iraNdAm thiruvandhAdhi – 68 – vali mikka

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avathArikai

AzhwAr says that emperumAn is such that if someone comes to pray to him asking for other benefits instead of himself, he cannot keep quiet; even if he has to strain himself, he will carry out tasks for his followers. Instead of getting rid of the scent of samsAram from them with the help of such an entity, the celestial people (dhEvas) obtained nectar, which is like salt water, from him. Thus he speaks about the activities of emperumAn by which he grants what each person wants from that persons’ position and how he avoids giving what is not required. AzhwAr says that people lose him on their own [by not asking for him] and that there is no shortcoming in emperumAn.

Let us go through the pAsuram and its meanings:

vali mikka vAL eyiRRu vALavuNar mALa
vali mikka vAL varai maththAga valimikka
vANAgam suRRi maRugak kadal kadaindhAn
kONAgam kombu osiththa kO

Word by Word Meaning

vali mikka – being mightily strong
vAL eyiRu – having canine teeth resembling swords
vAL – having an army of swords
avuNar – demons
mALa – to be destroyed
vali mikka vAL varai maththAga – having manthara mountain, which is very strong and radiant, as the churning staff
vali mikka vAL nAgam – the serpent vAsuki, which is very strong and radiant
suRRi – using it as a rope around the churning staff
kadal maRuga kadaindhAn – one who churned the ocean such that it became a slimey mass

Who is that?
kOL nAgam – the exulting elephant called as kuvalayApIdam, which is very strong
kombu – its tusks
osiththa – one who broke it (playfully)
kO – the Lord

vyAkyAnam

vali mikka vAL avuNar mALa – making the demons, who are strong, who have radiant canine teeth and who have weapons, to get destroyed. In other worlds, emperumAn made the strength of demons to get destroyed and that of dhEvas (celestial entities) to grow.

vali mikka vAL varai maththAga – when the omnipotent emperumAn himself churned the ocean, he used the manthara mountain which is very strong and which would not decay under the impact, and which is radiant. He made it very strong to use it as churning staff.

vali mikka vAL nAgam suRRi – when he used manthara mountain as a churning staff, he used the serpent vAsuki  as the rope for coiling around the staff since vAsuki would not rupture during the churning process, being very strong and was as radiant as the mountain. In order to ensure that vAsuki would not tear off during the churning process, emperumAn gave it additional strength.

maRugak kadal kadaindhAn – he churned the ocean such that the bottom layers of the ocean came on top. The ocean was agitated like curd is agitated in a vessel and suffered the same pain that the curd in the small vessel suffered.

Who churned the ocean like that?

kOL nAgam kombu osiththa kO – one who is like an anchor for all of us. emperumAn is the leader who broke the tusks of the elephant kuvalayApIdam [the royal elephant of King kamsan] which came to harm him. He got rid of his enemy and made us as his servitors through the exhibition of such valour. After destroying his enemy and protecting himself, emperumAn offered himself as the leader of the world. Through this act, he made us all as his servitors. Did not such an emperumAn churn the ocean during that time, in the bargain suffering pain in his divine form!

We shall move on to the 69th pAsuram next.

adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan

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