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iyaRpA rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi

rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – 8

September 28, 2015 Published by: raghuram

SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavaramunayE nama:

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poigai AzhwAr and emperumAnAr – srIperumbUthUr

pAsuram 8

Introduction (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)
{To begin with he provides a summary of the first 7 pAsurams}.

First he (amudhanAr) discussed with his mind that we shall recite the names of emperumAnAr, then talked about the way that his mind does not know anything other than emperumAnAr’s auspicious quality of having kind interactions with lowly people like him; then he fell at the feet of his mind which helped in such a great way; then talked about his mind trying to back out (when thinking about own disqualifications), and when others asked how he is going to continue on doing the prabandham he replied that it is due to emperumAnAr’s causeless kindness so there would not be any problem in his singing his names; so as he started to sing his names, he thought about the learned ones who might find fault with the words/grammar, and concluded that if those who do not have devotion toward emperumAnAr find faults then that would be a praise only, and those who love emperumAnAr as the destiny would see his poetry as coming out his love and so would only appreciate it and not find fault – and so he got encouraged to continue; and as he inquired into himself whether he has got such a love, he felt he was not qualified enough; and after thinking about the strength of his association with the divine feet of AzhvAn, and that after getting such association there is nothing that is impossible, he is all set to continue the prabandham – so far. Taking this forward, he is all of hymns of praise (about emperumAnAr ).

He (amudhanAr) is saying that emperumAnAr who keeps the dhivya prabandham of poigai AzhwAr in his divine mind, is our master.

Introduction (given by piLLai lOkam jIyar)

{To begin with he provides a summary of the first 7 pAsurams} First he talked to his mind that we shall recite the divine names of emperumAnAr, and was thrilled that his mind – without thinking of anything else – was immersed in emperumAnAr’s auspicious quality of easily mingling with simpletons (like him), next he fell at the feet of his mind for helping to reach the divine feet of devotees (of emperumAnAr), next he thought about emperumAnAr’s causeless mercy of accepting him and so with that princely status there is no shortcoming in him, and as he started on reciting the divine names he backed out thinking about those who might find fault in his words/grammar, and then recovered thinking that if those who do not consider emperumAnAr as the reachable goal would find faults then that would be a praise only, and those who do consider emperumAnAr as goal would recognize that my singing his names is out of my love and so would consider this as a good quality, and so he was inclined to start praising emperumAnAr’s names, but next he thought that such a good love towards emperumAnAr is not within him so he is not eligible for such praises or for singing the divine names, but next as he thought about his relationship with his AchAryan kUraththAzhvAn’s divine feet, he realized that after attaining that, there is nothing that is impossible for him and so gets settled to start his prabandham – this is so far.
Till this, it is entry/introduction to doing the praising (of emperumAnAr’s name); now he is starting that praising.

poigai AzhvAr who removed the ignorance in the minds of the people of the world, and to help them teach the difference between things which should be discarded and which should be pursued, he took the lamp of knowledge and provided us the dhivya prabandham {mudhal thiruvanthAdhi} – emperumAnAr who is having the greatness of keeping in his divine mind firmly the thoughts of this dhivya prabandham {and its meanings}, is our master, says amudhanAr.

varuththum puraviruL mARRA * em poigaip pirAn maRaiyin
kuruththin poruLaiyum senthamizh thannaiyum kUtti * onRath
thiruththu anRu eriththa thiruviLakkaith than thiruvuLLaththE
iruththum paraman * irAmAnusan em iRaiyavanE 8

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Word by word meanings (provided by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

varuththum – In these entities (jIvAthmAs) that are supposed to act based on the command of bhagawAn, external things that create the thought of being independent, and so create contradiction against emperumAn’s thoughts, and make them suffer;
(the non-sentient (achith) which are) unlike the jIvAthmAs and unlike the paramAthmA that resides inside,

puram iruL – the darkness that is the ignorance is the result of being involved in such external things which are seen in the outside through the eyes; (external influence); (it is not the external things themselves that are the darkness – it is our ignorance and giving too much importance to such things is the darkness in us)

mARRa – to remove (such darkness),
em – he who is sought after by the prapannas
poigaip pirAn – poigai AzhwAr who is so generous,
kUtti – combining the
maRaiyin kuruththin poruLaiyum – meanings of vEdhAntha
senthamizh thannaiyum – and the sweetness of thamizh in a way that can be easily understood just by seeing the words, {unlike vEdhAntha}
onRathth thiriththu – combined them in a way that they (upanishadh and thamizh) can be understood easily together
anRu – on that day, when in the divine ‘idai kazhi´ (narrow verandah) (at thirukkOvalUr), sarvEswaran came and nestled with the AzhvArs;
irAmAnusan – emperumAnAr
paraman – the one having unequaled greatness
iruththum – keeps
tham thiruvuLLaththE – in his divine mind
eriththa thiruviLakkai – (the prabandham) starting with ‘vaiyam thagaLiyA’ which is the lamp that was brightened
em iRaiyavan – (such rAmAnujar is) our leader and master.

vyAkyAnam

(starting with varuththum) varuththum puRa iruL mARRa – varuththum=making us suffer; the word suffering is used as an adjective to the word darkness; like, darkness that can create the suffering; pura iruL – darkness related to attraction to external things; that darkness (in us) creates suffering in this world.
For one who is able to be involved in unwanted external things, isn’t there sadness during and after attaching to such things, in this world and in the other world
{piLLailOkam jIyar now shows that dhEvathAndhra bhajanam is one such great ignorance due to attraction to external things, and shows a series of examples}

there is a well-known incident about one person who was very attached to a vEsyA (prostitute) (attraction to external things); when she was sick to the extent of losing her life, he took a vow that if she survived then he would self-immolate/enter the fire (agni pravEsha), and so saying he fell at the feet of other petty dhEvathAs, and he did keep his vow (as the dhEvathA fulfilled his wish for getting his self-immolation).
If one worships petty dhEvathA for some benefits in this world, it would say cut a goat and give it, cut your head and give it, do dances after drinking and eating meat, etc., (sedil Attam – செடில் ஆட்டம்), do scary pUjAs, etc., and he would also follow and do such things..;
it is well known that rAvaNan cut his heads and worshiped rudhra (and got the boons because of that); (whereas emperumAn does not want us to present Him a few kind of flowers just because there are thorns in such plants and He is afraid that it might pierce the body of His devotee);
there is another well-known incident where one person granted a son to a king but asked the king to destroy the son for him to do a yAga, and the king followed that instruction;
In this world, sufferings like applying bone ash on one’s body (basmOdhuLana), growing long and stuck hair (jatA dhAraNa), applying excretions on the body (malalEpana), setting up pots of liquor (surA kumbha sthApana), roaming naked (nagnathva), screaming and shouting while keeping the hands raised above the head; and suffering in the other world of naraka lOka (hell) is what one achieves by worshiping such petty dhEvathAs, which is due to the ignorance of attraction to external things of this world;

puRa iruL – Unlike the AthmA that is known, and unlike the Iswara who is its antharyAmi (residing inside AthmAs), these others who make us impure, as said in “bhIsha asmath vAtha: pavathE, bhIshOdhEthi sUrya:, bhIsha asmat agnischa indhrascha, mrithyur dhAvathi panchama ithi” [thaiththiriya upanishadh] (Out of fear towards Hthe wind blows, out of fear the sun rises, out of fear acts the fire as also indhra; and fifth, the death)”, and in “Ethou dhvou vibhutha srEshtau, prasAdha krOdhajau smrithou, thayA dharisitha pandhAnou srishti samhAra kArakau”,(both (brahma and rudhra) are knowledgeable, were born out of bhagavAn’s serenity and anger respectively; and they follow as directed by bhagavAn to do creation and destruction), even though they got such wealth due to emperumAn, they forget that due to their rajas (action/anger) and thamas (laziness/gloom) and behave independent with ahankAra
– worshipping such petty dhEvathAs for getting some inconsequential benefits in this world, is the darkness; when doing that, as said in ‘dhEhimE dhadhAmithE’ (~you give me something and then I would give you what you want), begging to such dhEvathAs is the darkness that is the ignorance in our mind when having attraction to the external things;

mARRa – to completely remove such darkness

poigaip pirAn

em poigaip pirAn – says ‘em’ (our) (instead of my), which shows his affection towards the devotees and their devotees as well; em poigai – for my group, that is, of prapannas, he incarnated in kAnchIpuram in a lotus pond, poigai, and with his name tied to that as his identity; pirAn – our master who did a great favour by giving us the dhivya prabandham which removed the darkness that is ignorance, and like a lamp he showed the brightness that is the truth/reality (thathvam).

maRaiyin kuruththin poruLaiyum – “dhIpa upamAna yuktha: prapashEthu” (~one shall see with the knowledge that is the lamp), “mahathO vEdha vrukshasya mUla bHUthas sanAthana: | skandha bHUthA rigAdhyAsthE shAkAbhUthAs thadhAparE || (~rig and such vEdhas are the roots, (and shAkAs, ithihAsa purANas are the branches)) – such vEdhanthas

senthamizh thannaiyum – the greatness of his prabandham is – reality, means, and destiny are consistently shown in the beginning, middle, and end (unlike perumAn in gItha who kept changing the topic from one yOga to other, etc), thamizh thannaiyum – dhivya prabandham in the form of dhrAvida language; it is easy to understand.
onRath thiriththu – somehow combined the …
kUtti – … meanings of vEdhAnthas, and the beautiful rhythm of thamizh words;

anRu – that day; that day during a night at thirukkOvalUr, in the dark when the first three AzhvArs met in a narrow veranda (idai kazhi – இடை கழி) , when they could not see each other, emperumAn that is AyanAr who wished to be in their company, came in between and pushed them for space; that day;

thirukkOvalUr Ayan

eriththa thiruviLakkai – he sang ‘vaiyam thagaLiyA vAr kadalE neyyAga, veyya kadhirOn viLakkAga’ [mudhal thiruvanthAdhi – 1], thus making the 2 x 7, 14 worlds as the agal (lamp), making the ocean that contains all the water together as the ghee (for the lamp), and making the bright sun as the flame, thus making everything in this world to lose the darkness and brighten; such form of light is his dhivya prabandham.

tham thiruvuLLaththE iruththum – (emperumAnAr) who is able to firmly keep (like a tree that firmly stays in a place) this prabandham in his divine mind;

paraman – “dhEvamiva AchAryam upAsItha” and “agyAna thimira andhasya, gyAna anjana shalAkaya chakshur unmeelitham yEna thasmai srI guravE nama:” (~ AchAryan removes our darkness opens our eyes using the keys kAjal that is knowledge; bowing to such AchAryan); “yasmAth thadh upadhEshtAsau thasmAdh guru tharO guru:” (who teaches us about bhagavAn is higher than that bhagavAn) [mahAbhAratham]; “agyAna dhvAntharOdhAth” (removes the darkness that is ignorance), “aha pariharaNAth” (steals away the ego), “Athma sAmya AvahathvAth” (makes his disciple equal to him (in knowledge)), “janma pradhvamsi janmapradha garithayA” (helps get rid of births here and enables attaining mOksha), “dhivya dhrishti prabHAvAth” (can make one great by his divine graceful look), “AchArya: sadhbi: prathyupakArENa vishaya dhaivavathu ithyAthu upAdhya:”

such greatness is present in the AchAryan emperumAnAr

irAmAnusan – emperumAnAr

em iRaiyavanE – he is our lord, our owner; “AchArya dhEvO bhava” “gururEva param brahma”, “hari sAkshAth” [hari himself is born here as AchAryan], is what is said, isn’t it?

From srI u.vE. thirumalai nallAn chakravarthy rAmakrishNa iyengAr’s ‘amudha virundhu’.

Ignorance is compared to darkness because it does not let us see the existing things/truth as is.

In the next pAsuram after this, it talks about the darkness in the heart/mind (idhayaththu iruL keda [9]; here it talks about the darkness related to how we see the external things.

Those having ignorance see the external things like sun and wind and assume that they are independent (whereas they are dependent on emperumAn‘s command), and so feel sad when they are affected by those external things.

poigai AzhwAr shows that the worlds that he uses as a lamp is created by someone (emperumAn); the sea that he uses as the ghee for the lamp stays within the shores and is created and under the control of the one; the sun that the AzhwAr uses for the flame does its work at the specified times so it is under the command of the one. As we realize that these are under control of emperumAn and are unable to act by themselves, then we stop the feeling of suffering due to their effects, when we get the knowledge that it is emperumAn who is controlling them. So ‘pura iruL mARRa‘.

onRath thiriththu – prabandham is given in such a way we would feel that the meanings of vEdhas are in the form of thamizh itself.

