– – – – –

Translation: raghurAm SrInivAsa dasan

rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – 79

February 23, 2017 Published by: raghuram

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

<< previous (karuththil pugundhu)

Introduction (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

In the previous pAsuram, amudhanAr showed his state, that as emperumAnAr gave him the true knowledge, other types of knowledge would not be set in his mind; In this pAsuram – even though having taste/interest to get saved (from the material cycle), some are losing the best true knowledge, by ignoring this required aspect (love towards emperumAnAr’s divine feet), such are the people attached to worldly affairs – so amudhanAr feels sad.

Introduction (given by piLLailOkam jIyar)

In the previous pAsuram – emperumAnAr removed the blemish in my mind, reformed it, and let true knowledge be born, and made me subservient to Sriya:pathi – would my mind go looking for someone else after this? (in previous pAsuram he actually mentioned that his mind would not be set in other false meanings; here it is mentioned that he said that his mind would not go after someone else; that is, going after someone else would itself imply that the mind set is in false meanings) – divined amudhanAr about the strength of his stability in this matter.

In this pAsuram – even though the sentient beings in this material world also have got the same opportunity to be in this way, instead of that, the words of bAhyas and kudhrushtis (those who reject and misinterpret vEdhas), who talk whatever came to their mouth/mind about AthmA’s dhEha parimANathvam (AthmA is same as body), kShanikathvam (momentariness), etc. – (emperumAnAr) driving away the meanings/goals of their philosophies without trace, and earlier when their assigning of wrong meanings to vEdhas were spread everywhere in the world, (emperumAnAr) had shown the true meaning;

So even though there is emperumAnAr, due to thinking that he is similar to them, they had left from him and were hoping against hope in their minds whether some other deity would save them, and they were in vain, and were uselessly having doubts/uncertainties in their minds and got ruined – seeing such state of them, amudhanAr feels sad.

thiruvarangaththu amudhanAr (how do we make him happy now after 1000 years?)

poyyaich churakkum poruLaith thuRandhu indhap phUthalaththE
meyyaip purakkum irAmAnusan niRka vERu nammai
uyyak koLLa valla dheyvam ingi yAdhu enRu ularndhu avamE
aiyappadA niRpar vaiyyaththuLLOr nallaRivu izhandhE – 79

Listen

Word by word meaning (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

poyyai – the pure falsities of saying AthmA’s dhEha parimANathvam (AthmA is like body and does not have intellect) , kshaNikam gyAna rUpathvam (intellect/knowledge is transient (and knowing this gives him liberation, and if not knowing this then it gives samsAram)), jatathvam (AthmA is unintelligent), etc., and — brahmam’s mAyA SapaLitha-thva (brahmam is covered by mAyA; so, though brahmam is one, looking at reflection on bodies it thinks there are many Athmas (and those bodies are NOT real)), upAdhi miSrathvam (brahmam is one, and is reflected on bodies and appears to brahmam to be many AthmAs (and those bodies are real)), vikArithvam (brahmam undergoes changes), etc.
churakkum – and explaining more and more in these (wrong) ways,
poruLai – such meaning of those philosophies that reject or misinterpret vEdhas,
Otti – driving away (such wrong ones),
irAmAnusan – emperumAnAr
purakkum – nurtures
meyyai – true meaning
indha bhUthalaththE – in this earth;
niRka – (he is) waiting and looking at leading path, hoping, whether anyone would come (to learn);
(but) due to thinking of emperumAnAr as someone like us (sajAtheeya budhdhi), they disregard him,
valla – can
vERu – other
dheyvam – god / deity
uyyak koLLa – save
nammai – us
ingi yAdhu enRu – (they) search whether (such deity is) present anywhere here,
ularndhu – due to anguish in their mind (due to not finding such deity), their bodies become dry / in vain,
izhandhu – (and) not getting
nal aRivu – the true knowledge that helps in realizing that this (emperumAnAr‘s divine feet) is our destiny which gives true meaning, and thus get saved;
even though this true matter is your savior,
vaiyaththu uLLOr – those in the earth
avamE – (are) uselessly
aiyappadA niRpar – having doubts/uncertain minds.
Oh! what bad state this is of them! – is the thought.

For ‘poyyaich churakkum’ etc – its meaning is also as follows – body which due to the nature of getting created and destroyed, and thus keeps changing, is considered as false (not stable); due to series of births that would make us think more and more that the body is AthmA itself and would create the feeling of being independent (from emperumAn), – emperumAnAr drove away such aspects by his advises in this earth, and protects AthmA which is in the form of truth and would be the truth;

when such emperumAnAr (who removed the false (body) and advised the truth (AthmA)), is present/available;

By thamizh grammar, ingu yAdhenRu is written (as well as recited) as ingi yAdhEnRu; this is similar to ‘umakki yAn’.

vyAkyAnam

poyyaich churakkum poruLaith thuRandhu – poy – untrue. churakkum poruLai – production of more and more such falsities by those who reject or misinterpret vEdhas. As said in ‘asannEva bhavathi, asath brahmEthi vEdhachEth’ ( who understands brahmam as asath, he also become asath; he who understands brahmam as sath becomes that as well), that is thinking wrongly where knowledge that is absent, attaches wrong attributes, or mistakes for something else (agyAna, anyathA gyAna, viparItha gyAna).

They are – (philosophy names in parentheses below are based on text by AzhwAr thirunagari SrI u.vE. vidhwAn thirumalai nallAn chakravarththi rAmakrishNa iyengAr) svami –

– thinking of AthmA as dhEha parimANathva (AthmA and body are same by evolving) (jaina philosophy),

– kShaNika vigyAna rUpathva (knowledge is transient, becomes new every second) (baudhdha philosophy),

– jatathva (AthmA is unintelligent) (nyAya philosophy), etc.,

and,

– thinking of brahmam as mAyA SapaLithathva (brahmam is covered by mAyA and has misunderstood about truth that the reflections of self from other things are actual AthmAs (but they say that the things (reflected from) do not exist)) (by mAyi (Sankara) philosophy),

– upAdhi miSrathva (items from which brahmam is reflected do exist) (bhAskara philosophy),

– vikArathva (brahmam undergoes changes, and undergoes similar good/bad feelings/situations like chith (changes behavior based on body taken) and achith (changes its form (for example from mud to a pot)) (yAdhavaprakASa philosophy), etc.,

and,

– thinking that the world is mithyAthva (being untrue) (Sankara), avidhyA kAryathva (are due to ignorance (of brahmam imagining that all that appears are existing), etc.,

in these ways, the meanings are untrue, and against vEdhas;

Or, (alternate meaning follows; please note the meaning in this part; a continuation of this alternate meaning is provided near the end for rest of the lines of pAsuram).

poyyaich churakkum poruLai – As said in ‘nAsathO vidhyathE bhAva: [SrI bhagavath gIthA]’ (any thing that is said as sath would not undergo change. (anything which is Not said as sath would not be unchanging)) , due to the cycle of getting created and destroyed, the body is considered false, due to the series of births that create feeling that body is AthmA, and of feeling independent (from emperumAn), etc., – starting from such meanings;

poruLaith thuRandhu – drove away such untrue meanings; in thirunArAyanpuram (drove away those of other philosophies, with his form of thousand heads), and in sarasvathee baNdAram (drove away those who debated and who tried to cast illness in him), as said in ‘kOvA chakShur idhanjchayEabi purassOpadAra tharkkachchadA SasthrASasthri vihAra sampratharaNA svAdhEshu vAdhEshuka:’ (~ only emperumAnAr can do debates in such ways), like kAviri river flowing unbounded by the shores, with true overwhelming unstoppable arguments, argued in many ways with those who reject or misinterpret vEdhas and made them not rest, and not even open their eyes (to argue), and showed (the following proving ways):

if body itself were AthmA then dead body would have to have intelligence, and,

if AthmA were kshaNikam (transient), then for happiness and sorrows that happened first, there would not have to be any thoughts/memories about them in the next moment, and,

if knowledge (gyAnam) itself were AthmA, then it should stay as ‘I am knowledge’ and not as ‘I have come to know/learn’ where it (correctly) thinks about being the ‘bearer’ of knowledge;

if AthmA were jatam (unintelligent), then as said in ‘Ethadh yOvEththitham prAhu: kShEthrajya ithi thath vidha: [SrI bhagavath gIthA]’ (considering your body as a land, grow plants (using AthmA) that are good qualities like non-violence, etc.,), it should not say ‘pAdhE mE vEdhanA, Sirasi mE sukham; (I am having pain in my foot, comfort in my head)’, and ‘vigyAna ghana:’ (wherever AthmA is kept it would be having the weight of intelligence (like wherever salt is kept in mouth it would taste salty), thus AthmAs are based on intelligence/sentience; and,

even if brahmam is mAyASapalitham (brahmam is covered by mAyA (imagination) and imagines/confuses itself as being many), as said in ‘nishkaLam nishkriyam Santham niravadhyam niranjchanam’ (there is no blemishes, not affected by deeds, all wishes are fulfilled, no drawbacks, etc. ), since it is without impurity, and of joyous form, it should not get confused into thinking that I am jeevan or eeSvaran; and if it so gets confused, then, as said in ‘EkO dhEvas sarva bUthEshu kUta:’ (there is only one god, there is that only one brahmam), for the one who is unique (there is nothing else), there would not be anyone to clear that confusion to brahmam, and so brahmam would have to stay with that confusion for ever; and,

if brahmam is vikAri (undergoes changes), it would contradict with the Sruthi that says it is nirvikAri; and,

emperumAnAr told them in many such ways about contradictions (in their arguments/assertions), instructed them, and made them lose, and since they cannot stay in this world in that way, drove them away into the sea;

indha bhUthalaththE meyyaip purakkum – nurturing the true knowledge in this earth; drove away the ones who argue without any basis (dry), and as said about authoritativeness of vEdhas about everything, in ‘pramANam vEdhAScha’ (vEdhas are the authoritative reference ever), and, ‘Adhau vEdhA: pramANam’ (from old times vEdhas only are authoritative reference),

