SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavara munayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction) – while those in her proximity told her “Since the ultimate benefit has to come through him, you should wait patiently, in the proper way, until he comes, and not be in a hurry like this”, she says in this pAsuram “you people too, who do not know my sorrowful state, do not have any qualification to speak a few words like this; I too do not have the qualification to hear your words”.
maRRirundhIrgatku aRiyalAgA mAdhavan enbadhOr anbu thannai
uRRirundhEnukku uraippadhellAm UmaiyarOdu sevidar vArththai
peRRirundhALai ozhiyavE pOyp pErththoru thAyil vaLarndha nambi
maRporundhA maRkaLam adaindha madhuraip puRathu ennai uyththidumin
Word-by-Word Meanings
maRRu irundhIrgatku – you, who are different (from my state)
aRIyal AgA – not being known
mAdhavan enbadhu Or anbu thannai – regarding love towards mAdhavan
uRRirundhEnukku – to me, who has attained [that love]
uraippadhu ellAm – everything, which you say
UmaiyarOdu sevidar vArththai – it is a waste, similar to a conversation between a dumb person and a deaf person
(what is apt for me to do is…)
peRRirundhALai ozhiya pOy – leaving behind dhEvaki, who had given birth, after enduring all the pain
pErththoru thAy il – in the house of yaSOdhA, another mother
vaLarndha – one who grew up
mal porundhA mal kaLam adaindha – one who had reached the wrestling arena, ahead of the wrestlers
nambi – kaNNapirAn’s
madhurai – madhurApuri
puRaththu – in its proximity
ennai – me
uyththidumin – carry me
Simple Translation
I have attained love towards mAdhavan, which you people, who are different from my state, would not know. The words which you people speak are similar to the conversation between a dumb person and a deaf person. I want only one help from you. Carry me to the proximity of mathurA, where kaNNapirAn, who left behind his mother, dhEvaki who had given birth to him painstakingly, and grew up in the house of another mother, yaSOdhA, had reached the wrestling arena ahead of the wrestlers.
vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
maRRirundhIrgatku – for you all, who are different from me. Unlike me, for you, who have firm belief in upAyam (means)….. Alternatively, the term maRRu could be combined with the term uraippadhellAm which is coming later, and the meaning for that combination could be construed.
irundhIrgatku aRilyalAgA – just because you are staying in the same place where I am staying, you cannot know about my state. Was it not mentioned in mahAbhAratham udhyOga parvam 68-5? “mAyAm na sEvE bhadhram thE na vruthAdharmamAcharE l Sudhdha bhAvam gathO bhakthyA SAsthrAth vEdhmi janArdhanam ll” (I do not engage with deceit; let auspicious events happen to you! I will not carry out deceitful deeds. I will have the nature of a pure person. I know about janArdhana [emperumAn] through SAsthras [sacred texts] which are immersed in devotion). dhrutharAshtra, looking at sanjaya his charioteer, says “I too learnt SAsthrams, just like you. There is no deficiency in my knowledge. Despite that, how is it that good meanings come to you easily and I have to listen from you. What is the reason for this?” Sanjaya then tells him this SlOkam “I do not engage with deceitful activities. I am with pure qualities. You are trying to decipher meanings from SAsthras which you have learnt while I am trying to decipher them through SAsthras which are immersed in devotion. Your state is similar to those who seek materials which are not visible to the eyes, with the help of their eyes, while my situation is similar to those who look for them after applying pigment to their eyes [looking deeper than normal]”
mAdhavan enbadhOr anbu thannai – if I had desired brahmachAri nArAyaNan alone [bachelor; i.e nArayaNan alone, without SrI mahAlakshmi], I could have waited patiently. Did I not desire SrIman nArAyaNan?
mAdhavan enbadhOr anbu – this could be construed either as “Affection about mAdhavan” or “Affection called as mAdhavan”, In the second meaning, it is to be seen that instead of appearing differently as “Affection” or “Repository for affection” it would appear as “mAdhavan is the epitome for affection”. Just as it has been said in SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam 17-16 “sarvEshAm hi sa dharmAthmA varNAnAm kuruthE dhayAm l chathurNAm hi vayasthAnAm thEna thE thamanuvrathA: ll” (That rAma, who is the epitome of righteousness, shows his mercy on the four varNas [brAhmaNa, kshaththriya, vaiSya and Sudhra] as well as to people in the four stages of life [infancy, adolescent, youth and old age] and to all others. They are also affectionate towards him), doesn’t emperumAn initially develop love towards his followers and then create affection in them [towards him]? Just as it has been said in thiruvAimozhi 10-10-7 ”kOlamalarp pAvaikku anbAgiya en anbEyO” (You are having great love towards me as well due to your love for the beautiful and enjoyable pirAtti), isn’t it the most distinguished matter that she [ANdAL] desired? It was towards that mAdhavan that she carried out her love.