Unlike bhUthaththAzhvAr who used the mind as the twisted cotton for lighting the lamp, poigai AzhvAr did not use anything for that (only lamp, ghee, and light). So interestingly here amudhanAr is saying in this pAsuram ‘onRath thiriththu‘, that is, “used vEdhantha and beautiful thamizh as that combined thread”.

tham thiru uLLaththE – emperumAnAr kept the light alive in his mind by always thinking about this prabandham. Instead of saying ‘than‘ it is saying ‘tham‘ to imply that emperumAnAr also made sure that those who came to him too would keep this alive in their minds. Because of that, he is paraman – gururEva param brahma.

– – – – –

Translation: raghurAm srInivAsa dAsan

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iyaRpA rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi

rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – 7

September 12, 2015 Published by: raghuram

SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavaramunayE nama:

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pAsuram 7

Introduction (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

After thus seeing his ineligibility to do this prabandham, as he tried to back out thinking that this is not possible/right for him to continue, he thought about his belonging to the divine feet of kUraththAzhvAn, and is saying that after that there is nothing impossible for him, and so becomes involved in continuing the prabandham.

Introduction (given by piLLai lOkam jiyar)

After thus seeing his ineligibility in knowledge, devotion, or to experience it, he tried to back out in the beginning doing the prabandham, in this pAsuram – after considering the princely position (rAja kula mAhAthmyam) of having the connection of the divine feet of kUraththAzhvAn, he concludes that that it is not difficult, but easy only to do the prabandham, and so proceeds further.

mozhiyaik kadakkum perum pugazhAn vanja mukkurumbAm
kuzhiyaik kadakkum nam kUraththAzhvAn charaN kUdiya pin
pazhiyaik kadaththum irAmAnusan pugazh pAdi allA
vazhiyaik kadaththal enakku ini yAdhum varuththamanRE – 7

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num kUraththAzhvAn at kUram

Word by word meaning

nam – our owner/nAthan
kUraththAzhvAn – kUrAththAzhvAn
perum pugazhAn – whose great fame/qualities
mozhiyaik kadakkum – cannot be described in words (and by mind),
kadakkum – (and one who has) carefully avoided
mukkuRumbAm kuzhiyai – the three dangerous conceits (a favourable opinion of one’s own attributes): abhijana – about being born in a noble ancestry; vidhyA- about being a vidhwAn/high education; vruththam – about having good anushtAnam (properly following the words of sAsthram and sampradhAyam);
vanjam – which would, each on its own ability, cheat us out of the good place and push us into a corner.
kUdiya pin – after surrendering to
charaN – the divine feet (of kUraththAzhvAn),
ini – from now on
yAdhum varuthtamanRu – it is not hard at all
enakku – for me
kadaththal – to understand our true nature and avoid
allA vazhiyai – the ways that are not befitting our true nature (feeling independent, dependent on samsAris, keep coming back to be born in this world, etc.),
pAdi – (and not hard at all for me) to sing as encouraged by love
pugazh – about the auspicious qualities
irAmAnusan – of emperumAnAr
pazhiyaik kadaththum – who can remove the badness of karmas whose fruits would (otherwise) have to be experienced without fail.
—
pAtam (different recitation) – Some recite it as ‘kuzhiyaik kadaththum’ – kUraththAzhvan would help those who are surrendered to him to get out of the conceits.
pAtam (different recitation) – Some recite it as ‘em kUraththAzhvAn’ – (same meaning as num kUraththAzhvAn)
—

vyAkyAnam

mozhiyaik kadakkum perum pugazhAn – It is hard to use words to describe it, and it grows everyday up to the paramapadham, such are his (kUraththAzhvAn’s) auspicious qualities;
mAmunigaL said ‘vAchamagOchara mahAguNa dhEsikAgrya, kUrAdhinAtha’ [yathirAja vimsathi-14].
{Here it is suggested to recall the greatness of kUraththAzhvAn through reading of his wonderful unparalleled vaibhavam}

vanja mukkuRumbAm – The three dangerous conceits/ahankAras: abhijana – about being born in a noble ancestry; vidhyA – about being a vidhwAn/of high education; vruththam – about having good anushtAnam. These conceits can fool us, making us think we are equal to other devotees, making us feel within us that we are great, and so leading to destroying our svarUpam (true nature of being subservient to Him and his devotees).

mukkuRumbu – “vruthyA pasu: naravapu: thvahamIdhrusOpi sruthyAdhi sidhdha nikhilAthma guNAsrayOyam | ithyAdharENa kruthinOpi mitha: pravakthum adhyApi vanchanaparOthra yathIndhra varthE ||” [yathirAja vimsathi – 7] (When considering anushtAnam/existence I am like a cow (animal which does not have anushtAnams); am just in the form of a human being, am such a lowly one; but noble people are saying softly that I am a holder of all auspicious qualities and know vEdhas etc., – I am being so deceitful even now; Oh yathIndhra!)
-> Such is the situation of us to be immersed in the samsAram due to these three conceits.

kuzhiyaik kadaththum – With his advises to those he has endeared, he creates in them real knowledge about the truth, ways, and goals (thathva hitha purushArththam), and thus makes them cross the pot holes that are the above conceits, and thus cross this samsAram.

kuzhiyaik kadakkum (when reciting the pAsuram this way, the meaning is as follows). He who has crossed these three pot holes.

(Similar to brahmam which is auspicious by itself, and which makes the ones that reach Him to become auspicious).

num kUraththAzhvAn – our kUraththAzhvAn. The reason behind the incarnation of kUraththAzhvan is to get him (amudhanAr) out of the samsAram. That is why he is saying our kUraththAzhvAn.

kUram – AzhvAn having the name based on the person (his father, kUraththAzhvAr) who ruled the dhivya dhEsam (auspicious place) that is kUram. (here the vyAkyAnam refers to him through his father to show the greatness of his ancestry).

em kUraththAzhvAn is another way this is recited, giving the same meaning.

charaN kUdiya pin – after getting the lotus feet of kUraththAzhvAn who is having such greatness. After I have got such a princely status.

pazhiyaik kadaththum – pazhi: bad karmas. The bad karmas that got into me as I was going in to one corner (and it made me go in to one corner), and which is the cause for the learned people to censure me, and which is enemy of my singing the names (of rAmAnujan), – he (rAmAnujan) would remove without trace such bad karmas,

irAmAnusan – such rAmAnujan

pugazh pAdi – to sing his (rAmAnujar‘s) names and about his auspicious qualities through this prabandham,

allA vazhiyaik kadaththal – After reaching and enjoying emperumAnAr’s divine feet, avoiding the wrong ways; avoiding garbha gathi (path leading to rebirth), yAmya gathi (path leading to yamalOka), dhUmAdhi mArgam (smoke filled dark path leading the AthmA back to the samsAram), and other such worlds (and go only through archirAdhi mArgam to srIvaikuNtam),

enakku ini yAdhum varuththamanRE – enakku ini – (for me, from now onward) – like this I have involved successfully in the service towards emperumAnAr; while there might have been some troubles earlier, but from today and into the future..

yAdhum – in any matter..

varuththamanRE – there is nothing that is impossible.

allA vazhiyai – those other mArgam – thinking of the ugliness of those other ways, amudhanAr says using his divine mouth a general word as ‘avoiding the ways that are to be avoided’.

allA vazhiyaik kadaththal enakku ini yAdhum varuththamanRE–
– As said in “thadhA vidhvAn puNya-papE vidhUya niranjanah paramam sAmyam upaithi” ((~after seeing/understanding emperumAn’s glory) one loses all the karmas and easily becomes equal to emperumAn in many aspects (reaches srIvaikuNtam),
Here, after holding on to the divine feet of emperumAnAr, it is very easy for amudhanAr to avoid the wrong ways and lose all sorts of karmas, and then go in the correct way to srIvaikuNtam. As said in ‘vaikuntha mAnagar maRRadhu kai adhuvE’ [thiruvAimozhi 4.10.11] (~the great vaikuNtam would be at our disposal (easy)).

The 7 pAsurams seen so far are together avathArikA prakaraNam (introductory section) for the whole prabandham of rAmAnusa nURRanthadhi.

– – –

Translation: raghuram srInivAsa dhAsan

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iyaRpA rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi

rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – 6

September 5, 2015 Published by: raghuram

SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavaramunayE nama:

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pAsuram 6

Introduction (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

In previous pAsuram, he said ‘paththi Eyndha iyalvu idhu enRu, inakkuRRam kANa killAr’ [5] (they would not know to find faults in the prabandham, seeing that this prabandham came out of devotion). Now, checking himself whether he possesses such devotion, since it is not there enough towards what matters (emperumAnAr), he censures himself for starting to praise (emperumAnAr).

Introduction (given by piLLai lOkam jIyar)

In previous pAsuram, he said that if people of ill knowledge found faults then their words would be ornaments for him; in this pAsuram he thinks, look at me – I somehow gave some explanation about the faults found by those in the previous pAsuram, in reality there is no devotion / love from my side that would be fit for emperumAnAr’s greatness, who is famous in all (both) the worlds; even then I was happy to start praising emperumAnAr (through the prabandham); what a grand act I attempted doing! “mahyam namOsthu kavayE nirapathra pAya” [sthOthra rathnam – 7] (obeisance to me who is shamelessly trying to praise … perumAn, when brahmA et al could not successfully complete the praising of His unlimited greatness) said ALavandhAr.

iyalum poruLum isaiyath thoduththu In kavigaL anbal
mayal koNdu vAzhththum irAmAnusanai madhiyin
maiyAl payilum kavigaLil paththi illAdha en pAvi nenjAl
muyalginRanan avan than perum kIrththi mozhindhidavE – 6

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Word by word meaning (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

een kavigaL – distinguished poets
mayal koNdu – lose their state
anbAl – due to love
vAzhththum – and praise
irAmAnusanai – emperumAnAr,
iyalum – by words (formation)
poruLum – and meaning
isaiyath thoduththu – that are matched together;
muyalginRanan – (but I am) trying,
en – (using) my
pAvi nenjAl – mind of bad qualities/karmas
paththi illAdha – which does not have (their level of) devotion (towards emperumAnAr)
kavigaLil – (and towards) poems
payilum – developed (by them),
madhi inmaiyAl – (and) due to my foolishness
mozhindhida – (I am trying) to talk about
avan than – his (emperumAnAr’s)
perum kIrthi – limitless glory.

Or,
payilum kavigaLil – through my creation of poems,
mozhindhida muyalginRanan – trying to praise his names;
pAvi nenjAl – along with my mind of arrogance/ignorance.

vyAkyAnam

iyalum – the sound
poruLum – and the meaning(and along with them the rhythm of it)
isaiya – all these to be congruent
thoduththu – formed (thoduththu – like soft flowers are put together in to a garland), without any deficit to the correct words and meanings
een – (poets who) created (incarnated) the prabandham
kavigaL – (poets) – ‘vAcha yathIndhra! manasA vapushA cha yushmath; pAdhAravindha yugaLam bhajathAm gurUNAm’ [maNavALa mAmunigaL’s yathirAja vimsathi-3] (wish to have the mind that is always thinking of the divine feet of preceptors like kUraththAzhvAn, thirukurugaip pirAN piLLan..) – such poets.
een kavigaL – distinguished poets
anbAl – because of their intense love
mayal koNdu – lost their state (became mad); doing strange loving things which a person who is aware of knowledge would not do; due to maturity of knowledge, their love intensifies and they behave as if they have lost their knowledge;

vAzhththum – ((they) sing pallANdu);
jayati sakala vidhyA vAhinee janma shaila: jani patha parivriththi shrAntha vishrAnthi shAkhee nikhila kumathi mAyA sharvaree bAla sUrya: nigama jaladhi veLA pUrNa chandrO yathIndhraha: [vEdhAnthachAriAr’s yathirAja sapthathi – 28] – (he teaches us knowledge about how to cross the births; he is the comforting shadow in the hot path that is this birth; the young rays of sun to the darkness the mAyAvAdhis, who have lost their mind; he is the full moon that acts on the sea that is the vEdhas)
– such are the ways they praise/sing pallANdu to emperumAnAr.