(Discussion below includes 12 of them for brahmam, 6 for AthmA, and 3 for dhEham (body))

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Since it is said ‘sathyam gyAnam anantham brahma’ (there is no change in nature (no svarUpa vikArathvam), is of intelligence (no jadathvam), not limited (by time, place, or material (not having thrividha parichchEdham) – such is brahmam), and,

for saying ‘kapyAsam puNdareekam EvamakShiNee’ (having eyes like blossomed beautiful lotus flower), since it is said ‘vishNO:padhE paramE madhva uthsa:’ (from the divine feet of vishNu flows nectar (beauty)), emperumAn is of ‘subhASraya dhivyA rUpam’ (so brahmam does have divine body),

and since it is said ‘parAsya Sakthir vividhaiva SrUyathE, svAbhAvikee gyAna bala kriyAcha’ (brahmam is great; its power is great; uncontrolled independent one, having knowledge, strength, etc.), emperumAn is ‘samastha kalyANa guNAthmakan (brahmam is having all auspicious qualities), and,

since it is said ‘pAdha: asya vishvA bhUthAni, thripAdha syAmrutham dhivi’ (one part is leelA vibhUthi (every place other than SrIvaikuNtam), and three parts is nithya vibhUthi (SrIvaikuNtam), so He is ubhaya vibhUthi nAthan (He is the lord for both the worlds), and,

since it is said ‘hreeSchathE lakshmeeScha pathnyau’ (He is having wives SrIdhEvi, bhUmA dhEvi and neeLA dhEvi), He is dhivya mahishI vallabhan (He is the beloved husband of divine wives), and,

since it is said ‘yathra pUrvE sadhyAssanthi dhEvA:’ (dhEvas, that is, the nithyasUris perform services to Him), and, ‘yathra rushaya: prathama jAyE purANA:’ (nithyasUris perform services to Him), and, ‘Ethath sAma gAyan nAsthE’ (~ they sing sAma vEdham (in SrIvaikuNtam)), so He is sUribruntha paricharyamAnan (He receives services from nithyasUris surrounding Him), and,

since it is said ‘thadhaikShatha bahusyAm prajAyEyEthi’ (~ shall become (create) many forms of lives), and ‘thath srushtvA, thadhEvAnuprAviSath, thadhanupraviSya, sach chathyachchA bhavath’ (~ emperumAn being present inside every AthmA gives existence to them), He is being sUkShma chith achith viSishtan (He being along with sentient and non-sentient that are in subtle forms (during total annihilation)), and is jagath kAraNa bhUthan (reason for creation of world), and,

since it is said ‘Esha sarva bhUthAntharAthmApahatha pApmA dhivyO dhEva EkO nArAyaNa:’ (He who is inside every AthmA, He is the lord of all dhEvas, He who does not have an equal, He is nArAyaNan), He is sarva antharyAmi (He is present in every AthmA), and,

since it is said ‘ambhasya pArE bhuvanasya madhyE nAgasya prushtE mahathO maheeyAn’ (He is on top of mountain, inside the sea, in the sky, in different forms), He is vyUha rupENa avasthithan (being present in divided forms like sankarshaNa, et al. (in milky ocean)), and,

since it is said ‘brahmaNyO dhEvakee puthrO brahmaNyO madhu sUdhanOm’ (understand that brahmam is the son of dhEvaki, understand that brahmam is madhusUdhanan), and, ‘ajAyamAnO bahudhA vijAyathE’ (He who is unborn, is born in innumerable incarnations), He is anantha avathAra gandhan (He is of innumerable incarnations), and,

since it is said ‘sayaSyAyampurushE, yASchAsAvAdhithyE’ (~In the middle of constellation of Sun is nArAyaNan), and, ’ya EshOntharAdhithyE hiraNmaya:purusha:’ (~ He is present in the middle of constellation of Sun), He is ‘samastha dhivya dhESa nilayan’ (He is present in all the divine temples), and,

since it is said ‘Om nArAyaNAya vidhmahE vAsudhEvAya dheemahi thannO vishNu: prachOdhayAth’ (~ emperumAn having names of nArAyaNa, vAsudhEva, vishNu), He is ‘vishNu nArAyaNa vAsudhEvAdhi Sabhdha vAchyan’ (emperumAn identified with names such as vishNu, nArAyaNa, and vAsudhEvan), and,

since it is said ‘parAthparam purushamupaithi dhivyam’ He is ‘sarvasmAth paran’, and,

(now, about jeevAthmas)

since it is said ‘EshO aNu: AthmA purusham upaithi dhivya:’ (AthmA is of minute form, and he reaches para brahamam), and, ‘ArAkramAthrOhya varO pithrushta:’, He is being ‘prathyakAthma aNu’ (AthmA which glows by itself (self-illuminous)), and,

since it is said ‘nithyAnAm – chEthanAnAm’, He is being ‘nithyan’ ((AthmA is) eternal), and,

since it is said ‘bhOkthA bhOgyam prErithArancha mathvA’¸ He is ‘bhOkthA’ (AthmA is one who enjoys (the things), and,

since it is said ‘pruthak AthmAnam prErithAramcha mathva:’ (understand about jeevAthmA as different from sarvESvaran who instigates) AthmA is being different from SarvESvaran, and,

since it is said ‘thayOranya:pippalam svAdhvaththi’, (AthmA is born to experience the fruits of his deeds) is ‘karma pala bhOkthA’ (experiences the effects of his deeds), and,

since it is said ‘brahmaNEthvAmahasa OmithyAthmAnam yunjeetha’ (jeevAthmA shall say Om and worship brahmam (implies He is the lord and we are His servants)), AthmA is ‘bhagavath ananyArha sEsha bhUthan’ (AthmA is a servant who worships only the emperumAn), and,

since it is said ‘thamEvam vidhvAn amrutha iha bhavathi’ ((such AthmA) would attain liberation in this birth and there is no need to search for any other path for libearation), based on the aforementioned state (of being subservient to emperumAn only), using that knowledge AthmA shall get the liberation to ultimate destiny (service to emperumAn), and,

(now about non-sentient)

since it is said ‘samAnam vrukSham parishasvajAthE’ (~ bird in a tree playing happily (non-sentient is for emperumAn to play), for eeSvaran, achith (non-sentient) also is kreedA parikaram (tool for emperumAn to enjoy), and

since it is said ‘AkASath vAyu:, vAyOragni:, agnErApa:, adhbhya:pruthivee’ (from ether came air, from air came fire, from fire came water, from water came land) it would be as ‘chathurvimSathi thathvAthmakam’ (non-sentient is twenty four thathvams (realities/forms)), and

since it is said ‘mruththikEthyEva sathyam’ (pot, and such similar items imply truth/existence of sand), it would be ‘thuchcha vyAvruththam’ (non-sentient (achith) different from insignificant), and,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

in these ways emperumAnAr advised about the true character and innate nature of thathva thrayam (chith (sentient), achith (non-sentient), and eeSvaran (emperumAn), in this world which is of ignorance, and thus emperumAnAr so helped;

Or,

to continue with the alternate meaning mentioned earlier, the meaning for ‘poruLaith thurandhu indha bhUthalaththE meyyaip purakkum’ shall be – emperumAnAr drove away one’s feeling of independence (from emperumAn), etc., using his advice, and in this world, he saved the AthmA who is sadhaika rUpa rUpan, and sathya Sabhdha vAchyan (identified by the word Truth).

irAmAnusan niRka – even though there is emperumAnAr present as vEdha mArgga prathishtApanAchArya ubhaya vEdhAnthAchAryar, who is looking out to see if there is any one who could be reformed, and is ‘edhir sUzhal pukku’, waiting for some to show up in his sight,

vERu nammai uyyak kOLLa valla dheivam – As ‘anAdhi pApa vAsanA dhUshita aSEsha sEmusheekar’ (having ignorant knowledge based on scent of eternal bad deeds), due to having the thought that emperumAnAr is one like us (human), and not agreeing to his advice, they look somewhere else looking for ‘some other god who can save us’,

ingi yAdhu enRu ularndhu – ‘who is such god’ – and so kept searching, and flounder, and not finding such god (because such is not present elsewhere), become dry and suffer, and,

avamE aiyyappadA niRpar – even if told that you who have not considered that this matter (emperumAnAr) has to be accepted, you do not have the intellect to take that and survive, and so you do not have any other way to survive – so uselessly they stood having doubts of whether there is any one for them to save them;

vaiyaththu uLLOr nal aRivu izhandhE – the sentient in this earth, have lost the most pure knowledge, and so our advice also ended without use; they got ruined as said in ‘samSayAthmA vinaSyathi’ (one always having doubts will be ruined), Oh!, and so since amudhnAr is a well-wisher of everyone, he is feeling sad for them, you see.

From AzhwAr thirunagari SrI u.vE. vidhwAn thirumalai nallAn chakravarththi rAmakrishNa iyengAr’s ‘amudha virundhu’ :

In the alternative meaning, as additional continuation of driving away dhEhAthmAbhimAnam (thiking that body itself is AthmA (and so fully nurturing the body only), and svasvAthanthriyam (thinking of self as independent from emperumAn), etc., ‘meyyaip purakkum’ would be about ‘saving us to be according to the true nature of AthmA’;

Body is considered ‘poy’ (false), because it keeps changing from birth and becomes ash upon death; dhEhAthmAbhinam and svasvAthanthriyam keep creating such bodies over a cycle of births;

As opposed to this, AthmA is eternal and does not change, and so is ‘mey’ (true) since it appears same ever.

