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rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – 66

January 23, 2017 Published by: raghuram

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

<< previous (vAzhvaRRadhu thollai vAdhiyarkku)

Introduction (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

In the previous pAsuram amudhanAr divined about the greatness of knowledge propagated by emperumAnAr, saying ‘nam irAmAnusan thandha gyAnaththilE’. in this pAsuram – he divines about his greatness of giving mOksham (liberation).

Introduction (given by piLLailOkam jIyar)

In the previous pAsuram amudhanAr divined about greatness of knowledge propagated by emperumAnAr, saying ‘nam irAmAnusan thandha gyAnaththilE’. In this pAsuram – When eeSvaran gives mOksham He only gives it with certain expectations from the devotee; unlike that, emperumAnAr gives mOksham only based on subservience to his own kindness! – divines amudhanAr about emperumAnAr’s greatness of giving mOksham.

gyAnam kanindha nalam koNDu nAL thoRum naibavarkku
vAnam koduppadhu mAdhavan val vinaiyEn manaththil
eenam kadindha irAmAnusan thannai eydhinarkku ath
thAnam koduppadhu than thagavu ennum charaN koduththE – 66

Listen

Word by word meaning (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

mAdhavan – sarvESvaran, the husband of SrI (lakshmI),
vAnam koduppadhu – gives mOksham
gyAnam kanindha – ((only) to the ones having) maturity of knowledge
nalam koNdu – that is, love (towards Him),

and who based on that form of love accept Him as the means, and experience Him, and due to the affection born out of that experience, long for doing services to Him, and consider even one day time as one thousand eons due to that delay in doing services to Him, and

naibavarkku – decay/distraught
nAL thoRum – every day;

(whereas)
irAmAnusan thannai – emperumAnAr who
eenam kadindha – removed the defects
manaththil – in the mind of
val vinaiyEn – me who is the greatest sinner,
ath thAnam koduppadhu – gives that position (sthAnam) in the sky (SrIvaikuNtam)
eydhinarkku – to those who surrender (to him),
koduththu – by giving them as wealth
than – his
thagavu ennum –what is said as kindness
charaN – as the means.

gyAnam kanindha nalam is the maturity of knowing about Him that becomes devotion.

vyAkyAnam

mAdhavan – As said in ‘lakshmyAm saha hrusheekESa: dhEvyA kAruNya rUpayA – rakshakas sarva SidhdhAnthE vEdhAnthEshucha geeyathE’ (hrusheekEsan emperumAn who is the husband of Sri mahAlakshmi who is the form of kindness itself, saves us; all vEdhas and vEdhAnthams establish this), and in ‘agala killEn iRaiyum enRu alarmEl mangai uRai mArbA’, when sarvESvaran accepts a devotee, He does so while being together with periya pirAttiyAr (lakshmI) – this is shown in all vEdhas – thus, the husband of Her, the sarvESvaran;

vAnam koduppadhu – Him giving SrI vaikuNtam that is referred to as ‘paramAkASam’, and ‘nalam antham illadhOr nAdu’ (place of endless joy), to a devotee is –

gyAnam kanindha nalam koNdu – (based on devotion); first getting the knowledge of their relationship with Him that He is their lord, and meditating upon Him without break or distraction like how oil pours down smoothly (unlike how water would pour down and spatter), and as said in ‘AprayANath ahar ahar anushteeyamAna mAnakarma (Action of devotion every day, from the day the devotion is born till the end of life through the time of reaching SrIvaikuNtam), having such devotion that is based on love (not fear);

nalam -> snEham -> that is, devotion.

nAL thoRum naibavarkku – As said in ‘viLambE thath prApthirbbhajana sukam Ekasya vipulam’, (it is a big happiness to reach Him (in the end) and enjoy Him), even though the experience is of enjoyment, since there is delay (in going to SrIvaikuNtam – due to having to continue that devotion for some births for it to mature more or in case of lapses, etc.), such people would be down in desperation thinking when they would be able do services based on maturity of experience that becomes love, and so they think even a day as thousand eons as said in ‘oru pagal Ayiram UzhiyAlO’, and till they reach that destiny they would be in that state as said in ‘kAl Azhum nenju azhiyum kaN suzhalum’. This is shown in all the SAsthrams; (mAdhavan gives mOksham) – to such devotees.

val vinaiyEn manaththil eenam kadindha irAmAnusan – now emperumAnAr who removed all traces of lowly long-present sins from the mind of me who committed dangerous sins that cannot be removed by experiencing its effects or by amends,

thannai eydhinarkku – to those who surrendered to him (emperumAnAr); as said in ‘thriNeekrutha virinchAdhi nirankuSa vibhUthaya: rAmAnuja padhAmbOja samASrayaNa Salina:’ (those who surrender to emperumAnAr think of other things as to be neglected), emperumAnAr, to those like piLLai uRangAvilli dhAsar (to whom he showed the divine eyes of periya perumAL and made him devoted to those beautiful eyes), the mute (in whose head emperumAnAr placed his divine feet), the huntress (who got a letter from emperumAnAr to thirvEnkatam udaiyAn for a place in SrIvaikuNtam)

(Note that the examples shown in the vyAkyAnam are selected from those not having any qualifications of their own, but only the acceptance/surrendering to emperumAnAr);

ath thAnam koduppadhu – (ath thAnam -> that place/position); emperumAnAr giving to them that place/position (SrIvaikuNtam) which is otherwise to be achieved through a long time practice of means in the form of devotion along with all of its (seven) components.

than thagavu ennum charaN koduththE – emperumAnAr gives us his own kindness as the capital, the means; and with the stance that the people who surrender him should not consider even that kindness as the means and so makes up some negligible things in us as eligibility, and would give us mOksham which is the definition of ultimate destiny, without any sorrow/angst.

emperumAnAr, obedient to his kindness

amudhanAr uses the simpler word ‘eydhinarkku’ (just reached/surrendered to him and did not make any efforts) – it shows that emperumAnAr does not look for specific type of people or their eligibility, etc., but only their agreeableness, to take them in and give them that destiny.

‘ath’ (‘that’) implies, ‘that’ place which is not attainable even for vidhi (brahmA), Siva, Sanakan, and others.

By this, amudhanAr has divined about the greatness of emperumAnAr giving mOksham.

jeeyar too said, ‘mA malarAL kOn madiyil vaiththu ugakkum vAzhvu namakku ethirAsan aruLum vAzhvE [Arththi prabandham – 20]’ (the destiny of happiness of emperumAn keeping us in His lap is the destiny given to us only by emperumAnAr).

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

thannai eydhinarkku – since emperumAnAr gives that destiny only to those who reached/surrendered to him, the argument of everyone of the world getting mOksham (sarva mukthi prasangam) cannot arise here.

SrI mahAlakshmI and emperumAn the two are involved in giving mOksham to the ones who are distraught; here, just the one, emperumAnAr gives to his disciple that destiny, and without having to go through such pains.

By this amudhanAr has let us know that emperumAnAr is the ‘udhdhAraka AchAryar’ (AchAryan who can lift us up from this material world).

– – – – –

rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – 65

January 21, 2017 Published by: raghuram

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

<< previous (paNdaru mARan pasunthamizh)

Introduction (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

amudhanAr is joyous thinking about how emperumAnAr came here in this way and won those who dismiss or misinterpret vEdhas and thus gave divine knowledge, and is joyous about what were achieved due to that knowledge.

Introduction (given by piLLailOkam jIyar)

In the previous pAsuram – amudhanAr showed how as emperumAnAr came here the other debaters’ existence was uprooted; in this pAsuram – he talks in many ways about the removal of debaters who dismiss or misinterpret vEdhas, and the enrichment of the people of the world, due to emperumAnAr’s praiseworthy knowledge.

vAzhvu aRRadhu thollai vAdhiyarkku enRum maRaiyavar tham
thAzhvu aRRadhu thavam thAraNi peRRadhu – thaththuva nUl
kUzh aRRadhu kuRRam ellAm pathiththa guNaththinarkku an
nAzh aRRadhu nam irAmAnusan thandha gyAnaththilE 65

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Word by word meaning (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

nam – our lord
irAmAnusan – emperumAnAr
thandha – helped by giving
gyAnaththilE – the knowledge; due to that knowledge –
like how where there is grass there would be weed also,
thollai vAdhiyarkku – those who dismiss or misinterpret vEdhas who debate with very old arguments –
vAzhvu aRRadhu – their such existence was done with;
like how after weed is removed the grass would grow up and flourish, because of those other philosophies getting removed,
enRum maRaiyavar tham – at all times, the ones who correctly follow vEdhas (vaidhikas) – their …
thAzhvu aRRadhu – … degradation was removed;
as said in ‘ERRa vallAr thiridhalAl thavam udaiththu ith tharaNi thAnE’, due to the those of other philosophies losing, and with vaidhikas gaining strength and going to places in the world,
thAraNi – earth
thavam peRRadhu – got such fortune;
thaththuva nUl – in the SAsthrams that are based on truth,
kUzh (ellAm) aRRadhu – all doubts were gone;
guNaththinarkku – for those with the nature of
kuRRam ellAm padhiththa – having all blemishes embedded,
an nAzh aRRadhu – that drawback was removed;

Oh! what wonderful greatness of such knowledge (from emperumAnAr) – is the thought.