Also as:
“vAzhi ethirAsan vAzhi ethirAsan
vAzhi ethirAsan ena vAzhththuvAr – vAzhi ena
vAzhththuvAr vAzhi ena vAzhththuvAr thALiNaiyil
thAzhththuvAr viNNOr thalai” [maNavALa mAmunigaL’s Arththi prabandham – 1],
(~ those in srIvakuntam would bow their head to the feet of those who sing pallANdu (long live) to those who sing pallANdu to those who always sing pallANdu to yathirAja);

“aRu samayach chediyadhanai adi aRuththAn vAzhiyE’ [Arththi prabandham – 31], and such vAzhith thirunAmams;
‘vAzhiyarO, thakkOr paravum … mukkOl pidiththa muni’ [iyal sARRu] such mangaLAsAsanam to emperumAnAr by such great ones.

rAmAnusanai – such rAmAnujan

madhi inmaiyAl – As said in ‘agnyOyam Athma guNalesa vivarjithascha’ [maNavALa mAminigaL’s yathirAja vimsathi-20], due to not having knowledge about his auspicious qualities,

payilum – (poets/poems) that talk completely about (his greatness)
kavigaLil – in such pAsurams, or, with such poets who sang such pAsurams

paththi illAdha – not having any bhakthi (devotion), whether based on knowledge or faith (in such poems or poets);
pAvi nenjAl – with my mind that is not pure; even if there is no gyAna, bhakthi, etc., if the mind is at least pure, then it would be possible to develop those; but my mind is impure such that it is always going the wrong ways; such is my mind..
avan than – his; he sings (later in this prabandham) ‘adaiyAr kamalaththu alar magaL kELvan kai Azhi ennum, padaiyOdu nAnthakamum padar thaNdum oN sArnga villum, pudaiyAr puri sankamum indhap pUthalam kAppadharkku enRu .. rAmAnusa muni Ayina innilaththE’ (emperumAn’s conch etc., became emperumAnAr here to save this world) [33]; others sang “AnRa thamizh maRaigaL Ayiramum … vaLarththa idhath thAi irAmAnusan” [thiruvAimozhi thaniyan]; as celebrated by himself and other AchAryas;
perum kIrththi – his great fame would match his great stature; “shrIrangesha jayadhvajO vijayathE rAmAnujOyam muni:” [kUraththAzhvAn (and others) dhAtI panchakam -1], ‘Eyndha perum kIrthi’, ‘eN thisaiyum Eththum ethirAsan’ – his fame is such a wealth;
mozhindhidavE – (trying to say about such greatness) – with my mind which does not have gyAna bhakthi, I am trying to do vAchA kainkaryam by creating this grantham, and dedicate it;
muyalginRanan – being enthusiastic about doing that. As said in:
“dhik asuchim avinItham nirbhayam mAm alajjam
paramapurusha yO aham yOgivarya agragaNyai:
viDhi siva sanakAdhyai: dhyAthum athyantha dhUram
thava parijana bhAvam kAmayE kAmavruththa:” [ALavandhAr’s sthOthra rathnam]
(it is despicable that I who am impure, immodest, audacious, impudent, and self-willed, wish to be the servant of You the supreme purusha whom even the best of yOgis like sanathkumAra, brahmA, and siva are not able to conceive in their minds {translation taken from http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/oppiliappan/archives/nov08/msg00130.html on Aug 30, 2015}).

amudhanAr wonders what an attempt he is making to say in words the greatness of emperumAnAr. It is thus showing his naichya anusandhAnam (considering oneself as very lowly/inferior).

From srI u.vE. thirumalai nallAn chakravarthy rAmakrishNa iyengAr’s ‘amudha virundhu’.

Those words that make the mind cherish and enjoy – such are the ones created by the great ones; Money is making others sing (in praise of the king, etc.); but here in the case of devotees of emperumAnAr, it is their devotion that makes them sing praises.

Their love made the AzhvArs sing about emperuAn; they did not lose their state that much – they were able to sing a thousand pAsurams (avAvilandhAdhigaLAl Ayiram – thiruvAimozhi 10-10-11); but here, those like kUraththAzhvan start to sing about emperumAnAr but due to their devotion they are not able to complete it; they start with praises, but end up singing pallANdu to emperumAnAr.

Such is the trouble that their love creates!

perum kIrthi mozhindhida – isn’t it my ignorance to try to use words to sing about emperumAnAr whose fame is beyond words! Due to their bhakthi causing them to lose their state, they start singing pallANdu to him; due to my ignorant mind, I am only trying to use the words to praise him (instead of doing pallANdu to him).

In earlier pAsuram he said ‘pEr iyal nenjE’, praising it; now he is saying ‘pAvi nenju’. There he compared his mind to those other people who do not follow rAmAnujar, so his mind seemed a better place; now when comparing to such devotees as kUraththAzhvan who lose their mind to emperumAnAr, his own mind is considered as ignorant.

Thus he is doing naichya anusandhAnam.

– – – – –

Translation: raghurAm srInivAsa dAsan

archived in http://divyaprabandham.koyil.org

iyaRpA rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi

rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – 5

August 21, 2015 Published by: raghuram

SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavaramunayE nama:

Full Series

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pAsuram 5

avathArikai (introduction)

(maNavALa mAmunigaL’s introduction) – Thus explaining about emperumAnAr accepting him under his lotus feet fully, as he started to recite his names as he had planned earlier, and increased his desire in doing so, he thought about some of the learned people who only look at the mistakes in the formation of the poetry, he wanted to avoid backing out from reciting due to such people, and convinces himself to continue reciting his names.

(piLLai lOkam jIyar’s introduction) – In the previous pAsuram he happily sang that emperumAnAr accepted him under his lotus feet out of his own mercy; in this one, encouraged by the desire towards emperumAnAr, he wanted to sing about his qualities, he thinks that if those who find only faults would say wrong things about this then such words would be ornaments for him, and that those who understand the beauty of his affection would see the goodness of the prabandham.

enakku uRRa selvam irAmAnusan enRu isaiyagillA
manakkuRRa mAndhar pazhikkil pugazh, avan manniya sIr
thankkuRRa anbar avan thirunAmangaL saRRum en pA
inakkuRRam kANagillAr paththi Eyndha iyalvidhu enRE – 5

pAsuram

Word by word meaning (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)
mAndhar – people (who)
manakkuRRam – having faults in their mind
isaiyagillA – (who are) not accepting/thinking that
irAmAnusan enRu – emperumAnAr is
selvam – the wealth
enakku – for us
uRRa – as per our nature,
pazhikkil – (if they) faulted (the prabandham / its grammar)
pugazh – it is a praise only;
uRRa anbar – those, befitting their greatness, having devotion towards,
avan – his (emperumAnAr’s)
manniya sIr thanakku – ever present auspicious qualities,
kANagillAr – would not look at
kuRRam – the defects, (since they know that)
en – my
pA inam – collection of poetry (chandhas)
chARRum – that recites
avan – his
thirunAmangaL – divine names
iyalvu idhu enRu – is developed
paththiyEyndha – based on devotion.
(alternatively)
paththi Eyntha iyal idhenRu – words combined by devotion

Due to their affection towards emperumAnAr, due to my devotion, and due to the pAsuram saying emperumAnAr’s names, they would not focus on the defects in the prabandham.

vyAkyAnam

enakkuRRa selvam – What is the true wealth? Unlike the wealth described in : “sarIra pathanAvadhi prabhu nishEvaNa ApAdhanAth, abhindhana dhananjaya prasamadham dhanam dhandhanam” [vEdhAntharchariAr’s vairAgya panchakam-5] (Wealth obtained by serving the rich till one’s body falls on the ground, is the wealth that will quell one’s hunger but causes sorrows) – that is, the wealth that is not to be had by us, which is a sharp object that destroys the true nature of AthmA, and which would not stay with us at all times, is not the appropriate wealth for us. The next two lines of the above slOkam is described as the desired wealth: “dhananjaya vivardhanam dhanam udhUda gOvardhanam, susAdhanam abAdhanam sumanasam samArAdhanam” [vairAgya panchakam-5] (The wealth that made Arjuna fulfilled, that wealth which made it possible to lift gOvardhana, which is the ever-present means, and that wealth which fills the good minds with joy is the real good wealth); ‘dhananjaya syandhana bhushaNam dhanam’ [vairAgya panchakam -4] [(the black one) which was the ornament of the chariot of arjunan] is the wealth;

‘dhanam madhIyam thava pAdha pankajam’ [ALavandhAr’s sthOthra rathnam -30] (your divine feet is my most desired treasure) “asthy mE hasthi-sailAgrE vasthu paithAmaham dhanam” [vairAgya panchakam 6] (grandfather (brahma) has given me the wealth, which is the one who lives atop the hasthi mountain (dhEvapperumAL who incarnated from the fire of yAgam of brahma)). {here vEdhAnthAchAriar uses the word ‘grandfather’, to imply that such wealth automatically comes to him, the grandchild (by law)) }.

From the above steps, as one would reach the charama parvam (final stage), is the wealth that is AchAryan (emperumAnAr) – this is the inner meaning on discussion of wealth. ‘gururEva param dhanam’ [48, Chapter 4 – guru paddhathi – of – prapanna pArijAtham – by nadAdhUr ammAL] (Only guru is the wealth] Thus implying that this wealth is higher than bhagavan; after coming to this stage, one would not consider perumAn as wealth; only the AchAryan would be the true-to-the-nature and established wealth.

irAmAnusan enRu – the wealth that is rAmAnujar. As said by maNavALa mAmunigaL, “thandhai nal thAi thAram thanaiyar perunchelvam enRanakku nIyE ethirAsA” [Arththi prabandham -3] (father, good mother, spouse, children, big wealth for me are only you, yathirAja!), who have decided that emperumAnAr is everything for us; and as said in “thruNIkrutha virinchAdhi nirankusa vibhUthaya: rAmAnuja padhAmbhOja samAsrayaNa sAlina: “ [prArththanA panchakam – by kUraththAzhvAn] (One who is dedicated to rAmAnujar’s lotus feet would ignore all the words (of leelA vibhUthi) as a grass/dust), that is, who have decided that other things/riches are lower than a grass/dust, and have concluded that we shall be only praising the qualities of rAmAnujar;

isaiyagillA manakkuRRa mAndhar – those well learned people who have poor minds because of not considering such things as above regarding rAmAnujar, (and even those who are only in prathama parvam of going to perumAn only)

pazhikkil – (if they find faults); if they would not understand the good qualities, but would always be identifying (as) faults; as said in “vidhyAnyA silpanaipuNam” (knowledge other than about emperumAn is useless), they use useless arguments, and are based on their show of knowledge of doing poetry; those who are lost in mAyavAdha philosophy; ‘param bhAvam ajAnantha:’ (bhagavath gIthA) (they are not going to understand that I have incarnated here), due to the curtain of agyAna surrounding them; they are ‘mAndhar’ – people; also implies here as being ‘mAndhi’ – immersed in thamO guNam (laziness), (lack of bhagavath knowledge); (pArthasArathy emperumAn came as emperumAnAr, so He (emperumAnAr) was talking about people not surrendering to him (emperumAnAr).

pazhikkil pugazh – The fault they find is that amudhaAr has forgotten about the karmas that are done for other benefits, like said in (swarga kamO yajEtha) (do yagyas for achieving heaven), or other benefits like wealth; if their words are analysed, as krishNan said in gIthA, these people think that such benefits mentioned in sAsthram are the only benefits, and they do not look beyond, and so they would not know me, and so they would not reach me.

So when they fault based on their affinity towards activities that beget other lowly benefits, their faulting would be praise for us; those who are always doing good karmas, pure in body and mind, and those who have gained knowledge of nature of Athma, are still not comparable to someone who has said ‘saraNam’ to me, says krishNa.

One cannot achieve much by bhakthi yOgam, or gyAnam (knowledge), but can reach me by doing saraNAgathi, says krishNa. Now for those who strongly hold on to His divine feet, there would always be a doubt whether they would get Him – since he is independent, and cannot be forced. (svathanthranai upAyamAgap paRRina pOdhirE ipprasangam thAn uLLadhu – srI vachana bhUshaNam 407);

Unlike the above, for those who have taken devotees’ divine feet as the way to reach Him, there would not be any doubt of achieving that. So, if those who do not understand this would fault me, then that would be a praise for me.

They do not understand the meaning of “gyAnam anuttAnam ivai nanRAgavE udaiyan Ana guruvai adaindhakkAl mAnilaththIr thEnAr kamalath thirumAmagaL kozhunan thanE vaikuntham tharum” [upadEsa raththinamAlai 61] (~if one reaches the AchAryan who is knowledgeable and practices the same, then, dear people, thAyAr’s husband would automatically give you srIvaikuNtam);

nor do they understand the meaning of “uyya ninaivu uNdAgil umgurukkaL tham padhaththE vaiyum anbu thannai indha mAnilaththIr, mei uraikkEn pai aravil mAyan paramapadham ungaLukkAm kai ilangu nellikkani” [upadEsa raththinamAlai 62] (if you have the thoughts of surviving (from here), place your love towards your AchAryan, dear people of this world; am telling the truth that (then) paramapadham would be yours as sure as like having a fruit in your palm.) and since they find fault in such matters, their words would be a praise only.

The same meaning is also provided in ‘nIchai: krutha sthuthi: nindhA | nindhA sruthir bhi sthutha’, and “alagai mulai suvaiththArkku anbar adikku anbar thilatham enath thirivAr thammai, ulagar pazhi thURRRil thudhiyAgum [gyAna sAram 39].”

