SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavara munayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction) – she tells the clouds to inform emperumAn that torturing her would lead to reproach from the world.
madha yAnai pOl ezhundha mAmugilgAL! vEngadaththup
padhiyAga vAzhvIrgAL! pAmbaNaiyAn vArththai ennE!
gadhiyenRum thAn AvAn karudhAdhu Or peN kodiyai
vadhai ennum sol vaiyagaththAr madhiyArE
Word-by-Word Meanings
vEngadaththai – thirumalai
padhi Aga – as your dwelling place
vAzhvIrgAL – those who are living
madham yAnai mEl ezhundha – rising with arrogance, like a rutting elephant
mAmugilgAL – Oh, monsoon clouds!
pAmbu aNaiyAn – emperumAn, who is lying on AdhiSEshan, his
vArththai ennE – what is his word?
“thAn – that emperumAn
enRum – all the time
gadhi AvAn – remaining as the protector
karudhAdhu – without thinking (of damage to his basic nature)
Or peN kodiyai – a girl
vadhai seydhAn – destroyed her”
ennum sol – a word like that
vaiyagaththAr – those who are on this earth
madhiyArE – will they not consider?
Simple Translation
Oh, monsoon clouds, who have thiruvEngadam as your habitat and who rise uproariously like an elephant in rut! What is the word from emperumAn who is reclining on AdhiSEshan? If that emperumAn, who is always the protector, does not think about the damage that will result to his basic nature, will the people of the world not consider him as having destroyed a girl?
vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
madha yAnai pOl ezhundha mAmugilgAL – emperumAn makes the clouds happy by manifesting his divine form etc to them, just as it has been said in thaiththirIya upanishath Anandhavalli 7 “Esha hyEvAnandhayAthi”(isn’t this supreme entity making the jIvAthmAs (entities with knowledge) happy!). The opinion is that they are roaming around like elephants in rut because of that happiness.
mAmugilgAL – thaiththirIya upanishath bhruguvalli 10-4 says “aham annam aham annam aham annam l aham annAdhO’ham annAdhO’ham annAdha: ll” ([the soul, when it reaches parama padham, says] I am enjoyable, like food [for emperumAn]. I eat the food [which is the happiness of emperumAn (when he eats me)]. Just as it has been mentioned in this, you are enjoying emperumAn in groups of assemblies, similar to nithyAthmAs (permanent residents of SrI vaikuNtam) enjoying emperumAn.
vEngadaththaip padhiyAga vAzhvIrgAL – unlike those who come for a festival in the temple for a few days and return, aren’t you fortunate to reside permanently in thiruvEngadam? Apart from being more distinguished than mumukshus [those who are desirous of mOksham], aren’t you more distinguished than mukthAthmAs [those who have got liberated from samsAram and attained SrIvaikuNtam] too? The meaning hinted is that unlike mukthAthmAs who had, for some time, suffered in samsAram and then got liberated from it, the clouds are always enjoying emperumAn, just like nithyasUris. Just like living in paramapadham, isn’t ANdAL glorifying life in thiruvEngadam itself! This is similar to thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr saying that living between the two rivers (koLLidam and kAviri) alone is worth living. Hasn’t ANdAL too said in nAchchiyAr thirumozhi 11-5 ”nallArgaL vAzhum naLirarangam” (eminent people who live in comfortable thiruvarangam)! Alternatively, this could be construed as those who live in thiruvEngadam, having the eminence of affection towards emperumAn. Involvement with worldly matters would be a cause for destruction of one’s svarUpam (basic nature), just as it has been emphasised in thiruvAimozhi 6-9-9 “pala nI kAttip paduppAyO” (will you reveal all the worldly pursuits and destroy me?) and in thiruvAimozhi 6-9-8 “puRaththittinnam keduppAyO” (even now, when I have developed a desire for you, will you make me engage with worldly pursuits and torment me?). Involvement with emperumAn will be the cause for celebration.
pAmbaNaiyAn vArththai ennE – what is the word mentioned by him, lying on the mattress of AdhiSEshan? Since you [clouds] are living in thiruvEngadam, as his confidantes, just as AdhiSEshan is privy to his words, so would you be. Tell me what that word is.
gadhi enRum thAnAvAn – isn’t he the refuge for everyone forever, just as it has been said in jithanthE SlOkam 2? “dhEvAnAm dhAnavAnAm cha sAmAnyam athidhaivatham l sarvadhA charaNa dhvantham vrajAmi SaraNam thava ll” (You are the deity, a common refuge for dhEvas [celestial entities] who have devotion [towards you] and asuras [monsters] who do not have that devotion; I emphatically consider your divine feet as the means [to attain you])
enRum – unlike jIvAthmAs (entities with knowledge) who would say on occasions “I will be your servitor” and who would say on other occasions “I will not be your servitor”, he [emperumAn] is always one who protects. Isn’t sarvESvaran [lord of all] one who is looking for a chEthana (entity with knowledge), just as it has been mentioned in nAnmugan thiruvandhAdhi 60 “AL pArththu uzhi tharuvAy” (one who goes searching “Will I get anyone who will be under my control?”)
karudhAdhu – without considering the damage which will come to his auspicious qualities, if he does not protect me
Or peN kodiyai vadhai seydhAn ennum sol – letting a creeper, which needs a supporting pole to grow, to spread on the ground, is equivalent to destroying it. In the same way, not coming to take me, who is like a creeper waiting to embrace him, is equivalent to torturing me. Did not iLayaperumAL (lakshmaNa) too say firmly that separating from emperumAn is equivalent to death, just as it has been mentioned in SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam 53-31? “na cha sIthA thvayA hInA na chAhamapi rAghava l muhUrthamapi jIvAvO jalAnmathsyAvivOdhruthau ||” (Oh rAghava! sithA would not be considered as existing if separated from you; neither would I be; (Even if we exist) it would be for a few minutes only, just like a fish which has been separated from water)
vaiyagaththAr madhiyArE – [she tells the clouds to] tell him “After destroying me, people of the world will not consider you as a protector”. Everyone accepts that when separated and suffering due to that, a person would be considered to be existing only because her beloved exists. If I am destroyed, this [opinion] also will become destroyed. The damage which this will cause to his eminence is intolerable for her and is torturing her. If a person is destroyed once, should she get destroyed again? For her, who is getting destroyed, how does it matter about loss of his eminence? Since she is the divine daughter of periyAzhwAr, even if she were to get destroyed, she thinks that emperumAn should not suffer any loss of eminence.
Next, we will consider the last pAsuram of this decad.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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