gyAnaththilE -> gyAnaththAlE – due to the knowledge;

vyAkyAnam

nam irAmAnsan thandha gynaththilE – emperumAnAr who is the set lord of ours, due to his adherence to his kindness, voluntarily helped by giving the knowledge – due to that knowledge;

gyAnaththilE -> gyAnaththAlE – due to the knowledge;

Now, amudhanAr explains about the result of such knowledge, starting with ‘vAzhvaRRadhu’.

vAdhiyarkku – for the debaters of other philosophies such as Sankara, bhAskara, yAdhava, bhAtta, prabhAkara, baudhdha and chArvAka;

thollai – vAzhvaRRadhu – the wellness/existence of those debaters before emperumAnAr’s incarnation was – while having accepted vEdhas, their ignorance of its meanings and so imagining wrong meanings to it, and authoring some texts, and spreading it among people of the world and taking them in lowly paths, or, superimposing some blemishes on vEdhas and saying that vEdhas are not the authoritative reference – such living of theirs got rooted out after emperumAnAr incarnated and helped with the knowledge;

The word “enRum” (at all times) is adjective to both the phrases (the aforementioned and the one following), by way of kAkAkShi gyAyam (by applying sideways to different contexts (named after how a crow sees sideways)).

enRum – thollai thAzhvu aRRadhu – saying ‘aRRadhu aRRadhu’ (removed, removed) in both the contexts is similar to how it is said in ‘Asu vismarasi dhaththam arthinE ; vismarasi apakruthim parENa yath – kAma vismaraNa Seela leelaya’

(emperumAn forgets (does not keep track of) all the good help/things He gave to everyone; also He forgets all the mistakes they do against Him; His grace is about His play of forgetting; (so forgetting is the common theme here)); (in the same way, removing is the common theme as emperumAnAr removed the existence of those other debaters, and removed the difficulties of the vaidhkas); So it is about his ability to do the removal of the unwanted (in both sets of people).

For those who properly follow the four vEdhas, before his incarnation, since those who dismiss or misinterpret vEdhas had spread all over the world, the ways of vEdhas had declined – that decline got removed forever due to emperumAnAr;

the word “thollai” (from old/earlier time), is to be applied to the second phrase as well :

thollaiyAna thAzhvu – the decline without any break, from time eternal;

applying the word “thollai” as adjective to those debaters – those debaters having old arguments;

thAzhvu enRum aRRadhu – hereafter in the future, with no chance of coming back ever, it went away without any trace/scent of it.

In this world when a land owner sets it for growing paddy, where weeds would grow and spread fully and would not allow paddy to raise its head, and then the ones who know how to rectify this would remove those weeds and make the paddy grow, in the same way, emperumAnAr made the amicable ones who were the target of kindness of emperumAn to flourish at the time when they were downtrodden due to those other debaters.

thavam thAraNi peRRadhu – the earth got the fortune. Only after saying ‘parithrANaya sadhUnAm vinASaya cha dhushkruthAm [SrI bhagavath gIthA 4.7]’, (for protecting the devotees and to remove the miscreants), did He say ‘dharma samsthApanArthAya’ (and to reestablish the principles of religion (dharmam)). (so after one happened, then the other good thing happens);

After the other debaters had lost and were not found in the world, then the devotees got their troubles removed and they flourished, so, dharmam spread everywhere in the world;

It is said too as – ‘puNyAmbhOja vikAsAya pApadhvAntha kSayAyacha, SrImAnAvira bhUthbhUmau rAmAnuja dhivAkara:. (rAmAnujan the sun rose in this world for blossoming of knowledge and for removal of sins).

thaththuva nUl kUzh aRRadhu – parAvara thathva -> para avara thathva -> eeSvaran, and (sentient, non-sentient); vEdham that is in the form of SAsthram, which showed as is about the three – eeSvaran, sentient, and non-sentient, was disturbed by those who misinterpreted vEdhas (saying that these three are one, etc.), all these days such vEdham was transgressed by many such people,

and now since emperumAnAr divined SrI bAshyam, as said in ‘yaS Sruthi smruthi sUthrANAm anthar jvaram aSeeSamath’ (words of Sruthi (vEdam) and smrithi (ithihAsam, purANam, SrI bhagavath gIthA etc.)), and sUthram (brahma sUthram), had fever inside (that it would be dismissed/misinterpreted), and emperumAnAr removed that fever),

emperumAnAr gave the knowledge to the people, and established correct meaning for vEdhas – so the disturbance went away and so the true meaning became bright without any doubts/danger.

having kUzh -> doubts/danger.

Also, due to his teaching, the ones who wished to learn got all doubts cleared in SAsthram that shows truth as is.

kuRRam ellAm padhiththa guNaththinarkku an nAzh aRRadhu – As said in ‘yAvachcha yachcha dhuritham, sakalasyajanthO: thAvath thaththadhi gancham Asthi sathyam’ (whatever sins are present in every one in the world, I have got multi-fold of those sins embedded in me),

for those having the nature of having all sins spread in them, those sins went extinct due to the establishment of knowledge in them by emperumAnAr.

as said in ‘kshipram bhavathi dharmAthmA SaSvath Santhim ni gachchathi [SrI bhagavath gIthA]’ (blemishes go extinct and you would go towards peace), they got the blemishes in their qualities be removed and became knowledgeable. nAzh -> blemishes/sins;

amudhanAr is joyous, thinking – Oh! what greatness this is!

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

thollai vAdhiyarkku – the debaters are of current age, but their arguments have been around for a long time.

thavam thAraNi peRRadhu – as the noble ones got their strength back and went around to all places in the world, the earth got the fortune of touch of their divine feet.

– – – – –

Translation: raghurAm SrInivAsa dasan

rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – 64

January 20, 2017 Published by: raghuram

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

<< previous (pidiyaith thodarum kaLiRenna)

Introduction (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

amudhanAr said ‘aRu samayach chediyaith thodarum maruL seRindhOr sidhaindhOda vandhu’, talking about how emperumAnAr came here for winning the philosophies that did not accept vEdhas as authority – in the previous pAsuram;

in this pAsuram – due to the overflowing affection towards emperumAnAr, amudhanAr addresses those of other philosophies that don’t accept vEdhas or gives wrong meanings for vEdhas – the elephant that is irAmAnusa muni came to this world looking out for you and opposed you; your existence is now done with – says amudhanAr.

Introduction (given by piLLailOkam jIyar)

in this pAsuram – due to the overflowing affection towards emperumAnAr, amudhanAr addresses those of other philosophies that don’t accept vEdhas or gives wrong meanings for vEdhas – the elephant that is irAmAnusa muni came to this world holding the ruling stick looking out for you for punishing you; your existence is now done with from the root up – says amudhanAr.

paN tharu mAran pasum thamizh Anandham pAy madhamAy
viNdida engaL irAmAnusa muni vEzham meymmai
koNda nal vEdhak kozhum dhaNdam Endhik kuvalayaththE
maNdi vendhEnRadhu vAdhiyargAL ungaL vAzhvu aRRadhE 64

Listen

Word by word meaning (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

engaL – he who we depend on
iramAnusa muni vEzham – that is, emperumAnAr like an elephant ,

due to thiruvAimozhi which can be said as ‘paNNAr pAdal’, which
mARan – AzhvAr
paN tharu – bestowed using his pAsurams
pasum thamizh – in beautiful thamizh language,
Anandham – (emperumAnAr’s) happiness
pAy – pouring out as
viNdida – fully developed
madhamAy – madness,
Endhi – (emperumAnAr) holding the
kozhun dhaNdam –beautiful stick, that is
nal vEdham – distinguished vEdham

as said in ‘vEdha nUl Odhugiradhu uNamai’ (what vEdhas say are true),
meymmai koNda – that is, having the truth due to saying what is the truth,
maNdi vandhu – he came pushing you all aside

for no one to stand in front of him
kuvalayaththE – in this world where you are ruling as if it is yours
EnRadhu – and opposed charging against you;
vAdhiyargAL – oh! you the debaters
ungaL – you, who were well grown with disciples and next levels of disciples
vAzhvu – your ‘good’ existence
aRRadhE – has ended!

That is, the world got saved!

Can it be interpreted as ‘paNdu aru’ instead, to mean that it is existing from old ages, and is hard for others to get it? That would not be accurate because the focus is not on old times, but on the music of the pAsuram, so ‘paN tharu’ is apt.

vyAkyAnam

engaL irAmAnusa muni vEzham – “engaL irAmAnusan”, “em irAmAnusan”, “ennai ALa vandhu ippadiyil piRandhadhu”, and so in many pAsurams amudhanAr has divined in this way – this is due to his love towards the wonderful divine body of emperumAnAr, you see!