(Now he talks about those devoted to rAmAnujar)

avan manniya sIr thanakku uRRa anbar:

avan – (emperumAnAr) who incarnated to remove the pAshaNdar, etc., and other philosophies like chAruvaga, buddhism, Jainism; also was the garuda for the snake that is mAyAvadha (adhvaitha). He is the ‘thraividhya chUdAmaNi:” – the central stone of those who have learned all three vEdhas; and ultimately, the winner and protector like a dhvaja sthambam of srIrangam(n).

manniya sIr thanakku – ever present qualities (of emperumAnAr); “svakIya pApa vimOchanE saktha: thvam” [yathirAja vimsathi 17 by maNavALa mAmunigaL] ((yathirajA!) you have got the power to rid us from the pApams); such auspicious qualities.

uRRa anbar – the mahAthmAs who possess the devotion that is suitable for their qualities and knowledge.

avan thirunAmgangaL sARRum en pA inak kuRRam – as I was pushed by my bhakthi and encouraged to write the prabandham, they would not find fault in my words;

kANa killAr – they do not have the smarts (to find fault) (as they have used up their smarts for seeing the good qualities); also their nature is to consider faults as qualities; unlike those narrow minded who fault him that he is not following the prescribed ways for achieving other benefits;

this is because,

paththi Eyndha iyalvu idhu enRu – (they see that ) it is based on devotion (to emperumAnAr) that I am coming up with the words for the prabandham.

– – –

Translation: raghuram srInivAsa dhAsan

archived in http://divyaprabandham.koyil.org

iyaRpA rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi

rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – 4

August 16, 2015 Published by: raghuram

SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavaramunayE nama:

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pAsuram 4

avathArikai (introduction)

(maNavALa mAmunigaL’s introduction) Even as you praised the mind, would there not be some problem to your devotion (nishtai) because of mind going back to old ways due to their lasting impressions of bad deeds (dhur vAsanai)? amudhanAr replies – there would not be any such problem to me who has been accepted by emperumAnAr due to his own mercy. (In the previous pAsuram I wondered how this happened, but not to imply that it is due to my own efforts).

(piLLai lOkam jIyar’s introduction) In the earlier three pAsurams as the mind was praised, it might seem that emperumAnAr’s divine feet was attained using one’s own efforts; would that be apt for our nature / sath sampradhAyam? Or, even if it was attained by emperumAnAr’s grace, how would you be sure that your mind would not move away from it later? To this, amudhanAr replies as this pAsuram.

ennaip puviyil oru poruL Akki maruL surandha
munnaip pazhavinai vEr aRuththu Uzhi mudhalvanaiyE
pannap paNiththa irAmAnusan paran pAdhamum en
chennith tharikka vaiththAn enakku Edhum chidhaivu illaiyE – 4

Listen

Word by word meaning (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

Uzhi – For all the things (sentient and non-sentient) present during the time of annihilation
mudhalvanaiyE – the sarvEshwaran who is the cause of such things
panna – for everyone (who are eligible to follow vEdhAntham), to analyse and distinguish emperumAn and follow Him
paNiththa – (emperumAnAr) provided such knowledge through srI bHAshyam
paran – regarded as above everyone (including Iswaran as emperumAnAr showed Him to us)
irAmAnusan – emperumAnAr
ennai – me who is a nobody / insignificant entity
puviyil – in this world
oru poruL Akki – made me to be somebody (oru vasthuvAmpadi paNNi)
vEr aRuththu – (and) removed without trace
munnaip pazha vinai – all eternally existing old karmas
maruL surandha – generated by the lack of knowledge (avidhyA);
en chennith tharikka vaiththAn – (he) graced in my head
pAdhamum – his divine feet as well (implies emperumAn’s divine feet as well)
(so)
enakku Edhum sidhaivu illai – there is no trouble for my achievement (of having surrendered to emperumAnAr’s divine feet along with my mind).
(or)
paran pAdhamum en chennith tharikka vaiththAn – Here paran can be taken as perumAn, so in addition to his divine feet, emperumAnAr made amudhanAr’s head to be set at perumAn’s divine feet as well.

vyAkyAnam (given by piLLai lOkam jIyar)

ennai – me; who, before this time, was like ‘na namEyam’ (rAvaNan said: I will not fall at His feet (even though I know fully well the greatness of srI rAman)); was like – ‘asannEva sa bhavathi asadhbrahmEthi vEdha chEth’ [thaiththirIyOpanishath] – was as if non-existent when not having knowledge of emperumAn; like in ‘poruL allAdha ennai’ [thiruvAimozhi 5.7.3] (I was not significant/existing).

puviyil – in this world that feeds ignorance – iruL tharumA gyAlam [upadhEsa raththina mAlai – 72]

oru poruL Akki – As said in ‘asthi brahmEthi chEdhvEdha – santhamEnam thathO vidhu:’, made me somebody. ‘poruL Akki adimai koNdAi’ [thiruvAimozhi 5.7.3] (made me something and engaged me in your service). oru – Not just some body, but made me the most distinguished among the most learned (of brahmam). (AzhwAr said ‘poruL Akki’ only, indicating prathama parvam; amudhanAr said ‘oru pOrul Akki’ indicating charama parvam).

maruL surandha munnaip pazhavinai – (a long explanation for this is given by piLLai lOkam jIyar, perhaps to encourage us to develop disliking towards the samsAram) As said in ‘samsAra sAgaram gOram anantha klEsa bhAjanam [jithanthE sthotram 4]; (life here that is connected to non-sentient things, karmA, kAma, krOdha, etc., is like an ocean that is endless and deep in sorrows, its effects on us, and so on), and where we do not know how to get out of it (dhik bhramam), incessant pouring of sadness (dhukka varshini), puthra, dhAra, gruha, kshEthra’ (children, spouse, house, land, etc., which are also under the influence of the samsAram) are like mruga thrshNikA (a deer would keep going forward thinking that it sees water afar – mirage); lures us into thinking that this is all pleasant and desirable; and due to karmAs based on eternal mistakes of kruthya akaraNa (doing prohibited acts), akruthya karaNa (not doing ordered acts), bhagavatha apachAram (doing mistakes on matters related to emperumAn), bhAgavatha apachAram (doing mistakes related to His devotees), and more such mistakes, such lowly earth in which we commit these mistakes; karmas: anAdhi (eternally) avidhyA (ignorant,) karma (we do undesirable things) vAsanA (and keep influenced by such earlier misdeeds) ruchI (and develop taste for repeating them); so we get into the loop of having relation to this prakruthi, and do karmas of good and bad deeds;

vEr aRuththu – vEr – root of a tree; if that is left out when cutting the tree, it might flourish back up; so (emperumAnAr) removed all my karmAs like cutting all the way from the root. ‘nIr numadhu enRu ivai vEr mudhal mAiththu’ [thiruvAimozhi 1.2.3] (destroy ahankAram mamakAram including roots)

The following match: munnaip pazha vinai vEr aRuththu – sarva dharmAn parithyajya (part of gIthA charama slOkam) – purambu uNdAna paRRukkaLai adaiya vAsanaiyOdE vidugaiyum (mumukshuppadi – dhvaya prakaraNam – 1).

Uzhi mudhalvanaiyE – sarvEshwaran whose sanklapam (~vow) is the cause of all sentient and non-sentients – (Uzhi mudhal) upAdhAna kAraNam; (Uzhi mudhalvan) nimiththa kAraNam; and sahakAri are implied in this phrase. ‘kAraNam thu dhyEya:‘ [chAndhOgya upanishadh] – (meditate of the one who is the root cause of everything) – such perumAn. The ‘E’ in mudhalvanaiyE implies that He is the only one of such characteristics (anya yOga vyavachchEdham). Similar to ‘nArayaNanE namakkE’ [thiruppAvai 1], ‘mAm Ekam charaNam vraja’, ‘mAmEvayE prapadhyanthE’, ‘thamEva chAdhyam’, ‘thvamEva upAya bhUthO mE bhava’, ‘ARu enakku nin pAdhamE charaNagath thandhu ozhindhAi’ [thiruvAimozhi 5.7.10] ((only)your feet is the (only) way), etc.

The following match: Uzhi mudhalvanaiyE panna – mAm Ekam saraNam vraja (2^nd part of gIthA charama slOkam) – emperumAnaiyE thanjam enRu paRRugaiyum (mumukshuppadi – dhvaya prakaraNam – 1)

emperumAnAr getting the name of srI bhAshyakArar

pannap paNiththa – Combining with previous phrase, this says that srI bhAshyakArar showed that it is only emperumAn who is the root cause of everything – without athivyApthi – that is, emperumAnAr clearly showed the definition of emperumAn as specified by the vEdhas, brahma sUthram; rAmanujar provided such srI bhAshyam and gItha bhAshyam for everyone to love, enjoy, and distinguish emperumAn from others.

irAmAnusan – emperumAnAr. ‘sadhAchArya mUla: manthra rathna: [dhvayOpanishad] (AchAryan who gave the manthram that talks about emperumAn), is my paran – perumAn’; ‘yasmAth thadh upadhEshtAsau thasmAdh guru tharO guru:’ (who teaches us about bhagavAn is higher than that bhagavAn) [mahAbhAratham]; such emperumAnAr made me surrender to bhagavAn who is the source of the creation of worlds.

paran pAdhamum en chennith tharikka – emperumAnAr made me bear(tharikka) his feet in my head; He is saying ‘paran pAdham’ (perumAn’s foot), since he is considering ‘gururEva param brahma’ (guru himself is the god), and so considering emperumAnAr as his god; or, emperumAnAr made sarvEswaran’s feet to be held in my head.

vaiththAn – emperumAnAr by himself made this help for me (nirhEthukam). He helped me get this boon that matches my true nature (of subservience). nammAzhvAr too said in thiruvAimozhi 2.9.1, ‘emmA vIttu .. semmA pAdha parputh thalai sErththu … amma adiyEn vENduvadu IdhE’ (~ I request your feet in my head)

This being the case,

enakkEdhum sidhaivu illaiyE – being the receiver of such grace by emperumAnAr due to his own mercy, there would be no harm for my current state.

amudhanAr has been repeatedly raving in each pAsuram about divine feet, ‘charaNAravindham’, ‘kamala padhangaL’, ‘pAdham’, ‘adi’. Just because he has got excess buttermilk would someone keep providing him rice prasAdham?, asks piLLai lOkam jIyar; there are only two feet of emperumAnAr, but he is asking for feet in each pAsuram, just due to his eagerness towards emperumAnAr.

From srI u.vE. thirumalai nallAn chakravarthy rAmakrishNa iyengAr’s ‘amudha virundhu’:

srI bhAshyam’s four adhyAyams (~chapters) contain the following three: Uzhi mudhalvan; Uzhi mudhalvanayE; Uzhi mudhalvanaiyE panna. Instead of ‘mudhalinaiyE’ he says ‘mudhalvanaiyE’ to imply emperumAn is sentient – as emperumAn said ‘shall become many things’ for creating everything, which does not go with a non-sentient; So, ‘being the cause of it’ is applicable for brahmam – this is said in ‘samanvaya adhyAyam’ of srI bhAshyam.

‘panna’ – to meditate/understand/upAsanam of only the mudhalvan is established, so brahmam not being affected by any shortcomings that others might say – this is what is explained in 2^nd adhyAyam – avirOdhAdhyAyam. Also since ‘panni’ is to distinguish and understand brahmam, it implies brahmam as the means to be meditated upon, that is explained in 3^rd adhyAyam, sAdhanAdhyAyam of srI bhAshyam; now, panni also implies reaching, that is reaching the brahmam, so it also implies 4^th adhyAyam, palAdhyAyam of srI bhAshyam.

My holding emperumAnAr’s feet in my head is not by seeing his divine characteristics, but because it is the use of my being, says amudhanAr.

Like how the earlier preceptors AzhwAr, ALavandhAr, and such others got paran’s divine feet in their divine head, due to the grace of emperumAnAr amudhanAr also got the divine feet in his divine head.

aruLALap perumAL emperumAnAr also sang after experiencing it, ‘maruLAm iruL Oda maththagaththu than thAL, aruLAlE vaiththa avar’ [gyAna sAram 36] (after removing my ignorance, he due to his grace, kept his feet (in my head)).

tharikka – it seems he did not want to remove the feet that was placed on the head, so kept it for a long time.

emperumAnAr showing his divine feet as the destiny to a dumb

tharikka vaiththAn – (it is always the owner who would be restless until he gets his property); emperumAnAr due to his compassion towards me could not wait to keep his feet in my head; for him to relax (for him to tharikka) from that, he kept his feet on my head; if emperumAnAr’s compassion becomes overwhelming for himself, it seems he would look for some devotee’s head to keep it on and save him. At this point one must see the vyAkyAnam of thirunedunthANdakam – 1, ‘thaLir puraiyum thiruvadi en thalai mElavE’ – “after touching his (thirumangai AzhvAr’s) head, His feet became alive and budding; before that it was like dry leaves”.