anbu thannaiyuRRu – this could be construed as either – attaining mAdhavan who is the epitome of love or as one who has total devotion in the matter of affection towards mAdhavan. Just as it has been said in thiruvAimozhi 5-10-1 “niRandhanUdupukku enadhAviyai ninRu ninRu urukki uNginRa” ([matters relating to krishNa] have entered the inner regions of my heart, melted my AthmA and consumed me, every moment), she has complete devotion [toward emperumAn].
irundhEnukku – when I am unable to sustain myself in separation from him, isn’t it apt for me to reach his place? But I am unable to go since I have lost power in my legs and hence am remaining here.
uraippadhellAm – for me, who has the desire to attain him, all the words which are spoken to dissuade me from attaining him…
UmaiyarOdu sevidar vArththai – you have no mouth to speak the words when you do not understand my situation and I do not have the ears to listen to them. The verse has to be transformed to “sevidarOdu Umaiyar vArththai” to get the correct meaning. A dumb person does not have the qualification to speak, and that is your situation; a deaf person does not have the qualification to hear and that is my situation.
When people in her proximity ask her “How do you say that your situation is incomprehensible? Wouldn’t the one who created this situation for you, know it?” she responds, through the next verse, that one who does not know the anguish of a mother would not know the anguish of his beloved.
peRRirundhALai ozhiyavE – observing a ritual for begetting a son, with lot of suffering, dhEvaki had given birth to kaNNan. However, on the day that he was born, did she not have to let go of him? ANdAL says that next…
pOyp pErththu – unable to bear her separation from her son kaNNan, dhEvaki was in tears. kaNNan, who had not had milk from her bosom, without having any mercy for her, left her immediately.
pErththu oru thAi il vaLarndha – he grew up in the house of another mother, yaSOdhA. While the mother who gave birth to him was in sorrow, he grew up with yaSOdhA, allowing her to tie him down to a mortar and to beat him. Didn’t dhEvaki too say, as in perumAL thirumozhi 7.5 “thiruvilEn onRum peRRilEn ellAm dheyva nangai yasOdhai peRRALE” (I, who did not have any good fortune, did not enjoy anything. Only yaSOdhA, who is a divine lady, enjoyed [all the childish activities])? Just as it has been said in perumAL thirumozhi 7.8, did not yaSOdhA reach the boundary of ultimate bliss “asOdhai thollai inbaththiRudhi kaNdAL” (yaSOdhA saw the boundary of unbounded pleasures)?
peRRirundhALai ozhiyavE pOy….. – it has become his natural quality to harass those who suffer in separation from him. kulaSEkshara nAyaki [kulaSEkhara AzhwAr, in the pathos of a lady] had mercifully said in perumAL thirumozhi 6.4 “thAy mulaippAlil amudhirukkath thavazhndhu thaLar nadai ittuch chenRu pEy mulai vAy vaiththu nanjai uNdu piththan enRE piRar Esa ninRAy” (Even as mother yaSOdhA had nectar-like milk in her bosom, you went crawling and walking unsteadily, and drank the poisoned milk from the demon pUthanA. People reviled you, calling you as being mad, for your action). yaSOdhAp pirAtti could not sustain herself, without suckling you. While she was in sorrow since you had not taken her milk, you had drunk milk from pUthanA, who had come to kill you by applying poison on her bosoms. Due to this, you were reviled by people around, who said that you did not know the difference between those who had affection and those who had deceit in their thoughts.
nambi – he has this quality alone, in full measure.
maRporundhAmaR kaLamadaindha – while I was waiting, with deep affection, to embrace you tightly with my form, you would have gone to the wrestling arena, to embrace the wrestlers. maRporundhAmal – instead of uniting with me. Alternatively, maRporundhA maRkaLam – he reached the wrestling arena, much before the wrestlers arrived there in order to engage in the sport of wrestling.
madhuraip puRaththu ennai uyththidumin – carry me to the proximity of vada madhurai, such that I could approach him before he goes to wrestle with the wrestlers.
Next, we will consider 2nd pAsuram of this decad.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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