The elephant that is emperumAnAr who incarnated for us, unlike the worldly elephant that has got lowered sentience, this elephant is here to condemn those who try to propagate wrong meanings for vEdhas, and to enlighten them and put them in proper track of vEdhas, and to protect the amicable ones, and be one to meditate upon – this elephant is one having such flourishing of sentience/knowledge;

in this way for this elephant that is not material based, its knowledge also would be of that size;

describing emperumAnAr as an elephant is to show his ability to destroy the opponents, and for the ones protected by him to make them eligible for getting crowned.

paNdaru mARan pasum thamizh – that which is complete in all respects of grammar, style, construction, etc., for pAsuram, which is enjoyable for the ones who take it up; Or, even though for proper emphasis it cannot be split and considered as ‘paNdu aRu’ (instead of paN tharu), we can say that like how sarvESvaran Himself incarnated as vyAsar in each yuga-cycle [4 yugas] and gave vEdhas in good form, in each kali yugam, etc., among the cycles, sarvESvaran Himself incarnates as knowledgeable noble ones and gives dhrAvida (thamizh) vEdhas to us – this is famous as said in brahma, bhArgava, pAdhma, etc., purANas;

so thiruvAimozhi which is eternal and not authored by a person, is hard for anyone to know and understand in their mind except for the devotees;

mARan is the original first divine name of nammAzhvAr.

pasum thamizh – constructed by him which is in pure thamizh language, that is thiruvAimozhi;

As ‘mARan paNiththa thamizh maRai’, and, ´eenRa mudhal thAy satakOpan’, thiruvAimozhi that is connected to nammAzhvAr;

Anandham pAy madhamAy – From the sea that is SrIpathi (husband of SrI mahAlakshmi), the cloud that is AzhvAr, sourced the water that is great kindness, and poured in on the hill that is periya mudhaliyAr (nAthamunigaL), and that kindness came down as water falls that are maNakkAl nambi, and uyyak koNdAr, and reached the river that is the elder AchAryar ALavandhAr, and filled the lake that is emperumAnAr, and flowed freely through the pathways/canals that are the preceptors, and went to the paddies that are sentient beings of this material world, and protected them – so thiruvAimozhi is referred with joy as ‘kavi amudham’ (nectar that is poetry), and as ‘thoNdarkku amudhu uNNach chonmAlai’, and so it is nectar for everyone – the happiness that came out of thiruvAimozhi that is fully of joy, and so that nectar has gathered and is pouring out (from emperumAnAr) (like how for a mad elephant water would pour from its eyes);

{Translator’s note: nammAzhvAr is also known as ‘parAnkuSar’, a meaning of which is that for debaters of other philosophies who were like mad elephants, he was like the stick that can control and remove that madness; there – he removed the madness; here – he created the sort of madness in emperumAnAr; emperumAnAr used that stick to win the debaters of other philosophers; so the stick he used could be considered as nammAzhvAr himself! }

viNdida – and is fully developed, such that there is no barrier to it at any time and any place;

emperumAnAr the elephant, on the elephant vAhanam

meymmai koNda nal vEdhak kozhum dhaNdam Endhi – meymmai – truthfulness;

that is, as said in ‘vEdha nUl Odhuvadhu uNmai´ (what vEdham says is truth), being truthful to the actuals; since it is having such truthfulness it is the ultimate authority – such distinguished vEdham;

vEdham that shows the supremacy of emperumAn in saying ‘sathyam gyAnam anantham brahma’. (so ‘nal’ (good) vEdham’).

And it is apt that vEdham is defined as ‘parAvara thathvAni yathAvathu vEdhayathi ithi vEdha:’ (shows the factual meanings correctly and clearly like a mirror).

The inner meaning for the adjective for vEdham as ‘meymmai koNda’ :- For the misunderstanding ‘rajjAvayam sarpa:’, (rope as snake), only when we get the correct knowledge ‘iyam rajjurEva na sarpa:’ (this is rope only, not a snake), would we realize what it is; in the same way, for the eternal ignorance through the philosophies which derive own meanings and which dismiss or misinterpret vEdhas, vEdhas show the true meanings and clears the misunderstanding.

So, (emperumAnAr) uses the help of stick that is vEdham that is instrumental in winning the opposing debaters;

kozhu – greatness;

Or, even though what is mentioned now is samskrutha vEdham, it can also be taken together with the thamizh vEdham mentioned earlier. (that is, emperumAnAr using the stick that is thiruvAimozhi as well).

This phrase implies an ‘also’ here; so he not only just held the stick in his hand to correct them, but also affected them with the stick such that they got corrected; for emperumAn to correct others He is always holding conch and disc as said in ‘sangodu chakkaram Endhum thadak kaiyan’, emperumAnAr is also holding in his hands the stick that is in the form of vEdham!

kuvalayaththE maNdi vandhu EnRadhu – in the places where you were ruling as if they are yours, from sEthu in south to the himAchal in the north, vEnkatAchala, yAdhavAchala, and, SAradhA peetam, etc., divine places, he argued and won the debaters who came to argue, and that is how he came against you;

vAdhiyargAL – Oh you who are attached to arguing for philosophies that ignore or misinterpret vEdhas!

ungaL vAzhvu aRRadhE – your well being of having grown big with disciples and next levels of disciples, has ended! As you were thinking of living and growing with disciples and next levels of disciples, all your philosophies have been lost;

jeeyar too divined this meaning in ‘sankara bhAskara yAdhava bhAttap prabhAkarar thangaL matham sAyvura vAdhiyar mAyguvar enRu chathu maRai vAzhndhidu nAL’ (the day when all the ill meaning philosophies like Sankara etc., were won and the four vEdhas lived well (that is emperumAnAr’s incarnation day of chiththirai thiruvAdhirai)).

The SlOkam ‘kaNAdha paripAdibhi:’, (about how other philosophies were won over by the words of yatheendhrar), and the SlOkam ‘gathAdhAthA gadhAnAm’, are to be considered as the authoritative reference for this meaning.

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

It is ‘thamizh’, moreover ‘pasum thamizh’, and moreover ‘paN tharu pasum thamizh’, and more than anything it is ‘mARan paN tharu pasum thamizh’ – so it goes without saying that emperumAnAr would be so ecstatic upon immersing in thiruvAimozhi.

Unable to stay in, the experience of thiruvAimozhi comes out as joyous tears from emperumAnAr; comparing this to the madness water coming out of the eyes of an elephant.

By ‘engaL vEzham’, it shows emperumAnAr makes himself available to other SrIvaishNavas who enjoy thiruvAimozhi, that they could even hug him happily, while by ‘muni vEzham’ it shows that debaters of other philosophies cannot come near emperumAnAr;

By ‘vEdhak kozhum thaNdam’, (beautiful stick tha is vEdham), amudhanAr considers the ‘thirdhaNdam’ (three sticks/staff tied together as held by viSishtAdhvaitha saints) that emperumAnAr holds; they are the three vEdhas is the opinion of amudhanAr.

emperumAnAr immersed himself in the meanings of thiruvAimozhi, and based on that he got clear understanding of the vEdhas, and won the debaters using the words of those vEdhas.

– – – – –

rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – 63

January 18, 2017 Published by: raghuram

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

<< previous (irundhEn iru vinaip pAsam kazhaRRi)

Introduction (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

amudhanAr talked about how unwanted ones got removed – in the previous pAsuram;

The agreeable one, which is service wished for in your divine feet – you yourself please enable my love towards that, says amudhanAr.

Introduction (given by piLLailOkam jIyar)

In the previous pAsuram, amudhanAr divined that he surrendered at the divine feet of the noble ones who would not (be able to) do any help to those who do not have the mind to surrender to emperumAnAr; and that due to that surrender he got the ties to his karmas removed, and lived without getting affected by the harshness of samsAram, and thus celebrated the glory of emperumAnAr whose effect extended up to the devotees of his devotees;

In this pAsuram – he longs to get love towards such divine feet ; ‘Oh emperumAnAr! who incarnated for the ones who are not based on vEdhas to be defeated, and who searched for in the whole earth and took to war against them, and kept looking for them, and drove away those whose philosophies do not accept vEdhas, and so having such highly developed intellect! Please give me at most love towards your divine feet’, thus so he directly requests emperumAnAr.

pidiyaith thodarum kaLiRenna yAn un piRangiya seer
adiyaith thodarumpadi nalga vENdum – aru samayach
chediyaith thodarum maruL seRindhOr sidhaindhOda vandhu ip
padiyaith thodarum irAmAnusA mikka paNdithanE 63

Listen

Word by word meaning (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

aRu samayam – the parts of six philosophies that did not accept vEdhas
chediyaith – and are spread like dense shrubs around plants
thodarum – (those who ) follow (such philosophies) obediently
maruL seRindhOr – such knowledge being flawed – having such flawed mind
sidhaindhu – to be lost
Oda – and run away scared
vandhu – (emperumAnAr) came, and
as said in ‘avar pin padarum guNan’ (having nature of following such (people and winning them),
ippadiyai – for taking in and accepting the people in this earth
thodarum – emperumAnAr looks for opportunity and goes after them, doing acts after understanding the nature of them,
mikka paNdithan – having gotten unbounded knowledge (and got his goal fulfilled),
irAmAnusA – Oh udaiyavar!
kaLiRenna – like a male elephant
pidiyai thodarum – which follows a female elephant at all times due to love towards it
and which cannot be stopped by anything,
nalga vENdum – please grace such that
yAn – I too
thodarum padi – get the inherent nature to follow
un – your highness’s
piRangiya – rich
adiyai – divine feet
seer – having qualities of elegance, tenderness, etc.,

kaLiRenna – means, being such that could be said as a male elephant. In the whole phrase, the emphasis is on prayer to emperumAnAr that amudhanAr be in love with emperumAnAr like how male elephant goes behind with full focus towards female elephant.