Or, another meaning is – after reforming me, emperumAnAr wanted me to avoid going to other places and go to old ways, so he kept me under his feet. Here too, an interesting vyAkyAnam in eedu for thiruvAimozhi 9.8.8, ‘aruL seidhu adiyEnaip poruL Akk un pon adi keezh puga vaippAi’, is “the position/place to keep those who are reformed seems to be under the divine feet”.

sidhaivu illaiyE – since emperumAnAr by himself accepted me, there is no going back from my current state; only if I had tried would there have been such a problem.

– – – – –

Translation: raghuram srInivAsa dhAsan

archived in http://divyaprabandham.koyil.org

iyaRpA rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi

rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – 3

August 13, 2015 Published by: raghuram

SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavaramunayE nama:

Full Series

<< previous (kaLLAr pozhil)

pAsuram 3

avathArikai (Introduction)

(maNavALa mAmunigaL‘s introduction) – For removing my connection with samsAris (prAkruthar – materialistic persons), and for the favour of connecting me with the divine feet of those who have the connection with the divine feet of those who have connection with the divine feet of emperumAnAr, adiyen am falling at your feet, says amudhanAr to his mind.

(piLLai lOkam jIyar‘s introduction) – In previous pAsuram, his mind was immersed in the auspicious quality of emperumAnAr, and not only that, as his mind continued to enjoy that, it started loving so much and it connected him to the divine feet of the devotees. For this help, I don’t have anything to give back to the mind, so I am falling at his (mind’s) feet, says amudhanAr.

pEr iyal nenjE adi paNindhEn unnaip pEyp piRavip
pUriyarOduLLa chuRRam pularththip poruvarum sIr
Ariyan semmai irAmAnusa munikku anbu seyyum
sIriya pEr udaiyAr adikkIzh ennaich chErththadharkkE – 3

Listen

Word-by-word meaning – (provided by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

pEr iyal nenjE – Oh mind! having big ways of kindness,
uLLa suRRam pularththi – (for) removing my connection with (people)
pEy piRavi – (who are) bad by nature
pUriyarodu uLLa – and who are having bad qualities like ahankAra/mamakAra,
ennaich chErththadharkku – and for the biggest help of connecting me to
adikkIzh – at the divine feet of
sIriya pEr udaiyAr – people having reached that goal of
anbu seyyum – doing bhakthi towards
irAmAnusa munikku – emperumAnAr (who)
poruvarum sIr – possesses incomparable good qualities
Ariyan – and who knows very well all the sAsthras
semmai – and who is having sincerity in adjusting himself to be able to take care of his sishyas without looking at their differing qualities,
unnai adi paNindhEn – (O mind!) I fall on your feet.

vyAkyAnam (provided by piLLai lOkam jIyar)

pEriyal nenjE – Oh mind, having big ways of kindness; first having immersed in emperumAnAr’s qualities, with so much love, just based on my connection with you, you have the ways of connecting me up to emperumAnAr’s devotees, says to his mind.

pEyp piRavip pUriyarOdu uLLa suRRam pularththi – removing without any trace my connection with those bad people who are like asuras; similar to periyAzhwAr saying in thiruppallANdu – 3, ‘kuAzh AL pattu ninRIrgaLai engaL kuzhuvinil pugudhal ottOm’.

pEyp piRavi – birth of people with bad attitudes; bad in nature by birth;

pUriyar – such bad people (who consider us to be bad due to our devotion)

poruvarum sIr – (emperumAnAr) having auspicious qualities that cannot be compared to anything since there is nothing equivalent.

Ariyan – (emperumAnAr) well versed in all the sAsthras; being an AchAryan to all the devotees of this world and for thiruvEnkatam udaiyAn. jIyar too said in upadhEsa raththina mAlai – than Ariyanukku – using the word Aryan to imply AchAryan.

chemmai – (emperumAnAr) conducted himself as how he determined in his mind and also advised others (thus having alignment of mind, speech, and bodily actions – karaNa thrayam);

irAmAnusa munikku – muni – deeply thinks about wellness of others; emperumAnAr who deeply thinks about the reason for his incarnation; kku – towards such emperumAnAr

anbu cheyyum sIriya pEr udaiyAr – with their mind that extremely loves emperumAnAr, and with the clear conclusion in their mind that that love is what defines them – such devotees like AzhwAn;

AzhwAn and mudhaliyANdAn surrendering to swAmi

adikkIzh – to their divine feet (of such devotees of emperumAnAr)

ennaich chErththadharkkE – by making such divine feet of devotees to be ornaments in my head; for setting me to understand charama parva nishtai (last frontier of subservience) which I was ignorant of earlier; whereas it was me who should have advised it (mind), it connected me (purushakAram) to the divine feet of such devotees, thanks amudhanAr.

If I analyse what I could do to the mind in return for such a grand favour…

adi paNindhEn unnai – got your (mind) divine feet as support; fell on your (mind) feet; (as there is not equivalent I could do in return)

As jIyar prayed for devotion towards devotees like kUraththAzhwan, thirukkurugaip pirAn piLLAn, et al, (vAcha yathIndhra! manasA vapushA cha yushmath ..), amudhanAr’s mind has already first showed him the divine feet of the devotees of rAmAnujar.

{ AzhwAr thirunagari srI U.Ve. vidhwAn thirumalai nallAn chakravarththi rAmakrishNa iyengAr swami has written a wonderful vyAkyAnam/description text for rAmAnusa nURRanthadhi titled ‘amudha virundhu’. A few lines from that are provided here. }

mana Eva manushyANAm kAraNam bandha mOkshayO: – it is the (make up of the) mind that is the cause of being tied here or of mOksham (release).

In this pAsuram he does not use the word ‘my’ when referring to the mind (unlike in the earlier two pAsurams) – because of the magnanimity shown by his mind towards him, he is treating it as a separate entity and falling at its feet.

adi paNindhEn unnai – AzhwArs have sung about mind, either praising it when connecting to emperumAn, or sometimes their mind would leave them to be immersed in emperumAn; so AzhwArs would resort to birds etc., for connecting them to emperumAnAr and they would fall of such creatures’ feet; but here amudhanAr’s mind helped him reach (the devotees), and amudhanAr is falling at the feet of the mind itself, which none of the Azhwars seem to have done. AzhwArs hugged their mind and praised it, but here amudhanAr is falling at its divine feet – isn’t it apt to fall at the feet of those who helped us get connection with the devotees?

pEi piRavi – birth (people) that does not approach emperumAn is referred to as pEi piRavi.

poruvarum sIr – why is there no comparison to emperumAnAr’s qualities that save us? In case of perumAn, due to his independent nature (swAthanthriyam) his qualities like kindness would not be in currency; in case of pirAtti she has to channel it through perumAn; but in case of emperumAnAr, he can directly and fully show his mercy on us. Isn’t he uththArka AchAryar!

semmai – sincerity/honesty in having mind, speech, and action to be aligned; not only for self, but also making sure of this alignment in those who surrendered to him and not letting them deviate from this.

– – – – –

Translation: raghuram srInivAsa dhAsan

archived in http://divyaprabandham.koyil.org

iyaRpA Other rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi

rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – 2

August 9, 2015 Published by: raghuram

SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavaramunayE nama:

Full Series

<< previous (pU mannu mAdhu)

avathArikai (Introduction)

In the previous pAsuram, as amudhanAr advised along with his mind, his mind started immersing in the auspicious quality that is emperumAnAr’s nature of interacting with even lowly ones like him; and the mind was enjoying the divine feet of emperumAnAr; amudhanAr wonders how this has happened so!

In this pAsuram amudhanAr says that his mind is not thinking anything other than the seela guNam (interacting well with everyone without considering his own greatness – excellence of disposition), and he wonders how he could have gotten this benefit without any efforts!

kaLLAr pozhil thennarangan kamalap padhangaL nenjil
koLLA manisarai nIngi kuRaiyal pirAnadikkIzh
viLLAdha anban irAmAnusan mikka seelamallAl
uLLAthu en nenju onRu aRiyEn enakku uRRa pEr iyalvE

Listen

Word by word meanings (provided by maNavALa mAmunigaL)

kaL Ar pozhil – (Having) gardens with lot of honey
then – (which is) beautiful, spectacular (that is thiruvarangam), [‘then’ also means South, but thiruvarangam is not in south for many AzhvArs; so perhaps mAmunigaL has carefully provided another meaning for ‘then’]
arangan – since he is lying in the serpent here, he is amicable to be identified by the name of that place itself (thiru arangam); that is periya perumAL,
kamalap padhangaL – (His) divine feet that are enjoyable like the good qualities of blooming lotus,
nenjil koLLA – (and) those who do not ever think of it (the divine feet),
manisarai – even though they have been born as humans and are eligible/able to enjoy (the divine feet),
neengi – (emperumAnAr) moved away (from such people), and
viLLAdha – stays without any separation
adikkIzh – under the divine feet of,
kuRaiyal – the one having thiruk kuRaiyalUr as his birth place,
pirAn – who has helped the world by his dhivyaprabandhams (that being one of his main helps), that is, thirumangai AzhwAr,
irAmAnusan – (such) emperumAnAr
anban – who is kind and friendly,
en nenju – my mind/heart
onRu uLLAdhu – does not think about anything else
mikka seelam allAl – than his infinite seelam (interacting easily with me the lowly one);
enakku uRRa pEr iyalvu – this is a great sort that I have got
onRu aRiyEn – and don’t know how that happened.

vyAkyAnam (provided by piLLai lOkam jIyar)

kaLLAr pozhil – surrounded by gardens with flowers everywhere, and those flowers are pregnant with honey; like said in pAsurams of thiruppaLLiyezhuchchi 1 – ‘madhu irundhu ozhugina mAmalar ellam’ (there is lot of honey flowing from the big flowers), and in vAn thigazhum sOlai madhiL arangar’ [thiruvAimozhi thaniyan].

then arangan – the thiruvarangam is beautiful, and the swAmi (master) who has stayed put in such a place is being identified by the name of such a place; you see, this is the important name for this place.

kamalap padhangaL – the lotus-like feet (of thiruvarangan); they are like purifying medicine; removes the difficulties of the samsAram; instead of saying ‘pAdha kamalam’, said ‘kamalam’ first, since he (emperumAnAr) fully got immersed in its enjoyable nature.

nenjil koLLA manisarai – (from those) who are not involved in thinking about such divine feet even though they are born as humans who are able to / eligible for doing such divine activities; they are mentioned as those who lost the great opportunity when in the womb itself (garbha nirbhAgyar).

neengi – moved away (from such people); won over those who denied or misrepresented the vEdhas;

kuRaiyal pirAn – born in thiruk kuRaiyalUr, he wrote dhivya prabandhams, set up (adhyayana) uthsavam to be celebrated on EkAdhasi during thiruvadhyayanam; built protective walls around the temple, won those who were on the side of rudhran and re-established the dhivya dhEsams affected by them; such thirumangai AzhwAr who helped in so many ways for the sampradhAyam;

There is another opinion about it in this place: kuRaiyal pirAn – to imply kuRaivu onRum illAdha gOvindhA [thiruppAvai 29], that is krishNan. He helped the gOpikAs as indhran performed abhishEkam; helped pANdavas, and so on; the prime help being giving us the charama slOkam;

But since the pUrvAchAryas have implied thirumangai mannan only here, the first meaning shall stand.

adikkIzh – under the feet of thirumangai AzhwAr.

Thiruvali thirunagari – emperumAnAr at the divine feet of thirumangai azhvar

viLLAdha anban – this AzhvAr is prathama parva nishtar, so would always be praying to aNi pozhil thiruvarangaththu ammAn; this emperumAnAr is charama parva nishtar, so would always be having bhakthi towards this AzhwAr; viLLAdha – not separating; anban -> one having bhakthi.

irAmAnusan – You see, in previous avathAram as he was following srI rAma, that impression is still present in this avathAram and have reached the charama parvam (ultimate state), and so involved in bhakthi towards the AzhwAr;

mikka seelam allAl – even though he is mighty and noble (mahAnubhAvar), he has socialized with ones having lowly knowledge like me. Having immersed in such seelam (such a quality) of emperumAnAr, and the mind is not going into anything else.

uLLAdhu – not think about (anything else)

en nenju – my mind; the mind that was advised by me (to recite the names of rAmAnujar).

onRu aRiyEn enakkuRRa pEr iyalvE – What a wonder! I don’t know any reason/situation for my mind to be involved like this.

enakku – attaining such a state might have required doing penance, gaining knowledge, meditating, etc., over several birth, but the mind got this state just by my saying ‘solluvOm avan nAmangaLE [1]’ (we shall recite his names); this was attainable to me;

pEr iyalvE – This (reciting his names and immersed in his qualities) is the biggest and unique upAyam (means) compared to all other means.