Oh the people of earth not knowing the path are suffering unnecessarily by not listening to the advice of emperumAnAr which can remove our dhEhAthmAbhimAnam and svAthanthriyam.

Since they search for some god, it is clear that they Do wish to get saved; but considering emperumAnAr as just one among them, they are losing, even though they have got the ruchi (interest).

emperumAnAr who can give proper knowledge is waiting; and there is no dearth of wanting (from the people); but without surrendering to emperumAnAr they are losing out such an opportunity – so amudhanAr feels sad.

nammAzhvAr said ‘Adhip pirAn niRka maRRAith theivam nAdudhirE [thiruvAimozhi – 4.10.1]’, and amudhanAr says ‘irAmAnusan niRka vERu nammai uyakkoLLa valla dheivam ingi yAdhu enRu ularndhu’ :

nammAzhvAr says He who gives this body is the god; amudhanAr says he who gives true knowledge and saves AthmA, is the god.

– – – – –

Translation: raghurAm SrInivAsa dasan

rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – 78

February 21, 2017 Published by: raghuram

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

<< previous (eendhanan eeyAdha)

Introduction (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

After thinking about emperumAnAr’s help in these ways, amudhanAr talks about the pains that emperumAnAr took to reform him, and – in this way after you have reformed me and made me part of what is accepted by you, other incorrect/lowly matters would not be acceptable to my mind.

Introduction (given by piLLailOkam jIyar)

In the previous pAsuram – amudhanAr fully thought about all the series of help of emperumAnAr, who by showing powerful authoritative references, won those of other philosophies who were overwhelming the world, about how emperumAnAr removed all his sins, and whether wanted to give some more after that; in this pAsuram – Like the experts who turn barren land into a fertile land, after taking up new efforts to reform me who was after material aspects till now and made me to be servant of Sriya:pathi (SrIman nArAyaNan) who is your lord, other incorrect/lowly matters would not set in my mind even if forcefully set – says amudhanAr.

karuththil pugundhu uLLil kaLLan kazhaRRi karudhaRiya
varuththaththinAl miga vanjiththu nee indha maNNagaththE
thiruththith thirumagaL kELvanukku Akkiya pin en nenjil
poruththappadAdhu em irAmAnusA maRROr poyp poruLE – 78

Listen

Word by word meaning (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

karuththil pugundhu – Thinking that if staying at distance it may not be possible to reform his heart, he came and entered into myheart,
like those who stay in the house would remove the weeds/trash there,
uLLil kaLLam kazhaRRi – removed AthmApahAram (thinking that the AthmA is mine)
karudhaRiya – what is not even imaginable in others’ minds
varuththaththinAl – with great pains/efforts,
thinking that if I am aware then I will nullify his efforts, without my knowing anything,
miga vanjiththu – keeping it very secret
nee – (neeyE) – you who only know that, and putting efforts
thiruththi – like those who could fix a barren land as cultivatable
indha maNNagaththE – in this world,
thirumagaL kELvanukku – to SrI:pathi (SrIman nArAyaNan) who is your destiny,
Akkiya pin – after making (me) to be used in His antha:puram (private quarters)
en nenjil – in my mind which your highness had reformed
other than the true meaning which your highness has expounded,
maRROr poyp poruL – a false meaning that is outside of that,
poruththap padAdhu – would not fit in my mind even if forcefully set.
Saying ‘indha maNNagaththE thiruththi’  to show that in this world that instigates darkness the difficulty of his reforming me.
karuththu – based on how thoughts are based on mind/heart, it talks about manas (mind) only. Like saying ‘sindhai ‘ (‘thought’ to imply mind which is annihilated along with other faculties of body during total annihilation).
varuththam – strain / efforts.

vyAkyAnam

karuththil pugundhu uLLil kaLLam kazhaRRi – As said in ‘thEshAm Eva anukam pArththam aham agyAnajam thama: | nASayAmyAthma bhAvastha: gyAna dhIpEna bhAsvathA [SrI bhagavath gIthA]” (~ I destroy darkness born due to ignorance, by being the thought of his mind towards my divine form), and in ‘ennaith theemanam keduththAy [thiruvAimozhi – 2.7.8]’ (You made me have the mind that does not have anything bad), thinking that if staying away then it would not be possible to reform him, he entered my heart by himself, and like how those staying in a house would remove the weeds / trash, he wiped away without trace all defects of the form of ignorance, of mistaking of attributes, and of wrong identification (agyAnam, anyathA gyAnam, viparItha gyAnam),

and as said in ‘kimthEna nakrutham pApam chOrENa AthmApahAriNA [mahAbhAratham]’ (one who misunderstood AthmA as his – what stealing has such person not done?), completely removed the defects like stealing of AthmA (thinking that it is mine), etc.

karuththu – based on how thoughts are based on mind/heart, it talks about manas (mind) only. Like saying ‘sindhai ‘ (‘thought’ to imply mind which is annihilated along with other faculties of body during total annihilation).

karudhariya varuththaththinAl – By efforts which others cannot even think of taking up. varuththam – efforts/pains.

miga vanjiththu – Thinking that if I knew then I would nullify his good efforts, he keeping them secret from me, like a mother would secretly get his son fed, i.e., son who has gone out of home angrily and staying in another place during night – irA madam UttuvAraip pOlE. {This phrase is used in mumukshuppadi to show that emperumAn would do that – but here it is used to show the efforts of emperumAnAr}.

nee indha maNNagaththE thiruththi – (neeyE) with efforts that only you would know, reformed the barren land that was me, as said in ‘seyal nanRAgath thiruththi [kaNNinuN chiruththAmbu – 10]’ (~reformed me to follow properly), me who all these days had been eternal samsAri and was involved in material aspects, etc., and was staying away from the good, and had involved in unwanted things.

‘thEshAm sathatha yukthAthAm bhajathAm preethi pUrvakam – dhadhAmi bhudhdhi yOgam tham yEnamAm upayAnthithE [SrI bhagavath gIthA]’ (For those who has got devotion towards me and worship me (with love), I give them (with love) budhdhi yOgam (special knowledge) and using that they reach me), unlike that – reforming not based on some qualification in me, you reformed me voluntarily without anything in me. Reforming is – advising me that this AthmA is a servant of the lord who is Sriya:pathi (SrIman nArAyaNan).

thirumagaL kELvanukku Akkiya pin – This knowledge about my servitude which would typically come once after reaching SrIvaikuNtam (nalam antham illadhOr nAdu), you gave that help in this world, and as the result of it, after making me to be set in the antha:puram (queen’s private quarters) of the husband of SrIdhEvi that is periya pirAttiyAr, like said in ‘pUmagaLAr thanik kELvan [thiruvAimozhi – 1.9.3]’ (~ the husband of thAyAr); after giving my AthmA (uyir) in writing to emperumAn who gave me knowledge (after annihilation).

As said in ‘maRuvith thozhum manamE thandhAy [thiruvAimozhi – 2.7.7]’ (You gave me the mind that would focus and do services to You), after helping me with true knowledge and gracing me by making me be a servant only to bhagavAn;

{Translator’s note: emperumAnAr did not stop with that; he changed the mind of periya pirAttiyAr who herself may not be able to contain her own anger when seeing our continued misdeeds, and of periya perumAL who looked at SAsthram for determining punishments, and made them accept us; the lines in this pAsuram till now could thus apply to emperumAnAr going into the mind of Sriya:pathi ?; (Note that these lines do not explicitly say that it is amudhanAr’s mind into which emperumAnAr entered). Now, kaLLam could mean their justified anger at us); with that, the phrase ‘thirumagaL kELvanukku Akkiya pin’ completes full circle}

emperumAnAr making Sriya:pathi accept us

en nenjil poruththap padAdhu – will not get set in my mind, mind which your highness reformed by taking utmost pains;

em irAmAnusA – As said by ‘asmath gurO:’, Oh emperumAnAr! who gave knowledge to this illiterate mind!

maRROr poyp poruL – other than the truth that you have expounded, any misinterpreted/lowly meaning that is against that,

poruththappadAdhu – (such wrong ones) would not be set in (my) mind even if forcefully pushed.

Saying ‘indha maNNagaththE thiruththi’– to show the difficulty of his reforming me in this world that instigates darkness.

Thus, in the place where light has entered it is not possible for darkness to be present; in the same way, in the place where true knowledge has entered, there is no way for ignorance to enter.

It is said too – ‘gyAnAgnis sarva karmANi basmasAth kuruthErjuna [Sri bhagavath gIthA]’ (~In the fire of knowledge everything is turned into ashes).

From AzhwAr thirunagari SrI u.vE. vidhwAn thirumalai nallAn chakravarththi rAmakrishNa iyengAr’s ‘amudha virundhu’ :

karuththil pugundhu – karuththu (thought) is about its source that is heart/mind. Since it says ‘pugundhu’ (entered), and since it is not possible to enter into and reform thought itself, it talks about mind/heart to which emperumAnAr entered and reformed.

uLLil kaLLam kazhaRRi – kaLLam -> stealing (of AthmA) – thinking that AthmA is independent of emperumAn is stealing of it from Him; so emperumAnAr removed my svAthanthriyam.

maRRu Or poypporuL – True meaning/aspect is what my emperumAnAr expounded; Everything else that he did not show us are falsities.