What if it is recited as ‘kaLiRanna’ ? – Then the emphasis would be on the female elephant that is amudhanAr; then prayer for getting the love would be of lower emphasis. So it is correct to keep it as ‘kaLiRenna’ only, where emphasis is in neither of the two elephants but on the prayer. That is the intent of amudhanAr.

piRangiya – glorious/bright. Also, piRangiya seer adi implies very beautiful divine feet; in that case piRangiya – very, and seer – beauty.

sedi – shrubs; maruL seRindhu – is the gathering (storm) of diminishing of knowledge;

When saying adiyaith thodarum padi, the word padi – means true nature;

nalgu – give;

Also as, please (nalgu ->) make me follow your divine feet.

vyAkyAnam

aRu samayach chediyai – Surrounded like with dense shrubs that are the six philosophies outside of vEdhas; Or, by aRu – the troubles that these philosophies give when starting to practice them; and, when using them as means, it includes sorrows like offering a goat cut, giving own head cut, doing thapas in the middle of five fires in the forest having rough terrain of stones and thorns, wearing ashes, defecation, etc.,

and in the case of reaching destiny, they say we would become like a stone, and such sorrows;

since these are spread in that way, they are philosophies that are tied together with such sadness;

thodarum maruL seRindhOr – those who have gotten into the depths of such dangerous philosophies which are poisonous even to look at; as said in ‘bahuSAkhA: ananthAScha bhudhdhaya: avyavasAyinAm [SrI bhagavath gIthA]’ (best way is to search for the true vision of AthmA (Athma sAkshAthkAram), rest of the efforts are insignificant/lowly), they are being wavering in their stands, and they follow such philosophies – having such badly affected minds;

sidhaindhu Oda – Like how animals would run away upon seeing a lion, emperumAnAr is such that those of other philosophies run away in fear with shattered hearts, upon seeing him;

vandhu ippadiyaith thodarum – he by himself came from paramapadham all the way down here, and in this earth he goes after and wage with armies against those philosophies; padi -> earth;

Or, as said in ‘avar pin padarum guNan’, for taking in the people of this world, and so goes after them looking for the right time;

irAmAnusA! – Oh (such) emperumAnAr!

mikka paNdithanE – Wow how great is the richness of your knowledge! – amudhanAr is joyful at that greatness, and calling him here.

From kALahasthi, saivaites came up to thirumalai and started to promote their very bad philosophy; at that time emperumAnAr went and won them, and they ran away defeated; near thirunArAyaNapuram, the jains had debated with him and went away defeated; after that as part of his victory trip he went seeking those of other philosophies from south to the himAchal mountain and so traveled to all parts of the world and by his scholarship won in sarasvathee peetam the ones who gave wrong meanings to vEdhas – these are all well known about emperumAnAr.

ALavandhAr who wished for all kinds of relationships towards nammAzhvAr

By amudhanAr’s calling of emperumAnAr – it seems like he is calling ‘emperumAnArE!’ to say that he has some something to request of emperumAnAr.

What is the request? amudhanAr specifies that below.

pidiyaith thodarum kaLiRenna yAn – due to immense love towards female elephant, the male elephant goes behind it, unstoppable by any distraction; like that male elephant, I had been going behind the material pleasures all these days; such lowly me.

Or, as said in ‘yA preethir avivEkAnAm vishayEshvanapAyinee | thavamanusmarathassAmE vishayAn nApasarppathu’ (prahlAdhan praying – towards whatever one should not have attraction towards, I was having attraction; please make me to be attracted towards you with such level of love) – it can be understood also as amudhanAr asking – please make me having such level of love towards you;

Saying ‘pidiyaith thodarum kaLiRenna’ is – like I could be said as a male elephant;

pidi – female elephant;

kaLiRu – male elephant;

padi – nature / behavior.

nalga vENdum – please grant me;

all these days I who had been roaming around like that, now,

nalga vENdum – please grant me

thodarum padi – the dawn of love and the nature of being always with you in love towards ..

un piRangiya seer adiyaith thodarum padi – .. the divine feet of yours, you who are having the purifying and other qualities that are driven and spread around the whole world;

please bless me to be like that (such elephant), (towards your divine feet).

If asked whether it is okay to say ‘pidiyaith thodarum kaLiRu’ – since ALavandhAr divines as ‘mAtha pithA yuvathaya:’ (nammAzhvAr is everything to me), it is acceptable to say this.

After perumAL (SrI rAmar) went to forest, chakravarthi (dhaSarathan), thinking about kausalyA, ‘how much she would be suffering now’, he felt very bad about that, and thinking about how kausalyA took great care of him, said ‘yadhA yadhAhi kausalyA dhASaIvachcha sakheevacha bhAryAvath bhagineevachcha mAthruvachcha upathishttathE [SrI rAmAyaNam]’ (kausalya is every kind of relationship to me). rishi also said similarly like this due to showing his love.

So it is acceptable for amudhanAr to say this.

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

By the word ‘thodaRum’ (follows), even when the female elephant is not looking at the male, he follows with determination due to unwavering and determined love; amudhanAr is praying to emperumAnAr to give him unwavering and determined love towards emperumAnAr;

Male elephant got the love after seeing the beautiful female elephant; for me, please help me get such love after you show the great qualities of your divine body, and after you let me see that. adi is adjective for the divine body.

mikka paNdithanE – paNdithan – learned; mikka -> of high level – having a sharp mind, that he made the other groups to debate among themselves by showing contradictions in each others’ arguments and got them to finish off each other in debates.

Finish the pAsuram saying, Oh emperumAnAr! please grant me following of your divine feet.

– – – – –

Arththi prabandham Other

Arththi prabandham – 33

January 10, 2017 Published by: santhanam rajagopalan

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

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pAsuram 33

innam eththanai kAlam indha udambudan yAn iruppan
innapozhudhu udambu vidum innapadi adhuthAn
innavidaththE adhuvum ennum ivaiyellAm
ethirAsA! nI aRidhi yAn ivai onRaRiyEn
ennai ini ivvudambai viduviththu un aruLAl
ErArum vaikundhaththERRa ninaivu uNdEl
pinnai viraiyAmAl maRandhu irukkiRadhen? pEsAy
pEdhaimai thIrndhu ennai adimai koNda perumAnE !!!

Word-by-Word Meaning

eththanai kAlam – how long
innam – from now
yAn iruppan – will I be, without any association
indha udambudan – inside this derisive body?
ethirAsA! – emperumAnArE!!!
nI aRidhi – you know
innapozhudhu udambu vidum – when the body would fall at which particular time and
innapadi adhuthAn – in which particular manner and
innavidaththE adhuvum – at which particular place
ennum ivaiyellAm – (all these aforementioned things) you know for sure.
yAn – ignorant me
ivai onRaRiyEn – does not know an iota of these.
pEdhaimai thIrndhu – So, please remove my ignorance!!!
adimai koNda perumAnE!!! – The one who ruled over
ennai – me, who lives without any connection to this mortal coil (given to me in this birth)..
ini un aruLAl – From now on onwards, bless me (so that with your blessings)
ivvudambai viduviththu – the body is discarded and
vaikundhaththERRa – ascend to paramapdham
ErArum – which is a place that is exquisitely ornate and complete in beauty.
ninaivu uNdEl – (emperumAnArE!!!) if you have the desire to do so,
pinnai – then
pEsAy – please tell me
maRandhu irukkiRadhen? – What are you contemplating and why is the delay?
virayAmAl – and why are you not expediting it?

Simple Translation

In this pAsuram, maNavALa mAmunigaL questions emperumAnAr as to what is the reason for his delay in liberating his soul and making him ascend to paramapadham. There is no shortage of compassion on emperumAnAr’s part and mAmunigaL is ready to leave his body at any time. Yet it does not happen and that makes mAmunigaL curious. The curiosity is reflected in the form of a question in this pAsuram.

Explanation

maNavALa mAmunigaL says “emperumAnArE! my svAmi! I was without the knowledge of your association earlier. You removed this void and made me realize my true self. You made me realize that I am a servant as mentioned in the phrase “vinaiyEn unakkadimaiyaRakkoNdAy (thiruvAimozhi 4.9.6)”. As a part of realizing my servitude towards you, you made me live by it and realize the significance of it. You are my svAmi indeed!!! I have a question for you. How much more do you plan to keep my soul in this derisive body? How long should I stay inside this body without any kind of true connection to it? You do know when this body will fall, you do know where it will fall and how it will. You know everything. I am completely oblivious of any of these. I do not know an iota of these”.

mAmunigal continues, “my svAmi! I (my soul) is inside this body without any kind of liking or attachment. If you wish to liberate the soul from the body and make the soul ascend to the beautiful paramapadham, why are you delaying in doing so? Why are you not speeding the process as they say in the phrase “viNNulagam tharuvAnAy viraiginRAn (thiruvAimozhi 10.6.3)”? Please let me know the reason for the delay. There is no question about your infinite mercy. There is no reason on my part that prevents liberation. Then what is it that prevents you?”. There is yet another recitation way when it comes to the penultimate line, “maRandhu irukkiRadhen? pEsAy”. They also say “amarndhirukkiradhen pEsAy”.

adiyen santhAnam ramanuja dasan

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rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – 62

December 11, 2016 Published by: raghuram

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

<< previous (kozhundhu vittOdip padarum)

Introduction (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

amudhanAr is divining about reaching the goal due to breaking his connection with his karmas.