– – – – – –

Translation: raghuram srInivAsa dhAsan

archived in http://divyaprabandham.koyil.org

iyaRpA rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi

rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – 1

July 31, 2015 Published by: raghuram

SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavaramunayE nama:

Full Series

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pAsuram 1

pU mannu mAdhu porundhiya mArban * pugazh malindha
pA mannu mARan adi paNindhu uynthavan * pal kalaiyOr
thAm manna vandha irAmAnusan charaNAravindham
nAm manni vAzha * nenjE! solluvOm avan nAmangaLE. 1.

Listen

maNavALA mAmunigaL’s vyAkyAnam is short and has provided word by word meanings for the pAsurams. piLLai lOkam jIyar has provided detailed vyAkyAnam.

amudhanAr is talking to his heart that we shall say the divine names of emperumAnAr such that we live permanently under the divine feet of emperumAnAr.

Word by word meaning

(Like said in ‘padhmEsthithAm’,)
pU – lotus flower
mannu – is the place of
mAdhu – periya pirAttiAr (srI mahAlakshmi),
(but she ignored that place after seeing the joy (of emperumAn’s divine chest, and as said in ‘iRaiyum – agalgillEn’ (would not leave even for a moment) [thiruvAimozhi – 6.10.10])),
porundhiya mArban – emperumAn having such a divine chest where pirAttiar stays every moment
pugazh – (whose) auspicious qualities
malindha – are filled in the
pA – thiruvAimozhi,
mannu – which is filled in the mind of
mARan – (nam)AzhwAr, (like he said in [thiruvAimozhi 8-10-5] kavi amudham nugarchchi uRumO muzhudhum)
adi paNindhu uyndhavan – (rAmAnujar) lived by surrendering to (such AzhwAr’s) divine feet
palkalaiyOr thAm – even though they learned many sAsthras, they could not understand its inner meanings; and so after understanding it (from emperumAnAr)
manna – (they) surrendered to and stayed with (emperumAnAr)
vandha – (such) avathAram (of)
irAmAnusan – emperumAnAr,
charaNa aravindham – (his) divine lotus feet
nAm – we (amudhanAr and his heart) who know that this (divine lotus feet) is the goal/destiny for us,
manni vAzha – to live under it,
nenjE! – oh mind/heart!
solluvOm – we shall recite
avan – his (emperumAnAr’s)
nAmangaLE – divine names (only)

Also:

thAm manna – the pundits themselves came and surrendered to emperumAnAr.
nAm manna – we who had been under the feet of other insignificant matters all those countless lives, shall surrender to him.

vyAkyAnam (provided by piLLai lOkam jIyar)

avathArikai (Introduction to pAsuram 1)

piLLai amudhanAr, by the grace of his AchAryan (kUraththAzhvAn), got the inner meanings of the two kaNdam (parts) of manthra rathnam (dhvayam), which are learned in protected ways (parama rahasyam – even the sound for dhvayam is not recited loudly; – change nArAyaNa to rAmAnuja and you get the inner meaning; and prApakam (destiny) is AchAryan’s divine feet; and we can survive only based on AchAryan’s loving acceptance of us (Acharya abhimanamE uththArakam [srIvachana bhUshaNam])), and as he wanted to share the experience of its meanings with others, like said in ‘Eka: svAthu na bhunjItha’ (do not eat alone (share with others)), and like how one would want others to go with them when trying to cross a river having floods, as amudhanAr was immersed in the flood that is the experience of emperumAnAr’s auspicious qualities he wanted some company to enjoy that; ANdAL also wanted adiyArs (nIrAdap pOdhuvIr pOdhuminO [thiruppAvai 1]) for sharing her divine experience;

as he searched for such a company in both this world and the other world, the nithyasUris and mukthars, are, like said in ‘sadhA pashyanthi’, they were fully immersed in the enjoyment of parathvam (emperumAn in srIvaikuNtam), happily singing sAma gAnam, and as said in ‘na uba janam smaran idham sarIram’ (when an AthmA leaves, it sets sight only on the other world, and would not even see its own sarIram – body – and definitely not look at the relatives), the nithyasUris and mukthars are not paying any attention to leelA vibUthi (where amudhanAr was present);

in leelA vibhUthi, the samsAris were ignorant, and as said in ‘nandhanthi udhitha AdhithyE, nandhanthi asthamithEravau’ (sun rises –> happiness because we are going to go out and enjoy the world; sun sets -> happiness because going to enjoy with family at home; enjoying this world); and as said in ‘uNdiyE udaiyE ugandhu Odum im maNdalam’ [perumAL thirumozhi 3-4 of kulasEkara AzhwAr] they were just happily involved in eating, dressing, etc., and as said in ‘puRamE puRamE Adi’ [thiruvAimozhi 5.1.1] were focusing their mind on the hair of women and were not focused on the truth, and were deep in material aspects;

{What about emperumAnAr’s adiyArs (disciples) who were living at that time with emperumAnAr? Would even they have ignored amudhanAr’s call for enjoyment?} –

Those with deep knowledge of the truth as having connection with emperumAnAr, were, like said in ‘pAlE pOl seer’ [periya thiruvanthAdhi 58], finding joy in auspicious qualities of emperumAnAr, and like ‘kAl Azhum nenju azhiyum’ [periya thiruvandhAdhi-34] , were deeply immersed in it;

So none of these four were giving company to amudhanAr, and so he is calling his mind which is always commonly available during good and bad times, to give him company.

vyAkyAnam

There is a considerable parallel between this pAsuram and yathirAja vimsathi. (Also, yathirAja vimsathi is pUrva kAndam for ramAnuja dhvayam; and Arthi prabandham is uththara kAndam (srImathE rAmAnujAya nama:) vEdhAnthAchAryar’s yathirAja sapthathi includes both kAndams about rAmAnujar😉

pU mannu mAdhu – pU -> lotus; pU mannu -> padhmE sthithAm -> pirAtti well set in the lotus flower. (This is in the last part of pAcha rAthram, lakshmi thanthram where periya pirAttiyAr talks to indhran about her vaibhavam – that is srI suktham). malar mEl mangai – also means the same.

It was as if the fragrance and beauty of the lotus flower was in the form of periya pirAttiAr.

It was as if the definition of pirAtti was to be on the lotus flower.

mAdhu porundhiya mArban (one having lakshmi in his divine chest)

(mAdhu) porundhiya mArban – but once emperumAn took her to be her consort, and as she enjoyed the divinity of his chest (mArbu), she forgot all about the lotus flower, and is always staying in his divine chest – agalagillEn iRaiyum (would never leave (his divine chest)) [thiruvAimozhi 6-10-10] –

sarvEshwaran who has got such a divine chest – mArban.

amudhanAr does not directly specify the name of emperumAn, but says the one having the chest in which pirAtti is always residing;

mArban-> mAdhu (pirAtti) is nirUpaka dharam (one who is the identifier) for emperumAn.

visEshya bhUthan -> based on mAdhu porundhiya mArbu (he is being identified based on pirAtti).

This sort is common like in ‘mAmAn magaLE [thiruppAvai 9] (Oh (maternal) uncle’s daughter);

Similarly, ennuL kalandhAn [thiruvAimozhi 2-5-2] is a name for emperumAn as given by AzhwAr – emperumAn getting immersed in AzhwAr is the identifying factor of emperumAn!

shradhdhaya dhEva: dhEvathvam ashnuthE- because of periya pirAtti, dhEvan gets referred to by the name of dhEvan.

In srI rAmAyaNam, mArIchan says ‘apramyEam hi thaththEjA’ => his valor is beyond the comprehension of mind. Whose valor?, He says ‘yasyasA janakAthmaja’ – the one who is the husband of sItha.

Similarly,
‘pithus satha guNam mAthA’ – a mother possesses 100 times more qualities than a father; gowravENa athirichyathE – such is the greatness of the mother by her own qualities.
Similarly, because of pirAttiyAr, emperumAn gets his greatness.

mArban pugazh malindha pA (whose vyAkyAnam was propagated by mAmunigaL)

(mArban) pugazh malindha pA – pA: poetry/pAsurams.

The auspicious qualities and greatness of emperumAn are spread (malindha) throughout the pAsurams (of nammAzhwAr).

Following are from the beginning, middle, and end of thiruvAimozhi of nammAzhwAr where the qualities of emperumAn are described.

uyarvara uyar nalam [thiruvAimozhi 1-1-1] -> against adhvaitham -> guNa visishta brahmam is parAthpara thathavam (brahmam with qualities/characteristics is the truth about creator of all).

ayaRvaRum amarargaL adhipathi-> Controller/owner of both the worlds

udal misai uyir enak karandhengum parandhuLan [thiruvAimozhi 1-1-7]-> vyApthi -> He is there everywhere.

sudar migu surudhiyul uLan [thiruvAimozhi 1-1-7] -> emperumAn is known from the vEdhas. (not fully just by sight (prathyaksham), or knowledgeable guess (anumAnam);

emperumAnAr uses the deep meanings of this pAsuram as the guiding lamp in his srI bAshyam -> as azhagiya maNavALap perumAL nAyanAr also said in AchArya hrudhayam: idhu koNdu sUthra vAkyangaLai orunga viduvar; as emperumAnAr at the end of his arguments says, so this is thus explained/related/solved; ithi samanchasam).

For jIvAthmA the gyAnam is its behaviour due to which its effect is spread throughout the body;
For paramAthmA – by its nature it is spread everywhere. It is not like just the pillar touching the roof. But spread into everything.

neer thoRum parandhuLan -… aNdam idhena [thiruvAimozhi 1-1-10] -> emperumAn is vyApakam (pervaded) including inside the pillar, roof, etc. And even in small places like a water drop, he is comfortably set, similar to being comfortable in space.

It is not just vyApakam, but he is also controlling everything – niyanthruthvam.
vyApakathvam vs. niyanthruthvam :
AkAsam (space) is having vyApthi -> but no niyamana sAmarthyam (ability to control).
A king does not have vyApthi – he can be in only one place a time -> but he posses niyamana sAmarthyam – just a waving of his hand can change things in his kingdom.
It is emperumAn who has got both the abilities.

onrum thEvum … [thiruvAimozhi 4-10] => kAraNathvam – he is the cause/creator of everything.

ulagam uNda [thiruvAimozhi 6-10] -> keerthi – greatness

puNarAninRa maramEzh .. [thiruvAimozhi 6-10-5] – talks about srI rAma’s valor, strength, and victories; such qualities

nOlAdhu ARREn una pAdham [thiruvAimozhi 6-10-8] -> sarva easwra easwaran. – He is the controller of all the controllers.

sen thAmarai kat chengani vAi [thiruvAimozhi 6-10-9] -> His beauty- soundaryam (that attracted AzhwAr)

muniyE nAn muganE [thiruvAimozhi 10-10].. explains that He is there in everything, everything is part of his divine body;

and finally in the pA (thiruvAimozhi pAsurams of nammAzhvAr):

In the pAsuram of suzhndhu aganRu [thiruvAimozhi 10-10-10] ->
pAzh => prakruthi => non-sentient.
chOdhi => AthmA is part of the body of emperumAn

Thus nammAzhwAr describes ten auspicious qualities of emperumAn in thiruvAimozhi throughout (beginning, middle, and end).

such – pugazh malindha pa -> pa : poetry/prabandham – is thiruvAimozhi etc., of nammAzhwAr.

mARan who attracts emperumAn

(pA) mannu mARan -> as AzhwAr was immersed in emperumAn’s nature and qualities, that experience could not be controlled inside, and came out for us due to the force of his bhakthi, and since it came out from emperumAn himself through nammAzhwAr, and as AzhwAr mentions ‘kavi amudham’ [thiruvAimozhi 8-10-5] and ‘thoNdarkku amudhu uNNa chol mAlaigaL chonnEn’ [thiruvAimozhi 9-4-9], he was fully enjoying the prabandham himself.

mARan – the divine name of nammAzhwAr – it is the prime means for us;

Like said in ‘vinAshAya chadhushkruthAm’ AzhwAr through his pAsurams destroyed the other philosophies, reformed such people and brought them under the correct view, and was the cause of removing their samsAram;

mARan – removes ignorance;

on the other hand,

mARan – makes emperumAn lose his mind in ecstasy as in ‘minnidai madavAr’ [thiruvAimozhi 6-2] as AzhwAr takes the form of parAnkusa nAyaki (female state of mind); and in ‘UNil vAzh uyir’ [thiruvAimozhi 2-3-1] emperumAn mixes with Azhwar into one due to His love; AzhwAr having such greatness.