It can also imply maRROr(udaiya) poyp poruL – false aspects (of others).

– – – – –

Translation: raghurAm SrInivAsa dasan

rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – 77

February 19, 2017 Published by: raghuram

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

<< previous (ninRa vaN keerththiyum)

Introduction (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

Satisfied by getting the divine feet as he wished, thinking about the favours of emperumAnAr, amudhanAr asks – after doing all these (to me), is there more in emperumAnAr’s mind to do for me?

Introduction (given by piLLailOkam jIyar)

In the previous pAsuram – as amudhanAr prayed to emperumAnAr – please give your divine feet which adiyEn (I) could experience all the time; emperumAnAr was happy, and as amudhanAr wished for, due to his kindness he gave his divine feet to amudhanAr; satisfied by this, amudhanAr wonders – after winning the deceitful mis-interpreters of vEdhas using that vEdham itself which is the ultimate authority, spread his glory in the lands of the whole world everywhere, removed without trace my karmas which are hindrance to my reaching of the goal – such is the most generous emperumAnAr; now what is he thinking of doing for me more!

eendhanan eeyAdha innaruL eNNil maRaik kuRumbaip
pAyndhanan am maRaip pal poruLAl – ippadi anaiththum
Eyndhanan keerththiyinAl en vinaigaLai vEr paRiyak
kAyndhanan vaNmai irAmAnusarkku en karuththu iniyE – 77

Listen

Word by word meaning (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

eendhanan – he (emperumAnAr) granted me
in aruL – the distinguished grace
eeyAdha – which has not been granted to anyone till now;
pAyndhanan – he kicked out / pushed aside
eNNil – countless
maRaik kuRumbai – philosophies of mis-interpreters who were making mischief on vEdhas and were propagating it that way and were pushing true meanings aside;
keerththiyinAl – by his fame which
Eyndhanan – pervaded
ip padi anaiththum – the whole of earth,
kAyndhanan – he drove away
en vinaigaLai – my karmas (effects of my deeds)
vEr paRiya – to be gone without trace;
en – what
ini – next/now is
karuththu – the thought in the mind
irAmAnusaRku – of emperumAnAr
vaNmai – the most generous.

Is there anything more planned to be done – is the meaning.

When some recite it as ‘Eyndha vaN keerththiyinAr – due to the excellence of his qualities that are spread and set through out the earth, he removed my karmas; that is, ‘isn’t he the one having connection with emperumAnAr’ – thinking in this way, the karmas would go away by themselves from amudhanAr.

pAyndhu – kicking out

vyAkyAnam

eendhanan eeyAdha innaruL – eeyAdha is – As said in ‘manthram yathnEna gOpayEth’, even for those as said in ‘ahankAra yukthASchaimE’ that is, even for hara-virinchAdhis (brahma rudhra, et al), it was not to be given, and so (his grace) was nurtured in that way;

innaruL – his distinguished grace; that is, voluntary utmost grace;

eendhanan – gave.

In the previous pAsuram, as emperumAnAr gave his divine feet as amudhanAr prayed for it, the reason for that is emperumAnAr’s grace – thinks amudhanAr, and praised that here as ‘in aruL’.

innaruL – When looking at the grace of sarvESvaran versus that of emperumAnAr, it is greatness of emperumAnAr’s grace that is very evident by just looking at him (vadivilE thodai koLLalAmpadi) that is most enjoyable. The qualities are a great match to the person [emperumAnA] where they are present.

eNNil maRaik kuRumbaip pAyndhanan am maRaip pal poruLAl – there are countless wrong meanings attributed to the words of vEdhas and they push its true meanings aside; there are many based on (wrong) knowledge (pramitha), and many who consider different things as authoritative references (pramANa), many who have different/many as supreme god (pramEya), and many AchAryas in each of such groups (pramAthA) ; – such philosophies that misinterpret vEdhas.

Also, based on ‘ananthAvai vEdhA:’, it can also mean innumerable vEdhas (chapters, etc).

am maRaip pal poruLAl – The ones who follow such philosophies say, by their mischief, that the words below talk about abEdham (no separate entity other than brahmam), (what are called mAha vAkyam), ‘sarvam kalvidham brahma, EkamEva adhvitheeyam, na iha nAnA asthi kinchana, yathrathu asya sarvamAthmaiva abhUthu, thathkEna kam paSyAth, thathkEna kam vijAneeyAth, thathvamasi, brahmavEdha brahmaiva bhavathi, sa EnAm brahma gamayathi ’, and such Sruthis;

emperumAnAr explained and showed in many ways, that the one (jeevAthmA, sentient entity) who cannot do anything significant by himself and under the control of karmas, and the one (eeSvaran, lord) who can do anything and is not under the control of karmas, cannot be equated base on their nature, and so it is the attribute based togetherness only which can be the correct meaning for these words,

and then he shows the words which absolutely do not agree with oneness of jeevAthmA and paramAthmA, but are congruent with oneness based on attributes, which are the words like ‘bhOkthA bhOgyam prErithAranchamathvA’ (jeevAthmA who enjoys, the non-sentient which is enjoyed, and that which instigates to do that enjoyment (thus showing thathva thrayam of viSishtAdhvaitham)), ‘dhvA suparNA sayujA sakhAyA samAnam vruksham parishasvajAthE | thayOranya: pippalam svAdhvaththi anaSnannanyO abichAkaseethi ||’, ‘imAn lOkAn kAmAnnee kAma rUpyanusancharan, Ethath sAma gAyan nAsthE’ (jeevAthmA goes from here to SrIvaikuNtam, takes up a body and goes in and sings sAma vEdham), ‘yasyAthmA Sareeram yaysa pruthivee Sareeram’ (AthmA, pruthivee (non-sentient) are bodies of emperumAn), and more, that is, the Sruthis which show distinction between jeevAthmA and eeSvaran (bhEdha Sruthis), and the ones which combine oneness and separateness (ghataka Sruthi), and thus using the meanings of those Sruthis –

pAyndhanan – made them run away from that place; pAyndhu – kicking (out)

As said in ‘thadhanya matha dhurmatha jvalitha chEthasAm vAdhinAm Sirassu nihitham mayA padham adhakShiNam lakShyathAm’ (other philosophies, the bad ones, jeevAthmAs who argue against based on the light of such bad philosophies, we will keep our left leg on their heads (will win them)), those acts of winning are possible for the ones associated to emperumAnAr themselves, so it goes without saying that it would be easily possible for him.

ip padi anaiththum Eyndhanan keerththiyinAl – in the surface of this whole earth – he occupied without any bound, due to the glory because of his quality. He occupied such that his commands are taken up dutifully.

en vinaigaLai vEr paRiyak kAyndhanan – He removed by uprooting all my karmas, like doing what is prohibited (by SAsthram), etc., which I performed fully from time eternal till I become his accepted one.

Thinking (athiSankai – unnecessary doubt; since what he cuts off would not grow back, he is still very careful for amudhanAr), that if the root is left then it might bud up again, he pulled out the root also along with it.

He removed it in such a way that it would appear that there was no such plant previously; saying that, amudhanAr is becoming happy, you see!

emperumAnAr got it removed as said in ‘summenAdhE kai vittOdith thURugaL pAyndhanavE [periyAzhvAr thirumozhi – 5.4.3]’ (the sins ran away without trace),

and as said in, vAnO maRi kadalO mArudhamO theeyagamO kAnO orungiRRuk kaNdilamAl [periya thiruvanthAdhi – 54]’ ((after surrendering to emperumAn) I am not able to locate my karmas. Have they vanished in to space? Or in to the sea of riding waves? Or in to the air? Or fire? Or forest? I don’t know where they have vanished into);

When recited as ‘ip padi anaiththum Eyndha vaN keerththiyinAr’ – due to his glory being spread fully on earth, glory which is in the form of giving any goal wished for; by such generosity, he drove away all my bad karmas without trace. That is, ‘isn’t he one having connection with emperumAnAr’ – thinking in this way, the karmas ran away by themselves.

vaNmai irAmAnusarkku en karuththu iniyE – For such most generous emperumAnAr, what is the thinking in his mind, what additional wonder is he thinking of doing for me; he looks like he wants to give something more, you see – says amudhanAr and becomes happy.

It became same like ‘un manaththAl en ninaindhirundhAy [periya thirumozhi – 2.7.1]’ (~what do you have in mind (for/about parakAla nAyaki)).

From AzhwAr thirunagari SrI u.vE. vidhwAn thirumalai nallAn chakravarththi rAmakrishNa iyengAr’s ‘amudha virundhu’ :

eeyAdha innaruL – His grace is such that I do not wish to share with any one. kaliyan too said -‘thArEn piRarukku un aruL ennidai vaiththAy [periya thirumozhi – 7.1.3]’ (~You showed your grace on me, and I would not give that to others)

en vinaigaLai vEr paRiyak kAyndhanan – root for karmas are their trace/scent. He removed it without any trace/scent of it.

Driving away karmas by his fame is that when everyone comes to know my association with emperumAnAr, the servant of yamA for bad karmas, and dhEvas for good karmas would come to know about this and would not come near me.

vaNmai irAmAnusarkku en karuththu iniyE – what more favour can be possible after this, is the thought.

– – – – –

rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – 76

February 17, 2017 Published by: raghuram

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

<< previous (seyththalaich chankam)

Introduction (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

It is not like adiyEn (I) am not interested in anything other than you because of not having seen the greatness of bhagavAn; even when adiyEn see Him adiyEn do not know anything other than your highness, said amudhanAr in the previous pAsuram. As he prays this, emperumAnAr becomes very happy; seeing that emperumAnAr is trying to figure out what good thing could he do for him (amudhanAr), amudhanAr determines what we should wish for, and prays for that to emperumAnAr.

