SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: Sri varavaramunayE nama:
periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Second Centum >> Eighth decad
avathArikai (Introduction)
thiruvAimozhip piLLai, in his svApadhESam, says that this pAsuram is a continuation of the earlier one, explaining similar features.
pallAyiravar ivvUril piLLaigaL theemaigaL seyvAr
ellAm unmEl anRippOgAdhu empirAn! nI ingE vArAy
nallArgaL veLLaRai ninRAy! gyAnach chudarE! un mEni
sollAra vAzhththi ninREththich choppadak kAppida vArAy
Word-by-Word Meanings
nallArgaL – inhabited by virtuous people
veLLaRai – in thiruveLLaRai
ninRAy! – oh, one who is standing and showering your mercy!
gyAnam – wisdom
sudarE! – oh, one who has as radiance!
em pirAn! – oh, one who is my lord!
i Uril – in this place of herd-people
theemaigaL seyvAr – carrying out mischiefs
piLLaigaL – boys
pal Ayiram – there are many thousands
ellAm – all their mischiefs
un mEl anRi – apart from falling on you
pOgAdhu – will not go elsewhere
(Hence)
nI ingE vArAy – you should come here, instead of joining with them
un mEni – your divine form
sol Ara – to be fully apt with words
ninRu Eththi – praying (the word ninRu does not have a meaning here; it is a pleasant word)
vAzhththi – carrying out mangaLASAsanam (wishing well for you and carrying out servitude)
soppada – come for carrying out kAppu, well.
Simple Translation
Oh, one who is standing in thiruveLLaRai, where virtuous people reside, and who is showering your mercy! Oh, one who has the radiance of wisdom! Oh, one who is my lord! There are thousands of children in this place of herd-people, who are indulging in mischiefs. All those activities, indulged in by these children, will fall only on you and will not be put on anyone else. Hence, you should come here instead of playing with them, such that I could carry out kAppu very well for you, praising your divine form with words which are fully apt and wishing well for you.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
pallAyiravar … – among the five-lakh people who live in this place, there will be many thousands who would be indulging in mischief.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says, additionally, that in the opinion of the mischief mongers and looking at krishNa’s activities, those who do not know the happenings would tend to believe that krishNa had caried out the mischiefs.
ellAm un mEl anRip pOgAdhu – they shifted the blame due to mischiefs carried out by them, on you. Hence, the mischiefs indulged in by them, will come onto you only and will not go elsewhere.
empirAn nI ingE vArAy – Oh, one who is my lord! You should move away from those who find fault with you and come here, where their thoughts and words will not be tolerated.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says, additionally here, the following: Instead of staying in such places, you should come to those who do not tolerate the thoughts and words of those people. Just as it has been mentioned in mahAbhAratham, when udhanga maharishi [sage udhanga] mentioned the meaning of this to krishNa, krishNa told him “Why did you come here? Why don’t you go, looking after your interests?” [The narration here is that udhanga maharishi wanted to tell krishNa that he is responsible for pANdavas’ victory and kauravas’ defeat in the mahAbhAtha war; his intention was to have the dharSan of krishNa in the viSvarUpa form, which krishNa manifested to him. This example has been cited here to show how people would shift all the blame on krishNa]. In mahAbhAratham, it has also been said that dhritharAshtra [head of kauravas] et al said “jAnAmi dharmam na cha mE pravruththi: jAnAmi adharmam na cha mE nivruththi: l kEnA’pi dhEvEna hrudhi sthithEna yathA niyukthOsmi thathA karOmi” (I know what is the correct actions to be carried out, I am unable to engage with them; I know what are the incorrect actions that one should not carry out, I am unable to desist from engaging with them. There is a deity sitting inside me; I am doing as per his instructions). Thus, they claim that they are knowledgeable but the deity is responsible for my engaging and desisting actions. This was mentioned to sanjaya [dhritharAshtran’s charioteer], who told dhritharAhtra “I do not know deceits; let auspicious bodings come your way [this example has been taken to stress the fact that people would blame emperumAn for their actions [just as dhritharAshtra did], not taking responsibility and there are people who would not tolerate those words [just as Sanjaya did]].