emperumAnAr at the lotus feet of nammAzhwAr

(mAran) adi paNindhu uyndhavan (irAmAnusan) – in such AzhwAr’s divine feet, rAmAnujar has surrendered and achieved the goal (of mOksham / winning of other philosophies and so forth).

adi – just the divine feet of AzhwAr, not even the whole AzhwAr, that is dear to emperumAnAr;

it is the root of his getting attracted to AzhwAr; that is, AzhwAr is the swAmi for emperumAnAr;

paNindhu – having surrendered (to AzhwAr’s divine feet)

srImath thadhangriyugaLam praNamAmi mUrdHnA (surrendering to your divine feet) – said ALavandhAr;

Thus this prabandham is shown as being in charama parva nishtai (final state of being – being subservient to devotees).

uyndhavan – for him (emperumAnAr), sustenance (ujjeevanam) is not dependent on food, liquids, etc; AzhwAr gave the divine feet for his survival instead; after getting AzhwAr’s divine feet, rAmAnujar was immersed in that experience only; even though they were separated by time, when AzhwAr gave all the details to nAthamunigaL, AzhwAr first meditated on the form of rAmAnujar, and emperumAnAr also thought about AzhwAr lovingly giving the bhavishyadhAcharyar vigraham to nAthamunigaL, and since AzhwAr is thus an Acharyan, emperumAnAr had held onto the divine feet of AzhwAr, and based his srI bHAshyam on the teaching of Azhwar saying ‘uNNum sORu, parugu(m) neer, thinnum veRRilai ellAm kaNNan emperumAn’ [thiruvAimozhi 6-7-1]; and emperumAnAr was living rectifying the processes in various divya dhEsams, and got his life’s use based on these from AzhwAr’s blessings – AzhwAr sat in one place and sang about dhivyadhEsams, but emperumAnAr fulfilled by physically going to these dhivyadhEsams and setting them up properly.

palkalaiyOr – Those who are sakala sAsthra pArINar – well versed in all the sAsthrAs – nanmaiyAl mikka nAn maRaiyALargaL [kaNNinuN chiruthAmbu – 4] – like kUrEsar (kUraththAzhvAn), kurugEsar (piLLAn), gOvindhar (embAr), dhAsarathy (mudhaliyANdAn) had already surrendered to emperumAnAr, while other experts like yAdhava prakAsar, and yagya mUrthy (aruLALap perumAL emperumAnAr) were won over and reformed about vishitAdhvaitham and later they became ardent sishyAs of rAmAnujar.

thAm manna – after understanding the correct meanings without any doubt, surrendered to rAmAnujar, never to leave his feet.

vandha – (emperumAnAr) came from paramapadham by requirement of sarvEshwaran.

rAmAnusan – same as chakravarthy thirumagan (rAmar) – in following the words of elders; following the truth; establishing the dharma; love towards AchAryan; gave mOksham to every one related to him;

charaNAravindham – such emperumAnAr’s divine feet

aravindham – manmadhan’s arrow contains lotus flower in its tip. Here the lotus flowers are the divine feet of emperumAnAr.

jalaja dhvaya -> plural form of feet of emperumAn. (there may be a doubt in getting help from emperumAn since he is svathanthran (independent))

but says: pAdha bhaktham – for nammazhvar -> singular form.

because=> pAvanathvam (medicinal for our karmAs) and bhOgyathvam (enjoyment) -> are from the same source -> so using singular noun for feet. { marundhE nangaL bhOga magizhchchikku -> dhvaya manthram }

manni -> without hesitation or doubt we would like to be living under emperumAnAr’s divine feet always.

Previous ‘manni’s would definitely happen – they would be set in their goals without fail; This manni might not happen due to our karmas etc., so he pleads to the mind.

nAm vAzha -> plural -> calling us, even though we ignored him (due to which he talked to his mind/heart for enjoying with him). Eka: svAthu na bhunjItha. (do not eat alone for yourself)

solluvOm avan nAmangaLE – let us recite/say rAmAnujar’s names.

vAchA dharmam avApnuhi – it is a big dharma to speak about the greatness of him.

In the case of bhagavan -> mAnasa kainkaryam is important (by mind).

Here, just vAk kainkaryam would be enough (reciting).

Similarly, nAvinAl naviRRu inbam eidhinEn [kaNNinuN chiruththAmbu – 2] – (said it with my tongue) – why mention tongue when ‘said’ is enough? => there, madhurakavi AzhwAr says that even without help of manas (mind) I just said his names.

Just reciting his names would lead to the means and goal that is rAmAnujar’s divine feet.

anyOnyam -> just personally he and his mind – we shall enjoy that divine feet. says amudhanAr. bodhayantha: parasparam -> said krishNan

avan nAmangaLE => thEvu maRRaRiyEn [kaNNinuN chiruththAmbu – 2] -> we would say only ramAnujan’s name. Even if we are not able to engage the mind and body, at least saying the names would do.

Following are the 11 divine names of rAmAnujar among many others -> from ‘periya thirumudi adaivu’:

iLaiyAzhvAr – parents

Next 4 names given by emperumAns:

bHUthapurIsar -> adi kesava perumal in sri perumbuthur
udaiyavar -> namperumal
yathirAjan -> dhEva perumAL
dhEsikEndhran -> thiruvenkadam udaiyan

Next 5 names given by his AchAryas.

rAmAnusar -> periya nambi
emperumAnAr- > thirukOshtiyUr nambi
kOil aNNan -> periya thirumalai nambi
satagOpan ponnadi -> thirumAlai ANdAn
lakshmaNa muni -> thiruvarangap perumAL araiyar.

Other:

srI bhAshyakArar -> sAradhA dEvi.

There are also other names;

yAthindhrar
yathipathi
yathirAt
yathikula thuryar
yathi sArva boumar

gurOr nAma sadhA japEth – always be reciting AchAryan’s divine names.

chEthana samAdhi -> saying as if mind is like a chEthanam (sentient) -> mind is achith (non-sentient), but saying ‘solluvOm’ (let us recite, to his mind) -> due to its help for reciting rAmAnujar’s names.

AzhvAn said ‘hantha’ -> ha! ha! can’t believe even creatures (janthu) like me are surrendering to his feet by saying the nAmam of rAmAnujar; with (unreasonable) wish of gaining any eligibility to change from a janthu.

vEdham oru nAngin uL podhindha meip poruLum [gyAna/pramEya sAram] -> inner meaning; AchArya abhimAnam

pU mannu mAdhu porundhiya-> srI mathE
mArban pugazh malindha -> nArAyaNa (kalyAna guNangaL (auspicious qualities))
mArban -> charaNau (upalakshanam (stands for) -> thiruvadi (divine feet))
paNindhu uyndhavan -> charaNam prapadhyE

mAmunigal’s : (it matches this 1^st pasuram of ramAnusa nuRRanthAdhi):

srI mAdhava anghri jalaja dhvaya – 2 lotus feet
nithya sEvA -> ozhivil kalam ellam [thiruvAimozhi 3-3-1] – kainkaryam in those divine feet at all times without interruption
premAvilAsa ya – bhakthi overflowing
parAnkusa -> that is by parAnkusar (nammAzhwAr)
pAdha bhaktham rAmAnujam -> (mARan) adi panindhu uyndhavan.

Arthi prabandham -> thamizh of yathirAja vimsathi line discussed above, ‘pU magaL kOn .. nenjamE vAzh’ – jeeyar also said to his mind. (this matches the first pAsuram of rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi as well).

– – – – –

Translation: raghuram srInivAsa dhAsan

archived in http://divyaprabandham.koyil.org

iyaRpA rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi

rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – avathArikai (Introduction)

July 16, 2015 Published by: raghuram

SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavaramunayE nama:

Full Series

<< thaniyans

Based on mAmunigaL‘s and piLLai lOkam jIyar‘s avathArikai

sriya:pathi (srI mahAlakshmi’s husband), parmakAruNikan (one with immense mercy), sarvEswaran (emperumAn who controls everything), was being the object of complete enjoyment for those in nithya vibhUthi (srIvaikuNtam),

but He saw that in leelA vibhUthi (the section of the universe that is for His playing where AthmAs spend time based on their karmas), where jIvAthmAs in the matter that is a mixture of three characteristics of sathva (tranquility), rajas (action/anger), and thamas (laziness/idleness), are spending time on activities that draw them more and more into samsAram (cycle of worldly existence) and are sucked in to that huge vortex and not finding the shore to climb out to, even though they are equally eligible to enjoy the nectar of happiness that is emperumAn which is enjoyed by nithyasUris (who are in srIvaikuNtam forever, who have not been affected by karmas);

emperumAn, feeling terrible about this, determined that He would alert them about their relationship with Him and save them out of the ocean of samsAram, and so in the beginning of kali yugA arranged for nammAzhwAr’s avathAram, and blessed him with unblemished inner knowledge (mayarvaRa mathinalam),

nammazhvAr – madhura kavi

… and nammAzhwAr, using that knowledge, was immersed in sarvEswaran’s true nature, form, characteristic, and wealth, and as it overflowed, to address that, he blessed the world with dhivya prabandham, and blessed the knowledge to madhurakavi AzhwAr.

Based on that, madhurakavi AzhwAr sang “mikka vEdhiyar vEdhaththin uL poruL niRkap pAdi en nujuL niRuththinAn” [kaNNinuN chiru thAmbu 9] (he explained the inner meanings of the vEdhas and made me understand its inner meanings), and (so), “thEvu maRRaRiyEn” [kaNNinuN chiru thAmbu 2] (do not know any, other than nammAzhwAr) (charama upAyam – final means, that is AchArya abhimAnam);

Later as sriman nAthamunigaL requested for those great meanings, nammAzhwAr crossed the limit of archai (vigraham/statue) and opened his divine mouth and gave all of the meanings and inner meanings to nAthamunigaL, and through him is how this sampradhAyam (culture/ways of srIvaishNavas) came to be.

nammazhwAr with madhurakavigaL and nAthamunigaL

So this chain of AchAryas giving advice and correcting the sishyas was available to His devotees; as emperumAn wished to propagate all these meanings and inner meanings to all the people in this world, the world which is of the nature that encourages ignorance, He commanded thiruvananthAzhvAn (Adhi sEshan), and so he descended into srIperumbUthUr; he learned all the sAsthras, and as told by dhEvap perumAL through thirukkachchi nambigaL he understood very well about the truth, ways, and goal; and through the compassion of periya perumAL, he was given full control to manage this world and srIvaikuNtam, and nurtured the sampradhAyam grown from nAtha/yAmuna muni by understanding the inner meanings of truth, ways, and goal, and was advising these to his close sishyAs like kUraththAzhwan, and was living in srIrangam.

dhEvapperumAL gave the six truths to emperumAnAr through thirukkachchi nambigAL

During that time, thiruvarangaththu amudhanAr, even though he was well versed in all the sAshthras, was not knowing about the sath-sampradhAyam (tradition as propagated through nathamunigaL as explained above). So, emperumAnAr due to his causeless mercy (nirhEthuka krupai) reformed him through kUraththAzhwAn; and amudhanAr surrendered to AzhwAn, who showed him emperumAnAr’s divine feet as the means, and so amudhanAr considered those divine feet as everything, and was immersed in them all the time; (thus kUraththAzhwan performed purushakAram/recommendation).

kUraththAzhwan in pirAtti (srI mahAlakshmi) thirukkOlam (attire)

As that experience of the mind was overflowing, the opportunity arose for amudhanAr to use the words to express his love, and also due to his extreme kindness that the other devotees need to get this meaning and knowledge and experience it easily, that knowledge overflowed as 108 pAsurams in the thamizh poem form of ‘kaliththuRai anthAdhi’, which included emperumAnAr’s divine name in each pAsuram; and so this was happily followed by the great preceptors as ‘prapanna gAyathri’ and so is being (mandatorily) recited every day with love by the prapannas (ones who are surrendered to emperumAn).