Introduction (given by piLLailOkam jIyar)

In the previous pAsuram, amudhanAr divined about how emperumAnAr who possesses all the auspicious qualities had searched for him to get him, and about how after voluntarily getting him to be his servant, his auspicious qualities had attained meaning/brightness; in this pAsuram – Instead of those who say ‘we don’t have subservience to emperumAnAr, nor do we have subservience to his disciples’ and so are bad and having cold heart, amudhanAr considers those who are the opposite of them, and divines about his reaching the goal due to connection with such noble ones.

irundhEn iru vinaip pAsam kazhaRRi inRi yAniRaiyum
varundhEn ini em irAmAnusan mannu mA malarththAL
porundhA nilai udaip punmaiyinOrkku onRum nanmai seyyA
perum thEvaraip paravum periyOr tham kazhal pidiththE 62

Listen

Word by word meaning (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

em – head of our clan
iraAmAnusan – emperumAnAr’s
mannu – well set matching each other
mA – most worshippable
malar – and most enjoyable
thAL – divine feet
porundhA – not joining
nilay udai – in the state of
punmayinOrkku – ones having the bad nature
onRum – at any place
nanmai seyyA – do any good things
perum thEvarai – SrIvaishNavas who are equivalent to the lord
paravum – losing to their nature and praising them
periyOr – those having great glories
kazhal pidiththu – surrendering to the divine feet of ,
inRu – today
iru – being in two ways based on good and bad deeds
vinaip pAsam kazhaRRi – got liberated from the ties of karmas
irundhEn – thus achieving the objective and being ardent;
yAn – I who was being like this
ini – here after
iRaiyum – even a little bit
varundhEn – not be involved in sorrows.

Only if there is karmam remaining will there be any sorrow – is the thought here.

Also, for porundhA, etc., it can be explained as follows. To those who are present with the thought they would not reach the divine feet of emperumAnAr, I would not do any favor even if they showed thousand farms of teeth – would be the stand of the periya perumAL the almighty; kUraththAzhvAn losing to such nature of emperumAn had done praises to Him; reaching such divine feet of kUraththAzhvAn whose glory is beyond words – then inRu – iru vinaip pAsam kazhaRRi irundhEn – then today I am doing well having broken from ties of karmas.

There are those who recite it as ‘perum thEvanai”.

When recited as ‘punmaiyinOrkku enRum nanmai seyyA’, – it shall mean that he/they would not do any good at any day (to such lowly people).

punmaiyinOr – is – those having such inferior character/thoughts. punmai – wrong/evil/disservice.

By thamizh grammar, inRu + yAn shall be written as inRiyAn (and recited so as well).

vyAkyAnam

em irAmAnusan – As said in ‘thasmin rAmAnujAryE gururithisapthapAthi’ , and, ‘SrImath gurUNAm kulamithamakilam thasya nAthasya SEsha:’, the lord of SrIvaishNavas that is emperumAnAr – his –

mannu mAmalarth thAL – mannu -> it is being steadfast and unwavering in the protection of those who have surrendered to one’s divine feet. Like saying ‘thiN kazhal’.

Greatness of flower is its having the qualities like radiance, tenderness, fragrance, purity etc.. The divine feet that are similarly pure and enjoyable. The divine feet that are praised as ‘seerArum ethirAsar thiruvadigaL’, and ‘azhagArum ethirAsar adi iNaigaL’.

porundhA nilaiyudaip punmaiyinOrkku – Being idiotic like fist of monkey and not come and surrender, such lowly ones having bad nature;

onRum nanmai seyyA – Not doing even a little good for such people

perum thEvarai – thEvar: brahmA, rudhran et al. perum thEvar: are nithyasUris as said in ‘yathra pUrvE sAdhyAssanthi dhEvA:’. dhivyasUris having such nature;

paravum periyOr tham – The noble ones who at all times and in all ways be praising those and as mentioned in the Slokam of ‘mAthA pithA uvathaya:’, and the SlOkam of ‘bhUtham saraScha’.

periyOr – Greatness is due to knowledge, so greatness is mainly based on knowledge (gyAna pradhAnam).

periyOr

One who is beyond words that is kUraththAzhvAn, his and such noble ones –

kazhal pidiththu – divine feet to be surrendered to.

‘irAmAnusan mannu mA malarth thAL porundhA nilai udaip punmaiyinOrkku onRum nanmai seyyA perum thEvar’  – could be said as periya perumAL (He would not do any thing good for those who do not wish to surrender to emperumAnAr), and in that case, ‘paravum periyOr’ would be about parAnkuSa, parakAlan, et al.

Or, ‘perum thEvar’ can be applied to refer to emperumAnAr, and ‘paravum periyOr kazhal pidiththu’ to – being in the steadfastness of being servant to series of servants to the last level of them;

When recited as ‘punmaiyinOrkku enRum nanami seyyA’ , it shall mean to say – not helping at any time.

punmaiyinOr – is – those having such inferior character/thoughts. punmai – wrong/evil/disservice.

After it is in this way –

irundhEn iru vinaip pAsam kazhaRRi – I am in the state of having crossed the ties that are hindrance to reaching the goal, the ties related to two types based on good and bad deeds; since these are reasons for attachments, they are referred as hindrance to reaching the goal;

What is to be reached is what He said as ‘sarva pApEbhyO mOkshayishyAmi’.

inRiyAn iRaiyum varundhEn ini – now I shall not suffer even for a second due to the sadness of material world (samsAram).

It concludes that as said in ‘athraiva SrIrangE sukhamAsva’ the harshness of samsAram shall not affect me even for a second, and shall be with the happy tasteful experience.

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

irundhEn – after reaching the divine feet of devotees of emperumAnAr, I reached my destiny; so I don’t have to do anything more; I have completed what I have to do (in this world). So I can be ‘mAsucha:’ (without any worries).

kazhaRRi – implies easily untied the karmas; this was possible because of surrendering to the divine feet of devotees of emperumAnAr; this is because emperumAn does everything as per the wishes of such noble ones – so it is very easy to remove the ties of karmas if one reaches such noble ones.

em irAmAnsan kazhal pidiththu – The noble ones would not help in any way to the lowly ones who are against surrendering to emperumAnAr’s divine feet – this is not because those noble ones are not kind – The good help that they can do is to show emperumAnAr’s divine feet as the destiny; if those lowly ones would not learn and follow that, then the noble ones cannot help them.

– – – – –

rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – 61

December 10, 2016 Published by: raghuram

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

<< previous (uNarndha mey gyAniyar yOgam)

Introduction (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

amudhanAr lauded emperumAnAr’s qualities, saying ‘guNam thigazh koNdal’; when asked “what is the nature the glory of his qualities?” amudhanAr divines about the nature of those qualities.

Introduction (given by piLLailOkam jIyar)

“You praised his qualities saying ‘guNam thigazh koNdal’, what is the nature of the glory of his qualities?’ – to those who asked this, amudhanAr replies – I am a complete sinner, and am drowned in the sea of material life, and emperumAnAr without my knowing to ask for anything, by his high grace only came himself to me and corrected me such that I became his servant – after that – emperumAnAr towards whom parAnkusa, parakAla, nAtha, yAmunAr, and others are having special love, and is having the great thapas of SaraNAgathi after having given gadhya thrayam at the divine feet of periya perumAL for the upliftment of all the sentient, such emperumAnAr’s divine qualities cover all eight directions of the earth, and are completely bright and are seen everywhere in there.

kozhundhu vittOdip padarum venkOL vinaiyAl nirayaththu
azhundhiyittEnai vandhu AtkoNda pinnum – arumunivar
thozhum thavaththOn em irAmAnusan than/thol pugazh sudar mikku
ezhundhadhu aththAl nal athisayam kaNdadhu iru nilamE 61

Listen

Word by word meaning (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

aru – As said by ‘sa mahAthmA sudhurlabha:’ they are very rare for emperumAn too to get;
munivar – as said in ‘vAsudhEvas sarvam’, they think all the time “He is everything for us”
thozhum – emperumAnAr is such that the aforementioned people would come and worship at his divine feet
thavaththOn – emperumAnAr having the thapas that is SaraNAgathi
em – our svAmi
irAmAnusan than – emperumAnAr’s
pugazh – auspicious qualities
kozhundhu vittu – flourishes more and more
Odi – at fast rate
padarum – and is present in the full wide area;
Now, due to
vem – cruel/inauspicious
kOL – and strong (prabalam)
vinaiyAl – karmas,
azhundhiyittEnai – I have drowned
nirayaththu – in the samsAram that is full of sorrows
which is as said in ‘maRRa narakam’, being the opposite of the greatly enjoyed place (SrIvaikuNtam);
vandhu – coming to the place where I was in such state
AL koNda pinnum – (he) got me to be subservient to him; after that
sudar mikku – without ending/diminishing, with the unbounded brightness due to accepting me,
ezhundhadhu – that brightness became more prominent, and is looking for whether there are more like this whom can be accepted;
aththAl – because of that,
irunilam – the big earth
nal athisayam kaNdadhu – saw the great wonder.

Or, for rAmAnusan than pugazh sudar mikku ezhundhadhu – even after taking me who is a sinner, as servant, his glory is not diminishing and not only that, it is flourishing and appeared with unsurpassed brightness. In that case, ezhundhu – appeared.