Introduction (given by piLLailOkam jIyar)

In the previous pAsuram – amudhanAr prayed to emperumAnAr – If sarvESvaran who steals the mind of everyone, comes decorated with all the ornaments and all the divine weapons, and forces me saying “I won’t let you go”, as said in ‘guNai: dhAsyam upAgatha:’ adiyen who am immersed in the auspicious qualities of your highness, those auspicious qualities themselves made me to be exclusively in service for you; listening to this emperumAnAr becomes very happy about amudhanAr’s wonderful state and tries to figure out what good shall he do for amudhanAr. Seeing this, amudhanAr says – how much ever the pleasant thiruvEnkatam is, the great place of vaikuNtam is, and divine milky ocean is for you which would create happiness in you, the same is the happiness that your most enjoyable divine feet would create in me; so please grant me that – so prays amudhanAr about his wish.

ninRa vaN keerththiyum neeL punalum niRai vEnkatap poR
kunRamum vaikuntha nAdum kulaviya pARkadalum
unRanakku eththanai inbam tharum un iNai malarththAL
enRanakkum adhu irAmAnusA ivai eendhu aruLE – 76

Listen

Word by word meaning (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

ninRa – not occasional; being at all times
vaN keerththiyum – such beautiful fame
neeL punalum – and, as said in ‘vAr punal am thaN aruvi [thiruvAimozhi – 3.5.8] (having beautiful cool water falls), long water falls
niRai – being present everywhere,
vEnkatam – such place having divine name as ‘thiruvEnkatam’,
pon kunRamum – which is thirumalai (the divine mountain) that is beautiful to see,
vaikuntha nAdum – and, the divine place that is SrI vaikuNtam,
kulaviya pARkadalum – and, the place he descended to and is staying in reclining position for protecting His devotees – so celebrate the distinguished ones – such divine milky ocean (thiruppARkadal),
eththanai inbam tharum – how much ever happiness these would create
un thanakku – for your highness;
thAL – (it is the) divine feet
un – of your highness
iNai – which are having the beauty of being together
malar – and are enjoyable,
adhu – will create the same happiness
en thanakkum – for me too;
Hence,
irAmAnusA – your highness, that is, udaiyavar,
eendhu aruL – please grant adiyEn
ivai – these divine feet (of yours).
—
kulavu : celebrate
eendhu – giving / donating.

vyAkyAnam

ninRa vaN keerththiyum – As said in ‘ozhivil kAlam ellAm udanAy manni [thiruvAimozhi – 3.3.1]’ (without break/rest – all times, being together (in all places)), at all times (past, present, and future), not just at some times; and wonderful, and as said in ‘thezhikural aruvith thiruvEnkatam [thiruvAimozhi – 3.3.1]’ (having waterfalls making great noise), and ‘paran chenRu sEr thiruvEnkata mAmalai [thiruvAimozhi – 3.3.8]’ (supreme lord went and reached thiruvEnkatam), and ‘vEnkatamE vAnOrkkum maNNOrkkum vaippu [nAnmukan thiruvanthAdhi – 45]’ (~ thiruvEnkatam is the abode for those in the higher world and this world), and ‘villAr mali vEnkata mAmalai [periya thirumozhi – 1.10.10]’, and so on in which AzhvArs engage in the qualities of this abode,

nEEL punalum – which is also as said in ‘vAr punal am thaN aruvi vada thiruvEnkatam [thiruvAimozhi – 3.5.8]’ (having beautiful cool water falls), and ‘kuLir aruvi vEnkatam [nAchchiyAr thirumozhi – 8.3]’ (thiruvEnkatam having cool water falls), and ‘senkayal thiLaikkum sunaith thiruvEnkatam [periya thirumozhi – 1.8.10]’ (~ thiruvEnkatam where beautiful fish enjoy the waters), and so on, having divine falls flowing at all times,

niRai vEnkatap poR kunRamum – being full of the aforementioned two; as said in ‘theLLiyAr vaNangum malai thiruvEnkatam [periya thirumozhi – 1.8.2]’, and so on, such divine place having the divine name of thiruvEnkatam. As said in ‘emperumAn ponmalai [perumAL thirumozhi – 4.10]’ (in the beautiful mountain of emperumAn), being very beautiful to the eyes, and as said in ‘paran chenRu sEr thiruvEnkatam [thiruvAimozhi – 3.3.8]’ (supreme lord went and reached thiruvEnkatam), the divine mountain in which sarvESvaran who is the lord of all, has happily made His presence; that divine mountain, and –

vaikuntha nAdum – As said in ‘yathra pUrvE sAdhyAssanthi dhEvA:’ (the place where nithyasUris worship singing in sAma vEdham), and, ‘vishNOryath paramam padham’ (this is the noblest place of vishNu), and, ‘dhEvAnAm pUr ayOdhyA’ (city of nithyasUris that is ayOdhyA (place which cannot be broken in to and entered easily) (SrIvaikuNtam is also referred to as ayOdhyA)), and, ’adhyarggAnala dheeptham thath sthAnam vishNOr mahAthmana:’ (even the brightness of a crore suns cannot match that of paramapadham of vishNu), and, ‘vaikuNtEthu parElOkE SriyA sArdham jagathpathi: AsthE vishNurachinthyAthmA bhakthai: bhAgavathaissaha’ (~ In the most noble place of vaikuNtam the lord of world is present with SrIdhEvi nAchchiyAr; such vishNu is present there with devotees and holy ones), being the divine place of nithyasUris having endless goodness, place of enjoyment of sarvESvaran, and having the name of SrIvaikuNtam, that is, paramapadham;

kulaviya pARkadalum – As said in ‘pARkadaluL paiyath thuyinRa paraman adi pAdi [thiruppAvai – 2]’ (singing about the divine feet of emperumAn in deep reclining sleep in the milky ocean), for listening to the devotees that are dhEvas to come and complain (about their problems), sarvESvaran has come and stayed in reclined position – distinguished ones celebrate in that manner about the place that is milky ocean.

such divine abodes of emperumAn’s happy presence.

kulaviya : celebrated

un thanakku eththanai inbam tharum – As said in ‘Anandha nilayE SeshathalpE vEnkatabhUtharE’ (in SrIvaikuNtam (as the seat), as bed (in milky Ocean), and as thiruvEnkatam (the mountains themselves are Adhi SEshan)), and more; and, ‘Esha nArAyaNaS SrimAn ksheerArNava nikEthana: – nAgaparyankamuthsrujya hyAgathO madhurAmpureem’ (SrIman nArAyaNan came from SrI vaikuNtam and stayed reclined in milky ocean, and getting up from the bed that is Adhi SEshan..), and more;

as said in kausheethakee brAhmaNAm in paryanka vidhyai (which talks about the bed on which the liberated jeevAthmA steps up, and sits on the lap of SrIvaikuNta nAthan), for thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn and for the lord of thiruppARkadal (milky ocean), and for the young prince of the vaikuNtam, your highness are the bed – how much ever happiness these would give you (the Adhi SEshan);

In that way, in each such divine place the happiness due to the divine form of SrIpathi would be known well to this svAmi only, isn’t it?

As rishi (vAlmIkI) too said ‘ramamANA vanE thraya:’ (the three were present in the forest with equal happiness), in the previous incarnation as iLaiyaperumAL (lakshmaNa), his happiness (of doing services) was equal to that enjoyed by that divine couple.

emperumAnAr (Adhi SEshan) serving emperumAn at all times in all ways

un iNAi malarth thAL – As said in ‘anantha:prathamam rUpam’ (right from the first, krutha yugam, in SrI vaikuNtam, (Adhi Seshan performed services to you)), and more,

in the place of ultimate brightness (purity), to the of prince of vaikuNtam, as ALavandhAr said in sthOthra rathnam 40 ‘nivAsa SayyA Asana pAdhuka amSuka upadhAna varsha Athapa vAraNAdhibi: – Sareera bhEdthaisthva SeshathAngathai yathOchitham SEsha itheerithEjanai:’ (Adhi SEshan is seat, foot wear, bed, umbrella, and so on and performs services to you), being involved in all possible service, and having the divine name of “SEshan”.

As said in ‘bAlyAth prabruthi susnigdha:’ even during the time of incarnation, (in thrEthA yugam, as lakshmaNan), starting from childhood having full of love (towards perumAL) as he did not lie in the divine cradle quietly when it was not placed next to perumAL’s divine cradle,

and ‘muhUrtham api jeevAva: jalAn mathsyA vivOthruthau’ (if we separate from you we will die like a fish out of the water) – praying to perumAL that he cannot survive if separated, he went along to the great forest that is dhaNdakAraNyam, and requesting in the form of prayer ‘aham sarvam karishyAmi’ (permit me to do all services), and performed all kinds of non-blemished service,

and also when incarnated as nambi mUththa pirAn (balarAman) (elder brother) (in dhvApara yugam), he always followed Him,

and thus being very close/personal to Him,

of such one who is you (emperumAnAr, in kali yugam), the ones that are pure/purifying and enjoyable and are beautiful match for each other and which are delicate and flower-fragrant – that is, the divine feet of yours.

en thanakkum adhu – As aforementioned, for you who are personal/close (to emperumAn), and who knows everything – how much ever love you have for each of those (abodes/emperumAn) mentioned previously, for me, who was unwilling/indifferent till now and was ignorant all these days, (your divine feet) would cause equal happiness.