All pUrvAchAryas depicted as part of emperumAnAr’s divine thirumEni (form)

– – – – – – –

Translation by raghuram srInivAsa dAsan

archived in http://divyaprabandham.koyil.org

iyaRpA rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi

rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – thaniyans

July 14, 2015 Published by: raghuram

SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavaramunayE nama:

Full Series

vyAkyAnam for thaniyans (invocations) – by piLLai lOkam jIyar

1^st thanyan (invocation) – by vEdhap pirAn bhattar:

munnai vinai agala mUngil kudi amudhan
ponnam kazhar kamalap pOdhu iraNdum – ennudaiya
chennikku aNiyAgach chErththinEn then pulaththArkku
ennuk kadavudaiyEn yAn

Listen

aVathArikai (introduction)

(adiyEn) wore in my head, as a decoration, the two beautiful divine lotus feet of amudhanAr of mUngil kudi; (so) as my accumulated karmas are decimated, why would adiyEn be answerable to the yaman, etc., of the south side?

vyAkyAnam

munnai vinai agala – All my ever-accumulated good and bad karmAs due to good and bad deeds, are removed – how? due to amudhanAr’s thiruvadi (lotus feet) was set in my head.
mUngil kudi amudhan – periyAzhwAr said ‘vEyar thangaL kulam’, and amudhanAr is said to be belonging to ‘mUngil kudi’.
pon am kazhal kamalp pOdhu iraNdum – amudhanAr’s two divine lotus feet that makes us to be longed for, and which Is beautiful,
ennudaiya chennikku aNiyAgach chErththinEn – For his (amudhanAr’s) head the decoration is rAmAnujar’s lotus feet (105^th pAsuram); for me amudhanAr’s lotus feet.
chennikku aNiyAgach chErththinEn – placed in my head as a decoration.
Like said by “chemmA pAdha paRputh thalai chErththu” [thiruvAimozhi 2-6-1]. There it is a prayer/request; here it is an accomplishment/success.
then pulaththArkku – yaman and his servants at yamapuram.
ennuk(u) kadavu udaiyEn – why would I be responsible for experiencing the fruits of good and bad karmas? Since my karmas have gone, there is no experience of its fruits. So there is no interaction between me and those who give me to experience the fruits of karmas. Like there is no connection between nectar and poison, there is no connection between those who are related to thiruvarangaththu amudhanAr’s divine feet, and those in the south side (yaman and his servants).
yAn – adiyen, who decorated my head with amudhanAr’s divine lotus feet.

——–

2^nd thaniyan (invocation) – by vEdhap pirAn bhattar:

nayam thaRu pEr inbam ellAm pazhudhu enRu naNNinar pAl
sayam thaRu kIrthi irAmAnusa muni thAL iNai mEl
uyarndha guNaththu thiruvarangaththu Ongum anbAl
iyambum kaliththuRai anthAdhi Odha isai nenjamE

Listen

avathArikai

Dear mind! Please agree to recite the rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi that is made of kaliththuRai anthAdhi (grammar for a form of thamizh poetry), created by thiruvarangaththu amudhanAr who is having ever growing bhakthi (devotion) towards rAmAnujar who has got the greatness of getting victory to those who reached him and followed based on his advice that the enjoyment given by the senses are useless, and kept their minds away from it.

vyAkyAnam

nayam tharu(m) pEr inbam ellAm – The bliss that comes from enjoying the pleasures of senses. ‘nayam’ – vishayam – object of senses. Like said in ‘nANAmai naLLEn nayam” [mudhal thiruvanthAdhi 63], here also it is talking about the pleasure of senses like sound, taste, etc. (shabhdhAdhi). Even though they provide low level pleasure, it says ‘pEr inbam’ (higher level bliss) as per the opinion of the illiterate.
naNNinar pAl – In the matter of those who reached the support of (emperumAnAr)
pazhudhu enRu – after inquiring that these are to be gotten rid of
sayam thaRu keerthi irAmAnusan – emperumAnAr would help them achieve victory (out of) the samsAram. It is AzhwAn and amudhanAr who left the lowly pleasures and reached emperumAnAr. And amudhanAr said “akkAdhal aLaRRil azhundhum en Aviyai vandhu eduththAn‘ [42] to imply emperumAnAr saved him from lowly pleasures. Also, “kAmAdhi dhOsha haram Athma padhAshrithAnAm rAmAnujam yathipathim” [yathirAja vimsathi 1]. This is the greatness of emperumAnAr, getting us victory. Like said in “sayap pugazhAr” [thiruvAmozhi 3-1-11].
irAmAnusa muni thAL iNai mEl … – It is asking the mind to recite the prabandham that was created as a vAchika kainkaryam (service through words/speech) towards rAmAnujar’s two divine feet. That is clear from how it is the main topic of the prabandham as set in the beginning, middle, and end of the prabandham, so to emphasise this aspect – ‘irAmanusan charaNAravindham’ [1], ‘ramAnusan than iNai adi’ [50], and ‘rAmAnusan adip pU mannavE’ [108] – all mentioning emperumAnAr’s divine feet.
uyarndha guNam – Unlike others, the character of being involved in charama parvam (last level/stage) of being subservient to AchAryan.
- When there is difficulty in this world in finding people devoted to emperumAn, it is very rare to find those who are immersed in AchAryan’s well-being and sing praises on him, so (author of thaniyan is) praying his mind to agree to recite rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi. Could say – since there is nobody to be found to listen to this request, he is requesting his mind itself.
- Or, it is also recited as “nayam thaRu pEr inbam ellAm pazhudu inRi naNNi nam pAl sayam thaRu kIrthi irAmAnusa muni” – that is, as we considered all the enjoyments to be emperumAnAr only and so reaching him for his support, he would give victory for us from the samsAram.
- Or, it could be attributed to emperumAnAr that he ignored the lowly pleasures as – ‘nayam tharu pEr inbam ellAm pazhudhu enRu’. (naNNi) – he surrendered to nArAyAnan. (nanpAl) – having good characteristics – that surrending to emperumAn is considered by emperumAnAr as the goal. (sayam thaRu kIrthi irAmAnusan) – not only for himself, even those who surrendered to emperumAnAr are able to win the samsAram by his help.

– – – – – –

3^rd thaniyan – by vEdhap pirAn bhattar

sollin thogai koNdu unadhu adippOdhukkuth thoNdu seyyum
nal anbar Eththum un nAmam ellAm enRan nAvin uLLe
allum pagalum amarumpadi nalgu aRu samayam
vellum parama irAmAnusa idhu en viNNappamE

Listen

avathArikai (introduction)

Oh rAmAnuja who won over the other six philosophies! As the dear disciple thiruvarangaththu amudhanAr performs vAchika kainkaryam to your divine feet by keeping in his mind the (108) pAsurams created with beautiful words, adiyEn plead that such name of yours (from these 108 pAsurams), be also set in my tongue at all times – day and night.

vyAkyAnam

sollin thogai koNdu – deciding on the way of doing the prabandham; or, using the union of words,
unadhu adippOdhukku – to dhEvarIr’s divine lotus feet
thoNdu seyyum – he (amudhanAr) creates the poems (pAsurmas) as a vAchika kainkaryam
nal anbar Eththum – amudhanAr who is ananyaprayOjana bhakthi yukthar (~devoted to you without expecting any other benefits); anbar – one having bhakthi towards emperumAn; nal anbar – one having bhakthi towards AchAryan. Or, including amudhanAr all the devotees of rAmAnujar – then ‘sollin thogai’ would mean collection/group of words having rAmAnujar’s divine name.
un nAmam ellAm – all the divine names that he/they recite due to the ecstasy based on bhakthi; since there is only one name that is rAmAnujar, the plural form ‘names’ here is to be taken as all the pAsurams of this prabandham having the name of rAmAnujar.
endhan nAvin uLLE – inside the tongue of me who is eager to recite such divine names
allum pagalum amarumpadi nalgu – Like said in “naL iruL aLavum pagalum nAn azhaippan” [periya thirumozhi 1-1-5] (will say day and night the name of nArAyaNa) , please help to have your name set in me whether day or night.
aRu samayam vellum parama – oh the great, who won over all other six philosophies; this is same as what amudhanAr says in a pAsuram here ‘kURum samayangaL ARum kulaiya’ [46].
irAmAnusa – the name having four letters/syllables, bigger than the name of nArAyaNa, please help for all your names to stay in my tongue, whether day or night. {amudhanAr sang in this prabandham ‘iravum pagalum vidAdhu endhan sidhaiyuLLE niRaindhu oppaRa irundhAn” [47] (emperumAnAr is there is my mind day and night …); if we are able keep his divine name in our tongue day and night, then he would fill our minds day and night?}
idhu en viNNappamE – this is my plea.

– – – – – –

4^th thanyan – by sOmAsiyANdAn

ini en kuRai namakku emperumAnAr thirunAmaththAl
muni thandha nURRettuch chAviththiri ennu nuNporuLaik
kani thandha chenjchol kaliththuRai anthAdhi pAdith thandhAn
punithan thiruvarangaththu amudhAgiya puNNiyanE

Listen

avathArikai (introduction)

With us having the essence of sAvithri manthra which itself can be said as the essence of all the vEdhas, which could be suitably named as prapanna gAyathri, with all the one hundred and eight pAsurams having the divine name ‘rAmAnujan’, that is provided to us which is a great help of amudhanAr, there is no deficiency for us in this and the other world.

vyAkyAnam

ini en kuRai namakku – there is no loss – in this world we say the divine name of rAmAnujan – ‘solappugil vAi amudham parakkum – rAmAnusan enRu solluminE’ (43) said amudhanAr – in amudhnAr’s mouth, the amudham (nectar) would secrete upon saying his name. (or the nectar that are the granthams that came from rAmAnujar); Since his name helps in getting mOksham, there is happiness not only in this world but in that world also. So, what worry is there for us hereafter? AraNya kANdam – lakshmaNa mentions to rAmA that he wonders how bharathan tolerates the cold sarayu river when taking bath in the wee hours; this makes rAmA forget himself and he talks of even going back to ayOdhya to care of bhArathA. He asks lakshmaNA to talk more about “bharathan the chief of ikshvAku”. So rAmA’s opinion is that it is like a nectar (amudham) to talk about rAmA’s brother (anujan), bharathan. He (emperumAnAr) is also rAma anujan! Talking about him also is sweet and so helps us in this world.
emperumAnAr thiru nAmaththAl – The author of this thaniyan, sOmAsiyANdAn loves to use the name ‘emperumAnAr’, hence he says that name in this thaniyan instead of saying rAmAnusar. “sOmAsiyANdAn ’emperumAnAr’ enRAl thirunAmam niRam peRumAp pOlEyum’ [eedu for thiruvAimozhi 6.5.7] (the name ’emperumAnAr’ gets its full meaning when it is said by sOmAsiyANdAn). There is an issue with emperumAn’s divine name – it helps to tie us in the samsAram as well; but emperumAnAr’s divine name does not have that problem since it helps us only in getting mOksham.
muni thandha – sarvEswaran is referred to as ‘muni’ – root from manana shIla: – as emperumAn thinks deeply about helping the AthmAs. After creating brahmA, He first gave him gAyathri manthra with praNavam, and then the vEdhas. That manthra is recited 108 times. Its inner meaning is praNavam – it consists of a (அ) – for emperumAn, u (உ) for pirAtti (one who connects/recommends), and ma (ம) – devotees. u is also udaiyavar who connects/recommends. emperumAn likes his adiyAr’s (devotee) name more than His name – this prabandham recites rAmAnujar’s name 108 times in the 108 pAsurams.
Now, by thathsavithurvarENyam it talks about nArAyANan in the solar world; He gave sAvithri mathra and removed the darkness of this world through the sun; rAmAnujar is rAmAnuja divAkarar (sun that is rAmAnujar) who removes the darkness from our minds.
The essense of thirumanthram is sEshathvam (subservience) to His adiyArs.
‘nin thiruvettezhuththum kaRRu nAn uRRadhum un adiyArkku adimai’ [periya thirumozhi 8-10-3] (~ learning the thirumanthram, I became subservient to your devotees).
kali thandha senjchol . . . – kali: smartness/power – here the prabandham gave us the divine names.
senjchol – sweet words. spoken words that are congruent with the thoughts and actions. This is how eedu explains senjchol in thiruvAimozhi 10.6.11 as well. So, it can be concluded that all the three senses are in union when we recite the prabandham rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi.
kalith thuRai anthAdhi – in the thamizh poetry form of ‘kalith thuRai’.
senjchol kalith thuRai anthAdhi – anthAdhi makes it is easier to know the next pAsuram. (last part of previous pAsuram becomes first part of current pAsuram and so on).
pAdith thandhAn – amudhanAr gave this for the future generations (us) to enjoy and immerse in the glories of rAmAnujar.
punidhan – amudhanAr who is pristine; the pristine way in which he gave us this prabandham; will make the opposite type of people to become pristine; amudhanAr praises the punidhan who praises Lord parasurAma [56].
thiruvarangaththu amudhAgiya puNNiyanE – Virtuous thiruvarangaththu amudhanAr. ‘irAmAnusan mikka puNNiyanE’[91] – virtue that came from the great virtuous emperumAnAr.

pAsuram words are to be arranged as – virtuous thiruvarangaththu amudhan gave us the kaliththuRai anthAdhi using the names of emperumAnAr, so what problems do we have from now on?

This thaniyan is recited in thirunArAyaNapuram temple only.

pillailokam-jeeyar piLLai lOkam jIyar

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Translation by raghuram srInivAsa dAsan

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