When recited as irAmAnusan thol pugazh – thol -> thonmai -> from ancient times -> since it has been present from ancient times, the auspicious qualities, they are being according to true nature, and ancient/staying – such qualities are flourishing this way;

kozhundhu vittu -> the karmas are present and flourishing .

vemmai – terrible/cruel; kOL – midukku – strength.

vyAkyAnam

aru munivar thozhum thavaththOn – aru – ‘sa mahAthmA su dhurlabha:’ – said gIthAchAryan because he thought “Alas! nammAzhvAr incarnated only after the completion of my incarnation, and so could not get the dharSan of him during my time!”, periyavAchchAn piLLai divines the meaning for this phrase from SrI bhagavath gIthA, so ‘aru’ refers to nammAzhvAr who was hard for Him to get/see.

munivar – As ‘vAsudhEvas sarvam’, and, ‘uNNum sORu, parugu neer, thinnum veRRilaiyum ellAm kaNNan emperumAn [thiruvAimozhi]’, these are the meanings he was thinking in meditation for sixteen years, which he revealed as dhivya prabandham. periyavAchchAn piLLai divined this meaning as well. In this way the completely rare to get nammAzhvAr, and those who got his grace, that is, nAthamunigaL and AlavandhAr, were worshiping the ‘bhavishyadhAchArya vigraham’, and were meditating upon his divine incarnation, and were living taking a lot of efforts, so amudhanAr is calling them together as “munivar”.

thozhum – As said in ‘pUrvE mUrdhnAnvayam upagathAkEsikA mukthimApthA:’, they are of the faith that he (emperumAnAr) only is the udhdhArakar (who can lift us up from this material world); emperumAnAr is such;

thavaththOn – he follows the path of SaraNAgathi, who is as praised in ‘thasmAnyAsamEshAm thapasAmathirikthamAhu:’;

jeeyar also divined this meaning about emperumAnAr in ‘kAlathrayEpi karaNAthrya nirmithAthi pApakriyasya SaraNam bhagavath kshamaiva – sAchathvayaiva kamalA ramaNErthithAya kshEmassa Evahi yathIndhra bhavchchrithAnAm’ [yathirAja vimSathi].

em irAmAnusa than – our lord that is emperumAnAr – his –

pugazh – auspicious qualities;

when recited as ‘irAmAnusan thol pugazh’ – it is about the eternal, natural, auspicious qualities.

such auspicious qualities;

aru munivar (nammAzhwAr, madhurakavi AzhwAr and nAthumunigaL – kAnchIpuram)

kozhundhu vittOdip padarum venkOL vinaiyAl nirayaththu azhundhiyittEnai – That which flourishes more and more, and quickly, spanning the world, and as said in ‘dhurAchAra:’, is in the form of doing what should not be done, and not doing what should be done, and so is the target of punishment by emperumAn as said in ‘kshipAmi’, and ‘nakshamAmi’, and

as said in ‘yath brahma kalpa niyuthAnubhavEbhyA nASyam’, those bad deeds could not be rectified by experiencing its effects or by doing amends – due to such strong bad karma, I am drowned in this material world and where I cannot find the shore, such world that is of endless sorrows and which is said as ‘maRRa narakam’, that is the opposite of the great happiness of the higher world (SrIvaikuNtam); vemmai – terrible/cruel; kOL – midukku – strength.

vandhAtkoNda pinnum – at the time when I did not know to ask that I should be saved, emperumAnAr due to his voluntary grace, from SrIvaikuNtam, came down searching for me to the place I was in, and without discarding me seeing my lack of knowledge, got me as his servant; after that – only after getting (the lowly) me –

sudar mikkezhundhadhu – Not getting satiated with just that, due to accepting me and saving me, it got unbounded glory and grew further; it grew looking for similar people who could be accepted; like how after surrendering to emperumAnAr, amudhanAr’s state changed, after the glory of emperumAnAr came and accepted amudhanAr, they flourished further and further;

aththAl nal athisayam kaNdadhu iru nilamE – Due to the uprising of his auspicious qualities after accepting me who am a complete sinner, as said in ‘vasundharA puNyavathee’, the earth felt relieved that its load (of bad) would reduce.

iru nilam – in the world that is so wide; irumai – greatness; Or, iru nilam – in this earth that is very wide;

aththAl nal athisayam kaNdadhu – This can also be explained as – only after gracing the sinners like me did emperumAnAr’s auspicious qualities grew with boundless glory, so, due to that uprising, its wonder was seen by everyone in the world;

It can be read together as – ‘sudar mikku ezhundhadhu – kozhundhu vittu Odip padarum – and the meaning can be said as – those uprising auspicious qualities after accepting me, got the disease/wanting of wishing to save more and more people like me if they are present in this world, and so grew more and more and spanned and covered the whole world in all directions.

This is the nature of the glory of auspicious qualities of emperumAnAr – is the thought here.

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

kozhundhu vittu … venkOL vinaiyAl – If one tries to do one sin, then it would flourish more and more and quickly keep spreading. Such sins are strong; they were not removable even till now by emperumAn;

nirayaththu azhundhiyittEnai vandhAtkoNda pinnum – nirayam -> hell; here, it is this samsAram (material world/life).

The sorrows given by servants of yama in hell is limited – once the sins are exhausted that sorrow would stop. But living in this material world due to our eternal karmas can be never ending sorrows. amudhanAr says he has drowned in such hell; even emperumAn is not able to lend his long arm to pull him out of it, it seems. Even in that state emperumAnAr came and pulled him out and accepted him.

It is to be relished to see the beautiful way in which amudhanAr has portrayed the divine auspicious qualities of emperumAnAr – Since he came to the place of drowning, his vAthsalaym is seen; since he came without request, his svAmithvam is seen; by accepting him as servant, his Sauseelyam, and by his coming directly himself, his saulabhyam are seen; since he came knowing me who was drowned, his knowledge (gyAnam), and since he pulled me and saved me and kept as his servant, his completeness (pUrthi) of qualities are seen; saying ‘em irAmAnusan’, shows the connection/goal – and thus gives us enjoyment to see these qualities shown.

aru munivar thozhum thavaththOn em irAmAnusan – noble ones come and surrender to emperumAnAr; So saving me was not because he did not have anyone, it is only due to his own goodness;

There is similarity in how AzhvAr said that thiruvEkatamudaiyAn saved him and is standing there looking for more such people to save, in pAsuram – ‘sOdhiyAgi ella ulagum thozhum.. [thiruvAimozhi – 3.3.5]’.

Also a similarity in where he says ‘neesanEn niRaivu onRum ilEn, en kaN pAsam vaiththa param sudar sOdhikkE [thiruvAimozhi – 3.3.4]’.

– – – – –

rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – 60

December 8, 2016 Published by: raghuram

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

<< previous (kadal aLavAya thisai)

Introduction (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

When those who thus heard emperumAnAr’s glories asked how great is his bhakthi (devotion), amudhanAr divines here about his love for matters related to emperumAn and His devotees, and in thiruvAimozhi which emphasizes those two aspects.

Introduction (given by piLLailOkam jIyar)

In previous pAsurams, amudhanAr divined about emperumAnAr’s establishment of the path of vEdhas, his strength to win those philosophies outside of vEdhas, his complete knowledge of vEdhas, and his teaching that knowledge to all in the world; in this – he divines about the three points – emperumAnAr’s, as part of that distinguished knowledge, unbounded love 1) towards emperumAn, and 2) towards His devotees who are like shadows under emperumAn’s divine feet, and 3)_ towards thiruvAimozhi which emphasizes these two aspects, and divines about emperumAnAr’s magnanimity which enables him to help about these three aspects to everyone.

uNarndha mey gyAniyar yOgam thoRum thiruvAimozhiyin
maNantharum innisai mannum idam thoRum – mAmalarAL
puNarndha pon mArban porundhum pathi thoRum pukku niRkum
guNam thigazh koNdal irAmAnusan em kulak kozhundhE 60

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Word by word meaning (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

yOgam thoRum – In each assembly of
uNarndha mey gyAniyar – those who possess true knowledge of knowing what needs to be known, and.
idam thoRum – in each place
mannum – which always
maNam tharum – possesses the fragrance
thiruvAimozhi yin – of thiruvAimozhi
in isai – with distinguished music,
pathi thoRum – and in each divine temple
porundhum – where there is gracious and happy presence of
mArvan – one who is having beautiful divine chest
puNarndha – which is resided in at all times
mAmalarAL – by periya pirAttiyAr,
irAmAnusan – emperumAnAr
guNam thigazh – who is having the bright qualities of true self
koNdal – and helping everyone in all the ways using such qualities,
kozhundhu – and who is the head
em kulam – of our clan/group,
pukku – (such emperumAnAr would) enter each such place due to desire to involve in them
niRkum – and would get immersed in them;

This is how the glory of his devotion is, is the thought here.

OR,

It can also be said that amudhanAr , after speaking about the glory of emperumAnAr’s wisdom (gyAna vaibhavam), he himself thought about emperumAnAr’s glory of devotion (bhakthi vaibhavam), became brightened by such quality, and says that emperumAnAr who helps everyone about that love, is the head of our group/clan.

kozhundhu – Also can be said as – head (shoot, blossoming tip of a tree). With the clan/group as the root, and emperumAnAr as the top part, like how if there is any dryness in the root then the shoots would first dry up, if there is any danger to this (SrIvaishNava) clan, then it is emperumAnAr who would be having his divine face go dull.