Since emperumAnAr’s happiness is in the matter of first stage (prathama parvam -> towards emperumAn) it stays within the bounds; amudhanAr’s happiness is in ultimate state (charama parvam -> towards His devotees), it has overflowed crossing the bounds, you see.

irAmAnusa – Oh emperumAnAr!

ivai eendhu aruLE – since only your divine feet has become the ultimate destiny for me, your highness please give those divine feet to me by taking me up voluntarily (paragatha sveekAram).

nammAzhvAr too prayed while in first stage (prathama parvam), ‘emma veettuth thiRamum cheppam, nin semmA padha paRputh thalai sErththu ollaik, kaimmAth thunbam kadindha pirAnE ammA adiyEn vENduvadhu eedhE [thiruvAimozhi – 2.9.1]’ (I won’t ask for the form of liberation that is great in all ways; I only want to have your divine reddish feet which are apt for me, immediately placed on my head. Oh my lord who eliminated the sufferings of the elephant who had drowned into the pond along with its trunk! Oh my lord who magnanimously accepted my service! I who is servant (of you) is praying to you for this (result which matches my nature) only. Implies that, that which is desired by purusha is purushArtham (goal).).

From AzhwAr thirunagari SrI u.vE. vidhwAn thirumalai nallAn chakravarththi rAmakrishNa iyengAr’s ‘amudha virundhu’ :

vEdhas are as said in ‘niRkum nAnmaRai [thiruvAimozhi – 6.5.4]’ (the ever-existing vEdhas), and such vEdham says ‘girim gachchatha’ (go to the mountain (thirumalai)), that is, it talks about the greatness of thirumalai; amudhanAr said that the fame of thirumalai would stand at all times.

In later phrases of the pAsuram amudhanAr talks about SrIvaikuNtam where He is in seated position, and about milky ocean where he is in reclined position; here he is talking about thiruvEnkatam where He is in standing position, and so may be saying ‘ninRa vaN keerththiyum’ to imply his standing position.

neeL punalum – this can imply the water bodies (punal) that are famed (neeL). That are, svAmi pushkariNi, and more.

vaikuntha nAdum – samskrutha word vaikuNtam is mentioned here as vaikuntham; it is the place of vikuNta’s. ‘kuNta’ came from from‘kudi – gathiprathigAthE’ – where kuNta means hurdles. vikuNta means those not having any hurdles. It is possible only in that place. It implies that it is the place of nithyasUris.

unthanakku eththanai inbam tharum – the three divine places give so much happiness to emperumAnAr. The order of mention of these divine places can be based on thiruvEnkatam being the utmost destiny, and SrI vaikuNtam being destiny, and milky ocean being the abode of surrendering for removing their sorrows, it is specified next after the first two.

~ thiruvEnkatam is utmost destiny since after going to SrI vaikuNtam (after shedding one’s body here), they return to thiruvEnkatam as said in ‘vAnavar vAnavar kOnodum namanRu ezhum thiruvEnktam [thiruvAimozhi – 3.3.7] (~those of SrIvaikuNtam along with their lord come with longing, to thiruvEnkatam)’,

instead of that, thiruvEnkatam is easilly available to us to go to with this body itself, and is the utmost destiny, isn’t it?

un iNai malarth thAL enthanakkum adhu – How much ever happiness the three (abodes/emperumAn) together would give you, just your divine feet would give such happiness for me, says amudhanAr.

For dheyva vAriyANdan, his AchAryan ALavandhAr was his thiruvananthapuram (when asked to go to inside that temple after he joined his AchAryan after separation). For amudhanAr, emperumAnAr’s divine feet is his thiruvEnkatam, SrIvaikuNtam, and thiruppARkadal (miky ocean).

It is good to think about the following two:

‘yEnaiva guruNA yasya nyAsa vidhyA pradheeyathE | thasya vaikuNta dhukhdhAbhdhi dhvArakAs sarva Eva sa: ||’ (The AchAryan from whom the knowledge of SaraNagathi is given, for the disciple, that AchAryan himself only is vaikuNtam, and milkey ocean, and dhvArakai, and all),

and

‘villAr maNi kozhikkum vEnkatap poR kunRu mudhal, sellAr pozhil sUzh thiruppathigaL – ellAm, maruLAm iruLOda maththagaththuth than thAL, aruLAlE vaiththa avar [gyAna sAram – 36]’ (~ for us, the thiruvEnkatam and all divine places, are the one (AchAryan) who removed the ignorance in us due to his kindness).

{Translator’s note: In the first part of kAlakshEpam for this pAsuram, srI u.vE. vELukkudi krishNan swamy describes in so much detail about this principle of AchAryan as the destiny, using divine words from the aforementioned, and from SrIvachana bhUshaNam, and more.}

– – – – –

rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – 75

February 14, 2017 Published by: raghuram

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

<< previous (thErAr maRaiyin thiRam)

Introduction (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

Seeing amudhanAr becoming happy about his qualities, emperumAnAr says – it is only till you see the distinguished greatness of emperumAn; as you see that you would change your position and involve in that; amudhanAr replies – even if emperumAn appears with His beauty and say “I would not let you go”, it is your (emperumAnAr’s) qualities that would come and swarm me and attract me.

Introduction (given by piLLailOkam jIyar)

emperumAnAr listened about amudhanAr’s happiness due to enjoying the nature of emperumAnAr’s qualities, and he asks – you said all these due to your current faith; but if you get involved in the matter of emperumAn and see the distinguished greatness in there, and know its taste, then would this love stay as is; amudhanAr replies – even if sarvESvaran with His divine conch, disc, and with decoration wearing all his five weapons, came searching to my place and showed His greatness to the hilt, and stand in front of me saying ‘I am not going to leave you’ – without involving in that greatness, it is your auspicious qualities that would over flow and surround me and stand attracting me and make me be involved in you.

seyththalaich changam sezhu muththam eenum thiruvarangar
kaiththalaththu Azhiyum sankamum Endhi nankaN mukappE
moyththalaiththu unnai vidEn enRu irukkilum nin pugazhE
moyththalaikkum vandhu irAmAnusA ennai muRRum ninRE – 75

Listen

Word by word meaning (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

seyththalai – Along the sides of fields
chankam – conchs
eenum – give birth to
sezhu muththam – beautiful pearls ;
arangar – periya perumAL who lives in such divine place – kOyil,
thiruk kaiththalaththu – As said in ‘kaiyinAr suri sanaku analAzhiyar [amalanAdhipirAn – 7]’ (~emperumAn holding beautiful conch and bright disc), in the divine hands, which are having beauty even when empty, which itself requires doing ‘Alaththi´ (to remove bad casting of eyes),
(does periya perumAL hold disc and conch? thiruppANAzhvAr in amalanAdhipirAn sang like that too as mentioned above),
Endhi – holding
Azhiyum – beautiful disc (beautiful to devotees, dangerous to their enemies)
sankamum – and conch
nam kaN mukappE – in front of my (our) eyes, and
moyththu – appear visible,
alaiththu – and using his loveliness and such characteristics, try to make my mind split in the state about your highness,
unnai vidEn enRu – and has promised himself that – ‘I shall not leave you’
irukkilum – and stays put in one place like a tree; even then,
pugazhE – auspicious qualities
nin – of your highness
vandhu – would come
muRRum – everywhere
ninRu ennai – stand surrounding me fully,
moyththu – each quality of yours would come competing to show its greatness (aham ahamikayA),
alaikkum – and attract me.

So the thought is that even if greatness of emperumAn is seen, should not shift to that.

moiththu – come in groups
aliththu – pushing me around not allowing to stand in one place;

When some recite as ‘meyth thalaththu’ – in real place/state; that is, being truly in the state of ‘I won’t let you go’. Unlike rainbow, etc., which appear to be true; being really true; that is, coming right in front of my eyes and saying ‘Truly I won’t let you go (away from me)’.

vyAkyAnam

seyththalaich chankam – As said in ‘sUzh punal arangam [thirumAlai – 38]’ (arangam surrounded by river kAvEri), and, ‘bhUkee kaNda dhvayasa sarasasnigdha neerOpakaNdAm’ (~ place surrounded by water) – due to abundant water of divine kAvEri river, if water flows in to all the paddies and gardens in every place surrounding the kOyil, on the sides of those paddies conchs that came with the water would be shored; such kind of conchs;

sezhu muththam eenum – giving birth to beautiful pearls; since those conchs came in the flow of abundant water, their nature is to give birth to beautiful pearls!