AzhwArs too, in some situations [when they are in anguish and emperumAn has not removed their hurdle] have spoken like this, as mentioned by (1) nammAzhwAr in thiruvAImozhi 7.1.1 “innum nalivAn eNNuginRAy” (you are planning to torment me even after I have acquired the urge to reach you); (2) thirumangai AzhwAr in periya thirumozhi 11.8.1 “ARRangarai vAzhmaram pOl anjuginREn” (I am like the tree on the river bank, constantly in fear about the impending danger); (3) thirumangai AzhwAr in periya thirumozhi 11.8.2 “sIRRam uLa Agilum solluvan” (even if I have the faults in me which will make you angry, I will still say); (4) kulasEkara AzhwAr in perumAL thirumozhi 5.1 “tharu thuyaram thadAyEl” (if you do not remove this sorrow called as samsAram, which you have given yourself); (5) nammAzhwAr in periya thiruvandhAdhi 3 “ivai enRu ivai aRivanElum – ennAl adaippu nIkku oNNAdhu” (even though I know that it is right, not praising you or that it is not bad, not praising you, it is not possible for me either to accept or reject these) and similar pAsurams. Instead of interpreting these pAsurams the way we wish, we should attain an expert AchArya [preceptor], pray to him and listen from him the activities carried out by our preceptors and their words about these in a detailed manner. Even if we are not able to practise the activities of our preceptors, if we regret our inability to do so and have the knowledge of carrying out the activities in the proper manner, it would be good for us.
nallArgaL veLLaRai ninRAy – Oh, one who is standing and showering your mercy in thiruveLLaRai, where those who do not tolerate people who shift their blame on you, and who are affectionate towards you, carrying out mangaLASAsanam for you, reside!
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that the preceptors in thiruveLLaRai are as good as the children in thiruvAyppAdi [SrI gOkulam] who do not indulge in mischiefs. These people will not indulge in any unjust act; even if they commit, by oversight, any fault, they will not blame emperumAn for that. In the incarnations of emperumAn, if it appears that he had indulged in any doubtful activities, they would set those right and instruct the people of the world accordingly, as a benefit for them. These people have such a wealth of SrIviashNavam [the principles of being a servitor to emperumAn]. The term nallArgaL refers to such people in thiruveLLaRai. They are good to emperumAn, to nithyasUris, to themselves and to the people in leelA vibhUthi, based on their capabilities.
gyAnach chudarE – Oh, one who has the radiance of wisdom!
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that emperumAn’s divine form is such that it spreads the radiance of wisdom [normally, it is the AthmA [soul] which is said to carry wisdom]. One would think whether emperumAn’s divine form is the repository of knowledge.
un mEni – your divine form which is the resplendent repository for that wisdom and your basic nature, on which the wisdom rests.
sollAra – ninREththi – praising you such that the words, which are used to praise you, get their meanings. Words would get their meanings only when they engage with the entity who is the meaning of all the words. This is in line with nAnmugan thiruvandhAdhi 69 “kavikku niRai poruLAy ninRAn” (He remains as the complete meanings of all the praises sung on him by poets).
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that emperumAn is to be praised such that the words get fulfilment. The words would get fulfilment only when the meanings get fulfilled. This is possible only in the word nArAyaNa [which is called as the vyApaka manthram, that which indicates permeation of emperumAn everywhere], which is different from the other two vyApaka manthrams [of vAsudhEva and vishNu]. This takes root in the samAsa dhvayam [thathpursha samAsam, a compound word which indicates that all the jIvAthmAs reside in nArAyaNan, thus highlighting his parathvam or eminence] and bahuvrIhi samAsam, another compound word which indicates that nArAyaNa resides in the jIvAthmAs, thus highlighting his saulabhyam or ease of approach].This is also seen in the dhvaya mahAmanthram which highlights nArAyaNa being the upAyam [means to attain him] and prApyam [the purushArtham or the ultimate benefit]. Since this word [nArAyaNa] contains all the meanings, as mentioned above, only when he is praised, the words which are used to praise him, would get fulfilment. This gets completed when the emperumAn, kaNNan, at thiruveLLaRai is praised. This is also the reason why the people in thiruveLLaRai are referred to as nallArgaL. Is so much required when AzhwAr has to perform kAppu for krishNa? Just as it has been mentioned in perumAL thirumozhi 2.4 “Eththi vAzhththum en nanjamE” [my heart will praise and carry out mangaLASAsanam for the followers of emperumAn], singing pallANdu pallANdu [carrying out mangaLASAsanam] for emperumAn is required to be carried out.
vAzhththi – carrying out mangaLASAsanam
soppadak kAppida vArAy – You should come such that I could carry out kAppu very well, for you. soppada – very well.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that kAppu refers to sEvadi sevvi thirukkAppu (there should be complete protection for the beauty of your reddish divine feet).
We shall next consider the 6th pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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