Music giving out fragrance is – (thiruvAimozhi) having elegance of songs.

vyAkyAnam

uNarndha mey gyAniyar yOgam thoRum – devotion (bhakthi) is – since it is the result of maturing of knowledge, that is, first understanding completely that SrIpathi (emperumAn) is the owner/lord, and then knowledge that takes in about emperumAn who posses all the auspicious qualities, who is the most joyous, and who enjoys and is enjoyed the most as said in ‘sarva gandhassarva rasa:’, that aspect in us blossoms into something that is just based on love, and is having the name as devotion.

So, uNarvu (in uNarndha) means devotion.

Such devotion

– is the true knowledge, knowledge of what is fact;

– immersed without any barrier, in emperumAn’s nature, form, and qualities;

– non-blemished knowledge;

Such knowledge driven by devotion (bhakthirUpApanna gyAnam) – which is possessed by AzhvArs – wherever there are group of such AzhvArs – in each such place;

yOgam – group that is together; conference (parishath).

All the devoted AzhvArs had first gotten non-blemished knowledge (mayarvaRa mathi nalam), were having full knowledge, understood thathva thrayam (chith, achith, eeSvaran), and considered them as is, and were involved in sarvESvaran who is the most enjoyed/enjoyable as said in ‘appozhudhaikku appozhudhu en ArAvamudham [thiruvAimozhi – 2.5.4]’, and as they said in ‘ayarppilan alaRRuvan thazhuvuvan [thiruvAimozhi – 1.3.10]’ due to desire to be with Him in any which ways, had worn women’s clothes, sent messengers, performed madal (going around and announcing their love to the people, etc.), and so were having boundless love; so, it is not inaccurate to say that AzhvArs are ‘uNarndha mey gyAniyar’.

thiruvAimozhiyin maNam tharum innisai mannum idam thoRum – The collection of words from the divine mouth of nammAzhvAr who is the head among the ten AzhvArs, which are known as dhivya prabandham’s; since thiruvAimozhi talks about the one said as ‘sarva gandha:’, it is also fragrant, and it gives that (Him/fragrance) to those who recite it, that music which is in the form of songs to recite as said in ‘yAzhin isai vEdhaththiyal [thiruvAimozhi thaniyan]’, and ‘thoNdarkku amudham [thiruvAimozhi – 9.4.9]’, and thus is one of the most enjoyable – wherever such music is present and well set, in each such place;

mAmalarAL puNarnda pon mArvan – periya pirAttiyar who is having the most distinguished lotus flower as her seat, is having her togetherness in the divine desirable chest of Him – such sarvESvaran.

{Translator’s note: The above three phrases could be read together (anvayam) as being applied to emperumAn (pon mArvan): as, in the gathering of SrIvaishNavas, as maNavALa mAmunigaL gave eedu kAlakshEpam (thiruvAimozhi), it was sarvESvaran who had entered that place and got immersed in it (and submitted a thaniyan to His AchAryan)}.

The place of gathering & fragrance of thiruvAimozhi’s musical hymns (who is immersed in it here?)

porundhum pathi thoRum – in all the divine temples where He is present happily; in the perumAL kOyil where pEraruLALar Himself came with him showing the way and got him reach safety, in the namperumAL kOyil by the command of periya perumAL, in thiruppathi when Saivites came from kALahasthi and caused lowly trouble, in thirunArAyaNapurm for winning the ones whose philosophy did not accept vEdhas, and moreover in each of the many dhivya dhESams like thirunagari, thirumAlirunchOlai, and more,

pukku niRkum – due to the desire to enjoy those places, he went to each such dhivya dhESam in many ways, and organized them completely, due to the higher plane of devotion of fear of separation he was fully immersed in them, and present there doing mangaLAsAsanam (wishing Him well) at all times, and having love higher than that of the distinguished ones referred to in ‘uNarndha mey gyAniyar ‘ (AzhvArs), he would without separation ever would be immersed in the three aforementioned places.

guNam thigazh koNdal – As such great quality that is bhakthi got into him and became something worth and became significant, as said in ‘mugach chOdhi vAzhi [Arththi prabandham]’ (Wishing long life to the light on the divine face of emperumAnAr), his knowledge, devotion, and steadfastness, and the glory of those pramAthas (learned ones mentioned above), and the glory of those texts, and periya pirAttiyAr who says ‘apramEyam hithaththEjO yasya sA janakAthmajA:’, His glory that would make us lose ourselves – emperumAnAr pours and gives all these to everyone, everywhere, at all times, like how the rain would pour without distinction of land or sea – such ultimately generous –

rAmAnusan – emperumAnAr

em kulak kozhundhE – em kulam is – our clan/group – SrIvaishNava group. For that group, emperumAnAr is ‘kozhundhu’ – that is, for growing into a tree or to spread around as a creeper, the root cause is the tender shoot, so for our group he is the root cause. kozhundhu – head/lead.

Or, his saying ‘em kulak kozhundhu’ is – our group being the root, and emperumAnAr being the tender shoot (from which leaves etc., grow), and so like how if the root gets a dry spell then it is the tender shoots which would become dull and dry first, if some drawback happens to our group, it is his face that would become dull first.

We can think of the arrangement of lines as “The generous one having great qualities, our root cause, emperumAnAr, would go to each of those noble places and be immersed”.

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

uNarndha ….. yOgam thoRum – As said in ‘svagyAnam prApaka gyAnam prApya gyAnam mumukshubhi: | gyAnathrayam upAdhEyam Ethadhanyannakinchana || ‘ (For those who wish to get liberated, it is only three types of knowledge that is to be gained – about self (AthmA), about the means (upAyam), and about the goal (upEyam); nothing else is needed),

he is referring to such people who have learned what needs to be learned, when saying ‘uNarndha gyAniyar’. After learned them, those who say and do as is, are ‘uNarndha mey gyAniyar’. Now, since it talks about thiruvAimozhi, they would have understood its meaning, that is, of ‘mikka iRai nilaiyum..’, that is, artha panchakam.

yOgam – place of assembly. As said in ‘vasanthi vaishNavA yathra thathra sannihithO hari:’ (wherever vaishNavas live, emperumAn is present in those places), emperumAnAr goes in and involves himself in those places where such people assemble/ are present.

thiruvAimozhiyin … innisai mannum idam thoRum – In all the places where those like madhurakavi AzhvAr who sings the sweet music of kurugUr nambi, emperumAnAr goes in and gets involved. Since nammAzhvAr ‘s earlier three prabandhams are of type iyarpA (not in the poetic form that is singable), he is referring to his thiruvAimozhi (which is not iyarpA category) as ‘innisai’ (sweet music).

Wherever raghunAthan’s glory is sung, thiruvadi (hanuman) would stand there with folded hands and tearful eyes listening to it – likewise, wherever there is the music of thiruvAimozhi, emperumAnAr gets involved and immersed.

porundhum pathi – place where emperumAn is present well set (in this world). It would seem that there would be places where emperumAn would Not be well set – that would be paramapadham. Unlike in paramapadham where He cannot be peaceful due to thinking about us who are suffering here, He is able to be present well set in here amongst us and is happy to be so.

As said in ‘SrI vaikuNta virakthAya’ , and ‘thyakthvA vaikuNtamuththamam’, He got disinclination towards paramapadham, and leaving it he came here living happily in divine temples, and the reason is – pirAttiyAr in his divine chest. The divine couple are together in enjoyment here, and have discarded and forgotten about paramapadham.

emperumAnAr goes to various dhivya dhESams and gets immersed – like thirumangai AzhvAr.

For nammAzhvAr ‘thaniyE pugum Ur thirukkOLUr’ (goes by ‘her’self to thirukkOLUr only); for thirumangai AzhvAr who is ‘mada mAn’, ‘kALaiyOdu pugum Ur – aNi Ali’ only. Whereas in case of emperumAnAr, he goes to all the dhivya dhESams along with all his group and gets immersed.

thirumangai AzhvAr divining ‘pathiyE paravith thozhum thoNdar [periya thirumozhi – 7.1.7] (~ devotees who go across to dhivya dhESams), he might have meant emperumAnAr and his group itself!

The three places referred to in this pAsuram in which emperumAnAr gets immersed, are about pramAthA (those who learn from the authoritative references), pramANam (authoritative references), and pramEyam (who/what is learned using such references).

– – – – –

rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – 59

December 3, 2016 Published by: raghuram

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

<< previous (pEdhaiyar vEdhap poruL idhu)

Introduction (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

Those who saw amudhanAr becoming happy in this way, said that with the help of authoritative texts others would have identified that eeSvaran is the lord, even if emperumAnAr had not done all these (debates, etc); amudhanAr replies that if emperumAnAr had not removed the darkness instigated by kali yugam, then there would not be anyone who would determine and understand that it is only eeSvaran who is the lord of AthmA.

