SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavara munayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction) – In the previous pAsuram, jasmine flower came right in her vision, reminding her of his divine smile and tormenting her. Not wishing to see the jasmine flower, she turned her face and closed her eyes. Since she did not close her ears, the song of cuckoo birds entered her ear and tormented her, in this pAsuram.
pAdum kuyilgAL! Idhenna pAdal! nal vEngada
nAdar namakkoru vAzhvu thandhAl vandhu pAdumin
Adum garuLakkodi udaiyAr vandhu aruL seydhu
kUduvar Ayidil kUvi num pAttugaL kEttumE
Word-by-Word Meanings
pAdum – singing
kuyilgAL – oh, cuckoos!
Idhu – this cacophony (which is piercing the ears)
enna pAdal – what sort of song is this?
nal vEngadam nAdar – perumAn who has the distinguished abode of thiruvEngadam as his residence
namakku – in my matter
oru vAzhvu thandhAl – if he could facilitate our living
(at that time)
vandhu pAdumin – (you all) could come (here) and sing
Adum – dancing (due to ecstasy)
garuLan – periya thiruvadi [garuda]
kodi udaiyAr – emperumAn who has [garuda] as his flag
aruL seydhu – showering mercy
vandhu kUduvar Ayidil – if he could come (here) and unite
kUvi – (that time) inviting you
num pAttugaL – your songs
kEttum – (we ourselves) will hear
Simple Translation
Oh, cuckoos, who sing! What is this cacophonous noise (which is piercing my ears)? What sort of a song is this? If emperumAn, who has distinguished thiruvEngadam as his residence, facilitates a living for us, you could come here and sing. If that emperumAn, who has the happy garuda on his flag, showering his mercy, were to come here and unite with us, we will hear your songs, after inviting you.
vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
pAdum kuyilgAL – Haven’t we heard your songs even when we were together with emperumAn? Starting from then, you birds are singing. Though you have been singing all the time, where did you search to sing this song which appears to pour fire in my ears?
pAdum kuyilgAL – Just as there was one good person, vibhIshaNa, present in the assembly of rAvaNa, as mentioned in SrI rAmAyaNam AraNya kANdam 17-24 “vibhIshaNasthu dharmAthmA na thu rAkshasachEshtitha:” (vibhIshaNa was a righteous person; he was without the activities of demons), there is not even one good cuckoo in your flock which doesn’t torment me.
Idhenna pAdal – how do you sing this song at a time when I am separated from him, reminding me of the time when I was together with him? This appears like applying sandalwood paste in the middle when both ends are burning. In the previous pAsuram, jasmine creeper was pouring fire. In the next pAsuram, peacocks are going to pour fire. In between [those two pAsurams], what is the need for your song which is like applying sandalwood paste? Am I in that situation [of applying sandalwood]?
Idhenna pAdal – just like fire destroys the place where it is present, she thinks that the song will kill the cuckoos too. Oh, the cruel persons who are destroying me with your song! It appears that you do not have ears. Assuming that the cuckoos are asking her “If our song is intolerable for you now, when do we sing?” she says ……
nal vEngada nAdar namakkoru vAzhvu thandhAl vandhu pAdumin – just before the river gets flooded, just like the river-bed starts oozing water, good omens such as the fluttering flag of garuda are appearing. If these indications fructify and emperumAn comes here to facilitate a life for us, you could come here and sing.
nal vEngada nAdar – unlike parama padham which is difficult to attain for his followers, thiruvEngadam is easy to attain. While parama padham is like the regal court assembly, emperumAn left that and came to thirumalai to manifest his divine face. The opinion is that prior to coming to SrIvillipuththUr, he came to thirumalai.
namakkoru vAzhvu thandhAl – just as it has been said in periya thirumozhi 7-5-9 ”en aimbulanum ezhilum koNdu…” (stealing my five senses and my beauty…), my ears and other organs of senses are not in a position to hear your song. If he gives me a life such that I could hear your songs, you could come and sing.
vandhu pAdumin – I am unable to tolerate your presence; please go away from this place. I may like to hear your song when I am together with emperumAn. Come at that time and sing.