Since amudhanAr always enjoyed this greatness, he describes the city based on that itself, you see!

thiruvarangar – periya perumAL who is the controller/owner of such a place of rangam.

kaiththalaththu Azhiyum sankamum Endhi – As said in ‘sankodu chakkaram Endhum thadak kaiyan [thiruppAvai – 14]’ (~One having big/beautiful hands which/who holds conch and disc), and ‘kaiyinAr surisankanalAzhiyar [amalanAdhipirAn – 7] (Holding conch and bright/fiery disc well set in His hands)’, if for the empty beautiful hands itself we would have to do Alaththi (to remove the casting of bad eyes), it is beyond words to say about the togetherness of Him holding thiruvAzhi AzhvAn (divine disc), and SrI pAnchajanyam (divine conch); those divine hands and those divine weapons match each other in beauty – they adding beauty to that hand and vice versa;

In this way, with beautiful disc and conch, and looking beautiful to the eyes, and

en kaN mugappE – appear in front of my eyes

thiruvarangar surrounded by the beautiful river kAvEri

moyththalaiththu – and make my mind split from steadfastness towards your highness, and making me not stay in one place. When recited as ‘meyththalaththu’, in real place/state, that is, being in the true state of not letting me go away. Unlike the falsity of rainbow etc., being true only in outward appearance, He being really truthful.

unnai vidEn enRu irukkilum – and has promised Himself that – ‘I shall not leave you’ and stays put in one place like a tree; even then;

irAmAnusA – Oh! emperumAnAr!
nin pugazhE – It is only your auspicious qualities, which are as said in ‘Eyntha perum keerththi [thiruvAimozhi thaniyan]’ (emperumAnAr who has got the most fitting glorious qualities),

vandhu – ennai muRRum ninRu – moyththalaikkum – Would come searching for me to my place, stand fully surrounding me everywhere without giving any place to others (emperumAn), and not let me be immersed in the greatness of emperumAn; ahamahamikayA (qualities competing with each other, saying, me first, me in the front), they show your own greatness to me and attract me; that is, even if seeing the greatness of emperumAn, should not shift to that, is the thought;

It is said too, ‘gachchathA mAthula kulam bharathEna thadhA anaka: – SathrugnO nithya SathrugnO neetha: preethi puraskrutha:”, (~bharathAzhvan starts at that time itself (based on auspiciousness of the day for bharathAzhvAn’s birth star) for his maternal uncle’s place, and SathrugnAzhvAn goes behind him pulled along by devotion towards bharathAzhvAn (as if it is his own uncle’s house, without need to check for auspiciousness of the day for Sathrugnan, because wherever bharathAzhAn is, it is the place where SathrugnAzhvAn is); and

“sulabham sva gurum thyakthvA dhurlabham ya upAsathE – hastha stham udhagam thyakthvA kanasthamabhivAnchathi” (leaving the guru who is available at hand and looking for god to meditate upon, is like dropping the water at hand and looking at the sky for rain) .

aruLALap perumAL emperumAnAr too divined, ‘etta irundha guruvai iRai anRu enRu, vittu Or paranai virumbudhal, pottenath than kaN sembaLiththu irundhu kaiththuruththi neer thUvi, ambudhaththaip pArththiruppAn aRRu [gyAna sAram – 33]’ (If a person disregards the AchAryan who is very close by, and thinks that he is not his master and ignores him, and seeks someone who is very far and not easily reachable (SrIman nArAyaNan), and desires to reach Him. This act is similar to (as foolish as) that of a person who instantly closes his eyes (without knowing what is going to happen soon) and pours out the water that is stored in a handy jar and looks out for water in the clouds, and tries to find a way to get to it.).

From AzhwAr thirunagari SrI u.vE. vidhwAn thirumalai nallAn chakravarththi rAmakrishNa iyengAr’s ‘amudha virundhu’ :

(This pAsuram is thiruvarangaththu amudhanAr‘s ‘thEvu maRRaRiyEn‘).

amudhanAr describing thiruvarangam to which he is Not attracted to – is not based on its greatness; it is to imply that thiruvarangar keeps trying to attract him;

Inner meaning is that the praNava vimAnam is conch, and the pearl born from it is our periya perumAL.

thiruvarangan wearing muththangi, and appearing full of pearls – that thiruvarangar is the sezhu muththu (beautiful pearl).

kaiththalaththu Azhiyum sankamum Endhi – To thiruppANAzhvAr who saw Him as He showed His true form (‘kAttavE kaNda [amalanAdhipirAn thaniyan]’), thiruvarangar showed himself which the AzhvAr described as ‘kaiyinAr surisanku analAzhiyar’. Even if He shows me that same form, I would not get involved in that, says amudhanAr.

Like how a lover would decorate himself while going to meet his beloved, even if thiruvarangar with full of love towards me comes decorating with divine disc and conch, I would not get involved in it, says amudhanAr.

As if all the ornaments are these two (disc and conch), He who holds them as said in ‘aNiyAr Azhiyum sankamum Endhumavar [thiruvAimozhi – 8.3.6] (that parama purushar who holds those conch and disc as ornaments), nammAzhvAr says – emperumAn comes to me holding disc and conch and makes my mind fully disturbed – amudhanAr says that he would not care about such bhagavAn.

Instead of saying ‘kaiyil Azhiyum sankamum´ why say ‘kaiththalaththu Azhiyum sankamum’? It Is to show how well set they are in His hands, and the combination of their beauty color etc., with each other; Or, His palms are broad which holds them; saying Azhi (disc) first and then sankam (conch) – to match with previous pAsuram where he talked about the sharp disc which He uses to cut ones like rAvaNan. (and praising these so much, to show that even then my mind would not waver).

nin pugazhE … muRRum ninRE – thiruvarangar coming to me with disc and conch did not work on me; what gets me involved is your beauty of holding the thridhaNdam (three sticks held together by ascetics).

I don’t have involvement in Him who holds Sasthram (weapons – disc, conch, etc); I have got involvement only in you whose hand holds SAsthram (vEdhas).

Even if thiruvarangar comes directly in front of me I won’t waver; but even when your highness is not directly in front of me, your auspicious qualities would come and surround me and get me involved in you.

It is natural for emperumAn to come and try to attract those who are devoted to their AchAryan (due to His love towards such AchAryan); so even if He comes to me like that, He won’t be able to change my state.

madhurakavi AzhvAr said ‘dhEvapirAn kariya kOlath thiru uruk kANban nAn [kaNNinuN chiruth thAmbu – 3]’ (~ I see the divine black form of dhEvapirAn), emperumAn came and showed himself to madhurakavi AzhvAr who was devoted to nammAzhvAr. There, madhurakavi AzhvAr saw Him; but here, amudhanAr says that He won’t even see Him but be involved in emperumAnAr’s divine qualities only.

If we go to pirAtti (SrI mahAlakshmI) to get us join with emperumAn, we would (still) have to look for His acceptance. Whereas, if we surrender to AchAryan, then emperumAn Himself will come to us and try to give Himself to us.

So in this pAsuram, amudhanAr has indicated that he has got the state of knowing nothing else but his AchAryan.

– – – – –

rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – 74

February 11, 2017 Published by: raghuram

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

<< previous (vaNmaiyinAlum than)

Introduction (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

As said in the previous pAsuram as ‘uNmai nal gyAnam’¸ amudhanAr talks about how emperumAnAr defeated the other philosophies that reject or misinterpret vEdhas which were hurdles to the truth; (in this pAsuram) he is happy thinking about how emperumAnAr achieved this effortlessly compared to eeSvaran.

Introduction (given by piLLailOkam jIyar)

In the previous pAsuram – amudhanAr explained about how emperumAnAr, by the act of utmost kindness, which is by his generosity, had divined the true knowledge to all the sentient entities; in this pAsuram – those wrong people not having ability to differentiate between truth and falsehood, and not following His commands, sarvESvaran (lord of all) took many incarnations and many efforts, and using the disc in his hand, destroyed them, with sadness in Him; unlike that, (emperumAnAr) had won each time based on apt thoughts/ideas, the ill-knowledgeable misinforming mobbing enemies of the knowledge he advised, – saying so, amudhanAr is celebrating such greatness of emperumAnAr.

thErAr maRaiyin thiRam enRu mAyavan theeyavaraik
kUr Azhi koNdu kuRaippadhu koNdal anaiya vaNmai
ErAr guNaththu em irAmAnusan avvezhil maRaiyil
sErAdhavaraich chidhaippadhu appOdhu oru sindhai seydhE – 74

Listen

Word by word meaning (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

mAyavan – He having wonderfully great intellect and power,
thErAr enRu – (seeing) that they are are not being according to
thiRam – the nature
maRaiyin – of vEdham which is eternal, authorless, distinguished in comparison to the other pramANams such as perception and inference, and is most trustworthy, and reminds sentient entities about good and bad, and is in the form of instructions/commands,
kuRaippadhu – divined His cutting of
theeyavarai – such very bad ones having the conduct of crossing the limit of His commands/instructions,
kUr Azhi koNdu – using the sharp divine disc;
em – our lord, that is
irAmAnusan – (such) emperumAnAr,
kONdal anaiya – who is helpful to every one, and so can be compared to clouds,
vaNmai – he having such generosity,
guNaththu – having auspicious qualities
ErAr – which are unsurpassed,
sidhaippadhu – he divines his destroying
sErAdhavarai – of those, who, due to their thought of ignoring vEdhas as authoritative, and having faith in their incorrect interpretations, having the state of not in harmony with the truth
av enzhil maRaiyil – with such distinguished vEdham,
appodhu oru sindhai seydhE – by using unique reasoning proofs each and every time.