Introduction (given by piLLailOkam jIyar)

“You said in many ways in earlier pAsurams that emperumAnAr saved the vEdhas, and saved its meanings; even if he had not done those helps, since the learning sentient beings are eternal (and that knowledge eternal), and the vEdhas are also eternal, would they not learn completely learn the vEdhas and become clear that SrIman nArAyaNan who is said in them is the lord for the AthmAs, and get saved?”; amudhanAr replies that since the darkness of kali (yugam) which spans the whole world and is a hurdle for knowing the true meanings, if emperumAnAr had not incarnated, gained expertise in all the vEdhas, and due to the brilliance had from it driven away that darkness by kali yugam, it is not possible for anyone in this world to know that nArAyaNan is the all encompassing lord for everyone.

kadal aLavAya thisai ettin uLLum kali iruLE
midai tharu kAlaththu irAmAnusan mikka nAn maRaiyin
sudar oLiyAl avviruLAith thuRandhilanEl uyirai
udaiyavan nAraNan enRu aRivArillai uRRu uNarndhE 59

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Word by word meaning (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

kadal aLavAya – seas that surround all four sides
thisai ettinuLLum – in all the directions
kali iruLE – thamas in the form of ignorance instigated by kali yugam
midai tharu kAlaththu – and putting pressure on us; during such time,
iRAmAnusan – emperumAnAr,
thurandhilanEl – had not driven away
avviruLai – that thamas
sudar oLiyAl – using the unlimited brilliance of
mikka – the most distinguished authoritative reference
nAn maRaiyin – that is, the four vEdhas,
aRivAr illai – there is no one who could know
uRRuNarndhu – by inquiring well and
nAraNan enRu – understand that He is the one denoted by the word nArAyaNan,
uyirai udaiyavan – He who is the lord of AthmA, since He is the whole (prakAri), and everything other than Him being parts (prakAram).
sudar, and oLi to imply ample level of brightness/brilliance.

vyAkyAnam

kadal aLavAya thisai ettin uLLum – having it identified based on the seas around on all four sides, all the surface of earth in all eight directions.

kali iruLE midai tharu kAlaththu – As said in ‘kalErdhdhOshanidhE:’ (kali is the holder of wealth of blemishes), the kali due to his nature creates decline of knowledge in people, pushing aside the path of good, and due to this the darkness that is ignorance it created stays closer and puts pressure on everyone and spawns everywhere; during such time; that is, during the time kali is ruling; midai – pushing closer.

irAmAnusan – emperumAnAr who from the head of sky (the other world), incarnated in the place of this world;

mikka nAn maRaiyin – As said in ‘mikka vEdhiyar vEdhaththin ut poruL’ , and ‘sudar migu suruthiyuL’, vEdham which is the most distinguished authority of reference, and which in detail shows the nature, form, and qualities of sarvESvaran, and which is authorless, eternal, and without any blemishes, and in the four forms of rig, yajur, sAma, and atharvaNa; such vEdham’s –

sudar oLiyAl – amudhanAr is using the phrase ‘sudar OLi’ since vEdham is ‘sudar migu suruthi ‘, its brightness grew and destroyed the philosophies not accepting vEdhas, and its brilliance grows further and further more, and reaches everyone; by such unending (sudar) brightness (oLi) of vEdham;

avviruLai – As said in ‘agyAna thimirAndhasya’,(with disease in eye or due to darkness cannot see things clearly (ignorance)) ‘agyAna dhvAntha rOdhAdh’ (darkness create ignorance), the darkness that is ignorance created due to the sins instigated by the kali;

thurandhilanEl – even though the authoritative reference is eternal and everlasting, the learners are also eternal and everlasting (Athmas), the concept of time also being eternal and everlasting, it is not mentioned in any SAsthram that there is even one who by himself learned and understood its meanings and it became clear and got saved.

Since it is said in Sruthi, smruthi, etc., as ‘yasya dhEvE parA bhakthi: yathA dhEvE thathA gurau, thasyaidhE kadhithAhyarthA: prakASanthE mahAthmana:” (one how got the devotion towards emperumAn, should also be devoted to the guru who showed that emperumAn; mahAthmas show this to us),

“gyAna anjana SalAkayA”, (knowledge is the black paste applied to eyes for bright vision, and key is use to open up and get the light (knowledge) – done by guru),

“chakshur unmileetham yEna thasmai thadh kuravE nama: (doors that are eyes were closed, and guru opened it with key that is knowledge; respects to such guru),

“ nArAyaNObhi vikruthum yAdhi gurO: prachyuthasya dhurbhbhudhdhE: – kamalam jalAdha bhEdham Soshayathir avir na dhOshayathi” (while nArAyaNan would wish to do only good for us, if we separated from guru then like a flower separted from water that becomes dry and spoiled, our knowledge would become dry and dull, and would not make it bright),

and since aruLALap perumAL emperumAnAr divines “enRum anaiththu uyirkkum eeram sey nAraNanum, anRum than Ariyan pAl anbu ozhiyil, ninRa, punal pirindha pankayaththaip pongu sudar veyyOn, anal umizhndhu thAn ularththi aRRu [gyAna sAram pramEya sAram]” ,

and since it is said “svAbhimAnaththAlE eeSvara abhimAnaththaik kulaiththuk koNda ivanuku AchArya abhimAnam ozhiya gadhi illai enRu piLLai pala kAlum aruLich cheyyak kEttirukkaiyAy irukkum [SrI vachana bhUshaNam]” (due to own feeling of independence, we lost the love of emperumAn, and so the only way for us to reach goal is to have the love of AchAryan),

if emperumAnAr had stayed put and had not been kind, thinking ‘avar avar vidhi vazhi adaiya ninRanarE ‘, instead of making such darkness that is ignorance run away as said in ‘summenAdhE kai vittu Odi thURugaL pAyndhana’.,

uyirai udaiyavan nAraNan enRu – ‘pathim viSvasyAthmESvaram’, (He is the lord for all the worlds, He the eesvaran to Himself), ‘yachchakinchij jagath yasmin thriSyathE SrUyathEpivA, anthar bahiScha thath sarvam vyApya nArAyaNasthitha:’ (whatever is seen, heard, etc., in everything emperumAn is present as antharyAmi, and is spread everywhere), and

‘nigaril pugazhAy ulagamUnRudaiyAy’, and

as said in ‘yadhaNdam aNdAnthara gOcharam cha yath dhaSoththarNyAvaraNAniyAnicha, guNA:pradhAnam purusha:param padham parAthparam brahmachathE vibhUthaya:’, (everyone and everything in all the worlds belong the places of yours), since He is being the whole/holds (prakAri) and everything other than Him being parts/held (prakAram), SarvESvaran who is referred to by the word nArAyaNan, He is one having these three types of sentient as His servants;

such knowledge –

uRRu – having dedication to, and understanding clearly (such about emperumAn),

aRivAr illai – there is no such people to know that (about emperumAn);

Since it is said as ‘bibEdhyalpa SruthAth vEdhOmAmayam pratharishyathi’, (vEdham is afraid about those who give incorrect meanings to it), it is concluded that even that would result in danger to ones true nature (svarUpa nASam), and not achievement according to true nature (svarUpa sidhdhi).

abhiyukthar also divined this meaning in ‘nirAlOkE lOkE niravadhi parasnEha bharithO yathikshmAbrudhdheepOyadhi nakila jAjvalyatha iha – ahamkAradhvAntham vijayathu kathamkAramanakA: kudharkka vyALauLakam kumathi mathi matha bAthALa guharam’. (~ in the pit that is having bad animals that is those who give incorrect meanings to vEdhas, where we who were innocent (not knowing vEdhas, so not giving wrong meaning) are stuck, and in such dark world, the mountain that is emperumAnAr is the bright light, with the ghee being devotion to emperumAn, ghee not having any residue being the devotion without expecting anything in return – without that light we would not have been able to come out of that darkness).

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

kadal aLavAya .. midai tharu kAlaththu – If emperumAnAr had not shown us the main aspect that is our relation with emperumAn as the form of SarIra Athma bhAvam (we AthmAs are part of his body), who would be able to know in this world in this kali yugam? The main aspect, termed, ‘pradhAna prathi thanthram’, are aspects very important in our philosophy which others do not hagree but we consider as very important – the nature of our relationship with emperumAn, here.

mikka nAn maRaiyin … thurandhilanEl – In the jail in the darkness of night, the light of knowledge, that kaNNan who is ‘Ayar kulaththinil thOnRum aNi viLakku’ (the light that appeared in the class of cowherds), appeared. In this world that is having no light (knowledge), when the darkess of kali was ruling, the light on top of the mountain that is emperumAnAr appeared.

Even though the four vEdhas are always there, it is possible for emperumAnAr only to use that light and remove the darkness in this world.

avviruL – That darkness – since it is driven away by emperumAnAr, and is not to be seen, amudhanAr is saying that darkness.

uyirai udaiyavan .. nAraNan … uRRunarndhE – uyir -> AthmA (the class of them). udaiyavan – He who possesses those Athmas (as His property). nAraNan -> is from samskrutha word nArAyaNan. It means He supports us, and also that He is present within the jeevAthmA (antharyAmi). Since body is supported by AthmA, here Athmas are body of Him which are supported by Him. Such is the relationship between Athmas and emperumAn. Due to such nature, similar to how AthmA is the one that controls the body, He being the AthmA for the jeevAthmas, He controls these Athmas.

If emperumAnAr had not shown these meanings who would be able to know and understand them?

Now, like how in this world the AthmA makes use of one’s body for its own purposes, paramAthmA also for His enjoyment (bhOgam) and play (leelai), he peruses all the AthmAs and things, He is the owner/lord for these worlds. Lord is the one who make use of , and servants are ones who let Him make use of them. Because AthmAs are servants of Him, doing activities to make Him happy is the goal for AthmAs.

emperumAnAr drove away the darkness and in that light we see what he showed, and we understand these importants aspects.

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