Adum garuLakkodi udaiyAr – he has garuda on his flag, which will foretell his arrival. The term Adum would refer both to being happy and roaming around. Just as he had created samsAram where people will be trembling, unable to attain him just like herself, he has nithya vibhUthi where his followers will be ecstatic at having attained him. Reference to garuda is indicative of the entire nithya vibhUthi. Just as nammAzhwAr had thought that all the people are suffering, just like he was, in separation from emperumAn, in thiruvAimozhi 2-1 decad “vAyum thiraiyugaLum”, ANdAL thinks that all the people in leelA vibhUthi are trembling, just like herself.
Adum garuLakkodi – one who has garuda, who is roaming, as his flag. Just as a vessel called sAykaram is kept to quench the thirst of people in sheds for providing water emperumAn has garuda as vehicle and flag in order to take him to his followers.
vandhu aruL seydhu kUduvarAgil – ANdAL has a compulsion when she desires to attain him, which is that “emperumAn should shower his mercy and attain her”. Only this is apt for her svarUpam (basic nature). It will not be appropriate for her nature of being dependent on emperumAn, to reach his place and to announce her distress, while attaining him. This action is similar to converting an object called as kAladhAnam which is made of gold and which will reduce the life of a person who looks at it, into a ring and decorating oneself with it to keep looking at it. He should come and unite with me, manifesting his distress. It [union] should also be carried out when he showers his mercy while uniting. bhagavath gIthA 16-19 says “thAnaham dhvishadha: krUrAn samsArEshu narAdhamAn l kshipAmyajasram aSubhAn AsurIshvEva yOnishu ll” (I condemn those who hate (me), who are cruel, who are lowliest among human entities and who are without any auspiciousness, to samsAram, and even in that, in the clan of monsters, always). I [who am like such a person as described in this SlOkam] should not attain the benefit through my attempts. Instead, I should attain the benefit through his mercy, just as he has mentioned in bhagavath gIthA 10-10 “thEshAm sathatha yukthAnAm bhajathAm prIthipUrvakam l dhadhAmi bhudhdhiyOgam tham yEna mAmupayAnthi thE ll” (For those who desire to be together with me always and who worship me, I grant with love, the knowledge which is the means to attain me). The benefit attained through my attempts, when I always indulge in faulty deeds, is similar to the benefit attained by SiSupAlan. In the assembly of ALavandhAr [one of our preceptors and the grandson of SrIman nAthamunigaL], some people said “Did not SiSupAlan, who was always indulging in faulty deeds, attain emperumAn?” ALavandhAr responded to this, saying “The benefit which SiSupAlan obtained, cannot be termed as a benefit at all. Only to ensure that he does not convert everyone in samsAram as haters of krishNa, if he had been allowed to be in samsAram for long, that emperumAn severed his head through his divine disc and made him to ascend to the entrance of parama padham; instead of that, for those who are desirous to attain him, attaining him through emperumAn’s mercy alone is the ultimate benefit”. Another narrative is mentioned to emphasise that emperumAn restrains those who constantly harm others. Among the disciples of [parASara] bhattar was a person by the name of periya dhEvappiLLai. He was wont to vilifying everyone in his house, in a harsh manner. Once bhattar sent him to the eastern side, on an errand. At that time, nanjIyar, bhattar’s disciple, told bhattar “Since he has gone out of the house, those in his house will be happy, not having to listen to his vilifications”. Hearing this, bhattar said “Instead of harming others by calling himself as our disciple, it will be better if he is with us always, even if it is a deficiency for us” and put to practice what he had said. Did not emperumAnAr, in his gadhyam, despite surrendering to emperumAn, with the firmness that “Only emperumAn is the means”, pray for states from parabhakthi to paramabhakthi? This is because, while enjoying emperumAn, it is only when one gets to carry out kainkaryam appropriate to each level of happiness that attaining emperumAn becomes a benefit. For one who wishes to attain emperumAn through the path of devotion [through one’s own efforts], this devotion, which comes with the grief of being the means, will be like the non-essential part of a sugarcane. However, for one who has surrendered to emperumAn, this devotion, being a part of enjoyment, will be the beginning of benefit.
kUvi – When I am together with him, your song will be needed. At that time, we shall call you and listen to your songs.
pAttugaL kEttumE – we shall listen to the songs which have come naturally to you and those which you have learnt from your ancestors.
Next, we will consider the 6th pAsuram of this decad.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
archived in https://divyaprabandham.koyil.org
pramEyam (goal) – https://koyil.org
pramANam (scriptures) – http://granthams.koyil.org
pramAthA (preceptors) – http://acharyas.koyil.org
SrIvaishNava education/kids portal – http://pillai.koyil.org