Oh what a power this is! – is the thought.

kuRaippadhu – cutting off; sidhaippadhu – destroying;
appOdhu oru sindhai – is about thinking through (the arguments/solution) uniquely at each point in time, every time.

vyAkyAnam

maRaiyin thiRam – Being eternal as said in ‘vAchA virUba nithyayA’ (the words that is this vEdham is eternal), and as said in ‘aSEsha SEmushee dhOsha dhUshitha mAlinya vinir muktha vEdhAkya akShara rASErEva’ (~ not having lowly knowledge, vEdham having such distinguished words), not having blemishes like misunderstanding, negligence, etc., or being written by a person, but instead [it] is being authorless, and because of that it is eternal and excellent/unobjectionable, and as said in ‘dharmagya samaya: pramANam vEdhaScha” (~ the thoughts of learned persons is authoritative reference, vEdham too is authoritative reference), it is being the most authoritative reference, and most distinguished from other references like perception, inference, etc., and as said in ‘SAsthrayOnithvAth [SrI bAshyam – 3^rd adhikaraNAm]’ (brahmam is shown by SAsthram (and cannot be explained by perception or by inference)), and in ‘harthum thama: sath asath eecha vivEkthumeeSO mAnam pradheepamiva kAruNikO dhadhAthi’ (to remove the darkness, and to show what is true and what is false, emperumAn with kindness comes with eagerness, like the light from the lamp, and gives SAsthram),

that vEdham is in the form of commands/instructions, and helps clear about truth and falsehood, and as said in ‘mAthA pithru sahasrEbhya: vathsala tharam SAsthram’ (SAsthram gives us more care compared to what is given by thousand mothers and fathers), it is being most trustworthy, and as said in ‘Sruthi smruthir mamaiva AgyA’ (vEdha vEdhAnthams are my commands), being His commands/instructions – vEdham of such form; instructions in the form of distinguishing what are to be abandoned and what are to be accepted/followed;

that is, ways as taught by vEdha purushan, ‘sathyam vadha dharmam chara, svAdhyAyAnmA pramadha:, AchAryAya priyamdhanamAhruthya prajAthanthum mAvyavachchEthsee:’, (speak truth; behave as per dharmas specified by SAsthram; practice/recite vEdham as per your varNam; do what is joyful for your AchAryan, etc.)

thErAr – is – they don’t learn and conduct themselves accordingly;

As said in ‘idham asthee idham abimE bhavishyathi punardhanam – asau maya hatha: Sathru: hanishyE cha aparAnapi [SrI bhagavath gIthA – 16.13]’ (I got this wealth using my effort; I can again earn it later; this enemy was killed by me; in the same way other enemies can be killed by me), in that way, that those like rAvaNan, hiraNyan, et al, went in wrong ways even while well versed in vEdham –

mAyavan – (emperumAn) Being the source of all the worlds, was born as human, the kind of species that can be eaten by rAkshasas, He gave liberation to a bird (periya udaiyAr (jatAyu)), fell on the feet of an animal (sugreevan), having the army of monkeys and as a group bridged the sea, appeared in the form of narasimha (human and lion) which no one has ever seen or heard of – sarvESvaran (lord of all) having many such wonderful acts. (alankruthya sirachchEdham (decorating an animal and cutting its head in sacrifice) – here praising emperumAn only to put Him down comparing to emperumAnAr)

theeyavarai – As said in ‘AgyAchchEdhee mama dhrOhee’, (those who do not follow my commands are my enemies), the bad ones who are complete offenders of His commands/instructions.

kUr Azhi koNdu – Described as ‘vadivAr sOdhi’, and, ‘spurath sahasrAra Sikadhi theevram sudharSanam bhAskara kOti thulyam’ (divine disc that is sudharSanam, with a brightness of crore suns) – using such sharp divine disc –

kuRaippadhu – As said in ‘surathvishAm prANa vinASi vishNOSchakram’ (~vishNu’s disc that destroys the enemies of devotees), wearing the divine disc that can completely destroy enemies of his devotees, and using that disc His killing Sainthavan by making day as night, and as said in ‘sAmARu avanai nee eNNich chakkaraththAl thalai koNday [periyAzhvAr thirumozhi – 2.7.8]’ (as you thought about how to kill him (seemAlika), you used the divine disc and cut his head such that he dies), killing seemAlika with it; kuRaippadhu – cutting.

As said in ‘ajAyamAnO bahudhA vijAyathE’ (He who is unborn, would be born in many ways (in incarnations)), and in ‘parithrANAya sAdhUnAm vinASAya cha dhushkruthAm – dharma samsththApanArththAya sambhavAmi yugE yugE’ (~ I incarnate in every yugam to save the devotees and to destroy their enemies), and in ‘mARi mARip pala piRappum piRandhu [thiruvAimozhi – 2.6.8]’ (while (jeevAthmAs) being born again and again in many (types of) births), Him also taking countless births similar to worldly people (as arjunan also doubted whether this is all same with Him and got clarified that it is not due to karma that He is born, but it is due to his kindness/wish),

and holding thiruvAzhi AzhvAn (divine disc) in his divine hands, having him (thiruvAzhi AzhvAn) as His identity, is to establish dharmA as per the words of vEdhas, to protect the sentient who follow His commands (through vEdhas), and to destroy the malignant ones who are enemies of it who cross His commands; It is said too, ‘bahiranthasthamachchEdhi jyOthir vandhE sudharSanam – EnAvyAhatha sankalpam vasthu lakShmeedhram vidhu:’ (I bow to sudharSanam (divine disc) due to which emperumAn who is the husband of lakshmI, is present with will).

Now, amudhanAr says, even though emperumAn had to take so much effort to remove the enemies, it is not needed for emperumAnAr to take such level of efforts.

koNdal anaiya vaNmai  – being happy to help every one by accepting them in to the fold without seeing their ineligibility – in many pAsurams amudhanAr keeps praising (only) this generosity of emperumAnAr (compared to other qualities), you see!

(emperumAnAr) having generosity of going to the place of people and helping them, like the rainy cloud that would pour without distinction of land or water.

ErAr guNaththu – (emperumAnAr) having the qualities of vAthsalyam (motherly affection), sauSeelyam (good morals), etc., which are most enjoyable,

em irAmAnusan – emperumAnAr who is the lord of ours, and we who are his servants, which is due to him advising us and letting us learn about these greatness;

av ezhil maRaiyil – its (vEdhas) distinguished attributes are as mentioned earlier, and is also having unbounded glory, and what is said as in ‘vEdha SAsthrAth param nAsthi’ (there is no better SAsthram (instructions/treatise) other than vEdham), and, ‘navEdhAnthAchchAsthram [rahasya thraya sAram]’ (there is no SAsthram than vEdham, (and there is nothing which gives security/happiness than dhvayam)), that is, in vEdham which is nissamAbhdhyadhikam (there is nothing equal or better; none of the kind); that is to say, in the path shown by such vEdhas;

sErAdhavarai – not taking refuge (in such path); due to rejecting authoritative reference, and having faith in wrong meanings, such people who are not fully set on the correct path;

sidhaippadhu – destroying them (i.e., their wrong thoughts etc.,) and make them lose.

appOdhu oru sindhai seydhE – at each time of such happening itself (for example, at that same instance when some adhvaithi comes for a debate);

those who detracted by saying wrong meanings, without knowing the inner/intented meanings of ones like ‘sa EnAn brahma gamayathi’, ‘bramha vEdha bramhaiva bhavathi’ (learns about brahmam; becomes brahmam itself (empeurmAnAr showed that it is – brahma iva bhavathi – jeevAthmA becomes ‘like’ brahmam with many of His auspicious qualities).

For the phrases of Sruthi that is ‘praNava: dhanu: SarO hi AthmA bramha thallakShyamuchyathE – apramaththEna vEththavyam Saravath thanmayO bhavEth [muNdakOpanishath]’ (praNavam is the big bow, arrow is AthmA, target is the brahmam, this shows how AchAryan teaches how to target brahmam; that arrow would reach and become brahmam (adhvaithis said ‘thanmayO’ implies that AthmA becomes brahmam) (emperumAnAr thought about it immediately and showed that an arrow cannot become the target itself)),

thus using words of thought about answers, at that same instance, and every time, emperumAnAr condemned the wrong meanings that they said, and got them rooted out;

The divine words about emperumAnAr too is ‘sva sidhdhAntha dhvAntha sththira kruthaka dhur vAdhi parishath dhivAbheetha prEkShA dhinakara samudhdhAna parusha:’ (~ emperumAnAr the sun rose to remove the darkness that is the bad arguments of others who are hurdles to the philosophy of vEdhas he shows).

Thus, amudhanAr celebrated the greatness of emperumAnAr who effortlessly won the enemies compared to sarvESvaran (lord of all) who holds all the powers.

From AzhwAr thirunagari SrI u.vE. vidhwAn thirumalai nallAn chakravarththi rAmakrishNa iyengAr’s ‘amudha virundhu’ :

mAyavan – emperumAn possesses wonderful power and intellect. But those qualities could not win those who did not follow the path of vEdhas. He had to use the sharp disc in His hand for that. amudhanAr is lowering the ability of emperumAn: cutting those people using the disc is not due to emperumAn’s ability – it is due to the sharpness of disc – this is implied by saying ‘kUr Azhi koNdu’ .(using sharp disc). Refer to ‘karudhum idam porudhu kainninRa chakkaraththan [thiruvAimozhi – 10.6.8]’ (One having divine disc which goes to fight based on understanding emperumAn’s intent), so it destroys due to its sharpness, and makes it appear that it was just an instrument and it was mAyavan who cut, and so gets good name for sarvESvaran (lord of all).

av ezhil maRai – ezhil -> beauty; beauty of vEdham is its nature of ever growing authoritative reference.

appOdhu – During each time of destroying them; so, consider this word as ‘avvappOdhu’ (every time), and also ‘oru sindhai seydhu’ as ‘ovvoru sindhai seydhu’ (comes up with a unique solution every time);

So in this pAsuram, the difference between sarvESvaran (lord of all) and emperumAnAr are well established –

mAyavan could not win them by His wit/intelligence, but won using the weapon He holds; whereas our emperumAnAr wins them by his intelligence;
mAyavan ‘kuRaippadhu’ – this word (cuts) implies there is a possibility of them growing back – rAvaNan got his heads back as they were getting cut; whereas our emperumAnAr ‘sidhaippadhu’ – the word (destroys) implies not giving any chance [for the evil thoughts] of growing back;
mAyavan uses a tool which is separate from him, that is, the divine disc; our emperumAnAr destroys using the power of his thoughts itself;
mAyavan uses the sharp disc which is the same, existing forever; whereas, emperumAnAr uses ever new thoughts (based on arguments and circumstances), to win them.

– – – – –