SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavara munayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction) – she tells SrI pAnchajanyam “Just as you destroy those who are not affectionate towards emperumAn, you should also nurture those like me, who have affection towards him”. We could also consider the introduction as – she tells pAnchajanyam “just as your birth and upbringing were meant for helping others, the activities which you undertake should also be for others only”
kadalil piRandhu karudhAdhu panjasanan
udalil vaLarndhupOy UzhiyAn kaiththalath
thidaril kudiyERith thIya asurar
nadalaip padamuzhangum thORRaththAy naRsangE!
Word-by-Word Meanings
nal sangE – Oh beautiful conch!
(you)
kadalil – in the ocean
piRandhu – taking birth (from there)
panjasanan udalil pOy vqaLarndhu – going into the form of a monster, called as panjasanan and growing there
karudhAdhu – not thinking (of the place of birth and place of growing, like this)
UzhiyAn – emperumAn’s
kai thalam thidaril – in the eminent location of divine hand
kudi ERi – dwelling
thIya asurar – monsters who are cruel
nadalai pada – to suffer
muzhangum thORRaththAy – you remain as one who has the eminence of roaring.
Simple Translation
Oh, beautiful conch! You took birth in the ocean and went inside the form of panjasanan, a monster living in the sea. Not considering the lowliness of your place of birth and subsequent growth, you are dwelling on the eminent location of emperumAn’s divine hand. You remain as one who has the eminence of roaring in such a way that the cruel monsters suffer.
vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
kadalil piRandhu karudhAdhu panjasanan udalil vaLarndhu pOy UzhiyAn kaiththalath thidaril kudiyERi – despite being born in an ocean and growing inside the physical form of a monster panjasanan who had only hatred towards emperumAn in his heart. Not considering the lowliness of your birth and growing up, you entered to dwell on the divine hand of emperumAn, who was the destroyer of everything except time, during the period of deluge, and who contained all the worlds within his divine form. We could consider the verse ‘kadalil piRandhu’ as not referring to the lowliness of ocean but to the fact that it [ocean] nurtures many species of entities to dwell within in. In that case, this could also mean that just as you [ANdAL addressing the divine conch] were born in the sea which helps everyone, you should help people like me too.
karudhAdhu ….. vaLarndhu – the underlying meaning is that just as you grew up inside the physical form of the monster without considering his faults, you should also help us, without looking at our faults.
thIya asurar nadalaip pada muzhangum thORRaththAy – you remained as the eminent one by roaring during the battles which emperumAn fought [with the demons and the monsters], such that they suffered. Just as he was born in the clan of yadhu, you were born in the ocean. Just as he grew up in thiruvAyppAdi [SrI gOkulam] which was under the reign of monster kamsan, you too grew up inside the body of monster panjasanan. Just as he shifted to dhwArakA, keeping it as his capital, in order to avoid invasion of entities such as kAlayavanan, jarAsandhan et al, you too shifted to the divine hand of emperumAn. Just as he destroyed wicked entities such as dhuryOdhana et al, you also roared, just as it has been mentioned in bhagavadh gIthA 1-19 “sa ghOshO dhArtharAshtrANAm hrudhayAni vyadhArayath” (the uproar of that pAnchajanyam broke the hearts of the sons of dhrutharAshtra), you also roared such that all those who had the nature of monsters perished, as mentioned in SrI vishNu purANam 5-21-29 “yasya nAdhEna dhaithyAnAm balahAnirajAyatha” (through the uproar of which divine conch, the strength of monsters was destroyed). It is not that there are many features where you are equivalent to emperumAn. She says that there is a special distinction for him over emperumAn.
nal sangE – since emperumAn creates entities based on their karmas (past deeds), he would take into account both the faults and good deeds, reward the entities for their good deeds and punish them for the bad ones. Thus, he acts like an irukaraiyar (river which has banks on either side). However, the significant distinction for you, the divine conch, over emperumAn, is that you consider even the faults of those who are affectionate towards emperumAn as desired qualities and do good for them. Even emperumAn will not match you, on this, oh eminent conch! Here, the vyAkyAtha [commentator] of this prabandham, periyavAchchAn piLLai cites a narrative which signifies the svApadhESam [distinguished meaning] of pAnchajanyam being born in one place, growing up in one place and carrying out an activity. The narrative shows how a person should be born in thirumanthram, grow up in dhvayam and be firmly established in dhvayArtham (the meaning of dhvayam) [thirumanthram and dhvayam are two out of the three esoteric principles which are very close to SrIvaishNavas]. The narration is as follows: A person by name mAdhavAchAr, who was popularly known as vEdhAnthi, was living in mElainAdu (thirunArAyaNapuram), in an affluent manner, in an environment of enjoyment. He was won over in a debate by {parASara] bhattar (son of kUraththAzhwAn) and became bhattar’s disciple. After some time, wishing in his divine mind that he should shift to SrIrangam and serve bhattar, he gave up all his wealth, gave up his relatives too and became a sanyasi (renunciate). He was called as nanjIyar, by bhattar, respectfully. ananthAzhwAn, a disciple of emperumAnAr (bhagavadh rAmAnujar) had heard of his earlier affluent life and his present sanyAsam. He asked nanjIyar in a sorrowful tone “Oh jIyar! If you had been enjoying all the pleasures of life such as betel leaves, sandalwood paste, flower etc and taken refuge under emperumAn, would you have been pushed out of paramapadham? Why did you renounce everything and become a sanyAsi?” Other SrIvaishNavas, who were there, on hearing this, felt sad. However, they consoled themselves, thinking that due to his firm belief in his AchArya, he had given up everything. At that time, ananthAzhwAn mercifully said “It is not eminent if one gives up gruhasthASramam (living life as a married person) and takes up new birth in sanyASramam (living life as a renunciate). By understanding well the meanings of the three parts of thirumanthram, being born as a SrIvaishNavan [a person becomes a SrIvaishNavan when he or she attains an AchAryan and surrenders to emperumAn through the AchAryan, following five tenets] is the true birth”. To emphasise this, he said thrice “Be born in thirumanthram”. He mercifully said “All that you need to do is to be born in thirumanthram, grow up in dhvayam and be firmly engaged with meaning of dhvayam”. The implied meaning of this is that “As said in thirumanthram you should have svarUpagyAnam [the basic knowledge that we are servitors of emperumAn and his followers] and as said in dhvayam we should consider emperumAn as our means to attain him”.
Next, we will consider the 3rd pAsuram of this decad.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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